Love the Lord Your God

Hello!  I hope you are keeping well and warm this winter.  We've had an unusual amount of snow the last couple of days and I've been reminded of my Jr. High/High School days in the NE.  It's now Wednesday and that means it's time for another Word Art Wednesday Challenge.  This week we're focusing on Mark 12:30, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."   This is truly where the Christian walk begins....our love for the Lord.  Out of this love for Him flows everything else we do.  If we love Him, we'll keep His commandments.  If we love Him, we'll love others more than ourselves.  If we love Him, we'll......  Notice that this is a command.  We're not given the option to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we are commanded to do this.  Is it because God is mean or egotistical?  No.  One pastor said whenever you see a "Thou Shalt Not" you should view it as the Lord saying, "Don't hurt yourself" and whenever you see a "Thou Shalt" it's as if He's telling us, "Help yourself to some happiness."  He gives us these commands because He knows that is the only way we'll truly be happy.  When we go our own way, just like a child, we fall and hurt ourselves.  However, when we do things His way, it might not be easy, but that's where we'll find true, lasting joy.  So, let's help ourselves to some happiness and love the Lord as we should.

This week I have been in a "use up some of those scraps" mode.  We had a snow day Monday and I was able to spend a good part of the day in my craft room.  I made several cards and none of them used full sheets of patterned paper.  Except for card bases, some sentiment panels and the interior writing panels, even the cardstock was leftover from other projects.  I really liked these papers and since none of them were big enough to cover the card front alone, I decided to line them up side by side and added a die cut wavy edge of cardstock between each pattern.  This gives just a bit of definition for each pattern and eases the transition between them.

The butterflies were fussy cut from another scrap.  After going around the edges with a Copic marker and adding some stamping to the teal butterflies, they were adhered just in the middle so that their wings could be folded up for added dimension.  Some Wink of Stella and pearls for their bodies finish them off.  The sentiment panel was die cut and then matted with another lacey die cut.  This was popped up off the card base.

I really like to decorate the interior of my cards and usually just add a pattern paper strip down one side.  This time, I tried something a little different.  I used a circle punch to cut out 3 more butterflies from the same scrap of paper that I used for the ones I fussy cut.  After punching holes with a slightly larger circle punch in my writing panel, I attached the butterflies to the background cardstock.  They were also given a coat of Wink of Stella. I really like how it carries the butterfly theme to the inside of the card but still leaves plenty of room for a message to the recipient.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Bazzill, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper:  Prima (Madeline 6x6 pad)
Stamps:  WORDart by Karen (Mark 12:30), Stampin' Up (Itty Bitty Backgrounds wood mounted)
Ink:  VersaFine (Vintage Sepia)
Tools/Embellishments:  Copic E29, The Twinery Baker's Twine, Wink of Stella glitter brush marker (clear), Want2Scrap pearls, My Favorite Things Die-namics (Wavy Edge), Spellbinders dies (Classic Square Small, Lacey Square), Marvy circle punches (3/4", 1")

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Pile It On Challenge #56 - Butterflies
Papertake Weekly - Bingo (I used the middle horizontal row - die cuts (I used 3 different dies), FREE, and glitter (I used the Wink of Stella glitter marker)
Fan-tastic Tuesday Challenge #73 - Use a die (I used 3)
ABC Challenge - D is for Die Cuts

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you'll visit often and also stop by the Word Art Wednesday blog for more inspiration and to pick up your free digi.  We have great sponsors and would love to have you play along with us in our weekly challenge.