This is one of many crafting boxes. This one holds things for rubber stamping. I found most all the stamps in here at Big Lots for $1!
Perhaps you have better success than I, but it’s so hard for me to go into a card store and find a card that says exactly what I want to say…and for less than a fortune! I got so disgusted with trying to find cards that I decided I was going to buy a pack of plain cards and make my own.

I paid $2 at Marshalls for the flowered box of ribbon and $1 at Big Lots for the box of silky Martha Stewart ribbon. I buy most all my scrapbooking materials for next to nothing at Big Lots. I have a nice supply of things to choose from when embellishing my cards.

I love to sit down and just have a crafting afternoon and make several cards at once. I made this card for a friend who’s having a special birthday. The paisley paper was a piece I saved from another project. I will type up a special note and print it out on Velum, then glue it to the inside of the card.

Another one using more of my saved scraps of paper and some ribbon…

Here’s the stamped message on the inside…

Scrapbookers and card makers learn quickly that you don’t waste anything – every little piece of paper or ribbon can be used as an add-on. It doesn’t take but just a little something to embellish a card. Everything is used to make something beautiful.

That reminds me of the quote – “God doesn’t waste pain.” To me that means that physical pain, emotional turmoil, relationship difficulties, etc., are all things that God wants to use to make me more like Christ. He can use the smallest “scrap” to embellish my life. Sitting alone, the little piece of paper or ribbon is nothing, but when it’s added to a card it is turned into an enhancer. When you and I look at that thing is happening to us, it’s not attractive. As a matter of fact, it’s painful and ugly at times, but God doesn’t see that as a separate part of our lives. It’s all connected to make a person that looks like Christ.

Whatever you’re experiencing that you wish you could toss out, look at again. God will not waste your pain; He will use it to mature you into Christlikeness. No, nothing’s wasted!

With love,

One day while checking out at a store the clerk asked my husband the standard – “How are you?” He answered in his usual way – “I’m better than I deserve.” She was shocked and told him that couldn’t be true. He shared with her that because he was a sinner, He would be on his way to hell, but because God loved him and sent His Son to die for him he had a home in heaven, and that is better than he deserved!

If we really understand and view ourselves correctly, God’s love is incomprehensible. We see our sinful selves and wonder, why would God love me?

If we’re not careful it can be easy to go to the other extreme and get proud of our standing with the Lord. Moses talked with the Israelites and reminded them: The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you… Deuteronomy 7:7,8 We didn’t do anything to gain favor with God – He does what He does for us purely because He loves us. We are never too low to be loved by Him, and we did nothing to deserve His love.

He loves you. He loves me. Amazing!

Under His feathers because He loves me,