Liz Hicks Studios: Love is the whole point.

Sorry for the delay in my art journal blog post. It has been one of those weeks, nothing exactly traumatic has happened... just preparing for our trip next week and adjusting to working at home.

So this week, it was my turn to choose a prompt...

prompt: "What excites you?"
product: thread

I guess bottom line is that I just wanted to know what excites people right now. What gets your blood pumping, makes you happy... makes you smile?

For me... It is simple.. LOVE

I love these videos from Liberty Mutual showing how everyday people and the little things we do each day pay forward respect, responsibility and love. Love is not just something you keep for your family and friends, it is an outward expression that you are allowed to share openly in everything you do. It is sharing a mutual respect and compassion for this world onto mankind.

Imagine just little things that we do each day that impact the world in a positive way. Things you may not even know that you do, give into this world in a positive way... and that is a beautiful thing :)

Now I know this risks sounding mushy and sappy and well it is not intended that way... my only intention is to remind each of us (myself included) that although the day may be rough.. the road bumpy and the destination far... each day whether we like it or not... we chose to get up, go about our day and at some point in that day we impact the world in a good way. If it is a small service like opening a door for someone, smiling, or even just hitting a deadline... we all have small opportunities to be blessings on to someone.

So here is my page for today... I used some great products from some pretty amazing companies. The paint are from Plaid (Folkart) and Clearnap (Smooch and Spritz and Glitter) . The stamps are by Suzi Blu for Unity Stamp Co. And of course my favorite sparkly thread by Gutermann.

This little mermaid is juggling her heart, fish and stars... and making magic of it all :)

Here is a close up of the fish stars and hearts. with the threaded background.

And here is the beautiful glittery goodness I created by mixing Smooch Spritz, Smooch Paint and Glitter (a pretty awesome combo if I do say so myself!)

Here is a close up of the mermaid... this is a hand drawing by Suzi that was made into a stamp By Unity Stamp Co. and this is one of my favorites!!!!!

And of course, here is my separate journal page... I added glitter and paint over writing. and created some journal lines to write on.

And the bottom line is that Love is the whole point.

One thing that I have held close to my heart through thick and thin (and I am constantly reminded of) is one of my favorite bible passages. It is a response that Jesus gave when asked what is the greatest commandment.

²⁹Jesus answered, "The most important one says: `People of Israel, you have only one Lord and God. ³⁰You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.' ³¹The second most important commandment says: `Love others as much as you love yourself.' No other commandment is more important than these."

Some translations even state that the second and just as important is to love others.

So between the liberty mutual commercials... this beautiful stamp... and well just some deep down feelings of what it truly is all about... I came up with this. It is simple and I hope to look back at this in years to come and remind myself that at the end of the day... it is about being a blessing into this world... not a burden.

I hope that this makes you smile... I think even the glitter alone is enough to make any crafter smile :)

Next weeks prompt will be:

Prompt: "What Encourages You"
Product: Paint

I do hope you will join us... and have some fun getting your hands full of paint... Just let us know you are playing along, we will be posting our pages next week.

Again and big THANKS to Rebecca Gawryl for joining me on this artisticallly Journaling adventure... Check out what she post this week... last weeks can be found here... and I have to say I just love her birdies and beautiful approach to journaling.

Thanks!

~Liz