Showing posts with label Digital Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital Art. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Gratitude Journal


Hi Everyone!!

I sincerely hope everyone had a super awesome Mothers Day.

Sunday night in bed I was actually thinking of how grateful I am for my mom. She is 75, very active, no grey hair, no granny looks, no serious health problems, just suffering from Arthritis, and that is basically it. She is as fit as a fiddle! Yes, I am blessed to still have her around. So, I was thinking to myself, “When I pray tonight, I am not going to ask for anything, nope, I am just going to say thank you for everything that I am grateful for in my life”.

If you sit down and actually think about this, there are quite a few things that we should be grateful for, and not just being grateful, but to actually say thank you. My list grew after I sat down and jotted everything onto a piece of paper. Things we normally take for granted was added to my list of thank yous. From the most stupid little thing to very serious ones, I said thank you for every little thing. It felt good, and I realized once again that my family and I are truly blessed. Yes, we all have difficult, troublesome times, but in the end everything just works out perfectly at the right time by the Grace of God. To this I can truly confess!

Now, just see how amazing God is – My sister sends me a daily e-mail from Joyce Meyer. I attach a copy of the one that I received on Monday! All about being grateful and to say thank you!

will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 
—Psalm 34:1 NKJV
It is good to have love for God in your heart, but even better to express it with the words of your mouth.  Tell God several times each day that you love Him; say with the Psalmist David: “I love you fervently and devotedly, O Lord my Strength” (Psalm 18:1). It isn’t good enough to merely think, “God knows how I feel.”
Are you blessed when people tell you they love and appreciate you?  Of course you are, and it blesses God when we verbalize our love and praise for Him. Verbal expression of love and gratitude improves all our relationships, including our relationship with God.
It is also good to verbalize thanksgiving several times each day.  Quite often we should say as we go about our day, “Thank you, Lord for everything, I love you.”  One hundred times a day would not be too much.  Psalm 104 says we should be thankful and say so. Expressing gratitude is good for us; it reminds us of our blessings and helps us not to complain quite so much. 
Don’t offer your petitions to God without telling Him how grateful you are for what He has already done for you. As parents we are more likely to answer the request of a thankful child than we are a grouchy and ungrateful one.  As an employer I want to do even more for employees who are appreciative.
Offering our continual gratitude to God for His goodness and mercy in our lives moves Him to want to do even more for us. Our gratitude shows God that we are mature enough to handle even more blessing and responsibility. 
Women often say, “I know my husband loves me, but I wish he would tell me more often.”  Let’s try to be more diligent in telling God and the people in our lives, that we love and appreciate them and what they mean to us.  
Love God Today: It is impossible to love God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength, and not hear it come out of your mouth.
 But, that is not all – I read this from Joel Osteen – Your Best Life Now -


In the light of the above, I have decided to start a GRATITUDE JOURNAL.

Gratitude is an emotion that opens up your heart and allows you to connect and align with Spirit. Gratitude makes you aware of the richness and abundance already present in your life.

Begin a gratitude list, at least once a week. Write down all the things in your life that you are grateful for. Making and adding to the list and reading it will open your heart and align you with Spirit. When you count your blessings, your blessings multiply.



START YOUR GRATITUDE JOURNAL TODAY!!

God Bless!!




Sunday, April 29, 2012

FREE GOODIES - REMEMBER MOTHERS DAY


Hi All!

I normally don’t do any posting on a Sunday, but I had lots of inspiration and there are so many things that I want to share with you. So, I thought I will give you a heads up of what will be coming this week. – FREE GOODIES!!!  (Lots of free print ables and great ideas)

Seeing that Mothers Day is coming up, which I love, I thought, for those of you who also like to make your own gifts, I will share a few of my goodies with you. Gift bags, gift tags, Calendars, Book Marks and Greeting cards, everything ready for you to download and print!

I am also adding more pages to my blog:       
Crafts and Makes
Family Life
Fashion and Beauty
Health and Well being
Home and Decor
AND then of course more words to inspire.

You can also sign up to my FREE E-NEWSLETTER delivered to you weekly where I will be sharing more info on these topics with you. Instead of spending hours searching for info, tips, ideas and images on these topics, all the hard work has been done for you. So much info with ONE FREE E-NEWSLETTER, lots of direct links to super cool sites not to be missed.

 I have come across the most amazing, inspiring sites that I would love to share. Hey, you can even contribute to my News Letter if you have something nice to share!! Yip, some SUGAR AND SPICE FOR EVERYDAY LIFE!!

WHY NOT TRY OUT MY FREE E-NEWSLETTER
Leave your e-mail address below in the comment box to receive your first FREE News Letter. Remember, I hate spam as much as you do, and WILL NEVER , EVER pass your details on to any third party companies. That’s a promise. You can also stop your subscription any time you wish!


Best Wishes

REMEMBER








Thursday, April 26, 2012

Life's Unexpected Curve Balls


Hi Everyone,  

Wow, what a week so far! Yes, it was one of those weeks where life throws a few unexpected curve balls at you. I had quite a few of them in one week and thus my posting for today, HAPPINESS. I know, very hard to put on the smiley face if everything within you just wants to show the upside-down smile! But then, as always I received tit-bits of encouragement and love from various sources, whether it is an e-mail form my sister with encouraging words from Joyce Meyer or a web page that out of nowhere pops onto your screen while searching for something completely different. I believe it all happens with a reason and was specifically meant for me to look up and realize that I am not on my own, God is watching over me and is guiding me every step of the way.

I am firm believer of positive thinking and that it can actually attract positive things into your life.

Positive thinking brings inner peace, success, improved relationships, better health, happiness and satisfaction. It also helps the daily affairs of life move more smoothly, and makes life look bright and promising.


Ways to clear negative thinking:


  • Listen to your favorite music.
  • Spend some time with God in prayer.
  • Before starting with any plan or action, visualize clearly in your mind its successful outcome. 
  • If you visualize with concentration and faith, you will be amazed at the results.
  • Read at least one page of an inspiring book every day. (Greatday.com and Joel Osteen Ministries is my favorite sites to visit for my daily inspiration)
  • Watch movies that make you feel happy.
  • Always sit and walk with your back straight. This will strengthen your confidence and   inner strength.
  • Walk, swim or engage in some other physical activity. This helps to develop a more positive attitude.
  • Do something you really enjoy, painting, crafting, and gardening, anything to take your mind off the negative situation. You will soon find yourself in a different mind set!
Have a wonderful, blessed and HAPPY life!






Thursday, April 19, 2012

Body, Mind and Soul


TIP FOR TODAY:

We are of no value to our family and company if we are frazzled, depressed, sick or just plain burnt-out! So it’s vital that we take care of both our physical and mental health.

To be productive at work, we need to get enough rest, eat right and regularly, exercise and most of all do the things that make us happy: Whether it’s going for long walks or spending quality time with our family.

The Body and Wellness
By Donna McCullum – The Fairy Godmother’s Guide to getting what you want.

The body is a brilliant, complex system of muscles, nerves, blood, organs and cells. Any system has inputs and outputs. The body system runs on three energy inputs and the resulting output when correctly functioning, is a self-regulating, self-healing body in a state of health and wellness.

The inputs are obvious:
FOOD
EXERCISE
REST AND SLEEP

The quality of the inputs determines the output of health and wellness the body is able to produce over time. The body is the foundational platform for a human being, because it is the vehicle housing the mind and soul. Without the body, the mind ceases to exist, and when the body is ill, the mind finds it difficult to function properly.

When the body is in health and wellness, it can align with the other systems in the being.

I hope this will inspire you to take care of yourself!




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Blessings - Sow Generously

Something to think about!


Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8


Monday, April 16, 2012

Life is like a Box of Chocolates!

Hi Everyone.

Hope everybody had a great week-end with friends and family.



My daughter and I have decided to save a bit of money by baking every week-end something nice for the week to come. I usually buy sweeties and cookies which I also use to top-up her lunch box with. This actually works out quite expensive. So, we spent the week-end with recipe books and magazines searching for various yummy delights to make and bake instead of buying. The result was quite amazing! You will definitely be receiving more recipe cards from me as I am on a mission!!

Our first recipe that we chose for the week was CHOCOLATE BROWNIES!! Don't they just look yummy?


HUMOR FOR TODAY:


DAILY INSPIRATION:

Bible Chocolates: KIT KAT - TAKE A BREAK, SPEND SOME TIME WITH GOD!!

Have an awesome day!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

PRAYER FOR A FRIEND

I have not posted anything for a couple of days as it was Easter Weekend, and I have decided not to do any work or hobby related activities. I simply spent my time with my daughter, husband and mom! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Weekend.

This morning when I started to prepare for my next post, I quickly went over to one of the blogs that I follow about Digital Scrap Booking, Summertime Designs. She posted about her friend Brittany, that had a terrible Mountain Biking accident, which left her paralyzed. To cover all the medical expenses and prep work at home to make it wheelchair friendly, they need all the financial assistance they can get, and I think it is not just money that they need, but prayers, love and any other support that people can offer.

This made me think again that each morning when we get up, there are so many things to be thankful for and we need to give praise to our Lord for all our blessings. And in return be a blessing to others. We can not always give financially, but we can share our prayers, love, time and talents to bless others.

My Prayer to Brittany and everyone that reads this!


I have created the above page with digital elements from Ellie Lash and digital Papers from Summertime Designs combined with my own elements and digital paper. 

PLEASE FORWARD THE PRAYER TO YOUR FRIENDS!
God Bless!



Tuesday, April 3, 2012

What inspires you to get up in the morning?


Yesterday morning I watched one of our Breakfast TV Shows, Expresso, and they asked, ‘What inspires you to get up in the morning and cease the day’ Well, I did not have to think about it at all. The first thing that came to mind was my family and friends – PRECIOUS MEMORIES!!  It was not a big house, fancy car or anything like that. To be truly thankful for all my blessings, I have a good, loving, hardworking husband, a beautiful, talented daughter who excels in drama and modeling and have only recently discovered that she is quite artistic as well! My mom is an active, healthy 73 year old great grandma, my loving sister with her sparkling personality and my brother, the intelligent, soft spoken IT guy who recovered just a few months ago from a triple bypass heart operation. And then there are all their wonderful talented children, each unique with their own beautiful characteristics.  This made me realize that’s why I love digital scrap booking so much, because all of these precious memories are kept safely on a disc, preserved with my creative passion to share with everyone. And, the other plus point is that I do not only have to have them digitally, but can print them in full colour and use them with other mixed media and creative projects.

This inspires me, when things aren’t going too well, I just sit quietly and think about all the beautiful things in my life, and realize  that this too will pass and that the sun will shine again with happy, fond memories that can be captured in my heart but also on disc!! I then tell myself I have to do this or I am going through this for my husband and daughter whom I dearly love. This makes any bad day tolerable, I quickly browse through my scrap book pages and quick, quick the mood has been lifted and I can deal with the obstacles in front of me. Everything right here on my laptop. No need to go and search for all the old, dusted photographs. And with technology, we can now even have our photos or pictures on our computer screens. We can change them how often we want to and to what ever we want. Personalize our working space!

We spend most of our time at work unfortunately, and what better way to have our precious memories with us all day long on our computer screens.

So yes, I get up in the morning because I have wonderful people in my life and I am truly grateful for all my blessings.

MY CURRENT DESKTOP BACKGROUND















PENCIL DRAWING BY MY DAUGHTER, 12 YEARS





Monday, March 26, 2012

Hi All,


As promised, my first gift to you. An Easy as Pie Cupcake Recipe. So quick and easy. Enjoy!! 


Should you wish to receive this recipe card in your inbox to download and print, kindly e-mail me at tharina.venter@gmail.com. 



The Joy of Giving


I have decided to utilize my creativity by sharing it with everyone by starting a blog – Sugar and Spice for Everyday Life with the main theme, The Joy of Giving. This is a creative blog where I will share my digital art with you in the form of daily inspirational messages and quotes, recipes, digital scrap booking and many more goodies to spice up your day!!

Every encounter is an opportunity to give. Our siblings, spouse, children, friends, relatives, co-workers, boss, customers, and all those we meet will gratefully accept our gifts. The gifts I'm referring to are spiritual in nature and, therefore, do not have any costs. We can all contribute to the chain of giving.

We have the power to uplift spirits and make someone’s day! At home or in the office, our words of encouragement can plant the seeds of confidence in the minds of our children and co-workers.

The greatest gift we have to offer is that of time, for time is the stuff life is made of. As our only nonrenewable resource, it is precious. What greater way of expressing love, than by devoting time to those we care about and those in need?

Contribute to my blog and experience the JOY OF GIVING!!