Shell Box - Vacation Memento

 Summer is just around the corner and chances are you may find yourselves on a beach somewhere on your next vacation. So I thought it might be nice to throw out something fun to do while on the beach. 

 If you are anything like me, once every one is moved in and settled you will want to go for a walk on the beach. I have been doing this since I was a small child. Some of my best memories are walking the beach picking up shells with my, Mom and Grand mom. All of us loved to go shelling. Shelling is relaxing and educational all at the same time. It is a wonderful way to share your knowledge of sea creatures with your children or learn about them together.

  Once you have gathered all of your treasures from the sea, what do you do with them? Why not make a Shell Box? It could be your vacation souvenir. Some call these boxes sailor's valentines.

  It has been said that sailors would make beautiful boxes for their Valentine's while they were out to sea. When the sailors would return home they would present these lovely valentines to their sweethearts. You could make a shell box and take it home as a  reminder of your wonderful vacation.
 This activity is wide ranging anyone from toddler to adult can do this craft. Its a fun way to relax by yourself or bod with your children or vacation buddies. (your not going to want young children to use the E600 but they can help with the finding and placing of the shells as will as helping with the inside of the box.) 

  

 To start all you will need is a box (it can be any box, any size or shape) that you can lift the top off of. I used a small cheese box, a candy box would work well too. Use what you have. You will also need painters tape, E600, a glue stick, small scissors and shells. You may want to bring the tape, E600, glue stick and scissors with you on your trip. That way you will not have the stress of finding supplies while trying to have a relaxing vacation. The good thing is, these supplies are small and will not take up much room in your travel bag.

 Are you ready to make your vacation souvenir?
 Start by gluing your shells onto the outside rim of your box lid. 

 Tear off several pieces of painter's tape and stick them to the edge of your table. This way they will be handy for you to grab when needed. Once you placed a shell on your box put a piece of tape around it so that it will not move while it is drying. 

 Do this all the way around the box.

 Back to why this could be a great vacation idea. So, you want to take home a souvenir. 

While the shells are drying on the sides of your box lid start gathering up the brochures or a real estate ad book of your vacation spot.

 Grab the kids and start cutting pictures and words out of the material that remind you of your trip. This project does not have to be done in a day. Maybe it's raining and the kids need something to do or you just want to work on this alone while kids are playing outside or napping. Maybe you don't even have children but you would like a project for a rainy or hot day.  

 Once you have all your pictures cut out start gluing your collection of pictures and words onto the inside of your box top.  

 You will also want to do the same thing on the inside of your box lid. 

 Now that you have the insides of your box finished, its time to start working on the outside of your box. Anything goes here. Do what makes you happy. I started with the center shell on the top of my box and then started working out.

 I glued more shells around my sharks eye shell (the center shell).

 Filling in spaces I continued working on the top of the box. 

                                      

 If you ever feel like your shells will not stay in place just use your painters tape to secure your shells. I used the same small pieces of tape over and over again.

 Once you have the top of your box looking the way you want it to, start working on the sides of your box again.

 Remember the tape is your friend and you can always stop and take a brake.

Time for ice cream maybe?

 This little box was so much fun to make and I will always have a small remembrance of a wonderful trip with my sweet husband.

 I hope that you to will find a little joy in creating a special little memento of your vacation.

Ascension

 Good Morning! My friends. Tomorrow we will celebrate the resurrection of our great king!

Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! Our King, our savior!

 We give God the glory, thank you Heavenly Father. How did you do it? The pain had to have been unbearable. Yet you watched your son die a sinners death so we could have life. So we, me, could rest knowing we are forgiven. There has never been a greater gift given. Thank you Father.

"He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the Angels of God were ascending and descending on it. " Genesis 28:12 NIV

 Jesus, can you see the angels like in Jacob did in his dream? Are they dancing in the clouds? They must be singing Hallelujah with trumpets, flutes, harps and tambourines playing a magnificent melody.

 Your crown no longer a crown of thorns but now a crown of glory. What it must be like to see the glory of the Lord.

 Are my loved ones dancing with you today? Their shadows no more reflecting on the walls yet the memories of them forever in our hearts.

 "a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance" Ecclesiastes 3:4 NIV

"The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels." Revelations 3:5 NIV

 Rachel and I wish you, your family and friends a wonderful Easter. May we all rest in the truth of His resurrection. 

 This sculpture is called Ascension by ginny Taylor.
It is now on display at the Art Center Manatee in Bradenton Florida. I hope you have the opportunity  to see it person.

This is what I saw

Attending church on a Sunday morning just like each week before, standing in a row, one of many, in a room of hundreds. God spoke to me. It had been just a week or so but it seems to feel like an eternity when you just can't feel the presence of God. When you worship and fall to your knees in prayer yet you don't even hear a gentle whisper back. Then after seeking His face, He did not reveal His own. But rather, in a quick flash He says," This is what I saw" with a picture as clear in mind as if it was on my Instagram feed. Jude my first born, my son, with a sharp piercing crown of thorns set on top of his head. I was wrecked and a few tears slipped down my cheek.

Jesus was a man, he had flesh that bled, scared and ached. He was a friend, brother, son and a first born child. The suffering and death of Jesus has been depicted in movies and reenacted yearly by millions of churches. Sometimes these movies and plays can draw emotion or even a tear or two. But, it should wreck you just reading it in black and white. I admit, I have been desensitized to the gospel for years. Until my Heavenly Father made it real to me, that He put His son on that cross. The son he watched say his first word and cheered on as he took his first steps. The son he watched become a great teacher and friend. The son that wept when he saw his friends hurting and healed many others in pain. The son that prayed so anxiously in the garden that his sweat turned to blood. A good Father, set this in motion, for his first born son to die a gruesome, prolonged and painful death. Good Friday, good, holy, Friday. He was whipped 39 times with ropes adorned with lead and bone that would grab at his flesh ripping and bruising with every lash. Bound to a post and stripped of his clothing.

A dad sat and watched his little boy being tortured mercilessly to show you mercy, to show me mercy. A dad watched his first born son dripping in blood aching with every step carrying a cross to "the place of the skull". There a mother waited, watched and whaled as nails were driven into her little boys hands and feet. A mother and a Father looked upon there child's face, seeing him as the little boy whom they "lost" in Jerusalem, the carpenter, the teacher. A mother and Father looked upon their child's face as he said, "It is finished". See, with every blow of that whip, with every mock of the tongue, with every swing of the hammer, God wasn't just watching His Son, He was looking at us saying, you, you are worth it, this is how much I. LOVE. YOU.

"When his parents found him, they were amazed. His mother said, "Son why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been very worried, and we have been searching for you!" Jesus answered, "Why did you have to look for me? Didn't you know that I would be at my Fathers house?""

Luke 2: 48-49 CEV

Someday

Have you ever spent hours even days on a project?

Have you ever felt like God was asking you to do something?

Have you ever felt God's calling?

Have you ever obeyed him & spent hours doing what he asks of you?

What happens when you are almost finished and he says,

"delete"?

This is a photograph of the beginning of the second sculpture I ever made. I had taken no classes on sculpting at the time. I had however, read a couple books on the topic.
The Lord brought this sculpture to my mind this morning as he was telling me very loudly, " delete everything you wrote on the blog yesterday." Of course my reaction was," What! You had me up all night speaking to me and the next day I spent all day researching and writing our next post." The Lord told me again. "Delete it, do not save it, delete it." This morning I obeyed and deleted the whole thing.

"Finally, brothers and sisters whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." Philippians 4:8

Do you ever find yourself questioning God and asking him why?
Perhaps, like me, God is teaching you. All that work that I deleted this morning was for my knowledge, it was God teaching me, molding me.

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:16-17
spoke to my heart and here I am a day later with a memory to share with you.

Several years ago, I had the desire to sculpt. I bought some clay and began. What an incredible experience. My hands moved over the clay as if God was moving them. The feel, the touch, the solid wet malleable' substance within and beneath my hands, were moving as if magic.

When I am creating most often I am praying. I feel God's presence while I work. I also know that if it were not but by his grace there would be no works by Ginny Taylor.

This sculpture was to be of my son in law Josh. After Josh had seen my first sculpture he was very kind and encouraging, he asked me if I would sculpt him. I cannot tell you how flattered I was that he really thought I could do that. I did not have that same confidence.  Like God says," All things are possible to those who trust me." So trust I did. Without hesitation I jumped right in and started the process of sculpting Josh. The first step was to study Josh's face, to take measurements and a lot photos. He was a real trooper though all of that. Once I had the photos developed and on hand I brought out the clay. I started pushing clay and praying to the Lord, "Move my hands Lord, may I be a vessel, will you do your work through me Lord? " We moved clay together. I never felt alone. With each push of the clay feeling God's presence, we would add clay and take pieces of clay away. Just like he did with me the night before last, giving me a word and yesterday, asking me to delete them and again today as I share a piece of myself with you. The lord is always moving in our lives and shaping us into the person he wants us to be.

When my sculpture was finish I could not believe it, it really did look a lot like Josh.
I thanked God for how this sculpture turned out. I knew I could not have made this sculpture without His hands guiding me.

It took several hours over many days to create this sculpture and I loved every minute of the process. It was a time of refection, learning and molding of myself. I felt God was showing me how he works, his process of molding us. This was important to me because I learn by touch. You could tell me one hundred times how God molds us, reveals scripture after scripture and I might not fully understand. While going through the process of actually shaping, molding and creating something has given me a whole new level of understanding.

I will have to say when it was time to show my family I was nervous. That thing called self, crept in, scared of failure, disappointment, self doubt. I started questioning.,"Would they like it?  Did it really resemble Josh?" After the wonderful process I had just been through "self" had to jump in and try to still my joy. This time I did not let it, thank goodness.  

Josh seemed pretty happy with the outcome, he even let me take photos of him with the sculpture. All was good. I was overjoyed with what God had created through me.

Then the unthinkable thing happened. While showing the rest of the family the sculpture I turned my easel and the sculpture fell to the floor. All of my hard work was squashed. Everyone's mouth fell open as they watched the sculpture hit the floor. I was in shock. I simply looked down and then walked out of the room. Everyone was saying things like," Oh Ginny we are so sorry." I said, " It's OK, it's not your fault, it was mine. I was not aware that could happen. I'm just learning sculpting, I should have been more careful." At that moment I told the family I would be right back. 

I then turned and went back into the studio. The Lord told me to pick up the sculpture, saying

"Just like I am not finished with you, you are not finished with this sculpture." I picked up the sculpture, placed it on back on the easel and I spent the rest of the evening being loved by family.

After my family had left that evening I thought about the squished sculpture on the floor and was reminded of how much God had thought me. 

The next morning I revisited that sculpture. It was not the sculpture I thought I had created for Josh anymore. It was the sculpture God used in teaching me. All that time I spent sculpting thinking that I was making a sculpture for someone else, while God was molding me, showing me He loves me, He can use me and that He created me just like I created that sculpture. 

As I looked at the squished face on the sculpture I began a new process, of taking away the old so it could one day be made new again.

I saved as much of the face us I could. Then I let the sculpture dry for a few days. Once it was dry enough I hollowed the sculpture out. This is done so that the sculpture can dry properly and hopefully will not blow up when fired. A couple months later I took it to the art center and had it fired twice. Then this sculpture sat untouched for three years. I would walk by it from time to time and wonder how God would have me make this sculpture whole again?

While waiting, I was in a wonderful book club/bible study with some fabulous women, learning more about God's word. In this time of study I was journaling more than normal, after all, writing words and drawing pictures is a tactile process of learning. It was a wonderful experience. I saved this journal not knowing it would be used in a future sculpture.

During the waiting time I was also collecting things. Collecting is not unusual for me, I'm always collecting pieces for a future project. 

The time had come, to bring out the broken sculpture and make it whole again.

First, I needed to paint him flesh color. Then he needed a platform, next came the hair. Remember, this sculpture was missing half of his head.

I believe God was making room for those words and pictures I took down while journaling in my book club/bible study. I placed some of those pages inside of the sculpture's head.

All of the pieces came next. One by one they were connected, each one having it's purpose.
When all was said and done the sculpture had no name. I felt each person should be allowed to form their own interpretation.
Looking on it now I wonder if I should have called it "Complete? Yet I think not, for are any of Gods creations ever complete?"

"Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete". John 16:24

'No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.' 1 John 4:12