happy easter

It's Easter! This may well disappoint but this isn't a post filled with eggs, bunnies, chocolate, fluffy chicks or a mixture of the above. This is a canvas that I designed that hangs on our wall all year round to remind us that Jesus has risen! 

We remember this at Easter but really we can give thanks every day that Jesus conquered death once and for all on the cross. God loved us and blessed us but rather than acknowledging our maker, we have all turned away from him. Our selfishness has ruined the earth we live on and created a massive barrier between us and God. Instead of getting what we deserve he showed us amazing love and grace in sending his Son to live the obedient life we never could and dying the death that we deserve. He took our punishment even though he was betrayed, mocked and ridiculed all the way to the cross. 

Jesus wasn't just a good man; he was either the son of God sent to save us or a total nutter who voluntarily died an excruciating death for no reason! Who do you think he was? On Easter Sunday we remember how he rose from death and offered us new life in him. God always had a plan to save us from ourselves and on the cross all those promises came true. He longs for you to accept that you can't save yourself but instead put your trust in Jesus. Through him you can be forgiven and enjoy a relationship with your creator! This is the best news you'll ever hear because there is no way we can earn favour with a perfect and holy God. Even our kindest actions are tainted by selfishness. 

Too often we are looking all around us, desperately trying to find hope, happiness and fulfilment in the things of this world but it doesn't take too long before we realise these things never deliver the satisfaction they promise. But Jesus does and if our trust is in him alone, we receive an inheritance that lasts forever. Without Jesus we all deserve eternal punishment for how we've rebelled against a loving God but with him we have also defeated death and will live on in a world made new. This time there will be no sin to mess it up and we will give God the worship he deserves! Everything thing will be as it should.

If you'd like to make your own canvas you can download the artwork here and send to any canvas printing company. I used My Picture as it was really reasonable.

Tweet

hello shepherd's bush

If you’ve read my blog for a little while then you might well remember this post, written just before moving to London to set out on a bit of an adventure. God very obviously guided Nick and I to Shepherd's Bush to be a part of Trinity West Church. Reuben and Louisa Hunter, started the church from scratch in 2012 and by the time we were able to move to TW, it was a group of 22. Nick has been working as an intern for the church since November and we’ve both LOVED getting more and more involved in our new church family and are excited about our vision of reaching the local area with the good news of Jesus. It’s not without challenges but it has been really encouraging to be part of God's work so far. After launching publicly in January this year, God has already brought quite a few new people to join us, which is awesome!

Yesterday our new website was launched, so take a peak right here. Nick has spent hours getting the site up, running and looking slick. Seeing the end product you wouldn’t think this was his first time building a website! I worked on the above artwork for our current sermon series in Luke’s gospel and another fellow creative among us worked on a lot of the photography, the video and Exodus series artwork. 
If you live in the area and want to come along and join us on a Sunday morning, whether you’re a Christian or you’re just intrigued then please do. We’d love to have you. Jesus really is a saviour for ALL, no matter who you are, where you’re from or what you’ve done!

Tweet

happy birthday

The Lovely Drawer....

Wow! A whole year of blogging! It seems to have flown by. I started this blog with no real clue about blogging, no big idea and no real direction. All I knew was that I wanted a place to put all my creative endeavors, as well as all the things that inspire me. I was going through a bit of a creative draught, wanting to do more of my own design work but feeling dispondent and uninspired. I then discovered the exciting world of design blogs and started to feel my enthusiasm increase and ideas start flowing. Nick kept on telling me to start a blog of my own, to catalogue all the little projects I did and thought it might motivate me to get more creative. 

It's pretty handy that where I'm clueless Nick seems to have a bank of knowledge and if not, he'll learn what's needed super quick. He gave me a list of things I needed, I designed and he put the layout together and made it happen. He linked me up with social media, which I wouldn't have really given a second thought to, something I find pretty funny now. Without him this blog may well have been a stack of labelled drawings and diagrams that were never realised. 
Someone recently emailed to ask why I chose the name ‘The Lovely Drawer’ and I have to admit I hadn’t really thought about it since choosing way back then. I’d grown up with a Mum that couldn't bare to throw anything away, holding out hope that some day, some how, it might be used for something. She had an ability to see projects and uses in the simplist of things and so, much to my Dad's dismay each last bit was hoarded in various boxes and drawers in our loft. I remember excitedly rifling through this treasure trove, wondering what inspiring gems were lurking inside. I wanted my blog to be like that...an unexpected treat, a feast of colour and fun and hopefully something that might inspire other designers. I also had to slip the word 'lovely' into the name as it's perhaps one of my most used words. I'm reasonably convinced I overuse this little adjective but it's my default describer. 
I very quickly realised how much I enjoyed blogging and it certainly has focused my creativity and woven design opportunities into more and more everyday situations. I’ve also learnt a lot! It’s been a constant source of development for all my design skills, which has been brilliant. I can look back at my beginning posts and cringe a little because I’ve progressed since then and I’m sure I’ll say the same in another years time because I know I have so much to learn! But really none of these skills or gifts are mine to celebrate. Any gifting I have comes direct from God and should bring glory to him. I love that I can express my creativity and hope that it shows just a tiny fragment of God’s awesome and far superior creativity. He made the whole Earth; vast mountains, deep oceans, artistic sunsets, colourful seasons, weird and wonderful animals and complex human beings. Everything hangs together as it should because God is a creator and he’s made us to reflect something of who he is. Unsurprisingly, that’s why no matter what our skills, hobby or vocation, so often we end up using our gifts to create and cultivate. This mirrors something far bigger and greater than ourselves! I'm so glad it does, otherwise what's the point?

Tweet

merry christmas

In amongst all the frills and thrills of Christmas day it's easy to lose sight of what we're celebrating, when in fact it's the best news ever to hit this world. God came to this earth as a man, giving up the glory of heaven for a humble life as a human named Jesus. He shone his light into this dark and corrupt world on a mission to save us. By nature we have all rejected and rebelled against God, but in Jesus at Christmas God sends the remedy. He restored the relationship that we broke and gave us new life in him if we just believe.


Photograph sourced from Bonjour Tristesse

Tweet

stencil pro test drive

Some posts ago I excitedly talked about the Stencil Pro set I got for my Birthday. This is a home alternative to screen printing that uses natural light and no chemicals (pretty clever). Our little break provided the perfect opportunity to try the kit out and create some wall art for our home. It takes a bit of trial and error to workout the amount of time to expose it in the sun, as the recommended time lengths are for sunny San Francisco rather than cloudy England, but I got there in the end.

I created this wall art as another little reminder that every new day belongs to God. It's all too easy to start a day with my own agenda, planning my time as if it's my own, using my money as if it belongs to me, using my energy as if God isn't the one sustaining me, approaching people as if they fit into my plan rather than God's and using my gifts and talents as if they're my own. God is Lord over each day and anything we've been given to work with, is evidence of God's grace in our life. Each day is not really about us at all. Instead it's an opportunity to faithfully use what he's given us and live in a way that glorifies our Creator because he is completely perfect, totally just, more loving than any of us could ever be and a whole lot bigger than we are!

Tweet