I Love 🥰 Emojis
What are your favorite emojis?
Ask anyone who gets messages from me. I love emojis! 💝 There’s something about being able to say a lot with a tiny form. A picture speaks a thousand words, right? And when I downloaded Google’s Gboard keyboard and got access to their “emoji kitchen” to create my own, that was the whipped cream and cherry on top.
I’m not sure why Day One chose this for their 1921st prompt, because so many emojis only show up as little boxes here on WordPress, but I still love the idea, so I’m experimenting. I’ve downloaded a lot of the mixed ones I created to share in a collage, and they’ll show fine since they’re pictures. Like this set of train emojis from messages I sent to my sister while she was on the train last year.
I really love the train that’s slipping on a banana peel. That was from combining a train emoji with a banana emoji. You should be able to tell what was combined to get each image. I highly recommend the Gboard app for the personal dictionary and the Glide Typing abilities as well. I don’t know if it’s available anywhere but the Google Play Store, but if you can get it, I’m relatively certain you’ll have fun with it. Go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin
And here are some new ones I just made tonight. As you can tell, I like combining the cactus with different things. Oh, and sparkles. I love adding sparkles to other emojis.
Most of these should be obvious, but the wooden globe may not give away that it’s a combo of the earth and a wooden stump. The frying pan is the combo of a dinner plate and an egg. But I cannot do a train and a cactus, so here’s what you get when you choose to do the two types of cactus 🌵 and 🏜️ (I hope these show) inline with a text…
So, yes, I think you can clearly see that I really like using emojis as a communications tool. I hope this inspires someone to have some fun with these great compact emotions.
Now, since April 27th is also “National Tell A Story Day,” I have one more treat for you. It’s a very old story, some sites say a song, that I learned when I was a teenager. I never sang it until I taught it to my nephews and had them sing it like a military marching cadence for their uncle. As I searched, it seemed all the sites had slightly different words, so I’m using the ones I recall from my years of repeating this tongue tangler of backward, inside-out, and upside-down words..
I started with the introduction of...
Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,
Cross-eyed mosquitos and bowlegged ants.
I stand before you, not behind you,
To address you, not undress you.
Admission is free, pay at the door.
Pull up a chair and sit on the floor.
I come to this end, not to this out,
To tell you a story--I know nothing about.
~~~~~~~~and then the story~~~~~~~~
One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other
Pulled out their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to kill the two dead boys.
If you don't believe my story is true,
Ask the blind man... He saw it too!
One day, I’ll tell you the story of Petey the Snake. But it’s best to hear it, so I’ll need to get over myself and be willing to record it. But wait, there’s more. I just had to make my juggling emojis with the knit filter. Too cute!
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My Own Creative Muse
Like the character Cameo in yesterday’s story, I feel like I have the voice of a “muse” in my mind that drives me to create. Unlike Cameo, I haven’t turned away from that voice completely, though I’ve gone through dry spells. Maybe that’s why the story came to me and made me examine the relationship between our thought lives and our real lives. And if you ever battle with the still, small voice like Elijah, maybe Cameo’s journey will be enjoyable for you as well.
Though it’s not time to share more of her story yet, I want to share just a little from recent creative endeavors. The above photo is a close-up from the first good blooms on an azalea plant hubby got for me a few years ago. He did the research to find out what would make it grow, and it paid off well. I’m thrilled with the plant and with the pictures. I added a sparkly frame on this one because I knew how it would affect the images I got from Wombo Dream AI. Get ready for a barrage of pink and full instructions for any why might want to try designing images in Wombo.
So my first stop was to their browser page because they recently updated it with a new “edit” button. You can upload an image, and then tell it how you want it edited. Maybe you want the flowers in purple or the sky in green. Put your thoughts in the prompt box, and let it go to work. I told it I wanted the image in stained glass. The outputs were the same in the app as in the browser, so here are some from the app before I added the frame…
You can visit the website without downloading the app, so you can make your own fun edits at https://dream.ai/ and click on the “Start Creating” button. On the creation page, you can use my prompt (below) if you like, or create your own. When you add a prompt, you’ll notice a button that says enhance. That button will add some fancy extra prompts that are well trained into the AI. Once you have the prompt you want, it’s time to select a filter. Anything that doesn’t say “Premium” is okay to use. The latest filters are V4, and the V3 filters also work well. Once your filter is selected, you can choose generate to make your picture. It will download with a watermark if you don’t have premium, but it’s not bad and may be able to be cropped out in another program if it really bothers you. Here’s the prompt…
Turn these beautiful magenta azaleas into a stained glass window.
This is just the beginning of what you can do. You’ll notice you have image sizes to choose from in case you want to make a phone wallpaper size or a Facebook header size. And then you can look toward the bottom for the browse button where you can upload your own image. Or mine if you’ve downloaded it. That’s why I make most of my images Creative Commons. At some point, the page may ask you to create an account in order to download your images. I’m not sure if the gallery to store your images comes with every account, or only on the app, but having lost a number of gallery photos when they crashed last year, I recommend actually saving your favorites to a permanent location.
Now, because I’m a fan of abstract creations, there is a V2 filter I go to often. I’ll share the collage and prompt for that, and I hope to hear from readers that you’ve tried this for yourself and had as much fun with it as I do. The prompt (for use with the image at the top and with their enhanced additions) is…
Turn this into a beautiful stained glass window with the original magenta pink azalea and pink glitter frame colors intact. Intricate lead lines separating vibrant glass pieces, sunlight streaming through to cast colorful reflections, delicate floral motifs surrounding the azalea, subtle gradients blending pinks and purples, the window set against a softly illuminated stone wall, enhanced by shimmering highlights on the glitter frame that catch the light at different angles.
And here are the images…
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A Way (to Play) with Words
Since I’m in a poetry vein for April, I thought I’d create a decorated word tile poem from Magnetic Poetry® and show you how I do it.
First, go visit the Magnetic Poetry® Online website at https://magneticpoetry.com/pages/play-online
Once there, you’ll click one of the boxes to choose the set of tiles you want to work with. They are just like the ones you can get for home except that you won’t drop one and lose it until you find it under the refrigerator years later. 😂 You can choose from “Original Kit,” “Poet Kit,” “Mustache Poet,” or “Nature Poet” on the front page. Once you select your kit and go to the play page, they’ve also added “Love” and “Geek” to the selections.
On that page, you’ll have a myriad of words to play with. In addition to regular words, you’ll also notice the s, ing, r, es, and other endings you may need to create the right tense of your poetic lines. You’ll notice my “you + r” to make “your” in the above image, and the combining of in and to for “into” in one line. It’s a little bit of work lining them up (in real life kits as well), but it’s part of the creative fun. Also, the pile of word tiles you see is not all that’s available. You’ll see a button to add more words at the bottom, and it will give you a whole different batch from the same kit.
After you’ve played and created some fun lines, you can save and share it if you’re willing to give them your name and email address. If you plan to order any poetry tiles for home, you’ll likely give that to them anyway unless you choose to order from another source like Amazon. If you want to do what I did, just screenshot the whole page. But, before you do that, I recommend you move the piles of unused tiles as far away as possible, so you’ll have plenty of room for cropping your final image.
Once I’ve got my screenshot, I open the image in the Photo Studio Pro app. I can’t tell you how other programs/apps work yet because that’s all I’ve played with so far. In the app, I crop out all the extraneous page info and save just the white background with black-on-white words. It’s not bad just like that, but I like pretty papers and stuff, so my next step is to use the app’s blend menu to create a background. They have a lot of gorgeous designs to choose from, or you can choose your own images or browse an online page from Pixabay public domain images. You can even have their AI design a background for you. And then, you’ll just use the slider to make the image as dark or light as you want with your words.
Here is a collage of my screenshot, then cropped, then blended image…
I saved my original cropped image as a “project” in the app, so I can go back and play with different backgrounds if I want. And there you have it; a way to play with words. I’d love to see your creations if this technique works for you. Maybe I can create a group on Flickr (my favorite photo site) just for people doing the online poetry tiles. Now, go play with words.
Here’s one more quick set of small ones I made recently…
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🎵 Savage Grace Release Day!
(All Rights Reserved)
I’ve listened to the song multiple times now, and it’s got great lyrics, vocals, and music. Super proud of my brother!
As I promised from his story in yesterday’s post, I’m bringing my readers the video release and some links where you can get a copy for yourself. If you are a radio listener, you’re welcome to ask your local Christian station to give it some airplay as well. Help me help him make this a great release week with lots of interest.
So first, here’s the link from YouTube…
Next, here’s his website info where you can find his Facebook and Instagram pages, check out some of his merch, and sign up for his newsletter… https://www.shaynesavage.com/ And while you’re there, I recommend a scroll to his Liner Notes (blog) for some perspective posts. The latest post is all about the difference in faith and trust. Go directly to that one by visiting the next link…
I’d love some comments here, or if you stop by his Facebook page, please tell him you found out about him from his big sister. 😁 Enjoy the music, and thanks for letting me have a little time to promote this talented musician and singer.
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Grace by DNA Story–About Shayne
It all started one Valentine’s Day in 2018. A life-changing blessing with a journey that still continues.
Back in the early 2000s, hubby found a company that did DNA to look for genealogical connections. I was happy when he found a few cousins and wanted the same experience. But they didn’t do women’s DNA. Fast forward to Ancestry DNA, and they did. So my gift was the test kit, though I was really hesitant to spit in that tube. That hesitancy pushed me to the middle of the year, but I think the timing was perfect.
Shortly after my results came in, hubby was viewing the site since we had it in his name, and he told me, “You’ve got a message on Ancestry that I think you’re gonna want to see.” And there was this beautiful message from someone Ancestry said could be a very close cousin or grandchild. What? I’m thinking, wait I’ve already seen how the numbers look for my first cousins, and these numbers are way higher. I did some quick research to see how the stats work on DNA, and ours were more likely to be half-siblings. I’d met my other half-siblings, so this new connection was both confusing and exciting.
I wrote back right away and told this new relative that I thought he was likely my brother, and I’d be so excited to get to know him better. Then I called my half-sister in Texas and told her I thought we had another brother. There’d been a bit of distance between my dad and I for a few years (that’s a whole ‘nother story), so she called him to ask if we had another brother. At first, he said we didn’t, so I checked with his brother, my uncle, and he said he wasn’t even in Arizona during that year. Now this called for prayer. In the meantime, we spoke on the phone, and I learned that he’d been adopted as an infant and had never met anyone to whom he was blood related.
Fast forward to May of 2019, and Shayne, with his wife Heather, were on their way from Canada to the US for our first meeting. That’s the first image above, but the airport background wasn’t pretty, so I replaced it. Hubby made them the welcome sign they’re holding and has been a huge support as God has expanded this territory in my life. It would take too many words to tell you all we discovered about each other, but it was so neat every time Heather would notice similarities and state, “Oh, you guys are definitely brother and sister!” Though he’s a bit bolder as you can see by his fishtank antics. 😁
We met again in October of 2019 in Nashville, and shortly after that, I was able to fix things with my dad enough to get a phone call from him and then plan a visit to see him and his wife. During those calls and visits, I was able to tell him all he was missing by not acknowledging this son of his, and I quoted him a Bible verse to dissuade some of the guilt he may have been fighting about not having been there all his life. Of course, he was excused because of not knowing about Shayne, but I still wanted him to feel like God showed favor to him because of children he had fathered–not necessarily children he had always raised. That verse is…
Psalm 127:4-5 BSB
[4] Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth. [5] Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.127.4-5.BSB
Now forward to November when Hubby and I were able to get a stay in Branson, Missouri, for ourselves and my sister and brother-in-law. She’s the one with whom I share both parents, and we were raised together for most of our growing up time. We all went together to the small Missouri town where our dad lived with his bride of 10 years, Cheryl. We had a wonderful visit with both of them, and we left with encouragement for our dad to contact Shayne. On Christmas Day of 2019, my brother heard his father’s voice for the very first time. (happy tears)
All the wheels were put in motion for Shayne to meet his (our) father after the winter weather let go in Canada, but that was 2020, so you know what happened there. Borders couldn’t have been shut any tighter. And again, we all went to prayer. In the meantime, I lost a very dear aunt in Arizona who was like a mom to me and my sister. That was just before the lockdown, and it filled the year with chaos and stress. Meanwhile, a good friend was watching her mom struggle with Alzheimer’s, and I was trying to be supportive of her. A crazy year but God’s presence sustained all of us.
Sometime in the late summer of 2020, my brother was able to find a way to get him and his wife Heather across the Canadian border. And they drove down to meet Dad. I was getting the play-by-play and so excited for both of them. Almost a week later, I got a call from the friend whose mom was struggling offering to take me to Missouri to see my brother and my dad. I will never be able to pay that gift back, and I’m forever grateful for the moments she gave our family before Dad left this world. And the miracle of timing for my brother to meet his father and our father to meet his son. (melt)
Again, there’s so much more to tell (which is why I want to write the Grace by DNA book), including the fact that I got another sister out of the deal because Heather and I also shared a lot of similarities–especially about spiritual things. So I’ll close this here by telling you why I chose to share all of this today. It’s because tomorrow’s blog will be all about a big event for my brother, and I’m super proud of him. He is releasing his first single from what will be his first album. I’ll share his website and teaser for tonight, and all the release stuff, including why he chose his particular performer name, tomorrow.
This YouTube page has links to Shayne’s website (where you can sign up for his newsletter), Facebook, Spotify, and Instagram…
https://youtube.com/@shaynesavagemusic?si=j2u8FhzTK-7x8PjG
And here’s the teaser from his Insta post…
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🎵Photo Walking
What’s the most fun way to exercise?
Daily Prompt by Day One
If I can get myself out the door with a camera around my neck, I tend to enjoy the steps I get a little more. A trip–back in 2022–to Azalea Path in Indiana is my favorite of all time. I’ve been there more than once, but that year, we just seemed to arrive during the best color display I’ve seen there. Here’s a collage of some of the captures from that day, all straight out of the camera (SOOC). It was cloudy, so I used a higher color setting, but I was very happy with a few of the shots out of 1200+ I captured. I especially love the ones with waterfalls.
© 2022-2026 (All Rights Reserved)
And even though these are not lilies, this reminder from the words of YahShua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ The Messiah) are a fitting comfort that goes well with such an array of colors.
Luke 12:27-28 BSB
[27] Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. [28] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!
https://bible.com/bible/3034/luk.12.27-28.BSB
And since I used that verse, well, I might as well share the beautiful song with the same words, right?
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🎵A Little Purple Bliss
After all the heavy-on-theology posts of the last couple months, I think it’s time for a little purple playfulness. My irises started blooming, so while I was outside talking to a neighbor, I got some shots with my Pixel 9 phone camera. With a favorite selected, I went to Photo Studio Pro (by KVADGroup App Studio at Google Play Store) to crop and frame it, and then to my Mirror Lab app to create kaleidoscope designs. They were a little more dull than I liked, so I took a few of those designs to Wombo Dream AI and tried a few different filters for variety. Once I had a nice collection of images, I went back to Photo Studio Pro to put them into a collage with one of the Mirror Lab images as the frame background.
So there you have it. If you’re a purple lover, you should really enjoy this one. 🟣 💜🟪 And just in case you REALLY like purple, here’s an article at the Houzz website with lots of pictures of purple kitchens: https://www.houzz.com/photos/purple-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~a_88-7?pg=5
And with that, I say goodnight and I hope you had fun during International Jumping Over Things Day.
Oh, and just because I can, I have to include this video of Sheb Wooley singing One Eyed, One Horned, Flying Purple People Eater…
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🎵Proverbs 22: Self-Pottering Much?
I’m keeping this one short to allow readers to just enjoy the many wacky images in the collage. You can read all of Proverbs Chapter 22 at Bible Hub in the Berean Standard Bible (or change to a different version once you’re there) by clicking on the highlighted words.
My focus is on verse 2…
Proverbs 22:2 WEBUS
[2] The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.22.2.WEBUS
And I want to add the verse from Isaiah 64:8…
Isaiah 64:8 WEBUS
[8] But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
https://bible.com/bible/206/isa.64.8.WEBUS
I chose these to follow up on the Potter topic from yesterday about letting God remake our hearts. And the reason He can remake them is because He knows the original mold and how it was intended to come out. So when we see Him as our Creator, Maker, Father, etc., we can trust that we are, indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made as He designed.
But so often, we think we know best. Like a teenager who thinks they know everything about life, and parents know nothing, we all have our moments where we are certain our own way is better. An abundance of the Proverbs were written to warn people to avoid that kind of thinking.
Back in 2024, I wanted to see what Wombo would do with a prompt about a clay vessel trying to create itself. That’s where I came up with the term self-pottering to describe the effort of trying to make our lives perfect on our own and without God’s assistance or guidance. The crazy results in the collage, and especially the facial expressions, show the failure well. And for that reason, we want to pray for God’s perfect will above all else. That goes perfectly with the song Have Thine Own Way, Lord…
Pray with me for my desire to avoid self-pottering (and the anxieties that come with it) and keep the final verse active in my life:
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Hold over my being absolute sway
Filled with Thy spirit till all can see
Christ only always living in me
Christ only always, living in me! May it be your prayer, too.
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Proverbs 18: Finding Good “God” Things
(©All Rights Reserved)
You can see Proverbs Chapter 18 right in the picture, so it seemed like the perfect image for this post. And, yes, I know hubby doesn’t exactly have a “Wow, I’ve really found something good” look, but in the original image, it’s obvious he’s in a lot of pain. So, the skin softening and background decor make it a little better. I tried the facial expression changer, and a fake smile definitely did not work for him. Lol 😆.
Anyway, the verse you see on this wonderful gift of shirts hubby got for us on our last anniversary is from 18:22 and reads…
Proverbs 18:22 WEBUS
[22] Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of Yahweh.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.22.WEBUS
As I opened my Bible app to read today’s chapter, I was shocked at how colorful it was from highlights I’d left with previous readings. I read in multiple versions, and most had a variety of colorful highlights already. A few examples of my highlights (which I will quote from the WEBUS version because it’s copyright-free and a bit easier to understand than King James Version but I’ve linked to both of them) are:
Blue highlights for verses that make me sad like…
Proverbs 18:2 WEBUS
[2] A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.2.WEBUS
That makes me sad because I’m a natural teacher, so a person who doesn’t have any desire to understand is also one who rejects teaching. Plus, I know what they’re missing out on by not having any willingness to at least investigate for themselves, especially with God’s Word.
I highlight in green for the verses I see as urging me or others to go forward and do something. Like these 2 verses that instruct how to hide and seek…
Proverbs 18:10 WEBUS
[10] Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.10.WEBUS
And
Proverbs 18:15 WEBUS
[15] The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.15.WEBUS
I use red highlights for warnings…
Proverbs 18:3 WEBUS
[3] When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.3.WEBUS
Proverbs 18:21 WEBUS
[21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.21.WEBUS
And I do a lot of turquoise highlights for encouraging Scriptures. That’s a little harder with so many verses in Proverbs including both the good results of good behavior and the bad consequences of bad behaviors all in the same verses. But here are a few…
Proverbs 18:4 WEBUS
[4] The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.4.WEBUS
Proverbs 18:16 WEBUS
[16] A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.16.WEBUS
Proverbs 18:20 WEBUS
[20] A man’s stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.18.20.WEBUS
And then I have a variety of yellow and orange and tan to remind me to study more or focus on certain verses. In The Bible App by YouVersion, when you highlight verses, they share to your community stream (if you allow that in settings), so it’s a great way to share what has affected you in your current studies. I often end up highlighting a verse I see highlighted by a friend because it may be in a version I haven’t read or they combined the verse with one that makes me consider it differently. I love that living aspect of God’s Word and highly recommend reading it for yourself to see how God speaks “good” to you from His love letter of the ages.
I’ll close with a video of a song I’ve never heard before called “Happy the Home When God is There” from 1846. This singer says, “Happy our home” and I liked it best for voices and the key on lyric videos.
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Proverbs 7: Signs At the Crossroads of Temptation
You’d think it would be an easy decision to choose the correct door, right? I mean, dark and stormy versus light and sunny seems like a clear choice even without the warning signs. Read the warnings and story of caution from Solomon to his children in Proverbs 7, then ask yourself whether you would be wiser than the young man lacking judgment in the story. I hope we all would be stronger, but as I read about the way the woman works to deceive him, I can see the abundance of those deceits and lies in our present world. Sadly, the signs are usually more like what the AI had on them before I edited, a bunch of gibberish that’s almost impossible to comprehend. (The guy in the picture has it really easy now that I used my Photo Studio Pro app to give him the right signs. 😁) But we have The Holy Spirit to give us signs now. We’re promised that we will all find Him and know Him if we seek Him with our whole heart.
Jeremiah 31:34 BSB
[34] No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jer.31.34.BSB
Hebrews 8:11 BSB
[11] No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/heb.8.11.BSB
Solomon knows the decision is not easy no matter who you are or how much wisdom you have access to. It’s the wisdom you commit to and hide in your heart that will help the most. So Solomon begs his children to grab the wisdom he’s making available to them and hold on for dear life. He tells them a cautionary tale of a young man who refused to listen to wisdom and walked into a death trap.
It’s an old story, you know. As old as the garden in creation. Temptation snags the one who’s not prepared or paying attention. And usually those things are lacking because of one of three things: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. Those 3 are the foundational traps that caught Eve at the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” not paying attention (to the right things) and unprepared. (See Genesis 3:1-6.) Examining the tree for what it might bring her made her forget the warnings from her husband and her God. She saw its beauty, she desired to taste it, and she wanted it to make her wise. And we know how all those desires ended.
But here’s the good thing: the enemy (ha satan) tried the same three temptations on YahShua (Jesus). But even after 40 days of fasting, The Lord was fully aware of the deceit and lies, and He did not give in. Instead, He had an answer for each of the temptations thrown at Him. He kept the victory by using Scripture, and so can we. He was tempted in EVERY WAY we can be tempted and walked away victorious, so we could face the same things and find the strength we need in Him.
For the lust of the flesh, use...
Deuteronomy 8:3 BSB (or Matthew 4:4 or Luke 4:4)
[3] He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/deu.8.3.BSB
For the lust of the eyes, use...
Deuteronomy 6:13 CSB (or Luke 4:8)
[13] Fear the Lord your God, worship him, and take your oaths in his name.
https://bible.com/bible/1713/deu.6.13.CSB
And, for the pride of life, use...
Luke 4:12 BSB (or Deut 6:16)
[12] But Jesus answered, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/luk.4.12.BSB
Finally, the Apostle Paul gives us great advice when he tells us the right things on which to focus our minds…
Philippians 4:8 WEBUS
[8] Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
https://bible.com/bible/206/php.4.8.WEBUS
And that’s a good place to end with a video I found with the help of Google’s Gemini AI. I’ve never heard it before, but the a capella harmonies, the lyrics, and the visuals are all beautiful. It’s called The Wayside Cross by C. L. St. John…
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A Kaleidoscope Heart
I’m not certain when I looked into my first kaleidoscope, but I know when I first got really hooked on them. There was a big presentation at the Kentucky Center for the Arts back in 1993. Somehow, I got a ticket to it, and I got to take a class and build my first kaleidoscope. Shortly thereafter, I won a contest and used the prize money to buy my first professional kaleidoscope. It was made by Shelley Knapp, and I have an album of pictures from inside that scope on my Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/iY6dMcF580 though I have many I’ve not yet added to the album.
After beginning that collection, I somehow ran across this very low-priced piece of software called The Silicon Mirror program. I got the free trial but paid the $12 to purchase it before the trial was over, and have kept it installed on various computers and laptops ever since. They still have it available at https://www.torpor.com/ where you can find a variety of creative and colorful programs. I wish I could play with all of them every day.
Anyway, I was on Yahoo Photos back then and had started my first blog on Yahoo 360. I was also writing my first NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) novel, so I would update the blog with my word count and a picture made in Silicon Mirror each day. I was able to save that blog here at WordPress under “Crystal Writes in 360” but I haven’t gone back to check for writing and grammar imperfections there. It was mostly family reading it back then, so I’m not sure how many mistakes there are. But if you venture over there, you will see the beginnings of my digital kaleidoscope addiction, and many of them were made from pictures of pencils and pens to line up with writing for NaNo.
Yahoo Photos got purchased by Flickr around 2006, I think, so I started putting photos there almost from the beginning. I have tens of thousands of them in my unpublished photos there because I never want to share until I can correctly label everything. This perfectionism drive is one of my big battles that keeps me from getting things done (or makes me take way too long as is often the case with this blog). But you can look at my big collection of kaleidoscope images (some real, many digital, 1069 images & 5 videos all together) in the Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/pWx7X5586x
I have so much more I could say about kaleidoscopes, but I’ll close here for now with a collection I made in my Mirror Lab app using the image above. That image, by the way, was originally an inside scope picture that I edited in Photo Studio Pro to get it into a heart shape and then uploaded that to Wombo Dream AI and asked it to create a heart-shaped image. Here is the prompt I used in case you want to use it in your favorite AI image generator:
3D Heart-shaped kaleidoscope mandala with a 3d gilded edge and filled with colorful glittery prisms, on a black background with some super tiny golden sparkle in the black, HDR, pro photo, brilliantly lit, glowing, amazing atmosphere
And here’s the collection…
Many people tell me that they haven’t looked in a kaleidoscope since childhood. I highly recommend them for adults as tools to help with anxiety and stress because they create endorphins. I will do another post in the future with links to find kaleidoscopes online along with books and software because I really think they share what the name means, “beautiful image.” And I also believe they represent people the way God looks at His creation: all have beauty that is made more beautiful when light–especially God’s Light–shines through it. Let God light up your most beautiful aspects today and in the future, so you can be a kaleidoscope.
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Heart of Grass
It started snowing late on Sunday the 25th of January. And then the temps dropped, so by the time the entire 10-12 inches had dropped, it was trying to become a seasonal fixture. Single-digit and below zero temperatures stayed around for almost 2 weeks, and then today arrived. 16 days after the big storm, I finally saw grass in my yard again!
Yesterday, it warmed up enough for me to get outside and soak up some sunshine, but the yard was still almost completely white. It was so nice today, though to be greeted by the green stuff that had been hiding beneath the white blanket. My mind went straight to parody mode and thought of the title.
My next stop was to my Wombo Dream app to make some images to go with the title. Here are the prompt words I used…
Create a heart made of green grass in a field of multicolor grasses, pastoral scene, HDR, amazing atmosphere, beautiful scene, melting snow at the edges of the field, bright sunlight illuminates the scene
I tried a variety of filters and had some cool results. My favorites are usually abstracts, but the literal heart of glass seemed like the best intro picture, especially once I added a frame from the Photo Studio Pro app. (You can find that one at the Google Play Store by clicking on the name of the app). I also used that app to make a collage of all the different designs I created so readers can see a bit of my process. Here’s the collage…
So here’s hoping some green grass and sunshine, plus a whole lot more steps than usual, will actually be good for my heart. I know it was good for my spirit because I feel better than I’ve felt in the last 2 weeks.
While we were out, we grabbed dinner at one of my favorite places, so here’s a quick shout out to an excellent waiter at Texas Roadhouse just in case he stops by my blog. Michael, you were super friendly and did an excellent job tonight. I hope you find some fun reading here, enjoy some cool images, and later enjoy some great tea with your girlfriend. I really think the variety box from “Taylor’s of Harrogate” has some of the best teas, so (for Michael and all other readers here) click the title to find them at Amazon (affiliate link for tracking). My favorites are the Sour Cherry and Rose Lemonade, but all 8 flavors are delicious.
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Paper Snowflakes Aren’t As Cold
(CC BY-NC-SA)
Years ago, I found a wonderful website called ”Snowdays” where you could make online paper snowflakes to your heart’s content. They gave you a virtual piece of paper and a virtual pair of scissors, and you cut the little snips and zigzags just like you once did with a folded piece of paper from childhood. It checked all the boxes for fun, creativity, and surprise when you got to your final creation.
When I tried to visit tonight, I had warnings about the lack of ”https” but felt okay on my private network. Unfortunately, it just said coming soon, so maybe it will be back with a more secure site. In the meantime, I found a similar one called “Super Snowflake Maker” and it yielded the images in the collage above. I love that I could change the background color and also the number of sides/folds I wanted. It’s such a pleasant activity when housebound because you don’t want to go out when the temperature is in single digits with below zero wind chills, but I think it will also be fun in the middle of summer. Visit https://supersnowflakemaker.com/ to make your own, and put a link in the comments if you save them somewhere online.
I will likely add these to Flickr soon and hope I can reconnect with my former “Snowdays Flakers” from the group at https://www.flickr.com/groups/snowdaysflakers/ where no one has posted since 2018 but where you can also see some beautiful images. I plan to make more and use them for various projects and fun edits when I get the chance. In the meantime, you might like this fun book called Fantastic Snowflakes from a friend of mine, Mary Smith of “Home Crafted Artistry and Printing” as it includes step-by-step instructions for making paper snowflakes: (Amazon affiliate link for tracking) https://amzn.to/4rhduYn
If you’re in the colder 2/3 of the US right now, I hope this post leads to some fun that will warm you up a bit. Enjoy! ✨❄️☃️❄️✨
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Wombo Dream Butterfly Memories
When I first started using the Wombo Dream AI app, it was creative but lacking in crisp and defined images. The colors were pretty, but many of the images weren’t worth saving. That was around Christmas of 2022, and they were improving daily. I left a 4-star review and explained that horses having 3 legs and 2 tails wasn’t exactly 5 stars, but to keep improving. They replied with happy words for my review.
The images above were made on January 14th, 2024, so this is their 2-year anniversary. They came up in my memories in Amazon photos, and I decided they’d be the perfect share. There were a whole lot more, but I grabbed some of my favorites and let the AI in the Photo Studio Pro app for Android arrange them in a collage. I love that it did all the fitting, and all I had to do was change the background to create a frame I liked and hit save. I could stare at colors like this all day.
I saved a lot of my prompts before they started having problems near the end of 2024 when all the old prompts were erased. I think this may be a collection of some of the prompts I used: ”detailed butterfly with stained glass wings, in a garden of pastel flowers, colorful rays of light in the background, red, blue, purple, green, glittery, gold, silver, sparkles, colorful, sparkling, jeweled, jewel tones, bright, hot pink, glowing, garden, glitter, beautifully lit.” The next image is what I get now with these prompts and using the Dreamland V3 filter. You can see the details are better, so if they ever get everything fixed again, it will certainly be a wonderful app for playing with color and making butterfly memories.
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Playing With Butterflies
This is another one of those days I’m keeping things short because I’ve gotten myself either too busy or too distracted to take the writing time I’d like. But, the great thing about having a creative spirit, is that I can be creative in different ways.
For the image above, I took an old AI generated butterfly and used Photo Studio Pro to put it in a PIP (Picture-in-Picture) effect. I love playing with those. And as I played, I saw the words “no crop” and wondered what it meant. So cool… it was like adding an extra PIP layer.
Oh, but before the no crop move, I also went to the effects menu and added the sparkling hearts and stars.
I recommend this software, especially if you have Play Pass from Google where the app and all its effects are free. I would only give you one word of caution: It’s addictive. I find it far too easy to stay up way past my bedtime just playing with all the cool frames and effects. But if my readers enjoy my creations, it’s even more with it.
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Others’ Posts I’ve Liked
Crystal Writes A Blog 