How Much Faith Is Needed

Hello, my friends!  ¡Hola, amigos mios!  It was a very productive, yet relatively quiet week for me.  My wife is away with my youngest daughter, helping care for our grandsons, so I'm home alone with our dogs and cats.  I miss her, but she FaceTimes me daily, so I get to visit with my grandsons too!

Maggie
Conté Pastel Pencil Drawing on Toned Tan Paper
Friday Face Off 10/03/25
What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 852/72

Featured On 8/22/25

I want to begin by sharing a portrait I did of Magnolia (aka Maggie), my youngest daughter and her husband's dog.  She was a Weimaraner they adopted from a rescue, when she was about 3 years old.  She was a sweet, beautiful, and obedient dog who loved to snuggle with her parents, go on walks, and would always wait patiently for a scrap of food from the table.  Sadly, she got lung cancer, and did not survive.  I did the portrait about a year after they got her, but had forgotten about it.  After her passing this past week, I matted it and gifted it to them.  She will be missed dearly.

Happy Birthday Card
Freshly Made Sketches #706 - A Sketch by Amy

Next, I have a card I made for my youngest daughter's upcoming birthday.  I used a picture of her 2 boys that I did with my Phomemo Mini Printer as my focal point, inside a Sunnykid Picture Slide die cut.  I used a We R Memory Keepers banner punch, a Marvy Uchida oval punch, Viviquen Boho Scrapbook Paper, Emmoolife Washi Tape, Bomichi Quote Stickers, Cousin Corporation Eyelets, and assorted pens.  I hope she likes it!

Día de los Muertos Mixed Media Collages
Colorful Options - Luxury Black Color Board
M is For Mythical Creatures
Creative Artiste's #120th Challenge!
The Four Seasons Challenge - Anything Goes Fall

September Top 3 Winner

Top 3 Winner - L is for Love Letters w/Hearts

For my last project, I made this Día de los Muertos mixed media collages.  This holiday is a day of remembrance of the faithful ones before us, celebrated on November 1 and 2, primarily by people of Mexican heritage throughout Mexico and the USA.  The materials I used were two Tim Holtz Ideology Vignette Frames, brown stain paint, black acrylic paint, an assortment of colored and metallic pieces of card stock, mulberry paper, a black foam sheet, acrylic plastic gems, markers, acrylic pens, foam dots, and glue.  I used various dies, including Sizzix's Tim Holtz Day of the Dead, Mischievous, and Vault Coffin Box Tinlits sets; a Sizzix Party Treats Thinlits set; a Diesire Grand Entrance die; and generic flower, butterfly, and gravestone dies.  I also used a pair of Fiskars Paper Edgers Scallop scissors and flower punch, as well as a Studio G Skull punch.

In closing, I'll leave you with an excerpt of my sermon for tomorrow, which is based on Luke 17:5-10:

The question isn’t how much faith we have, but how are we living with the faith we do have.  How is our faith, which is our relationship with Jesus, changing our lives, our relationships, and the forgiveness of our enemies?  If our faith is not changing us, helping us grow, and helping us see Christ in the eyes of all others, more of the same faith will make no difference.  The mustard seed of faith was planted within us during Baptism, and it's Jesus himself.  He's all we need.  We must now respond to that faith, to Jesus who lives within us, through our relationships with others and the work God’s given us to do.

Thank you for your visit!  ¡Gracias por su visita!  Shalom!

Arnoldo+