joyful heART

This is the day - Psalm 118:24

2011-11-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a horrible day, and actually I've had a lot of bad days lately. Nothing unusual - money problems, whiny kids, mountains of laundry, just normal stuff. The actual problems aren't really the problem - the problem is my attitude. Quite honestly, I've been acting like a whiny, spoiled little kid, and it's a good thing my Heavenly Father is more patient and forgiving than any human parent could ever be.

So this morning I woke up with this verse on my mind and it's been on my mind all morning, so I spent part of the boys' nap time this afternoon creating this. And you know what? It's been a much better day. Not that any of the problems I had yesterday are gone. They're all still there. But my mind is where it should be today, and that makes all the difference.

Want to purchase a print of this image or another you've seen here? Go to www.joyfulheartphotos.etsy.com. All profits from the sale of joyful heART prints will be donated to a local food bank.

a little contest

2011-11-18T09:53:00.000-08:00

Want to win 3 free 8x10 joyful heART prints??? If you haven't already, "like" my page on facebook, then share it with your friends and ask them to "like" the page and leave a comment with your name. Whoever gets me the most new "likes" by November 30th will win 3 8x10 prints. When it gets to 100 likes, I'll also put up a BOGO coupon for my etsy shop. And remember, all profits from the sale of joyful heART prints will benefit a local food bank!

Give Thanks - Psalm 107:1

2011-10-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Fall is here! I bought this little pumpkin when I bought our big ones to carve, and I just loved the curly little bit of vine on the top!

This image is available as both a print and as a set of 10 cards in my etsy shop!

love

2011-10-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

Jesus told us to love one another and I don't know about you, but I don't do a very good job of that most days. Sure, I love my friends and my family, and I'm generally nice to people, in a kindergarten kind of way. You know, say please and thank you, share, don't lie or steal, don't call names. But Jesus didn't say "be nice to your friends". He said "love thy neighbour as thyself" and even "love your enemies". Love doesn't mean to just be polite, it means to put the other person above yourself and to do whatever it takes to help. Maybe that help is fixing a flat tire, or maybe it's more, but whatever the need is (and everyone has a need), I think it's our job to take care of it whenever we can. One need, especially in this economy and especially with winter coming, is pretty simple....food.

God has really been working on me lately, showing me that I need to be doing MORE to love others...I just didn't know what that "more" was. So this is a small start: from now on, 100% of profits from the sale of joyful heART photos will be used to benefit the food bank ministry at Solid Rock Baptist Church in Clinton, IN. Every time a family receives help, they also hear the Gospel. This is what Jesus did. Every time he saw a person in need, he fixed the physical problem AND the spiritual problem. They're both important. If we don't help people, how else will they see the love of God?

I'm not saying this in a "look what good thing I'm going to do" kind of way, just in a "please help me do this" way. I have some other ideas too, but I'm starting with this.

If you're interested in purchasing joyful heART prints, click here to check out my etsy shop, or email me at amy@amyfoltz.net. You can also "like" my facebook page. When it gets to 100 likes, I'll put up a BOGO coupon for the shop.

Be Still {Psalm 46:10)

2011-10-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

This is another image from our trip to Tennessee. I loved this one tree standing all alone in a field at Cades Cove. When my sister saw it she thought it would be perfect for this verse, so here it is! You can purchase a print of it in my etsy shop here. Also, don't forget to "like" my facebook page...when it gets 100 likes I'll put up a BOGO coupon for my etsy shop, but you'll only see it if you like the page!

Stedfast {1 Corinthians 15:58}

2011-10-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 15:58 is one of my husband's favorite verses and it pretty much describes him perfectly. He's like Horton the elephant...faithful, 100%. He's faithful in our marriage and our family, in church and in friendships. That's one of my favorite things about him and I love him so much for it.

I've been wanting to make him something with this verse for a while now, but just didn't have the right photo to use, so when we took a family vacation last month to the Smoky Mountains, I knew a photo like this would be perfect! A mountain is pretty much the most unmoveable thing I could think of to illustrate this scripture.

You can purchase a print of this image in my etsy shop here.

Join me on Facebook!

2011-10-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

joyful heART photos now has a facebook page! "Like" the page and you'll see updates with new photos and special deals. When the page gets 100 likes, I'll put up a BOGO coupon for the etsy shop!

Be strong {Joshua 1:9}

2011-10-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

A sweet lady contacted me a couple of months ago about creating an image to display at a women's retreat. She loved this image of my son, but wanted something similar with a little girl looking strong and brave but still gentle.

Abbie was my little model and I think she did a great job! The promise of getting paid with ice cream probably helped! We talked about the verses we were going to use and what the pictures were for and had a great little conversation about God helping us and not needed to be scared. I love hearing kids talk about God and how easy it is for them to have faith.

Four of these images (the ones with the verses) are available in my etsy shop!

The Glory of God

2011-07-30T04:39:00.000-07:00

This is an image I've been thinking about for a while now and finally got around to making. I made this one for me, to remind me to keep my focus where it needs to be, not on making myself look good, but giving glory to God with whatever I do. My love of God should spill over into EVERYTHING I do, not just "church stuff"!

The boy in this image is my oldest son, Joey. I've been teaching him a little about photography and we've been working on a little project together this summer. So this image is hanging up in my living room to remind me not only to glorify God with my art, but also with the way I raise my children, so they can see God through me...such a big responsiblity!

For any other Christian photographers out there that would like this image, please email me at amy@amyfoltz.net and I'd be happy to email you a file so you can print this for yourself! No charge, just make sure to tell me which version you prefer!

2011-07-06T20:09:00.001-07:00

A sweet lady contacted me last month about creating an image to display at a women's retreat. She loved this image of my son, but wanted something similar with a little girl looking strong and brave but still gentle. It took took me a little while to get it done (still adjusting to having FOUR kids in the house....it's a little crazy around here!), but I finally got to it this week.

This is the first time I've had a special request and I LOVED it! If you have a favorite verse or quote you'd like incorporated into a joyful heART image, let me know! Email me at amy@amyfoltz.net.

These images are available at my etsy shop or you can email me at amy@amyfoltz.net to order!

showers of blessing

2010-09-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, whenever we would sing "Showers of Blessing" at church, we'd pause between each verse for testimonies. People would just tell things they were thankful for, things God did for them that week, answered prayers. It was always one of my favorite times at church and I still love to hear how God has been working. I know in my life, He never seems to work the way I think He should...he doesn't seem to like my plans too much, but His plans are ALWAYS better than mine and I am so thankful for that! If you'd like to share some of your blessings, I'd love to hear about them, so please leave a comment!

By the way, never knew for the longest time that this was a Bible verse. I always just thought it was part of a song! But it's there in Ezekiel 34:26 "And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing."

New Creature (2 Cor. 5:17)

2010-08-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

This is another one of those shots that I've had in my head for a while and was just waiting for the right opportunity. My daughter planted a patch of zinnias in our garden and the butterflies LOVE them! So I've gotten plenty of opportunities lately to photograph them! I think the transformation butterflies go through is pretty awesome and could only be the work of our awesomely creative creator!

If you're interested in purchasing a print of this image, just click on the "purchase art" tab at the top of the page and make sure to specify the title of the photo in the "notes to seller" section at checkout. This image is only available in 5x10 and 10x20 sizes. If you're wanting a custom size, please send me an email first. All joyful heART photos will be BUY ONE GET ONE FREE until the end of August! The second photo can be a different image, it just needs to be the same size or smaller than the first.

Thy Word (Psalm 119:105)

2010-07-12T17:05:00.000-07:00

I love this verse about God's Word lighting our way. My grandpa once explained to me that back in Bible times people would wear little lanterns on their feet and the light was just enough for them to see their next step...not 10 feet in front of them, not a mile, just the next step. Sometimes (ok, most of the time), that's the way God seems to lead us. We might not know what the big picture is, but that's ok. God will always show us the next step.

BOGO sale!!!

2010-07-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

For a limited time only, buy one print here or at my etsy shop and get another print the same size or smaller for free! Just let me know at checkout which image you'd like for your free print! Hope you all have a happy 4th of July weekend!

Be Strong (Joshua 1:9)

2010-07-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

This set is something that has been in my head for a while now, but I've been waiting to find just the right sword and shield (finally found those at Toys-R-Us), the right lighting (about 8 pm), and the right location (a random open field). Joey has been excited to do these too, if for no other reason than to play with the sword. It was driving him crazy not being able to play with it after I bought it.

I'm not really sure what gave me this idea in the first place, it's just something that popped into my head and I was a little obsessed with the idea until I got it done. It was fun to do something a little different. I'm not sure that these really match the image that I had in my head, so I might revisit this idea again sometime, but for now I'm pretty happy with what I got.

I Will Praise Thee

2010-06-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

This image started with a photo of a bleeding heart flower taken in my back yard. I've never really been interest in gardening. I like flowers, who doesn't, but I never had the desire to actually plant them and grow them myself. Just didn't want to. Then we moved into this house, and there was already a ton of perennial flowers planted here, so I was inspired and kind of went crazy planting more.

Isn't it amazing how unique and beautiful all the different flowers are? God is truly a creative genius, and I think that his creativity in nature is a reflection of his love for us. He could have made everything black and white, but He gave us color. He could have made all the plants the same, but He gave us an amazing variety. He could have made the world an ugly place, but he made it beautiful, in part just for us to enjoy. How cool is that?

So anyway, I had this crazy big bleeding heart bush in the back yard, but my four-year-old daughter pulled most of the flowers off to make "pretend soup". So I quickly got some shots of the remaining flowers while I could. I didn't really have a verse in mind when I took this photo, then I started searching and found several "heart" verses I want to use, so I went back and took MORE photos, and started looking for more heart-shaped things. So you will probably notice a lot of hearts on this blog!

My oldest son (he's 6 and just finished kindergarten) saw me sitting at the computer working on this image and asked me what verse I was going to use for it. So I grabbed the nearest Bible and showed him, and to my surprise, he read the whole thing! Even the word "marvellous"! (The whole verse is "I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works"). So no more underestimating his reading abilities! The next week he read most of the first chapter of Jonah with me with very little help. So proud of him!

Grace (2 Corinthians 12:9)

2010-06-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is the image that led me to start joyful heART photos. We had just moved and I wanted to decorate my kitchen with bright photos of fruit with a different "fruit of the Spirit" written on each one. This is the first photo I took for that series, and...uummm...well, it didn't turn out like I had planned! Like I said, I wanted bright, colorful fruit. It just didn't work for this photo, but I loved the way the one pear was leaning on the other. It literally could not stand up on it's own. I had to arrange them this way for it to be able to stand up. Once I got the photo uploaded to my computer and I sat down to look at it, it immediately reminded me of one of my Dad's favorite verses, II Corinthians 12:9: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Just like this pear has to lean on the other, we need to learn to lean on God, because He is all we need and He will sustain us.

So now, months later, I STILL don't have the colorful fruit pictures in my kitchen (we actually made that wall into a little art gallery for the kids, so it probably won't get done), BUT I have been having a wonderful time with this new art collection. I have several more photos to add, plus a notebook full of ideas for more, so if you don't see something you love now, keep checking back! I also take special requests, so if there's a verse that's very special to you and you'd love a piece of art featuring that verse, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with!