Monthly Archives: April 2020

Happy Easter: He is Risen

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A He is Risen 4-11-2020Millions of Christians worldwide celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is what Easter Sunday means to us. It represents Jesus Christ’s triumph over death and eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him.

Today I’m sharing a page from my personal journal marking this special day. I thought about creating a page with an image of the stone rolled from Jesus’s tomb but decided to use the image of the cross as a reminder of His love for us and the price He paid for us sinners.  -Stephanie Hopkins

Matthew 28: 1-6

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.

John 3:16 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

 

Mixed Media Art Tags

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Normally I don’t blog twice in one day but I wanted to share these creations with you. One of my favorite mediums to create are my own backgrounds and pattern paper. Last night I made new Mixed Media Tags using my watercolor pattern paper for the background, Tombow Markers, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, rubber stamps, clear stamps and watercolor paper. I created the back ground a while back and use it for various projects. You can use these tags for jouranling, add to gift bags, cards and mixed media art projects. The colors look more vibrant in person. The camera on my phone is not very good. I need to start using a camera, me thinks. These tags are going to a friend who commissioned me to make tags using my papers. She did want a washed out look to them so I had to change things up a bit. A challenge I enjoyed doing. -Stephanie Hopkins

Artsits Tags with watercolors

“I do tend to use watercolors – I love the splatter sort of thing you can do with watercolors.” -Mini Grey

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(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Cover Crush: A Saint from Texas by Edmund White

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Cover: I like the simplicity of this book cover and the sketch-like drawing of the image. Cover layouts doesn’t always have be heavy-if you will- or bright with contrast to make a statement.

Premise: Two sisters from humble beginnings and decades of life changing experiences and what they make of it sounds intriguing.

Stephanie Hopkins

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A Saint from TexasA Saint from Texas

by Edmund White

Bloomsbury Publishing

Pub Date 04 Aug 2020

Description

From Edmund White, a bold and sweeping new novel that traces the extraordinary fates of twin sisters, one destined for Parisian nobility and the other for Catholic sainthood.

Yvette and Yvonne Crawford are twin sisters, born on a humble patch of East Texas prairie but bound for far more dramatic and tragic fates. Just as an untold fortune of oil lies beneath their daddy’s land, both girls harbor their own secrets and dreams-ones that will carry them far from Texas and from each other. As the decades unfold, Yvonne will ascend the highest ranks of Parisian society as Yvette gives herself to a lifetime of worship and service in the streets of Jericó, Colombia. And yet, even as they remake themselves in their radically different lives, the twins find that the bonds of family and the past are unbreakable.

Spanning the 1950s to the recent past, Edmund White’s marvelous novel serves up an immensely pleasurable epic of two Texas women as their lives traverse varied worlds: the swaggering opulence of the Dallas nouveau riche, the airless pretension of the Paris gratin, and the strict piety of a Colombian convent. For nearly half a century, Edmund White’s work has revitalized American literature, blithely breaking down boundaries of class and sexuality, and A Saint From Texas is one of his most joyous, gorgeously written, and piercing works to date.

Cover Crush banner

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

 

 

Be Brave, Believe in Yourself

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A You Be Brave Mixed Media Page IIYou Be Brave

“I am my own biggest critic. Before anyone else has criticized me, I have already criticized myself. But for the rest of my life, I am going to be with me and I don’t want to spend my life with someone who is always critical. So I am going to stop being my own critic. It’s high time that I accept all the great things about me.”
― C. JoyBell C.

This page I created is to remind myself to continue to be brave. Never give up. Have courage. Be strong always. Believe in yourself because you are loved. -Stephanie Hopkins

 

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Cherish the Moments

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A cherish the moments pageThis is an art page from my art journal that I created this past Saturday. I was in a mood for cool colors and a simple layout. Yet it expresses cherishing moments in our everyday lives and brought me to mind of a quote by John Adams.

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”

This quote is so fitting to the moment of creating this piece and for my love of reading and journaling.

Also, I took the time to look out the window and enjoyed the beauty of the day that the season of spring brings us. It is a symbol of new beginnings and reflection, in my view. We are seeing trouble times in our world at present and I hope with the social distancing we are experiencing gives us time to take a step back and think on what is important to us and if there is a change we need to make in our lives that going forward will bring that change.

I’m praying for us all and praying for the families and friends of the people we have lost due to the virus. My heart and thoughts go out to you all. Please be safe and God be with you all. -Stephanie Hopkins

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(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

 

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters by Emily Carpenter

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Last week I started reading the (ARC) book below and so far I’m really enjoying the premise. Emily Carpenter is among my favorite Southern Writers. Her characters are electric and this story has the Pastoral Gothic feel of the rural areas of Alabama. Carpenter also portrays that the south holds tight to their traditions. I feel it is weaved through the story marvelously from what I’ve read so far.

I’m taking my time with this story and look forward to writing my review and sharing it with you all. -Stephanie Hopkins

Reviving the Hawthorn SistersLake Union Publishing

Pub Date 20 Oct 2020

Description

The bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls returns to uncover a faith healer’s elusive and haunted past.

Dove Jarrod was a renowned evangelist and faith healer. Only her granddaughter, Eve Candler, knows that Dove was a con artist. In the eight years since Dove’s death, Eve has maintained Dove’s charitable foundation—and her lies. But just as a documentary team wraps up a shoot about the miracle worker, Eve is assaulted by a vengeful stranger intent on exposing what could be Dove’s darkest secret: murder…

Tuscaloosa, 1934: a wily young orphan escapes the psychiatric hospital where she was born. When she joins the itinerant inspirational duo the Hawthorn Sisters, the road ahead is one of stirring new possibilities. And with an obsessive predator on her trail, one of untold dangers. For a young girl to survive, desperate choices must be made.

Now, to protect her family, Eve will join forces with the investigative filmmaker and one of Dove’s friends, risking everything to unravel the truth behind the accusations against her grandmother. But will the truth set her free or set her world on fire?

Discovery and Expression

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A Mixed MEdia Circus Image PageOver the weekend I created several pages in my Mixed Media Journal and I discovered a couple things about myself in the journey. For this page I used a magazine clipping that my dear friend Lisl sent me and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

This week I will be sharing three of the pages I made and a couple bookish things.

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I highly recommend expressing your feelings through art journaling or just writing your thoughts down. Sometimes I have a lot to write about and other times I just create a page to just be in the moment and not think too much about things going on in life. The medium is truly therapeutic and so calming. You don’t need a lot of materials and toy can use what you have on hand.  -Stephanie Hopkins

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)