not made to be empty

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Sometimes you will hear something that can leave such an impression on your heart and mind that you can't help but share. Tuesday night I had one of those moments where something just clicks and even though it's a relatively simple concept it was like I finally got it. You know what I mean? At Bible study we just started a new series by Beth Moore on the book of James in the New Testament, and in the DVD, Beth said,

The power of the resurrection means that nothing but the tomb is meant to be empty. 

Just think about that for a minute, that has the power to revolutionize our thinking if we'll let it. Let me explain, our lives may be difficult at times, and sometimes we might not even know how we're gonna make it through, but as difficult as it may be during a season, it was never meant to be empty. When we allow God to be at the center of our lives we never have to face empty promises from Him, empty heartache, empty longings, or empty dreams. God desires to fill us completely! 

I don't know about you, but I always try and cram so much 'stuff' into my life to make me feel satisfied. If I'm mad at someone or had a fight with Jordy my first instinct is to go and console myself by going shopping for things I don't even need. Or if I'm feeling really sad or depressed about something I start eating every sugary thing in sight in order to try and make myself feel better. The sad part is, is that it's all just stuff and it's never gonna fill us up or get rid of that empty feeling we have inside. 

God is amazing and desires for us to live so much more than an empty life! Where else can you be best friends with the King?

new year/new board

Lately I have been feeling really tired and uninspired with my crafting space - it was time for a change. One of the first things on my list to do in there was take everything off my bulletin board and add new inspiring images for the new year. As luck would have it, Kaylah from The Dainty Squid posted her bulletin board re-vamp right around the same time I had this idea. I was so inspired by it that I quickly ran to re-do mine. You can see all the wonderful little treasures on her board here. Make sure you check it out, it's so cute!

As you can see, my board is not yet full, but I like the idea of adding to it as the year goes and seeing what new things inspire me throughout the upcoming months.

On here you will find:
- My "Happy 2012" banner
- A picture of J and I taken in the Spring
- A pretty skeleton key
- My angels in the corner
- The Vegas sign as motivation to save money for my trip this year
- A 5x7 print that use to be in my shop
- A crochet yellow flower
- A quote that was on a card from my sponsor child

I'm hoping to do a full craft room tour soon, so you can expect that in the next week or so!

to resolve or not to resolve

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If you know me at all you know I'm a big list maker, I love me a good list! However, when it came time to making my new year's resolutions I was stuck - I couldn't think of what I wanted to write, what I wanted to do, or even what I thought I should be doing this year. I thought about it for a couple of days, but I still couldn't come up with anything. I stumbled across this post though which gave me such a new perspective on it all. It is well worth your time to read.

It's not about what things I can cross off my list this year, what crafts I can make, what recipes I can try, or what books I can read before the end of the year. A new year is the chance to regroup and focus on what it is that He, my Creator, wants me to do and be. I am called to be...

... a wife
... a daughter
... a friend
... a servant of God

Those are the things that matter - those are the things I need to work on this year, not a jumbled list of things that I want or that I think I am entitled to.

That being said, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I still have goals and things I want to accomplish this year but they don't seem so important anymore, not in comparison to who God wants me to become anyways.

As Leslie says in her post: "So I guess my resolution is to do my current jobs well. To see my assignments as holy and valuable because they are from God Himself. I pray I can honor Him with my efforts." 

fall inspiration

i have been getting really really excited lately about doing some decorating for fall, it's my most favorite (bad grammar yes I know) time of the year. i have the cutest owls to bring out and i would love to make something to hang on our door for the season. here is some of my inspiration, enjoy!

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back to school: etsy edition

i seriously love school and can hardly wait to be back again. call me crazy but i love buying textbooks, organizing my supplies, and walking the school halls. with that being said, i still have two weeks to go until college starts again for me so i thought i would put together a little 'back to school' treasury list on etsy.

you can view my list here. what about you, are you ready for fall to come or are you holding onto every day left in summer?

finding color inspiration

Inspiration can be found in every situation I think. As someone who enjoys things like sewing, decorating, scrapbooking, and crafting in general, I am a very visual person and enjoy seeing how colors can work together. A few weeks ago I perusing the paint aisle like I sometimes do and was really drawn to these pain chips. Debbie Travis and her team have put together different colors from her paint line and then shown how they can be used together. I happily took one of each sample and thought that they could be useful for sewing.

This color combination is one of my favorites from the handful I took. I probably would have never thought to put these colors together, but I love the way they look. In the sample room they painted the walls the teal color and then had accents in the other colors. Lately I have been really wanting to sew something in purple so I think this is just the inspiration that I needed!
Here are two other color combinations that I really love:

what's your style?

I've fallen prey to the delightfulness of pintrest... I have to admit, it is pretty fabulous though to be able to group all sorts of pretties together and have the original sources right at your fingertips. I have found this tool so useful for trying to figure out what my style is and my aesthetic. I think it's pretty safe to say I'm in love with pink!

P.S. Leave me a message in the comments with your email address if you want an invite to pintrest and don't want to wait a couple of days to be added when you apply yourself!

valentines crafts

Less than one week to go until Valentines Day! I thought I would share some really great Valentines Day ideas I have seen lately

These pillows would be so quick and fun to make for a statement in your living room or bedroom:

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These paper heart garlands would look so pretty hanging across a window, door frame, or practically anywhere:

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I think these would make the coolest Valentines for the creative person in your life:

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I hope you are feeling inspired to make something pretty to help celebrate Valentines Day! And remember, you don't need 'Mr. Perfect' in order to brighten up your day with a little extra love in pink and red :)

a spot of sunshine

First of all, can I just say that I love sun spots on a picture! Ok now to the point - I've been trying lately to make my craft space more 'me' but there's really only so much I can do in a rental place. However, I wanted a place where I could display my pretties. I very simply strung a piece of yarn under the window and added little red and pink heart shaped clothespins. Currently hanging is a day from my tear-away calendar, a picture I drew in art chapel, pink flowers from a magazine, two small left over pictures from a project I was working on, and three fabric flowers for an order. I'm sure I'll be adding more to it soon, and can't wait to change it up for the different seasons, but as you can see I've got spring on my mind!

inspiration introduction

I just recently discovered the work of Alyssa Nassner and I am so smitten by it. I just adore the top pic of "May your bobbin always be full", so cute! She has recently done some work for Uppercase magazine which is a must to check out if you never have before. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and may your bobbin be full!

Happy Crafting!

100 ideas

I have been feeling like I have been in a bit of a creative slump lately and hope that this list sparks some new ideas for me, and hopefully for you as well! This list is taken from Keri Smith's blog. If you have never been there before it is worth a look. Keri is the author of some great inspiration-starting journals.


100 Ideas:
1. Go for a walk. Draw or list things you find on the the sidewalk. 2. Write a letter to yourself in the future. 3. Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create, (new pen, a tea cup, journal). Use it everyday. 4. Draw your dinner. 5. Find a piece of poetry you respond to. Rewrite it and glue it into your journal. 6. Glue an envelope into your journal. For one week collect items you find on the street. 7. Expose yourself to a new artist, (go to a gallery, or in a book.) Write about what moves you about it. 8. Find a photo of a person you do not know. Write a brief bio about them. 9. Spend a day drawing only red things. 10. Draw your bike. 11. Make a list of everything you buy in the next week. 12. Make a map of everywhere you went in one day. 13. Draw a map of the creases on your hand, (knuckles, palm) 14. Trace your footsteps with chalk. 15. Record an overheard conversation. 16. Trace the path of the moon in relation to where you live. 17. Go to a paint store. Collect ‘chips’ of all your favorite colors. 18. Draw your favorite tree. 19. Take 15 minutes to eat an orange. 20. Write a haiku. 21. Hang upside down for five minutes. 22. Hang found objects from tree branches. 23. Make a puppet. 24. Create an outdoor room from things you find in nature. 25. Read a book in one day. 26. Illustrate your grocery list. 27. Read a story out loud to a friend. 28. Write a letter to someone you admire. 29. Study the face of someone you do not like. 30. Make a meal based on a color theme. (i.e. all white). 31. Creat a museum of very small things. 32. List the smells in your neighborhood. 33. List 100 uses for a tin can. 34. Fill an entire page in your journal with small circles. Color them in. 35. Give away something you love. 36. Choose an object, draw the side you can’t see. 37. List all of the places you’ve ever lived. 38. Describe your favourite room in detail. 39. Write about your relationship with your washing machine. 40. Draw all of the things in your purse/bag. 41. Make a mini book based on the theme, “my grocery list”. 42. Create a character based on someone you know. Write a list of personality traits. 43. Recall your favorite childhood game. 44. Put postcards of art pieces/painting on the inside of your kitchen cupboard doors, so you can see them everyday (but not become deaf to them.) 45. Draw the same object every day for a week. 46. Write in your journal using a different medium (brush & ink, charcoal, old typewriter, crayons, fat markers. 47. Draw the individual items of your favorite outfit. 48. Make a useful item using only paper & tape. 49. Research a celebration or ritual from another culture. 50. Do a temporary art installation using a pad of post it notes & a pen. 51. Draw a map of your favorite sitting spots in your town/city. (photocopy it and give it to someone you like.) 52. Record all of the sounds you hear in the course of one hours. 53. Using a grid, collect various textures from magazine and play them off of each other. 54. Cut out all media for one day. Write about the effects. 55. Make pencil rubbings of six different surfaces. 56. Draw your garbage. 57. Do a morning collage. 58. List your ten most important things, (not including animals or people.) 59. List ten things you would like to do every day. 60. Glue a photo of yourself as a child into your journal. 61. Trasform some garbage. 62. Write an entry in your journal in really LARGE letters. 63. Collect some ‘flat’ things in nature (leaves, flowers). Glue or tape them into your journal. 64. Physically alter a page. (i.e. cut a hole, pour tea on it, burn it, fold it, etc.) 65. Find several color combinations you respond to in public. Document them using swatches, write where you found them. 66. Write a journal entry describing something “secret”. Cut it up into several pieces and glue them back in scrambled. 67. Record descriptions or definitions of subjects or words you are interested in, found in encyclopedias or dictionaries. 68. Draw the outline of an object without looking at the page. (contour drawing). 69. What were you thinking just now? write it down. 70. Do nothing. 71. Write a list of ten things you could to do. Do the last thing on the list. 72. Create an image using dots. 73. Do 3 drawings at different speeds. 74. Put a small object in your left pocket (or in a bag), Put your left hand in the pocket. Draw it by feel. 75. Create a graph documenting or measuring something in your life. 76. Draw the sun. 77. Create instructions for a simple everyday task. 78. Make prints using food. (fruit and vegetables cut in half, fish, etc.) 79. Find a photo. Alter it by drawing over it. 80. Write a letter using an unconventional medium. 81. Draw one object for twenty minutes. 82. Combine two activities that have not been combined before. 83. Write about your day in an encyclopedic fashion. (i.e. organize by subject.) 84. Write a list of all the things you do to escape. 85. Cut a random shape out of several layers of a magazine. Make a collage out of the results. 86. Write an entry in code. 87. Make a painting using tools from the bathroom. 88. Work with a medium that is subtractive. 89. Write about or draw some of the doors in your life. 90. Make a postcard that has some kind of activity on it. 91. Divise a journal entry using “layers”. 92. Divise an entry using “layers”. 93. Write your own definition of one of the following concepts, sitting, waiting, sleeping (without using the actual word.) 94. List 10 of your habits. 95. Illustrate the concept of “simplicity”.