Same Kind of Different As Me

I just finished the most INCREDIBLE book! It's Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.  It was amazing.  Life changing. Unbelievable. Moving. Inspirational. and more.

One might ask why I was so moved.  I don't know, I just was.  Maybe it's because I know the exact area they are talking about in the book.  Growing up in and around Fort Worth, Texas, I can see exactly where they are living.  It makes it almost personal.

I think another thing that got me about the book is the willingness or better put, obedience of this couple to go and serve the homeless.  That in doing so, their lives were changed.  Not the homeless people. The "good" people.  Yes, the homeless people where helped and some of their lives where changed, but the ones that went to serve were also impacted. They became true servants of God, the hands of God and by being willing to do that, they saw the face of God.

Can you imagine?  I have to stop and ask myself.  Do I really want to see the face of God?  Do I really want to know Him?  Because if I do, I know what to do. Serve others.  Be the hands of God to the "least of these."

So why don't I make time to serve others? Why am I not willing to serve in difficult situations? I don't know.  Well, I do know.  I'm selfish.

That's not an  easy reality to face and I can rationalize with the best of them.  I'm not saying that I don't serve at all, I just serve in the easy areas.  As long as I don't have to leave my comfort zone I don't mind serving and sacrificing.  Just don't ask me to feed the homeless. or go on a mission trip where I might not have indoor plumbing. or....

Facing this, I am ready to do something about it.  No, I'm not ready to go serve at the Union Gospel Mission.  not yet.  But I am ready to shake up my easy existence a bit.  I'm going to start small, so please don't get your hopes up.  But I am going to start.

'Cause I want to see the face of God more than I want an extra 30 minutes of sleep.  And if I push myself and truly examine my heart, I want to serve God more than I want to wear a size 8. So while I want to start working out in the mornings, I'm gonna start working out my Bible first.

So that's my book review.  Yeah, it was a good book.

Little gifts that made my day!

Sometimes we just need a little pick me up...

I needed one of those today.

So it made my day this morning

When I was left these little treats!

How fun it is to have a secret pal.

Hybrid Scrapbook Project

Moving the girls bedrooms around got me motivated to make some new wall art for Maddie's room. She's got a soft green bedspread and almost the same color walls, so we needed to do something with color.

So, what I did was to find some fun fabrics that we will make pillows and a bedskirt from and also make wall pretties!!  In the above picture you can see that I took fabrics and made a digital copy and used them for papers on a layout.  The floral print and a funky paisley print made great papers.  The red also looks great on the computer and in person; however, the stripe did not translate to the computer very nicely, so I kept it in fabric form.

After designing the layout, I printed an 8x8 copy on glossy paper.  Then I took a 12x12 board and covered it with the stripe fabric.  The copper circle is chipboard covered in copper metallic paint.  Finally I used the brads to hold the circle onto the board. 

One of the things I like about this project is that I can change out the picture as I feel like it.  The plan is to make two more boards one saying family and the other saying forever.  I guess we will see how long it takes me to get that done.

Back to the digital stuff for a second.  Look closely at the flower that I used as an embellishment.. Not only did I cut out the flower from the print and add it back onto the layout, but I also used a swirly thing that I embossed via the computer.  It was a ton of fun to figure out.  But I have to say, I'm kinda needing a real hands on embossing fix now :)

Well, there you have it.  One of my recent projects. Of course I have more in the works, but I have our state art contest this weekend and PROM next weekend.  Have I mentioned that I am the Prom Coordinator?? Yeah.  I'm ready for "Night on the Town" to move on! As soon as that's done, I'm gonna have time to craft. Right? :)

Caboodle Class

Tonight I’m teaching a scrapbooking class using CTMH Caboodle papers.  I love these colors for spring pictures!

Don’t these colors just scream spring :) And I’m sure you noticed Lexi’s addition to the pictures.. apparently her doll just really wanted me to be included!
 
And here are the pages sitting 2 by 2.

And in case you thought I might be lazy on my day off.. the fabric for the girls curtains has been washed and I’m working on a really cool project for Maddie’s room!

Nontraditional Thank You Notes

I have fallen in love with making tri-fold shutter cards.  I love how cute they are.  I love how you can use all manner of scrap paper to make them.  I love that I can embellish them like crazy.  I love that they are mini pieces of art :)

Yeah, I love them.  Here are a few that I made for after our crazy art show.

The paper is from a block of paper from Hobby Lobby, sorry I don’t remember what it is.  Stamps are CTMH and the embellishments are from too many stores to list!