Artfully Sharing The Story

Henna is an art form used here in Niger by women to adorn themselves particularly in preparation for a wedding ceremony.  Usually women will decorate their hands or their feet and ankles.  It's a beautiful art form.  I'm not sure how widely embraced it is in the church.  I recently talked with an almost 30 year old Christian colleague who had her hands and feet decorated for the first time which was kind of surprising to me.  Regardless, I love the idea that this art form could be used to share the stories of Jesus with women.  I have some students in my class whose Moms are learning to do just that.  They are practicing on their children who have been coming in and sharing the stories with us.

Here one of my students shares the story of Jesus' birth.  What I love about this is that it came so easy to her because we had memorized this portion of scripture together in class.

 

 Here one of my little boys got in on the action with a henna design depicting the story of the prodigal son.

 

Simple enough that even children can use them as a way to artfully share the gospel.  Pray for these moms who are learning to draw these designs that as they develop these skills they would have open doors to share with the women of this country.

 

If you are interested in a little more of the back story of this idea here's a more professional video sharing just that.

 



Targets, Ombre, Chevrons and All Things Crafty

Just thought I would post a few of my favorite recent card creations.

 

I decided to use my circle dies to create a rainbow target and then pop a word out from the middle using the scripty thanks die from Lawn Fawn and a Hello die from Papertrey.  I loved the way these turned out.

Then I had a little ombre chevron action happening in these ones and used the same dies to cut out the words for these two cards.

I love this last little card for its color combination and that sweet little "Congrats" stamp from Stampin' Up's Your Perfect Day set. 

April Fools in My Fridge

Thanks to one of my former students, I received a highly amusing gift on my birthday.  She made her way into my house and filled my refrigerator with a bunch of silly characters.  

A sign of things to come!

Ha. I love the bushy mustache and tie man. For my Sahel Peeps...makes me feel like Paul David Tripp is in my fridge and that's just funny! :)

The eggs are just too funny!

I realized today that the guy behind the mustard bottle is supposed to have bushy eyebrows...love it!

I surely do love to laugh and this is certainly the gift that keeps on giving in that department.  Thanks for giving me the gift of laughter, HR!  This might just be the best birthday gift I've ever received.

Christmas Tree Ornaments

I remember back when I was a boarding student at Kent Academy, my elementary teachers would always take time at Christmas to help us make a gift for our parents for Christmas.  They were simple but they were cherished.  One of them was a little container that my Mom kept stamps in forever!  Anyway, because I know how special it was to be able to give my parents a little gift that was a surprise to them, I always like to help my students make something for their parents for Christmas.  

I was at home during the Christmas of 2012 and did some after Christmas shopping, hitting up the sales where I found this little ornament.

It caught my eye because it looked like something a First Grader could make and after looking at the construction of it, I was convinced.  So I started gathering supplies and packing them in my trunks to bring along.  Thankfully, the container got here before Christmas this year so my class could give it a try.

Here's the supplies we used:

Strong Wire (or in my case a long twist tie)

Jingle Bells

Christmas felt - Cut into various size squares.  I had about 4-5 different sizes and tried to keep them sorted that way.  I also cut a little hole in the middle of each square for threading.

Small felt stars enough for two per child 

Sequins or fuzzy balls for ornaments

Ribbon for Hanging

We each got a long twist tie and threaded a jingle bell on to it.  I helped each child secure the jingle bell.  Then we began threading the largest squares on to our twist tie.

After adding the largest squares, we threaded on some medium sized squares.  

Halfway there!

Some of them paid attention to turning the squares, others didn't but the beauty of this ornament was that it didn't seem to matter.  

We added smaller and smaller squares until there was just enough room at the top of the twist tie to make a loop for hanging.  Then it was time for some finishing touches - sparkly, fuzzy, little ornaments.

For the top, each student had two stars which they glued around the twist tie and then held in place until they were secure.

All that was left was a ribbon for hanging!

Tada!  A simple, fun gift for parents and all with very little mess!

Glorious Green - My Last Crafty Project of the Summer

Way back in February, I ran into this fabric. 

It was the perfect thing to tie together the blues and the greens in my living room and dining room.  I thought there was only going to be enough for curtains or dining room cushions but I happened to find more which meant there was plenty to go around.  So I made the curtains.

But I let someone else do the hard work of making cushions.

One last look into that lovely green kitchen...

where my handy with a drill friend Deb helped me attach all the new door handles.

(I needed help because my first encounter with the drill included the loss of a chunk of skin off the bottom of my toe and the drill wasn't even moving!)

And finally a look into my living room which means my last summer crafting project is complete.

Maybe one day there will be more on the walls but I wouldn't get your hopes up!

Busting Out the Color

You may remember when My Apartment Fell in A Bucket of Fresh Cut Grass.  Well my living room/dining room/kitchen wasn't the only room in which I decided to bust out the color.  I also chose some pretty bold colors for my spare room.

This is the necessary before picture...messy and lived in! Important to note that right there where my chair was sitting a hole was being worn in the cement floor.

I chose the color for the wall based on this fun fabric I found  and my friendly neighbourhood painter mixed up the paint and painted that wall right up.  He also painted my shelf pink and of course, green couldn't be left out.  So he painted a little cupboard green for me.  You'll see that little guy in a later picture.

Now most people would do things in a logical order but me, I like to be different so I decided to address the little problem of the hole in the cement floor a few months later after everything was nicely painted.  Brilliant, I know!

They literally came in and chipped up my floor carrying it out in buckets but still leaving plenty of floor behind in the form of a thick layer of dust.

But it was worth it because I got this beautiful tile floor.

When I put everything back I decided to rearrange the furniture which made this whole room seem so much bigger.  Great decision!

I found the fun green sheets and bought them because they were perfect for the room and because I needed more green in my life (yes, I have a problem!).  One of my crafting projects for the summer was to make the grey cover for the bed.  Someone I love dearly told me I should trim my grey material with pink bias tape.  "More color," I said to myself, "of course!"  Ignorance is bliss. But I know now that making bias tape is hard work especially the part where you iron it all.  However, I will say this.  There is a certain very satisfying feeling you get when you see it all rolled up neatly lying on your table.

Anyway, my summer project is complete.  The bias tape has been sewn on and the bed cover completed.

I'm quite happy with my colourful little spare room...except for that little problem of the curtain rod that's falling out of the wall.  Yep, should have taken care of that before the room got painted too!

Relaxin' & Craftin'

Since I have stuck close to home (which also happens to be close to work) this summer people keep checking up on me to make sure that I'm not working too hard.  Just to put any worried minds at ease, I thought I would post some of my summer crafting which mostly consists of cards that I've made.

Introducing....

my very first shaker card.  So fun!

Loving the Rich Razzleberry cardstock from Stampin' Up!

This card and its awesome colors and happy little hello from Simon Says Stamp - 

well, they just makes me happy!

As does this skunk also from Simon Says Stamp who is just downright cute.

A little Hero Arts and The Alley Way Stamps goodness.

And then there is my very first card made with Lawn Fawn's Scripty Thanks die.  Love the font!

Hope this is evidence enough that I've been enjoying myself but if you need more you can come check out the rest of my stash.  There's plenty more fun where these ones come from!  

The Not-So-Hostile Takeover

I think I might be addicted.

I had green throw cushions and green in my kitchen and bathroom curtains, a green mat and a green towel or two to go with my green potholders.  Then I bought a green clock and well, it's been downhill from there.  I painted a huge green wall and covered my kitchen cabinets in the stuff too.  Moved on into my office and painted a little cupboard green after buying material with green in it, followed by green sheets.

And then today happened.  Green twisted my arm into buying this to make some new dining room cushions.
And now that I have it at home I'm wondering could it be that there is just enough to make green curtains?

Somebody stop the madness.  I'm involved in a not-so-hostile takeover!

Coming to a Mailbox Near You

 

Someone's been making Christmas cards...



Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Kristina Werner's stamping and cardmaking blog was probably one of the first that I began to follow back in the day.  I continue to love her style and her amazing card videos where I learn all kinds of things about stamping.  She was cleaning out her stamp room for an upcoming move and giving away lots of sweet goodies. I happened to win a box. Whaaat!  All I had to do was pay for postage and post a picture of all the fun stuff in the box.  So here it is:

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! 

I'll be taking some of these goodies to Niger with me.  Yippee!

Acquiring a New Skill Set

For the last four weeks, I've been working on acquiring a new skill set and it's of the creative variety.  I know you're shocked, right?  I was celebrating a birthday (not my own) with some friends of mine, one of whom is a masterful cake decorator.  She had, in fact, made the birthday cake for the meal.  As we chatted, I mentioned that I had been thinking about taking the Wilton Cake Decorating Course at Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  She had taught the course before and offered to teach me the basics in four weeks.  So the last four weeks she's been teaching me how to make rosettes, shells, vines, leaves, SHELLS, balls, roses, SHELLS!  (Someone is a slow learner with the shells!)  Tonight we put it altogether and this is what came out.

Still not the best at making shells but in the end it's not that noticeable that I need to spend some more time at the beach!

Have to celebrate something!

It's amazing how great it looks when you put it altogether!

In the middle of our decorating session my amazing teacher said that if my cake didn't look good I wasn't to tell anyone where I picked up my "mad skills".  Ha!  The good news is I think she's claiming me because she took her picture with me!

Thanks bunches, Laura.  You are an amazing teacher!