by Amy | Jul 12, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects
Okay. I know. It’s Saturday evening…this is out of character to post right now. But–I did finish the mystery project from yesterday and I just had to show you the finished product. Look.
Remember what I showed you yesterday? I know. I can’t believe it either.
As I said in that post, this was kind of an experiment. So I don’t have a full tutorial for you. But I’ll be going home to Indiana next week to visit the fam and my mom has requested full instruction on making these little gems. So, pinky swear, a full tutorial {with detailed instructions} will be coming soon.
For those of you that just can’t wait. Here’s the basic principle. Get a flat rate box. This one is a medium. Cut out the sides. Flip a pillow case inside out and put it in the box like a lining. Use spray adhesive to adhere the pillowcase to the cardboard that is left of the box.
Then start wrapping and gluing rope around and around and around. I used 1/2″ and 3/8″ sisal twine.
The straps are adhered with E6000 glue .
Again…a full tutorial coming soon!
by Amy | Jul 11, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects
I’m making something. I had this idea and I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out…but I think it just might be a winner. Here are the ingredients.
A flat rate box
An old pillowcase
Spray adhesive
Rope
Hot Glue
Here’s what I’ve got.
I’ll show it to you when I’m done. Promise.
Isn’t mysterious upcycling the best?
Amy
by Amy | Jul 10, 2014 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Art, The Art of Design, The Art of Projects
That’s right. When I’m not able to draw out a chalkboard full of awesome stuff by hand {like this, or this, or this…} I turn to the digital stuff. Tonight I’m sharing all my favorites with you. AND they are all FREE!! So get ready to pin, because you are going to want to hang on to these sources–or immediately download them. I use them all the time and L-O-V-E them. Dearly.
I love these Rustic Graphics from We Lived Happily Ever After. She is a genius. She also shared a free chalk background. You can get that here. While I usually try to download things that are okay to use commercially, these are for personal use only. So I reserve them for unpaid project for family and friends.
Next are these adorable laurels and frames from Sunflower Studio. They are under the creative commons license. So they are good to use for commercial or personal purposes.
If you know me weirdly well, you know I have a weakness for fonts. Here are my favorites to use against a chalk background.
Adine Kimberg
Ever After
Little Lord Fontleroy
Rialto
Porcelain
Covington
Champagne
Little Days
Silverfake
Villa Didot
And…here are two more fonts that you should have. They are awesome dingbats for chalk projects.
Remember to check licenses before you use them commercially, but most of this stuff is good to go. Happy chalking!
Amy
by Amy | Jul 9, 2014 | Blog, Devotional, The Art of Faith
Last week I wrote about how we, as Christians are called to be different. Originally I was going to combine that premise to what I’m writing about now–leadership.
Image Via
But as I started, it all got too long and fuzzy. So I decided to sit on this one for another week and split the two up. Today, I’ll continue the discussion, this time focusing on leadership.
Leadership is a beautiful thing. It’s something we all crave in one way or another. We crave to have control and be the leaders in our own lives, over others, to bask in the glow of recognition and importance. Or–we crave to be lead. We want someone to focus us, guide us, give us answers and lead us.
You see, naturally I’m drawn to be a leader. That’s why the notion of marriage was so hard for me to grasp for so long. I hated the idea of being led. My parents could probably tell you that that leadership quality made me a great student and a terrible child to rear. I didn’t even like being led by my parents–I wanted to do and do my way. Now, many years {and lots of grace} later I’ve learned that leadership isn’t just about control, or stubbornness, or doing things your way and no other way. I’ve learned that a great leader can also be led, and a strong individual needs to understand the beauty and importance of submission. {See how Jesus submits to the Father and the centurion–a leader himself–knew the importance of rank, and Paul describes the family order…}
I’ve thought about leaders lately. It might be the NPR, Derek’s job, my work with the youth group, or seeing brilliant teens work leading a 5-Day club in my yard. Who knows. So, I started to look at the Bible. At leaders in the Bible–particularly Jesus, but a few others as well. I studied them and paid attention to the things they had in common. And I discovered something. Leadership is less about control and glory and more about servant-hood.
It seems like an oxymoron. A servant leader.
But that is exactly what all the best leaders were. Servants.
They were most effective and at their best when they set their eyes on how to best serve, know and love people they were leading, while fulfilling their duties. We see Jesus {our prime example} do this over and over again. He knows the people He is leading. He knows their laws and their boring stuff. But He also knows them. And He chooses to love them. Like the famous “woman at the well.” Or the “wee little man” Zachaeous. Jesus knew Him, pursued him out of the tree and dined with Him.
Jesus clearly tells us to be great, to lead…we must first know how to serve. Mark 9:35 says:
…Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.
Another thing I found about servant leadership is that great Biblical leaders, even Jesus himself are real. They are down to earth and transparent with those they lead. Now, Jesus had no faults. So He couldn’t be transparent with those. But He set a clear example of submission for us to follow. He showed us what it meant to commune with the Father and be submissive to Him. {John 6:38-40}.
As we lead, we should never stop considering the lives and hearts of those we are leading. We should consider if there is a way to make their load lighter, their work more enjoyable, or a way the leader can better serve.
A leader should be wary of becoming prideful, remembering the needs of others–again becoming the servant. See Luke 22:25-27. Instead of loving control and importance, a great leader loves seeing his people move in the right direction.Instead of relying on his own strength and insight, we as leaders should constantly look to Christ and be humble before Him.
A great leader is always obedient to God. Knowing that God places those in authority. And He prizes obedience over great deeds and fame. It’s hard, but prayerfully attempt to be content if authority is taken from you and placed in someone else’s hands. A spirit of control is unbecoming on every one. 1 Samuel 15:22
What is more pleasing to the Lord:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
Leaders realize the value in teamwork. In sharing the load of a big vision with others God raises up. Think about the calling of the disciples, how they spread the Gospel after Christ’s resurrection and grew in number and force. {Mark 1:16-18;Acts 6:1-7; Acts 18:24-28}
I know there are lots of other good leadership qualities. There are more that are even Biblical qualities. But these are some that helped me those many, many months ago. As I said last week–we are called to be different. I believe we are called to lead. And anyone who can serve, can lead. In our lives, in whatever capacity we can, we are to point–to lead–to Christ and His lovely truth. I hope you’ll dig in to some of these verses. Heck, find some more to add to the list–then start putting them into practice. Step up as a leader in any fashion your life will allow. It might not be in the fanciest, most glamorous way…but we all have a platform we can use to lead–even a couple–to be different. Different isn’t lame, remember? It’s awesome. It’s eternal.
by Amy | Jul 5, 2014 | Blog, The Art of the Kitchen
If you follow along on Facebook {which you totally should} or Instagram {I’m @theartoflivingproject} you probably saw that I made one of my favorite summer desserts for a 4th of July get-together yesterday. Today I’m sharing the recipe.
And here’s the big secret. It’s not some family secret, it’s not complicated, it’s not even a recipe I wrote myself. It’s just a recipe, from my all-time favorite, go-to cookbook. The Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. It’s simply the best. If you don’t own a copy, you should invest in one.
Enough of that. Please allow me to move to a different tangent. I hate recipe format. My memory is so short term when it comes to reading and recipes are really a challenge. How they list the ingredients at the start, then they just reference them through the instructions. Like I memorized each ingredient amount? Nah. Maybe they are designed for people who measure everything out before hand, then just dump it in and the instructions call for it. But I’ve never known anyone {except hosts of cooking shows} to bake like that.
So I type my recipes up a little different. They way I’d like all recipes to be. And here’s one for the Blueberry Buckle that I simply love to make in the summer. {One last side note. I actually didn’t actually do much of the baking yesterday. Since I’m still very deep in recovery mode, Derek did most of the bowl lifting, ingredient getting and putting the pan in and out of the oven. I was more of a mixer-supervisor.}
This is a two bowl recipe. Right off the bat, get out two big/medium bowls.
Next get out a pan to bake it in. You can use an 8×8, 9×9…or a deep quiche dish {that’s what mine was in yesterday…but the baking time will be a little longer.} Spray your pan with cooking oil.
Preheat your oven to 350˚
In one bowl mix together:
- 2 cups of flour
- 2.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
In the other bowl mix together:
- 1/2 cup shortening {I use a liquid oil}
- 3/4 cup sugar
Mix those two things for a few minutes. Until the oil has some air in it and it starts to thicken up. Then add:
- 1 egg…mix it for about two minutes until the mixture is pretty thick
Now grab your bowl of flour, a 1/3 cup measuring cup and 1/2 cup of milk.
Alternate mixing 1/3 cup of flour into the eggy bowl…and a little bit of the milk. Go back and forth until both are all used up. Then pour the batter into your pan.
Sprinkle 2 cups of blueberries {frozen or fresh} on top.
Now make the topping. This is where I vary from the original recipe. Get your empty flour bowl and add the following things:
- 1/2 cup of butter, sliced up
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Use a pastry blender {highly recommended} or two knives to cut the butter into the flour and sugar until it’s crumbly. Then pour it on top of the blueberries.
Bake it uncovered for 50-60 minutes. Test the center with a knife to be sure it is cooked all the way through.
The cookbook also has an alternate option for a raspberry buckle. If that’s more your game just sub in 2 cups of raspberries for the blueberries.
Enjoy!
Amy
by Amy | Jul 2, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Living, The Art of Projects, the house
I love having fresh flowers around the house. My gardens are finally alive with color, which has made this the perfect time to start picking lots of blooms.
Tonight I thought I’d let you in on a super easy was to keep your cut stems looking vibrant for as long as possible.
My grandmother told me this. Actually–she wrote it to me during her final months as she battled a cancer that took away her voice box. So when I was visiting she would communicate on little pads of paper. It wasn’t the quickest method. But it worked. She was an avid gardener. I don’t know how it came up, but she once asked if I knew how to keep cut flowers looking fresh. {Obviously not.}
She told me her favorite trick was to pour a little soda–the clear kinds, like ginger ale, Sprite or 7 Up–into the vase. No more than a quarter cup will do the trick. Flowers crave sugar that they soak up from their roots and other parts of the plant. Once cut, they lose that source of sugar. So keeping some in the water will help them thrive in your living room.
I asked about just mixing some sugar into the water {I’m not much of a soda drinker, usually.} She said that is a technique that some people use…but it’s better to use soda. Granulated sugar, even when mixed in, can clog the pores in the stems.
Give it a try. It’s an easy tip to know that will make you look like a gardener extraordinaire.
Amy
by Amy | Jul 1, 2014 | Blog, Devotional, The Art of Faith
It’s almost cliche to say that as Christians we are called to be different. It’s something I grew up hearing, it’s something I’ve said. And it’s true.
It’s a salve we put on wounds and aches when our peers poke fun at us for not drinking at the party, or because we chose to abstain, or because we don’t cuss, or we choose to go to church instead of sleeping in. The words of a judgmental world can hurt. And when they do, we can always call on those friendly Sunday School words to comfort us–“We are to be in the world, not of the world.” {Referencing Romans 12:2} We are called to be different.
Image via
Somehow, sometimes, though I feel like that idea can translate to say: We are called to be lame.
Lame, because being “different” in a Christian sense can often mean not doing things the world sees as awesome. Today, I’d like to propose we take a more positive view. I’ve come to find that a big part of being different, a big part of “not conforming to the pattern of this world” means embracing our different and leading. Timothy 4:12 says we are to…“set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
We are set apart for a purpose. Not just to be boring people that are easy targets. Not just to prove our allegiance to Christ. We are set apart because the world can be a dark and confusing place. But God loves the people here in the dark and confusion. So once we find the light in all this mess, in this worldly pattern of sin and slime…it’s our job to lead. First we have to recognize the pattern of the world, then find the joy in breaking the pattern and lead others to that same joy.
image via
God gives us a promise for when we do:
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And who doesn’t want that? Mastering the Art of Living means understanding God’s will. That’s the real Art of Living, right there. And He promises that when we renew our minds instead of conforming to the world…we will be able to understand His will. A will that might not make sense otherwise.
So back to leading. I know this verse doesn’t explicitly tell us to lead others along the road to renewal. But others do. {Matt 29:19-20; 1 Peter 3:15; Luke 7:22-23} If you have felt that the call to be different is a call to be boring or lame, I challenge to today to change your mind. Accept the role of different, allow yourself to become a leader–an example, an inspiration, a guiding light–to others lost in the pattern of the world. You can do it. You were called to it.
by Amy | Jun 30, 2014 | Blog, The Art of Living
So I had surgery.
On my back.
I thought I’d tell you a little bit about it.
It started with a late night and early morning. You see, surgery was Thursday…and we had volunteered to host the Wednesday night youth group at our house. So when I got a call from the hospital, telling me that my surgery was booked for 7:10 am, with a 5:45 am show time…I almost threw up. The surgery was in Bismark–nearly 2 hours south of Minot. So we left after youth group, had a short night’s sleep, and arrived bright and early–ready for the knife.
Now, this is the most serious surgery I’ve ever had. And here is something I learned. Everyone wants your pee. Blood too–but mostly pee. I have given so many strangers my pee in a cup I’m starting to lose count. At my initial appointment for back pain they wanted it to be sure the pain wasn’t caused by pregnancy. {Nope.} Then I gave it to them at my pre-op. Then at 5:45 in the morning they needed it again. Just to triple check I’m not pregnant. {Still nope.}
The next thing I learned is that thinking about someone cutting {really cutting, with sharp tools} around your spine is really intimidating. No matter how brave I tried to be, or how much I had been looking forward to this day…sitting in a paper dress with needles in my arms and those gorgeous, blue hospital socks on my feet…my heart was racing and I had that sick-dread feeling running through my veins. The anesthesiologist came in and explained how his job worked. Then asked me if I needed anything for nerves “now.” I turned him down. Then, when the door shut I immediately regretted it.
But soon enough the time had come. I took my contacts out and left them with Derek {like a total idiot I left my glasses on my night stand…in Minot.} Then they carted me back to a very scary hospital-show-worthy OR. It was so bright and white. But I don’t remember much of that. As soon as they kicked the brakes on there was Nurse Barbie {as I referred to her, because she was so stinkin’ pretty and had the cutest glasses–oh how I wish I hadn’t forgotten my glasses–I’d ever seen} to load me up with happy-meds.
After that, I only remember a couple outbursts of obnoxious laughter {from me} while I tried to answer questions that I was sure they knew the answers to themselves. Then, it was the dimness of the recovery room. Two {very blurry} nurses were messing with a machine next to me, terrible pain in my back, and horrific, shooting pains through my right hip. That’s when I remembered what was going on. I moved my feet. Still working. Praise God! I’ve never been so happy to move my feet. In the back of my mind I really thought maybe, just maybe something would go terribly wrong and I’d be paralyzed forever.
I remembered the advice the nurse had given me before I went to the OR, “Remember, when you are all done, they won’t automatically give you more pain medicine. Tell them if you are hurting and they’ll put it through your IV.”
I found some words and strung them together–in what I am sure was not a proper sentence–to tell them I was in pain. What I wanted to say was that I felt like someone had backed over me with a bus, stopped to steal my organs, then drove over me again. But I just said “I hurt.”
While they worked to make me a little more comfortable, I rubbed my eyes…which were covered in sticky, slimy goo. The pros told me that’s from when they taped my eyes closed during surgery. Oh, sure, no big deal…but could I have a towel please? My eyes feel like they’ve been in a scene from Ghost Busters.
Around this time I took inventory on the rest of my body. Outside of the noxious soreness I felt great. No shooting nerve pain down my legs and up my back. Pain that I’d practically forgotten about because it had become so normal was gone. Really gone.
And it hasn’t come back. Eventually that day I was returned to Derek and release to go home. I could even stand up to get dressed. I had an appetite {so we stopped at my favorite pizza place in Bismarck}. The ride home was borderline miserable. But since then I’ve been feeling better and better. Groggy from the pain meds–a little cranky because I’m always so groggy–but better. Sleeping well. Taking it easy. No lifting. No bending. No twisting.
Thanks for all your prayers! I have felt them and so appreciate every single one.
Amy
