Love is…a many splendored thing

Love is…all you need

Love is… a battle field

Well, the world has a lot to say about love, but when given an assignment on the theme of ‘Love’, my mind kept going back to the old standby, 1 Corinthians 13. The passage is beautiful, meaningful, and not to mention extremely convicting!  I want my words and actions towards those I love to reflect this passage, much more than they already do!

Instead of pictures, most of the personal items in this books are excerpts from  love notes I have been given  through the years by my 3 boys.

The book itself, as hinted at in an earlier post, is made of cardboard, a trend I keep seeing in different places.  I wanted to try something that was inexpensive, easily accessible, and that I could make into any size I wanted.  All of the papers within are the Cosmo Cricket papers I had been given.  I love how easily they coordinated!  The lace was a part of my kit, as well.  All the inks and paints, as well as the Bind-it-all and accessories are available at, where else?  Mystic Paper!

Jump on over to Patty’s, Sheri’s, and Holly’s blogs to see what they’ve been up to.  The whole team has been so encouraging these last few months, but I had to say ‘Thank You’ to Holly for the sweet things she said about me on her blog last month-She was so sweet!  Thanks Holly!

This last March, Matt and I were blessed with a trip to Portland to celebrate our 11th anniversary.  The trip was a bonus for a very difficult February at work to say ‘thank you’ for a job well done.  We enjoyed the gorgeous, rainy (but not TOO rainy) weather, eating at delicious restaurants, visiting friends, and mostly just reconnecting as 2 adults who have the capacity and ability (though not often the opportunity) to finish thoughts, sentences and conversations.  It was so fun….

The book itself is crafted out of a cigar box.  On the cover is the title (Our weekend in Portland) and a silhouette of Mt. Hood etched into the red paint.  I applied wax and Perfect Pearls glitter all around the back and up around the cover.  I love the ‘Pulp’ look to the back-it is a map of Powells bookstore-a giant used bookstore in the heart of Portland where we spent much of our time. (Nerds!)  When it comes to collage, if I see a scrap of paper or a little metal doo-dad, I never throw it away.  It always seems to come in handy sometime!  The inner cover of the cigar box features a fork I ‘twisted’ a few months ago, and now finally found a use for.  It now displays a list of the restaurants we visited on our trip.  Each page of the book is a pocket, containing an insert that coordinates with each page.  Featured in the book are our trip to the Portland Japanese Gardens, Stumptown coffee roasters, the Pittock Mansion, and the Beverly Cleary Tribute Fountain.

I have entered this book as my submission to try out for Mystic Paper’s design team.  I was very purposeful in my choice of what project to submit.  As always, I want each of my crafts to be personal to me and my loved ones.  I hope the thought that goes in to each project is meaningful to us long after it is being admired and observed by others.

These photos are LONG over due to be shared- (LONG overdue seems to be a running theme of my blog these days, but that’s another story). I made this birdhouse for my sister’s birthday. She shared a quote with me about ‘The Martin Bird’ that she loved, being a Martin and all. I don’t know if she actually expected me to do anything with the quote, but I ran with it. After a bit of research about the Martin Bird, the pieces of the birdhouse began to fall into place. I went with green as a main color to match her house. The ‘shingles’ on the roof are cut from an antique Girl Scout handbook, the pages are the requirements for the Bird-watching badge. All of the paper on the house is waxed to give it an antique finish. I love finding inspiration in unlikely places, and was so excited to make a gift for Sarah that meant something to her, and came from the heart!

All of the altered aprons are on display at Mystic Paper! Many of the aprons are available via a silent auction, but I decided to withhold mine since it has pictures of my kids on it. If you would like to see them, I’m trying to figure out a time to go, so maybe we could go together! They are on display till they end of the month!

…And I’ll be perfect in my own way
When you cry I will be there
I’ll sing to you and comb your hair
All your troubles I will share

For apron strings
Can be used for other things
Than what they’re meant for
and you’d be happy wrapped in my
Apron strings…

Here is more information: Tryouts!

A Christmas shadow box I wanted to try…

My muffin tin Advent calendar… (I made this last year)

This Gingerbread house is one of a set of 3 that I started making 2 years ago. They were never quite finished to my satisfaction, so this year I decided to just focus on finishing the biggest of the 3. My 2 favorite parts are the ‘glass’ windows and the clay gumdrops.

This is an example of the wax collage journals I made for the girls in my small group-This one is Meghans

Earlier this month I participated in an ornament exchange hosted by Beki of Pampering Beki. Above are the photos of the ornament that I sent to my assigned ‘ornament buddy’: Becky of Becky Kay Designs. Fun, right? I can not wait to receive her ornament, as well. She designs purses for her Etsy site, and works a lot with fabric, so I was hoping my ornament would involve a bit of fabric, and as you can see from her blog posting, it does!

Making this ornament was a minor victory for me. I took a soldering class 3 1/2 years ago on my birthday, June 4th. I was due to have Noah 5 weeks later, he came 3 weeks later! So, I arrived at this ‘learn to solder’ class with my required soldering iron-except I had bought the wrong kind! Matt was at Costco the day before and saw a battery powered Soldering iron. He called me to double check, and I agreed it sounded like a good idea! So, I’m sitting there in class with this (way, way underpowered) tool, and the solder is not melting…and not melting… Everyone else in the class is like 3 steps ahead of me and I’m sitting there until the teacher has to get out her spare soldering iron (thankfully) so I can even begin! For the record, I didn’t even cry. A handful of times since then I have attempted soldering with mixed results, and have only just begun to try again. With a few tips from online, it is going much better, though I still don’t know how much I really ENJOY it…