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Join me as I flip through my Journaling Bible. I hope you get inspired and use some of the ideas to help you spend time meditating on God's word.

I made ornaments with my kids today!!!!!  This is actually a big deal since my kids are both boys and 18 and 19 years old.  The one actually told me it was kinda cool. Yea! If you would like to make some fun ornaments for yourself or if you want a craft to do with your older kids, watch this video.

This is the seventh and last year my children will be in public school since my baby is a Senior. I homeschooled my boys during their elementary years, so teacher gifts were easy. I just went to the store and bought myself something. But now, it's a little harder. As a public school teacher myself, I know how thankless the job can feel at times. I really want to show my appreciation without breaking the bank. For Christmas this year, I stole an idea that I've seen many times on Pinterest.  So I headed over to Dollar Tree and went shopping. I bought wrapping paper for $1/roll at Dollar Tree. I also bought a package of Christmas Gift Tag Stickers. There were 8 sheets of stickers which was perfect since I needed 8 gifts. I also bought 2 bags of ribbon with 5 little eggs of ribbon in each (leaving me with 2 extra.) Eight rolls of wrapping paper for eight super teachers! My faith is a big part of who I am. Christmas is a celebration of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The w...

I am so excited to have found these at Dollar Tree. I've been looking for Color Dusters for about a year and they are discontinued. Check out this video to see how to apply ink to paper with cheap makeup brushes.

I have really enjoyed my visit into Bible Journaling. As I began, many of my entries have been copied straight off of Pinterest or from other sources.  A few have been original. I've started with well known verses that are easy to visualize.  But, I have enjoyed the quiet time worshipping with my hands as well as my heart.  There are some pages that turned out better than others.  I have never considered myself an artist but this is helping me to discover talents that I never knew I had.  I know they are not perfect but I hope that you can find some inspiration for your own. Here are a few of my entries.  Please feel free to copy my ideas if you would like. Matthew 6:29-34, acrylic paint, water color pencils, stamps, markers Philippians 4:13, water color, marker, stamps Psalm 23:5b, markers Hebrews 6:18, acrylic and markers John 10:27, markers, washi tape Philippians 1:6, acrylics, stickers, markers, washi tape Matthew 17:1 ...

My college boy celebrated his birthday at A&M.  It was hard on this mama to not be there.  His birthday was in the middle of the week of State Testing.  As a teacher, I was not allowed to even take the day off. Ugh!  So, what's a mama to do?  Send a party in a box to one of his buddies! First, I decorated the inside of the box with bright fun scrapbook paper and washi tape! Next, I added party favors from Dollar Tree!  I bought hats, blowy thingys, whistles shaped like airplanes, balloons, etc. I had old leftover Bob the Tomato cups that I added. Next, I added packets of lemonade and chocolate chocolate chip cookies! I added a banner from Dollar Tree that says "Happy Birthday!" Then, I added birthday confetti! I made a banner strung across the box and taped it to the sides! And, I mailed it to his buddy so he wouldn't just open it up in the mailroom and not share his party. My acomplise sent me photos and ...

My hubby decided to build me these two really cute, but really big window boxes.  We had cheap, little,  plastic window boxes for years and it bothered him that they weren't the same size as the windows.  We've been married for 26 years so he knows that I have a black thumb and can't grow real flowers.  (He's still traumatized about the fact that I killed his childhood cactus months after we were married.) Anyway, the boxes are not built to hold a lot of weight.  So even if I wasn't a plant murderer, they wouldn't hold the weight of the dirt for real plants. I went to the big box craft stores (M & HL) to look for fake flowers.  Oh my!  They charge over $20 for a stem of greenery.  I have two 4 foot long window boxes to fill!  At that rate, each window box will be well over $100 and probably need to be changed out each season.  No, I needed to find a more economical solution. First, I went to Dollar Tree.  I found ivy st...

I've seen pictures of people Bible Journaling and wanted to give it a try. I picked and bought this Bible from Amazon . Then, instead of thinking, I just dived in. I found a page I kinda liked with ideas to copy, I pulled the new Bible out of the box, and I started painting. I knew if I thought about it too long I wouldn't get up the nerve. I mean, I've never really written in my Bible before. I've highlighted things occasionally but not too often because I hated when it would bleed through the page. I was brought up to respect books and keep them nice and pristine, and of course the Bible is the most respected book. So, taking that first step was hard. My first page looked okay, then I added more details and messed it up. Maybe someday I'll be able to fix it. But, the thing I realized is Bible Journaling is about the process, not the product. It's a time to think about and reflect God's word while creating.  Today was my second day. I am quite pleas...

I was telling my students last month that I had put cabinets together myself.  And then it hit me, I never shared my bathroom re-model on my blog. During the summer of 2014, we were about 2 days into our vacation, driving to Washington D.C., in the middle of no-where, when we got the call.  Our friends who were going over every couple of days to check on our house and our dogs, opened the front door and water gushed out!  One of our pipes had broken and flooded our house. Chris was trying to figure out where the nearest airport was so that he could fly home to take care of the house while I drove back.  But, this was the vacation that we had dreamed about for years!  So, once we calmed down, we called the insurance company and hired a company to go in and dry stuff out.  Special thanks to Chris' dad, Mike, for going over and helping as well. The next month was spent going through all our stuff, finding out what was ruined and what was salvageable and ...

My oldest is away at college for the first time.  I've been in denial for awhile but, I guess my baby is growing up.  I am way - way proud of him, too.  He may not remember this but when he was really little and a when he was a baby, I would sometimes sing, "You Are My Sunshine" to him as a lullaby.  He was always my "Sunshine" and his brother was my "Turtle Dove".  Anyway, when I saw all the ideas on Pinterest for sending a box of sunshine, I couldn't resist.  These are not new or original ideas, do a search and you will see lots of people have done something similar.  First, I painted the inside of a box yellow.  I've never painted the inside of a box for a care package before and I just loved the way it turned out!  I may paint every box for now on.  I wrote out the words, "You Are My Sunshine" on the inside of the lid in white paint.  It was too hard to see so I went back over and added a black marker. Next I collected...