At the cross.....

At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There's no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now?

 Video of "At the Cross" by Hillsong Video

Last week hubby & I were at Home Depot looking for screws for the new Ikea shelves.  I got bored looking at screws and wandered away when HUGE nails caught my eye.  I purchased 8 large nails for a project for kids church & Easter.  Here's the finished project:

Instructions.  6 nails, glue gun, black twist-ties, cut 2x4 & twine.

I glued 2 nails together and wrapped twine in a criss-cross pattern. I then glued any gaps in the twine, to help it stay sturdy.

After making 3 crosses.  I took our jar of saved twist-ties (hubby refuses to throw them away) and pulled out all the black ones. I made a circle out of a larger twist-tie.  I used other black twist-ties and cut them in 1/4's & 1/3's.  I wrapped the cut ties around the circle to make the crown of thorns.

I found a cut piece of 2x4 (it was 17" long) in our garage and nailed the 3 crosses to the board...and it's finished.  I saved the last 2 nails for the kids to see & touch representing the nails that were used to crucify Jesus.  We have some faux moss at church that I may glue to the board.

 

Cardigan Power!

I found a couple of cute dresses last week at Kohls, but they're sleeveless.  I couldn't find any cardigans that I liked or wanted to spend money on.  Today on facebook a friend posted a t-shirt upcycling she did...taking a t-shirt and making it into a cardigan.  I spent hours thinking about it and instead of going to bed, I made myself a t-shirt cardigan.  It won't win any beauty pageants or design awards, but it cost me nothing & I love it.  It took an hour for me from start-to-finish.  The next one won't take as long...I really analyzed each cut before I did it.

The t-shirt Before:

I cut it up the middle in the front.  

Then I used a small plastic card to help me cut a some-what straight line to shorten the bottom of the shirt.  I actually did two lines, the first line wasn't short enough.

I then cut the arm hems off.  I took one of the hems & cut in the middle and sewed each half to the top of the shirt to make a tie.

This was so much fun.  I spent no money and now have a great addition to my dresses.  After:

Shelves, Shelves & Shelves!!

After a trip to Ikea we got inspiration to change up the kitchen a little.  We purchased 4 black shelves & 8 black brackets from Ikea, then a trip to Home Depot for screws....$32 later for this project we headed home.  We had different plans for them, but realized our impulse buy didn't fit where we wanted them. Yay for creativity and we changed our plans. We created an extension of our counter top (we have a teeny, tiny kitchen) and can't wait until the next time we have people over to see how well this helps with the buffet line.  The only thing new besides the shelves is the little silver lantern.

I like that my cookbooks are out, they were taking up good real estate in a cupboard.  The silver basket/bucket holds all our hand towels (in order to save space in one of our only 3 drawers.)

We can also stand in out kitchen without the shelf at the end in the way, the new black one is taller, so more room to stand at the stove.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Repurposing....

In January I decorated the buffet a little springy, now that it really is spring I changed it up.  Still the same color scheme, just changed things around.

January - March

April

I added the new chalk board I made.  Took the candle on a cake stand that is usually on our dining room table & moved to the buffett.  I removed the flowers from their stems and put them around the candle.  The vase on the far left is a lime juice bottle with the words "love" on it.  The green vase on the far right was $ .50 at Goodwill.  The green flower pot I received for my birthday.  I stuck an orange bird house and blue bird plant stake in it(Dollar Spot at Target, used giftcard), covered the Styrofoam with burlap.  Everything was on hand - I only paid the $.50 for the vase from Goodwill to add a little more spring to my dining room.

Earring Holder

I made myself an earring holder that hangs on the wall. 

- 8x10 frame purchased at JoAnn's for $1.97
- Plastic waffle sheet from Michael's $ .59
-Pink & Purple craft paint $ .29 each from Michaels
-Foam Paint Brush $ .05 from Michaels
-Silver ribbon from Michael's for $1
-4 wood clothespins (on hand)
-duct tape & glue sticks & glue gun (on hand)

I removed the back & glass from the frame, cut down the waffle plastic (have no idea what this is called, found it in the knitting section).
I painted the waffle pink, then added a little purple paint over it.
Hot glue gunned and duct taped the waffle plastic inside the frame.
I glued 4 wood clothespins to the back of the frame (covered them in silver duct tape)...this ensures there is room between the frame & wall for the earring hooks to hang.
Hung it on the bathroom wall.

yet not my will, but yours be done....

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
- Helen Keller 

Yesterday I learned a lesson, a lesson about myself...sometimes I can be so dense, arrogant and controlling.  When I let go and let God, things fall into place so much better than when I try to do it myself.  In my need to control things I tried and failed at attempting to do something outside of my scope, outside of what God called me to do, something someone else can do so much better.  I'm not very technical, mostly because I lack patience and logic!  I spent hours yesterday trying to create a presentation for kids church, it was painful for me and I wasn't getting very far.  When I finally realized that I have a co-worker who already does this every week and does it well, that I was trying to control every part of my life, I unclenched my fists (metaphorically) and let go of this...things went so much better.  I was able to do what I do best, organize and think creatively.  I came up with a fun hands-on activity for kids church, wrote up my lesson and ran errands to gather all the supplies. 

By trying to so something God did not bless, I wasted time and energy.  If I would have prayed about it, instead of going to my fleshly thoughts I would have known that my energies would have been spent better doing what God called me to do.  It made for a very long day, but in the end I learned a lot and also got a lot accomplished.  It was such a little thing, but when I listened to God things went smoother. 

Last night I was reading about Moses handing over leadership to Joshua right before the Israelites were going into the Promised Land, it made me think and reflect on how much I can be like the Israelites.  By doing what I want, it takes me out of God's will and keeps me wandering in the desert, when I could have reached the destination so much faster.  

"Be strong and courageous, Do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."  Deuteronomy 31:5, 6 

The Lord goes with me...but am I going with Him?  I hope I don't have to keep learning this lesson over and over again!