A Fun Craft Project For A Gift

Tomorrow, I get to go take a friend out for lunch to celebrate her birthday. One of her friends from her home group arranged for 40 of us who love her lots to celebrate her birthday for 40 consecutive days. I think it's a great idea. Her friend who organized this suggested we put our creativity to work to come up with some special way of remembering the day.

So....Grasshopper and I painted an unfinished wooden picture frame I picked up from Michael's. I really wanted this to be Grasshopper's work, so I just gave him several brushes and put several colors of acrylic paint on two paper plates and let him go for it. He combined his brush work with using his hands and elbows. The whole frame looks like one incredibly colorful modern work of art, and you can see a few places where his hand or finger prints come through clearly. It's adorable. All I did was paint around the inside and outside edge to finish it, and then put Grasshopper's name and age on the back.

I had watched this neat card making video on a blog awhile back and filed it away as something I'd want to make some day. Today was the day. It took forever to relocate the video, but once I did I was reminded it was worth all the effort. The card I made took awhile to make, but I loved every minute of it. I'd take pictures, but it has real names all over it. So you'll have to watch the video to get the idea. My card starts out with red, blue and yellow, and then turns into ivory and teal and a fun plaid, which then turns into the plaid with some blue and purple blocks. It ends with rose colored paper in various patterns and solids. It is a very cool card, and I'm so proud of it. I think it will definitely be one I make again for a gift for someone else.

Here's the video tutorial I used. I would watch a step of it, complete the step, and then go back and watch the next portion. That made it easy peasy. The only thing I did differently was to use double sided scrapbooking tape so I wouldn't have to worry about waiting for glue to dry or paper getting too saturated or wrinkly. I've played with the card enough already to see that the tape should be strong enough to hold it permanently. This is such a fun gift! Check it out!

A Christmas Gift For You

My mom told me about this video tonight. I guess she's from around where they live. It's pretty special if you ask me. Just the right Christmas gift as I look over at the manger with the handmade baby Jesus that was well kissed tonight by a little boy I love.

Check it out!

Beautiful

Lots of life has been happening. My toddler was in the hospital for a bit. We traveled home to the States for a bit. Our adopted family here has been in the midst of a tough journey. I've been following what I think might be a new calling for me. All kinds of stuff. But I don't feel much like writing. Instead, I'll just share a video I love right now. A blogging friend I hope to one day meet has this song on her blog, which made me decide to find out who Forever Jones is. And that led me to watching a few videos. This one makes me want to dance with God.



*Loading this was a bear and I have NO idea why. If you click on the partial box in the far right hand corner at the bottom, it will take you to YouTube where you can watch it there without having any of the screen cut off.