Valentine Card Making Event

Please Join me on February 4, 2012 from 10:00-noon for a Valentine Card making event.
Cost: $5.00 to cover materials.
Also please bring a sweet or savory treat to share.
This event has been opened to Mom's with children who are old enough to join in and create with us. (No childcare provided. Please include only older children that you know can sit by you and create for two hours.)

Please RSVP to Michelle at redloveless@yahoo.com subject line: VALENTINE or call me at 616-554-3698

Looking forward to sharing the love together!

Valentines Braid.

Heart Braid for Valentines Day. Start by parting hair in the middle. Then trace a heart at the crown of the head and secure it with a pony tail. braid the outside first, then braid the middle and incorporate the ends of the first braids into the center braid.

Henrik's Bag

I love to re-purpose, it is a lot of the thought behind "Gilded Burlap".  It is taking something common and raising it to the next level. Henrik is my third child. My first child had an impressive diaper bag. The inside contained individual zip top bags with everything carefully folded and lined up so that I was prepared for everything that could possibly happen. By the time Henrik came I realized that the nursery probally didn't need a first aid kit, or a complete meal. Most of the time I put one extra diaper in my purse and a couple of wipes and called it good. As a result of this Henrik's things were often in whatever flowery handbag I happened to carry.My husband didn't think this was cool, so I went hunting for something in the house that looked "boyish". I came up with this bag that I got free with my subscription to Martha Stewart Living Magazine. I took off the Martha stewart label and personalized it for Henrik. I am please with the result. I traced the letter "H" onto some "wonder under" and ironed it on. Then I sewed around it with a zig zag stitch. I wrote his name on the back using what I like to call "thread sketching", basically it is free motion sewing. I added a few scribbles of sketching where the two colors come together  to reinforce the bag as it was comming apart a bit, and to add intrest.
Just a comical note, every now and then I see a Mom with one of those enormouse bags and my first instinct is,"wow she is prepared". Then I think, poor thing she has her hands full as it is and then to add that ridiculous bag is so unnecessary. Would someone please tell her to just stash a change of clothes in the side pocket of the car door and save her back!

My one word.

Dear Maggie,
This post is for you my fellow blogging friend. As well as for anyone else who is kind enough to read my post. I enjoy following your journey and was challenged by the idea you shared of picking one word to define 2012. I've rolled this around in the background of my thinking for several days now. Today it was confirmed. Eternal. This is not an effort to sound spiritual or to pick a really significant word. It truly represents the reality of the year behind me and the opportunities yet to be discovered.
In October of 2011 I had a ruptured appendix. I was sick but we couldn't find the source for over two weeks. At that point the pain reached a level that I could no longer bear and we went to ER. A CT scan showed a ruptured appendix. By God's grace it had formed an abscess and all of the toxic infection had remained contained instead of poisoning my whole body. Then a week later I had an event that never has been clearly identified. They say either I had bacteria in my blood or I had a severe reaction to medication. Whatever it was I nearly died. It sounds a bit dramatic, but it is the fact of my story. The sobering reality is that life is very fragile.  Eternity has been brought right up close. With a heart of gratitude I realize I've been given a bit more time before I have to stand and answer before God for my life.I wrestle with the tension between earthly/temporal things(think decorating, clothes, sewing) and eternal things. I recognize that I do need to be a good steward of the material things that He has trusted me with. However, I am sure that He will not ask me questions about what color I decided to paint my living room. My perspective this year I hope has made a noticeable shift. I can spend so much of my life on the temporal. So much effort, money,and time on things that are gone in a flash. I find freedom to pursue my artistic passions in the thought that we are made in the image of God. He is the ultimate creator and so it makes sense why we are wired to be creative. I think of our God who cares that the lilies are clothed in beauty, and cares so much more for me. So while it is good to make my nest a beautiful safe refuge for my family,and to cloth my children in beauty,  I must keep in the front of my mind the relationship of the people in my life. I need to serve my Savior in all things. Eternal. I want every moment to count.
See Maggie's post at www.apairofpinkshoes.com

Organizing Fever

January is here. Society is pathetically predictable at times. Why is it that the headline on every January issue of a women's magazine highlights weight loss and organizing? I guess it is because they are two things that we all aspire to and think that maybe this will be our year of success. This January finds me captive to illness (all of my family has endured the stomach flu-yuck!). And so I am stuck looking at my nest thinking, I have to be able to make this place better. I have to be able to live within the spaces that I call home. I think we often play victum to thoughts like," if only I had a bigger house, or money for organizing systems then I would be able to be organized". So far all of the projects that I've tackled have been done with things that I all ready have...rearranging containers,and utalizing my ever faithful printer. Take a look. 

Now I am both inspired and humbled. I recognize that I have more than will actually fit into my spaces and so it is time to purge. My plan is to have a spring garage sale and to pick a family to benefit from the proceeds. Will you join me? As you organize box up your extra stuff and I will host the sale. Please leave a comment if you want to participate or if you would like to nominate a family that you think deserves the proceeds. I'm thinking that the night before could be a swap of sorts between participating families so that we can help each other too! I'll post more details as the date gets closer.

Thy mercies are new every morning.My New Years story.

MAMA,MAMA....the sweet sound of my little Henrik woke me up this morning. As I walked down the stairs with him clinging to my neck a wave of gratitude swept over me. A new year, Two thousand and twelve. The turning of the calendar has never felt very significant to me. This year is different. This year I have walked to the edge of existence and God's strong hand kept me walking. I began the year diagnosed with Crohn's disease and had to process the reality of living labeled with a chronic illness. For a while I struggled feeling like it was written on my forehead, like it would forever define me. The weight of the original news began to settle and symptoms were controlled and I began to live normally with it in the background instead of it always on my mind. Late this fall my appendix ruptured. At the height of the chaos that followed I remember thinking that I was at the max of what I could bear. I felt so fragile like one more poke or pain would tip me over past my limit. The staff would tell me how I was strong, and had done such a good job tolerating pain. I remember replying that I didn't feel strong, and I no longer wanted to be brave. I was empty, exhausted, and hanging on by a thread. Adam was my rock in all of this. He wouldn't let me quit. He prayed over me in powerful ways. He held my hand. He resolved from day one that we would trust God and that in this journey we would give God glory. I held on relying on the faith that I had established my whole life. I knew the truth that God was with me and would carry me. I know the theology of suffering, that it is not if we will go through hardships, but when, so nothing about this experience surprised me. I watched for ways that God was working. I leaned on the prayers and love of the people of faith that surrounded me. In the middle of the valley surviving took all of my strength. I remember thinking, "I should read my Bible".Then I pictured where it was in my bag in a cabinet and thought," I can't do it, it is just too heavy and I am tired". In those moments I would lay back and think about the verses in my heart. Then I would sigh," Lord Jesus intercede for me". I was weak, He was strong. I think of the words that I sing as I lay Henrik down each night...Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so. I believe those words. They are tucked in my heart. And so my story comes full circle. A new year a fresh slate, how am I going to live? How can I put my treasures in heaven? How do I lay the foundation for my children so that when (not if) they are called to walk through the valley they will be leaning on their Savior Jesus Christ? I need to refill my soul with Scripture and walk along side of other believers so I am ready for whatever the next chapter holds. This year I begin not with a resolution, but with gratitude of heart longing to walk near to my Savior in a way that changes who I am.

"Gilded Girls" Valentine Card Making Event

You are invited to come and create handmade Valentines. 

This year my New Years Resolutions would require an entire list. At the top would be:

1. Spend more time with friends. 

2.Nurture creativity.

3.Send more mail that requires a stamp. 

And so I am hosting what I hope is the beginning of a new chapter with a "Gilded Girls" creative event.

Please bring a savory or sweet snack to share. A suggested $5.00 donation is appreciated to help cover the cost of supplies.You are welcome to bring along your own materials if you wish. You will go home with at least one card made with love by you! 

Saturday, February 4, 2012

10:00am-Noon

Space is limited, RSVP is required. Please send email to redloveless@yahoo.com subject VALENTINE or phone at 616-554-3698. I will confirm your RSVP and give you location information.