Coloring for a Cause

I've been getting back to my childhood roots of designing through the medium of crayons. I used to (and still do) love the smell of opening that tin full of crayons at Grandma's house. Mmm Mmm. Crayons smell like creativity and I like me some creativity! 

Mennonite Central Committee, an organization that shares God's love and compassion in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. I have many strong connections to MCC and strongly support their mission. They have Material Resource Centers around the country that provide volunteers with a place to do quilting, weaving and packing of kits that are sent all over the world to help those in need. I've recently started volunteering and the one thing I've been enjoying is coloring these patches that are eventually sewed together and knotted into a comforter. 

Here are a few of the patches I colored. 

  You can get involved in helping change the world too... it's as easy as coloring! 

p.e.a.c.e 

The Medium to Capturing and Keeping Memories...

"Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter."

~Ansel Adams~

I love it when I look back through the moments I've captured on  digital film ... emotion or beauty frozen in the perfect frame of light. mmm it's my cup of tea. 

If I could name my dream job, it would be traveling all over to preserve the REAL life and community in this world through images. A groom watching his bride walk down the aisle, the tear stained face of one mourning loss, the laugh of a child as she plays, the strength of mothers around the world who fight for survival for their children. In all these things God is present... and my dream job would be capturing these stories through the lens of my camera.

This gets me excited. This evokes passionate determination.

My goal is to do more of this in 2011 and in coming years to find a way to share these picture framed stories. 

p.E.a.C.e.

Step One... fail

"Only the spoon knows what it is stirring in the pot."

                                                                                             -Italian Proverb- 

Spoons, Spoons and more ... Spoons. 

I've been collecting them for a few weeks now after envisioning a spoon garland to deck out our bare kitchen windows. Today I decided to put some action to my plans for the spoons. First I tried to pound them out flat, but without a mallet, it was a fail.

So then I thought "I'll bend them so they hang all cute from a ribbon." Fail. 

I ended up with an oddly shaped "hook" spoon scared with battle wounds from the hammer beating.

My second idea with this garland was to write or draw a design on each of the spoons. I used a black permanent marker and then buffed a bit of the marker off to subdue the look. This wasn't exactly a fail, and I like the results, but now I'm not sure what to do with them.

F.A.I.T.H. (I know it's hard to see)

I tried to hang them each with a ribbon from our kitchen window (and I regrettably did not take a photo) but they didn't look right there, so I took them all down. 

Now I'm stuck with a big vase o' spoons. 

p.e.a.c.e.

Inspirational to Inspire...

 I'm looking for some new inspirations since my Holiday DIYing double dose is wearing off and I'm itching to get some new projects going. 

So naturally I turned to some of my favorite DIY sources to get the blood pumping. Regrettably, I don't come up with all of my crafty creations using only my brain power, so check out these DIY Magazine projects that I've been drooling over recently. 

I love that this wreath is all-seasonal with it's colors. It certainly would cut back on the space I'm currently using to store all my "seasonal perfect" wreaths!

          I've been collecting spoons recently for a project still in the dream stages. It's floating in the land of  "that would be cool to do" 

This idea makes me reconsider though :)

Ah, the buttons... I'm "ohh-ing" and "ahh-ing" over the contrast and texture of this one. And it just so happens I also have a collection of buttons that are just waiting to be re-purposed.

I've been looking for some way to dress up our kitchen curtains over the sink and over the window in the door. I love how using napkins is cheap and easy to change, and if you happen to have extra guests over for dinner, you're set :)

Here's the look I was trying to go for when I created a Christmas wreath in December. How cool is this one? Grapes and artichoke disguised as designer style. 

 

Another favorite from my Internet DIY inspiration search.  

The last few are simple to make and add bold texture and color to any living space.

Stop back here in a few days for my take on these great ideas!

P.E.A.C.E.

Icicle, Icicle on the wall, or porch overhang ...

Welcome to the New Year!

Hopefully this one will hold exciting things for each of you!

In this area we've been welcomed into the New Year with quite a few snowstorms... here are a few shots from our porch after the last storm passed through.



I love how these catch all the details of the ice formation.

P.e.A.c.e.