New Prayer Card

In an attempt to keep ourselves current and relevant and all that jazz, here's our new prayer card.  As always, my amazing sister did the design work.  Do you need some great stationary?  Check out her etsy shop, three strands design!

Just a Few Cool Things

So in the midst of life, I have needed to take a few moments to create.  Nothing huge, just a couple of things to remind us that it is indeed the end of September.  And while we are still wearing tank tops and sandals (side note, the boys have to wear jeans and sneakers tomorrow and those poor children are going to roast!)  pumpkins and soup seem like what we should be seeing and eating.  Too bad we sweat through a bowl of soup.  But it's oh so good.

And I discovered this neat idea on Pintrest.  You do know about Pintrest right?    And yes, this is the peel of a mandarin orange, with the fleshy middle part as the wick and a bit of olive oil in the bowl part.  How cool is that!? 

Well, these are some of the first candles we have had on the table in about 4 years.  For obvious reasons.  Something about trying to teach little jungle monkeys they need to chew with their mouths closed, wipe their mouths and hands on something other than their clothes and no, they can not keep blowing the candles out.  Which really, the only time they have seen candles on the table is at birthdays and that is exactly what you do then.

Oh and I found this guy in the bathroom tonight.  Can you believe there is something that little that functions all on it's own?  Amazing!

Cool Shelf

This is so fun!  I may have to pack an antique teal mason jar in the "Going to Honduras" tub!

Because I Need to See Green

from Life on the Balcony

Oh My!  This is so very lovely!  I love every green leaf of this!  And on this day that is so full of snow and ear infections and grey, this perked me right up!  Do you think I can get my hand on a pallet in Honduras?  Or maybe all I need is some boards and landscaping fabric...do they sell landscaping fabric in Honduras?  Oh the questions!

Anyway, love it, and now it's logged in my "notebook of ideas". 

More Ideas

So, you are subjected to more tear sheets.  We are making our annual trip to IKEA on Monday to help the Handcrafts lady get her supplies for the summer.  And I have been pouring over the new IKEA catalog for ideas.  Here's some of what I have come up with.  Look at them, or not.  This is really more for my records anyway.

Love the desk against the wall, the bins, the string with binder clips.  Don't love the white.  What a mess!  The shelves with drawers is cool too.  Bet I can find someone to make those for me!

Don't know what the deal with all the extra white space is.  Oh well.  Like the straw hats, and the way the photos are arranged under the shelves.

Love the red table desk!  Don't know if I am bold enough though to do a red table!

Really like the picture rail idea!  And love those sideboards.  Again, maybe I get a carpenter to make those for me!

And I like this idea, but with the Spanish Alphabet instead of the Swedish.  And instead of the doll, maybe one of those figures you find in the art department, that you can bend into all sorts of positions.  

Absolutely Nothing to Do with Christmas

But I found some more really cool ideas I want to remember for later, so sorry, you will need to put up with them.

 

from curbly.com

 

from motherearthnews.com

from auntpeaches.com

Crafting Instead of Working

Yesterday I took a break from Christmas cards.  I don't know if that was the wisest idea,  you tell me?  And no, that isn't a catalog.  That is my stack of cards.  Noah has one this size too.

Do you buy coils of a hundred stamps for your Christmas cards?  We are a bit behind this year because we got a late start and then we were on the road for 8 days.

Anyway, back to my break.  I took a break because well, I was going a bit cross eyed.  Remember this tear sheet?  Well, before we left, I ordered the punch to make this circles, and while we were downstate, my sister gave me a couple of old books.  I made a quick stop in Holland to get some funky paper, and yesterday, while listening to two old episodes of This American Life, I sewed these together.

They are hanging the whole length of the the dinning room/living room.  I am not completely sold on the look yet. I need to live with it for a while still.  When Elliot got up from his nap yesterday, the first thing he said was, "I love those!"  Forrest's first comment was, "I don't like them, take them down.  We should put up lights instead."  Well.

Noah had his opinion too.  He thinks they need to not be as droopy.  I am wondering if  it would be better just over my window in from of my desk.  Too many art directors, I am afraid!

Anyway, they are up.  And we will live with it for a while to see what we like.  If we can all come to a conclusion.

More Tear Sheets

Love this look.  Ordered a paper punch today to create the circles, and my sister just told me she's got a bunch of books I can rip apart!  I think it will be a nice addition to the limited Christmas decor I put up.  I also think this look would translate well to a house in the jungle...

from Curbly.com

And this idea I think will be oh so fun in Honduras, in different colors of course...

from papernstichblog.com

And one last paper crafting fun project.  I am thinking about how I could take one of these stars and use them as part of my wrapping this year.  We'll see.

from linaloo.typepad.com

Love These Ideas

Found this idea today over at Holly Mathis Interiors, and love it!  Not sure I am going to be able to come across wooden crates in Honduras, but maybe.

I really like the wheels and how there isn't a whole lot to this project.  All the more reason to just plain old get it done!

And isn't this a smart idea, so cute and cheap and clever!

And while I don't have stairs, and mostly likely won't in Honduras either, I thought I would share this really cute idea for those of you who do have some.

Genius!

I know, this is the second posting for today, but really, this is more for me than anyone else.  It's one of my clippings.

My brother in law shared this today, and I am so all about it!  Don't know if I have mentioned here, but we will be living in a cinder block house in Honduras.  So how fun is this idea?  And it looks so very mod and chic!  Heheh, yes, I did just say mod and chic.

Here is the original post over at Curbly

More Clippings

All photos taken from Laissezfaire

Ideas

My sister and her husband were here with us this weekend.  What a great time, talking about God's Love, design, the creative process, laughing, eating power balls and much more.

She mentioned a blog to me, Laissezfaire and I have been having so much fun with it this afternoon!  It's making me want to run out and gather any empty wooden crate, old battered doors and dilapidated shacks I can find.  And I starting thinking about how I could "file" away these ideas for our new houses.

People have been asking me what our new living spaces will be.  While we are in language school, we will be renting a house close to campus.  When we move to Honduras, well, we aren't really sure yet.  We may rent for a while, we may build on camp, there are a lot of those details to work out.  There is some conversations that need to be had about all that with people in Honduras, Miami, and Michigan.

But that doesn't stop me from thinking and planning, and figuring.  Thinking about how we can be culturally relevant, be creative with the resources that we have (be it money, or "junk" that we can find), and create a space that is uniquely Us, that is a refuge from the outside world so we can be truly Us.  That's a big deal!  Our house needs to be a haven for our family, a place that puts us and others at ease and we are free to be who God made us to be.  As my brother in law so wisely put it today, "don't worry about not being something, just be who you are and that is perfect!"  Thanks for that reminder Dan!

I am excited to create a new space for our family.  And you know how some people rip pages out of magazines and create wish notebooks? Well, since most of what I see is online, the blog will serve the same purpose.  And the fun part is you will get to see all of it too!

So here are some of the things that I found today that may or may not end up a part of our house, but they are a start, an inspiration for what's to come.  And don't worry, there will be plenty more "ripped out pages" to come!

* first 4 photos from Laissezfaire.  Last one from the IKEA catalog.