Life Lately: November Edition

Could it actually be the end of November already??? Where did the time go? That means Christmas and BUSY are right around the corner. Working in ministry, the end of year goes so quickly and gets so hectic. I'm savoring the last few days of November before the craziness of December rolls in.

Here is what happened in November according to my Instagram addiction:

Elementary-aged boys full of hot air + Raingutters full of water = Cub Scouts Rain Gutter Regatta: This is the Dude's second year to participate in his Pack's event. He had a wonderful time this year and actually won a few of his heats. Cub Scouts has been a great experience for him.

Hanging of the Green: After our church's Thanksgiving meal fellowship, some of us went over to start working on decorating the church for the Christmas season. I enjoy being a part of decorating the church, but I think what I enjoy most is watching the Dude grow up and participating. He and his friend X helped with decorating the trees. Such fun!

Turkeys on Turkey Day: Thanksgiving in Texas was wonderful and warm. We were blessed to have been able to visit with most of our family, especially one of the hubby's grandmas who recently moved here from Arkansas. Once the turkey haze started setting in, the Dude and I took to Instagram for a little photo fun. That's him being cool and me just being his mom.

Random Acts of Craftiness: My sweet momma's birthday is in November (Happy Birthday, Mo!), and this year she asked me to transform a vase for her. I'll be posting more about that later, but it sure was fun to get out some Mod Podge (best stuff ever) and pop in the cd of one of my favorite bands, Don't Wake Aislin (awesome people and awesome music), and just create something.

No Shave November: Ok so the Dude is a little young to participate in that, but doesn't he just look stachetastic?

Well that's our life lately. What's going on in your world?

Random Acts of Craftiness

Many people that know me know that one of my favorite things to do is to "be crafty". I enjoy creating things. Being creative is almost like a spiritual thing for me. God has a pretty creative spirit if you count the world and stuff. There are times that it's as if I'm bursting to make something. Sometimes for other people. Sometimes to get the idea out of my head and into my hands. Being creative is joy and madness all rolled into one...or maybe that's just the way it is for me. I love the excitement of making something new and the surprise of how it turns out in the end. Will it be amazing or will it be a total flop? I have had a little of both over the years.

This is a picture of a project that I worked on recently (and will soon be working on again).

The way that this project came about is really the tale of two bands and one special friend, all of which have inspired me along the way. During the month of December the hubby and I embarked on a new journey with Ten Talents Ministry. We promoted and went on our first tour. It was a local tour with a few dates that was called the Winter Chill Tour. It was exciting because we got to be on the other end of concert promoting, but that's a subject for another blog. The headlining band for the tour was an awesome band called Ilia.

Check out their song, We Were Shipwrecks.

The ladies in Ilia had some really great handmade wooden Christmas ornaments. I fell in love instantly and knew we would be "ilia-fying" our tree for Christmas. I've been making Christmas ornaments for a few years now, and I enjoyed the organic look of the wooden ornaments. This got my creative juices flowing, and I had to find out how to transfer images to wood. Turns out, it's a fairly easy process if you are patient...not exactly my best quality. There are multiple methods, but I finally found one that suited me (unfortunately, the link is no longer working or I would happily share).

As Christmas was quickly approaching, I wanted to give a gift to a dear friend of ours who has been an encouragement to both me and Chas. She is a fabulous person. The kind of person that you instantly like. Perhaps it's our common love of Christian rock music or the show Castle. I don't know. All I know is that I wanted to give her something out of the norm. Then it totally hit me! Don't Wake Aislin, an amazing local DFW band who had performed at one of the Winter Chill shows and favorite of my friend, released an epic self-titled EP earlier in the year with the most beautiful artwork in the cover. I took all six pictures from inside the jacket, did a little of this and a little of that, and created six 6"x6" wooden tiles. Thankfully, I have a dad who has a workshop and always has wood scraps lying around. It was such a fun project, that I've been transferring all sorts of pictures to wood, including transferring family pictures to small pieces of wood to use as creative gift tags.

Check out the video for Don't Wake Aislin's single, Through the Oppression of the Wicked.

Blessings!