'I believe..'

Oh how I love Bob Ross. He is fantastic and so darn....Bob Ross-y. My boyfriend showed me this video and told me it reminded him of me....

HAHAHAHAHAH

He's a keeper. Anyway, this is golden. 

'I believe every day is a good day when you paint.'

'Just caress it'

'I believe it will bring a lot of good thoughts to your heart'

'Let's build a happy cloud...there are no limits here'

'Make love to your canvass. Fluff it.' 

'We don't make mistakes, we make happy accidents.'

'TOTAL POWER.'

Oh my goodness, I am going to die laughing. 

Quotes Board DIY

I am totally bored with my room. It's been the same since I was a Freshman. I'm a Senior. My bulletin board still says 'Cornerstone 2010.' It's 2012....the END of 2012.

THIS IS A PROBLEM. 

To cure my space restlessness, I will probably be posting a lot of DIYs (YAY) and organization ideas. So let's start with that awful bulletin board! 

As I said before, I love quotes and have stumbled upon (literally) many fantastic quotes I don't want to forget and would love to display around my space. The problem is I'm not allowed to make new holes in my walls to hang things. The solution? QUOTES BOARD! 

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 You will need:

• Chalkboard paint
• scissors (I remembered them this time!!) 
• small pins
• magazines 
• green paper
• a pencil (which I forgot to include :( ) 
• printed quotes :)
• glue stick

Step 1:

 Paint a large rectangle on your bulletin board. This will take a few coats because the cork likes to soak it in. I already had mine done from a previous project. Wait for it to dry.

Step 2:

 Flip through your magazine and cut out pages that have articles on them. Cut out branches from those pages and begin to tack them onto your board. There is really no way to mess this up, even if your not a fantastic artist. Just draw a thick tube that narrows to a point, then add one or two smaller points onto the first tube.
Continue cutting and pinning branches until your board looks like this:

 Use chalk to label the board. Suggestions:
Quotes
Beautiful Words
Words
A wise man once said...
Shut up and Listen!

Step 3:

Now it's time for the leaves. These are a little tricky to freehand (like I did) if drawing isn't your thing. There are plenty of websites out there that have leaf patters you could print and use. Here's a good one: http://0.tqn.com/d/scrapbooking/1/0/R/e/fallleafpattern.jpg
I used around 17 leaves. Make sure you make them big enough to fit your quotes on! Cut them out.

Step 4:

Before you put the quotes on the leaves, pin them where you want them to go on the tree. This will prevent you from putting your quotes all the same direction on the leaves, which makes for a pretty boring looking tree. Vertical leaves will work for shorter quotes, and horizontal leaves for longer ones.

Step 5:

Take one leaf off the tree at a time and make sure you take notice of which way it was facing. Now begin cutting out your quotes in small strips. You'll have to break them up to get them to fit on the leaves, but I see this as a challenge. I try to cut them between words and in places that will make it sound more poetic. Try cutting between different word groups and see how the words flow in your mind when you read it. For example, the quote on this leaf says 'Sometimes God calms the storm, sometimes God calms the sailor, but sometimes He makes us swim.' ~NOTW. I cut it up into groups like this:

'Sometimes God calms the storm,

Sometimes God calms the sailor,

But sometimes He makes us swim.'

~NOTW

Step 5:

Keep cutting and pinning quotes until you use all the leaves. Ta da! Now your Quotes Board is finished! You could even add pictures to some of the leaves or detail to the bottom of the board. Get creative and make it your own! 

Here are some of my leaves and examples of cutting and grouping words

Happy Crafting!

Happy Messy Monday!

This BlimeyCow video was one of the first I watched. I love it!

'DC Talk didn't go to Heaven when it died.' 

'Uhhhh...is it a CHRISTIAN lunch??' 

'Please don't tell my mommy....' 

'"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently."
"How so?"
"Well, when you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day."
~Calvin and Hobbes

#justsayin

I love quotes.
Some of the stuff that people say is beyond worth repeating. One of my friends has this crazy ability to stumble across the most wonderful quotes ever. I'll share my favorites with you :)

"I could do without a tan on my left hand where my fourth finger meets my knuckle."      ~Ed Sheeran

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"Sometimes God calms the storm.

Sometimes God calms the sailor.

But sometimes He makes us swim."

~NOTW

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"She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails."  ~Elizabeth Edwards

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"They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered."                       ~F. Scott Fitzgerald 

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 "What doesn't kill us makes us something." ~Unknown

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"In defense of marrying young: I do not claim that marriage is for everyone or that family is for everyone. So please don't claim that young marriage should be for no one."

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"The storms will come and the winds will rise and the gusts will threaten to pull you from your roots. Let the winds come. Let them rage and know that you will not break in the breeze, you will bend. Bend. Always bend because you are made of more strength than you know, because you are better than breaking."   ~TylerKnott

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 Creativity takes no excuses.

If its important enough, you'll make time for it.

If you don't know where to start, start anywhere.

If you feel stuck, ask someone to help you out.

If you're tired, take a timed break.

If you don't know how to do it, do what you can.

If you believe that you can do it, you will.

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"Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy." ~How He Loves

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"I just want to be alone with someone else there"  ~Unknown

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  "I got lost in him, and it was the kind of lost that is exactly like being found."          ~Claire LaZebnik

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"And I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do." ~Michael Scott

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SHOES.

This past weekend, I went to visit my friends Erica and Chelsea across state. We had a fantastic and crazy time, but the highlight was definitely painting some cheap canvas shoes. We all got a pair and went to work while watching my favorite show, The Office. They are really a perfect representation of my own personal style and likes. I just finished mine tonight, and they look AWESOME.

Pikachu and the Hunger Games

Some of my favorite Super Heroes and a cute heart design :)

The Aristocats <3, and an Andy Warhol quote: 'Art is what you can get away with'

Pacman and the Avatar: the last Airbender symbols for Air and Water

I LOVE these shoes! I just waterproofed them and I can't wait to wear them tandem biking with my friend Kyle :D.

If you would like a custom pair, email me your shoe size and 12 themes or designs (6 for each shoe). They are $12 a pair :). 

sbardwell94@yahoo.com :)

Messy Monday!

Happy Monday!

For today's Messy Monday video, we're going to take a look at Jordan's list of 7 things that won't be cool in twenty years. Brilliant :)

'Cats are love on four legs' ~Unknown

My cat died today.
He was around 8 years old. He was the fattest Siamese cat ever. I love him so much.
People have asked me what the big deal is, I literally have a ton of other cats on the farm. Snickers was not just another cat. Snickers was special.
Snickers, who rode around on my shoulder. My first kitchen cat. The cat that people would exclaim about how much he seemed to love me. He loved music. Snickers would sit on my big CD player while I was in the kitchen and listen to my music. He hated the song 'Under the Sea' and would open my CD player whenever it came on so it would stop. He was an excellent mouser. Snickers was the best cat I've ever had.

Snickers <3

So this post is to all the cat people who appreciate how lovely cats are. In the words of The Speculator, 'Cats are to be loved because they are cats and for no other reason.'

Enjoy, cat people :)

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats" ~Albert Schweitzer

 “If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” - Mark Twain

"The cat does not want all the world to love her, only those she has chosen to love."
-Helen Thomson

“Women & cats will do as they please, men & dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”

 ~ Robert A. Heinlein

<3

Pool Hockey (and other cool pool games!)

Today was my first official day as Katie's full time babysitter. It was a blast! Katie is just like me (only a little more energetic haha) and and loves to be outside and craft. We made bracelets all day with my floss and her yarn. I also got quite an education on all important 9-year-old things, including the dangers of city smog, what's in smog, her personal theories on why the US got involved in the Korean War, where cats scent glands are...oh and how important it is to dress like your American Girl doll so she feels like part of the family. But between all that, we squeezed in time to hit the pool so she could teach me a game she loves to play: pool hockey.

Turns out, pool hockey has nothing to do with actual hockey (to my relief) and is quite fun. All you need is a pool, some pool toys (such as pool noodles and kick boards), and a beach ball. 

         

(Sorry guys, no actual pictures of us playing....cameras and pools don't mix too well)

The object of the game is to get all the opposite team members out! 

Here's how you play:

Separate into two teams and give everyone a noodle (like a hockey stick). Designate opposite corners of the pool to be the two teams goals, and one person from each team to be the goalie (or not...this is totally optional, I prefer to play sans-goalie). Place the ball in the middle of the pool, and on the word 'go', everyone tries to get the beach ball and score in the other teams goal using only the noodles- no hands allowed! Whoever gets to five points first wins! 

You may be thinking, 'wait...what about the kick boards??'  Well, here's Katie and I's one-on-one super way to play (only use one kick board):

In our version, you're the goalie, the goal, and every other team member! You each start with a noodle, with the ball in the middle. On 'go', you use the noodles to try and maneuver the ball so that it touches the other player. If you make the ball touch the other person, you get your 'hockey stick' upgraded to a kick board.  This obviously makes it much harder for the noodle person to win! If the noodle person makes the ball touch the kick board person, you switch 'sticks.' (So the person who hits the other person with the beach ball always gets a 'stick' upgrade.) The first person to make the ball hit their opponent twice in a row wins! (The winner must always have the kick board).

Here are some other easy group pool games:

~Colors: 

Have one person stand at one end of the pool to be the Guesser, while the others stand at the opposite end with their eyes closed. Everyone thinks of a color, and the Guesser guesses a color. Once someone's color has been called, they can try to swim their way across the pool to the Guesser. Whoever touches the Guesser first wins and gets to be the new Guesser.  But wait! There's a catch! Once one person's color has been guessed and they start swimming, everyone can start racing towards the Guesser too! That's where the challenge is...the person who's color was chosen has to swim as quietly as they can to not alert the others. 

~Movies

This one is set up just like Colors. The Movie Master (the lone person) thinks of a movie and the group at the opposite end asks questions to try to figure out what movie it is. When someone thinks they know it, they swim up to the Movie Master and reveal their guess. If it's right, they become the new Movie Master. If it's wrong, their out!

~Copy Cat 

This game requires a diving board and is better suited for older kids or teens. One person is chosen to be the Diver, and everybody else are the Copy Cats. The Diver gets to jump or dive off the board any way they like, and the Copy Cats have to copy it for the Diver (or judges if there are moms around the pool). Whoever can't copy the dive is out, and the Diver selects a new dive. The last one standing with the Diver wins! 

~Splash Contest

Cannon ball! This game is and oldie, but a goodie (yeah, I can't believe I just typed that haha). It's pretty simple: whoever makes the biggest splash wins! 

Enjoy your pool time :)

Messy Mondays!

Happy Messy Monday! (a day late...)

Today's Messy Monday video is called 'Like vs. Love.' Jordan talks about how we really don't know what love is anymore because we over use the word so much. This was the first Messy Monday video I ever saw and it got me hooked. Now, not everyone will like the way Jordan delivers his messages...he uses a lot of irony and sarcasm to get his point across. I understand and get a lot out of what he says. But enough from me, I'll just let Jordan do the talking :)

Caution: May Change Lives

The first thing you should ever know about me is that I'm a Christian. Not one of those 'holier than thou' Christians, not one of those Sunday feel good Christians; I'm an Acts Christian. Don't know what that is? Read the book of Acts. God changed me and I'm using the gifts He gave me to change others for Him. So today for my first Christian inspiration post, I'm going to do two things. First I'm going to share my testimony. It's pretty long, but if you take the time to read it, I think you'll understand who I am and where I come from a bit better. Secondly, I'm going to post a two minute video called The One Minute Sermon. This lady says more truth in one minute than most pastors say in an hour. I hope she causes you to think about your own life, and it impacts you the way it did mine :).

My Testimony: 

I was born into and baptised as a baby at St. Paul Lutheran Church, and went there for the first 13 years of my life. I was taught in Confirmation class that it didn't matter how or when you were baptised, as long as you were because that was the only way for the Holy Spirit to start working in your life. We didn't really have the Bible in church, and Pastor would only give one or two verses during his short sermons, then tell stories about the topic. The rest of the service was ritualistic recitements of various creeds.  I was a good little church girl, and went to church and Sunday school every week and learned all my verses, went to VBS, and completed Confirmation classes a year ahead of everyone else. I was the top of my class and knew everything there was to know from the Catechism book. I was so sure that I was doing everything right, and that I was saved. I had done everything I thought I could do to please God. I knew the mechanics of being saved and knew the verses and believed in God and Jesus, I was positive I was going to Heaven. I thought 'There's no way I couldn't be saved, I've done everything right, and besides, there's no possible way that it could happen to ME; that I was going to go to hell someday.' In that church, no one sat you down and told u how to be truly saved, you just were. As long as you were baptised and took Confirmation and Communion, you were on the right track, the rest didn't matter.
Then my parents met a man from the Mennonite church (for those of you who don't know what that is, imagine Amish with only black cars and electric lights) and were invited to attend his church the following Sunday. My parents went, and the rest of us went to our church. After that, dad was very critical of the church he chose for me to grow up in. Suddenly everything that I was taught by him, the church, and my Confirmation classes was wrong. My parents stopped going to St. Paul. Aaron, my older brother,  went with them. It was just Hallie, my younger sister, and I going to the Lutheran church with my neighbors. Pretty soon, a rule was made that Hallie had to go with my parents. So it was just me alone going to St. Paul. I had to go to the Mennonite church once a month, but other than that, there was a solid divide separating me from the rest of my family. It was the most painful time in my entire life. My whole family changed dramatically. You wouldn't have even recognized them...the way they looked, their personalities, even their mannerisms changed. I remember coming home from school (I was in the 7th grade) and not being able to do my homework because I was so upset or having to start over because my tears had soaked the paper. My parents would argue discuss whether or not I should be forced to join the Mennonite church like my younger sister, because I would not go willingly like Aaron. My mom said I was old enough to choose, my dad disagreed. Thank God my mom won. I continued to go to the Lutheran Church with my neighbors for a horrible, heart-wrenching year. It truly was the worst year of my life.
Then one night, I spent the night at my best friend, Lauren's,  house one Saturday, and went to the First Baptist Church with her and her family Sunday morning. I had done that tons of times before, and nothing was different; the people were nice, Sunday school was fun, and the pastor preached. But when I went to my Lutheran church the next Sunday, everything was different, but nothing had changed. Things didn't have much meaning anymore, and the sermons were pointless. 'Jesus is my homeboy' was written on the kleenex box in the Sunday school room, there was no Bibles anywhere, and the music from the band was louder than the singing. In fact, the people were not really singing anyway, just mumbling and humming...no one truly wanted to praise God, they didn't care. It was all just routine. I realized that my church didn't change over a week of me being away, it had always been like that. It was one of the biggest shocks of my life.
After that, I was completely done with my old feel-good, people pleasing church. We made arrangements for me to be dropped off and brought home from Lauren's church every Sunday. I didn't really have anywhere else to go, I didn't want to leave God, and my parents church was the last place I wanted to be. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I could have made.
One night, after having attended the Baptist church for a few months, I was in bed trying to get to sleep when it hit me. If everything was wrong at my old church, did that mean that I wasn't really saved? I was so incredibly scared. I knew all the verses, so I looked through them and prayed. I don't know if 'hard' is the right adjective for it, but I prayed hard. I was begging God to let me know if I was truly, really saved. I needed something tangible to assure me that I was. Immediately, I was given a peace so--I can't even think of a word to describe it correctly-- that all I could do was think 'So this is what it feels like...' and I was out.
For the longest time after that, I wanted to know as much as I possibly could cram into my head about God, Jesus, and how things work. The Catechism that I had thought had all the answers and I knew so well, was suddenly nothing compared to what I didn't know. I watched, read, and listened to every kind of Biblical material I could get to. I ordered tons of material from Answers in Genesis and watched all their DVDs and was amazed at what they were telling me. There was just so much I didn't know. My mind was officially blown.
A few years or so later, I was over at Lauren's planning another sleep-over into Sunday. Randy and Joy (Lauren's parents) and I were planning the mechanics of it, how and when I would get home and whatnot. I said 'I could go home with the Stec's after your church gets out.' Randy looked at me and said 'Or, you could come back here after OUR church is out, and we'll bring you home later.' I agreed to it, but the only part that I had really heard was the 'our church' part. I hadn't really thought of ever belonging to a church again, I knew I would sometime, but I didn't know when or what church. But I realized that First Baptist was my church. I had been going for almost 2 years, I knew it better than I knew my old church, and felt way more comfortable than I ever had at any other church. But in the back of my mind, there was a voice telling me that it really wasn't my church, I wasn't a member. So I decided to get baptised.
I told my parents that I wanted to, and dad said that I didn't need to get baptised, I already had been. So I put it off. A few weeks later I was thinking about it, but then was too afraid of being in front of lots of people. So I put it off. Then baptism was talked about in church, and I wanted to again. So I went home and sent an email to Pastor Hill, but I got a failure notice and nothing would go through. So I put it off. Then in church, I heard it again; I needed to be baptised and join the church. So I came home and sat down to write this email to my pastor. My parents weren't home, and my homework was done, and I was alone. I didn't have a reason to put it off any more. I was actually going to do it. I was going to get baptised. And so I did.

Getting baptised didn't save me, only accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Savior did that, but it filled a hole in me that for the longest time I didn't realize was empty. It gave me a church home. It gave me a place to belong. 

My parents and I are still very different and see the world in very different ways. Sometimes this causes the rift between us to widen, and sometimes I don't feel like I fit in my own home. But I have my Heavenly Father and a church family that loves me. With them, I'll get along just fine :). 

Now for the video :) 

Lyrics:

'To be a survivor in this amazing race with a need for speed you need God's Grace; and if your desperate like housewives watching Days of Our Lives, you can't cope without hope and that's not on a soap. If your into Oprah or Dr. Phil, you can shop nonstop or pop a pill, but the void wont fill and the pain won't kill til you love the one who hung on a hill. Kickin back in your lazy boy easy chair watchin Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, nah, your not going to find it there, no American Idol or Council Tribal is the final answer that will satisfy ya.
CSI ain't got a clue, SVU don't know what to do, not the ER or the OC, nothin on a CD, TV, DVD, or MP3 can save you and me. CNN's got no good news, here's a headline: you must choose.
It's not a simple life, a piece of silk, you're treading on thin ice, living in sin. You can be an apprentice for Donald Trump, or eat Fear Factor fast food from a dump, you could be a heavy hitter or a Wheel of Fortune winner, a Fox News no spin spinner, or a flat out sinner, but you better check this life your living and make sure your sins are forgiven.
I'll bet you 50 Cent, Elvis done came and went, and eventually every Black Eyed Pea, Gwen Steffani, P-Diddy, and Britney, every wannabe on MTV with their icey bling, every Dixie Chic that sings, they are all gonna see the King of kings. I don't care if your JLo, Leno, or Bono; one thing you gotta know: some day your gonna die, bro, then where you gonna go? Hey, I'm not talking some punk junk that's irrelevant, like your grandma's church from way back when, it's not some preacher feature on TV that you need to be likeing or listening.
The real superstar is Jesus Christ, He's the way, He's the truth and the life. One day He's going to split the sky, He's the brightest Light and the Highest high. So what I came to say, what I'm telling ya is don't buy that stupid stuff they be sellin ya, it's all designed to fill your mind and waste your space until your dead. Here's the bottom line of my rhyme: Give your life to God, while there is still time.'
~Tamara Lowe

God Bless :)

Melted Crayon Flower Art

Happy Saturday! 

I've been noticing a lot of melted crayon art on sites like stumbleupon, pintrest, and tumblr recently. They're really cool and can be copied pretty easily. I had some spare time today with everyone out of the house, so I decided to put a twist on some of the melted crayon art I've seen around: melted crayon flower art :).

Here's how to do it:

You will need:

• a canvas (you can get them at walmart for a pretty good price, I used an 11x14)
• crayons (depending on whether you want to use certain colors like I did or just any colors, you may need multiple boxes)
• fake flowers (walmart)
• a hot glue gun and lots of glue
• a heat gun (I'm lucky enough to have one of those just laying around the house, they work beautifully. I've heard that hair dryers work too....but...yeah I haven't tried it and it sounds questionable. If you try it, let me know how it goes!)
• oh and a scissors....which I always forget to include in the picture 
• a space that you won't mind getting waxy...the heat gun occasionally causes the wax to spray and it will get EVERYWHERE...plus it's not that easy to get off. 

Step 1: Sort

If you want specific colors only, sort your crayons. Then arrange them in the order you'd like them to be on the canvas. I used all the different greens, a few browns, and very select colors of blue and yellow to make it look like grass and wild plants. 

Step 2: Glue

Hot glue the crayons on the canvas, making sure it's along the short side. I like to put all my crayons with the color name up, just for some uniformity. I also like the creative names :). 

Step 3: Melt

(ugh sorry the pictures blurry...I didn't realize that until I posted it haha) Anyway, flip the canvas upside down so the crayons are at the top. Now it's time to melt them! It's helpful to tilt it so the melted wax will drip downwards and hit the canvas. It may take a bit, but the wax will start to flow. Make sure to go evenly across all the crayons. It also helps to move the heat gun up and down a bit and tap the canvas on the table to get the wax flowing. 

It starts slow and spatters some

Keep building up the wax. You can manipulate how much and where it falls by tilting the heat gun and the canvas. Follow the dripping wax down with the heat gun to make it run all the way to the bottom and trail out more. 

Once the wax goes as far down as you'd like it, go back up to the top where the crayons are and slowly (holding the heat gun farther away) melt smaller amounts of crayon to cover the thin area near the start. It helps to prop the canvas up slightly like I did in the picture. 

Step 4: Snip and Arrange

While the wax is drying, cut a few flowers as close as you can to the bud. Arrange them on the canvas however you like. 

Step 5: Glue Some More

Hot glue the flowers down. There is no such thing as overkill when gluing flowers during this project. You may need to lift the pedals and apply more glue once its dry to really stick them down.  

Now it's finished! You can have a lot of variations in this project, so get creative! My first one was a rainbow rain with two people under an umbrella in the corner. You could even put a quote across the top of this one. 

Happy Crafting :)

Double Chevron Nails

I work in the garden a lot during the summer, so my nails always look...well, less than clean. To hide that, I love designing my nails in fun and easy ways! The great thing about the technique I'm about to show you is that you don't have to limit yourself to Double Chevrons. You can easily create any design you can think of!

Today, I'm going to show you how to do Double Chevron Nails :)

You will need:

• Scotch tape
• top coat
• 3 different colors of nail polish...1 base color and 2 chevron colors
• scissors 
• fingernail clippers
• something to stick the tape on (I used the lid of my change jar)

Step 1:

Paint on some top coat, which is probably unnecessary vitally important when doing anything with your nails. 

Step 2:

While your waiting for your top coat to dry, rip off two good sized pieces of tape. 

Paint them the colors you are going to use for your chevrons. You may need to do a couple of coats to get the right color since the tape is clear...but it dries pretty fast, which is nice. 

Step 3:

Paint your nails the base color. I chose Vintage gray...I'm not really a gray person at all, but for some reason I really like the look of this color :). 

Step 4:

Cut the painted tape into very small strips (along with width of the tape, not the length). If you're very careful, you can do this while your nails are drying. (Or just wait for your nails to dry first....nails can only look so good when they've been touched up 100 times)  

Step 5:

Take a strip of blue and cut it in half. Carefully (you only get one shot at this if your nails aren't 100% bone dry) place one of the halves diagonally from the top corner of your nail to the center. Then do the same with the other half. Repeat for every nail. Do the same with the white, and place it right up against the blue. 

Step 6: 

Now trim the excess tape off your nail with the fingernail clippers. They work much better than scissors because clippers were made for small areas. Make sure to cut completely through the tape before you pull away (my clippers are dull and would rip off the tape if I wasn't careful).

Step 7:

Add another layer of top coat, which this time is actually very important to keep the tape down. 

Now you have beautiful Double Chevron nails! 

:)