Busy, busy, busy!

It's been quite a while since my last post because I've been super busy!  I did a faux stained glass painting for my little sister's birthday gift.  It took several days to complete but I finally got it done and was fairly pleased with the results.  I didn't tell her right away that I had made it just to make sure she wouldn't say she did just to make me feel good!  But she seemed to like it before she knew.  Anyway, here are the before, during and after shots I took of it.

I bought a large "hotel art" type framed picture from Goodwill and took out the picture leaving just the glass in it.  I took out the glass, cleaned it and laid it over a piece of paper with my template drawn on it.  Using black acrylic paint to tint regular white glue I traced the template to create the "leading".

I had to make up a new bottle of the black glue because the little one I started with got a big clot stuck in the nozzle.  It was much easier to draw the lines with the new glue!

Using clear glue tinted with acrylic paints I painted in the colored glass panels.  Once it was dry I put the glass back into the frame and super glued it in.

You can see some extra lines through the finished product because I used the original picture as a backing just to protect the glass for transport.  My sister hung it in her dining room and took a picture of it in place to share with me and it looks really good up on the wall.
Something else I've been up to lately is doing coauthoring on my older sister's fashion blog http://frumpyhausfrau.blogspot.com/.  Check it out when you have a chance.

Using scraps.

For Valentine's Day this year I decided I was going to just use what I have to decorate the house instead of buying decorations.  1) because we don't really need to purchase more decor that only I appreciate 2) and to save money.  So I made a few things from stuff I already had on hand. 

This is one of the things I made.  It was inspired by another craft blog I read but since I didn't have all the supplies on hand that she used I had to tweak it to suit what I did have and this is what I came up with.  I used a pizza box lid, a scrap of material, a stapler, a rubber band, 4 plastic grocery bags, ribbon scraps and a lapel pin.  First I drew as big a heart as would fit on the pizza box lid and cut it out.  I bunched up the grocery bags to use as stuffing and stretched the material over it all and pulling it tight I stapled it into place.  Because I didn't want to cut the material so I could use it again for something else I had a lot left in the back so I gathered it all together and used the rubber band to keep it in place.  Then I wrapped the long piece of red ribbon around the fabric "bun" and stapled the ribbon at the top of the heart so I could hang it.  I tied the brown ribbon in a bow and stuck the lapel pin through it and into the heart.  Then I hung it on the wreath hanger on the front door and admired my handiwork!  I was quite pleased with how all my scraps turned out for V-day decor. 

I need constant reminders.

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
My head is in the negative again today so I'm glad I was reminded of this verse.  I need to keep my negative thoughts from turning into "unwholesome talk".  I need to be a blessing to others with what I say and not a bother.
I need to get over my disappointment in how yesterday went and remember that when I hold someone to my expectations I will get disappointed.  I need to just love and serve them no matter how they treat me because I'm not doing it for anything in return, I'm doing it to serve my Lord.
I also need to remember that God created me the way that I am and I need to be okay with that.  Right now I'm really struggling with it though.
So today it feels like mostly blunder but I'm hoping to turn it around to blessing.