Wednesday, June 23, 2010

{Creating Life} Finishing and Home Making.

Last week I wrote this post about my desire to create and reach those personal ideals of myself that feel "unreachable".
I decided one of my first tasks in creating life would be to make a promise to myself that I will finish what I start.  

I have a great Father...just today I got to sit and talk with him and we were joking around about how spoiled I was growing up...I am the baby in the family so I guess it goes with the territory.  Parent have more, with less kids in the home who need their parents help and money....I don't really see why this is always "my fault".  I can't help it if I got more because they had more.  lol  Seriously....I did have more than my siblings but what I love the most is that I got more time alone with my parents.   This point was brought out in my conversation with my Dad today.   While in college I lived at home and I got to have many late night talks with my parents...especially my Dad.  I LOVED that time with him.   Today during our reminiscing my Mom brought up the fact that my Dad cried for an entire week after I got married.  I feel bad that he had such a hard time with my growing up and moving out part of life but I have to admit hearing this story makes me feel very loved.   So you can see why I say I have a great Father.  He is very special to me.  :)  

My Dad does have one habit though...one kind of bad habit that I  seemed to have inherited....he has great ideas and starts on great projects but then starts on another idea and fails to complete the first project.   He gets so many projects going that it is hard to get them all done.   I do this same thing often.   Even with just normal household chores.  I forget I started laundry because I notice there are drawers that need to be cleaned out but then I see something else that needs my attention and I start on that.   Next thing I realize...I have 3 or 4 jobs started and I suddenly feel overwhelmed and get nothing finished.   This is a bad habit that I need to overcome.   There is a special feeling when you start creating something and then get to see the finished project.  It is an empowering feeling and brings a sense of "Can Do"! 

As  I have thought about how to begin to "create life" I have pondered on this scripture....

Image created by Kolette Hall...you can grab it for yourself here.  She does what is called a "download day" and shares her talent with her readers.
I currently have a nice summer sized list of projects I am working on....some are  half done and others are waiting on just one item to make them complete.  I decided part of creating life is having order and  finishing the job.   So this is where I begin my journey to creating life.

I have always had this idea in my mind of what I want the inside of my home to look like but even more than "look"....there is a certain way I want it to "feel".   I don't have a money tree so I do alot of refurbishing of home decor items to give my home the feeling I am looking for.   I love garage sales, hand-me-downs and shopping at the DI.   I found two cute shelves at the DI months ago.....I decided I wanted the larger one in my front room and now that I am done with  it I want to place items on the shelf that tell our kids and anyone who walks in our home that family is important  to us.  

Here is the shelf before (this is actually the smaller shelf but it looks the same as the bigger one except in length)...


I sanded it a bit so the paint would stick and little better.
Then I painted it black using some craft paint I already had.
(the other three items are still being worked on)



After the paint dried I took the sandpaper to it again to give it a little bit of rustic or antiqued look.



Then I added a layer of polyurethane and let it sit overnight.
Brad then took the shelf and hung it in my desired location.


Now I just need to get the items that I want to have on the shelf started (and finished).
  In the meantime I am just happy to have a few items to put on it. :)

I wanted to share two other items with you.
Kolette Hall who created the scripture image above has an incredible blog!  She shares her talents and ideas with her readers.  She is a very inspired person and I wanted to share one of her projects with you.   She is currently ill and recovering from surgery but normally she serves in her LDS Ward Relief Society and helps plan Relief Society weekday activities.   This year she came up with this to do.   She welcomes anyone to join her and do it at their own home.   Check it out and read through all the posts under the label "Every needful thing"....it is an amazing year long project.  She shares all of her designs so you can make your own booklet at home and she shares all their ideas for RS activities.

The other creating life item I wanted to share is a fun craft you can do with your kids.
A while ago I posted about making a Felt Topiary.
Amy from The Idea Room shares her tutorial here.
While up at my parents home over spring break I showed my children how to make a smaller version.  We used smaller Styrofoam balls but the same size felt circles.  For the "pot" we took empty formula cans (normal size) and ripped the paper off and cleaned them up.   Then we cut and wrapped decorative scrapbook paper of their choice around the can and glued it.   Then they painted the formula lid green.  When everything was dry we put a small slit in the middle of the lid.   After placing the lid tightly on the can the kids stuck their stick in their topiary ball and then placed the other end of the stick in the slit of the lid and pushed down into the can.  Because the lid is so sturdy we didn't even need to use Styrofoam inside the can.   They each chose ribbon to tie around their creation.  
This is how they all turned out.

Camden wanted his topiary green and loved the leopard patterned ribbon. My girls wanted the bottom of their topiary to have leaves. 

My kids loved it!   Camden who was 3 when we did it had a great time and was able to do alot of it himself.  Now when we see these around the house we remember working together and having some good laughs.
My kids have been asking to do more of them.  

Creating something together really does bring some great moments in life.

No comments: