Checking In

It's February. To me that means more than a statement about which month of the year it is. It has become a statement about the season I'm in. It's a dark month, not much sunshine. There are moments where the sun peeks through, but I'm weary. There is a history of depression in the women of my family and I'm not sure exactly whether or not this is classified as such, but I'm ready for "February" to end. In the meantime, I choose to believe that God is good and I have SOOOOO much to be grateful for. In 1 Samuel 30:6 the Bible talks about how David encouraged himself in the Lord. Have you ever noticed that where your focus is, that is where your heart is, too? Well, I've come to realize that if I focus on my circumstances instead of the goodness of God, I quickly become buried in heaviness. So, how do you "encourage yourself in the Lord"? Remember his promises. If you don't know His promises and about how he is always faithful to keep His word, then that's a great Bible study to begin. At my Moms' group, we have a little bookmark card with a great reminder on it...

My friend last night reminded us that when we are discouraged by life's circumstances or we are consumed with how big the storm is, we just need to study about how BIG God is and it's amazing how our change of focus can bring encouragement and hope. Bad things happen and life is hard, sometimes, but God is good ALL the time. That is what I will stand on.

In other news, here's a bit about what's been going on...

• The actual season of winter has been pretty amazing. Yes, we've had some 'stupid cold' days with a windchill of -40C, but the cold snaps haven't lasted for weeks and weeks and the nice days, have been really nice. That has meant sledding days and river walks and getting outside. We've really been enjoying the toboggan runs (winter slides) at Kildonan Park. I don't recall ever seeing these in Alberta, but we've really appreciated how much easier the stairs are than hill climbing with littles and David's injured ankle. They're super fun, too.

you don't even need a sled!

• The Forks! I still think this is by far the coolest place in the winter. The river is frozen so you can walk (or skate) for a long way before you run out of room. The artistic warming huts and ice sculptures make it engaging and fun even for the littles. We went on Louis Riel day (Family Day for a lot of Canadians) and I just kept saying "I love this city!"

The littles are looking for sharks under the ice

checking out an ice sculpture on the river

• This is one of the warming huts on the river and since it was painted the same colour as Malachi's jacket, we told him was so camouflaged that we couldn't see him. Then I had the littles pose for some pictures and I only showed him the pictures without him there. He was totally convinced.

• Valentines was quiet and nice. David and I went on an unexpected date on the Friday evening before. We weren't planning on it because we have big plans next weekend, but when you are offered free babysitting you go on a date! We did a "fancy" littles friendly dinner and had a mini family selfie session. We ended the day with a glow stick hunt. It was simply sweet.

• Bible journaling has begun to fill my Bible nicely and there are certain books that are full enough to require adding in pages. I still have plenty of room in the Bible in general, so I won't be buying a new one for some time, and I think I'll be sad to close this one. It's become so dear to me. Not because of my art, but because the art represents more time in the word and more word getting into my heart.

• My Documented Faith journal is also filling in nicely, but I love how it will take the entire year to fill properly. 

• I haven't had very many custom sewing jobs lately, though I've played around a bit.

"doodled" house keychain

Bible cover inspired by this

•  I am thankful that I've been able to save from my sewing jobs and David and I are going to have a weekend away - just the two of us. I am beyond excited. It is long overdue.

• Oh, I have a little art journal that I use to practice faces and play around with doodles etc. On a particularly cold day, I filled in a page with what I love about living here. I really do love it here!

Thanks for stopping in today. If you're struggling in life's circumstances, join me in turing our focus from the storm to the God who not only created it, but who is able to calm it (and if not, He is still good!)

Art Gathering (supplies update added)

Well, this past Tuesday I hosted an art gathering for locals (Winnipeg and surrounding areas) involved in Documented Faith and Illustrated Faith. I love a good party and I think it turned out fairly well. There are always things I would go back and change or adjust, but that's my event management training and since I haven't decided to go into the event industry, I can take it a bit easy on myself, right? I will spare you all the thought processes and ideas that I sifted through and show you where I landed.

My first event weakness if food. I quickly solved this by asking people to bring snacks and thank you ladies, they were great. I made our traditional Christmas cider drink. I figured since it was cooler outside, it would be a nice cozy thing to sip. My next party weakness: pictures. Ugh! I really need to delegate picture taking to other people. I'm usually too involved in the event to think about pictures, and then when I do, I'm in such a fluster or hurry that they're not great. Sorry. This would be so much better to share with good pictures.

Probably my favourite thing about hosting events is making my guests feel a little spoiled. I could easily spend a fortune on giving gifts, but I try my best to have parties on a small budget so as to not stress out my dear David who works so hard to provide for our family. This means I get to exercise my creative gifts. If you're ever curious just how creative you can be, limit your resources. It's fun and surprising to see what comes out! In the end I made fabric cuff bracelets with "made to create" stamped on them.

Each bracelet was slightly different and imperfect.

I printed out free embellishments and quotes etc. from various blogs I found through Pinterest. I made little bags filled with fun post-it flags, shaped paper clips, hand painted star cutouts and other embellishments that could be used in everyone's Bibles and/or journals. Candy, of course. One of my guests brought bookmarks that she carefully stamped for us and another guest sent Illustrated Faith goodies to share. All to be put into cute decorated bags. I also made lanyard style name tags.

The evening itself included sharing our journaling stories. I asked everyone to share what kind of journaling they do (Documented Faith and/or Bible journaling), how they heard about it or began, what it means to them and anything else they'd like to share. This is a great ice breaker for those of us who hate icebreakers. It gave us each a chance to talk about something we all had in common.

We shared a group art project experiment and laughed our way through our insecurities. We started with a blank canvas and had about ten minutes to apply our base, then we rotated the canvases and added to each one as we continued passing them around ten minutes at a time. I'm not sure it was completely a success, but it was a fun experiment and a great opportunity to create and visit. Then we pulled out our Bibles and journals creating and sharing our favourite pages. 

These ladies are all lovely and I hope to get to create with them again. (boo! blurry! )

In the event invitation, I asked each person to bring a favourite art supply (under $10) to swap with another person. We drew names to see who got whose supplies. I shared a bottle of Martha Stewart acrylic paint and a Staedtler pigment liner in my favourite size.  I received a whole package of favourites including number paper clips, washi tape, alpha stickers, clips to hold the pages during the creative process and ribbon - spoiled, I know! Other items shared were watercolour pencils, washi tape and Illustrated Faith pens (I was slightly jealous over that one). 

Don't these all look so great?!

Sadly, four ladies were unable to make it and two others had other plans, but it sounded like everyone would be interested in another gathering. Who wants to host, let's say in January?

UPDATE:

Hello, friends from Documented Faith. Thanks for stopping by. A question that I've been asked is how did I handle supplies. In the event invitation (I created a Facebook event - easy access to everyone) I asked everyone to bring their own favourite on-the-go supplies to use. I also put out my few paints, brushes, paper, ephemera and glue. I only put out items that I wasn't worried about being over or misused. Keep your best pens and markers to yourself if you want them to be in good condition by the end of the evening. Whatever supplies you do share, share with open hands and heart. If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer either here or on Facebook. Again, thanks for stopping by.

P.S.  If you're curious about faith journaling, you can learn about Documented Faith here and Illustrated Faith here. You can also read about my DF story here and my IF story here and here. I post pictures of each week in my DF journal and all my Bible journaling pages on Instagram (user name: mrsgingras)

Checking In

Happy June! I can hardly believe that summer break is just over a week away. June has slipped away so fast and it's been a great month. Let's get to it, shall we?

• June has been full of art exploration and creative time. I love every chance I get to create.

1. a sketch of the china pattern I'm treasure hunting for 2. a sketch of some Winnipeg landmarks. 3. I had a hankering to try my hand at something larger

• Sewing some little lovelies...

1. All my littles have dolls now (L-R Malachi's super doll, Micah's super doll, Hannah's mini dolly and Abby's dolly) 2. a zipper pouch birthday present with vintage fabric and the March #zipperofthemonthchallenge 3 & 4. Mother/daughter cuff bracelet sets

• It's been awhile since I've shown you an update in my Documented Faith journal. Here's weeks 15-23.

You can keep up to date with my #documentedfaith journal on Instagram (user: mrsgingras)

• A few of my Bible journaling pages...

You can keep up to date with my #Illustratedfaith Bible journaling on Instagram (user: mrsgingras)

• My Dad has been in the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital for a couple of weeks now and is making leaps and bounds in progress. I am so proud of him and how hard he's working. My mom and sister even took him out to the mall on Father's Day and he's rocking a power chair that gives him so much more freedom. Praying for his FULL healing and recovery.

• I took Abby on a Mother/daughter getaway with a girlfriend (Jenny did the arranging for the weekend and it was so nice to just go and enjoy) and her daughter. We had a dress up tea party, presents, hot tub time, craft time, girly nails time, movie time, amazing meals at the retreat centre and Abby I finished the weekend at a special dinner out. We both came home exhausted, but with good memories. We stayed at the Women Refreshed at the Well Retreat Centre. It's a gorgeous house that had me full of refreshed dreams for a God-sized dream yet to come true. Joy is such an amazing hostess and we were very well taken care of.

• June has had some amazing weather! We've been treated to hot, sunny days and cool, rainy days and I've enjoyed sneaking in some adventures with the family. Park trips and long drives and mini dance parties and summer break hasn't even begun yet. I think it's going to be a great one!

It's almost time to come up with our summer schedule/rhythm and summer idea list. One more week!!!!

Checking In

I have a lot of random things to share, so I'll do it in pictures...

Creative Happenings...

1.Biggest commission project - a sound booth cover 2. a passport holder for a family of nine 3 & 4. Family t-shirts hand painted - freezer paper stencilling 5. family growth chart

Documented Faith weeks 9-14

We attended a family retreat at the end of March it was a great time!

1. Malachi and his friend at the pool 2. David holding Micah during family worship time 3. Hannah has so much fun 4 & 6. Malachi and Abby both riding for the first time 5. Silly group shot

Random family news...

1. We walked the river at the Forks for the first time this winter....so cool! 2. I love my new clock 3. chubbbers!!! 4. My daddy celebrated his 65th birthday! 5. an anonymous zipper challenge has me thrilled and excited (already a month behind ;) 6. pink hair! 7. Bunny's first haircut 8. Girl's date at Cinderella 9. New tradition: socks for Easter

Keeping it simple lately with ink in my Bible....

1. John 13:34 2. Colossians 3:13 3. Daniel 3:18 4. Psalm 121:1 5. 1 Peter 2:17 6. Romans 1:6-7

I have had a whole pile of custom sewing jobs and I've agreed to a craft sale fundraiser next month. My sewing machine and I are being friendly and I'm loving it. I love Instagram and in many cases feel like that's been a better space to stay in touch. Is this blog getting to be an outdated thing? I love this little space, but is it too redundant? What do you think?

Checking In

Ugh! Cold and flu season. It seems like it's just keeps going around and around, but the good news is that we have been hooked up with Young Living Essential Oils and even though these sicknesses are awful, I feel like the quality of living with the oils is a definite improvement. This won't be a sales pitch don't worry... just sayin'.
      Let's get to it.

• Cold days mean I don't want to go anywhere, so lots of creative time. My Documented Faith has been a lot of journaling, so I haven't shared but here's an overview look from the last two weeks. 

• Malachi got invited to his first birthday party, so I made this cape and mask duo (it's become my go-to gift for boys).

Malachi models it for me

• My girlfriend got an NIV Notetaker's Bible for her birthday and so I had the privilege of making a cover for her. 

• We are not the only "oil-ers" in our circle of friends and family and so, I've been working out a to-go oil carrying case. I've made five and I think I finally have the pattern figured out. My mom and my sister got a couple of my prototypes and in my distracted-ness I only put one row of pockets in it instead of two. In order to remedy the situation, I whipped up little divider pockets that could be slipped in the pouch. I think it'll do in a pinch. I will be sewing up a few more complete pouches this week.

• In other custom jobs, I have a huge project that I will be picking up my fabric order for this week. This will be (in size, my largest project yet). I'm a bit nervous and will pray my way through it. Measure twice, cut once!!!!
• I'm still having a lot of fun with happy snail mail. I have three regular pen pals, plus I sent a birthday package to my sister and I've just chosen someone on the Documented Faith Happy Mail list to send a little package to. I like working on mail scattered throughout my creative times. If I am working on mixed media items, then I make several similar ones so that I can use them in my journal, my Bible and/or in my letters. 

My sister's bday pkg

• Have you heard of "Pocket Letters"? Well, I stumbled across them on Pinterest and my pen pals will be receiving at least one as you know it... I "had" to try!

• I post almost daily on Instagram, so when my blog activity is low, you can still keep in touch with me there. User name: mrsgingras

a lovely package I received last week

• Bible Journaling is going well. I love it more everyday. I post pretty much every single page on Instagram, but here's a little peek. Our church has been going through the Forty Days of Faith and I'm really enjoying it! A lot of my pages have been inspired from the daily readings. 

• Abby has even joined me in Bible Journaling. On the Illustrated Faith website, April shared how impactful this was with her daughter and I knew I needed to invite Abby to do some journaling in my Bible. You should have seen her face when I said she could journal in my Bible. It was priceless!

#kidsintheword

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!