The Little's Rooms Got Some Love

Last week I was thinking about how much creating I do for custom orders or for volunteer jobs. I spend a lot of creative energy on people outside of my family and so I suggested to David that it would nice to spend some creative energy on the littles. I had some ideas brewing and when he gave me the thumbs up, I went into full design mode. We settled on a gallery wall for each room plus curtains, hooks for their towels, shelves for each bedside and an art hanger for each little. I made a list of elements I wanted to include in each room.

1. something sewn/fabric element
2. woodcut element
3. string art
4. monograms
5. photograph
6. printable art/quote
7. scripture verse

Then I narrowed down to specifics as to what that looked like. So for the girls' room it ended up like:

1. kite
2. heart (inspired by HEart by CC)
3. crown
4. cut out of foam board
5. siblings picture
6. "Dream Big" (source)
7. I will add a verse to the heart woodcut at a later time

The boys room:

1. deer head
2. arrow
3. sword
4. cut out of foam board
5. siblings picture
6. fox
7. I will add a verse to their arrow art later

David shopped, cut and stained wood during the daytime. He was in charge of the woodcuts, string art, shelves, towel hooks and art hangers. I painted the clothes pins (for the art hangers) and the frames plus rough cut out the fabric elements during the day. The rest of the projects were done in the evenings after the littles went to bed. That meant late bleary eyed nights, but I'm really happy with the results. Last night I planned the gallery walls, but putting them on the floor. I took pictures to give to David for hanging and while I took the children out on a playdate, David re-arranged the girls' room and hung all the elements we crafted. What a thrill it was to reveal it all to the littles!

The deer head was made from a pattern found here. I found the wood plaque at the thrift store and a with a bit of paint it made a great mount.

David cut this based on a few pictures I showed him on Pinterest. I didn't want to tell him exactly what to make, but I knew I wanted an arrow. It turned out great. His favourite piece.

Again, I asked for the sword, but I left David to do the style he wanted. He found a sword image on google, added a cross in the middle and enlarged it to make the template. Screws were an easier choice and he just went with it. I like it a lot!

The monogram "M"s I printed out on the computer, taped to foam board and cut out. I painted them and that's it! Super easy and a great and cheap monogram! We enlarged a photograph from our last family pictures in 2014. The same picture for both bedrooms. 

I thrifted and painted this cute frame and got the printable from here. 

Here's Malachi's art hanger in action (sorry for the dark picture). Just clothespins painted and glued to a board. Each little has one, though we haven't hung Hannah's yet. We are saving it until she is a bit older.

Michaels had these cutlery clothespins in a bin and I simply glued them onto this little board, also from Michaels. Cheap and funny, considering the boys are always thinking about food. This wasn't planned for, but added on a whim.

I found this wood pineapple at the thrift store. It was varnished and worn, but I saw its potential and snapped it up. I painted it and glued an oversized clothespin on it and it's adorable! My favourite piece in the girls' room!

David did the crown the same way as the sword and he did a great job!

The girls' monograms were done the same as the boys. I found the birdhouse and bird at Michaels and threw it in. 

The kite I made up as I went. I drew a pattern and did a basic quilting pattern on it. Then simply tied jersey bows onto a ribbon tail.

Each little got a shelf on their bed. They all needed a place to put water bottles and treasures etc. Here's Abby's in action. David made simply with two boards, painted white and attached right to the bed frames.

David made this based on a picture I showed him. Abby thinks it looks like a minecraft heart.

I used flat sheets from two of the littles' bed sets to make quick curtains. Not too difficult as I cut them in half, finished the two cut edges and voila! Curtains! I hate sewing curtains, but this wasn't too bad. We are exhausted, but happy with the results!

Faces

At the end of last year I tried something that I hadn't tried before. I drew (half of) a face. I spent a loooong time on that little sketch and put her into my Documented Faith journal. It began something in me that surprised me. It filled me with a desire to learn how to do faces and incorporate them into my art. My goal is for the faces to be whimsical more than realistic, but not so technically off that another artist cringes to look at them. I am hard on myself, but I also have really learned to love the work of my hands and appreciate the talents that God gave to me to use and to improve. Here's a run-down of the faces I've practiced so far...

My first (partial) face in my Documented Faith journal - December 2015

painstakingly coloured with watercolour pencils

An attempt at a whimsical self-portrait in my journal - December 2015

Now that's a BIG head!

I can hardly believe that growing up I preferred wax crayons to pencil crayons - I love pencil crayons, now!

a fun little sketch I did after I decided that I was going for fun and not realism - December 2015
  

January 2016 - Faces

1/2016 my first rough sketch before the colour.

My first attempt to paint a face. I wrote on Facebook and Instagram "Someday I'll look at her and either laugh at how far I've (hopefully) come or look at her with pride because I took a chance and began." 1/2016

2/2016 Usually I leave the watercolour pencils dry, but I experimented with water and had fun with it. She looks kind of sad, I'm working on that.

3/2016 One of my favourites so far! I usually prefer my raw sketches and other than a little bit of white chalk marker for highlights, I left her with the background showing through.

4/2016 My first face in my Bible journaling. Hebrews 2:1 I did a quick colour, but mostly kept it in it's raw sketch form. 

5/2016 My least favourite so far. Her proportions are odd and I think I was rushing too much. I never attempt to show a specific age, but they end up younger or older as I go and I don't fight it.

6/2016 I was determined to try another face in my Bible and spent a good long time on this one. I couldn't figure out how to do her hair under her crown, so I went with more of a medieval queen's attire instead. Cheated a bit, but I still think she's beautiful.

7/2016 I practiced some basics in my art journal - just pencil and pen (no pictures to share - sorry)

8/2016 My first canvas attempt. I am much better with pencils and markers than I am a paintbrush. Though she is flawed in many ways, I am overall happy with her and am not discouraged from trying again. Practicing for progress not perfection.

9/2016 In my art journal. In an attempt to find a faster medium than pencils, but not as much mess/effort as paint, I tried oil pastel in her hair. In the end, it's still pretty messy and took a decent effort. I'm not unhappy with it, but probably won't be too quick to go that route again.

10/2016 a did a pencil sketch of a face in a letter to my sister. Again, no picture to share.

10 faces in the month of January. I'm pretty happy with that.  Oh, and on a side note, I am trying to get them to look happier and would definitely benefit from some proper training. I have gleaned a lot from Youtube videos by Dina Wakley and Jane Davenport. I have several art books in my amazon wish list, but for now, PRACTICING!

Happy Mail!!!

I just got a package that was a great surprise. Months before my art gathering, I wrote to Shanna from Illustrated Faith and asked if she might have a little printable that she would like to send for the ladies at my event. I thought even a little "hello" would be nice. Well, today I received a large package with the "Bloom" devotional by Stephanie Ackerman (Documented Faith founder) and stickers and pocket scripture cards!

Thank you so much, Shanna!

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 - It's OCTOBER?!

Wow! Did September fly for you, too? It was an amazing September for us and I can't even express how grateful I am for it. Let's get to it!

• Why was it such an amazing September? Answer: Abby. There has been such a remarkable difference in how she is handling change and this fall we've had a couple of minor incidents and no major meltdowns! This is the first peaceful back-to-school season we've experienced. Abby has had her fair share of behavior issues and the fact that we can finally reason with her and help to adjust to new situations without lengthly meltdowns is huge. I miss her now that she's in school for five days a week and I'm so glad to be able to say that. If you've had a child with behavioral issues, than you know that it isn't always easy to be around that child. Now, I look forward to her coming home each day and I don't have to brace myself for potential conflicts.

• With such a change in Abby has brought a change in our family. We haven't merely survived September, but have taken the time to enjoy it.

• My parents have had a lot to celebrate. Daddy has been through a huge battle and has a way to go, but he's alive and they celebrated the one year anniversary of his medical event (I don't know how to refer to the day he almost died and ended up in a wheelchair). Thank you all for your prayers, love and even financial support. We are all so blessed! 

• We took our annual trip to a local farm's pumpkin cart. They decorate the yard with lots of picture worthy spots and it's a highlight of our fall each year. 

cash wallet for budgeting

• I'm still open to custom sewing orders and finished up a few in the last little while. I am still so flattered that y'all want to hire me and I love being able to personalize items to fit your needs. I am much more careful with your projects than my own, in case you saw my recent blunder on Instagram. 

Essential Oils Cases

• We are in the midst of a federal election here in Canada. David and I took advantage of the advance polling station this year. We were both eager to vote and it was nice to walk in with no wait time at 7:00 in the evening. It seems to be a very pivotal and important election and I'm praying that the best people for our country will be in leadership.

• We celebrated Thanksgiving this past weekend. Friday we had a traditional turkey dinner at "Auntie" Trudy's. We started a new #gingrastradition for Thanksgiving with a BBQ steak dinner. We enjoyed the warm weather by taking a nice walk at the park on Sunday and we stayed warm and cozy on the cold Monday at home. 

"every woman should have flowers for Thanksgiving" - my David

• I'm hosting an art gathering for locals involved in Documented Faith and Illustrated Faith next week. This introvert is rather proud of myself for this and a bit nervous, too. It's going to be great and I've come a long way from planning a party that no one shows up for. I love a good party full of swag and good company, so I know it'll be great. Stay tuned for a blog post about that after the party.

"I'm so glad I live and world where there are Octobers" - Anne Shirley