Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. . .

I apologize for the lack of posts.  I have some good reasons.

First I got a bad cough/chest cold two weeks ago.

Then I got the stomach flu over Thanksgiving break.  (From what I hear, about half of America had it).

Then I was getting ready for the boutique I'm hosting at my house this Sunday (I'm still busy).

Then Blogger told me I had reached my free photo storage capacity, and I couldn't write any posts with pictures.  I spent most of today researching the migration from Blogger to Wordpress--the complicated migration where I attempt to keep my subscribers and reroute to the new web address.  For now, I have upgraded my photo storage plan, but I have e-mails into friends to get me onto Wordpress soon.  It's time!

Another decision I'm pondering: Should I focus on celebration banners and scale back my scripture signs?  They are beautiful, but they are super time consuming for the price I charge.  I need to constantly pray about keeping a Biblical balance of ministry, family and creative business. 

After my tummy flu settled down a bit, we did a few, fun family outings this weekend.  Here are some pictures of our outings. . . (I can finally add pictures again!  Yay!)

They look like little angels here.  The posing lady made them fold their hands.  This cracks me up!

A family pic

Posing with my boys

Carter and Micah

The Christmas tree at Fashion Island Shopping Center in Newport Beach.  It is REALLY tall.

The fountain in front of Neiman Marcus.  The water changes colors, and the boys were fascinated!

We always end our Christmas at Fashion Island night with hot cocoa or coffee(me) at Roger's Gardens, a posh nursery in Newport Beach where they put up thousands of decorations and millions of lights every year.

 

 

Some Design Rules for a Gallery Wall

I am in no way a designer.  I wish I were, but I do know when I look at something if it is right or wrong aesthetically.  I know what is pretty or what looks "off."  Technical terminology, I know, but stay with me.

This gut instinct served me when I was creating my gallery wall for our living room.  Here are some "rules" from a non-designer. 

I knew that when the TV was turned off, we had a huge negative space black rectangle on our wall on a neutral colored paint, so, in order to soften and meld with the large, black TV, I did black and white objects all around.  When we first moved in, I had bought a large colorful painting for the side of the TV, and it was SO busy.  When the TV was off, it wasn't a balanced look--your eye was drawn to the large, black hole of a TV on the wall, and when the TV was on and had colors moving all around, it was a busy, competing, mess of a wall design.  I make mistakes and I learn.  Maybe it was just the colors and pattern I had, but it definitely didn't work.

If you have a large flatscreen on a neutral wall, I personally recommend using black and white pieces around.  The white softens the negative space of the black and the united colors tie it together, almost creating art out of your TV.  If you do splashes or pops of color to tie into your room, that works too--just keep it balanced around other neutral shades.

I am using color (shades of light blue and rust) in the chair pillows that will be on the chairs I will place on each side of the console below the TV (still to be found and bought), in drapes on the other side of the room, and on the couch pillows on the other side of the room.  A canvas artpiece next to my fireplace wall (adjacent to this wall) has oranges and blues in it too.

I also knew that with that large of a wall, I needed weight in the size of my pictures.  When you get too many small pieces, the wall gets busy and cluttered--floating all over with nothing centering and weighing the space down.  So, my frames are mostly large (they don't look huge, which shows you the size of that wall!), with one or two small accents thrown into the grouping. 

(We have a big slider behind me that causes glare, so I apologize that some of the pictures have that glare)

I also wanted a set of "three" (that perfect design number we hear about) look of appearing on my wall since it is long and narrow.  I essentially used the TV as my center and then two clustered groupings on each side--connecting it all with the top photos above the TV.  The color is uniting it all together as well.

Side grouping on one side of the TV

A closeup of the other side grouping on the other side of the TV.

Today, I also learned a rule from Sarah 101 for gallery groupings.  I actually followed this rule unknowingly.  Pick either the bottom or top of the gallery wall to be lined up.  The opposite side can be at different heights.  As you can see from my pictures, I, in essence, unknowingly lined up the top of my gallery wall in a line (with a slight alteration in line above the TV, which works with the long wall and high ceilings we have).  The bottom is all at different heights, which works since the top is structured.

See how the top is in a straight line (with a purposeful rise in the line just above the TV) but the bottom is at all different heights. . .  The line on the top or bottom helps anchor the gallery.

You want to keep any groupings equally weighted but not too matchy matchy.  Each side of the TV is in a different grouping, but they have equal "weight" and substance to them.  You can see in my pictures above that each side is in a different formation, but they each have 6 pieces and have something centering the "circular" arrangement around them.  On one side the "H" is anchoring the group and, on the other side, the canvas topography is centering the grouping.

I've tied all these "pieces" together to avoid a cluttered look.  In my gallery, the colors of black and white, the lined up top, and the two topography canvases tie the sides and groupings altogether. 

I explained how I figured out my design here.  In summary, I cut out pieces of paper the size of my frames and TV and practiced the designs on the floor until it looked right.  Then I taped the papers on the wall to see it there and just attached the frames by removing one paper at a time. 

Happy gallery wall planning!

Christmas Pictures with Letter Props

Last year we took our pictures with letter props.  I highly recommend it if you have kids.  It gave them something to hold and keep them focused, and it keeps the picture fun and fresh, so it still looks in theme if one of your kiddos is doing his or her own "look." 

I went to Michael's and bought J, O, and Y from the wooden letter aisle.  That's it!  You could spell out your last name, you could spell out NOEL or MERRY.  Think about the size of your family and that will help you pick out the length of your word.  Go early to get your letters, though!  Christmas crafters come and take the popular Christmas letters.  I had trouble finding some of the letters for crafts later in the season.

Have fun with it!  This year we are taking a year off from a formal picture session and just making a card with pictures from the year.  Here are some poses from last year's photo session . . .

My youngest is 2 and 1/2 here, and he was acting very much his age that day.  We had to tickle him to get a smile.

Here is what to be careful of avoiding--having your kid cover his or her face with the letter. 

It's a wrap!

Memory Ornaments

I have seen those pretty ornaments on Pinterest with the curled pieces of an invitation or birth announcement in a clear glass Christmas ornament.  I have always wondered how you can easily read it all, though.  There are just some things you want to be able to revisit and read!

This year I decided to make memory ornaments for my boys.  I bought clear plastic ornaments at Michael's and then wrote out memorable moments for each boy over the past year.  I Mod Podged these onto the outside of the ornament and then stuffed the clear ornament with Burlap.  The top will have a tag eventually that says, "Carter 2012" or "Micah 2012." 

A burlap ribbon tied at the top would be pretty, but I didn't have any at home.  White ribbon looked nice too.

Carter had a fun year of firsts:  started first grade, learned to read, lost first tooth, played baseball/t-ball for the first time. . . Micah also had some fun things to remember:  Potty trained, started preschool, started speech, and learned his ABC song. 

I also added likes and dislikes to the lists.  Since all this is pasted on the outside of the ornament, I easily can go back and remember the highlights of each year as these ornaments dot our tree.

Start your own family memory ornaments.  They will be fun to revisit each year and the beginning of a fun family tradition.

Beautiful Decline

Romans 8:18-25
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

It is getting scarier and scarier to look in the mirror in the morning.  Wrinkles, skin splotches, gray hair--things aren't staying put together the way they were fifteen years ago.  I have daily medicine for my thyroid and vitamins to help keep the germs at bay.  I am reminded often that this physical shell is not going to work forever.  Even with exercise, diet and hard work, we all fade physically.

My husband made the observation that we hit our peak physically in our teens and twenties, and the rest of our lives are a slow (sometimes fast) decline.  Rather than be depressed by this, he pointed out the positive to what God has put in place.  Because we age, we spend most of our wiser years being reminded by God that this earth is temporary, that our world and our bodies are cursed with sin and death, and that we need to focus on eternity and the more important eternal status of our souls. 

Through aging, God motivates us to have faith in Jesus as our Savior.  Our mortality and physical failings should prompt us all the more to know we cannot rely on selves and our good works.  We are incapable and frail.  If we can't keep our health and physical appearance in check, how can we save our souls?  It reminds me of the Matt Redman song, You Alone Can Rescue, that opens, "Who, oh, man, can save himself, his own soul can heal?"  No one.  We can't.  Thankfully, Christ gave us righteousness and paid for our sin on the cross if we repent and have faith in what Jesus did.  Our souls can be saved through Him.

I often think that this fact explains why the world is so obsessed with physical perfection, makeup, cosmetic surgery and youth.  The world does not want to dwell on God, the sin plaguing us all, and the need for a Savior to repair the separation we have from God.  Blemishes, wrinkles, gray hair, extra pounds, and disease are reminders that we die and physically fail because of sin.  We are cursed by sin and separated from our Creator.  Such physical problems remind us we need a relationship with God.  We need a Savior.

Though it is painful and hard to age, as Christians we can find hope in the experience.  We can realize the world is slowly fading away, just like our bodies.  It is a beautiful decline to those in Christ, to those with the promise of Heaven.

Hebrews 6:19-20   "We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

Birthday Flight

My birthday was at the end of September, and my sweet hubby surprised me with an afternoon flight to Catalina for lunch and pictures.  Our sweet friend, Jason, has his pilot's license and offered to  fly a rented plane for us. 

We took off in a rented 4 seat plane from Orange County and landed in the "airport in the sky" for lunch, a short hike and some picture taking.

What a fun hubby I have!  He completely surprised me, and it is a birthday adventure I'll always remember!

Enjoy the pics!

Getting ready for our adventure

Flying in the cockpit

The beautiful coast of Catalina Island

Twin Harbors, Catalina Island

Enjoying lunch on the patio at the airport in the sky

Taking a mini hike and enjoying the island

Airport in the Sky with my sweetie

The historical hanger at the Catalina Airport

The controls were so interesting!

Our thoughtful pilot, Jason

A Night Away in Julian

We had a perfect fall weekend, even though the temperatures were still in the high eighties and low nineties.

We left home on Friday night and had a family get away in the quaint little town of Julian.  Julian is a historic, beautiful, little town in the middle of the southern foothills of Southern California. It is known for its annual Apple Days and the many apple orchards all around.

We had apple picking time, a tour of a gold mine, "gold" panning, a mini train ride, and lots of good country cooking and eating. 

If you live in Southern California, set late September or early October aside for a day trip or quick weekend to Julian.

Here's a little documentary in pictures.

We picked organic apples at Apple Starr farms.  The boys loved it.

The apple trees were filled with tons of apples ripe for picking.

Success!

Cheesy posing

What a beautiful day!

The downtown district in Julian is so quaint and cute.

We visited Smith Ranch to do a train ride, "gold" panning and tour a gold mine.

The little train we rode up to the gold mine.

The Smiths collect historical artifacts on their ranch.  This flag has only 48 stars and dates back to Roosevelt's time, and the cannon is from the Mexican American war.

 

Micah LOVED all the educational lessons they were teaching.  We got to feel the equivalent weight of a brick of gold.

They got to pan for gold.  When they found the "gold" nuggets, they took it into the general "store" and traded it for licorice sticks.

Micah wanted as much "gold" as possible so he could get lots of licorice.

They had a rope bridge obstacle course which Carter loved.

They had a historic gold mine on their property dating back to the late 1800's.  We all took turns going inside and seeing the quartz veins running through the walls and ceilings.

Carter and Micah got to ride into the mine on an old fashioned mine car.

I got to wear the obligatory hard hat. . .

Another view of the historic downtown buildings.