Passport 2 Purity Trip

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A few years ago we had heard about Family Life's Passport 2 Purity program. It sounded like it was really well put together so we got it. Bass and Tenor had a short weekend away to go through the material. When we were preparing for that trip though, we couldn't find much online about how it actually worked or how other families used it. They still had a great time, and I think it was extremely beneficial to Tenor. Since then, Soprano has been excited for her turn. I don't think she really understood what all we'd be talking about. lol
This past week, while we had a break from school, she and I headed out. (I got permission from my her to share about our trip.)

I'll spare you the details of my multiple attempts to find a suitable location. It seemed like every idea I had ended up not working out, but I finally came up with an itinerary.
We headed north. Our first stop was lunch where I explained a bit about the weekend and gave her the kit's Travel Journal.

 

After lunch, she started session 1 as we traveled on to our first activity together -- mom/daughter pedis.

This activity may have been more for me than for her but she loved her first trip to the spa. :) She said at one point, "I'm getting spoiled; I could get used to this!"

We did the session 1 puzzle activity in the back of the van after our pedis in order to keep things moving. It was probably not the best idea. We managed to complete the activity but we could have gotten more done if the puzzle surface was even, not upholstered. (A few tips for this activity: only start the timer once you've turned all the pieces face up and be sure to practice your puzzle ahead of time to really emphasize the point of the activity.) We packed up our pretty piggies and puzzles and drove the rest of the way to our hotel. Once we settled in, she started session 2. She got the second activity which is when I realized I had forgotten to buy Play-doh. So we got back in the van and went on a scavenger hunt... we ate dinner and found some seriously overpriced fun dough at a dollar store in the area to complete the activity.

A tip for activity 2: don't use the entire can of dough/doh to form your person. It will take to long to fully mix the colors if you do.

We finished up our first day with a swim.

Day 2: Session 3 

and most of 4 before lunch. (Activity 4 tip: practice beforehand. Only fill the balloon up slightly larger than when it's blown up. I filled it, put tape on it, then pierced it.) We took an early swim, headed out for lunch,

and then to the most-anticipated activity of the trip... horseback riding!

My horse crazy girl was beyond excited to finally get to actually ride a horse. Not just be led around in a circle.

Meeting and trying to name all the horses -- she was disappointed to realize they already had names

 

Her horse was ironically named Turbo

We saw wild turkeys and deer right next to the trail!

My horse, Chief

After our ride (while my thighs quivered for the next three hours), we went shopping at a couple of local tourist shops and had dinner. We headed back to the hotel for a swim (or a really long, much-needed soak in the hot tub to be precise) and then right to bed.

Day 5: We did session 5.

 We hung out for awhile

then hit the road.

Our last stop was at a mall closer to home for lunch and to give her the special gift they recommend.

We talked about a couple of options and considered some kind of purity jewelry like a ring or necklace but decided instead to get her ears pierced. She's been asking to do it for a long time, and we thought that it would be a great tie-in. Every time she sees her earrings, she'll remember our trip. 

Leading up to the piercing, we gave her a list of things that we wanted her to do to demonstrate that while it's fine to want to look beautiful on the outside, beauty really comes from the inside.

I saw this idea online here. I changed out some of the characteristics from the original to better fit Soprano and changed some of the verses. She needs to finish a few more but ran out of time because our trip had to be scheduled when it did. We're planning on her completing it.

She was so brave. She didn't even flinch when it happened.

 I had a double helix done. I may have moaned or whined. Man, it hurt!

The very last thing, to wrap-up the whole trip was the gift of this journal. I told her that we talked about wasn't just a one-time thing, it was the beginning of an ongoing conversation. But sometimes the topics we talked about can be embarrassing so we gave her this journal. She can write questions in it (to either me or Bass) and leave it on our bed. We write our reply and then put it back on her bed.

And with that, the trip is done. It was really, really good. I think it will be a good memory for her down the road. This isn't a sponsored review but I would highly recommend taking this journey with your tween.

Easter Mantel and New Wreath

"His birthday was prophesied; His purpose was redemption; His reason was love."

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Easter is an important time of celebration for our family because we believe in Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. He took our punishment so we could live.
We are blessed!
I try to decorate each year for Easter. This is what the mantel looked like:

 

I layered my Easter "He Is Risen" banner over the rag garland and used the grapevine cross that used to be on the front door.

I moved the grapevine cross because I made a new Easter wreath this year. I bought three egg and branch picks last year on clearance. I added them to the grapevine wreath that used to be the base of my St. Patrick's wreath.

On one of the end tables, I put a sheep picture and little ceramic sheep. The basket on the bottom was a gift from a friend who was living in China and is used for picking tea leaves.

 The whole bright spring-y living room:

Love is Valentine's Day Branch Display

I don't usually do much Valentine's Day decorating...mostly because I'm lazy. It comes too close on the heels of having decorated for Christmas then winter. It would be up for such a short amount of time that it doesn't really feel worth the effort. (This makes me a bad home/DIY blogger, doesn't it?)
This year I was inspired by a couple ideas that I saw (this banner and this centerpiece) and decided to clear the dining room of my winter and snowman decor and put this up instead.

Braving the cold, I went tromping in my backyard and cut branches from a forsythia bush and added some other random twigs that fallen in the yard after some recent wind. I cut the hearts from various scraps of cardstock I had on-hand using Cricut's Cricut Classic Font cartridge and then stamped the words ('God is...', 'love', and the words from 1 Corinthians 13's "love" passage) with Faith (TAC), Mini-Bet (TAC), Simple Bet (TAC), Nurture Your Soul (TAC), and Rummage (Making Memories).

I added baker's twine from Queen and Co. to the hearts and hung them all on the branches.

I used several Bible versions for my hearts but here is the passage in the NLT.
⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. 
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never ends...
¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13

Linking up to some or all of these great blog parties:

Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming;
Monday: Inspire Me Monday at Sand and Sisal; Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z; It's Overflowing; Monthly Before and After at Thrifty Decor Chick
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts; 
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring;

Be Still Chalkboard Tray and Winter Mantel

 I was going to title this post something like, "A 15-Minute Chalkboard Tray" but if you've ever attempted a quick DIY project you realize how it really goes down. You've never had a crafting session take way longer than you thought it would? Well, let me give you a behind the scenes look of how one of these blog posts really happens.

This is my winter mantel this year. Similar to last year's with a slight change. Remember, the mirror that used to be above the fireplace moved across the room to the piano. I really like the window that we put in its place but without the ORB frame, the bottom of the mantel feels a little too heavy. I thought maybe some chalkboard art on the window would balance things out.

I originally thought I'd paint something (a plaque or canvas, maybe) with chalkboard paint or buy a pre-made chalkboard and then draw my art on it. (Behind the scenes: Look around house for suitable thing to paint. No wood. Canvas on-hand is too big and too square. Hit craft store to no avail. Head to thrift store.) Yay for me, I found this tray for $3.

So now I have a tray. (BTS: Maybe I could paint it with chalkboard paint and be artistic. Hmm...spend several hours on Pinterest looking for chalkboard tutorials. Only problem, I'm not a great artist. I'm a good trace and copy person but I wasn't sure how that would work on a chalkboard. Decide it's too much work.) Since painting my own chalkboard seemed a bit ambitious, so I looked online for something pre-made. (BTS: Several hours=no luck) Since I couldn't find quite what I wanted, I figured I could design my own. On Pinterest I found some great pins with free chalkboard font suggestions. After I downloaded a bunch of them, I put this together in MS Publisher. (BTS: again after way longer than I thought it would take. True to form, it didn't turn out exactly like I pictured in my mind.)

To get the right size, I measured the tray and inserted a gray oval into my picture to make sure my text would fit.

 Bass printed it for me at work on 11x17 paper. I cut it out following the template line I had printed. (BTS: the tray wasn't a perfect Publisher circle. So now I'll have to paint the tray anyway to make sure the edges don't show through.)

So just to make sure the tray base wouldn't show around the edges of my print, I taped it off and spray painted it.

 

All painted! (BTS: the paint bled through the tape along the inside edge of the tray. I had to get out a paint brush to hand paint the edges too.)

(BTS: After even more trimming on the print...) I used my ATG to tape the sign onto the tray.

A good winter verse when the world outside is quiet and muffled with snow - Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God..."

The almost last step was to figure out how I was going to hang the tray on the window. Easy-peasy, use ribbon. (BTS: Do I have any ribbon that will work? Lots of ribbon that's too thin. Ribbon of a good width but all in the wrong color. I don't really want to have go to the craft store again. It's too cold to go out. And I don't want to have to pay $5 for a roll of ribbon when I only need 12ish inches. One more place to check... ooh, that could work. Now how do I attach the ribbon?) I used some duct tape from Bass's stash to attach the ribbon. It's on the back so it doesn't matter if it's ugly, right?

See those cute Jamberry wraps on my fingers? They're Feeling Festive and Gray and White Polka. :)

Super easy project -- done! (BTS: finally!)

And in place...

The other winter mantel change, sheet music pillar candles. This project really did only take a few minutes (after I went to the store to get candles, measured them, and cut the sheet music to size). The back of these look a little ugly too.

 But they're fine from the front. :)

Fonts used: Return to Sender, Chalk Hand Lettering Shaded, KG Eyes Wide Open, It Was a Good Day, Chalk Line Outline, and CK Holiday Spirit.

Linking up to some or all of these great blog parties:

Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming;
Monday: Inspire Me Monday at Sand and Sisal; Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z;
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts; Thursday: It's Overflowing;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring;
Categorically Crafting: Christmas at Someday Crafts; Christmas Spectacular at The Shabby Creek Cottage

Make a Card Monday - With Sympathy Cross

We received word that Bass's grandfather had passed away. It was a sad moment but he was almost 93 years old and had passed quietly in his sleep. We know that he was a believer in Jesus Christ and that one day we will see him again in eternity. We wanted to send a card to Bass's uncles (Grampy's sons) and aunts to express our sympathy.

Details:
cardstock: Colormates Medium Coffee cardstock base, unknown (off white)
patterned paper: Crate Paper "Bundled Up" 6x6 pad (polka dot); Pebbles "Walnut Grove" 6x6 pad (newsprint)
embellishments: fibers (EK Success)
color: Palette Burnt Umber ink, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Tombow blending marker, Tombow light gray marker (shadow outlining)
tools: Cuttlebug "Script Texture" embossing folder (polka dot base)
stamps: TAC Cross (cross) and TAC With Sympathy (inside sentiment)