Spring is here....

and in to celebrate I'm making some of my original paintings available on Etsy! Hooray! Some of these I've shared with you before and others you've probably never seen. Go check em out and tell me what you think!

Hooray for sunshine!!!

Frugally Fighting Monotony

Had a quick whirlwind weekend to my in-laws in Massachusetts for Easter. We don't go visit often enough but when we do it's always a bittersweet walk down memory lane for my husband. His dad still lives in the house in the same neighborhood he grew up in. Joel has so many memories of his childhood friends, the little traditions they came up with and ALWAYS remembered (honking twice and waving at one friend's house, for instance!) and it always leaves him a little bit reflective and melancholy. Because...he's a grown up now. He remembers how life used to be. It's not that our life isn't happy....it can just seem a little monotonous sometimes....go to work, go home, try to relax, go to sleep, get up, go to work.....we feel beat up by the mundane cycle of routine.

On our way back I had an idea, the whole drive back (including getting stuck in traffic) we brainstormed some crazy little activities that we could use for a date night or any day that we wanted to break out of the normal routine. Took a little doing to think outside the box but I'm proud of what we've come up with. Things like:

- go to a restaraunt we've never been to
- put on loud music and dance around the house
- memorize a Scripture verse together
- go to a store and pick out mushy cards for each other and then put them back (that's courtesy of my frugalista aunt, awesome idea!)
- grab the guitar and go down to the lake to sing praise songs at night
- make a fort in the living room (seriously, who didn't make a fort when they were little!)
- write an encouraging note on a dollar bill and then go spend it
- make up a new word and use it
- draw a picture of heaven
and one I think will go down in the history books of good memories with Joel and Elena....
- learn how to say "Excuse me, you're sitting on my sandwich!" in 3 different languages!!!

These are just a few! We've agreed that whenever we decide to pull a card we HAVE to do what it says even if it's not convenient. There are so many things on our minds lately, the tragic death of a co-worker, flooding, marriages in turmoil....we need to give ourselves ways to let go and have fun. I want to be able to look back on my life and marriage and be able to say, we tried hard, screwed up a lot, but we sure did have fun together!

I love you, Joel, always, no matter what.

IF: Rescue

My little drawing for this week's topic, Toby the turtle and Filmore the frog, setting sell to go rescue a lost friend. LOVED this topic, by the way....there's a million drawings I could have done....all of them with children's faces...I see them all the time. So many needing to be rescued.

This topic coincides with news I just heard this week. My sponsor child in Haiti is alive! His home and the surrounding area were completely destroyed...but he and his family were spared from the horrendous earthquake. I am so happy to hear this news. After months of worrying and praying. Oh, to start writing him letters again! They will be filled with the joy of knowing he was rescued and is being taken care of now. The same organization that has allowed me to be a part of his life over the past several years is working tirelessly to help his family and many others like his. May God strengthen and bless their incredible work.

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

IF: Brave

"She often thought herself a fairytale princess, held captive and forced to go to bed against her will. And while the stairs to her bedroom tower seemed friendly enough in the light of day, by nightfall they had grown into something more dark and ominous."

All colored pencil....let me know what you think!

Upcycled Art....otherwise known as FREE!

I'm so proud of myself. It rarely happens. Not just that I'm satified with a project but that I can make a piece of art without agonizing over every little thing for days, weeks, months on end. To start and finish a project in one day....ahhhhh, this is the life.

I was helping my mom redo her bathroom the last couple of weekends. It needed a little fixing and a fresh coat of paint. She already had a new shower curtain and bath towels in a lilac and dark purpley blue color. Of course my mind goes immediately to what wall art would update the bathroom and stay with this color scheme? I was thinking flowers and butterflies. I remembered that I saved a gorgeous calendar from 3 years ago of exotic butterflies. I flipped through looking for inspiration and then it hit me.


I took a page out of the calendar that matched well with the color scheme. Took a nice shadow box that I've had (I think a friend gave it to me....thanks Aimee!),

took about an hour or so to carefully cut around the butterflies, pop them up a little and voila!!!!


Upcycled, calendar art! For FREE! I love it! Now, I'm not endorsing packrat behavior but it's fun to see what we can do with some saved things....calendars are great for making envelopes, magnets and a bunch of other neat, useful things.

For the other piece I'm thinking some big flowers (first I was thinking lilacs but now...) with a butterfly resting on one....but should I use paint or pencil....oh here we go....