Crafty Signage

The holidays make me get crafty.  So do special events like weddings and babies.  I did several really fun crafts that I never got around to sharing with you over this past year. One thing I did a lot of was making signs!  Here's what I did along with my inspirations.

Project 1:

The event was my in-laws' 30th wedding anniversary.

My inspiration was this timeline on White Table Style and I'd been wanting to try making a sign.  This method to make a rustic sign from Magen's Cottage was the basic idea I used designing it.  Using a wood plaque from Hobby Lobby, I pasted on a piece of scrapbook paper and then put a layer of Mod Podge over that.  Next you lay out your text with sticky letters, the Mod Podge helps the letters come off more easily later.  I recommend using at least 1 inch letters as shown.  The next step is to paint over your letters.  Allow to dry and then use an exacto knife to pull back the stickers! Practice the letter thing on a sample like I did (shown above). I decorated it a bit and did another layer of protective Mod Podge over the finished product.  This method was not quite as clean as I would have liked. The stickers weren't always easy to pull up and sometimes the paint peeled.  Still a fun final product.

Here's a tip on giving the paint that rustic/vintage/buffed-up look:  If using latex paint, go to down on your dried paint with sand paper.  If you're using acrylic paint, however, I've found this magical trick using vaseline to work much better!

Project 2:

This sign was a wedding gift for a sweet friend.  I used a different method for the letters and I like it more.  It requires large, bold letters - but you have a lot more choice in the font style since you use a computer print out.  Here's a tutorial from Picklee.  Basically: paint your sign, lay out your printed letters, use a ball point pen to outline the letters by pressing into the wood, and finally use a tiny paintbrush to paint in the letters!

You can see here the indent in the wood from the pen

Project 3:

This was for a friend's housewarming gift.  Monograms are so in, and when I saw these giant wooden letters at Hobby Lobby I had to snatch one up.  Can you tell I like roughed up paint?  It worked well since the new house in question is vintage itself.  I used a hammer and beat the stuffing out of the sign first to give it a more dated look and make all those wonderful grooves.  For an antique paint job, you want to put your dark color on the bottom and a light color on top.  I used the above mentioned Vaseline method as well.  I purposefully did a very thin layer of the white for a very aged look.  You can also do several coats so it is clean and then using the Vaseline method have a more subtle antique look on the edges.  

Project 4:

I made this key and hook rack for my own new house!  Recognize my life verse?  I forgot to get a "before" picture, but it was a simple sign on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  I painted over it, used the printout and pen technique I mentioned earlier for the letters, and then added cute drawer-pull hardware from World Market.  I felt so handy using our drill!  The birds are perfect for hanging keys and the knobs work well for umbrellas, sweaters, or dog leashes.  I also grabbed a couple of screw eye hooks from Home Depot and added them to the sides which is a great place for extra keys that you don't use often.  I maybe got a little carried away with the gold touches on it... but I think it turned out well!  It is right over our little mail center so it really helps with organization.  

I hope I gave you some ideas for your own home projects or Christmas gifts for your favorite people!  Look for another post coming soon with more easy crafts.  

What a Year

Remember when I had a blog?  Needless to say, life has run away with my brain over the past six months or so.  I have at least four unpublished drafts that I started and then stopped.  Those memory verses I committed to doing?  Total fail.... I send heartfelt apologies to anyone who was actually following those with me.  Recently I visited my family and my cousins pointed out that I haven't been writing and encouraged me to start again. Thanks, cousins.

So HI! I'm back. For now... This post is just to catch everyone up. :)

Is 2013 over yet?  This year has been a truly crazy year.  Totally awesome - but crazy.  I just want a breather.  I just want a routine and for life to be a little boring for a while.

I think I started flaking out on the blog around the time I started my level II OTA fieldwork rotations.  First I did eight weeks at a continuing care retirement facility.  I loved it!  My clients were sweet as pie and even those that weren't were endearing.  Then I did eight weeks at an outpatient pediatric facility and loved that too.  The kids made me laugh, my instructor trusted me to lead sessions, and by the end of it I felt like I could actually do this job!  Those were very busy but enjoyable months.

During my pediatric rotation we started looking at houses, not expecting to find anything we liked right away.  A few weeks later we found THE house for us, and because of the market in Austin, we jumped on it right away.  We closed on the house the week after I finished my fieldwork.  We love our big bonus room over the garage with vaulted ceilings.  It's the perfect lounging room!  We also rather enjoy living near the high school and hearing the football games and marching band practice.

Shortly after we bought the house, my mother-in-law and nephew came to visit!  Tyler loved playing in the sprinklers and Debbie enjoyed checking out our new place.  

We went to Lowe's...

 Debbie and Tyler also were around to see me graduate!

A few days after they left, my mom came!  We painted a lot.  I finally got my green room.

The next thing I knew, we had a dog.  I'd been wanting one to train to be a therapy dog, and this sweetie fell in our laps at just the right time.  Who could say no to that face?  If only training could happen overnight.  Stanley the cat still rules around here though.

My name is Elsie Margaret Houdini Thompson!

Once I felt sufficiently settled, I spent my energy throwing a big housewarming party.  I was so excited to have SPACE to have more than six people over.  So I threw a party for 30!  We had a great time, even though it rained.  We needed it so badly here in Texas that we were thrilled with it. After everyone left, we got 5 inches that night. Praise God!

Our home is officially warm.

After all this, I felt like I could finally focus on taking my certification test to become a COTA and find a job.  I scheduled my test for October 10th and started studying.  And immediately, life took another turn when I got the phone call.  We've all had that phone call that changes our lives, and if you haven't yet, then you will.  My dad called to tell me that my Papa Jack was at the hospital after falling unconscious.  We rapidly learned that he had suffered a massive stroke with damage to multiple areas of his brain.  My family opted for no life support, and he was moved to hospice where he passed on to Glory two days after his stroke.  If you don't know about my grandparents and how special they are to me, they were the subject of my second blog post.  So I rescheduled my test and booked a bereavement flight to North Carolina to be with my family.  My entire family showed up from all over the country, as far as Seattle and Hawaii.  It was a blessed week, and because of the timing of everything else I was still jobless and available to stay with my grandmother an additional week.  Spending quality time with my grandma in my favorite mountains in the fall was a gift.  I miss my Papa fiercely but know that we will meet and hug and laugh again.  Because my Papa loved and served the Lord with all his heart, I know he is safe and dancing with the angels.

Cruising in the Bahamas with my grandparents 2002

My last picture with both of them. Christmas 2012. Matt and I left from there
to go to the Biltmore Estate after my grandparents eagerly bought tickets for us.

Grandma and I at the Memorial Service

Papa loved these mountains, and so do I.

I came home after an emotional couple of weeks (or months, really) to face my test.  I found out two days later that I PASSED and am now a licensed Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. I have letters after my name.  My next task is to find a job where I can use those letters!  I have so many other things I'd like to share with everyone, but I'll have to save them for the next posts - which I will do. For real.

April Memory Verse Theme: Atonement

Atonement refers to the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the core truth of our Christian faith!  Oh how He loves us!

He himself bore our sins in His body

on the cross, so that we might

die to sin and live to righteousness;

for by his wounds you were healed.

1 Peter 2:24 (NASB)

He made Him who knew no sin

to be sin on our behalf,

 so that we might become

 the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)

A Time to Celebrate!

Oh Joy!!!

I have just completed the school work phase of my Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program and embark on the final stage - full time fieldwork clinicals!  This past year and a half has been quite the adventure and roller coaster of emotions.  It has been exciting and stressful, motivating and frustrating, thrilling and humbling.  I have met wonderful people and made new friends that are like family.  I have learned far more than I thought possible. I have been blessed to serve patients and been blessed to hear their inspiring stories.  I can't believe that we are only a few more months away from the grand finale!

This program has been a reminder to me to be thankful for each and every day as a gift.  I have had to check myself several times, when things got hard, and remember that this program was an answered prayer, that God has made clear his desire for me to finish it.  Today I'm praising him for his faithfulness in seeing me through this first phase and challenging me to grow in the midst of intense and stressful moments.  I'm still working on it, but this program has given me huge opportunities to practice being joyful always, praying continually, and giving thanks in all circumstances.

So what do OTs do?  This is something I'm asked a lot.  For starters, it's not about work, although it could be.  The "occupation" in "occupational therapy" could be work, but it could also be your leisure, education, social, or play activities.  It even encompasses all the other stuff you do every day - like getting dressed, grooming, bathing, cooking, grocery shopping, driving your car, caring for children or pets, and balancing your checkbook.  We are concerned about what people desire to DO and how they do it.  In order to DO all the things you want to, you need certain abilities like motor, sensory-perceptual, cognitive, and social skills and all your body parts need to function in certain ways.  When a child is born with a developmental delay, or a teenage soccer player is in a car accident, or a young mom is diagnosed with MS, or a 50 year old CEO has cancer, or a 75 year old volunteer has a stroke, suddenly doing all those things they care about becomes much more difficult.  That's where we come in - providing activities, techniques, education, safety, equipment, and support to help these live their lives to the fullest.  Our therapy sessions may include some exercises, but if the stroke patient wants to be able to dress herself then we will practice dressing and if the young mother misses cooking for her family then we will be in the kitchen!  We may provide restorative interventions to help patients improve or we  may provide compensatory tools and techniques for those facing more long-lasting challenges.  OT is HUGE, covers all aspects of life, and works with a huge variety of people in a huge variety of settings... so I could talk all day...but that's OT in a nutshell for the three of you interested people out there! 

  

March Memory Verse Theme: Our Rebellion

Next in our gospel story, after the Lord created our miraculous world and created men and women in his own image and declared, "It is very good!,"  we chose to rebel against his law, rejecting our Father, and allowed sin and evil to enter our perfect world.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,

each of us has turned his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

to fall on him.

Isaiah 53:6

Part of Isaiah's prophecy concerning the suffering and crucifixion

of Christ.

For the wages of sin is death, 

but the free gift of God is eternal life

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23

Paul's letter to the Romans, explaining how Christ

Bonus Verse:

They did not keep the covenant of God

and refused to walk in His law;

They forgot His deeds

and his miracles that He had shown them.

Psalm 78:10-11

A psalm speaking of the love and miraculous signs God showed to 

Israel, yet they rebelled.has overcome our sin.

February Memory Theme: Creator God

So far this memory verse thing is going pretty well.  Matthew 28:18-20 and 9:37-38- check!

This month's theme is our God, the Creator.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

*Isaiah 40:28*

- The prophet Isaiah, comforting God's people that have 

been exiled to Babylon. -

You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things

and by your will they were created

and have their being.

*Revelation 4:11*

- Spoken by the elders surrounding God's throne in John's vision -

BONUS VERSE: 

By faith we understand that the universe

was formed at God's command, so that

what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

*Hebrews 11:3*

- A letter written to Hebrew Christians proclaiming the superiority of Christ

and Christianity. -

Christmas 2012

We took a nice long two and a half week vacation to go visit family and friends in Virginia and North Carolina over Christmas and New Years.  It's tough living so far away from family and sort of surreal to be back in Virginia where we grew up now that Austin feels more and more like home.  Time with our family is extra special now that we see them so much less often.

We started in Asheville, NC on Christmas Eve at my uncle's house with my family.  Christmas Eve at their house is always beautiful with a massive tree, a gorgeous table, delicious food, flowing wine, gift exchanges, and carol singing.  Sweet times with sweet people! Here was our crowd:

We stayed with my grandparents and were so pleased with how great they are doing! Family gatherings with them are always such a blessing.  My mom brought supplies to make her famous aebleskivers - a traditional Danish pancake-like treat.  It's not Christmas without them!  One day I'll have a full post about how to make these beauties.  Until then, you'll just have to dream.

Before we left Asheville, Matt and I went to tour the Biltmore House which I've always wanted to do at Christmastime.  Every room open for the tour is decked out in spectacular decor similar to how it would have been decorated when George Vanderbilt opened it on Christmas Eve in 1895. The house and grounds are one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited.  The only tragedy of this particular trip was that it rained all day so we weren't really able to get many pictures.  I'd love to go back in the spring when the tulips are blooming and take the Butler's Tour!  I highly recommend making a day of it if you're ever in the area.

After Asheville we drove over the mountains through snow and fog up to Roanoke, VA where we stayed with one my dear friends, Melissa.  We spent a day in Blacksburg touring Virginia Tech and reminiscing.  It was snowy and windy and freezing as it always was in Blacksburg in the winter!  We remembered why we love Austin.

Back on the road we went to visit Matt's family!  We got to spend a whole week with them and had loads of fun playing with our nephews and all of the Thompson pets.  We visited with old friends, went shopping, toured Christmas lights, ate lots of food, and just had good times of enjoying each other's company.

We ended the trip in northern Virginia visiting my parents and brother.  Somehow I have no cute pictures from this part of the trip.  We checked out the Air and Space Museum and saw The Hobbit, which we enjoyed greatly.  All in all - a memorable and blessed Christmas!

Happy New Year everybody!

My New Life Resolution! January's Theme: The Great Commission

Happy New Year!  We are back after a lengthy trip back to North Carolina and Virginia to visit family and friends.  I'll get on a blog about that soon. First:  I have a New Year's resolution.  Really it's a life resolution, and I want to invite you to join in it with me: scripture memorization!  I know I know...I can already hear the groaning.  This is something I've tried numerous times and failed at every time.  Those of you that I can hear groaning probably have too.  It can quickly turn into a tedious and frustrating task.  After several years of attempts,  I still have only a small handful of verses that I could accurately quote and give the scripture reference to you on the spot.  I long to be able to call scripture to mind in the moment and be able to more easily discuss the gospel with others.  The Lord desires it for us and Jesus himself quoted scripture in his teachings.  

"You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead." Deuteronomy 11:18

So, I'm setting a smaller, more realistic goal for myself this time.  And I'm using this blog to organize me and keep me accountable.  I hope that this will be a bit more fun and motivational and that it will serve you in your relationship with the Lord!  

Here's my plan:
I will post a monthly blog with 2-3 memory verses with a specific theme that I will commit to memorize.  They must all fit on only one side of a 3x5 index card (Only 2-3 verses per month - small goals!  We can do this!) I'll post several of these cards around my apartment, in my car, in my school agenda, etc.. I will use them in my quiet time each morning too.  I'll also post on the blog 1-2 Bonus Verses that I will try to memorize if I get the others down quickly. I downloaded a neat app that will help called Remember Me: Bible Verse Memory. Yay technology! It has flash cards, puzzles, and other memory tools.  All my verses will be in NIV translation because that just happens to be the bible version I own.

My first several themes will focus on verses that can be used as evangelism and spiritual discussion tools - verses that give a well-rounded presentation of the gospel.  Many verses are ones that we easily recognize and maybe have parts of them memorized.  Getting down the scripture reference is always the hard part for me.  I also want to be sure that I know some of the who/what/when/where/why of the verses.  My hope is that this will deepen my understanding and my discussions with others.

Ready for January's theme?  I think it should be a nice easy one.

The Great Commission

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, 

"All authority in heaven

and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father 

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

20 and teaching them to obey

everything I have commanded you. 

And surely I am with you always,

 to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:18-20

Context: A command spoken by the resurrected Jesus to his disciples before his ascension

*Bonus verse: 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Matthew 9:37-38

Context: Spoken by Jesus to his disciples while traveling through towns teaching and healing.  Jesus was moved by the crowds and their helplessness.