Pay It Forward

A few weeks ago, my friend Andrea at My Chihuahua Bites hosted a Pay It Forward challenge on her blog. The idea behind this challenge is that you will “pay it forward” by sending three homemade gifts to other bloggers. They, in turn, agree to host the challenge on their blogs and “pay it forward” to at least three other bloggers. The cycle continues and the love is spread throughout the blogosphere. The only kicker? You have 365 days to send your package.

Andrea chose me to be a part of her Pay it Forward challenge! So now I, in turn, am hosting a Pay It Forward challenge on my blog. Here’s how it works: if you would like to participate, comment on this post. I’ll draw three names and will send you something handmade. Remember, I have 365 days to send it to you, so don’t hold your breath waiting on my package to arrive.

You Could Get:
Homemade Candles
Stamped Tile Coasters
Homemade Cookies
Cookie Mix in a Jar
or even something else!

Don’t forget that if you are chosen, you are agreeing to host the challenge on your blog and reciprocate to three other bloggers. Don’t enter if you aren’t willing to do that step. I’ll announce the winners next week.

On a quick side note - I have an interview for a better position with my work today. Please keep me in your prayers. This would really help Mackenzie and I out financially! Thanks so much! Have a blessed day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Don't forget to wear green today!

We made "Leprechaun Traps" with our students yesterday. It was fun
to see them create their traps and get excited about them.

Below are a few pictures of the traps.

Here are some "facts" about Leprechauns before you see the pictures

• They like green
• They like shamrocks
• They like gold
• They like lucky charms
• They do not follow signs

Keep these "facts" in mind as you take a look at the pictures.
The first one was the one I made to give an example to the kids.

I'm assuming this leprechaun must be very small to fit into that glass bottle.
There is actually "gold coins" inside the bottle but since they don't follow signs...you get the idea!

Next are some of the kids' traps.

They'll be looking forward to seeing if they trapped any leprechauns today!

Have a great day! Will any of you be eating Corned Beef and Cabbage?
I don't care for it, so we won't but I might try to incorporate lots of green into our meal!

Studio Photo Shoot

Happy Wednesday!

My friend is a newer photographer, who is doing a lot to promote herself. She asked me if I would be her "model" to broaden her own portfolio as well as help another friend who is a make-up artist to have pictures for her portfolio. Of course, I said yes because I thought it would be fun, and also to have some new pictures for Mackenzie!

I went to her house last week and she had a white backdrop set up with many lights! The make-up artist was there and she did my makeup before we took pictures. The last time I had my makeup done was for my wedding so this was fun!

Below are some of the pictures from the shoot! The first two are when she was putting make-up on me the rest are from the actual shoot.
Hope you enjoy!

This beautiful girl is the daughter of one of the other ladies who also came to participate in the photo shoot. She was cracking me up so I said, "come over here and take a picture with me!"

Later, we straightened my hair to give a different look.

I would like to use one of them for my new "profile picture". If you have any preferences, please let me know! I would love your opinions!

My Talented Husband

So, I have to brag a bit today about my husband. He is so talented and I am absolutely proud of him! Mackenzie is a Digital Arts major at the local university. What that entails is, editing videos, creating/building websites, graphic design, creating videos and music. His passion is music and we've created a Christian electronic-style worship cd together.

Anyway, he had to do a project for one of his classes and I wanted to share this video with you all. It's part of a bigger project but basically he's filmed himself playing the different instruments to a song he created. As the instruments come in on the song, they are shown on the video. It's only a part of the song but it gives you an idea of his work. Here it is:





What surprises me about Mackenzie, and I love, is that he is so humble about his work. He has created many videos, graphics, songs, and he rarely shows them to anyone but me and his family. (Not including our CD) He's his worst critic, but he does a fantastic job, in my opinion!

Music has always been his biggest passion in this whole field and that's what his ultimate goal is to do. He's learning a lot in this program but it really comes pretty naturally to him. I just wanted to share about this today to let you know how proud I am of him. I pray the Lord leads him to the right workplace, where he can truly do what he loves.

Here's a few other graphics he's made:

There's just a bit of his work! Hope you enjoyed it!

Also, please join me this Sunday for Worship and Praise Sunday. Share a favorite worship song of yours! Please read more details here!

A Very Special Wedding Gift

I wanted to share with you a wonderful gift we received from our wedding. We have a good friend who is very talented both musically and artistically. So, instead of a gift off our registry, we asked her to paint us a picture that would go in our new home.

She asked us our style and what we would like and this is what she came up with:

A beautiful red Orchid to hang above our dining table. I absolutely LOVE it! I love orchids and I love the style she chose to paint it.

Here it is next to a candle sconce. We are going to get an identical sconce to go on the other side of the painting as soon as we can.

Mackenzie and I both love having orginal artwork in our home. From friends, family, ourselves...we want to have it. In fact, we'd love originals to be the only thing we have hanging in our home, but that may take awhile! We have some other work from a friend who makes wood carvings and then stamps them onto paper with ink...here's an example:

Not only do we enjoy it, we feel it supports our friends as well!

Hope you enjoyed viewing our special gifts! Have a wonderful Friday!