It's the Little Things

I've been moved into my current home for a week and a half now... and I'm loving it! My room feels so homey, and I've been realizing that it's the culmination of so many "little things." You know, the little touches that you might not notice at first glance, but when there are many of them together all in one room it just seems to fit. So I thought I'd share with you all some of my favorite little things in my room. Enjoy! :)

REcover//REstyle

This weekend I got to feeling a little crafty. A little fabric and Mod Podge always solves that, right? :) So I went down to the craft shelves in the basement and scrounged up some scrap fabric and Mod Podge, grabbed my Bible and an old office chair, and got to work! [Sorry for the poor photo quality of my phone as well as the lack of before/process pics!]

To cover my Bible, I simply painted a medium layer of Mod Podge onto the cover and placed the fabric over that, wrapping the fabric around the edges and cutting out spaces for the binding and elastic band to still fit around the book. Easy peasy!

To cover the chair, I unscrewed the back and just placed the fabric around the old stuff, taped it in the back (shhhh, don't tell anyone!) and then screwed the back back on. For the seat portion, there was a way on the bottom of the chair to loosen the cushion, so I simply loosened it and tucked the fabric underneath then tightened it. I LOVE a sewing-free project! :)

Both pieces got NEW life from these simple improvements. Plus, my Bible's spine was falling apart and this solved that problem, while enhancing the beauty of it as well! Hope you are inspired to go recover and restyle something of your own! Happy crafting!

DIY: Scripture Memorization

I have recently been motivated to memorize scripture. I've found that it's not actually as hard as I've always made it out to be. :) In fact, it's really quite fun and has been super helpful in my daily walk.

Here's the benefits I have found in memorizing scripture:

1. 
   
   When I'm talking with people and a verse comes to mind I actually know where to find it and can give more than just a vague description of it if I happen to not have my Bible.


2. 
   
   When I'm anxious, fearful, tempted, etc. I can call these verses to mind to combat the enemy.


3. 
   
   It gives me something to do during those awkward down-times of 3-15 minutes.


4. 
   
   It has given me a greater thirst for the Word and has motivated me to dig into it more.


5. 
   
   I got to do a craft! Who doesn't love crafts??? :)

So, I thought I'd show you how I have chosen to memorize scripture... and the craft that went along with it!

You will need:

• 
  
  Spiral-bound index card book (I chose this so all my cards will stay together and I can just throw the book in my backpack)


• 
  
  Storage Box (Any index-card sized box would work. I used an old gift box that just happened to be the perfect size!)


• 
  
  Mod podge or other glue


• 
  
  Scrapbook paper


• 
  
  Misc. Craft supplies

Get creative!

Decorate the cover of the book and the box by mod podging paper on, adding scripture or quotes, or even try adding some 3-D elements!

 

All done! You now have a box that will be able to hold multiple little scripture books... now get memorizing! :) 

 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:11

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Psalm 119:130

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:2

I  delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

Psalm 40:8 

Life Binder

Happy Saturday!  So on Thursday I shared a lovely little organizational tool. And I told you all about the Life Binder. So here's the promised post showing you how I did it and what's inside. Let's get started. I'm just going to tell you how I did mine, but obviously if you were to make one you can adapt it to whatever you need to help you keep your life organized. Here are the different categories I used:

• Every Day

• God

• Time Management

• Finances

• Fitness

• Organization

• Random

• Recipes

All set up in the cool air-conditioned lounge. Paper, sharpies, cutting utensils, computer for inspiration, water for hydration, friends for company= 4 hours of lovely crafting!

For each section I used a divider ($0.98 for 5 at Wal-Mart) and went to town on it. I used scrapbooking paper, sharpies, and quotes printed from the internet to decorate mine, but you could use whatever you like! And, like I said, I went to town. So mine is all very random and just whatever I was feeling, so if you are more of a type "A" personality with your organization, you could always color coordinate and make all your tabs the same, etc. However I'm more of an organized clutter kinda gal.

In my "Every Day" section I printed off a bunch of the daily sheets,  2 to a page and front to back so that 4 are on one page.

In my "God" section, there are multiple resources. I put scriptures, tips for inductive Bible study, questions for the first couple chapter of John, and other random printouts I have from church, Navs, etc. You could even use this space for journaling or recording prayers or doing a Bible Study you print out. However, all that stuff is in my journal and elsewhere for me.

You can find schedules galore in my "Time Management" section. I have my class schedule for next semester, schedules for VYC this summer, as well as my weekly calendar.

My "Financial" section is filled with charts waiting to be filled out. Mine are pretty simple- "date, what purchased, store, and amount."

In my "Fitness" section I have put a couple different exercises and workouts to try as well as lists and printouts of healthy foods, snacks, etc. I plan on making a workout log as well.

My "Organization" section contains a couple printouts of organizational tips. One that I especially like that has helped me purge my room a bit, which you can find here.

Everyone needs a "Random" section for those pieces of paper that you just really want to keep but that don't really fit anywhere else!

I don't have any recipes in my "Recipes" section yet, however I do have a cool kitchen conversions chart as well as grocery lists.

So here's the whole thing, tabs and all! I'm considering making a couple more categories, just for fun! I also need to make the cover as well.

Confession

I have a confession.
I'm really bad at managing my time. But in the last 24 hours I may have become obsessed with organization and time management. I just never knew it could be this fun! It all started when I stumbled across this little beut:

{click for printable version}

Be still, my heart.

So, after my breathing finally returned to normal, my brain started working. And I decided that it was about time that I had a Life Binder. Yup. I think I just made that up.

So here's the deal. I can be REALLY good at wasting time. Like, trophy-winning good. Yet I desire to give my time fully to the Lord and let Him shape it into what He wants it to look like. I want to use the time He has given me learning and growing and loving. I want to be productive and faithful to the responsibilities He has entrusted to me, while still having time to seek Him and love others. And it just so happens that He has wired my brain in a way that works really well with little lists like the one above. There's just something inside of me that says "yes!" to lists and jumps with joy when those lists are pretty.

Enter the Life Binder. The culmination of lists, recipes, charts, notes, goals, and everything important that can be put on paper. Where creativity and productivity collide. The thing that just might start my school year off right, so maybe I'll have one less time-wasting trophy in the case. Or maybe I'm just being idealistic. But hey! It's been fun to make, and there's always the off-chance it will stick. So, have I wetted your appetite to see what's inside this baby? Perfect. Come back in a few days. :)

In this home...

This WILL be a wall in my house someday.