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God's Grace and Some Creative Therapy

For a little over a week now my husband and I have been experiencing some stress like we never have before. It's not something that I can even really talk about. I can only say that there is a situation that we are working through that has effected us very deeply because it involves people that we dearly love. God's grace and peace have been such a comfort to us, knowing that He is still in control and He is always faithful, even when people are not. We must always keep our eyes on the Lord and not on man. When we do this our faith will not be shaken during tough times.

Because I've been sad and worried and unable to share much with others, I needed an outlet. For me shopping is always theraputic! It just IS, please don't think me shallow:) But not wanting to get carried away spending $$, I decided to get tharapy through creativity (a close second to shopping!). Beautifying something around the house always makes me feel better. So I chose a few little projects:


This little lamp was made by my dad when he was in woodshop in high school. I'd had it in a box somewhere, but recently ran across it and decided to spruce it up. The base is only about 6" tall and it has a large light bulb socket which makes it difficult to find the right size shade, but I decided to give it a try. First, I polished up the wood with some Old English. Next, I found a cute little shade at Hobby Lobby (with my 40% off coupon). I thought I'd be finished there, but I just wasn't satisfied with the base/shade because the socket was showing annoyingly beneath the shade. So, I went back to Hobby Lobby and found some pretty trim with tassels, brought it home and glued it on and--a nicely camoflauged socket! Yea!! On to project #2:


This pretty faux-aged pot was one that I had saved from a gorgeous fresh flower arrangement my husband had given me a few years ago. The pot was too nice to just throw away, so I've been hanging onto it. All it took was some floral foam, one (50% off) silk fern pick, and some dried moss and now I have a lovely plant for the center of my *new* antique table.....Now for project #3:

This is a chalkboard that I've had since I was about 4 years old. When I first got it, it was on a stand and you could chalk on both sides. One side has this adorable alphabet around it and the other side was plain green. I played with it a lot and then my sister played with it. It's been in storage for years. I'd gotten it out of my parents' storage when we started having kiddos, thinking it would be something fun for them. So, I got to thinking the other day about it and came up with a plan. I couldn't bear to paint the alphabet side, but I decided that we (my husband) should paint the other side with black chalkboard paint (spray paint is not my friend). It turned out so cute, and I spiffed up the old wooden frame with some more Old English and we hung it in our family room.

So, it's been a good week for little fix-ups around the house and it's been very theraputic for me! Between God's grace and being *crafty*, I know I'm gonna make it!

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