Once upon a time I was crafty.

This parenthetical season of life was pretty well limited to my years as a student wife at Clear Creek Bible College. I was cloistered in a Utopian bubble with many other women whose husbands were also called to ministry. To say I was intimidated by their multi-talentedness would be an epic understatement. In order to fit in, I tried my hand at sewing and also with other various projects involving glue guns and a plethora of Delta Ceramcoat paints. I was a little surprised to find I actually enjoyed making things for my home. I think one of my first masterpieces was a clay pot pilgrim and his wife.

Classy.


The more kids I birthed the less time I had to indulge any urge to create a table centerpiece with glued-on straw for hair. The sewing machine has been under my bed for four years and the glue gun is in the back of my closet in a Rubbermaid container underneath another that contains our old income tax records. They may have remained there forever were it not for a six-year old girl who got a new comforter for Christmas.

Yes, she asked Santa for a room makeover. Thankfully, Santa shops at Target so she was able to choose this bedding all by her self. She decided to leave behind the pink and purple of her childhood and graduate to a mature green, brown, and yellow palette. {It's actually a darling comforter. This picture doesn't show the reverse print which is actually the cutest part and the one we display.}

My precious girl has been waiting patiently since December for her mother to get the energy to repaint her room. This past week, I finally got sick to death of looking at all the pink and purple wall hangings clashing with the brown, green, and yellow. I had self-determined to take a couple days off from studying/writing and decided it was now or never to finish her room. SO, I used my days off to remove every fairy-themed thing from her room and paint her walls a beautiful shade of pale yellow all while watching the best movie I've seen in a great long while: Australia. {Y'all just have to see it. Nicole Kidman's perfomance was perfection. Brooke and I both agree we would now like to be referred to as "Mrs. Boss" by our children. And our husbands too for that matter, but then we enter the realm of "biblical appropriateness" and so it seems best to limit our desire for dominance to our children who have no say in the matter.}

{ Go away, rabbit. No time to chase you today!}

Problem is, this left her walls completely bare which required my asking what she might like to replace all the things we'd taken down. Her reply? "I want my name in letters on the wall like (her bff) Alayna's. And I want you to paint swirlies all over them like my comforter and hang them with ribbons."

*Gulp* Last time I checked that required the Delta paints and glue gun.

So as not to be a major failure in my girl's eyes and also to capitalize on the impulsiveness that started me on the project to begin with, I made a trip to Chattanooga with Michael's and Hobby Lobby coupons in hand. I should preface what I am saying next by reminding you I've not been in a craft store in years. With that in mind, my route took me by Michael's first. I only have one thing to say about that.

Michael's, I know you try, but the truth is...well, you are inferior.

I left quickly after not finding what I had in mind and headed over to Hobby Lobby.

Y'all. My breath. I still can't catch my breath.

I'm pretty sure there were angels singing the hallelujah chorus when I hit the front door and tried to take in what I was seeing before me. Aisles and aisles of brightly lit craft supplies awakened every ADHD/OCD tendency lying dormant in my overwhelmed body. There were adorable Easter chatzky's to my left, color-coordinated home accessories immediately before me, and rows and rows of flowers to my right. I literally had to chant to myself, "Lisa, one thing at a time. Concentrate. You are here for letters and paint. That is all. Complete the letters and I will allow you to return but ONLY when you actually complete the letters. Letters, Lisa. That is it."

And it was SO hard but I stuck to my plan and only got what was necessary to do the one project. God was obviously present with me because my letters? I found them on sale for 1/2 price! They were only $1.50 a stinkin' piece! Now if that isn't some divine favor I have no idea what qualifies.

So now, we've painted the letters with three coats of brown paint but I think they need one more to be perfect. I'm going to finish working on those tomorrow and hopefully have a completed project to show you soon. Do you notice I use the word 'complete' a lot? That's not accidental. I have this issue with starting with a bang and finishing with a whimper, if at all. So, y'all pray I'll keep striking while the iron is hot and we'll have a lovely new room to show for it when I'm done.

Now that the redecorating bug has bitten, I'm thinkin' I need to hit the bathroom next.

And that doesn't sound nice at all. I'm totally hoping y'all get what I mean. I really have no idea how to recover from that one so I'll bid you a happy Sunday night!

p.s. Post soon to follow with beautiful pictures of my son's baptism today. I'm still overwhelmed by our service this morning. I'll tell you all about it and the mad skillz of the girl who took the pics when I get them up. :))