Sweeter Than Honey

B.I.B.L.E.

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

You've probably heard that one before.

 I heard a young pastor say the funniest thing about this acronym. He called it the worst explanation of the Bible ever. After all, who likes reading instruction manuals? If you're like me, you might give it a cursory glance, but then you only read the instructions as the last resort.

The Bible is so much more than an instruction manual.

This pastor and author went on to say that the Scriptures are inspired, infallible, inerrant, clear, sufficient, efficacious, but also, most importantly, they are AWESOME!

I love that.

I love God's Word, and I love reading my Bible. But when I try to reduce it to a daily exercise, like taking a vitamin or doing some sit ups, I always lose momentum. Whenever I try to follow a bible reading plan, I get to around week two and start to lose steam. I've read the Bible in a year, and that can be really helpful. But sometimes, I just need to get in the Word and do some binge-reading.

Like, seriously, who could watch only one episode of the Gilmore Girls when the new season got dumped in to Netflix? Not me! I had to watch it all, in one sitting.

Put a plate of homemade cookies in front of me, and expect me to take just one? I don't think so.

This verse from Psalm 19 speaks to this: "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb."

In ancient times, a Jewish father would write these words on slate and drip honey on top. He would give it to his children to "taste and see that the Lord is good." God's Word is sweeter than honey.

Psalm 119:20 says "My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times."

I've been reading my Bible with a renewed longing this month. A cup of coffee, a comfy chair, my Sharpie pen (no bleed through!), and a book. Romans. Corinthians. John. And like my word for 2018, I am finding what I need: truth, spoken in to my heart.

Sweeter than honey.

{Today's Brew: Fly By Friends (MFT), Happy Hedgehogs (MFT), Well Scripted alphabet (MFT), honeycomb stencil, PTI inks, COPIC markers}

Cottage Guest Room Makeover

Yay! I can finally show you the guest room makeover!

Here's what we started with: a really really dark navy room with walls and ceiling and trim in really bad shape.

After a coat of KILZ primer, we got to work painting the room in a nice light reflecting Guildford Green from Benjamin Moore.

And here it is today:

Much better!

I like the green paired with the coral (not pink, boys!) colored buffalo check IKEA duvets.

This nightstand was from my mom. She painted it many years ago, and I just love the finish.

We probably don't need two twin beds in this room, but we have them, so might as well include both in the room. I added this bench as a side table to the other bed. My brother, George, made this bench for me for Christmas almost twenty years ago. So sweet!

I still need to get some new curtain hardware. I think we will install Bali blinds in all of the bedrooms. In the meantime, we can enjoy the pretty view of the woods along the side of the house.

It's nice to have a mirror for guests in this room. I've had this one for a LONG time, and I still love it.

My husband, the perfectionist, had to paint the ceiling and the trim, too. And I have to admit, it makes all the difference in giving the room a clean, finished look.

The walls will probably need some artwork in the future, but for now I can appreciate the clean look of this room.

What room to paint next? The office? The master? The laundry room? Stay tuned!

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

WPlus9 With Pennsylvania Dutch Flair

One of the benefits of cleaning my craft room: just seeing what I have, and falling in love with stamps and dies for the second time.

For example, this stamp set from WPlus9. I bought it from one of the Buy/Sell forums, previously loved, a few months back. But when the stamps were tucked away, I totally forgot I had it.

I knew I had to play with it this weekend.

I recently got this lattice frame die from WPlus9, and I LOVE it! Oooh, the possibilities for lovely spring and garden themed cards!

As I was making this card, I chose a simple color palette of red, yellow, green, and black on white. And then I brought it upstairs, set it on the side table, and thought "Hmm, looks familiar."

I love the simplicity of Pennsylvania Dutch design. This card highlights that simplicity, too.

{Today's Brew: Summer Blooms stamp set (WPlus9), Lattice Die Frame (WPLUS9), stitched banner die (MFT), PTI ink and card stock, white embossing powder}

Blessings on your weekend, cafe friends!

PTI January 2018 Blog Hop

Welcome to the cafe! It looks like a birthday party today! That's because it is blog hop day at Papertrey Ink, and this photo is the inspiration.

I can almost feel the sugar rush from all of that sweetness and frosting!

I chose to pass up the sugar in favor of those sweet balloons and party hats.
 Here's my take:

{Today's Brew: Heart-2-Heart stamps and dies, PTI card stock, PTI Bitty Big papers, gold doily and washi tape, gold twine}

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. This is not a standard A2 size card. I shrunk it down to an A1 size, which measures about 3 1/2 by 4 7/8 by industry standards.

As I was swapping all of my stamp sets to the converted storage pocket system, I discovered that I have a lot of really adorable smaller stamp sets ( the $5 variety) that just don't see enough inky time. I think one of the reasons is that their smaller size sometimes gets swallowed up on a bigger 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 size A2 card. But these smaller images can be absolutely adorable on an A1 card front! Sometimes, smaller is just cuter.

Here's the inside:

I'm loving the new Bitty Big papers from PTI! I ordered a LOT of papers and card stock this month, as I'm heading to a stamp retreat next weekend. Yay! I need a fresh dose of creativity right now.

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

Something Old, Something New For Craft Room Organization

It took most of the weekend, but I finally got all of my stamps and dies converted to Avery Elle pockets. Yay!

I now have them sorted in bins by various companies, and labelled for easy access.

I really needed some dividers to help sort the pockets, but card stock seemed too flimsy. And then I remembered these files that I purchased from the Target dollar spot back in, oh, 2013? I held on to them from craft room to craft room because "I might need those one day." The hoarder's motto! Well, today was that day!

They are made from a nice sturdy material that has a shiny, laminated finish, making them extra durable.

I cut them to size, and used the included label stickers to sort by stamp company.

Over at my craft table, I have been wanting to add some sort of vertical storage to the back wall. I looked online at places like IKEA and the Container Store. And then the frugal side of my brain finally kicked in and said "Use something you've got!"

This vintage hat rack seemed like just the thing I've been looking for! I think my Mom gave me this rack over 25 years ago. Our first house didn't have a fireplace, and this was the place where we hung our Christmas stockings. Good memories!

I hung my metal pails on some of the hooks (Target dollar spot again! Oldie but a goodie!) and it has been a fun addition to my work space.

Now that the craft room is organized, it's time to start creating again!

Blessings, cafe friends!

The Foyer: A New Look For The Front Entrance to the Cottage

Let's go way back, way way back to one year ago, when we first toured the cottage. This is what the foyer looked like then. A really big, clunky light fixture and a dark terra cotta feature wall.

We replaced the light fixture last summer, and got to work fixing the wall.

A little patching and a lot of primer later...

...and here we are! Welcome to the new foyer!

I really love the wall color (Benjamin Moore Guilford Green) when paired with the front door color (Benjamin Moore Waterybury Green).

It feels like spring in the foyer. Light, bright, and cheery.

A happier welcome, for sure.

Guilford Green was a Benjamin Moore color of the year in 2015. It's a nice, versatile green that goes with so many other colors and styles. We used it in our guest bedroom as well. I will show photos of the guest room next week, after we give all the trim and doors a fresh coat of white paint.

I am hoping to get the office room painted next. I've picked Philadelphia Cream, a nice buttery yellow.

 The great room and hallways will be painted in Gentle Cream. That will make a big difference in what can be a darker side of the house.

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

Paint Party at the Cottage!

Let's get this paint party started!

There's a lot of painting that needs to be done here at the cottage. We are starting this week with one of the rooms that needs it the most: the guest room.

This dark little cave used to be a boy's room. See all those patch jobs? That's how the room was left for us when we bought the house. Nice.

If you are going to paint a room this dark, you better be darn certain you have a steady hand when trimming. Of course, we will have to paint the ceiling as well.

A room this dark just cannot be trusted with paint and primer in one, in my opinion. It's always best to put a coat of KILZ on first. Otherwise, the old color will definitely affect the new color.

This is a small bedroom, but it looks so much bigger already.

In an effort to bring light into this cottage, I am going with a soft color palette of creams and yellows and blues and greens.

This room will get painted in Benjamin Moore's Guilford Green this weekend.

And as long as we have paint brushes at the ready, I decided to use the same color in the front foyer wall as well.

And here it is, primed and ready for transformation!

Stop back soon for the Afters!