As we're waving goodbye to 2020 and walking in to the new year, I hope you will be able to look back and find the blessings amidst the pandemic and turmoil of this past year and to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we move toward the joys and challenges of the year ahead!
Happy New Year Y'all!
On a very rare outing a couple of months ago, we stopped at Half Price Books to sell back a couple of boxes of books. The store policy is that we have to remain in the store while we wait for the buy offer on our books, so we wandered around social distancing and discovered these gorgeous book pages sculptures.
Since we both found it pretty uncomfortable wearing masks and wandering the store trying to social distance from other shoppers, it'll be a good long while before we return to sell back additional books. Who knows, maybe we'll get inspired and just take them apart and create something instead!
As I look back over my books read list for this year, it's apparent that this was not the year for lots of nonfiction reading. Of the 89 books I've read (so far), only 25 are nonfiction, with 21 of those being read during the first half of the year. As the pandemic continued and civil unrest and election news seemed to take over everything, I gravitated toward good fiction.
Here's a quick review of the four nonfiction books I've read since the beginning of July.
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World had been on my to-read shelf since early 2019. I have mixed feelings about this book - I agree with the premise that we need to empower women as one way to make changes in our world and found the stories interesting. On the other hand, it was somewhat depressing reading the stories of abuse and poverty around the world and I often couldn't relate to the author, Melinda Gates (wife of Microsoft's Bill Gates). Since my thoughts were somewhat divided on this book, I added it to our personal library until I decide if I want to revisit it in a year that's not already filled with so much hard news.
Next, I was asked by TCK Publishing if I'd like to review one of their recent books, so I chose The Art of Writing by Peter Yang (which I received free in exchange for an honest review). I chose this book because I thought it would be good inspiration and a reminder to be continually conscientious about improving my writing here on the blog and in my newsletters, etc. The contents list the "four principles for great writing that everyone needs to know" as economy, transparency, variety, and harmony. So, I was excited to dive in; however, I found this book to be lacking and really cannot recommend it. The author didn't really follow his own guidelines, the examples were sometimes distracting, and some paragraphs were so disjointed or superfluous that I had no idea what he was trying to say. I'm glad it was a thin book, otherwise I would have simply put it in the donate pile without finishing it.
(On the other hand, this blog post from TCK Publishing is a great read looking at why stories are important to our lives and culture.)
These last two books from our personal library are ones I've just read as part of enjoying the Christmas season.
Windows on Christmas is a small but lovely volume that shares a look at Christmas from various perspectives or "windows" beginning with Mary & Joseph and including the angels, the shepherds, Anna and Simeon. Christmas Stories for the Heart is another small volume that is filled with lovely stories of Christmastime, some of them I've heard or read other places (or at least some version of) while others I did not remember as it's been quite a few years since I read this book that we received as a wedding gift (almost) 19 years ago.
How about you? Did you gravitate toward fiction books this year or take the opportunity to include more nonfiction or (as some have said) simply quit reading and binge watch Netflix?
The evergreen trees that we decorate at Christmas time are a symbol of hope. In nature, the evergreen tree gives hope that spring is coming as it perseveres through the hardship of winter weather. It remains unchanged through the seasons and gives hope that there will be a freshness and newness when spring arrives.
Similarly, when we look at our Christmas trees, we can remember the hope of new life in Christ. Before that first Christmas, the people were hoping and waiting for the Savior. The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of their hope!
Notice how the tree points toward heaven and has a triangular shape reminding us of the 3 persons of our Lord - God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We often put a star on top, which serves as a reminder to follow the star that leads to Christ. All those twinkly lights remind us that Jesus is the true light in a world of darkness.
Our beautiful Christmas trees can remind us to place our hope in the Lord and in His Word.
When you look at your Christmas tree, what do you see?
I didn't record a new (or remembered) lesson every day of September this year; however, I did make note of twelve lessons and created a digital layout to document them for our 2020 chronological scrapbook. This year Shimelle included several links in her daily Learn Something New Every Day emails, so some of my lessons came from there while others presented themselves as we went about our everyday life.
1. Even on days I feel tired and blah, I can be productive if I pace myself. I completed a small scrapbook-for-hire project despite feeling listless on a dreary gray day.
2. Having a plan in place keeps things on track when obstacles (like rainy weather) arise. When we began our morning walks, we agreed that if the weather was too bad or either of us had a very early morning call/appointment, we would each exercise at home during the day to get "credit" for that day's exercise.
3. Andragogy is “the method and practice of teaching adult learners.” Pedagogy is “the art and science and profession of teaching.”
Pedagogy is associated more with teaching kids and is dependent on the teacher,
and andragogy is more self-directed. Despite having taken several pedagogy classes and continuing education workshops for my teaching certification, I don't remember ever hearing the word andragogy before.
4. The first and youngest woman to have flown in space is
Valentina Tereshkova. In June 1963, she flew a solo mission on the Russian
Vostok 6. She is also the only woman to have flown on a solo space mission.
5. God can heal any relationship and reconciliation can lead
to better relationships.
6. We must contend earnestly for the faith.
7. I can add a custom color swatch to the colors palette in
PSE. This little technique was shared by Cathy Zielske in one of the bonus videos in the Design Your Life 2.0 class.
8. A Rube Goldberg machine refers to a complicated gadget
designed to perform simple tasks in convoluted ways. It’s named after the
cartoonist Reuben Goldberg who drew popular cartoons with these types of
machines.
9. Seinfeld’s “Don’t Break the Chain” system of productivity
works. We're adding heart stickers to our monthly calendar to track our daily walks/exercise.
10. The Bungee Chair is now available in red with the flat
straps!
11. Giant chocolate chip cookies baked in mini cast iron
skillets are called pizookies (a combination of pizza + cookies). I've enjoyed these yummy desserts before, but I don't remember hearing this name until my friend LeAnne mentioned them while we were scrapbooking together via Zoom.
12. The Tiber River runs through Rome. I can usually remember that the Thames runs through London and the Seine runs through Paris because I've visited both of those cities. However, I'm often stumped when a crossword asks for a river running through other cities (which happens pretty often), so this fact caught my attention while I was attending a virtual tour of Rome hosted by our financial advisor.
This 12x12 digital layout (along with our month in numbers) completes the month of September in our 2020 album!
Did you participate in LSNED this year? What lessons did you learn?
There’s no doubt about it - this has been a tough year all around the world.
As we look forward to the holidays and anticipate the celebration of our Lord’s birth, how is your hope?
I’m excited to announce that my very first VIRTUAL Bible Journaling Class will be focusing on hope and how our Christmas trees can be a reminder of the hope we have in Christ.
Join me in December as we discuss Biblical hope, persevering through the tough times, and recognizing the blessings along the way. We’ll also look at why Christmas trees are a symbol of hope as we learn several techniques for illustrating these evergreen trees in the margins of our Bibles.
Hope & Christmas
Trees
December 4 or 5, 2020
(Friday or Saturday)
10am - noon
Virtual Class presented
via Zoom.
$15
Your class fee includes Biblical teaching, illustrated Bible journaling technique demonstrations, and a printable notes and tips handout.
Please note:
*This class will be presented live via Zoom.
There will not be a replay available.
*Your spot is reserved once payment is
received. Within 48 hours of payment, you will receive a confirmation email. The link to the Zoom classroom and the notes
handout will be sent separately as we get closer to the class date.
*There is not a supply kit for this
event. However, I will be sending a list of items you may want to have on hand
during the class. You’ll definitely want to have your Bible and a pen on hand.
Otherwise, I encourage you to use what you have available as you illustrate
what the Lord is showing you through His Word.
*If you are registered
and unable to attend, please let me know before November 23 for a full
refund. Sorry, cancellations after November 22 are nonrefundable.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Click the appropriate link below to reserve your spot today!
Click here to sign up for the FRIDAY class!
Click here to sign up for the SATURDAY class!
I would love for you to join me as we dive into the Word and use our creativity to draw closer to the Lord during the most wonderful time of the year!
If you've been following along here this year, you'll know that I've enjoyed using page kits for a variety of layouts this year.
One of the kits I had on hand (from last year's Scrapbook Expo) is from Quick Quotes and can be used to create four 12x12 pages.
So far, I've only used one of the pages to showcase photos from a weekend getaway in 2013. I had to punch out the frames in the large teal paper to create space for my photos and memorabilia, then piece the center embellishment together.
Although scrapbooking is my primary paper crafting hobby, I enjoy mixing things up with other crafting as well.
I created this little card that reminds us to Bee Happy using a card kit from our local scrapbook store.
These mini canvases that I painted in the heat of August reminded me that fall was on the way!
When my niece was here this summer, she brought a yummy recipe that we tried and then scrapped for our 6x6 recipe albums.
I also altered a couple of clipboards my sister requested earlier in the year. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the one on the left is a mini-clipboard and the one on the right is letter size.
What miscellaneous crafting have you done lately?
Over the past few months, I've enjoyed creating collage style art journaling pages. These FUN quick pages are perfect for enjoying some creative therapy!
This first image is in one of my art journals and was a great way to use up some miscellaneous letter stickers!
I created these next three collages in my sister's planner when my family evacuated here ahead of Hurricane Laura.
These final collages are two-page spreads in my 2020 planner.
Do you create collages? Do you find them therapeutic?
When I was a teenager, we had a family of black cats as pets, which meant that my yellow bedspread was always covered with lots of little black hairs.
When Mama asked what I wanted for Christmas one year, I said, "I want a cat that doesn't shed!"
That year, under the tree, I found a two-tone brown cat cross stitched onto a pillow.
I still have that pillow and always smile at the way Mama gave me my wish all those years ago!
The layout design for this page was inspired by Lesson One in the free scrapbook.com Timeless Techniques with Shimelle class.
