DJ's Sundries

As I continue my chronological journey through the Bible, I am currently reading 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles.  Tonight that meant reading about King Rehoboam and several other kings who reigned in Judah and Israel. Rehoboam was Solomon's son.  During his reign, the house of Israel was divided into 2 kingdoms as God had told Solomon they would be.  Rehoboam was NOT a good man.  As we look at his reign, we see: He chose the wrong advisers, forsaking wise ones. High places were built and false gods worshipped. "Perverted" people dwelt in the land. He had 18 wives and 60 concubines. As a result, Judah lost much of its wealth to Shishak, king of Egypt. Despite all the things mentioned, a particular verse struck me: "And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the LORD." II Chronicles 12:14 Wow! Despite all the things Rehoboam did wrong, that is one thing that God describes in His Word as Rehoboam's evil - he did not prepare his heart to seek...

Do you have shopping bags sitting around?  You know, the kind you get from retailers in the mall.  They are too sturdy to throw away, but you don't want to use them as a gift with your favorite store written across the front.  No worries, with just a little creativity (and maybe a Cricut), you can re-purpose those bags into your very own original gift bag.  I once saw one on YouTube and I decided I finally had something I could do with those bags that I have stacked up.  It's also a great way to turn a plain, inexpensive gift bag into something special. As I mentioned in my last post, I attended a baby shower for a co-worker tonight.  She is expecting a baby girl and I had a bag I had been saving for just such an event.  I was so excited to use it!

Today has been a very productive day.  All of the laundry is done (and most is folded and put away).  The kitchen is cleaner and a crockpot full of spaghetti sauce was made with the leftovers frozen.  We also sent out a mailing for the mission. Tonight I attended a baby shower for a co-worker.  She is expecting a little girl and I found a beautiful little dress for her, but I wanted to add a little handmade item with it.  It was time to pull out the "Mommy Quote" book again.  I ended up making 3 books by the time I was finished.  I will not go into the details on it as that was done in an earlier post ( Mommy Quotes ).  However, I wanted to let you know about some changes I made from the last post.

The Front The Back This is just a quick jot to show the journal my 12 year old made.  In a few weeks, he will be headed to camp and he needs to take a notebook with him.  Since he was a little low on cash, I told him I had an extra composition book he could have.  After church today, he went online and found seals for each military branch.  When I found out what he was doing, I told him I had a couple of books of military papers from Hot Off the Press he could use.  I also told him I had some alphabet stickers in my stash he was welcome to use.  This is the finished product. He then found a patriotic poem and typed it to place on the back and the lyrics from a patriotic song went on the front.  He plans to have members of the military sign the cover as he comes into contact with them. Good job son!

We are now going to talk about the inside of the journal.  If you missed the earlier explanation and would like to catch up on what I'm talking about, just click here: Journal Cover

A few weeks ago, my cousin ( Scrappyhour09 ), posted a haul video and mentioned a new product called a "Smash Book" ( Smash Book by K & Company ).  I had never heard of this, so I did some research.  It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted one!  A Smash Book is basically a journal to jot down notes and to keep mementos.  There are so many things you can do with one.  I even thought I would want more than one, each for different uses.  Unfortunately, they were difficult to come by at that time and many of those carrying them were back-ordered until June 20. Enter Yoliebean :  I had been daily checking the only retailer in my state to carry the Smash Books and they still hadn't received their shipment when I saw this video on making a journal (click on the link "Yoliebean" to see her Junk Journal).  I had seen other books/journals, but was still holding out until I could purchase my Smash Book.  Once I saw this one, I decided the w...

These are some of the simple portrait cards I made for graduation this year.  I had originally planned to use the graduate from "Everyday Paper Dolls" (cut at 3.5").  After they were cut and the first card assembled, I realized that they were a little juvenile for the high school graduates.  I did use one of them for a middle school graduation, but didn't get it photographed.  Each card was a little different and I used each graduate's "colors" for the base.  Here is the summary of the cards:

I am so excited that Joann's has opened in my town!  The first weekend they were opened, they had their Cricut cartridges on sale.  "Kate's ABC's" was on my wish list and they had it!  I made this card using it and "Just Because Cards".  I made this card for a college graduate.  I believe the concept of the butterfly correlates to this new graduate who is being changed by God to be what He wants her to be.  I chose pink because it is the graduate's favorite color.

Mary from CardzTV made a fabulous Twisted Easel card.  In fact, I liked her's so much, I went to Joann's and bought a pad of black and white paper so I could make one.  For information on how to make a Twisted Easel card, check out this Link: Twisted Easel Card .  Thanks so much for sharing Mary!