Tackle It on Tuesday: Photo Wall

This past week, I have still been working on my craft room, collecting up items for our upcoming yard sale, and moving things around in the craft room to make more room to actually get craft projects finished. Phew! Maybe after the yard sale is over, I can share another photo of what the room looks like, but right now, there are still many boxes filled with items for the yard sale.

One project I did finish last week was updating my photo wall. Here is the before picture:

before photo of photo wall

I have been wanting to rearrange the photos on this wall for some time now, but finding those prints last week was just the thing I needed to drive me to work on this project.

templates for photos

First thing I did was to mat and frame the new prints. Then I took down the photos I wanted to rearrange. After that, I cut out paper the size of each photo that would be going back up on the wall and jotted a quick note on the paper so I knew which photo would be going where.

photo templates up on the wall

Then with my daughter's help, we arranged the papers up on the wall to get an idea of what the wall would look like with the photos in those spots. Once we had an arrangement we both liked, it was time to put the photos back up on the wall.

finished photo wall

Ta da! Now I can enjoy all these memories as I walk by this wall every day!

So what project will I be tackling this week?

new knitting project

My husband and I were up in the foothills this week, and they just happen to have a wonderful yarn shop there. I couldn't resist purchasing some yarn for a new project.

little bit of knitting progress

The yarn is nice and chunky, so I have made a bit of progress, even with knitting only a few rows. We will see how far I get by next week!

What project will you be working on this week?

Our Homeschool Plan

We are nearing the end of August, and most of the kids in our area have already started back to school. Some even started at the beginning of this month! Yikes!

We have been homeschooling since 1999, and because we file our own private school affidavit, we schedule our own school schedule, which works really well for us. This means we won't be starting school until September. And since I only have one student at home now, and she is doing high school work, she is doing most of her work independently.

homeschool books

As you can see, we have quite a full year planned! Here is the list of what she will be studying:

We plan to break up some of our studies with making scones and enjoying lots of British TV over the upcoming school year. Seems appropriate doesn't it? We can even count some of the scone making lessons as Home Ec!

What are your plans for your upcoming school year?

Tackle It on Tuesday: The Craft Room

I have a love/hate relationship with my craft room. What a blessing it is to have the space in our home to have a room dedicated to be filled with many craft supplies, tools, and books to complete the many craft projects that I love to work on.

craft room reorganization

But unfortunately, I am a Queen of Unfinished Projects! Which leads to piles of projects all over this room, well, because there is room in there to pile them up! Since our trip to Mexico in JanuaryI have really been thinking about how much unused stuff we have in our home.

piles of unused cookbooks

I love to cook and bake, but when I have two shelves of cookbooks in my home that I haven't used in years, should I keep them?

tub of unused sewing patterns

And as much as I love to sew, do I really need to buy all those patterns just because they were a dollar each? I mean really, how many jumper patterns for little girls does one mom need?

photos of my children

In all of my decluttering tasks, I found these treasures that were printed at least two years ago. Rather than enjoying these photos of my children up on my wall, these have been hiding in one of many piles in my craft room. Really sad, isn't it...

Now don't get me wrong, I do really love my craft room. Knowing that I can go in there and find craft paint, felt, scrap fabric, and many other craft supplies keeps me out of the store spending money that I shouldn't be spending. But when I look at the piles of projects that have not been finished, or some even started, it makes me uncomfortable. As my daughter would say, that money could have been spent on a Compassion child

Thankfully, most of the items I have been clearing out of my craft room are still in really good condition, and I am hoping to sell a lot of stuff at an upcoming yard sale with the money to be used toward my upcoming trip with Compassion to Colombia

So what am I going to tackle this upcoming week? Getting those precious photos matted, framed, and hung up on the wall, so I can enjoy the blessings that God has given me here.

What will you be tackling this week?

August Compassion Share & Tell

After writing the Letter Writing Inspiration post for the Compassion blog last week, I knew I wanted to write some encouraging words to my Compassion kids this month, but at first, I wasn't really sure what to write. Then I remembered, I had seen some encouraging quotes in my Twitter feed from the Global Leadership Summit over the last couple of days. Godly leaders encouraging with powerful words. Just the words my Compassion kids need to hear. Here is my letter to Felix:

Hola Felix!

"Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." - Psalm 62:2

Today, I want to encourage you to trust in God in all things. Sometimes, there are things that happen in our lives that may cause us to doubt God's love for us. But I want to remind you  that He loves you so much, and He has great plans for your life.

There is a big conference going on in our country right now, and a lot of godly leaders are sharing powerful words. Here are a few to encourage you:

"God made you on purpose for a purpose." - Bill Hybels

"Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles." - Wilfredo De Jesus

"If God has called you to do it, He will qualify you for it." - Jim Mellado

I pray you continue to grow in your relationship with Jesus, study hard at school, and know that I am praying for you each and every day"

Love always, Yvonne

August Compassion Share & Tell

With my letter to Felix, he is also receiving a birthday card! His birthday is in November and he will be turning 7 years old. At our local Walgreen's I was able to find a birthday card in Spanish for him!

Psalm 62:2 scripture photo

Another thing I am mailing with all of my letters this month is the photo with the scripture pictured above. The photo is from a recent day trip to one of the lakes in our area. I took the photo with my iPhone, so I imported it into one of my photo editing apps and added the scripture. Then I uploaded the photos to our local Walgreen's and had them printed for each of the kids. The photos are 8" by 8", so they were a little more expensive than just a 4" by 6" print. But I love the way they turned out and hope the kids are encouraged by the verse.

Would you like to share this photo with your sponsored children? I have uploaded the photo to my Google Docs, and I am giving my blog readers the opportunity to download this photo and share it with their own sponsored children! Click on this link to access the photo.

Be sure to take some time this month to write to your Compassion sponsored children. They love receiving letters from their sponsors!