To Honor and Trust ~ A Book Review

A young governess named Callie Deboyer spends the summer with her employers on Bridal Veil Island.  A quiet girl on a quiet island completely unsuspecting how much her life will be changed by the time summer is over.  

It's a very sweet story with just a touch of suspense.  I thought it portrayed an excellent example of letting God lead in life, and how when we wait on Him to reveal His will we often end up going in a direction we didn't even think was possible.  

Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller seem to be a good team when it comes to writing a pleasant story with a good,
solid moral base.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bethany House Publishers has a program where people can sign up to receive books free in exchange for a book review shared on a blog.  To sign up for this program you can go to:  www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers  

Touching The Sky ~ A Book Review

It's time for my second book review!  Touching the Sky is the second book in the Land of the Lone Star series.  Tracie Peterson did an even better job with this book in my opinion than the first one.  

The story is about a sensible young woman named Laura Marquardt, and takes place at the end of the Civil War.  Tensions are high in the state of Texas at this time as everybody adjusts to the news that the North won.

Laura and her sister wonder what is ahead for them, but they approach their futures in very different ways.  Carissa Marquardt is naive and rushes into a marriage which Laura repeatedly warns her against.  When trouble starts to brew between Confederate supporters and Union soldiers, Laura begins to fear for her sister's safety.  

This book is another great mixture of suspense and love story, but it also gives a great example of faith and trusting God.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bethany House Publishers has a program where people can sign up to receive books free in exchange for a book review shared on a blog.  To sign up for this program you can go to:  www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers 

Chasing the Sun ~ A Book Review

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I will be writing occasional book reviews.  My first review is on a book from the Christian historical fiction genre entitled "Chasing the Sun" by Tracie Peterson. 


The setting is Texas during the Civil War.  Hannah Dandridge is a young woman from Louisiana who moved to Texas with her father and two young siblings after the death of her step-mother.  She finds herself left with the task of raising her siblings and running a ranch when her father disappears while journeying back to Louisiana to check on family members who got caught in one of the many battles of the war.  While he's missing, the son of the original owners of the ranch arrives to take back what once belonged to his family.  We follow Hannah as she copes with not only the unknown of how to provide a home for her siblings, but also as she deals with the dangers of the war and Indian uprisings. 


My belief is that a novel should be used as a tool to show an example of some sort of life principle, and, in my opinion, "Chasing the Sun" does just that.  I was impressed by the lessons in faith, kindness, and forgiveness that were demonstrated.  The author did a good job of mixing a little bit of suspense in with a light amount of romance while also helping us explore what it was like to be alive in that time of history.  I would recommend this to anyone looking for a light read that includes good morals and a bit of interest. 


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Bethany House Publishers has a program where people can sign up to receive books free in exchange for a book review shared on a blog.  To sign up for this program you can go to:  www.bethanyhouse.com/bookreviewers    

I'm Still Here!

I'm way behind in posting my projects from the past few months.  Mostly because they were gifts for other people and by the time I could post pictures without spoiling the surprise, I forgot about them...

Anyway, I have a bunch of things to show you, but I also have a new purpose for this blog that I'm really excited about!  I'm going to occasionally be posting book reviews.  I signed up with Bethany House Publishers to review books they send me to read.  Considering how much I love to read, I'm really happy with this setup.  I'm in the process of reading the first book they've sent me!

For now, though, I'll go ahead and post pictures of what I've been doing since the last time I posted on here. :) Enjoy and thanks for taking a look! 

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Some of my Christmas projects included the following:

 These two (above and right) are Christmas cards I drew and colored in with colored pencil.  It was a challenge for me because I haven't really done much drawing like that before.  I really enjoyed it though. 

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The next 6 pictures are Christmas cards I painted with acrylic paints.

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For my mom I painted this for Christmas. My plan was for it to go in her dining room.  So I tried to replicate the fabrics she used in her quilted Roman shades she made.  I'm working on a second painting to go with this one so that she has one on each side of her window. :)

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For Christmas I was given a glass etching kit.  I haven't done a whole lot with it yet, but I have done a couple things...

This box is a collaboration I did with my sister-in-law for a silent auction fundraiser. I did the the glass etching and she did the painting. :)

I etched this mirror for my husband's grandmother for her birthday.  My mother-in-law bought candles that sit on the mirror and look quite pretty. :)

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A friend of mine asked me to paint this plaque as a wedding gift for a friend of hers.  It was definitely a challenge, but I really enjoyed it.  I'm very happy with how it turned out. I also played with the progress photos and made them into a collage. 

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That is all I have for now.  I hope to have more things to post soon! 

Long Time No See

Already it is almost September.  Don't ask me where this year has gone, because I have no idea.  The summer has flown by and now it's nearly over.  Life has been crazy, but God is good!  He's guiding us through all the turmoil and obstacles we keep running into.  

I'm way behind in posting projects, but here is one that I did earlier this year.  I painted this little box for a friend.  It was my first time playing with shading and highlighting with acrylic paint, and let me tell you, I had FUN!

I also painted this little birdhouse for my husband's grandmother.  I loved the colors of it. :)

For Christmas last year I bought Ben a Celtic drum.  He then asked me to paint a design on it.  This is what I have so far on it.  I still need to paint the sides of it, but it has been put on hold for now.

Since my painting projects have been put on hold for now, I've been working on a quilt I started at least a year ago and recently discovered in my fabric closet.  It's a rather tedious pattern, but I think it will be worth it when it is finished. :)

Catching up

So far, this year has been really fun and really crazy.  We spent February out west visiting family.  Then for the month of March we had my sister visiting.  It was all really fun and I'm so glad it all worked out.  While we were at my parents I did some painting on the walls of two of the rooms in their house.  That was really fun, but a little nerve racking.  I mean, to have my parents ASK me to paint on their walls was a totally new experience for me. lol  Below are some pictures of how the paintings turned out.

The dining room paintings:

The pantry/laundry room painting:

It was such a blessing to be able to make the trip out West and I'm very thankful it worked out.  Now we are back home and I have more projects underway.  It's good to be home. :)

The Holiday Projects

Happy New Year!


It's now 2011 and I have to remember to write the correct year on things.  Just got used to writing 2010 in time for it to change again. ;)  It does seem like last year flew passed me before I could even blink, but it was a good year. :)


This has been a very busy time for us, but things seem to be slowing down some now.  For that I am thankful. I like having things to do, but being swamped with time limits and lots of places to go does get to me after awhile.


The holidays have finally passed and I can now post pictures of all my most recent projects.  I've been really busy and I have a lot of pictures to post. :)  It's been hard to keep from posting some of these because I'm so happy with how they turned out, but I couldn't post them until they were given to the people they were made for.  hahaha So I was twitching a little. ;)

I started this painting for my sister in late July and didn't finish it until just before Thanksgiving.  It was a true stretch of my abilities.  I really didn't know what I was doing, but I'm happy with the way it turned out and so is she.  That's what mattered the most, that she liked it.

Ben made this for my dad.  I'm so proud of him and his leather working.  He loves making this kind of stuff.

The following paintings I did for my mom.  I wanted them to look like appliqued quilt blocks.  I had a lot of fun with these playing with the different background techniques.  The brown was the most fun as I used seran wrap to give it the textured look.

 

This first teddy bear I made for our 3 year old nephew.  I again had a lot of fun with the background.  I had a lot of help with the face and the hat.  The teddy bears are so fun!

I painted this for our newborn nephew.  He was only a month old for his first Christmas, but I know he'll understand better when he gets older. ;)  Plus I wanted to make another teddy bear so he gave me a reason to make one. ;)

This one was for our almost 5 year old niece.  I had a blast making it all girly and sparkly. :D  

For my Great-Grandma I painted this tray.  It was fun to do and the colors all came together better than I thought I'd be able to do.  The stain I'd used at first stained it Cheeto orange and I was NOT happy about it.  But after some scrambling I found another, darker stain that turned it into a nice color.

This tray also started out orange.  So you can imagine my panic as I had all of these wood projects stained a freaky orange color.  Now I like orange, but wood stained that color looks like it came from a contaminated forest, just sayin'.  So anyway, I painted this one for my Grandma.  It was fun because I love the orange flowers.  And the color the other flowers turned out is really pretty.  I was surprised by it. lol

This is another Ben project.  He made it for my Grandpa.  I think he did a great job with it.  I love how dark the leather is. :)

So that is a glimpse of what has been keeping us occupied.  I have some new projects I'm working on now and I'm hoping to learn some new stuff with them.  


I've also recently been introduced to the world of colored pencils and I've come to realize that I love to color stuff. ;)  So I have my Cinderella and Tangled coloring books that I love to sit and play with.  My sister-in-law is teaching me how to shade things (amongst all the other things she has taught me with my art stuff) and it is so fun!  Thanks to her I have found a side of me I didn't even know existed! lol