This post contains affiliate links.

I’m so excited to tell you about an incredible resource for bloggers that I am privileged to be a part of.  iBlog is a brand new ebook containing almost 400 pages of blogging strategy and wisdom from 30 top bloggers. (They were gracious and let me contribute!)  Consider iBlog an owner’s manual for blogging. 

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• choosing your blogging niche
• designing your blog
• choosing the right pictures for your blog
• balancing life and blogging
• creating a media kit
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Think of iBlog as having a team of successful bloggers walking you step by step through your blogging journey. This is an incredible resource.

I’m shocked to tell you that the iBlog ebook download is available for only $7.99!! Isn’t that crazy?!

You can learn more and buy your copy through my affiliate links or you can win a copy!!! (If you win after you have already purchased the book, your money will be refunded!) 

Head over to my other blog The Homeschool Scientist and enter to win. Hurry! This contest is over midnight May 2, 2013.

I love decorating for the seasons and holidays, but those Easter pastels just don’t go with my foxfire brown walls. Clash! I’ve looked everywhere to try and find something Easter-y, that I like, and that’s not pastel or just off-white. No luck.

Then, I remembered my success with the Thanksgiving Subway Art Printable I made. That’s it!

I managed to create this Easter subway art printable with colors that are bright and spring-like, but not pastel. These colors go much better with my decor!

Feel free and print one off for yourself!

We’ve been feeling crafty around here lately. (See the Tin Can Map Craft  and the DIY Shaded Glass Lantern) Since we are in the crafting groove and Easter is just a few weeks away, we are breaking out the Resurrection Garden project again. The kids had a great time doing this last year and we are all looking forward to making it again.

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Our kids love creative projects, so I am always on the look-out for something new for them. I have been looking specifically for an Easter craft project for the past couple weeks – one that is not so much bunnies and eggs and more Christ and his resurrection. When I saw THIS at We Are That Family, I knew it was the perfect project for us!  Here is our version.

Place a small terra cotta pot on its side on a larger terra cotta saucer. Cover the small pot and half the saucer with potting soil.

Fill the empty half of the saucer with stones.

Glue sticks together to form 3 crosses and place them in the soil. Find a larger stone to partially cover the small pot. Sprinkle grass seed over the potting soil. (We got grass seed from a kind neighbor who only had seed with fertilizer, hence the green stuff on the soil.) Spray the grass seed gently with water over the next few days and the grass with start to sprout.

Now, the “Resurrection Garden” is complete. Three crosses on the Hill of Golgotha. The stone rolled away from the empty tomb. The sprouts of grass – new life.

Happy Easter!

Create your own DIY glass candleholders using dollar store glass cylinders, tissue paper and modge podge.

This one was created by cutting the tissue paper with a large circle hole punch.

This candleholder was created by cutting strips of tissue paper in various colors.

 To create your own DIY glass candleholder:

• Apply a thin layer of modge podge over the area of the glass you are going to be working on in the next few seconds. Arrange the circles whatever pattern you want on the modge podge covered glass.
• When you are finished applying the tissue paper, let it dry. This should only take 2o minutes or so, if that.
• When dry, apply a final layer of modge podge to the entire project.
• Since modge podge is water soluble. You might want to cover with a thin layer of varnish to make it waterproof.
• Add a traditional or flameless candle (We are loving the flameless version. No worry about fire and no mess!)

Tips:

• The secret to cutting the paper and not tearing it is to stack the tissue paper 6-8 layers deep and cutting many at a time.
  
• Use thin layers of modge podge. This will help keep the tissue paper from getting wrinkled. However, you might want a more textured look. Then, by all means, play around with more modge podge.
• Play with different layers of tissue papers for varying effects when the candle light shines through.

This printable homeschool agenda is very simple. I didn’t want them to be distracted by images or designs. Each morning, the kids each get their own agenda for the day.  I include the homeschooling we will all do together, what their individual assignments are and their chores.

Now, they can keep track of where we are in our day. They love to check things off the list as much as I do!

Feel free to print it out and use it, too! 

My son and I had fun at a local art studio who opens up two afternoons a week to kids called The Art Garage. Today’s project was using tin cans to create art.

My son is interested in maps right now (we are studying the states and using a lot of them). He cut a strip from a map containing Alaska, Canada and a bit of Russia (he’s all about Alaska and the arctic these days) and glued it to a tin can. He added a bit of jute to the top to make it a bit more rustic and manly. The clothes pin is just to hold the jute while it dries. A great craft for a boy. It really shows his personality. He says he’ll use it to store his pencils, pens and scissors since sharing with his sister is not big on his list lately.

This would be a great project for a geography study. Wrap the can in a portion of that state our country’s map and fill it with items representing that part of the world.

Drama.

Life is full of it. It just happens, whether you want it to or not. Drama can cause pain, stress and stretching. It’s not always comfortable. It’s not always easy. But, it’s part of life. I’ve always tried to avoid it, but sometimes I just can’t. I realize that.

What I can avoid is self-inflicted drama. Self-inflicted drama, to me, is when you take the unimportant parts of life way too seriously and try to make them into something larger than they need to be. That is wasting life. That is wasting time that could be spent on the important stuff.

Some people thrive on drama and conflict.  They will try and suck others into their drama or inspire them to create their own. They bring chaos into their home when they should be creating a place of peace and love. What a waste of time and energy!

What about you? Do you thrive on drama? Do you create unnecessary drama in your family? 

Wen Shampoo

This is the ONLY shampoo I will use. It is pricey, but oh so worth it. It’s my shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner. Try it once and you’ll be hooked. It’s like crack for hair. Seriously. I’ve gotten friends addicted and they are good with that!

Bare Escentuals

For years, I wore a skim coat of spackle for make-up. I thought I needed it to cover up freckles and blotchy skin. This was fine unless it was hot or humid or I expected to wear it all day. Now, I have finally realized my skin isn’t that bad and I can get great coverage without all that weight with Bare Escentuals. This is great, natural looking make-up that doesn’t look or feel like make-up.

Coffee

I thoroughly enjoy my morning coffee, and occasionally, my afternoon or after dinner coffee. Recently, I tried the one cup brewer craze and it just wasn’t for me. It’s traditional Mr. Coffee and many cups at a time for this girl. As far as coffee, I like the blends from a couple local coffee shops, Java Jolt and Leaves N Beans. (I think one roasts for the other, but I might be mistaken.) Right now, I’m drinking Sugar Cookie from Java Jolt. Yum!!

Day At The Spa

I only get to do it once a year, twice if I’m lucky, but I LOVE to go to a day spa and get a facial or massage or both..squeal!! My husband gives me a gift certificate either for Christmas or my birthday each year. I love him for it!!! I always leave so relaxed. It’s like another world! Speaking of…I’m about due for a spa visit.

Sparkle

Always go for the sparkle. I am a sucker for jewelry.

Skinny Jeans

No woman likes to go jean shopping – no matter what your body type. I am a slim build, but a blocky slim. My waist is about 2 sizes larger than my hip size. That makes jean shopping fun. Not. And, throw in the low jean craze that is just wrong for moms who have to bend over to pick up kids and all their kids’ stuff all the time….ugh. Enter the skinny jeans. I have actually found a few pairs that fit me! I think mine are actually more “jeggings” because they have some stretch to them. Throw a long sweater on (love sweaters, too) and I am set.

And you…

What are your favorite guilty pleasures?

My husband takes my daughter to the ice rink for figure skating practice at 6 am and I am there to pick her up when she gets off the ice at 8:30 am. Figure skating is her love. We never have to push her to go to the rink. She wants to go. She loves to compete and has high goals set for herself this year. She pushes herself.

This morning, I got to the rink about 8 to watch the end of her practice. That time of the day is usually a slow time on the ice with only a few girls and coaches on the ice, so I can really see her skate. Today, everyone got off the ice at 8 am leaving her alone on the ice. I watched as she practiced new moves that I never remember the names of. (Loops, spirals, edges, some sort of footwork patterns. I’m not a skater! )

After a few minutes, she motioned for me to come to the rink door. “Can I get off the ice now? I only have 15 minutes left. I’ve been on the ice since 6:30. I’ve practiced everything and I’m just don’t feel like going over anything else again.”

A part of me thought, “No problem. She practices a lot. It’s ok to cut practice short a couple minutes. She’s probably tired and hungry.”

Then, the competitor and the coach came out in me. I thought of the goals she had set. I looked her in the eye.

“Champions are made when they don’t feel like it. Anyone can practice when it feels good. Do you want to reach your goals or do you want to skate laps at the public skates on the weekends? It’s up to you. You can get off the ice or you can finish the practice time.”

I felt a little corny, like I had watched too many sports movies. She smiled. I was relieved. She skated the rest of her session and did a great job.

Kids know when the standards are high. They can even set them high for themselves. But, that doesn’t mean they won’t try and settle for less. We all do it. We just need to be reminded of what we are working toward and for.

This morning reminded me that, in our family, we just don’t have high standards in figure skating. We have high standards in most areas of life, but to tell the truth, we might have let things slack a bit in some areas. It takes dedication and perseverance to reach goals and live life above the fray, but it is worth it. Remember that. Don’t settle.

The new year prompts some to make resolutions to do more – lose weight, work-out more, get organized, clean the house… Today, at church, our pastor challenged our entire congregation to do more this year, to make this a year of action. He presented the first step of our action plan this morning – Do Less.

Yep. Do Less. It gets better. He actually said these words next. “Don’t get caught being busy.”

My husband looked at me. Not because of the name of my blog, but because I keep getting caught being busy. It’s an accident. I promise. It just happens. Know what I mean?

Why Do Less To Do More

Sometimes, God says “Go” and “Do”. Sometimes, he says “Be still”. Too often, we are too busy to hear what God is trying to say to us. We get so busy doing what we think God wants us to do, we never actually stop and ask Him what He wants. We get stuck in a busy life of chaos and disorder.

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.–1 Corinthians 14:33

By doing less, we are taking time to be still and listen. We bring the peace back into our lives. We invite God back into our lives.

When God is present- not just present….When God is first in our lives, we can see the rest of our lives more clearly. Our actions are more meaningful, less busy.

How To Do Less

Our church is entering our “do less” period by taking a break from all extra activities except for Sunday and Wednesday services. We are all urged to take a break from whatever makes us busy, spend quality time with our families and spend quality time in prayer.

What are somethings that make us busy that we can take a break from?  For me, it might be social media. It’s a huge busy part of my day. I can cut down to just a few minutes a day or I can fast it for a day or two at a time.

The kids might step away from video games or the computer for a while. Some people might turn off their phones after dinner until morning. Others might give up extra classes or lessons for a time.

Just think what might happen if we cut out the chaos and tried to “be still”. I’m looking forward to some family time and some time listening for what the Lord has to say to me. I’m excited to see what this new year brings!

Who wants to do less with me so we can do more?