journal Archives - Spoonful of Imagination

Embroidery Journal #4

March 1, 2015 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Can you believe we are in March? This year is flying. I feel like we just moved to Indiana, but when I look at a calendar it has already been almost four months.

How long can I say we just moved to town?

In a little recap of what this post is all about, embroidering is my way of processing life. I can always tell what I am going through and what my current struggles are by the messages I sew. The time spent sewing these hoops rejuvenates my soul, gives peace, helps me slow down, and find perspective. Welcome to my latest journal entry.

When it comes to setting up house, I love it. I don’t think I was in this house two weeks, before I started painting it and making it ours. Maybe it’s being a creative, maybe it’s being a girl, maybe it’s that I am in the house all day/everyday, but I feel like it is wired in me to want to make it a comfortable, warm place that we find rest, peace, love, and joy while also being a welcoming and safe place to all who walk through our doors.

It is an outlet that I love. I believe God wired me that way. Often when I’m creating I feel the closest to God. He often speaks to me or gives me a picture like different basic supplies coming together to make something beautiful is just like the body of Christ. We can all use our gifts together to further the kingdom far better than any one of us on our own. When I get little windows to create and have some me time, I feel like I come back a better mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter, etc.

Yet, it is something I have to constantly keep in check. I want to use this gift/outlet for good. I don’t know about you, but I know for me it is easy to get lost on beautiful feeds, blogs and Pinterest and just want more. When I find myself browsing and it is not inspiring but making me lust for more…I need to take a break from it. When I get stressed and live by the to do list more than love, I need a day away from all social media, lists, and on the floor with my kids. When I get quiet versus having joy ooze from me, I have too much swirling around in my head, and I need space to prioritize what really matters.

I’m always looking for those little windows that show my heart is walking a dangerous line by my love for something that is also hurting me.

I often get asked about my style. I would encourage you to find whats you. Don’t try to make something work for you…that is not you. I love all those clean, white pictures and decor that just scream peace, but when I go to put a room together that is not what my soul is calling out. My biggest advice is to stay true to you. Your place will most be relaxing and peaceful to you…if you stay true to your taste. But, with that, don’t stop trying new things or stretching yourself to find the little part of you in there waiting to be released.

Ultimately, my Heavenly Father is so creative. From the smallest bug to the Grand Tetons, there is an exquisite world that we get to live in that HE created. He’s the ultimate creator and we are made in his image, so we are wired to create in some way. For some, it might be organizing their schedule, singing, skillfully reaching out to those who are hurt and broken… it doesn’t just have to be crafts. I feel we can all be creative with where ever we are. That’s why I’ll go down fighting that there is creativity in us all.

My theory is you can create a nice, warm home inexpensively. Most of ours is thrift store, created, or clearance sales. I pray that when you see my pictures and home, they do nothing for you but to inspire you. You can create a warm home for you too. If you are one that thinks you can’t create, I’d encourage you to keep exploring and trying!!!☺ Trying new things and mixing it up…can unleash new things in you. It’s a skill that needs practice and strengthening just like learning to walk or hitting a baseball. I’d say just in the last two years have I really figured out my style. Be brave, friends.

In the midst of setting up our new house, I am also purging like crazy. I heard this awesome phrase that I am going to mess up trying to recall. It was along the lines of ‘the state of our house, car, counters can be a window of what our heads and hearts look like’. They reflect the amount of thoughts, tasks, craziness we are trying to make sense of. I am guilty of having way to many disaster zones. I don’t want tasks and a perfectly clean house to define me. BUT, I am learning that I can have better systems that help us to stay a little more organized so all of life doesn’t feel last minute or messy. Simplifying can just create breathing room with less to keep up with or put away.

some random things I am loving…

snow (watching it fall I feel a peace cleaning over my soul)

tea (I drink hot tea all the time since we moved north)

getting color on all my walls

contrasting black and white with all my color

creating for my little shelf at a local antique mall

hanging with new friends

swimming (we got a YMCA membership and I’m swimming laps like I did growing up)

laying a bunch of craft stuff out and letting my kids go crazy

reading Caleb’s constant letters, cards, slips of ‘I love you’ notes

jump hugging my boo

watching Reagan dress up and dance

teaching Reagan to swim

watching J comfort and love on his new pup

hearing my kids giggle the belly roaring laugh

long games of Sorry

dinners with new community

hearing the basketball goal in our living room go all day long

essential oils

searching local small thrift shops with an awesome friend

worship

podcasts from Christine Caine

watching the stack of paperwork needed to get our foster care renewal go down

every minute with Matt

Embroidering helps me slow down, think, and find space in all the craze that goes through my head. What is it for you?

These hoops are literally my heart cries poured out. Since I have been setting up our new home, I have found the home phrases standing out to me. As much as I love making this our home, there is a peace knowing that it all doesn’t have to be perfect, polished, or out of a magazine. I believe this is not our home. We are just living and loving till we do go home. Thank you so much for reading, for journeying with us, and for being a tool used to continually encourage me. If you are interested in any of these hoops, please visit my shop.

***Do you embroider? I would love to see your embroidery journal! Let’s start a hashtag #myembroideryjournal to keep up with one another!**

An Embroidery Journal

March 16, 2014 By Erica Deuel 5 Comments

As an inward processor, journaling has always been an important part of me working through my thoughts and emotions. I’m finding it’s much harder these days to capture the time I would like to journal well. Rather than just giving up, I’ve decided to try and capture key words and phrases on my art that can help me to process, refocus, and remind me of the things I want my life to be about. These past few weeks I’ve been using my embroidery hoops as a way to create an Embroidery Journal of sorts.

If you’re interested, let me catch you up on the latest of our life’s adventures.

You may remember that my word for the year this year is SHINE. I want to shine God’s love and peace in every area of my life. As we have ventured into foster care we are continually learning and discovering the many complex ways of how this ministry works. It’s the perfect opportunity to constantly be reminded to “Shine.” There is a lot of darkness and need for light. In my last foster update, I shared how I learned some hard lessons and I did not shine well. The experience left me broken and questioning my ability to continue down this path.

I felt like bringing foster children into my home may be above my abilities and what I am able to carry. I was starting to envision taking a new position of just encouraging the foster moms in my life, rather than being one myself. My trip out to Arkansas provided me with so much perspective. I felt led to open my hands and surrender all of my hopes, thoughts, and dreams and let God move and do the work He needed to do in my heart. This song became my prayer:

I lay me down
I’m not my own
I belong to you alone
Lay me down
Lay me down
Hand on my heart
This much is true
There’s no life apart from you
Lay me down…
Letting go of my pride
Giving up all my rights
Take this life and let it shine
Take this life and let it shine…

It will be my joy to say
Your will
Your way

Two days after letting this be my prayer, Matt answered a phone call that placed us back in the middle of an opportunity to shine. God placed a little boy in crisis into our home. We have had him for a couple of weeks and unless something changes (and as we are learning things change all the time) it looks like he will be with us at least for the next couple of months.

I am still so far from “nailing it” and I know I will never be perfect. I need re-centering on what seems like an hourly basis. But, it was the moment that I was raw, admitted that I cannot do anything on my own, and gave God full control of my life, he said “now I am ready to use you”. I’d like to believe that I’ve “landed the plane” on this one, but I’m guessing this is a lesson I will continually need to relearn.

I am so humbled, honored, and amazed that God would choose to use us.

So for this moment in time, God choose to use us to speak his truth in the ears of a little boy. You are loved. He has a plan for your life. You are a masterpiece. As we speak truth, we pray that our actions will reflect God’s heart. That we can be his hands and feet.

I have a peace. I am relying on a strength that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am praying for perspective and love that surpasses all the tired, draining moments. We are adjusting to being new foster parents and shepherding our three littles plus our new foster son’s heart as all of their worlds have been flipped upside down.

Thank you for caring about our journey through this life.

As our day-to-day life has changed, my eyes are open to how there are foster moms that have been living this way for a much longer time than me. I am in awe. I want to give back. I want to encourage and shower them with the love of Christ that they are so willingly pouring into their little ones’ hearts. In the few quiet moments I have, I am creating these embroidery hoops. I thought what better way for me to use these hoops than to encourage other foster moms!? I am giving some away to foster moms to encourage and nurture their soul with a little daily reminder to place in their home that they are loved. The work they are doing matters and God sees the ins and outs of every little thing.

I will also be selling other hoops soon on my Instagram account and in my shop here. All profits from these hoops will be used to encourage foster moms in my community. I will be sharing more of this journey as we progress. Thank you for being in it with me!

I pray you are able to use your life to SHINE today! Happy weekend friends.

Kindergarten Tip: Story Dictation

October 9, 2012 By Erica Deuel 7 Comments

Today, I have a quick homeschool tip for you. A simple story dictation (your child makes up a story aloud for you) can encourage so many wonderful things in your young child/student. I got this idea from my mom, and it has become one of the best parts of our school days.

I got a small journal and have dedicated it to Caleb’s stories. Everyday he tells me a story of his own creation, and I write it down. Sometimes I am scrambling to keep up. His stories tend to ramble excitedly from one point to the next (sometimes action moves and large hand gestures are included) and my pen is trying to catch it all. Please forgive my grammer and spelling in these stories as I am writing a mile a minute!

I love it! His imagination is letting loose, and I have it saved in this journal.

These stories have been a great “starter” to lots of conversations for us. We talk about plot, characters, cause and effect, order of events, story title, etc. He is learning all these things as a kindergartener without feeling like he is learning.

In his mind, he has his mom’s sole attention, and he is getting praised to think and dream up the most imaginative stories. I know our boys love for us to tell them a story before bed. This is Caleb’s special time to tell me what ever he wants to come up with. It is easy to see what he is in to when you read through his journal. 🙂 Creativity is a big part of our school days.

Sometimes I come up with a “subject” for him to tell his story about. Often I tell my own short story about the same “subject” that he used. This step models the use of the same subject while teaching all those great story elements I mentioned above. He loves this time. His stories have greatly improved since we started this a month ago.

**You can see we are also working on writing the date, and he is starting to write that at the top of his journal entry for me.**

At times he is more tired and doesn’t want to think up a subject. I have seen story blocks or story stones and have wanted to create my own. I have not gotten to it yet, but I think they would be a fun way to change this assignment up from time to time. I love the simple painted story stones that A Happy Wanderer came up with for her son.

The simple picture could help ignite a story in Caleb’s mind, or he could pick out a few and combine them all into one story! I think the concrete item would help him to hold and get excited, rather than for me to just say aloud a subject. It is a different way and helps spice things up.

Since I have not created my stones yet, I came up with stamps for today. Caleb needed a little guidance on what to “write a story” about. I placed two stamps on our journal page and he created a story with them both.

We are loving this quick yet really valuable tool in our school days. Even if you don’t homeschool, I think it would be a fun activity to do with your child. They are only young once and we will miss their creative imaginations when they are grown. Why not help foster and encourage it, while preserving it in a journal!?

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you are having a great week!

Linked up at: The Hip Homeschool Mom Blog Hop

April 15, 2012 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

I love Pinterest! It’s been a bitter-sweet relationship between Pinterest and me. It began with a curious sense of exploration and hit a bump in the road when I discovered one of MY creations was out there so publicly. Haha I can laugh about it now, but at the time I really kind of felt betrayed.

Two years ago when I was prepping my daughter’s bedroom I made a hair bow holder for her many hair bows out of some left over chicken wire that we had used the previous summer to make a compost pile. I thought it up and thought it was genius so the hair clips could simply clip to the wire and still look so cute and be a wall display all on their own. When I saw this idea ALL over Pinterest, I was kind of mad, to be honest. I thought it was MY idea and now all these people would be copying me. Foolish me.

From there I went on a Pinterest boycott, but the craft-er in me couldn’t stay away for long. I came back and if you visit my “boards” now you see I have pinned a lot. On my “Pinterest” journey I have processed the phenomena of this website with lots of friends and my husband. It stinks you can’t make “private” boards so no one sees what you pin, but than I now realize that defeats the purpose of the site. I think they want ideas to be shared broadly and we all to benefit from one another’s creativity. This rather selfish perspective of holding onto what I thought was mine has grown. I now see that even though you might think you created something its probably been done already at some point or another. What I thought was MY hair bow idea, I now don’t hold tight to at all. I’ve made them for lots of friends/family as gifts and even sold some at craft shows. Every one should experience this genius idea. 🙂 If you don’t have a girl, maybe you have a need for a noteboard? You should make one! They are so cheap and easy!

There are a lot of really creative people in this world. We were created in God’s image…and I don’t know a better artist! Who can design the scope, beauty and broadness of the Grand Canyon but then still create the smallest of bugs and organisms? We all have some sort of creative spark in us and why not benefit from it?

I know as a busy mom I am often so exhausted I don’t have energy or time to think up fun, cheap things to do with my kids that will build fun incredible memories of their childhood. Even if I know of an idea or did an activity as a kid…I may have forgotten it and cant pull it out of my brain when the time is right. Pinterest helps me. I love it and am proudly declaring my feelings aloud.

Here are three things I pulled off Pinterest that we did this Easter season. PLUS, one Erica original (that I know now is probably widely done as well).

Pictures in order:

1. (Erica’s Idea) This is what Rea’s hair bow holder looked like at the very beginning. Its funny to see this picture now because those were some of my very first hair bows to ever make, and now you can’t see one tiny free space of wire because the thing is packed full of bows!

2. (Pinterst Idea) We had a “dip dinner” one night over Caleb’s spring break. It’s one of our favorite (and super unhealthy) dinners. We get cheese dip & salsa from a local Mexican restaurant (Ceviche), or make buffalo chicken cheese dip and eat that on the couch while watching a movie together. This week we added plastic eggs with special foods inside to the kids’ dinner. They LOVED opening up the eggs and seeing what surprise was inside.

3 & 4. (Pinterest Idea) I printed off some charts/graphs/sorting activity sheets that we used jelly beans to help us complete them. It was so fun! The boys were practicing compare/contrast skills with counting and colors without feeling like they were doing “school”.

5. (Pinterest Idea) We put white daises in a jar with red food dye and watched how the leaves of the flowers soaked up that red dye. I used this as an analogy to show how our sin was like the red dye and Jesus (the white flowers) took that on himself when he died for us. The boys really got into it. We talked about what is sin. Every time we mentioned a sin I squirted some dye into the jar of water. I remember in middle school the PTA selling green carnations that they had used this food coloring idea with for at St Patrick’s Day, but I sure didnt remember it much less think to convert that technique into an Easter Illustration. Thank you Pinterest!

6. (Erica’s Idea) Ever since the boys were little Matt and I have wrote letters to them in a a seperate journal for each of them. We got kind off track once Reagan came into the picture, so there has been a lull of journaling. Ever since our very first easter with Caleb, we have written our kid(s) a letter and put that in their easter basket with the rest of their goodies. It’s a simple card that says something a long the lines of we are so proud of them, love them, and know that Jesus loves them even more than us and pray they come to see that in their lives at an early age and understand the true meaning of Easter. This year we started the journals back up with writing their easter notes inside them, and wrote in Reagan’s for the first time. It’s never to late to start something right!? I think these journals will be a cool gift to give them one day. Whether that day being a graduation or a wedding day, I think it will be special to have a journal full of love letters from thier parents. We plan to write in them more frequently and especially on birthdays and holidays. I’m sure this idea is not my original, but in case you haven’t seen it on pinterest or some place else just yet…I wanted to share it with you.

We all have something to share with one another! I’d love to hear of a special tradition you do with your kids! Please feel free to comment below!

Note: If you don’t know what Pinterest.com is go check it out! It is an online pin board where you can organize and share things you love.

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