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Create a focal wall-that works great for now and can be changed later!

March 10, 2016 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Ephesians 4 paintingSometimes dreaming big can be pricey, right? Even for the DIY creator, dreams take some dollar bills.

From the moment we first walked into this house, I have loved the fireplace. It’s dual sided, so we enjoy it in the living room and our four seasons room, which I lovingly call the “snow-room”. It has seven windows and three door ways so you can watch the snow from every angle. It’s beautiful.

Although I love the fireplace, I do not love the tile work. I have dreamed of covering the whole wall with brick tile. We plan to do it ourselves. After learning that the tile costs over $500 (and will take some legit labor), we thought we better hold off on ordering that brick for now.

You know I love color and every wall in my house has art or something on it, so this blank wall has been driving me crazy.

Before shot of a boring wallI came up with an idea to let the kids have fun with it, while we are in the transition phase of our room. Why not let the kids paint one of our favorite Bible verses on it? Kids handwriting is the best. Plus, I don’t need to worry about sanding down the stroke marks when we are ready for a change. I will literally just brick over the artwork, when the time comes. It sounded perfect and now we all love it so much….I may never want to brick. Here is how we created our kid’s wall art:

supplies for writing on wallI printed the words off the computer with the actual amount of words I wanted on each line, so the kids could get an idea of spacing. I used a yard stick and level to draw lines on the wall. I then taped the printout onto the wall and let the kids start copying.

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Kids_handwriting_idea

Kids_handwriting_craftMy boys alternated line by line who was in “charge” of that line. I wanted both of their handiwork on the wall. Reagan wanted to get in on the fun, so we adapted and let her add some hearts. Her touch completed the piece.

kids_art_wallAfter the words/hearts were in pencil on the wall, we used simple craft acrylic paint to paint over the words. My oldest was able to hold the bottle and paint on his own. My younger two liked me standing there holding the bottle while they steadied themselves on the wall with one hand and painted with the other.

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Ephesians 4

painting_heartsThey did an amazing job! We did space this project out over two days so they didn’t get burned out. The pencil writing was the first day and the painting was on day two. They were so proud and excited to be painting on the wall. My oldest was a little more timid at first saying I could do a better job and he was struggling with it not being perfect. It was a beautiful teaching moment, and I just adore kids hand writing. I wanted it in all the little imperfections and quirks. That is what made it beautiful.

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetThe wall was really dirty after pencil being smeared all over, as you can see in this picture below. I came back once the kids were all done and erased my pencil lines and as much of the smears as I could. What I could not get up with an eraser a Mr. Clean sponge was able to erase. Since we are covering these walls up someday, there was not pressure on if we were ruining them. We literally can’t.

kids_handwriting

cleaning_pencil_off_the_wallWe had so much fun creating this little focal point. What a fun way to get some truth on our walls as well. It is now one of the first things you see when you walk in our house. It’s perfect.

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wall project for kids

scripture on the wallI may never want to brick. My little artists won’t be young forever, but I love capturing their art with where they are…whenever I can.

Would you let your kids paint on the wall? What is a way you have temporarily decorated a space that you would love to update more eventually? I know there are so many ways?! Here is one more to add in your deck of cards.

I hope you have a great week and get to create in some creative way!

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Lessons I never want to tire of learning

August 24, 2015 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

love_is_patient_hoop

As a solider you are trained, given lots of wisdom and time to grow and practice what you have learned way before going into battle. Being a foster care parent is very similar.

We have done this before and have now been trained and certified TWICE. I bet if you ask a solider (I’m sure this is true as well), you learn so much once you hit the battle field. That experience trumps all the preparation done to get to the field.

If I could explain what our family has been going through these last six weeks, I would say it is heavily relearning things we learned the first time around.

There are many highs and lows.

I am relearning the need for community.

I can’t do this on my own.

I need Jesus.

I have darker moments than I want to admit.

We can be somewhat healthy and the moment you add trauma to your family – it’s like a bomb goes off and everyone is effected.

I often need to be in bed by 9:00pm (even if that’s watching a baby monitor)

love_is_patient_embroidery_hoopAlthough it is again one of the hardest things I have had to do, these are lessons I never want to tire of learning. I want so badly to teach my kids patience. This includes my foster son. We need to show love by being patient with our words and actions. We say that often, as you may remember from reading this parenting tip post of ours. I need to remember that it is needed for me to be patient with myself.

We are all still adjusting. Life is different with a new one in the house. We are all learning a new rhythm. The new normal is that there is no normal. That’s a hard concept for one to take in. Especially someone with my personality who thrives on rhythm and steadiness. I have cried. I have wanted to be done. I have questioned if I can do this. I have had to rethink the clarity I felt when I said yes. Did I dream that peace? No, no I didn’t. But, there has been enough tired moments that have left me in all kinds of dark places emotionally.

Although the two long term placements we have had in our home, both boys, different ages, come from different parents and live states away, there is a certain normalcy with adding kids from trauma into your home. I knew this, but I have not been patient to allow my body to catch up to what my heart and head know to be true. I read this post, and it struck me with how accurate her explanation of what I am living is to be true.

love_is_patient_wall_artLove is patient. I will be patient with allowing myself to be a never ending piece of clay that needs molding. I can admit I don’t have it all together. I need Jesus. I need his grasp on the bigger picture in all the hard moments. I need him to speak truth to me, through me, and around me. I can’t do this, but I know the one who can. I call him my Savior. He has not forgotten us. He will sustain, and we will be his hands and feet to the hurting in our home. It is the mission field we prayed it would be.

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I say all this not for you to have pity on me. Seriously. I say this to encourage you. The truths we say to our kids are true for us as well. Love is patient. I will give myself grace to adjust and patience as we figure out our new life. If you too are a foster mama or just a mama in general, don’t forget we are learning everyday. Our homes can be seen as our battle ground. There will be good days with lots of signs of progress and there will be days that are so dark you cry into your pillow. The evil one does not want us to shine love and grace and teach forgiveness. We will get discouraged and feel defeated, but I am relearning we just need to press further in…cry out to Jesus…and have patience in seeing signs of hope.

**This hoop is for sale in the shop here, if you are interested. Thank you so much!**

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Love is Patient

September 4, 2014 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

Love is complex. In my 31 years on the earth, I feel like I am still trying to figure it out.

Do you understand love?

How do you feel loved?

Love is Patient PrintWe can all experience love in different ways. Gifts, actions, words, and time are a few ways we can feel love.

What is true of love? I turn to 1 Corinthians 13 to find the answer.

You probably have heard it a few times at weddings. It is one of the bible’s most famous passages, and for good reason… It gives a beautiful definition for the word Love.

sibling_loveLove is patient. Love is kind. Are the first two things we hear about love in this passage.

It wasn’t until our foster son came to live with us that I started to really break down this verse to how I live my life now.

As I realized we couldn’t expect changes and behaviors from our foster son (that we had been working on from birth with our children), I found myself learning to live love is patient. As we tried to teach our foster son, what love is by our actions and words we started using a simple parenting method based off this verse.

What is love? Love is patient. Love is kind.

This phrase became a constant in and around our house. We said it. We believed it. We held on to it.

love_is_patient_reminderI wanted to create some kind of reminder for this phrase. We knew it held a powerful message. One that has been used largely in shaping our lives. And to be honest, is still shaping our lives as we are trying to be patient with the sale of our house.

love_is_patientThis message needs to be heard from the tree tops. We all need to be reminded to truly live love.

With this thought in mind, I found myself designing t-shirts.

I love these shirts. We worked hard to find a shirt that was soft, vintage like. We were successful with the adults. It has that favorite shirt feel from the very start. The design has been sublimated into the shirt, so you don’t feel it by touch. The kids shirt is a more standard 50/50 shirt, but I tell you when I see it on one of my kids….it is like a walking billboard or a memo note on your frig that brings a world of perspective in my impatient moments.

love_is_patient_shirtI don’t know about you but I need all the reminders I can get. I am one call away from my realtor asking me to leave the house (after we just started school) for a house showing, from losing my cool. Patience is not naturally in my blood, yet I desperately want to love well.

I will continue to strive for a life bigger than me and to love bigger than me….as I work on patience with my here and now.

If you too need this reminder, you can purchase this design as a 4″ x 6″ print, a magnet, or preorder your shirt.

Thanks for being in this journey with us!

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Saying Yes

July 25, 2014 By Erica Deuel 11 Comments

I sit here and I don’t exactly know what I want to say. I know my heart is raw and tender, and I want to always remember this feeling. The moment I am empty of myself, I find the most beautiful. It is these moments where I find it easier to rely on God, stop trying to do it all on my own, and surrender that I don’t have control.

I think it would be safe to say these last five months with our sweet foster son, my heart has largely been in this sweet, yet difficult place.

superhero_kids

love_is_patient

stone_mountainYes, it is very hard to live day in and day out with such raw, heavy emotions, but it can be beautiful. Let me explain. When we said “yes” and brought a child in crisis into our home, we were bringing brokenness, hurt, pain, lies, bad habits, etc with him. It is a very trying experience to walk day in and day out with love in the midst of these circumstances. Not to mention having three other children in the home, who are little sponges. It was a constant balancing act of our hearts to care for everyone well.

backyard_picnic

atlanta

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martaThere were many days where I was exhausted and cried. I couldn’t do it on my own. I learned that from our last foster experience. So, I think I was set up better this time around, but it didn’t change that it was still hard. The truth is though, all those things that lived in our FS, also lived in me. I have just perfected the art of putting up masks and shields.

This experience had me running to Jesus. I needed him. I relyed on him to get me through conversations, to give me grace, to not expect changes overnight, and to give me the qualities like patience, compassion, and mercy. I wanted to instill these in my kids, but couldn’t before emptying of myself.

love_is_patient_shirtThis sweet, sweet boy was used to change me. He made me see Jesus in a desperate way. Jesus is real, he is alive, and I saw him move. He moved my heart. I went from wanting a 1-year-old girl to saying yes to a 4-year-old boy. I went from wanting to help him to loving him like my own flesh and blood children.

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creativeEven in this moment, I type through tears as I hear one of my son’s saying “where is _______” and another eating his granola bar the exact way our FS always did. He has parts of our heart and we will always love him.

Yesterday, was a hard day as it was our last one with him in our care. We all cried heavy, hard tears as we said goodbye. It was real. I got to hug his great-aunt with my tears streaming onto her back and whisper she’s going to do a great job, and I believe it.  We then went out to dinner as our little family of five again. We told stories, joked , and I laughed so hard till my belly hurt. It was a beautiful moment to realize that even through pain…there can still be joy. God has not forgotten us and did not leave us in the moment when we said good-bye to our FS.

walking_down_street

holding_FSI feel like we have been grieving him leaving for a while, so now that the band-aid is officially pulled up, it is a mix of emotions. In sorting all these out for a few days, I have felt scared. Not scared for our FS, because I believe he has an amazing team around him to watch over and make sure he is safe and he is in the palms of our mighty God, but scared for our hearts. This boy was used to move blinders on my eyes and rocks in my heart. I needed him just as much as he needed me. But, laughing with my family, hanging on our bed all cuddled up together till we all crashed, and waking up today knowing and believe that God is still with me, I have a peace. God has never left me. We have hope. We have faith. God is not through with us yet. This was just another beautiful part of our story and the journey God is taking us through in this world.

One way I see God move now, is in the caring of our hearts through all of you. Thank you for the sweet texts, emails, comments, drop bys, hugs and messages saying you are praying for us. I can’t tell you how much I have felt them and you are being used to carry us. Although we were on the “front lines,” it was a team effort and we couldn’t have done it without the support of so many.

FamilyShot_CroppedWe will miss this sweet boy, but we will see him again. Looking back now I feel like when we said “yes” to that phone call five months ago, we were largely saying yes to God having the controls of our life in a raw, trusting way. It should be that way daily no matter what is happening or who lives in our home. I want to still wake up today and say “yes” to Jesus. We gave of ourselves, but really in that giving…we were blessed and changed far more than we could have ever expected.

It is a continued prayer that we will have strength to say “yes” to hard things and give love through it again and again.

As we reflect on our experience, the song posted below has become like an anthem for us. I hope and pray wherever you find yourself today that you would know there is a faithful God you can cry out to and find hope.

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