Take a little trip to a nearby craft store to pick up an inexpensive, basic, vine wreath.
Walk through the floral department and select the kinds of foliage or flowers you want to use.  I tend to like simple, sparse designs made of all the same foliage.  For my new autumn wreath, I chose 3 varied shades of the same small flower.  

I’m making a wreath for my front door, which gets hit by sun, and wind, and occasionally rain. So I have to avoid any adornments (berries, etc) that are made out of styrofoam. Because ohhh the carnage.  

Use wire clippers to cut apart the stems so that you have many different pieces to use. Begin sliding the stems/flowers into the wreath, alternating colors & types as you’d like, until the wreath is full.  And ba-da-bing… you’re done!

Happy fall! 

The show: ‘Stories’
The theme: any of the ten Bible stories featured in the ‘LIFE: Ten Stories’ sermon series beginning Aug 1 (same series referenced in this post)
The medium: any visual art piece that can be displayed on the gallery walls in our lobby 

Our artists came through.  Here are the results.  My heart is full.

Queen Esther’s Banquet
oil paint
Because the King found favor with Esther, the Jews were spared and a banquet was served.

Samson’s Revenge
watercolor
Judges 16:18 “Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “O Sovereign Lord, remember me, O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

See the full gallery on Posterous

My Mother-in-Law’s Dresses, Pinks and Reds
quilted fabrics
A scrap of fabric, one stitch at a time… it’s a process that grows into something beautiful like a quilt, or a relationship or loyalty. Inspired by the Story of Naomi and Ruth.

See the full gallery on Posterous

For Such a Time as This
crazy quilting, ribbon embroidery
Inspired by the story of Esther.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Job 1
mixed media

Bridled Piece
Hand built earthenware with spirit hole. Sawdust fired.
Story of Naomi & Ruth.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Joseph in Egypt… God’s Plan Unfolds
textiles
“Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Gen 50:19-20

Joseph… a Brother’s Love
oil paint
Genesis 44

Faces of Job
pencil
Job 2:13 intense grief and pain
Job 19:25-27 confident praise in adversity
Job 44 submission to God’s sovereignty

May the Name of the Lord Be Praised
photo illustration
Job 1:18-19:  Job lost all his children in one day
Feb 17, 1986: Reg lost his wife and two sons in one day. 

Job 1:20:  Job said “the lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Feb 22, 1986: Reg prayed, “Lord, help me to be like Job and never blame you; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Job 42:12: … the Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first
July 18, 2010: …the Lord has tremendously blessed Reg’s second life and his heart’s delight is his three grandchildren. 

I am proud of all these artists for bringing their work to share with our church.  I’m in awe of their talent. And I’m grateful to be witnessing the ‘seedling’ stage of a whole new facet of our arts ministry.

The stage in our new worship space was designed as a bit of a blank slate so that we can create elements that visually enhance the worship experience.  We have now done this for the first time.

Our pastor started a new sermon series August 1 called ‘LIFE: Ten Stories”.  Each Sunday we explore a different Bible story. We’ve tried to think about kids and families and various generations when planning how we work through these stories. 

Visually, we were inspired by the 1960′s era box for the game of Life. 

Based on this and some brainstorming, one of my favorite artists came up with our stage design.

So… giant letters were made, giant panels were painted and hung. And ten large plywood boxes were built to continue the blocks-of-color theme on the sides of the stage.  The boxes will probably be painted black after this series and used forever and ever in all kinds of places.

See the full gallery on Posterous

All of this was done in a week-long blitz involving quite a few people. I’m thankful for a husband who can do this kind of thing in his sleep (really. I saw it.). I’m thankful for an opportunity to include our kids in a project.  And I’m thankful for all the people who helped along the way. 

Sara Bareilles, “City”

What inspires you?

Two years ago, our daughter decided she wanted to decorate her Valentine’s day box to look like something related to ancient Greece, the period of history she was studying in school. A brilliant idea.  I imagined Greek columns drawn on a kleenex box.  She had other plans. When daddy heard about what our little girl envisioned, the two of them went to work and created this:

A bit challenging as a container of cards, but creative and unique nonetheless.  She recently told us that she remembers being sad that daddy wouldn’t use real water. Ohhhh, how the mighty have fallen. Last year, her class studied the Middle Ages.  Once again, daddy and daughter went to work.

It’s a medieval castle.  With flowers. I think possibly I was more involved in this one, because it’s very square and box-shaped and not nearly as unusual. But the cards had to go in and out through the drawbridge, so there is that.

This year, we’ve moved into American history. 

It’s Abraham Lincoln’s hat. It’s brilliant.  I’ll send 29 chalky little candy hearts to the person who can tell me what it’s made from. 

So this is our unintentional Valentine’s Day tradition: Historically appropriate card collectors. We probably have one more year where our daughter will want to do this, but our son is in kindergarten, where everyone decorated oatmeal cans this year. I figure we should get a jump start on next year and start thinking about something vaguely Aztec. By the way, in the background of picture 3, you can see a bag of Kit Kats. I convinced the kids to attach Kit Kats to their cards this year.   Because when mommies sneak into their kids’ candy stash, there needs to be something more substantial there than little candy hearts. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Two years ago, our daughter decided she wanted to decorate her Valentine’s day box to look like something related to ancient Greece, the period of history she was studying in school. A brilliant idea.  I imagined Greek columns drawn on a kleenex box.  She had other plans.

When daddy heard about what our little girl envisioned, the two of them went to work and created this:

A bit challenging as a container of cards, but creative and unique nonetheless.  She recently told us that she remembers being sad that daddy wouldn’t use real water. Ohhhh, how the mighty have fallen.

Last year, her class studied the Middle Ages.  Once again, daddy and daughter went to work. 

It’s a medieval castle.  With flowers. I think possibly I was more involved in this one, because it’s very square and box-shaped and not nearly as unusual. But the cards had to go in and out through the drawbridge, so there is that.

This year, we’ve moved into American history. 

It’s Abraham Lincoln’s hat. It’s brilliant.  I’ll send 29 chalky little candy hearts to the person who can tell me what it’s made from. 

So this is our unintentional Valentine’s Day tradition:  Historically appropriate card collectors.  We probably have one more year where our daughter will want to do this, but our son is in kindergarten, where everyone decorated oatmeal cans this year. I figure we should get a jump start on next year and start thinking about something vaguely Aztec.

By the way, in the background of picture 3, you can see a bag of Kit Kats. I convinced the kids to attach Kit Kats to their cards this year.  

Because when mommies sneak into their kids’ candy stash, there needs to be something more substantial there than little candy hearts. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Isn’t it pretty?  It’s for green screen, or chroma key, shots.   Read about what that is here.  The rounded corners had to be created from plaster by hand. Which took some skill and some time. My husband did a stellar job with the design, construction, and management of this project.

The wall has been built at the end of a long narrow gallery that is used for art shows, video shoots, etc. When the green wall isn’t needed, it can disappear behind a lovely red curtain.

Poof. Oh, and I also learned a nifty trick.  If you stand very close to a green cyc wall, looking directly at the wall so that there’s only green in your periphery, anything you look at next will appear magenta.  No kidding.   (That one was for free.)

Isn’t it pretty?  It’s for green screen, or chroma key, shots.   Read about what that is here.  The rounded corners had to be created from plaster by hand. Which took some skill and some time. My husband did a stellar job with the design, construction, and management of this project.

The wall has been built at the end of a long narrow gallery that is used for art shows, video shoots, etc. When the green wall isn’t needed, it can disappear behind a lovely red curtain.

Poof.

Oh, and I also learned a nifty trick.  If you stand very close to a green cyc wall, looking directly at the wall so that there’s only green in your periphery, anything you look at next will appear magenta.  No kidding.  

(That one was for free.)

  A giant interactive mystery game based on the Mission: Impossible movie. Held during a senior high lock-in.  Students were in teams of 4, were given basic instructions about their ‘mission’ and the ‘agents’ they would encounter, and then were sent into a giant interactive set of experiences including complicated codes to break, clues to find, riddles to solve, physical feats to accomplish, all while journeying through various ‘sets’… MI soundtrack, dark, foggy… surprises around every corner. Highlight:  students rappelling off the balcony to dangle in mid-air while punching a code into a computer. And a frightening simulation of being chased by the-helicopter-in-the-tunnel, involving a tight hallway, an earth ball, strobe light, and sound fx. It was pee-your-pants scary, according to some students. At the end, each group had the chance to present what they thought were the ‘answers’ to questions based on clues & codes. Only 2 groups out of about 20 completed everything correctly. Amazing night. And probably the only time I was so tired after a youth event that I was actually crawling on the floor during clean-up at 7am.    

 The ‘Senior Hideout’ is an annual summer event where all the graduated seniors are invited to go on a trip (to an undisclosed location) with a few leaders… purpose: have fun AND talk about issues of faith and life after high school.  A few years ago, the group stopped at Taco Bell in a small town for lunch on their way home.  Neil took the opportunity to do something he’s always wanted to do:  order one of everything on the menu. Everything.  And 20 medium drinks.  The Taco Bell worker at the counter was a bit stunned, but then caught the ‘vision’.  They ended up with every variation of everything on the menu (supreme, Baja, etc) Cost: just over $200.  Fairly certain they made the manager’s day.

Dream big or go home. 

My husband is a video guy.  He has always been a video guy.  He thinks in color, builds sets out of the most ordinary things, and currently works full time in video production.  So a video-guided Father’s Day seemed fitting. Friday, the three of us spent hours driving around town, designing the odyssey. We shot lots of video (with my little Fujifilm camera), made up clues as we went, and I did a bit of directing (of my two child actors) and a bit of cheerleading (when the actors hit rock bottom).  Saturday I frantically edited said video, meaning I learned how to dig into iMovie on the fly (because, yes, Final Cut Pro is out of my reach) while at church to ‘do a few things for Sunday morning’ (it was just a little lie…).

Sunday after church, the odyssey unfolded. Neil was given a ‘super secret decoder card’, which directed him to the video on my iPhone.  The video then led him (and the rest of us) through our afternoon.  Here’s the video. I cannot stress enough the number of disclaimers I want to put on this….  

The kids had a great time ‘helping daddy’ figure out the clues. The super secret decoder card led us to P.F. Changs (P as in Playground, F as in Fountain, C as in Chinese fire drill).  So…. did we make it?

This post is part of the creative chaos at ragamuffinsoul.com.