What a difference a day makes!

WOW!! Day 6 of the grass growing on the Resurrection/Empty Tomb Easter Gardens that our Sunday School is making.... showing the photo from yesterday and then today... can't wait for the kids to see them tomorrow, and to add more things to them!




I hope the grass stays nice and green like this for a long while... the Art Show is still a week away.....

"Now the green blade rises from the buried grain..." Easter Garden Update

Yay!! The Empty Tomb Easter Gardens are sprouting grass, after just 4 days on some and 5 days on the others!

Click this link for my blog post, from a few days ago, of how we made them.

The green shoots coming up reminded me of this Hymn that we'll be singing during this coming Holy Week and Easter Season....

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love Whom we had slain,
Thinking that He’d never wake to life again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

Up He sprang at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Up from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

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This Sunday the kids will be adding more to their gardens, maybe even having to trim their grass a bit too? *lol*

We'll have them in their upcoming Art Show during Easter Weekend at Church too.... can't wait to see them finished!

April Fool's Day Prank... Shhhhhh...

Shhhhh... don't let this slip out ... I'm doing this joke on my Sunday School class this coming Sunday, April Fools Day.. heh heh.

Assembling Some Holy Week & Easter Decorations

Just a few things I put together, haven't had much time for art, but hopefully after Easter I'll be able to get out some of my treasures and create some things.

I had a few glass domes that I thought I'd use this year for decorations.

I'm calling this assemblage "Denied Him Thrice", it's more a reminder of Maundy Thursday/Good Friday events, and Peter's denial, that Jesus predicted, (this one from Mark 14:30) "Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, Peter--this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me."




This one is titled "The Lord Will Fulfill His Purpose", which is what is inscribed on the cross in the dome. His purpose being to bring us new life in the sacrifice He gave for us all. (the eggs and green grass symbolize new life.)

And this Easter Dome is called "He is Risen!".





Using some of the secular Easter decorations can have a place in bringing the real message of what our Easter celebrations are all about, especially when explaining the events of Holy Week and celebration of Easter Morning too! .... Alleluia! He is Risen Indeed!

An Assemblage of Roasted Veggies and Bacon Wrapped Asparagus ...yummm!

I decided to experiment again with some recipes ... the family being my guinea pigs again! I had made this recipe before, but hadn't used yams in it before, so I thought I'd see how they tasted ... delicious!




Before, during and after photos ... I used regular potatoes, yams, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, some herb and garlic seasonings and some olive oil, stirred it all together, then arranged them in a baking dish, alternating them to make it look cool.

I like how peeling a stripe on the potatoes and zucchini, makes it look "fancy" after it's sliced.



Here is my dish, ready to pop into the oven at 375 degrees ...covered it with foil for the first 25 - 30 minutes, then uncovered it and sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese on top, and put it back in the oven (uncovered) for another 15 - 20 minutes.

The last few minutes, I turned the broiler on low, and toasted the top of the veggies just a bit too... Here's the finished dish ... it was deeeelicious!!




While the veggies were roasting, I also prepared the asparagus.



Cut off the ends, then coated them with a little olive oil, sprinkled on herb and garlic seasoning, and wrapped two or three spears together with one piece of bacon. (I used an apple wood flavored bacon just to give it a unique taste).





I popped these into the oven during the last 15 minutes or so of the baking time (at 375 degrees) with the roasted veggies. Then turned the boiler on low, and watched as the bacon browned under it. It doesn't take long to crisp the bacon, and you have to watch so that they don't get burned too when doing this.




Here are the finished spears with the crisped bacon... YES, it IS true, everything is better with bacon! *lol*

And it made the leftover chicken wings I served with these dishes so much better too! ... Dinner is served.....

My Eclectic Assemblage of Wine Glasses!

After seeing a beautiful eclectic place setting using vintage mix and match china plate settings the other day, it inspired me to pull out a few of my many wine glasses. I usually use these 5 - 6 times a year for entertaining... my friends seem to love to pick out their own special glass from my collection of mismatched wine glasses. I've picked them up over the past 10 years at garage sales, rummage sales and Goodwill (of course!). I love them all! (I have about 10-12 more I didn't put out for this photo).



Kasey and I also use them for non-special occasions to have water or juice or soda in as well ...makes us feel fancy schmancy! Ha!

Now, where's the wine??

Resurrection / Empty Tomb Easter Gardens

Jorden rings in the kids to come to the classroom, which is all set up for them to make these Gardens...





We talked about the events of Good Friday, Jesus death on the cross, with the two robbers also being crucified on either side of Him. And how Jesus was buried in a tomb, carved out of the ground, with a large stone rolled in front of it to seal it. And what happened on Easter Day, when Jesus rose from the dead, and the tomb He had been buried in was empty.

Then we started to make our Gardens creating some of the items from the story of Good Friday and Easter ...a tomb, three empty crosses on the hill, a stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, and an empty burial cloth inside.





We planted grass seed on the hill area, that will need to be spritzed and soaked with water twice a day while it sits in a sunny location. So we have them sitting in the window in the classroom at Church... and guess what I'll be doing in the mornings and afternoons this next 7 - 10 days!

The grass should sprout in about a week to 10 days, and next Sunday the kids will be adding more items to their Easter Gardens.


There are extra ones we partly finished, for the kids who weren't here today, and other extra ones for Fr. Bill to take on his visits to the homebound when he takes out Easter communion after Easter.




These will be in the "Lenten Experience Art Show - Through the Eyes of a Child", held during Holy Week at Church, and then they'll be able to take them home on Easter Sunday.

Can't wait to see the grass start growing on them and have the kids finish them next Sunday to be displayed in the Art Show later during Holy Week! More photos to come in a week or so....














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UPDATES:  What a difference just a week to ten days make!  Check out these other links for MORE on the Resurrection Easter Gardens as they grew grass!


And as they were featured in the Lenten Experience Art Show...

Jorden's Birthday Party Weekend

Our granddaughter turns four next week.... we celebrated her birthday here this weekend when our son brought her for a visit. I can't believe she is four years old already!! Time flies!





Here are some photos from our weekend fun ....







She loved ALL her gifts! She wanted to wear the pretty outfit Aunt Janel and Uncle John-John and the boys gave her ...so she changed into it for the rest of her party.







Aunt Janel made cute panda cupcakes with red velvet cake for Jorden... they turned out real cute, and delicious too!























And then the party was over, time for playtime in the tub, and sleep... a great birthday celebration! Love you Jorden!!

Goodwill Scores!!

I can not pass up old vintage, well worn Bibles ... and I found one (from 1916) at Goodwill that I'll use in an upcoming assemblage sometime in the future....

The inscription was to a daughter from her parents evidently ... I love to think on the love that came with this gift to a daughter, and since the Bible seemed to be well used, it's awesome to also be reminded of the way God's word is planted in our hearts and minds as we journey on in this life ... and wonder how it was used along the way with Marrion....



I also found a cool old tin child's plate ... Hey diddle, diddle..the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon... Can't wait to think of a way to use this in an upcoming art piece too ...



I used one of my magic eraser cleaning sponges on it ... and it did clean it up a bit...I'll have to put more elbow grease into it later...




Some pretty great purchases ... lucky ME! *s*

Paint Board Idea - Not Just For Kids....

A friend of mine posted this from a pinterest idea - original idea can be found here.

But I took it a step farther, thinking I could use it not only for my grandchildren... and perhaps for a Sunday School project down the road... but also for one of my prayer station installations, for participants to use to draw or express themselves in. It erases easily and is reusable for many, so it would be a cool way to use this idea.




Here is a photo from a past art as prayer show where I used a sand feature and water paint board, but this new idea would work great here too!






I decided to frame it in a cheap dollar store frame ... check it out.. here are the materials you need....




A couple of tips .... don't over use paint in the bag ... don't smoosh the paint around in the bag before you secure it to the cardboard backing and frame it. .. and before that, make sure you try to get as much air out of the bag as possible before sealing and ducttaping it. When placing it in the frame, be careful of the side metal things that you fold down to secure it in place, don't let them puncture your bag of paint.




You can use your finger to paint on the paint board, or use a well padded Q-tip. Just beware of sharp nails, or the q-tip that gets worn down from use .. it can rip the bag and I imagine a real mess would be had then! This is a fun, and inexpensive way to make "art" for all ages!