Blessed by Boxes

I love boxes.  Hinged boxes. Lidded boxes.  Wooden boxes. Wicker boxes.  Even cardboard and plastic boxes, if they are especially cute or especially utilitarian, I love 'em all.  I am so glad we don't have a Container Store here.  I'd be stone cold broke all the time.

Photo cred dwell.com

This is the first box  I remember being especially special to me.  I've had it since I was a little girl.  I don't remember who gave it to me or why, but I kept my most precious keepsakes in it--friends' yearbook photos that we traded, friendship pins made from safety pins and little colored beads, notes passed during English class, a Reagan/Bush 1984 button, the charm from my first gift from my first beau.  I still love this box even though it now holds extra iPod cords. 

My husband has a standing request to scope out boxes for me from the flea market.  These are recent acquisitions that are now treasure chests for keepsakes and Artist Trading Cards:

There are probably ten more performing various duties around the house right now.  I guess it's natural then that I am really incapable of bypassing a box without thinking about 1) bringing it home with me, and 2) giving it a useful life.  In fact, I recently came home with seven cigar boxes from the antique mall in town.  My mom delivered another 5.  I really cannot be trusted, especially not with accomplices!

The "useful life" part is the good news, though.  With these beautiful wooden boxes, I'm making Blessing Boxes like this!

And this:

And this:

The first two are Blessing Boxes for a baby shower and a baby's first birthday.  Guests can write blessings and prayers for the babies, and it becomes a keepsake for cards, those little hospital bracelets, and adorable little striped hats all the babies wear. The second one actually includes an original poem I wrote for my sweet little niece.  The third one that I just finished this afternoon would be a good place for a lover of boxes to keep a prayer list or gratitude journal.  It would also be good for a friend to store get well cards or other well wishes or for a favorite graduate to store keepsakes.  It's just a sweet little reminder that Jesus is always there ready to listen to our needs.

"...and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt 28:20

I'll be getting to work on more little boxes to add to the section of my Etsy shop called "Other Great Stuff".  After writing so much about boxes and seeing all my boxes together, you would think I would realize I don't need anymore boxes......but don't be surprised if you see me at the antique mall tomorrow.

May the good Lord bless you today with pretty boxes in all shapes and sizes and sweet keepsakes to store inside them.

<3  Lori

Tag I'm It

I wasn't going to do a blog post today.  I already have a draft for one in my draft folder to introduce a new product in my shop (YEA!!) but my friend Janet over at Tattered 'n Worn tagged me in a little blog hop game.  So, I figured I'd give it a whirl.  Here's how it's played:

~*~THE RULES~* ~

…you must post the rules
…answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you
…create 11 questions to ask the people you tag
…tag 11 people
…let them know you’ve tagged them

Here are the questions I was asked:

1. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?  Wow....my life probably would not be very long if I did this, but I can't imagine getting tired of warm buttered bread.


2. When you are creating, what do you have going in the background?  A lot of Audrey Assad lately.  Sometimes NeedtoBreathe.  Sometimes Third Day.  A little Justin Bieber thrown in (HEY!  My daughter shares my iTunes account!  She does. Really.)


3. Do you have a decorating style, and if so, what is it?  Hoarder Chic.


4. If you could live anywhere in world, where would it be?  I guess I would probably stay right where I am.  Maybe plant some grass since our yard died from 3 years of drought.  I'm not sure anywhere else would really understand me, nor I it.

5. What would you do with your lottery winnings?  I would help out an orphanage that I know is in need, locate the lovely ladies that worked at the daycare where my kids went when they were babies and give them the back pay they deserve for being the comfy laps that I could not be, send some kids to college (in addition to my own) and adopt some seniors in some nursing homes.  And I'd buy some grass (see #4). (I was going to post to my Facebook the other day that we needed some grass and ask if anybody knew a dealer, but I thought that didn't come out quite like I intended.  We still need grass.)

6. What is your very favorite saying?  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil 4:13

7. What are you most looking forward to? Heaven!

8. What is your favorite outdoor activity?  Is "porch sitting" an activity?

9. Do you consider yourself politically aware?  I try really hard not to be. 

10. What is your most prized possession?  Hmmmm...I don't know. We have a lot of stuff that I would be sad to lose, but it's just stuff.   Family photographs would the hardest to lose.  :::adds--"scan family photographs" to list of things to do:::

11. If you knew the world would end tomorrow, how would you spend today?  Hanging with my family.  And eating lots of ice cream.


That was hard!!  Maybe I can go a little easier on my taggees, which are:


Elissa Brown http://thefreckledarmy.blogspot.com

Frauke Schramm / quilthexle http://www.quilthexle.blogspot.com

Hilary Courson http://hillarycourson.typepad.com/hillary-courson

Julie Hernandez http://jaeartworks.com/

Kim Critzer http://www.3wishesstudio.wordpress.com

Lannette Ring http://www.abundant-faith.blogspot.com

Mary Cottingham http://www.barnbugstudio.blogspot.com/

Ruth-Mary Smith http://www.patchworkfamilieshub.blogspot.com

Stacey Brown http://staceybrownarts.blogspot.com/

Tammy Olson http://kickapoochronicles.blogspot.com

Tracy Bante Yarbrough http://www.chickpeastudio.blogspot.com/

 

~ * ~ Their Questions  ~*~

1.  Mountains or beaches?

2.  What is your favorite childhood memory?

3.   If you had to change your first name, what would your new name be?

4.  What's is your all time favorite book?

5.  If you could go back and redo/relive one moment in time, what would it be (or the second or third....whatever you are willing to share)?

6.  What was your favorite piece of clothing in high school?

7.  Laverne or Shirley?

8.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

9.  What's one non-art related thing you really want to learn to do?

10.  What's one art related thing you really want to learn to do?

11.  If you had to be somewhere else right now, where would you choose to go?

Hop around and see what these lovely ladies have to say.  In the meantime, may the Lord bless you today with easy questions and lots of porch sitting time.

<3 Lori

Waking Up the Blog and a BEtter KIND of Monday

It's been a while since I've been here.  I don't know whether to apologize or say "You're welcome." :D  Life just sometimes really throws up speed bumps, and I just have to decide that's okay. 

I'm not sure whether I've mentioned it here or not, but I'm a basketball mom.  Every November, I break out my SuperFan Shoes, warm up the vocal chords and prepare to be my kids' #1 SuperFan.

Now that it's March and our "madness" is over (get it, basketball fans?), we are coming out of hibernation .  While my son is polishing his Academic All District, All District, and All Region honors and my daughter is proving that brainiacs can run fast, too, I have hung up my SuperFan outfit until next year, and we can get back to all the stuff that gets left undone through the winter.  For me, that includes things like art (Woohoo!), blogging (::waving:::), tax preparation (eeek!), and developing new products (Yea!).

All the critters were also overdue for a vet visit, so my husband Christopher took them.  Dot, the loner, decided that being locked up with the other cats and in such close proximity to the dogs was not her favorite thing. So when they got back, she made herself a little harder to catch.

~*~A BEtter KIND of Monday~*~

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden

Since all those basketball schedules have been deleted from it, my brain has started working a little better.  I've been thinking a lot about what the mission of LeissnerArt should be. After much consideration, this is it (at least until I decide to tweak it again):

"To use art to share the gospel, humor to lighten the mood and love to create a caring community of kindred spirits who cooperatively inspire."

This is where YOU come in! 

One of the ways that I would like to bring that mission to life is to make Mondays a little nicer for us all.  Mondays are hard.  Most of us have to get up earlier, and we often run a little later.  We might start out a little crankier or get that way before the day is done.  I would love for us to do as Coach Wooden suggests in the quote above and make Mondays better by doing some deliberate kindness.  Anything of any size will do.  Then come back here and share what you did. You can add your comment anonymously if you like.

Here are some helpful links to websites that will give you ideas:

RandomActsofKindness.org

helpothers.org

I would like to repeat--It does not have to be some big giant gesture.  It's about doing something nice for someone that, because it happened, makes both your Mondays better. 

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE and did I mention LOVE to hear the little love bombs you drop on Monday, March 19.  Will you join me for a BEtter KIND of Monday??

Until then, may the good Lord bless you with super fans, forgiving pets, and better Mondays.

<3 Lori

This post is also a part of the Fly Tribe Shoe Shot Blog Hop

Please consider following the hop here on the Fly Tribe blog.