Redecorating Bug!

When we moved in, Matt selflessly gave me the largest of our three bedrooms as my "crapcraft room" - which we call "studio" {lest we invoke images of dusty closets overrun by pom-pom balls}.

My master plan has always been that when the current TV room needs to become a bedroom, my studio would become a family room. But that wasn't going to happen without a whole lot of purging. Over the summer, been collecting ideas for finishing up that space to make it easier to convert when we're ready, and the climax of that was my big focus in August.

I did lots of deep cleaning, purging, and organizing, and spent about $220 on furniture, paint, hardware, curtains and a few accessories. Ready for a tour?

My sewing desk - spray painted a buttery yellow, and dressed up with new knobs. Also painted the frames, showing off a hunk of my great grandmother's quilt and some vintage patterns, and covered the lampshade with a scallop pattern of a white gauzy cotton.



This bookcase replaced an old set of wire cubes. I'm not a fan of cheapo laminate, but we needed a quick and easy solution. To pretty it up, I bought several sheets of a gorgeous blue print with birds and cherry blossoms, and used spray adhesive to "wallpaper" it to the backing piece of the bookcase.


I've been in love with the idea of a scalloped paint-line for a while, and I knew this was the perfect place to make it happen. The curtains were one of my spendiest changes - I splurged on fabric that brought in the playful, summery feel I want for our future family room.





My work desk is much clearer, having made use of the vertical space! I also created a few mason jar holders, using trim and hose clamps, to hold attractive and most-used supplies.






A bit of pegboard in a fancy, thrifted frame makes a tidy place to keep my tools. Spray painted both, and added a pennant string to the pegboard for some playfulness.


More pennant string! This is a thrifted shower curtain on a tension rod to close off the closet. I used scraps from my stash to create the pennant string, just sewing across the top of the pieces. The curtain itself was too short, so I added a ruffle and pom-pom trim as well - see below.




A few more details:

{Cute little display shelves for tiny things that make me smile.}

{Jars painted on the inside, using acrylic paint.}

{Covered the thermostat with orange patterned paper for the sake of de-uglification.}

Building our team, as a team.

[This is part 1 of a series highlighting each goal of our NEXTgeneration Kids Ministry Leadership team for 2011-2012. See part 2 and part 3.]

Backstory: In March 2011, my Kids Ministry Executive team suggested we have a dinner for our entire Kids Ministry team (about 70 people). I agreed, reluctantly (the details daunted me). In April, I had no idea what that dinner would look like, except a bunch of people eating. In May, I went on an amazing trip to learn about leadership in some model churches, and a few days later, God gave me very clear instructions about our goals for the coming year. So when the dinner came around in June, I was ready, and I was pumped.

Goal 1: Build our team, as a team.

Over the last few months, we've identified 35 openings on our team, because of the rate at which our ministry is growing. Filling these roles will help us make sure we're ministering to families at our best.

I love inviting people to serve with me! It's exciting to know that I'm making a difference - why wouldn't others want to make a difference too? But if only one person is inviting others to serve, that person will become the bottleneck.

So instead of one person doing all the inviting, what would happen if all 70 of us were doing the inviting?

Here's how:

1. Identify two friends who aren't already serving on a ministry team at Creekside. (But what if all my friends are already serving?)

2. Tell your friends about why you serve on the NEXTgeneration Kids Leadership team. What do you get out of it? How are you blessed? How has obeying Jesus' call to serve others affected your life? Tell them a story from your experience with the kids - funny, sweet, cute, whatever. (If you're just doing this out of obligation, we should talk.)

3. Ask them if they'd like to serve alongside you. In most cases, we can rearrange things to allow your friend to serve WITH you. And serving with friends is so fun!

4. When they say yes (and experience tells me that 4 out of 5 will), grab them a Leadership Application from the Hosts Station OR give me their name and I'll mail one to them.

5. If they say no, keep sharing those stories about your experiences with the kids. It's good for them to hear that you love what you're doing.