{Good Morning}

Good Morning Sweet Friends!
I am so glad to have a few minutes to write out whats been on my mind.

Since school ended (June 14th) life hasn't stopped, with things only our Saviour can control. So, needless to say my summer didn't start out as I had planned and the projects and things I was looking forward to doing have been put on hold.

But, it's okay.

I know He knows better than I, and therefore I follow Him.

With all that being said, it still has been lovely even though so much is going on, to be out of school for the summer. I needed this rest. Desperately. I was tired, overwhelmed, edgy, upset, and never satisfied by the end of the quarter. I was not a happy camper. But, with ALOT of prayer and support I made it through the quarter I never thought I would. I had completed my first year of college. Praise God.

Have you ever felt that something was impossible, believed in God and his abilities, but still found yourself relying on your own strenghts?

I have. I think I am #1 at this.

This explains my whole 1st year of college, I was always praying for strength and guidence from our Lord, but never really listening and "fixing" it myself. I know, it is terrible.

But, our Lord is so good to me,

Even though I would rely on my own strength and let the Devil get me down. He would always show me at the end of every quarter when final grades were posted, that he was Soverin God and I had no buisness trying to do his job.

Whoa. Ouch.

Sorry Lord.

So when it came to this final quarter and I felt that I wasn't going to pass at least 2 of my course because of things out my control, I had met my breaking point. So I did all that I could do and left the rest up to God. With those things in my classes that were out of my control, He was teaching me to "Be Still and Know that I am God." I had no choice left, but to listen. It wasn't easy to just let go and let God, but I did it.

I also think, alot of my feelings and lack of relying on God, had come from my loss of time with Jesus. That was one of the first things that was put on the back burner. Isn't that terrible?? When the going gets rough, we just drop our manual and rely on our own road maps. Terrible. So this summer while reading a blog I follow, I heared about #SheReadsTruth. An online community of women, like myself who want to get out of their rutts of not reading the bible, who hold eachother accountable through this website, twitter, and instagram. I was so thankful to have found them. It gave that urge to get into His Truth, knowing I wasn't the only one struggling to focus time with our Lord. I am now half way through with my first study with the community and I could not be more happy with it. The study is wonderful. You can check it out here!   

 Oh and for the final grades for this semester?

I recieved a B+ in my english course.

I recieved a B+ in my psychology cours I never thought I would get through.

and

I recieved an A in my Math course, that was difficult for even the smartest people.

All blessings. All credit goes to God.

Be a Blessing,

Clarissa

Romans 12:12- Be Joyful in Hope, Patient in Affliction, Faithful in Prayer.



{I Was Told To}

With this quarter drawing ever so slowly to an end (1 1/2 weeks)

and crazy professors making life hard

Authentic Redhead over at Randomly Random told me to go blog something to get my mind off things.

Plus, it would make her feel better too.

....

Okay, here I am. Blogging.

....

First I have to say, the Devil has been doing a number on my thoughts. I was going to share with you some song lyrics that the Lord has been placing in my head lately, but Satan wants to keep me from sharing them with you because my mind just went blank. 

And that tells me, I need to share them even more now.

Well guess what Satan?

You aren't going to win.

To google, to search for lyrics!

.... 

Back from Google!

The song is Overcame (Jeremy Camp has sung it)

"All authority, every victory is yours....Savior worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all of our praise, You overcame. Jesus, awesome in power forever, awesome and great is your name.You overcame"

These lyrics have been in my head since this past Sunday.

Our worship team played it, then my sister was playing it on the computer when we got home, I woke up with it in my head on Monday, and today I heard it driving to school on the radio, and it again ran through my head through out the day.

The Lord is definitely wanting me to listen and hear these words.

1) Everything is His. Anything we think we have done or have been apart of is His doing, not our own. So simple, yet we are humans who enjoy "control" so we ignore this. A LOT....at least I do.

2) He overcame. He has conquered the grave and given us life, and I am worried about getting through this quarter with passing grades and in my own timing? How silly is that. This is one of those things, I just sit in awe of my own human stupidity. It's one of those "Duh Clarissa, you knew that. Why do you so easily forget and ignore that fact?"....sometimes its annoying to be human with all our control issues, but yet so peaceful knowing (once you realize for 1 millionth time) that He can do absolutely anything, He brought you into the situation and He has a plan for you in this. So, our job is to accept it, get over it, and rely on Him to take care of it.

3) Awesome in power forever. He is powerful, and His control is forever. Which means, we never have to worry. We know our Master has the blue print and we are written into it with His own plans for us. Period. Why do even bother trying to convince ourselves otherwise that our own flawed plan is better?...we humans baffle me.

....

I am so thankful that the Lord opened my ears and let me hear these words from Him. How simply we get sucked up into the fast moving daily pace of our lives and only stop to realize He is in control when our own plan hasn't gone as we wanted. Even though we are messes and constantly and continuously forget His control, He still has his plans and we have to choose to give up our control issues constantly and continuously. I am starting to think, giving up control is going to be a continuous mantra in my head....anybody with me?

.....

Okay, I feel better.

and

I hope I am not the only one.

Today is a blessing, even if our plan wasn't chosen.

Jesus knows what we need, even if our measly little human brains don't quite get it.

Oh well, whats new! 

I said it on Facebook earlier and I will say it again: "The Lord is teaching me that in all things I am needing to give it up to him. Jesus, help me. I am trying to be in control and understand. I know there is a lesson here, show me. Amen." Like I said earlier, mantra!

Be a blessing, friends!

Love on those around you, because we all are in need of some love too.

Remember to Sparkle!



{Friendship}

Everyone had that one friend.

The one you were best friends with

You did everything together.

And then

Because you both were immature and focused on only the moment

You let something little and unimportant slip into your friendship and drive a wedge in between the two of you.

and

Because A LOT of these cases happen while in high school, you let your immature firends fan the fires.

....

Am I alone in this?

at least I hope I'm not the only one who has had these issues.

That would mean I was.....alone....

Okay so.

I was thankful enough to have my friendship not stay this way.

And in turn, I have been blessed with a sweet friend.

Friendship to me is like sisterhood.

It's for life

And I am grateful to be considered part of it.

My point being in this little post, do not let little things drive in between you.

Friendship is the Lord's blessing.

Mainly-- to women I believe.

Where else would we get out our 5,000 words in the day??

Count your friends as blessings. Always.

....

Thank you Lord, for my friends. I know you alone have blessed me with the chance to be in their lives. I live to honor you with all that I do.

Amen.

....

Remember to Sparkle, Friends!

 

{3 Weeks}

3 weeks away.

Summer.

I can feel it.

Not to mention, read it.

Since everyone and their mother is already out of school for the summer.

I have 3 weeks of school and a week of finals to get through

and then

I'm free!

I have so many plans, like last summer, to do a bunch of stuff I have neglected or have been unable to carve out time for. I can not wait to get started!

My plans include revamping my room, crafting up a storm, possibly a trip to St. Louis, spending a week decorating my Best Friend's room, beach trips, baking, Disneyland, run aways to where ever the car leads.....you name it, I can't wait to get out there and do it.

Here are a few of my inspirations for summer 2012, thanks to lovely Pinterest!

DIY Sunburst Flower

Crayon Art

Oven Baked Egg Roles

Grilled Artichokes

Peaches and Vanilla Cream Pops

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk

Button Shoes

........

okay. okay.

The list could go on and on.

But, that's a basic list of where my head will be for the next 3 weeks.

What are your summer plans and inspirations?
Remember to Sparkle!

{Flower Power}

{DIY Planter}

My mom cracks me up.

She is so selfless, that usually when she wants something it usually is in passing or in a "I like that" statement. So when things like Mother's Day come around and you ask her what she wants, she usually says "I don't know"

And this year was no exception.

Thankfully just a month prior she saw something on Pinterest and "Ohhhh I like that" and thank goodness I remembered!

She saw this adorable planter!

I would include the link, but the page is gone! So sorry!

Credit to whomever did it! It's lovely!

Anywho.

This was my inspiration.

So here is the DIY.

I must warn you, this project isn't super cheap but it is most definitely worth it.

{DIY Planter}

Now, my dad says that these are actually "Color Bowls"

So if we must get technical, this project is DIY Color Bowls.

But to me, its a freakin' planter!

Okay, here you go.

You will need: three terracotta pots (1 small, 1 medium, 1 large), spray paint, potting soil, Stencil(s) if you choose, and flowers of your choice.

There is a new Hobby Lobby in town so I was ecstatic to pick up my project needs from there!

My first step was to lay down paper on my outside table to protect from the paint. Then I took my smallest and largest pot and painted them both the same color. This was my little twist on my inspiration, to have the smallest and the largest pot frame the middle pot that would be a different color. i.e. 2 cans of spray paint in 2 different colors.

Then I took my medium sized pot and painted it my other color.

The colors I chose were, Krylon indoor/outdoor Gloss spray paint. Blue Ocean Breeze and Almond.

Teal has recently become my mom's favorite color so it was fitting for the pots to be this color! I used Almond, because I was afraid white or gray would be too stark of a contrast.

When they were all painted they looked like this

Now, I was running short on time so I only let them dry for a few hours before trying to stencil on top of them. Bad idea.

Wait at least a day before stenciling.

and

Be careful, the spray paint doesn't like to stay in the stencil. It has a mind of its own. My suggestion would be to spray each letter at a time, don't go side to side on the stencil. This creates the bleeding of the paint.

I created my own stencil out of stencil letters because apparently Hobby Lobby didn't have a stencil that said "Home" or "Sweet", but its cool, we are pretty smart individuals. We can create our own.

This is how I made mine.

Take your letter stencils and punch out the letters that you need.

There was only one "E" in the pack, so you have to improvise and move that letter around if you are doing Home Sweet Home like the inspiration.

Line up the letters you just punched like the "Home" above.

Then flip it over like so.

It is sort of hard to see, but I have placed small pieces of masking tape in between the letters to hold them in place.

Make sure the pieces don't hang over into the letters. That will show up in your finished product.

To protect all your lovely previous paint on the pots, I set up the stencil like this.

The bags will protect from the neew paint getting on the previous paint job. And tape tape tape!

The plan was to use Almond on Blue and Blue on Almond

Like so...

This I am sure would have turned out fabulous if I hadn't of done the dummie paint job and gone side to side with the spray paint.

I ended up having to paint over the terrible stencil job and leave the pot blue.

I chose to go with out the stencil, because 1) I was again, running short on time and 2) I couldn't except defeat again.

Please forgive me, the next steps do not have pictures because I was in such a rush I blanked and forgot to grab the camera.

So once the pots are completely dry:

Start with the largest pot, fill it with potting soil almost completely full, then set your middle pot on top of the soil. This pot should butt up to the lip of the large pot (to the back of the pot). This will give you an idea of where your flowers should be planted so all of the pots fit together stacked. Once you have done that, you can plant the flowers for that pot or repeat the steps for the middle and small pots and then plant the flowers. I choose to plant the flowers each tier as I went. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, comment if it doesn't and I will try to explain it better.

Once you have done all this, Tada! you are finished! Place the planter (or color bowls) where you will enjoy them best and sit back and relax!

Here is my finished project:

The funniest part of all of this, My mother didn't even remember that she had said she liked the idea. She thought, my sister and I had come up with it!

I hope you have enjoyed this DIY!

And most of all, I hope you understood it!

If you make your own, please share! I would love to see your own variations!

I am really happy with the way it turned out, I am even okay that it doesn't have the stencil.

Happy Mother's day!

Remember to Sparkle!

{Pins}

All of the sudden I have become obsessed with making pins for birthdays...or anything for that matter.

Maybe because I had two in one week? hmmmm

Anywho.

Point is, I am obsessed.

My head always trails back to ideas for new and exciting variations.

And

I am looking for more reasons to make them.

Like I'm not busy enough. Ha.

Here is the one I made for my Sister's 16th Birthday.

As you can see, we were at Disneyland for this oh so special event!

And this one I made for my Hunny's Sister's 21st Birthday!

Please forgive poor picture quality.

Each pin had its own flair for each girl. I enjoy seeing their personalities come out in the pins.

So, if you need a pin for a special occasion or birthday, I'm your girl!

You know where to find me!

Remember to Sparkle!



{Leave them alone}

Alright.

The influences on college campuses bug me.

My campus in particular.

I have thought this forever now, but yesterday the final straw was placed on the camel's back.

I understand that we are "young mind's needing to be molded,"but come on!

I do not need to read a giant poster that says (excuse my vulgar words) "Orgasm, come learn! Men and women welcome! Lets talk about it!" or the amount of people who stand out side the buildings with their infamous sheets of bills and propositions that need to be "desperately" signed by the naive college students. Why no creeper, I don't want to sign your proposition. Jesus may love you, but you sir certainly scare me.

But yesterday, Oh yesterday.

I was pushed over the edge.

As I was walking out of the library that morning, a giant sign greeted me on the path leading to the parking lot.

ASK AN ATHEIST.

3 people. Older and a little too boisterous for my taste stood around the table. Eager to share their beliefs, or lack there of.

Now, I must say typically I can tolerate other's beliefs. Everyone has the right to be wrong. We all choose to believe and some just don't get it. That's fine. I believe it is better to show Christ's love by showing tolerance to these kinds of people than belittling them or making them feel uncomfortable.

But.

When I hear the woman of the group say, "Hey, (insert name here) why don't you go talk to them!" and the male replies (laughing) " Oh yeah! Lets get them started young!"

while I look up and see who exactly they are talking about (because I am a nosy person), my eyes fall upon a group of 30 to 40 kindergartners. Most likely on a field trip to explorer my college. My heart breaks instantly.

Instanly I utter the words, "Jesus, protect their hearts"

As I say these words, my eyes well up with tears.

Because the fact is, most of those 30 to 40 sweet little one's hearts will wander.

Now my heart is completely broken. And I am trying not to look like a balling idiot while walking to my car. (If you haven't notice, I'm a bit of a sap)

Never the less, my heart broke.

I yearn that those children's hearts are protected. Especially from the people who are completely against hope and the love of God to stand outside of a library with a sign that says Ask an Atheist.

My heart tugs at these things, I just can't help it.

Okay, rant over. I feel better.

Remember to Sparkle!