January 03, 2017

Swedish Tomte

January 03, 2017/ Because Liada

I am in the process of moving some things over to this blog from a very old blog of mine. These are photos of some of my past work. Their hair and beards are all made of Llama fleece.

Fishing Tomte, approx. 5" tall. (SOLD) — Fishing Tomte, approx. 5" tall. (SOLD)

Swedish tomte girl with basket of traditional Swedish breads (Cardamon braid and Limpa)  (SOLD) — Swedish tomte girl with basket of traditional Swedish breads (Cardamon braid and Limpa) (SOLD)

Here is a photo of two I recently did for a special order. They were ordered by a male nurse to add to his collection.  (SOLD) — Here is a photo of two I recently did for a special order. They were ordered by a male nurse to add to his collection. (SOLD)

Swedish Girl with Broom, approx. 5" tall (SOLD)

October 08, 2014

More Photos from the Current Ongoing Journaling Class

October 08, 2014/ Because Liada

We're in the final stretch of the current journaling class and what a delight it has been getting to know these lovely ladies. We've laughed, we've created, we've eaten delicious goodies, made new friends and grown in the Lord.

It has been wonderful to see the creativity poured out on the journal pages as these ladies think through the things which the Lord put in each of them to make them awesome and unique individuals.

Every one of us has a unique story to tell. We all have things in our pasts, whether hurts, trials or victories which have added to the person we are. We all have unique gifts and talents which blossom when we are being the authentic person we were meant to be. In this class participants are able to think through all these things and more and get them onto a journal page in a creative fashion.

If you have interest in attending a class, learning more about upcoming classes, or having Shelley come to teach any of the classes to your ladies group, please contact us at becauseliada@gmail.com.

Here are some more photos from the current class.

September 09, 2014

And He saved them out of their distresses

September 09, 2014/ Because Liada

Psalm 107:19-21

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Life can be hard....really hard. We've all been there. We've all had times when the entire world seemed to be crashing down around us. Maybe you're in the midst of one of those times right now. One thing I know for sure, life on this side of Heaven is never going to be pain free. But another thing I know for sure is...God heals. He really does. When we cry out to the Lord, He listens. He's there. He holds us, lifts us up, and loves us as no other can. I have been seeing evidence of this as I teach the Because Liada Art Journaling Adventure Class.

The Because Liada Journaling Adventure is a mixed media art journaling class. During this class participants create a personalized art journal as they work through the lessons. As I lead the current group of lovely ladies through the class, it has been wonderful to see how the Lord has worked in their lives to bring about healing. This group of ladies come from various backgrounds and just like most of us, they are backgrounds full of pain and regrets. During the class there have been times of both laughter and tears, and yes, both have been healing. We've talked about forgiveness of others and ourselves. We've explored our pasts and in an upcoming lesson we'll talk about our futures. But best of all, these ladies are learning to see how very much God loves them. They are learning they can live life with passion and purpose knowing God has a plan for their lives and that they too can live out their own daring adventure.

If you are interested in having Shelley come teach this class or any of the other classes at your church or to a group of your friends, please send an email to becauseliada@gmail.com.

March 23, 2014

Make Your Own Carpet Stair Treads

March 23, 2014/ Because Liada

A few years ago we purchased a fixer upper (and that's putting it nicely). It actually was completely not habitable. Although most of it is finished, there are still a couple projects I've been wanting to get around to. One of them was to put a runner carpet down the front stairs. I priced the runner carpets and at minimum it was going to run us a few hundred dollars. If we wanted anything other than the basic run of the mill variety it was going to cost even more money.

Not being willing to spend that much, I put my thinking cap on. My daughter and I took a trip to our local salvage store, Mardens. They have upholstery fabric for unbelievable prices. I figured there has got to be a way to use that to make my own DIY stair carpet treads. So in taking a walk around the store, I found these:

These little rugs were selling for $1.00 each. I measured them and they were the perfect length, but they were too wide. Each little rug cut in half the long way however would give me two perfect sized pieces to make my own Carpet Tread Rugs. I then headed to the fabric department to see if they had a fabric I would like. I found this lovely fabric for $4.99 per yard. I needed three yards. I think I actually could have done with two and a half but felt safer going with three.

We then had to figure out a way to adhere the upholstery fabric to the rubber backed carpet pieces. In looking around the store my daughter and I found two things, glue and tape...crazy strong tape. I don't know what the tape is used for but the stickiness of it makes duct tape seem like a wimp. Sorry duct tape, I still love you and was going to use you if I had not come across your bigger, stronger, super hero cousin. I know someone will ask but I have no idea what this tape is. Mardens is a salvage store, this role had no packaging and looked just like this when we bought it. But it was huge and the price was right at $3.49.

We purchased two bottles of this glue which said it worked on fabric at $5.99 per bottle, it was not enough glue. We ended up running to the hardware store which of course did not carry it, so we purchased a bottle of Weldbond which also said it worked on fabric. It also was $5.99 per bottle.

First we cut all the carpet pieces we had in half. We then cut fabric pieces for each piece of rubber backed carpet. You'll need to cut your fabric just a bit larger than your carpet piece on each side. I didn't measure but I'd say it was about an inch or so on each side. If you decide to use this technique to make your own, you may need to center the fabric, it will depend on the overall print you choose. If possible, I would suggest choosing a fabric where centering the design will not matter. It will just be easier all around and will probably save you money as you won't have to figure on getting the repeat in the pattern right when you measure for fabric. I chose to center my fabric left to right but not front to back.

We spread glue all over the top (the carpeted side) of the carpet pieces

We spread out the glue.

We then flipped the carpet over so the glue side was down on the backside of the fabric. Then we cut a piece of tape the length of the long side of the carpet square. Unrolling the tape proved to be the most challenging aspect of this entire project. The tape was so sticky it took tons of strength just to unroll it.

We then gently lifted up the fabric and placed it down on the tape so the tape was just about but not quite up to the edge of the carpet piece. After we pressed on the fabric a bit to make sure it was sticking to the tape (like there was any doubt of that!), we folded it over the back side of the carpet square and pressed down to stick it. (I hope that makes sense...see the picture)

We did the same on each side. Oh, I almost forgot, we did run a bead of glue down the edge of each side right before folding the fabric and tape over the back.

That's basically it. For each step repeat the same process. To attach these to the stair treads we used Scotch indoor carpet tape. We ran it down each short end, in the center and along the front edge.

This is what the set looks like on the stairs.

There are still a few details to take care of in the front hall but it's come a long way from what it looked like the day we bought it which was this

So here are my suggestions if you should decide to make your own carpet stair treads.
Make sure the fabric you choose to use is a sturdy, heavy duty fabric such as an upholstery fabric. It also should be think enough that the glue won't ooze through because that would make a hard stiff top on your DIY carpet stair treads, and that would feel awful if you were barefoot.
Use a sticky tape like duct tape
Use plenty of glue.

Over all this project took my daughter and I two and a half hours. Here is a break down of what we spent.

Fabric $14.97
Glue $17.97
Carpet pieces $7.00
Tape $3.49
Carpet Tape $3.50
Total: $46.93 I think we may have been able to do this for a bit less if we had shopped around for a larger bottle or different glue. But overall I'm happy to not have spent a few hundred. Another thing which I considered using and you may want to try is, to use burlap to cover the carpet pieces and then use some geometric shape and acrylic paints to put maybe stars or stripes or some other design on the pieces.

Let me know if you try this project. I'd love to see pictures.

Blessings,

Shelley

UPDATE:

I have had soooo many questions asked about these carpeted stairtreads so I thought I would add an update. Just over a year after I made these, we sold the house. So, unfortunately I can't tell you much beyond 1 years wear. However, I can tell you how they held up through that year with a family of 6 and 3 large dogs. They held up AMAZINGLY well! I did not think to take a photograph of them before we moved. However, I do have the realtor photo. Unfortunately it isn't the clearest photo for zooming in. But I can tell you they looked good enough that I didn't feel a need to do anything with them except vacuum in order to show and sell the house, I think they made the front hall look very pretty. The realtor photo is below. To answer some of the specific questions I have been asked:

No I did not use scotchguard. I used an upholstery grade fabric to make them and it may or may not have had it already...I don't know.
No, the fabric did not pull up when I vacuumed, they just stayed put. Others who make these may have a different experience than I did however as I can think of a couple things which may or may not change the outcome (type of fabric used, how well it is glued down, type of glue used, type of rug being covered).
No my vacuum did not pull up the threads. Again, I can imagine some people having a different experience based on the chosen fabric. If you decide to make these, make sure your fabric is not made up of many "threads" being sewn down onto another piece of fabric. Many chenile type fabrics are made this way, they appear durable but they are not.
They stayed in place perfectly! That carpet tape stuff is pretty great stuff. In the year we used them, I didn't have to redo the tape on any of them.
Yes, I would make them again and may possibly do so in my new home.

January 15, 2014

DIY Valentine Cards

January 15, 2014/ Because Liada

Valentine's Day will be here before you know it. I'm sure you've seen the aisles at the stores filling up with all the pretty red and pink Valentine's Day decor and goodies for the kiddos to give to their friends. Let me start by saying, I know those little valentines which are sold in all the stores are very inexpensive. Some of you may be thinking you can't be bothered making something when you can get those for about a buck. However, if you are looking for something a bit more creative this year, and with a touch of recycling thrown in, this may be just what you are looking for.

I use old greeting cards regularly for various creative purposes and always end up with a stack leftover, you know the ones with the big cute critter or creature on the front. They are adorable but limited as far as creative purposes go.

If you do not have little children at home, you may not have many of these cards coming into your house. But if word gets out that you are seeking old greeting cards for creating, you will get plenty passed on to you. You'll want to make sure no one wrote inside the front of the card because that's where your kiddos are going to sign their names.

In addition to cards like these you will also need,

this printed PDF of hearts (also available on our freebies page)
colored paper if you want to make your own hearts
glue
lollipops
scissor (including a pair with a fine tip if you want to cut little areas out)
a hand held hole punch if you have one.

The first step is to cut out the part of the image which you want to use. Like this:

Then using an exacto knife or very sharp scissors like fingernail scissors, cut out the part of the image you want to put the heart under. Like this:

Then glue in place any hearts or other pieces you want to add. You could include little bows, glitter, gems, etc.

Carefully cut little slits in the image with your sharp scissors, then slide the lollipop in. If your hand held hole punch will reach to the location where you want the lollipop holes then you can use it for making them. You may have to put a piece of tape over the lollipop stick on the back to keep it from sliding out.

That's it, sign the back and have the kids hand them out. Easy, repurposed, DIY valentine cards for the kiddos.

I didn't like how this guys foot was cut off at the edge of the card so I just put the heart over it.

December 11, 2013

DIY Party Favors

December 11, 2013/ Because Liada

I wear many hats and admit that some days, it's a few hats too many. Our family owns a few business and one of the hats I wear is Marketing Director for a homecare agency our family owns (Abundant Blessings Homecare). So you will probably from time to time see things around this blog with tags on them which read "Abundant Blessings Homecare" because my creative juices overflow from one area of my life to another and sometimes the lines get blurred. As long as the overflowing and blurring create pretty colors, I'm good.

I had to come up with a few things for Christmas activities we are involved in and here's one of them:

This is a favor made using coin envelopes. Each one has four Andes Mints in it. Two Ghirardelli Chocolate squares also fit perfectly inside.

I also made up some of these for other purposes....see I told you things overflow from one area to another.

These would make great stocking stuffers, or DIY party favors for any party or event. They also make great DIY Marketing or Guerrilla Marketing ideas. In addition, they might be a perfect item to hand out at a trade show or other type of event. Just be forwarned... as with anything, if you have to make hundreds of them, you are probably going to get very sick of doing them, trust me, I know. I am so grateful for office help!

Here's a photo of them with a ruler so you can see the size

December 04, 2013

Make Your Own Paperwhite Bulb Kit - Win One Too!

December 04, 2013/ Because Liada

There is a give-away at the end of this post to win one of these lovely Paperwhite bulb Kits. There is also a link to a PDF of the tags for these gifts. Enjoy.

Twice a month a bunch of us ladies (both older and younger) get together. We share from Scripture and have bit of devotional time and then we get down to some serious creating! Last nights projects turned out BEAUTIFUL!!!

With Christmas fast approaching I planned the project to be something which could double as a gift. We made Paperwhite Bulb Kits.

To make these here's what you will need:

Plain terra cotta pots (I paid about $1 each for mine at Home Depot)
Acrylic Paints
Misc. papers to cut up if you want to use any of the images such as magazines, wrapping paper, etc.(greeting cards may be too thick).
Glue (regular old Elmers or school glue)
Paint Brushes
Potting Soil and bags to put it in
Bag of Paperwhite (Narcissus) Bulbs and smaller bags to put them in. The regular price on these was $14.98 for 15 bulbs but they were on 50% off clearance at Home Depot, it's late in the season for bulbs so you might be able to find them discounted at your local store as well).
Lacquer or other sealer (I used a spray, quick drying lacquer)
Cellophane to wrap it all up or a gift bag to put it in and, ribbon

First, paint the pots with a coat of acrylic paint. You can either paint the entire pot one color or paint the top rim a second color or even paint stripes, whatever you wish.

Then when the coat of paint is dry (it dries very quickly) put on a second coat if it is needed. If it isn't needed, you can just start decorating. You can add decoration with other colors of acrylics painting with reckless abandon, or if you are more of a reluctant creative, you can use pictures cut from magazines. Either way they turn out lovely. In the above photo, the flowers on the front pot are from magazines and the black and white scroll type design on the pink pot is from wrapping paper, see how easy this is? Cut your pictures out, trimming very closely. Then on a paper plate put some glue and add water to it to water it down. Using a paint brush, put the watered down glue on the back of the image and put it in place on the pot. Then brush the watered down glue all over the image (decoupage like). Don't worry, it will dry clear. You can also use Mod Podge for this but if you don't have any on hand, don't go spending money you don't have to, the glue works just fine. For the polka-dots we used pencil erasers or q-tips, either works.

For the words, we used rubber stamps dipped in acrylics or we just painted the words on with a paint brush.

After you have your pot looking like you want it to, put on a coat of some sort of sealer. If you only used acrylics on your pot, you may not need to do this step, but if you used any paper embellishments, definitely put on a coat of sealer. This is what we used:

While the sealer is drying you can bag up your potting soil. We used 1 Gallon Zip Lock Bags. Scoop in enough to just about fill the pot and seal the bag.

Then put your bulbs in a bag and print the tags. I made a PDF for you to print the tags which we used. The first two pages are the header tags for the bags of bulbs. There are two versions because I had small zip lock type bags on hand and they measure 4" wide by 7" tall (header card for these is on page 1 of PDF). Because most of you probably don't have those bags on hand, I made a header card which fits on a quart size zipper bag (pg.2 of PDF). The other two pages of the PDF are the planting instructions for you to include in the pot and the tag for you to tie on the outside of the gift. Print everything on cardstock if you have it. Paperwhite Bulb Kit PDF here.

After the pot is completely dry you can put everything together. Put the potting soil bag in the pot, set the bag of bulbs on top of that, and put the card with the instructions in the pot. If you have cellophane on hand cut a long strip about twice as wide as the pot and long enough to tie together above it. Tie on a bow and the tag and then tape the edges. That's it, you have a lovely handmade gift.

If you have never grown paperwhites, you should give it a try this winter. It is just lovely to have beautiful blooms filling up the house in the dead of winter, they take 4-6 weeks to bloom so get them started now, come January you'll be so glad you did.

Now for the give-away...I made this lovely one so one of you lucky folks can enjoy your very own paperwhites come January.

The pot is a lovely bright red painted with glittery snowflakes. It comes complete with potting soil, bulbs, and instructions. It's all wrapped up in cellophane with a bow ready for you to enjoy yourself or give as a gift.

There are two ways to enter the giveaway, first, you can leave a comment below stating if you plan to grow these yourself or give the kit as a gift if you win. The second way to enter is to "like" the new Because Liada facebook page at www.facebook.com/becauseliada. All commenters and facebook "likes" will be entered into a hat and one winner will be drawn on December 10th, 2013. I will pay shipping for the Paperwhite Kit to anywhere within the continental United States. I will ship it elsewhere but the winner will have to pay shipping (via paypal) for locations outside the continental United States. Winner will be drawn on December 10th, 2013.

UPDATE: We drew a winner late last night and the winner has been notified. Once, they respond, we will announce the winner. Comments are being left on for this post in case anyone wants to comment on the tutorial, however, no additional comments will be entered in a drawing for the set. Thank you to all who entered.

This giveaway was listed at the following locations:

Check out what else you can win.

Sweepstakes

October 19, 2013

Birthday Party Fun

October 19, 2013/ Because Liada

Today we celebrated my daughters birthday. She wanted to have some friends over for tea and to have fun and play some games.

We made a tea cup shaped cake for her. I started by baking a chocolate cake (it was actually a recipe and a half) in a pie plate and in a stainless steel bowl which were well greased and floured. This is what it looked like just as I was beginning to frost the two pieces.

If you've never done a shaped cake before, it's very simple, it's more about the illusion than for the cake to look exactly like the item. I know my cake has a hollow in the center in the top where the cake settled a bit, but we have a plan for that.

You'll need to put on at least two coats of frosting. The first coat is a crumb coat and seals in any crumbs so don't worry if it doesn't look great after the first coat. After you put on the second coat, you need to let the cake sit awhile so the frosting firms up so you can smooth it out. Here's the cake after the first coat of frosting. (If you usually use canned frosting, I do not know if that will firm up like it should to smooth it out. I use homemade frosting for this.)

After you get the second coat on, take a piece of wax paper gently rub the frosting with your finger through the wax paper to smooth the frosting. If the frosting sticks to the wax paper, you have not let the cake sit long enough. Smooth the frosting out to as smooth a texture as you desire.

For my frosting, I use paste food colorings, they give great color and last forever. It is very convenient to store them in an egg carton.

Here's the finished cake. My daughter had asked me if we could make it look like it had hot chocolate in it so I figured the marshmallows was a perfect solution to the hollow in the center. I made the handle out of card stock. It actually could have used another coat of frosting to cover some areas a bit more but I figured the flowers would hide or at least distract from that.

Then it was time for some dress up fun. My girls had hauled down a mountain of their dress up stuff. The girls had a blast, they were all so cute.

Then it was time for some games. Now what you are about to see is quite possibly the most ridiculous game known to man and there is not anyone who plays it who can escape looking stupid...so just get over it and have fun.

This is a game my mother use to have us play at my birthday parties when I was a child, and we loved it. I have used this game with both children and adults and I have used at a townwide harvest event and it was well received. So if you are looking for something new and silly, give this a try. First, you tie some curling ribbon or twine around the victims, I mean the participants, waist. Then you tie a piece hanging down in the back kind of like a tail. At the end of the piece of twine, tie on a carrot. Have each player squat over a jar, I used wide mouth canning jars but smaller mouth jars are more challenging. Each player must squat down and try to be the first to get their carrot in the jar....pure silliness, guaranteed laughs. If you want to add more challenge to this: give the carrot a good swing just as you say "go". The higher up you tie the carrot, the more challenging, but don't tie it up so high that they can't see it if they look through their legs or twist to the side. Like I said, you can't escape looking silly playing this game.

Then a game outside...the kids played an apple relay race where they had to carry an apple under their chins and when they passed the apple, they could not use their hands.

My daughter and her friends had a wonderful time on this perfect fall day. Thank you Lord for good friends and good times.

September 29, 2013

Free: 31 Days of Journaling Through Scripture

September 29, 2013/ Because Liada

Are you looking for faith based journaling prompts? .

We have a new downloadable PDF available for free called: "31 Days of Journaling Through Scripture". This download is perfect if you need something to help keep your journaling focused on the Word of God. Each day you will be given one key word and an accompanying scripture. In addition you will be given instructions on what to write about. Each day you will be guided in your journaling with prompts which will

build your faith
fill you with praise for the Lord
challenge you to confess things to the Lord
and more.

As an example this is day #7 journal prompt from the download:

"Caring: Philippians 2:4 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Today make a list and write about all the people who come to mind for whom you could do a caring act. But remember, a list is no good without action following the creation of the list."

If you want to spend 1 month journaling through scripture, "31 Days of Journaling Through Scripture " is just the thing, download and enjoy.

Also: As this is our original content, please feel free to post information regarding this on your own blog or website, however, please link back here for the download. Thanks so much.

September 15, 2013

Mixed Media Journal Art Page - I do not remember crayons being this much fun!

September 15, 2013/ Because Liada

My daughter and I have been having a blast trying out different art techniques. The bible study I am in the process of writing has a different mixed media art journal page which you create to go along with each lesson. We've had fun experimenting with the art mediums and techniques to find which ones go best with which lessons in the study and well, you know, just playing with art supplies. But...Oh my goodness did we have fun with this new technique...and as I said before, this makes crayons even more fun as an adult! Then to top it off, I had these vintage ledger pages from a tobacco manufacturers cigar ledger which I purchased and they have that oh so perfect vintagy discoloration which is just delightful. I am really excited about this study, it walks you through the process of learning about yourself, about learning who you are as a child of the King, finding out what your spiritual God given gifts are, embracing your life story and giving God victory over past hurts. In the process of working through the study, you create a mixed media art journal which is uniquely you, uniquely your life story. I can't really get into how this page was done right now, but all the directions will be in the study. I will also post directions on the blog for a couple of the techniques eventually.

It has been fun to work on creating my own book, to lay out my life story in this manner and really think about who I am as a beloved child of Christ, but it's been especially fun to figure out the techniques for you all to use to create your own personal journal.

God does not want us living stuck in a rut being dragged down by our pasts, He wants us living a victorious life. He wants you to know about all the awesome, unique, hand selected gifts He has put inside you and He wants you using them. He wants you to believe you can do it, because you can through Him, and He wants you to be free to be you, to take flight and be all you can be. If you are interested in hearing when this bible study is finished, just email me and I can put you on the email list. In the meantime....go...live life abundantly, and if you haven't been living that way, start today.

Because Life Is A Daring Adventure