Edie Wadsworth

This is Day 27 of our 31 Days of Less and More series.  To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

“I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel.  Life is art.”

There is absolutely nothing in my house that inspires me more than the collections of things I love—whether it be walls full of beautiful, meaningful art, or a stack of old, tattered books.   We all have made the mistake of buying stuff for our walls or our homes, just because it seemed in style or was the “right” color.  Those things will probably look like clutter in a year or two and end up in a yard sale.  But if we fill our homes with things we love—things that are meaningful and useful and beautiful—then we will begin making our homes a reflection of our hearts.

We want to create spaces that inspire us into becoming what we were made to be.

When we rebuilt our house after the fire, I was very intentional about creating a certain environment in my house.  It took me a while to collect things that I dearly loved.  I was homeschooling our girls at the time (read here about Why I Gave Up Homeschooling) and I wanted our home to inspire learning and thinking and appreciating the beauty all around us.  It’s not perfect, but it does teach a lesson all on its own.  The gallery wall beckons you to create and paint, the workroom begs you to pick up a book and read.

Our homes are sending a message loud and clear.

Have we been intentional about what that message is?  Is it time to rewrite that message with something more in line with our passions and beliefs?   I know it can feel overwhelming to begin.  I’ve started from scratch before, too.  But, it’s so worth the time and effort you will spend in editing your spaces—removing stuff that’s cluttering up your life and adding things that make your house a home.

Your house is not a showroom.  It’s a very personal, living space.  It’s where you are raising children, cooking meals, making a marriage work, making dreams come true.  It’s the most important place you spend your time, second only to your place of worship.  Don’t be afraid to make it your own.  Don’t worry about decorating rules.  Surround yourself with the things you love—things that inspire you to be a better mom, wife, chef, photographer, listener, nurse, lover…………

All of life is art.  Embrace it with full abandon.

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Here are 10 ways to add beautiful, meaningful art to your home:

1.  Make a gallery wall, full of your favorite pieces

2.  Print some oversize photos and mount to foam board.

3.  Frame meaningful prints.

4.  Frame children’s art work. (see the chicken above!)

5.  Shop thrift stores for oil paintings.

6.  Paint an abstract painting yourself.

7.  Tape posters to the wall using duct or washi tape.

8.  Group like things together in collections.

9.  Take everything out of the room for awhile and let the room breathe.

10.  When you put things back into your spaces, edit them so that it only contains things you love.

 Challenge Day 22:  Take a walk through your home and ask yourself,  “What is the unspoken message my home sends?”  Consider following in the footsteps of our dear friend, Myquillin, and pick one room to completely clear the surfaces.  Take everything off of every horizontal surface and leave it that way for 24 hours and see how that feels.  Once you’ve experienced a whole day of clutter free living, take some time to put back only the things you love.  Take before and after photos and share on Instagram or Facebook, using the hashtag #31dayslessmore.

(unable to source the author of the quote.  any help?)

Be sure to check out Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Surface Clutter.

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Today in celebration of art, we’re giving away a copy of  some great new music by Reeve Coobs – singer, songwriter,  and artist. Reeve’s new album What Love is All About officially releases this week and you can win a copy simply by leaving a comment.  Giveaway closes at midnight. Here’s a little sampling of her beautiful voice!

This is Day 27 of our 31 Days of Less and More series.  To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artists takes it personally.  Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does. Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.   ~Seth Godin

We were made to create. Our giftings are all different, but we are all budding artists.  I didn’t grow up thinking of myself as an artist, as creative. But we are made in the image of God and when we are first introduced to Him in Genesis, He is creating the worlds and creating us.   We are His workmanship, His creation, and we bear His image in the world.  Maybe the truest thing you can say about us is that we are artists, designed by our Father,  to create.

From Emily Freeman’s Book, Million Little Ways, A: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live,

We may not all have the same skill or training as do painters or musicians, but we all bear the image of a creative God.  Being an artist has something to do with being brave enough to move toward what makes you come alive.  Art is what happens when you dare to be who you really are.  You have the capacity of doing that work that comes from deep within you that touches something deep within me.  We make art with our lives.

Art is  our offering to the world—where we begin, from our hurt and pain and struggle, to open our hearts and pour out our gifts to serve and bless our neighbor.  Art is not just a painting or a song, it is a pie and a kiss and the way you change the baby’s diaper. In other words, do something with your hands, your life, your heart, that blesses someone else.

Be brave, creative and bold and make art!

If you need some ideas to spark your creativity, here are a few of my favorite things to make for others!

• Linen Flower
• Make-Up Bag
• Dishmat (one of my favorite gifts to make!)
• Pumpkin Chipotle Soup
• Homemade bread

Join the Creatively Made Home Holidays course for a wealth of great, creative projects!  The course is in its 3rd week, but you have access to the projects for a full year and can watch the videos at your leisure. I’ve been so inspired by the projects of some of THE most creative, genuine women I know.

Challenge Day 28:  Spend some time today sorting and organizing your craft supplies.  Corral it all into one place.  Purge the things you know you’ll never use.  Find bins and containers for loose items and label everything.  Chances are, just this process alone will have you feeling more creative and inspired to get crafty.  Next, embrace your inner artist.  You were made to create.  Use our suggestions to look for a small project that you can complete in an hour or two.  Carve out some time today to create!  Share your latest project with us on Instagram or Facebook.  Use the hashtag #31dayslessmore

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Craft Clutter.

This is Day 27 of our 31 Days of Less and More series.  To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

Sleepy greetings from Allume!  I’ve had such a wonderful weekend and can’t wait to tell you about it!

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One of the most brilliant ideas I ever had was to turn our garage into a homeschool room.  That was 3 houses ago, but I don’t think I’ve done anything more clever since.

I have big plans for better use of our current garage space, but for now, I’ll just pretend like it looks like one of these photos below.

Think outside the box with your garage space.  Maybe you’d be better served by:

A wrapping station

A home office

Art studio

 

And even if it has to be a catch all (which mine does), it can still be beautiful.  Maybe someday……..

via

Challenge Day 27:  Take an honest look at the current state of your garage.  Are you happy with how you are using the space?  Do you envision something more?  Is there a way to better use the space to serve the needs of your family?  Vow to tackle one section of the space today.  Clear the clutter, organize or clean that one small area and make a plan to tackle another section soon.  Take before and after photos and share them with us on Instagram, using the hashtag #31dayslessmore.

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Garage Clutter.

“What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life–to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?”

We all have the same one hundred reasons why marriage and kids and family life are hard.  Life is just hard.  And life with people?  Even harder. This life takes work and nothing will require more commitment and soul-searching than marriage.  But, it’s so worth it.

This is the  most important relationship and it often falls to last on our list.  We cook the best meals and wear the best clothes for someone else.  We clean the house and use the best dishes when company is coming.

And it’s time to reorder ourselves.

This person should come first—this person, with whom we share our beds and our struggle.   We should make it our business to know what he likes and what he doesn’t.  We should make it our  life’s mission to serve him, above all others.

See him with new eyes and study him.  How can you help him?  How can you ease his burden?  How can you make him laugh?

Stop keeping score and just flirt with him, love and serve him.

You know him best so this won’t be hard for you!

 Challenge Day 26:  Spend some time today turning your bedroom into the haven it should be.  Make the bed, then clear the clutter from the dressers and put away the pile of laundry or things that don’t belong.  Dust & windex any dirty surfaces, then light some scented candles to help create a relaxing mood.  Next, make intimacy a priority.  Do something to let your husband know how much he means to you.  It could be as simple as a sweet text to let him know you are thinking of him today.  It could be a love note (Crystal is great at making this a priority!), a special meal, or a back rub after the kids have gone to bed.  It might help to revisit your wedding pictures and remember the joys of young love.  Kiss him like you mean it.

Be sure to read Ruth’s post, Less Bedroom Clutter

This is Day 25 of our 31 Days of Less and More series.  To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

A woman of true beauty is a woman who in the depths of her soul is at rest.  She exudes a sense of calm, and invites those around her to rest as well.  She speaks comfor, she offers others the grace to be and the room to become.  In her presence, we can release the tension and pressure that so often grip our hearts.  Her spacious beautiful soul invites other to come, to be, to taste see that the Lord is good.  A woman who makes herself vulnerable and available for intimacy invites others to do the same.  In her presence, you can breathe again, you are free to be you.  She unveils her beauty and invites you to life.  ~Staci Eldredge

I read the book Captivating Revised & Updated: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul, by Staci Eldredge, many years ago.  It changed everything about my perception of myself and what I have to offer the world.  They devote a whole chapter to the power of a woman truly ‘unveiling her beauty’ to those around her.   I’ve given this book to my daughter to read because it changed the way I saw my own physical and spiritual life.  She describes the essence of a woman as beauty; that ‘Eve’ (woman) is the very incarnation in human form of the beauty of God.

And they go on to describe that beauty is not some ‘conjured up’ set of external qualities, but is instead the essence of what God has already put inside of us. We don’t strive to ‘gin up’ beauty, we simply let down the veil—to our hearts—to the part of us that inspires, comforts, speaks, invites, and nourishes. We let down our guard to the beauty God has placed there, making ourselves available and vulnerable. And we do that by being ‘at rest’, ‘at peace’ with who God has made us to be.

Here are my favorite tips and products on making the outside match the inside!

• Smile and smile some more—True beauty comes from the heart. Attitude is everything. You can be a stunning runway model with a crabby face and matching attitude and your beauty will be scarred. But you can seek to put others first and be a good listener and smile and your beauty factor is magnified times one hundred. And it’s free so be generous with it.
• Beauty products that you must have—I wrote a whole post and made a dorky video about all the products I love.   Add to that #2 concealer from Laura Mercier.  Then add more eye shadow and you can be Tammy Faye like me!
• Hair products—I love Kate’s blog and all her hair recommendations!
• Fashion for moms- I wrote a whole post about this too.  Check it!

 Challenge Day 25:  Clean out your bathroom.  Purge the unnecessary—get rid of stuff you don’t use, duplicates, or items that are past their prime.  Find an out-of-the-way place to store the items you might eventually use, then work at creating a simple, organized system to streamline your bathroom routine.  Next, think about your best facial feature.  Is it your eyes, your lips, you hair?  What small changes can you make to accentuate your beautiful self?  It could be as simple as a wearing lipstick or mascara everyday.  Or just vowing to smile more.

 

Be sure to read Ruth’s corresponding post, Less Bathroom Clutter.

This is Day 24 of our 31 Days of Less and More series. To read all the posts in order, start with Day 1 and check out our overview page to see the topics for the entire month.

 Food is capable of feeding far more than a rumbling stomach. Food is life; our well-being demands it. Food is art and magic; it evokes emotion and colors memory, and in skilled hands, meals become greater than the sum of their ingredients. Food is self-evident; plucked right from the ground or vine or sea, its power to delight is immediate. ~Anthony Beal

Food is all that, and more, but it has become such an afterthought in our society.  To that, I say—slow down.  Enjoy the mystery that nourishes us all.  Take time to learn to cook, for sure.  And when you do, you’ll need a well-stocked pantry to cook from.  Having what you need on hand  lowers the barrier to cooking and baking.

I buy things in bulk or when they’re on sale and my pantry shelves are usually well-stocked, but it’s so easy to let it get out of hand, which leads to waste.  Just like every other part of my house, I am motivated by beauty.   So, I find that if I makes things pretty, I’m drawn to them, more apt to tend to them, and more apt to use them well.

Let’s make a pretty pantry, shall we?  (And here’s the download for the pantry stocking list!)

1. Decide on some pretty containers.

I use large glass containers (from Walmart)  for my baking supplies and keep them on the counter, ready to use!  For my dry goods, I use plastic containers (also from Walmart) and add pretty homemade labels. If you have a closet pantry, you might want a combination of baskets, glassware, and  plastic containers.

2. Labels, labels, labels

You can get fancy with this and order labels from an online shop.  I just printed my labels at home, using the champignon font at 200.  I then use clear packing tape to tape them on.  When they get dirty or dusty, I can always redo them and change the font around, if I want.

3. Take everything out

Start with a clean slate.  Take everything out of the pantry or off the shelves and group like items together.  Discard items that are expired or no longer edible. You might discover that you’ve been hoarding pasta or cake mixes, in my case.  Consider purchasing uniform containers for things like pasta, rice, and baking goods.  You’ll save space and mess if you have those items stored in airtight, uniform containers.  Wipe all the surfaces clean.

4. Put it back pretty.

I personally find lots of food packaging pretty, so I try to arrange them on my shelves so that the pretty side shows.  The uniform containers are nice for this, too, because they let you see what you have and if/when you’re running low.

5.  Maintain it.

Once a month, when you do your biggest grocery shopping trip, it won’t take long at all to revisit the pantry. If you’re like me, the kids have rearranged a lot of things in a short amount of time. Better yet, add that to their list of chores.  My girls have been wanting some new shorts for ballet, so I had them take everything out of the pantry, clean the shelves, and put everything back in order to earn their shorts.  It’s a win-win.  They get to practice very helpful task and I get a clean pantry.  I was gonna buy the shorts anyways!

*Remember, all of this organization and beautifying is so we can make our kitchens places of nourishment for the body and soul.

Challenge Day 24:  Make a date with your pantry today.  Think about what containers you need and wash them out or purchase what you need.  Create or purchase labels.  Take everything out, sort it by type, then put it back and make it pretty.  Next, make a meal plan for the next week that uses up all the food you forgot you had on hand.  For inspiration check out Edie’s recipes here or my recipes here.  Snap a photo of your pretty pantry and share it with us on Instagram or Facebook!  Be sure to use the hashtag #31DaysLessMore

Read Ruth’s corresponding post here, Less Kitchen Confusion and read Crystal’s insights on Less Paper Clutter/More Filing!