Decorate Your Own Mug

For a wedding I recently attended, I decided to make the wedding gift. I loved receiving personalized gifts when I got married, so I decided to think they may like it as well.

For this project/gift idea you will need:

• mug(s)
• porcelain paint pen
• coffee or tea (if you intend to fill the mugs)

I bought these plain white mugs at Target.

I bought this porcelain paint pen at Michaels. But they didn’t have a huge selection, so I wish I would have had time to just order it online.

The great part about porcelain paint is that it isn’t permanent until you bake it! So you can take water and rags and restart as many times as you want! I chose to write “Good Morning Beautiful” and “Good Morning Handsome”, then their wedding date, and a small heart.

Once I was happy with my writing, I baked the mugs for 30min at 300. The instructions were on the paint pen, so make sure you follow whatever your paint calls for.

 

I enjoyed decorating the mugs and intend on trying out different things with my porcelain paint pen!!

The Hiding Place

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Genre- Autobiography/WWII

Age Recommendation- 12+ (real stories of a concentration camp during WWII)

Summary– This is life story of Corrie Ten Boom, a middle-aged woman who lived with her family in Holland, working in her family’s watch shop. Her dull life is interrupted by the invasion of the Nazi troops. When she and her sister Betsie decide to hide Jews, their lives become less dull than they could have imagined. After being sent to a concentration camp, Corrie and Betsie lean on their faith to get through the horrors. This is not simply a story of survival, but one of forgiveness and grace. Full Summary

Why I Love This Book– I love this book because of the powerful story of faith in the midst of real life. During one of the world’s worst tragedies, Corrie never gave up hope and shared that with others. It is a story of truly giving your life for others. And like her Savior, Corrie learns to forgive the ones who made her life so horrible, the Nazi guards. Corrie is one of my heroes, a true woman of God.

This is a great book for mother/daughters to read together. It brings up the difficult question, why does God let bad things happen? And how do Christians trust God in the midst of awful things? I would highly recommend a younger person having an adult to process through these with you.

Corrie and her family in 1902

Mistborn Trilogy

The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

• Mistborn
• The Well of Ascension
• The Hero of Ages

Genre- Fantasy/Epic Fantasy (If you love The Lord of the Rings, you’ll love this series)

Age Recommendation- 14+ (for violence and heavy/deep material)

Summary- This trilogy is about a revolution, a fight for a better world, led by a man named Kelsier against the immortal Lord Ruler. They live in a world where some have the gift of allomancy, the ability to burn metals and gain a power (see the table below for a more thorough explanation). Few are mistborn, able to burn every metal. Kelsier, a thief as well as a mistborn, gathers a group of the best thieves and allomancers to help him overthrow the Lord Ruler. While gathering his crew, he recruits a young girl and mistborn named Vin with major trust issues. Kelsier trains Vin to use her powers as they begin to fight for the skaa, the working class. Vin discovers herself thrust into a new life of friendship, love, and something to believe in. As she grows into herself, she is forced to discover who she is. With the revolution on the move, nothing seems as easy or as ideal as they expected. For a full summary of Mistborn: click here.

Why I Love It- I love this book for many of the same reasons I love to study revolutions (did I mention I was a history major?). Sanderson created this incredible world and completely sucks you into it. Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, and every character is complex and real. Each person struggles with the ideas of justice vs. vengeance, right vs wrong, and perception vs reality. To build a new world, these characters must work through the the complicated question of what government should be and how to best serve everyone. One of the best parts of this book is that Sanderson actually wraps up EVERYTHING. There are no loose ends, but a beautiful ending. I cried for sorrow and joy (I cry a lot, don’t worry) while I finished this series.

Sanderson went on to write another book, The Alloy of Law, about this same world 300 years after Kelsier and Vin. I just read it and enjoyed it very much! When I found an author I love, I tend to read all their writings :)

The Hunger Games

Since the movie comes in just a little less than two weeks, I thought I would share my thoughts on The Hunger Games series. (I promise, all my book suggestions won’t all be series!)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• The Hunger Games
• Catching Fire
• Mockingjay

Genre- Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy (I personally think, more Sci-Fi than Fantasy)

Age Recommendation- 15+ for violence (I mean, it’s modern/futuristic gladiator)

Summary- The story is set in Panem, a country in North America. Panem is made up of 12 Districts and ruled by the Capitol. When the Districts rebelled (74 years previous to the story), District 13 was destroyed and the Capitol set the Hunger Games as a reminder of their victory and dominion. Each year, every district puts their children’s names, ages 12-18, into the lottery, and one girl and one boy are chosen to participate. The chosen children, the tributes, are sent to the Capitol to fight to the death in a specially designed arena, while the rest of the country is forced to watch the broadcast. The last tribute alive wins. Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12, finds herself as tribute after volunteering to take her little sister’s place. Peeta Mellark is chosen as the boy from her District. They are faced with the ultimate struggle: surviving. Katniss must find her identity, decide what is worth dying for, and what is worth killing for. Click here for the full summary.

Why I Love it- Collins is an amazing writer! She makes her characters come to life, not to mention the entire country of Panem. The series is truly about the rebellion of Panem against the Capitol and the role that Katniss plays in that revolt. I love watching Katniss decide what she believes in and who she will support. Who doesn’t love a strong female protagonist?? Another reason I love this series is because of Peeta. He is a genuinely kind, wonderful man. In a world full of chaos, he is sure of who he is and who he will not become. The world could use more men like Peeta. Collins also deals with the reality of killing- the painful aftermath of the memories and nightmares. Katniss is broken after the Games. She is haunted by those who have died and feels she has failed to keep those she loves safe. These books deal with very real, awful results of war.

I am SUPER excited for the movie. They have chosen an awesome cast, and I’m eager to see Panem come to life. And lets be real, I’m pumped to see Peeta and Gale. :) These books are a quick read. I would highly recommend reading the first one before seeing the film- you can do it.

Katniss (Jennifer Lawerence) using her most deadly skill… Let the Games begin!

Goodreads

If you are an avid reader, I highly recommend signing up for goodreads.com. It’s awesome!!! It’s like facebook for readers. You have friends on the website and their statuses (as well as your own) are the books you and they are currently reading. You have a list of books you’ve read and you want to read. When you finish reading a book, you rate the book (based on 5 stars) and can write a review if you want (for your friends to see). I’ve found so many books to read from it!

These are my favorite things about goodreads:

Listopia- They have lists and lists of books by genre!!! The lists include, but are not limited to: Best Historical Fiction, Best Books of the Decades: 1990s, Best Crimes and Mystery, Can’t Wait Books of 2012, The Worst Books of All Time, Best Books of the 20th Century, Books That Should Be Made into Movies, Best Fantasy, etc. It’s really fun to go to a list and find new books!

Your Recommendations– They create recommendation lists for each person based on their read and to read lists. My recommendations fall under: my interest in classics, science fiction, fantasy, young adult, romance, read shelf, and to read shelf. Your recommendations would fall under your interests.

Quotes– I use quotes for my cards and craft projects and goodreads is the perfect place to find quotes. They have a quotes section with more quotes than you could imagine. When you like a quote, you can add it to your quotes and always have them marked for you.

Stats– I find a lot of satisfaction in seeing all the books I’ve read. Under my stats, I can see the number of books I’ve read, pages I’ve read, and what year the books I read are published. To give you an example of my  fanatical reading habits, last year I read 60 books with 26,343 pages total.

Keeping Up With Friends– This isn’t a section or anything,  I just love that I can see what my friends are reading. Most of my friends on goodreads don’t live by me, and it helps me stay connected with them based around our shared love of reading.

Obviously, this site would not be a favorite of anyone who doesn’t love to read. But if you are a reader, or want to become a reader, goodreads is a great place to be a part of!!! If you have any questions about how to use it, feel free to ask!

Mark of the Lion Series

I LOVE to read. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. So I thought I’d add a few book recommendations to my blog. I’ll try to keep this format and always include the link to goodreads.

Mark of the Lion (series) by Francine Rivers-

•  A Voice in the Wind
• An Echo in the Darkness
• As Sure as the Dawn

Genre- Christian historical fiction/romance

Age Recommendation– 15+

Summary– The story follows a young Christian Hebrew, Hadassah, who is taken as a slave when Rome conquers Jerusalem.       She  is sold to the Valerian family in Rome. It also follows the journey of a German who is taken to be a gladiator.  Hadassah is given to serve the youngest of the Valerian household, Julia. Hadassah’s faith changes the life of this family and this gladiator. And she and Marcus Valerian share a beautiful love story. For a full summary, follow this link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95602.Mark_of_the_Lion_Trilogy

Why I love it- There are so MANY reasons I love this series. First, the sweet love story. I am a romantic at heart and Rivers is an amazing writer who truly captures emotions. ((Don’t worry, no crazy sex stuff.)) Second, Hadassah’s prayer life changed my own. Seeing Hadassah’s faith lived out helped me better understand what it means to truly be clothed in Christ. Third, I love the history. Rivers did her homework and the ancient Roman world comes to life.

I would highly recommend anything written by Francine Rivers!!! She is a wonderful Christian author. But this series is my favorite of her works! (I also love maps and included this one to encourage you to get into the Roman empire)