Strength for Today

We hope that this art video and Joshua 1:9 will remind us to stay strong and courageous no matter what we are going through during this time.

Joshua 1 New International Version (NIV)

Joshua Installed as Leader

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips;meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

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Making a Fairy House Garden

Kris and I love gardening. Last summer of 2018 we wanted to take it to a different level by experimenting on making a fairy house garden. It was a trial and error that turned out very well.

We got our materials from Bunnings and Warehouse (our favourite shops). I swear Kris and I go to that place every other week to have a window shopping date. We can stay there for half a day or even a whole day. They have got amazing coffee and food too.

We were so excited to start the project when we got home. I must confess it was me who was the most enthusiastic about this project. LOL! As evidenced by the photos.

When I was a kid I believed in fairies as tiny as Thumbelina from a children’s classic fairytale book. I must have kept the unconscious drive to build a house for the fairies since I was young.

It’s not easy to purposely break a perfect and new terracotta pot and I was hesitating to smash it with the hammer. I felt bad doing it but eventually reassured to know that I am making a beautiful fairy house project.

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I started to fill the broken pot with the soil and used the broken pieces to hold the soil in place. Then I planted the flowers at the top and succulents at the bottom. Lastly, I placed the fairy house and decorated the walk path with the white pebbles. It’s that easy! Trust me.

Surprisingly, I did not realise that the fairy house light up in the dark!!What a delight to see it glowing in the garden at night. I could imagine small fairies flying around it, making their dinner then getting ready for bed.

You too could enjoy this simple project at home. For sure kids and adults would love to get involved with this great idea. It’s like gardening with a twist of art and fairytale. It’s also a reminder of something broken which may not be made whole again but can be turned into something beautiful. Gosh! it gave me a life lesson too.

Thinking of making one as well? Here’s a list of the things that you need.

1. Large Terracotta Pot
2. Soil
3. Fairy House
4. Flowers
5. Succulents
6. White pebbles
7. Hammer

Enjoy! 🙂

Let’s Paint Together

Bird of Paradise

Few weeks ago Kris and I went to the City to buy his art supplies.

I look forward doing art supply shopping with Kris as I love looking at those beautiful display of colors in every corner of the art shop plus I get to buy tiny bits of pieces for myself such as color pencils and pens.

I won’t be doing anything that afternoon anyway so I randomly picked a table top easel, paint brushes, a small canvass and a few pieces of paint on sale.

My husband is a very talented artist who has done a lot of art shows and sold hundreds of paintings. He has been encouraging me to get back to my passion in drawing and painting so we could share the same hobby together. Wouldn’t be fun to paint and exhibit together as a couple? So, with no questions asked he’s gladly added my stuff to his cart.

I was so excited to get started as I opened my bag of art goodies. Kris set up my table top easel and taught me color priming techniques. He is a very good art teacher.

Looking for inspirations is not really that hard. I thought of things that makes me happy and for some reason I chose to paint the bird of paradise plant because of it’s brilliant colour that reminds me of tropical places like home in the Philippines.

Sketching on the plant was not that hard as I have been doing it before but I got a bit nervous picking up my new brush and dipping it to the acrylic paint then brushing it to the canvass. Kris taught me not to be scared as I can just cover mistakes with another layer color on top and just relax and enjoy!

True enough, I finished my painting that day and was very proud of my achievement. Thanks to my incredible art teacher/husband.

I came to realise it’s not too late to re visit an old passion and talent. It has always been there inside of me but I was just busy with some other things as well.

For some of you reading my blog, my paintbrush could be your book, a novel, a ball of yarn and needle, a fishing rod, it can be anything you love doing but somewhere sometime in the past you forgot about it.

Well, why don’t you re visit your old passion and re-connect with the things that you love doing most? It’s definitely worth the try!

If you wanna check my husband’s art pieces just visit his website at krisancog.com or search Kris Ancog on Instagram and Facebook.

Lots of L.O.V.E.

Aileen and Kris