I was visting my friend, Kelly, when I noticed her awesome mantle. I took a picture of it, so I could share with you guys what makes this arrangement so successful.

1. Balance –  Instead of making things symmetrical, she chose to create a sense of balance by offsetting the largest item and varying the height and size of the surrounding items. She placed the large portrait on the far right and balanced it on the other side with multiple medium sized items. She then used small items throughout to fill the gaps.

2. Pops of Color – Using a lot of items in your arrangement can potentially make it look cluttered. By picking key items that visually pop and keeping the rest neutral, you can prevent things from looking too busy.

3. Use What You Have – Instead of spending a lot of money on new decorations, she resused items she had left over from her wedding, so not only was she able to do this project for almost nothing, most of these items have personal significance.

What are some ideas you’ve used to decorate your mantle?

Saw these nails on Pinterest and thought I’d give them a try for tonight’s party. Not terrible for a first try.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Items Needed:

Paperback Book
12″ Foam Wreath
Pins
Tape
Paper Plate

First, cut the pages out of a paperback book and tape them into a cone shape. Then pin them to the back of the foam wreath using a t-pin.

Once you are done the the back layer, start on your second layer by folding the bottom of the cone shape so it’s shorter than the back layer.

Pin it to the top of the frontside of the foam wreath.

Overlap each layer slightly.

Once you are finished with the first two layers, pin the third to front of the foam wreath, fold it over and pin it to the back side.

I used tape because I was getting low on pins but you could do either.

You could stop here and add ribbon to hang from a door or go on to the next steps. I wanted to hang this over our guest bed so I added a little more.

Make a pin wheel out of the cones and tape them together. Then add another two layers to it making them shorter as you layer them.

Lastly, pin a paper plate to the back of the wreath so you have something to attach the pin wheel to.

You can also use the paper plate on the back to help mount it to the wall. I made a hole in the top of the plate to attach to a 3M hook and stuck it to the wall. A nail would also work.

Love to see how yours turns out. Send pictures to blog@amandaholder.com.

This was probably a medium level project and having certain tools went a long way in making this possible. First off, I created this in Illustrator, so I could play with the layout and different fonts until I could get it just the way I wanted. Next, I used my friend’s silhouette machine to make stencils of the letters I created. Such a cool device! Definitely going to be saving up for one of these.

I then painted a 3′ x 3′ piece of plywood I had leftover from a previous project. I tried to do a sloppy job, so you could see the wood underneath especially on the edges. The idea is to make it look worn.

After the paint dried, I taped the stencils to the board. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of starting at the top corner and working my way down. When I finished, there was way too much space at the bottom, so I had to start over. I probably repositioned them three or four times before I pulled out the ruler. Note: do it right the first time and save yourself the headache.

After I got the stencils just right, I pulled out the white paint and started to color them in. I also did a sloppy job with this so it looked the white paint had faded over time. Getting the technique just right took a bit of time and about 3 coats of paint.

Another helpful tool was the type of paintbrush I used. Instead of a standard paintbrush, I used a stippling brush. They have stiffer bristles so you have more control.

When the white paint dried, I mixed in some light brown with the white paint and added random strokes to make the letters look yellowed and faded. This went a long way in making the letters look aged.

After I removed the stencils, I had to do a bit of touching up because when your painting technique is intentionally sloppy it’s difficult to not mess up. Plus the stencils were regular printer paper, so they weren’t as stiff as they probably needed to be

Luckily, it was really easy touch everything up. I just used a small paint brush and went along the edges where the paint bled underneath the paper.

The last thing I did was take the brown paint and add strokes over the enter board so the yellowing was consistent over the entire sign, not just the letters. This added a lot of texture to the sign and really made it look vintage.

One of the easiest updos ever! You can take a simple ponytail to a cute updo in under 60 seconds.

Separate the ponytail into two pieces. Tie the two pieces into a knot. Repeat. Twist the ends around the elastic at the bast of the bun. Pin down.

Here’s a quick video if you need a little more help (I’m a visual person too. I need to see it to get it).

Charlie had the idea to break the Scoutmob record of 14 deals in one day. We ended up doing 20 deals, and it was such a great day! We started at 10:45am and finished karaoke around 1am. We spent a total of $126.56 including tips and saved $123.15, which is pretty awesome for as much as we did.

It was super easy. Tease. Part the front. Add headbands. Comb back behind headbands. Put in ponytail.

I have sensitive skin and shaving really irritates it, so I was told to try body oil instead. Not only did it help with my skin, it has a ton of added benefits. With body oil, you don’t have to moisturize after shaving because the oil stays on your skin even after shaving and doesn’t have the added chemicals lotions do that can further irritate your skin.

Another awesome thing is you dont have to be in the shower to shave anymore. If you are in a hurry, just rub on some oil, shave, and go. No messy clean up. You could also pack a travel size bottle and a razor with you for emergencies, like when you are sitting in the car and can see all the hair you missed in the full daylight. My knees are the worst. If someone has a tip for shaving knees, please share.

I use Neutrogena Body Oil, it has a subtle scent and works great, but I’m sure any body oil would work. Try it out and let me know what you guys think.

We love almost everything about living in the city: the restaurants, new places to visit, and especially all the people we are forming new relationships with. However, there was one thing I knew when moving down here would be a bit of a sacrifice, the commute. On a good day, I’m in the car for about an hour and a half. To put it plainly, it sucks. Yet God has a funny way of using bad things to bring about good.

My friend, Michelle, gave me the idea of turning off the radio in my car and spending that time in the car praying. It has been great. It’s amazing when you sit in silence what you are able to hear. Here are a few of the revelations I’ve had.

1. Church planting makes you take ownership of your faith. It’s probably similar to what happens when you first have children. When you realize that the decisions you make affect other people’s faiths, you make sure you know what you’re doing.

2. My “idol” is comfort. I’ve been reading a book, No Other Gods, that talks about what things you put before God, and I’ve struggled with what mine was. After some long talks with God, I’ve realized almost everything I seek (or shy away from) involves my comfort.
-I spend too much time on the computer and watching tv, and not enough time serving others, my husband included.
-I don’t like meeting new people because it makes me uncomfortable, so I don’t make an effort to meet my neighbors, which was one of the big reason we moved into the city.
- I shutter at the thought of moving to another country to share my faith with people that will never get the chance to hear the name Jesus because that is so out of my comfort zone I wouldn’t even know what to do with myself.

3. I need to work a lot harder at being a wife. My friend, Jen, sent me an email with things to pray for your husband for a month. As I go through them and ask God to make my husband a leader in our marriage and make him faithful to our vows to love and cherish, I begin to wonder how am I following those vows; what am I doing to cherish my husband? Makes me realize what people mean by marriage is hard work. It’s more than just trying to live with another person.

Most of these thoughts don’t have a conclusion and aren’t wrapped up in a tidy bow. Mostly because I’m still working through what a lot of these mean. But I am so grateful to be given the chance to be aware of these things and work on them.