DIY Map Canvas Art

Perhaps you have seen the wood stain map DIY projects on Pinterest, like the post from thehappierhomemaker.com. I was reminded of the project a few weeks ago, as one of my pastor's daughters made one. So as I was thinking through a final bonus project to reflect my personal change project for a course this semester, my original idea sort of meshed with this map project. The photo above is of my original project; a few folks commented on the photo and wanted to know how to make it, so here's the tutorial along with a second idea. I loved doing this...not very often do I get the opportunity to be creative and artsy with an assignment!
1. Gather up your supplies. You will need...

• a canvas of sorts (a true canvas, or get creative...my
  first map was done over a sign that was on clearance)
• a Gideon Bible or other background print
• paint in the color you would like your map to be
• "school" glue, or use your own decoupage 'recipe'
• exacto knife and mat/cardboard to cut on
• map print out (I printed/traced mine from here,
  which offers multiple options and sizes to print)
• a few tea bags (and a mug)
• sealant/glaze to protect the final product
• makeup sponge 
• disposable container and spoon for decoupage
• disposable plastic table cloth is helpful for easy clean-up and decoupage drying
• old sock or paper towels 

 2. Prep your decoupage (I guestimate about 1:3 glue:water ratio) and Bible pages (this involved deconstructing and trimming the pages).

3. Start dunking the pages in the decoupage one by one and placing them randomly on the canvas. You can take the corners like wrapping a present, folding the corners over. 

4. Continue layering the decoupage pages until the canvas is completely covered. If there are specific pages you would like on top, be sure to save those until the end and make them the final pages you decoupage on to the canvas.

5. While the decoupage is drying, cut out an outline of the map with the exacto knife. This is the most time consuming part of the process! But, once you have the 'stencil', it will be good for a couple of uses. I'm sure you could make a stencil out plastic/metal if you wanted to use it over and over again; I just used the paper print out though.  

6. Secure the 'stencil' to the canvas (I just used a couple pieces of tape on an edge or two). Obviously, the photo above show my stencil being used for the second time. There were a few spots on the map that had little pieces within the cutout, so I 'painted' around those pieces first so I could move them out of the way (i.e. the Great Lakes). I found that a makeup sponge piece worked great for this project; I know there are little stencil brushes out there, but this was available and worked great! Just dab the sponge in the paint and blot off the extra, then gently work around the outline, getting the full outer edges and working in to fill. 

7. Pull off the stencil to reveal the full map; this goes pretty quickly if you are using acrylic paint. 

8. Once everything is dry, add a couple of tea bag to a mug with a little bit of water; microwave for a minute or two to get the bags steeping. Let cool, or add a couple of ice cubes to cool the liquid off. Pull out a tea bag and squeeze off the excess liquid. Gently dab the tea bag over the canvas, following with an old sock or paper towel after every 6 or so inches to dab off the extra tea. Re-dunk and squeeze the tea bag as needed; if coloration starts to fade, switch to a new tea bag. I used two tea bags for each canvas.  

9, When the tea stain has dried, add a coat or two of protective 'varnish', or leave plain if you are framing with glass. Hang and enjoy!  

Bonus: Here's a photo of the additional canvas I did in the spirit of Christmas! I used pages only from the four Gospels, and the top layer includes many of the pages that contain the nativity story. 

That's all...hope this tutorial was helpful and may inspire your creativity! 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

It's November, and I signed up to bring a dessert for our World Impact Team meeting this past Sunday...you can bet that it was going to be something with pumpkin! That's just how I roll in the fall! For whatever reason, pumpkin cheesecake came to mind, and then my favorite cheesecake bars. So, I figured why not combine the two! The result...pure, everything fall should be, mildly pumpkin-y deliciousness! These were some pretty tasty cheesecake bars, but then I may be a bit biased! Though, there were happy campers at both Sunday meetings/fellowships and requests for the recipe...always a good indicator that you've found a recipe! Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Adapted from Bakerella
Yield: 8x8 inch pan (~20 mini bars)

Crust Ingredients: 
11/2 c. Biscoff cookies, ground in food processor to a fine crumb
2 T. brown sugar
4 T. butter, melted

Cheesecake Ingredients: 
2 (8 oz.) packages 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
11/2 T. flour
2 eggs
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

Ganache Ingredients: 
6 oz. heavy whipping cream
2 oz. butter
3/4 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Combine ground Biscoff cookies and sugar with fork.
2. Add melted butter and combine with form.
3. Press into a parchment paper lined 8x8 inch square baking pan.
4. Set crust aside.
5. Preheat oven to 325'F.
6. In a large bowl, cream sugar, cream cheese, and flour with an electric mixer.
7. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg.
8. Add pumpkin and vanilla; mix thoroughly.
9. Pour on prepared crust.
10. Bake at 325'F for about 45 minutes.
11. Remove and cool.
12. While cheesecake is cooling, heat cream and butter on stove until just before boiling.
13. Place chocolate chips in a medium mixing bowl.
14. Remove from stove and pour over chocolate chips; stir to combine.
15. Add powdered sugar; beat until combined and smooth.
16. Pour over cooled cheesecake.
17. Sprinkle with leftover cookie crumbs, if desired.
18. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
19. Life out of pan and cut into bars to serve.
20. Enjoy! :) And, try not to eat 4 or 5 of them!

"Too" Perspectives

I was recently having a conversation with some colleagues regarding our responses to "How are you?" (which is such a common courtesy question these days). Often, we acknowledge this question as its typically intended common courtesy with a quick answer of "good," "fine," or "busy" and are on our way. For those individuals asking that we have a bit more of a personal  relationship with, we can add to that answer a short description of what is going on; however, it tends to be with somewhat of an exhausted tone. And, for those who are oh-so-lucky to be our closest friends and family this question can turn in to a full blown complaint session or mini counseling session of how in the world we ended up with so many things on our plate. Quite simply, we are too busy and too stressed to enjoy the commitments we made...most likely out of original excitement for each individual project! So, when exactly did our enthusiasm for working on various projects turn into an exhausting to-do list? Perhaps when we failed to prioritize, said 'yes' one too many times, were offered that amazing opportunity that we just could not pass up, or set some absurd expectations of what I 'should' be doing at this point in life. Albeit there will be some external factors connected to stress levels and responsibilities, the one we can control is our personal choices of what we engage in and how we react to these matters of life.

This thought process came about as I sat in our church's prayer garden watching a beautiful sunset this past Monday night. On a scale of 1-10, with 9 being the point in which I would send out a message to some friends to pray for me and either cry, scream, or go buy some chocolate, I was at about an 8.5. Well, rather than doing any of the previous, I decided that going to pray in our prayer garden would be a better option in the 10 minutes I had between arriving at the church and when FAITH outreach would begin. I was stressed because I had a paper due that day that was not yet done, and growing with frustration for my inability to get all of my ideas and thoughts onto paper in a cohesive manner (and not in my typical write, reflect, revisit, final edition method I like to operate in for assignments). I was feeling guilty for taking a day out of my long weekend to spend some time in the kitchen rather than working on this paper; in hindsight, I probably should have taken time to write on Friday and then have kitchen time as a celebration. Regardless, I had not accomplished all that I wanted to on the long weekend, and knowing the busy week ahead, was feeling a bit overwhelmed. And, when I don't have the time to put into something I care about, I just get frustrated with myself and stressed out. So, what I realized while sitting there for those 10 minutes, was that I was being ridiculously hard on myself. This past semester, God has been teaching me SO much through my coursework regarding connections between my leadership work and missions; I was trying to process that dynamic along with my assignment at the same time. And for this internal processor, it was mental overload! My enthusiasm for those connections was rapidly decreasing as the minutes drew closer to the time I wanted to submit the assignment (aka before heading to the church). It was amazing to me what a difference those 10 minutes made on my perspective for the rest of the evening and now week. I finished the assignment after returning home from FAITH, and had a very focused work day on Tuesday. The more I think about this "too stressed" or "too busy" perspective, I have come to a few things I need to focus on as the semester's peak deadline weeks are approaching:
1. Remember that I have chosen to be "off balance-on purpose"! My schedule should reflect my priorities and values, and I should fully embrace those choices!
2. Don't let the amount of things to be done impact my enthusiasm for the projects as a whole! Some things may not be glamorous, but need to be done to reach the original purpose that engaged me in the first place!
3. When someone asks me how I am doing, respond by sharing something that I am excited to be working on instead of an exhausted and quick reply. (Seriously, call me out on this one!)

As leaders, we model the way for those around us; imagine if we began realizing our limitations based on our priorities, expecting quality and passion rather than quantity accomplished, and kept the :too blessed to be stressed' mantra in mind...how much more focused and productive could we be? It's going to take some (ok, a lot of) intentional effort, and some trial and error to get the off-balance to our liking...but, it's doable!

Maple-Butternut Squash Bread

In an effort to utilize some of my new maple-butternut squash butter, I decided to make some bread! This was a great and yummy decision/experiment. I have made bread with butternut squash before as a substitute for pumpkin, but had never tried it before with a butter. given that the butter is already sweetened and spiced, I did not add much to the bread in those areas. The bread has a nice flavor to it, but not too sweet; this is an ideal breakfast bread in my opinion. It also has the dense, oatmeal-like texture to it...yet another reason to enjoy it for breakfast. It's probably a good thing that I went with the mini loaf pans to share with a couple of friends...otherwise, there's no telling how quickly the larger loaf would have disappeared! I'm declaring this to be a successful experiment, and hope you enjoy as well!

Maple-Butternut Squash Bread

Ingredients: 
1 3/4 c. flour (all-purpose, whole wheat, or combo)
1 c. oat flour (just a tad over a cup of oats ground in the food processor)
1/4 c. flaxseed meal
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 c. maple-butternut squash butter
2 eggs
3/4 c. applesauce
1 c. coconut oil
1 T. maple syrup (the real stuff)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350'F.
2. Prepare pan(s). you could use a 9x5 in. loaf pan, 4 mini loaf pans, or make muffins.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flours, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a large bowl, combine maple-butternut squash butter, eggs, applesauce, oil, and syrup.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; stir gently just until incorporated. (It is a thicker batter.)
6. Drop into pan(s).
7. Bake at 350'F for ~60 minutes (single loaf), ~40 minutes (mini loaf pans), or ~25 minutes (muffins).

Enjoy plain, or slather on some additional maple-butternut squash butter! :)

Maple-Butternut Squash Butter

It has finally started feeling like fall, and I can hardly believe we are in November already! Thanks to Homecoming at UF, I have a 4-day weekend to catch up on life and try to get ahead as the end of the semester approaches. Of course, that means one of the first things on my to-do list was to get in the kitchen. I was inspired by my time in Canada last week, and this is what came to mind. After tasting it while cooking, and perhaps scraping the slow cooker to enjoy every last bit of it after getting the jars filled, I can attest that this is pretty good stuff! Can't wait to slather it on some biscuits or muffins! Enjoy!


Maple-Butternut Squash Butter
Yield: 12 half-pint jars
Ingredients: 
3 butternut squash, peeled and seeded (approximately 1 1/2 gallons cubed)
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 t. cinnamon
3 t. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
1. In a large pot, add butternut squash and cover with water; boil until soft.
2. Puree butternut squash in blender with just a little bit of the water from boiling.*
3. Add butternut squash puree to a large slow cooker.
4. Add maple syrup, brown sugar, and spices.
5. Cook on low with lid cocked to the side for approximately 3 hours, stirring every hour. (Stirring may not be needed, but it is a great opportunity to taste test.)
6. Once it reaches your desired consistency, turn off slow cooker.
7. Scoop in to canning jars and allow to cool.
8. Store in refrigerator for 2-3 weeks, or freeze and use within 3 months.

* I just have a small bullet blender, so I did this step in several batches with just the liquid that fell in from scooping the squash into the blender cup with a slotted spoon.

Attitude Check

This semester, I chose to be a part of our FAITH outreach program at Westside; it is a training that equips people to share the Gospel in a simple way, with the truth of scripture. We meet every Monday night, have a time of learning, then go out to visit those who have come to Westside. Given that Sunday mornings are often constantly moving, I enjoy the opportunity to visit with some of the folks who have visited our Young Professionals class and get to know them a little bit. Otherwise, they simply continue to be 'new' faces. The irony is, though, that I initially had no interest in being a part of FAITH this semester; honestly, I had avoided it with excuses of being too busy to commit to an entire semester of Monday nights. But, though a series of events this summer...working through some personal heart issues, rededicating my life to Christ, and then having my academic schedule get shifted...I ended up having Monday nights available and felt the nudging of the Holy Spirit to sign up. In fact, in the midst of processing things this summer, I even had a conversation with our Young Professionals pastor about outreach and how our class needed some folks to step up to the plate this semester for FAITH; of course, at that point I was completely oblivious that it would be me. Funny how God works things out like that!
Anyways, God put on my heart one Monday morning a simple reminder of why He has me in FAITH this semester: "Our attitude toward outreach and sharing the Gospel is a direct reflection of the condition of our heart and walk with Him...without the right attitude, we are masters of excuses". It was an attitude check that I needed to have, as I was the master of excuses of why I was not sharing the Gospel with others...too busy, too concerned of what they'll think, too wrapped up in what I could say at work, etc. The bottom line, though, was that I wasn't sharing because I had an area of my life that I had separated out from everything else that I was determined to deal with on my own. And, I felt that until I had that area of sin dealt with, I felt hypocritical in sharing the Gospel. So, while I was still walking with God and growing in my faith, I was approaching my faith with hesitation and going through the motions for quite some time...God calls that lukewarm Christianity...and, you know what...He spits lukewarm believers out (Rev. 3:15-16). I praise God that He surrounds me with a church family that speaks truth with love and supports the revelations of the Holy Spirit in each of us; my revelation was simply that my desire to control even just one area of my life was putting a wedge in my relationship and growth as a follower of Christ. I could not share beyond what He was teaching me at surface level and the joys I received from serving, as I was missing out on the depth of relationship because of the wedge. So, in late summer, God put a poem on my heart...a poem that expressed my rededication to Christ; a composition that reflects a needed reminder for me that it's a daily choice to wake up, pray, get into the Word, and trust that He is in control and guiding my path. And, after going through the motions for many years, I am experiencing worship and relearning the disciplines of my Christian walk with a renewed Spirit. It's exciting, but sometimes difficult to articulate to others. I'm beginning to see how my passion for leadership development and intercultural competence development is interwoven with missions and church growth strategy. This semester, when I read for class my mind races with ideas of how things could apply in the missions/church context...it makes me wonder what God is up to! But, it's an adventure that I am just grateful to be on with rediscovered joy! Bottom line...attitude checks keep us in line with God's will for our lives and open doors for connecting with others for accountability to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ and opportunities to be equipped to share the Gospel!