The Art of Grace: Creative Christian Coloring Book to Inspire Your Heart

I'm so excited to share my big news with you! 

It's really been my dream come true, 
and I'm so happy to finally get to share it with you. 
I've been illustrating an adult coloring book full of Bible verses centered around grace.

My coloring book is called The Art of Grace 
and it will be available in Walmart (!) on March 14th! 
But it is available for presale on Amazon 
at a discounted price. 

I get to do this! For real. 
Pretty much, my dream come true. 

Now that it is finally in it's final stages, 
it's weird and wonderful. I can't believe it. 

It was about 1,000 times more work than I ever dreamed. 
I learned Adobe Illustrator. 
I drew and doodled and drew some more.
I stayed up way too late many late nights. 
But now that the book release is almost here, 
it is so worth it. 

When my editor contacted me and asked me if I'd be interested in contributing to a coloring book, back in August, I was (of course) very excited. It has been the busiest time of my entire life. 

In August I went back to work teaching first grade full time for the first time in eight years. This year my baby boy is in kinder and my oldest is in 2nd grade at my school. I am beyond thankful that we get to go to school together. I just feel really fortunate that I get to work full time and be with my kids. 

But when I was asked to illustrate the book, I just had to. 
And I did. We did; my husband, my kids, my mom & dad. Many, many late nights later, we did it! 

Thank you for meeting me here and supporting me. 

I wasn't able to create a calendar this year. I love making a calendar each year. I love having it and giving it away. I haven't completely given up on it, but it may just have to wait until next year. I will let you know if I do, but for now I'm going to sleep for a week... 
after I do report cards!

Love, 
Erin

One of my favorite things this summer...

One of my favorite things in the world is my sketchbook. 

It is such a simple way to infuse creativity into my day to day.

It doesn't require a big commitment of time or space. 

I can toss it in my purse and bring it anywhere.

I can create wherever I am.

In the midst of our mundane routines, 

my sketchbook gives me new eyes to really SEE things in a new way.

It forces me to notice beauty all around me, 

that I never would have seen. 

It allows me to feed my creative self, which makes me really happy.

It makes me a better version of me.

You know how, when you love something so much, 

you just want to tell people about it?

That's how I feel about my sketchbook.

I just published a simple little class to inspire you to open up your 

sketchbook and play and play and play.

I will start you off with really guided lines and patterns,

and then I'll walk you through one of the ways that I create a page in my sketchbook.

And then {hopefully} you'll start playing and you won't be able to stop! 

Here is my trailer. Here it is. 
All out there. I did it. And I'm done. 

And I actually published it HERE.

And I'm kind of really proud of myself {and feeling really embarrassed}

 because I've been wanting to publish a class for over 2 years. 

And it has felt so overwhelming and impossible. 

The video. The editing. The watching my face on a big screen.

Over and over and over. 

The technical minutia that makes my head spin.

But I knew that I wanted to share this with you.

Because it is so fun.  And so simple.

So, I hope you are inspired to open up your sketchbook + play.

***Skillshare is awesome.***

It is only $0.99 for a three month trial 

and $10 a month after that.

You get access hundred of classes: 

crafts & cooking & lettering & art.

Whatever you want to learn, it's there. 

*Full disclosure*

If you sign up through my link I will receive $ and

 retire and live on a yacht in the Mediterranean. 

That's not true.

 If you sign up through my link, I will receive a small portion 

and buy a fancy cup of coffee or 3 extra fine point Sharpies,

which will inspire me to create more and write more blog posts,

 which will inspire you to create more,

 which will make you happy and fill your life with rainbows and unicorns. 

So, you really should use this link, but even if you don't use my link, 

I think you should check out Skillshare because it's kind of my dream come true. 

Done. I promise. 

Sunday Scripture Art: Joshua 24:15

This is an oldy from 2009. One of my first.
I love looking back on my art work
to see how it's evolved.
I love this verse.

I keep meaning to to do another house series.
Soon. Very soon.

Happy Sunday, friends.

Nature Inspired Flower Pots

Gather up some old pots.
And a glue gun (of course)

Add moss.

and sticks

and burlap.

and twine

and painted canvas

and plant some lovelies.

and enjoy.
Spring is coming.

DIY Welcome Mat: Happiness on a Mat

Hi friends,
Life has been full over here,
but I thought I'd take a break to show you one of my latest impromptu
projects because I kind of couldn't believe that it worked.
It's my new welcome mat.
The one that leads from the garage into the kitchen.
The we use about a million trillion times a day.

I've been wanting to try this ever since I went looking for a 

cheap AND attractive welcome mat and found 

that they don't exist. At least not where I shop. 

So, I decided to experiment with spray paint and...

it worked! I hafta say, I kinda love these.

***Please bare in mind before attempting this tutorial:***

I'm not one for details or perfection. I don't have the time or patience.

So if you're looking for that, you won't find it here. 

I do have lots of creativity and figuring things out.

That's what I do.

So, first wrangle up all of your worn out welcome mats. 

*I was able to turn this Christmas mat over! Double duty.

These were old worn out.

*Tip: Ross has the cheapest mats I've seen. They are only $6-$7.

I'll take you through each one...

Materials:

A door mat

Different colors of spray paint

Posterboard (to use as a stencil)

DIY Welcome Mat

*If your mat has a design on it, spray it with 2 coats of white or brown spray paint. 

Let the paint dry in between coats. It should cover up the current design. 

Then, spray paint a heart on the mat.
Mine's not really centered. I don't care.
Still makes me happy.

Cut out a heart shape out of posterboard & tape it to the mat.
Spray stripes in different colors

And spray some more.
Spray close to the mat to get a more defined line.
Each line needs at least two coats.

And that's it.
There you have it, friends.

Happiness on a mat .

Sunday Scripture Art and a birthday sale!

Do not be conformed to this world but 

be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Romans 12:2

I love this verse. 

the renewing of your mind. 

the renewing of your mind. 

Renew your mind, Erin.

And with that, I'm off to church. 

And it happens to be my birthday today,

so why not have a sale in shop? 

Buy one get one! 

For today only. 

*Important: Just put one print in your cart, 

and let me know which print you 

would like in the notes to seller.

Welcome to the Stone Collective!

The Stone Collective is a community making much of Jesus as we 
create art, photography, prose, poems or music that commemorate the 
wonderful things God does in our life. Based on the passage in 
1 Samuel 7:12-14, each month we will collect Ebenezer Stones as a 
regularly practice in the art of worship via our creativity. 
Want to join in on The Stone Collective? 

Create your own Stone and link up to LIVE IT OUT! Blog. #TheStoneCollective

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I'm honored to be a part of coming together as believers to remember.
Remember what God has done and who He is and who He says I am.
We'll come together at the end of each month to remember and
share what God is doing. Because I can know the presence of God,
as real as the hand in front of my face, and then I step out
into the world, and I forget everything I know. You know?

There are so many things I can see God's handprint on in my life.
Meeting Jesus through Young Life at age 13
Becoming a Young Life Leader in college
Moving to Los Angeles to teach
Moving to Hong Kong to teach
Meeting Darryl
Marrying Darryl
Having babies
Creating art
Starting a business

These are the big things.
 I want to remember the little things
each day that remind me
of His presence and His goodness
what it means to have abundant life in him.