How To Make Love Bags For The Holidays (And All Year Long)

Who Are These People?

Have you been wanting to sit down with your family members and capture their great childhood and life stories. Maybe even some words of wisdom?

Or have you tried (like I did) and realized that without the right questions, it became an interview full of facts or just felt awkward because you didn’t know what to ask?

I’m really excited to share something I created out of a need for myself and have spent the last nine months working on…and it is finally done!

Book Recommendation for Anyone Creative (That’s You!)

We are all creative. Whether you like to write, cook, craft, decorate, negotiate at work, or parent your kids, you are being creative.

I feel that we all get callings or nudges to try something. Sometimes we listen and act, but most of the time, we don’t.

If you’ve ever wanted someone to give you permission to go for it, do your thing, be yourself, or just create something for fun, then you will love this book. Not that you need permission to do those things, of course, but sometimes it helps move you along.

Frame And Display A Love Letter

The problem with love letters is that they get tucked into a box only to be read once every few years. Why not pull them out and put them on display where they can be enjoyed all the time?

50 Life Lessons Shared By Regina Brett

You may recognize this image that has been floating around the internet for years. It usually precedes a list of life lessons shared by a 90 year old woman.

Artful Reminder To Enjoy Your Kids

A phrase my dad often says when referring to my kids is, “Enjoy Them.”

I appreciate hearing that because, quite frankly, I can use the reminder. It’s so easy to get caught up in raising our kids that sometimes we forget to just enjoy them. Thankfully, grandparents are excellent reminders of this.

Make Your Own Rustic Framed Art

This project happened by accident. I bought my daughter a calendar from the dollar store since she was always asking what day it was. I found this one that was full of bright, inspirational messages.

Fun Way to Display Your Favorite Quote or Verse

In the past month, I’ve come across this Bible passage (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7) five times from five different sources!

I realize this is a popular verse, but I always take notice when something starts showing up over and over. I like to think it’s God’s way of communicating with me and asking me to pay attention to something.

So, I’m not sure what the message is here. Maybe I’m supposed to be loving more? Better? Differently?

Or maybe I’m just supposed to enjoy the love that I already have.

Since I was feeling such a strong connection to this verse, I thought it would be nice to find a way to display it in our home.

This would be cute with any favorite quote or saying.

To start, I bought a frame from the thrift store.

Then I measured the area that shows through the glass so  I’d know what size to print my text.

Using a computer, I typed out the text, changing the font with each verse. Then I printed it and cut it to fit inside the frame.

With a pencil, I hand wrote the word love in the center of the page.

Then using a small brush and acrylic paint, I painted over my penciled text.

After it dried, I just put the paper into the frame and hung it in our bedroom where I could see it every day.

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Book Drive For Women’s Recovery Center

Want to make a difference?

Maggie May’s Gifts is requesting donations of new or used inspirational, non-fiction books. Even one book will help. Check your basements!
We will be donating them to the women enrolled at Amethyst Recovery Center.

What is Amethyst?

Amethyst is a holistic recovery center for women. The women enrolled have made the decision to be there and have agreed to the conditions of the program. They are provided with housing, food, counseling, treatment programs, and career coaching in a family environment. In exchange, they must abstain from all drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and be commited to a full recovery and entrance into the workplace.

Why Amethyst?

The only time to truly help another person is when they are open and accepting of the help. Until then, no matter how loving your intentions are, your efforts will be wasted.
That is why offering the gift of motivation and inspiration to the women at Amethyst is so important. Each woman there has made the courageous decision to get help and now is the time to be there for them.

While all material needs are provided for them through this program, dedication and commitment must come from within. The power of a great book can be enough to encourage a woman to keep going when she feels like giving up. It can remind her that the love of her children is much stronger than any drug. It can even inspire her to reach out to someone else who may be in need.

While it may seem like “just a book”, please know that it is so much more than that.

We all want a society filled with less crime, abuse, hunger, and violence. Getting to the root of the problem (poverty and drug addiction) is the key.
Helping these moms can help keep their children out of foster care and safe from hunger and abuse.

Thank you so much for helping us make sure that every woman in this program gets her own book.

All book donations may be mailed to:

Amethyst
c/o Maggie May’s Book Drive
455 East Mound Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Be sure to tell the post office you are mailing a book. They offer a discount for media mailings.

If you are in the Columbus area, please feel free to email me at maggiemays{at}live{dot}com and I will be happy to pick the books up from you.

Gratitude Board

I recently shared my version of a “Love Note Board.”  You can see the step by step of that project here.

Now that November is here, this is always a good month to be reminded of all of our blessings. It is easy to get busy and forget to stop and give thanks. Here is an easy way to remember to stay grateful.

If you made a “Love Note Board”, then all you need to do is type and print, “Today I am grateful for..” and glue it onto the backboard of your frame over your “I love you because” sign (under the glass).

Using white board markers, update your board every day with all of your blessings, big and small, that you are grateful for.

Feeling and expressing gratitude has so many health benefits-emotional and physical. If you do this and update it every day, you are sure to feel a little lighter and happier. It’s wonderful to give silent thanks throughout the day, but this project encourages family involvement and is visual proof of all of our blessings.

I actually used gratitude when I was going through a physically painful time. Sometimes I would just say, “Thank you” over and over and over. Or I would write down all of the things that the pain was teaching me like compassion, endurance, strength and patience. I found that whenever I was in a state of gratitude, even if it was only for a couple minutes, I was not in a state of pain. So the more thankful I was, the more relief I felt.

People usually associate expressing gratitude with things going right in life. But actually gratitude can be most miraculous when things are going really wrong.

I’m looking forward to focusing on gratitude this month. I’ll start now. I am grateful for all of you who read, like and comment on this blog. I really appreciate it! xo

If you want to take this a step further, sign up for the 21 day Gratitude Challenge. Starting November 7th, they will send you a daily email featuring the suggested gratitude prompt for the day, along with some inspiration and tips for putting it into action. All you have to do is enter your email (no registering or anything else) at http://www.kindspring.org/21day/ .

Thank you 🙂

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