Spring is in the air, so the ladies and I decided to start bringing in some color to our outfits this month with the theme "A Pop of Color!"
After experiencing two weeks of freezing cold weather (that froze up our septic system), now the pendulum has swung the opposite way and we have extraordinary warm temperatures here in Wisconsin. It's been in the 40's and 50's and we are loving it! In the next few days it's suppose to get in the 60's! Gasp! However, no one is getting their hopes up that spring will be here soon. We all know we will probably get dumped on with more snow in April or May. It happens every year!
Because it is still March, and not terribly warm yet, I decided to stick with a sweater. I chose this color block cardigan from Amazon. I thought, "What better sweater for a color challenge than wearing a "Color Block" sweater?"
I coordinated with the colors in the cardigan by wearing a grey tee underneath, and taupe booties.
My grey tee is also from Amazon, and I have to give it a little plug because I just love it! The material is so soft, and it has a very long length which is always what I'm looking for in a tee because I have a long torso.
My pants and scarf actually bring in a lot more color in real life. They are a bright navy blue, but the color didn't show up true in the photographs.
The cardigan is super long, going almost to my knee.
I brought in my "pop of color" by adding his bright coral hand bag. I've always loved adding color to my neutral outfits with handbags and accessories. I also chose blue statement earrings and a bright blue shiny bracelet to pull out the blue color in my outfit.
And now lets see what the other ladies in the group are wearing:
Nicole
Nicole - High Latitude Style - Seven months of snow means white and black everywhere. Occasionally, a hint of yellow. The sky is either dark with white pin dots and green stripes, gray with white polka dots, pink or orange, or steel blue (my favorite). Not much color. Thus, in the cold season you have hunger for color. So even though red adds a lot of weight (not actually, but it gives the illusion of being heavy), it’s one of my weapons to fight the winter blues.
Nina
Nina - Sharing a Journey - We rightly think a pop of color on a neutral background adds interest, drama and elevates an outfit. Well today I’m the pop of color. I just couldn’t resist a bright spring dress to blast us out of the doldrums!
Michele
Michele - On Instagram as Seechele_styles“My neon pink cardigan was thrifted, and are styled with Camo joggers. I paired the outfit with a zebra print tote.”
Andrea
Andy - Pearls and Pantsuits - Like most of my Stylish Monday sisters, I LOVE color and am not ashamed to wear it, and just adding a pop of color to an otherwise neutral palette is a fun little trick to add to your repertoire if you’re not comfortable with wearing too much color. Pop on over to my blog for a peek at today’s outfit, and more style tip for adding pops of color to your wardrobe.
Ada
Ada - Elegance and Mommyhood - Green is one of my favorite bright colors, especially Kelly Green. It’s also one of the most popular Pantone Colors of 2021. I wore this cute outfit today on a 47° sunny day (it felt warmer than that) and my beautiful daughter took these photos. I decided to pair this Kelly Green Eyelet Blouse by J. Crew with these Olive Green Skinny Jeans by Old Navy. Even my net socks are green (and black). They look great under the peep-toe booties.
Nancy
Nancy - Nancy’s Fashion Style - I love lilac! But the color doesn't look good on when it is near my face. This skirt was actually a bit to tight and I sold it. But the color and the fabric, it looked a bit like tweed, were fabulous. I like to wear lilac with purple, or with pink , or like here with orange. I am on the hunt for a new, or pre loved, lilac skirt! One that fits!
Emma
Emma - The Style Splash - I adore bright colours, especially orange! Wearing bright orange always makes me feel happy, energetic and optimistic. I’m a big believer in colour therapy!
Julie
Julie - Fashion Trends and Friends and Instagram FashionTandF - Color makes me happy, especially bold bright color! However, today I’m sharing how you can easily add touches of color to pop an otherwise monochromatic look if color isn’t your thing! What color would you pair with gray? Stop by my blog to see the colors I added to one outfit!
Adding a pop of color, shine, sparkle, feathers, faux fur, or an unexpected print is a simple way to breathe life to any outfit. Stop by the blog for simple tips on how to work with your existing wardrobe and break out of your Pandemic style rut.
Shelbee
Shelbee - Shelbee on the Edge - Green is my forever favorite color and the month of March really makes me want to wear all of the green things as I impatiently await the arrival of Spring. This outfit has a few more layers to beat the Winter chill and another print to create extra interest. Won’t you stop by to see more of this outfit and how it came to be!
And Me!
Amy - Amy’s Creative Pursuits - What’s better to wear for a color challenge than a “Colorblock Sweater”? I added even more pop of color with a bright bag!
Be sure to link up with us this week! We'd love to see what you're wearing!
This week's travel post is part of a travel series of our visit to see our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana. If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE. Other posts in chronological order are HERE, HERE, and HERE!
Two week's ago I shared that we went to the Creation Museum while visiting with our grandchildren in the nearby state of Indiana. In that post I showed the beautiful outside grounds of the Creation Museum and now this week I'm going to talk about the museum itself.
The museum is a 75,000 square foot facility and it portrays the history of the earth as God tells it in the Bible. There are nearly 150 exhibits; many of which are animatronic and interactive. There is also a 200 seat special effects theater and a state-of-the-art planetarium (the planetarium is not included in the price of admission).
The displays are so beautiful and very well done. I've been to many famous, large city museums in my life and they would equal the quality of any of their exhibits.
I loved this exhibit telling the story of Adam and Eve, the first humans on earth. So romantic!
The Creation Museum tells biblical history in chronological order, beginning with the creation and ending with Christ return. Through out the museum displays they contrast what God word says, and what secular scientists say. I may be biased, but the truth is so obvious and God's Word always makes so much more sense, I wonder how anyone can ever believe anything different.
Before you begin your tour of the museum you are treated to a 4D movie. This is included in the price of admission, which I thought was awesome! This movie is so much fun! We loved it! The movie takes you through the creation of the world, and because it's 4D you feel the wind, sprays of water, and your seat rumbling and shaking! Alethea thought it was the coolest thing ever!
After you leave the movie theater, you have the joy and pleasure of strolling through the Garden of Eden. This was one of my favorite parts of the museum. I loved looking at all the displays, especially the animal ones. But all isn't perfectly tranquil in the garden for it is here you that you learn about original sin and effects of the fall.
After you finished exploring the stunning Garden of Eden, you walk through more Biblical history and learn about Noah’s Ark, and the Tower of Babel. Many of these displays, like the one below, are animatronic. They move and talk to you as you look on. The kids just love it! They are so realistic.
By now, we were ready to get some lunch because if you remember we spent all morning outside the museum strolling through the Biblical Gardens, playing on the playground, and visiting the animals at the petting zoo.
The museum has many dining options. You could bring a picnic lunch if you like. There are plenty of spots outside to have a picnic! Inside the museum they have the lovely Noah's Cafe that offers both inside and outside dining. We chose the outside dining option with great views of the exterior grounds. The food was very good and reasonably priced. We also stopped at Uncle LeRoy's Fudge, which is made in a traditional copper kettle on site. It was so good and again, very reasonably priced. We made sure to buy extra to take home!
I had to include a picture of this cute little guy wearing Grandpa's dirty old sun hat. I really need to get my hubby a new hat before our next vacation.
After lunch it was back to the museum. Here is an example of how the museum always showed the secular world view of an issue verses what the Bible has to say about it.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time reading while at the museum, but if you have little ones with you, like we did, there is always something interactive to keep them occupied.
Here Alethea is learning all about the human race and how God created us.
Of course my sweet Alethea got bored at times and created her own things to do, like run around in circles on this gorgeous floor mosaic.😀 Thankfully, no one was disturbed by it.
This was such an interesting section of the museum. It had a modern industrial feel to it.
My husband and son had so much fun with this animatronic dinosaur, but Alethea was afraid of it as it was so realistic. Be sure to check out the short video at the end of the post to see how this guy comes to life!
This is part of the Biblical history section, showing how humankind multiplied after the fall.
There are many short movies throughout the museum that help explain the subject of the specific exhibit.
No one can walk through the museum without hearing a salvation message! It's a great place to not only renew your own faith as you see proof of what the Bible says, but it's also a great place for unbelievers to learn the truth of God's Word as well.
Once you are finished walking through the story of Creation, which is the majority of the museum, there are several other exhibits like Dinosaur Den! Here you learn all about the dinosaurs and get the answers you've always been searching for.
Another section of the museum, that Alethea really seemed to enjoy was Dr. Crawley's Insectorium. Kids love this section of the museum because of all the interactive displays, and of course, all the insects! Dr. Crawley is a real life creation scientist who donated his insect collection to the museum in 2013.
This is really quite the marvelous collection of insects beautifully displayed.
I loved this collection of butterflies!
Alethea is probably thinking "I hope I never see a bug this big in my house!" 😂
The fun part of this exhibit is another animatronics miracle of the fictional Dr. Author Pod. Here you can ask Dr. Pod questions and he will answer them!
And now, as promised, is the animatronic dinosaur that Alethea would not get any where near. It was way too life-like for her!
I should also add that the museum also has a lot of educational opportunities where you can attend workshops and/or hear speakers on a variety of topics. We did not hear any of these speakers on the day we were there because we had small children with us, but THE NEXT DAY, when we went to the Ark Encounter, we were privileged to hear Ken Ham, the founder of the Creation Museum, speak. He was so wonderful, and it was so exciting to see him in person. Starting in next week's travel post, I will share about our visit to the Ark Encounter. It was unbelievable! You won't want to miss it.
Tickets for the museum are $39.95 for an adult and $24.95 for ages 11-17. Children ages 5 -10 are FREE! We visited the Creation Museum last fall, during the month of September. It was past the tourist season, so it was not horribly busy. Masks are required to enter the building and if you are standing in a crowded place, but you are not required to leave them on if you can remain socially distant.
Once a month I like to share my Bible Journaling Pages and what God has been teaching me. In the month of January I finished the book of Isaiah and started the book of Jeremiah. Because I have been working on renovating my bathroom, I didn't have a whole lot of time to create my own pages so I basically just read the Bible and colored in the pre-printed images already in the "Inspire Bible" (available on Amazon).
Unless otherwise stated, all the images are colored in with either gel pens or colored pencils. I tend to color larger areas with pencils then get the more intricate spots with pens. I high light my Bible with gel highlighters, and I usually use gelatos or craft paint for my backgrounds
Before I show you my Isaiah pages I wanted to share one page from the book of Proverbs that I created myself. I found this sticker with the Bible verse "A Friend Loves At All Times" and I decided to create a page with it. I painted the background with craft paint then added the sticker. The hearts and "girlfriends" are stamps. I stamped the images on a separate piece of paper, colored them in, cut them out, then glued them on the page.
Now let's finish the book of Isaiah shall we? The first page I created because of another sticker I found in my stash. I have so many craft supplies that it's easy to forget what I own. Because I had the sticker, I once again decided to create a page with it. The butterfly jar, the scripture reference, and some of the words are stickers. To create this page, I once again colored the background with craft paint, then I created the verse with stickers and my own handwriting. The sticker is one of those that you color in yourself. So after I colored it in, I just stuck it on the page. Easy-peasy!
This page is ALL stickers! Are you seeing a theme yet? I hear so many women say they are not artistic so they are afraid to delve into Bible Journaling. Well, I'm not artistic either. I like to say "I'm creative, not artistic". I like to create things, and I use things like stickers, stamps, digital images, etc. to help me overcome my lack of artistic skills. For this page, I just colored the background with craft paint and then stuck the sticker on. Again, easy peasy!
This is a pre-printed image I simply colored in with a mix of pencils and gel pens. I always post my pages to my Instagram Stories after I finish them, hoping the verse will encourage someone that day. On the day I posted this page a friend private messaged me about how this was one of their favorite verses because it helped her get through a difficult time when she had not one, but TWO heart attacks. My friend said that this verse comforted her so much because she knew that the very God who created her, would also take care of her. Isn't that beautiful?
If you didn't already know it, the book of Isaiah is full of prophecies! Prophecies that are classified as both "Near Fulfillment" and "Far Fulfillment"-- meaning some prophecies happened soon after Isaiah prophesied them and others happened years later, and some were still waiting to be fulfilled! But because so many of Isaiah's prophecies were fulfilled, we can trust that ALL his prophecies are true and from God and will eventually happened. For example, did you know that Isaiah prophesied the exact details of the death of Jesus Christ 700 years before it happened? Look at the verses I drew a square around, they describe exactly what Jesus went through when He came down to earth to die for us.
Did you know the Lord "delights" in you? Isn't that a beautiful thought?
This page was created with digital images from Key's of The Kingdom. I printed them onto sticker paper then cut them out. To blur the edges of the sticker paper I just painted around and over them.
There are several spots in scripture where God uses the illustration of us as clay and He as the potter. He molds us and shapes us. "We are all formed by His hand".
Isaiah is a long book, yet I was sorry to see it come to an end. I really enjoyed reading it and learning all its mysteries with the help of Jon Courson's sermons. These two chapters are the last two pages in the book. I love how they end on a comforting note of how God will comfort Israel (and us).
The roses were colored in exclusively with pencils.
After finishing one very long book in the Bible - Isaiah - I went directly into another very long book - Jeremiah. Jeremiah was another prophet. He is called "The Weeping Prophet" for how he wept and mourned over Israel. He prophesied for 40 years to his people to repent of their sins or God's judgement would fall on them. The people never did, and they ultimately paid the price for all of Jeremiah's prophecies came true.
While studying this book, I couldn't help to see the similarities of ancient Israel and the current United States of America and the current church. I created this page to work out my feelings of what I was going through as I read this book.
Jeremiah prophesied for forty years and never saw a single convert and received no response. He was even beaten and imprisoned because the people did not want to hear the truth. They only wanted to hear "good things, positive things" from other false prophets. We see the same issue in many churches today. Pastors are not teaching the Bible, rather they are teaching philosophies and passions and preaching "feel good" messages instead of repentance.
I found this verse so applicable to today's churches: "This is what the Lord says: "Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for our souls. But you reply, "No, that's not the road we want!"' This is a huge problem in the church today! Friends, the simple message of the gospel NEVER CHANGES! Yes, church's must change with the times to be relevant to today's culture, BUT NEVER at the expense of the truth of the gospel.
Oh, this is a good verse isn't it? God wants our obedience not because He wants to rule over us with an iron fist, but because He knows what is best for us! He truly wants things to go well for us.
What a powerful this is! He IS the LIVING God and the EVERLASTING KING! I colored this pre-printed image using purple and gold colors and metallics to emphasize His Royalty.
Another verse about God wanting His children's obedience. If we truly love God, if we truly are His children, we would obey Him. God was so patient with the Israelites; asking them to repent and obey Him for FORTY LONG YEARS, before He finally gave up and punished them.
I love the words that precede this verse: "When I discovered your words, I DEVOURED them." Isn't that amazing? Do you feel that way? I know I went through many years where I never picked up a Bible, but the past two years that has really changed for me. I get EXCITED to pick up my Bible every single day to read what God has for me. I too, love DEVOURING God's word. I'm sure if anyone picked up my Bible and saw how much I highlighted it and wrote notes in it, that they would see I truly DEVOUR God's word. If there is a day where I have to rush out of my house bright and early and can't read God's word, I'm actually disappointed! Isn't that funny? It was the Inspire Bible and Bible Journaling that helped me to get excited about studying God's Word again. I know a lot of people have issues with coloring in their Bibles, but it has been a lifesaver for me. I always tell them "I have many Bibles for many different purposes. This Bible was purposely designed to be colored in. I would never do this to just any Bible".
One of the catch phrases we hear often today is "Trust the science". Nope, I don't trust scientists. The Bible says "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans". I trust the GOD OF SCIENCE, the CREATOR of the world and you and me! He is my Hope and Confidence, and God says we are "BLESSED" if we trust, hope, and put our confidence in HIM!
Another powerful verse about God's word. I love the second part of this verse "I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can't do it!" Jeremiah could not keep God's word to himself, he had to share it with others.
I hope you enjoyed seeing my pages this month and were encouraged by them.
