Illustrated Faith Devotional Kit Unboxing (August)

It might seem a bit odd that a minimalist would do an unboxing video but minimalism is about making time and space for the things that really matter to you. Bible journaling has become an important part of my faith journey so I'm making space and time for it! Buying these its helps me budget (both in volume of stuff and monetarily) how much I spend on Bible journaling. So let's get started!

Zero Waste Baby Steps

There are two approaches to making changes in your life- a huge jumping off the cliff, all at once, no looking back approach and baby steps. When I got into minimalism and found The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I definitely took the first approach. Bye bye clutter! But that's not the only way to do things.

Along my minimalism journey, I discovered Zero Waste. It's really another sort of minimalism but this time you minimize your waste. Sending less stuff to the landfill? Sign me up! But life is pretty crazy right now and I'm still in the throws of a minimalist growth spurt so I knew I wasn't going to stop using my trash can overnight.

Summer 2016 Project 333

Clothing seems to be a category that a lot of people start with on their minimalist journey. I'm no exception! At the beginning of 2015, I had a huge, bursting closet full of things I never wore. Being a seamstress, I had a difficult time letting go of things that I'd made. Once I got over that, I was able to let go of quite a few things.

In the summer of 2015, I found Project 333 and started shrinking my wardrobe even more. Project 333 is a capsule wardrobe plan where you choose 33 items of clothing and accessories and wear them for 3 months. Included in your 33 items are jewelry, shoes and purses but you can ignore underwear, work out clothes, jewelry you never take off (like a wedding ring) and any sort of uniform you may need for work.

I did a few rounds of Project 333 but then decided to take a break for a while. When June rolled around, I decided to start another one. So here's what my wardrobe consists of from June 1-August 31.

Konmari Round 2: Kitchen (Nonfood)

Oh, the kitchen! One of the more dreaded categories of Konmari because it's so huge! Last go around, I subdivided the kitchen category into several smaller subcategories. Since I did such a good job of streamlining the kitchen in my first round of Konmari, I decided that I only needed two subcategories this go around-food and nonfood.

This week, I tackled nonfood items-dishes, utensils, small appliances, pots, pans and anything else you can't eat. I really wanted to do a great job in the kitchen since our new kitchen is going to be tiny, like almost tiny house tiny but with full sized appliances. Storage is going to be at a premium so only the essentials are coming!



I'll be coming back to food items much closer to my actual moving date although we are trying to finish off between now and then.

His Love Endures Forever

Sometimes, my bible journaling pages are inspired by my daily quite time or by powerful messages. But sometimes, that dries up. And that's when I love to turn to my faith based products for inspiration. This page started with one of the Illustrated Faith verse cards that come in the monthly kits and a cute little flag that says love. These pointed me to Psalm 118 and a reminder that His love endures forever!

I pulled out the rest of my color palette from some other cardstock pieces and this page was all set to go. Unfortunately, you could really see the pink paint and black in from the page behind.

So I pulled out some white acrylic paint and applied that down the margin of my page. It didn't 100% block out the design from the other side but it really toned it down so that I could focus on designing this page.

Then it was time to lay out all of my pieces! Starting to look so cute!

I used this really cute stamp set from a new to me company, the Latina Crafter. She makes darling faith based stamps in English and Spanish! I love that this opens up Bible journaling to a whole new arena of people! This cute alphabet is perfect for adding those longer words.

In the end, the page is really simple but the sentiment is so powerful. It's so easy to take God's love for granted but it is so wonderful. He loves us, just the way we are and He'll go on loving us past the end of time!

Konmari Round 2: Sewing Patterns

Crafters are not the sort of people you would expect to be minimalists, but they can be! One of the secrets to being a minimalist and a creative is to curate your collections and stash of craft supplies. Being realistic about what you actually like and will use will help get your crafts under control. So I'm definitely going through my crafts again!

This week, it's sewing patterns! Since they don't take up much space, it can be tempting to keep them all but they are not all staying. In round 1, I got rid of quite a few of my sewing patterns but I still have more than I'll probably sew in my life. So let's go through them again.

Konmari Round 2: Scrapbooking and Knitting

I just adore crafting and creating! Unfortunately, most craft stashes like they'd be more at home on an episode of Hoarders rather than on Tiny House Hunters. But minimalism and crafting don't have to be opposites! I knew that my crafting supplies would need a second go through so they were high on my list of categories to do for Konmari Round 2.

Crafting supplies can be so hard to get rid of because they all seem useful. But I could use that one day! It's hard to be objective when craft supplies spark so much joy. But I read a really excellent quote by Joshua Becker in his new book, The More of Less that really helped me with this category:

"Sometimes parting with our possessions means a dream must die. .... 

Sometimes, it takes giving up the person we wanted to be in order to fully 

appreciate the person we can actually become."

Love is a Blessing

This month, I'm working through the How He Loves devotional kit from Illustrated Faith. It's been a really awesome journey for me so far. (I may have started it a bit early.....) I never quite know what to expect from these devotionals since they are by a different author each month.

Today's devotion was centered around Psalm 85:12: "The Lord will give what is good." Junelle talks about the restoration and love that God wants to bring to our hearts. So moving! I really wanted to capture how amazing God's love makes me feel.

Why I'm Doing Konmari... Again

If you're reading this post, you've probably heard of Mari Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and her decluttering method that involves only keeping things that spark joy. I've already worked through the method one time and now I'm ready to address one of her more fantastical claims. Kondo states in her book that you will only need to do her method once to have your home completely tidied or decluttered for good.

Well, I'm working through her method again! I was able to get rid of quite a bit during my first journey through the Konmari method. So much decluttering! So why am I doing it again? There are a few reasons that I'm having to disagree with Mari's assertion that once is enough.

What is Minimalism?

What comes to mind when you hear the word minimalism? Stark white walls and a mostly empty room. A young 20 something traveling the world and living out of a backpack. A tiny house on wheels. A wardrobe of black and white. A person living with only 100 items.