Jitney's Journeys : Seven "I Am" Statements of Jesus

TRUTH.
There was a heavy overflow of Truth coming at me as I worked on this piece. 
For every new canvas, I was reminded of who Jesus was and is. 
I loved every second of working on it.

The best part of the piece was how the idea came to light...


My friend Judy came over to pick up a few custom Christmas presents I put together for her in December. She shared an idea with me about creating an art piece based on the seven "I Am" Statements of Jesus they would want to display in their home. We discussed a few ways we could make that happen and she said, "Well, just be thinking about it. It will be a while before I'm ready to place an order for it."

Fast forward about a month...
I received an email from Judy's husband, Jeff, saying that he wanted to request an art piece from me for Judy's birthday, and that "I think a good one that would be meaningful to Judy would be the seven "I am" statements of Jesus from the gospel of John." He literally went on talking about the exact ideas that Judy and I bounced off each other for this same multi-canvas idea. 

Keep in mind that Jeff and Judy had never talked about this idea with one another. It was an idea that the Lord placed on both of their hearts. And I was able to see their love and oneness reflected for each other in such a way that their thoughts and ideas of bringing the Gospel to life were right on par with another. What a testament to God's hand in their marriage!

One friend came by the studio, looked at the pieces, shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, Whitney. But this piece did not come from you. This piece is completely God-inspired and I'm not sure you can take any credit for it..."

And you know what? 
I am SUPER okay with that. 
In fact, that is probably the best compliment I have ever and could ever receive. 


So, here's the breakdown of the design.

Seven 6" x 6" canvases stating the statements.
One 12" x 6" canvas stating "I AM".
The 6 x 6 canvases have stripes on three sides and the fourth side (on either the right or left side of the canvas) has the corresponding verse to the statement. The verse is facing the outside. 

The front of the canvas has a base covering of hymns and topped with the statement. 


These are a few of the designs I liked the best...


I couldn't think of a better way to finish this post than to leave it to Judy. This is a poem she wrote, inspired by the "I AM" statements...


I AM 
by Judy Webb

The Word Made Flesh
Alive, In touch
The Word Made Flesh
Among us,Now in Us
The Messiah, Salvation
Rescue from sin
Messiah, Salvation
Our peace deep within
The Light of the World
Exposing the darkness
Light of the World
Revealing God
Bread of Life,
Satisfaction,Fulfillment
Bread of Life
Delicious and sweet
Bread of Life to meet every need
The Gate
To the kingdom of God
The Gate
Beauty adorned
Heavenly desire is born
The Good Shepherd
Strength and provision
The Good Shepherd
Nurture with vision
The Resurrection and Life
An empty grave
Death is defeated
The Resurrection and the Life
Eternity conceived
For those who believe
The Way
Unique, Only
Narrow and few
The Way
Fellowship with God
For those who would choose
The Truth
Nothing False
Complete and whole
The Truth
Word of God
Light to the soul
The Life
Abundant
Joy, freedom, and grace
The Life
Shout out, Worship,
Run with me in this race
I AM
I AM
I AM

you can find more of Judy's writings and poetry here.

Jitney's Journeys : Baby Banners

Banners have been a popular item the past couple of weeks at Jitney's Journeys!

One of my Zeta sisters emailed me and asked if we could make a banner for a friend's baby shower. After sending a few options, this is what we ended up with. I fell in LOVE with the soft floral background and the fancy script. 



We normally do flowers on each end but went with rosettes for this banner to keep the aesthetic really clean.

Rather than using jute between each flag, I used this soft white ribbon between each flag and added a light pink ribbon on the ends. 


And then we shipped it off to Dallas. :)



This Blessed banner is one we did for another friend I met through ladies' bible study...
It was also used for a baby shower and given to the mother-to-be for the baby's nursery.

I love the hot pink with a pop of sage green! 



We used baker's twine between each flag on this order with a large flower and vintage button on each end.


They are both such different designs!! 
Which design fits your style best?

The Todd Nest : Guest Bedroom Revamp

Yesss!! 

It is finally finished.


Remember when we posted about our new guest bedroom furniture a couple of weeks ago?

It looked like this...


We threw a plant and a globe on there to make it look somewhat complete, but let's be honest here... that just doesn't cut it around the Todd Nest. 

It didn't take long for inspiration to hit as I began unpacking a few other things and started to develop a theme of milk glass, dried flowers and burlap.


Simply charming, no?

We found the shutter laying on the side of our street a few Sunday mornings ago. We were running somewhat late for church (we were meeting with someone before the service) and I was rushing JD out of the door. "HURRY!! We gotta go!!" So he's driving down our street when I begin yelling, "SHUTTERS!! SHUTTERS!! REVERSE, REVERSE!!" After he realized what I was attempting to say, we hopped out of the car, snatched those big guys up and threw them in the backseat. And off to church we went. We actually made it on time (in case you were wondering). 

Worth. It. 

The burlap centerpiece is actually a small portion of a special order I'm making for an Etsy customer's wedding. Won't that be lovely? I loved it so much that I've decided to make another one with a T to put in its place. Until I ship that order, I'll be leaving it here for safe-keeping. ;)

We bought the lamps from Hobby Lobby as one of our first "real" home decor purchases. I was drooling over these things!! But then I got tired of them and decided to put them in a yard sale... until I decided they would look fantastic in this set-up. So, I kept them and I'm happy with them again. 

Story of our life. Always changing things around. This is why it's a bad idea to throw things away in this family. I will always find another place for it, you just gotta give it some time. 


Finally, the books. I wrapped all three of these books in shipping / packing paper. One is an atlas of the galaxy, one is an old school Laura Ashley decorating book and one is a faux painting book (I'm mainly documenting this for my own memory of when I forget what's wrapped up in there). I considered writing the names of the books on the sides in pretty cursive but decided against it because I just love the simplicity of it. 


What do you think of the new set-up?
How long does it normally take you to gain inspiration for finishing a bedroom design?
Do you change things up often or leave it be for a while?




Guest Blogger : The Burkes Went To Africa

So we went to Africa.




It seems almost as strange to say that now as it was to declare “Oh my gosh, we’re going to Africa!” during the weeks and months leading up to our trip in February this year.

Traveling to Africa has been on our wish lists for as long as either of us can remember.  We didn’t know how we were going to do it, but both of us were hoping we would make the trip one day. And we promised that neither of us would go without the other, which sounds really sweet but actually has more to do with our ongoing competition about who has visited the most countries in their life. Karen’s ahead by two countries so my opinion is that she shouldn’t get to go anywhere that I haven’t been until I catch up.

As it turned out our opportunity came as a result of our sponsoring two kids from Africa through Compassion International. There is a girl, Foasia, living in Burkina Faso, and a boy, Freeman, living in neighboring Ghana. When we began sponsoring them we didn’t have any particular plans to visit them, but I’m sure the idea was lurking somewhere in the backs of our minds. For years we just wrote letters back and forth and tried to get to know them as best we could through pictures and questions.

Then one day while looking at the website, I noticed that Compassion was putting together a sponsors trip to Burkina Faso. Since we were recent empty nesters we felt like a celebration trip was in order, plus Compassion was handling all of the details and that seemed like a good way to experience our first trip to the continent. So over the next several months we shipped our passports off to get the required visas, started gathering everything we thought we’d need, and as the day approached, started taking our malaria meds.

The trip was everything we could have hoped for! Looking back on it now it’s a blur of first impressions, from the heat and dust of rural Burkina Faso to the humidity and clamor of urban Accra in Ghana. The food, the traffic, and the faces of people carving out a life under conditions I can’t imagine. The quality, integrity, and obvious impact of the Compassion work. So many memories, but the ones that stick out most in my mind are the first meetings with each of our kids. It sounds weird, but my initial response to seeing them for the first time was, “Oh my gosh, they’re real people!” Of course I knew that in my head but on some level it was such a revelation! It was like bumping into a real Hollywood celebrity in line at Home Depot (this actually happened to us once with Tom Selleck). Suddenly this person you’ve only seen in pictures and exchanged letters with for years is actually standing there. It’s weirdly awkward at first. On some levels you have developed a relationship with this person, but it’s suddenly clear that in so many ways you don’t really know them at all.





Our time together with each of them was too short, but it did help fill in some of those blanks. For the first time we actually heard what their voices sounded like and enjoyed the sound of their laughter. We talked with them first-hand about their hopes and dreams, and learned some of their struggles. More than anything we just tried to show them that they matter. One of the most devastating impacts of poverty is the way it labels and eventually convinces people that they are worthless. We wanted our kids to know that they are continually on our hearts and in our prayers. We wanted them to see that they can hope for a brighter future. We wanted them to understand that we are willing to go to great lengths to demonstrate our love for them.

So, we went to Africa.



Dave and Karen Burke live in Huntsville, Alabama. They have three grown children of their own, a grandchild on the way, and currently sponsor four children through Compassion.

Dwell

"Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16

Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly...

What a bold and beautiful statement Paul has made here!

I've had the blessing of joining with a group of wonderful ladies on Thursday mornings to walk through the book of Colossians led by Karen Burke, a sweet friend and also the wife of Dave Burke (i.e. the leaders of our small group).

God has been doing some ravaging work in my life as I read through His word in our "homework" for the week. When we started the study, Karen asked us to list semester goals from a spiritual aspect. I wrote down, "to dwell in Christ and His word."

And as I study the homework, Paul says right there in Colossians 3:16, "Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly."

- - Hello, Whitney! - -

I love when God affirms that our hearts are lining up with His desires. I'd like to say this happens on a super consistent basis but it doesn't happen often enough.

The continuing of this verse encourages a deep level of intimacy within the believers' community... teach one another, admonish one another in all wisdom; sing together; be thankful together in your hearts to God. We need community. We need one another. It's the desire that God has created within us. When we first dwell in Christ, His love is an outpour - an overflow - into our communities. We are called to let the words of Christ dwell in us richly as a life-giving command for ourselves but also as a life-giving command for others. His words dwell in us and in return, pour out from our lips as truth to another as a form of accountability, love, wisdom and worship.

This is dwelling.

This is community.

This is worship.

So, today, I challenge you to "let the words of Christ dwell in you richly."



Side note: I'd love for you to join in on the study with us! You can listen to the lessons, go through the homework, etc., on the 4 One Purpose website. Click here for the link to the lessons. Browse through the site and be in awe of all that God is doing within and through the ministry all over the world.

The Todd Nest : Guest Bedroom

True charm.

That's what we were going for with the guest bedroom...


We still have A LOT of work to do in this room to bring it up to the standard I would like (i.e. get / make a bedskirt!!). But I wanted to show you the progress so far. 

Before two weekends ago, the bed was positioned against the wall below the mirror.

Then my parents decided to put their house on the market and get rid of a few large items.

As always, yet we never expect to do so, we loaded up a Uhaul and drove it up to Huntsville. 

**Thanks Mom and Dad!!**


They gave us the lovely dresser and bedside table.
The pieces look kind of Army green in these photos but they're really a nice grey. 


My heart has been set on this dresser since Mama E found it and refinished it. 


I feel like the style and color palette is all over the place. I'm going to work on bringing a more cohesive theme into the room, but probably stick with greys. Not sure about the burlap in this room. 

When I finish decorating, I will post new photos!! 




Intentionally Gracious Neighbors

This is what I saw when I looked out of the Jitney Studio window yesterday...


Remember (on FB) when I talked about our water bill being outrageous?? Well, the utility guy came out Monday and checked for a leak. 

Which we had.

We were losing about 1/2 gallon per hour so our friend, Shane, came over Monday night and helped JD with a solution. JD came home early yesterday from work and began fixing the leak.


I'm not sure what he would've done without all of the little neighborhood helpers though....


Kid: "Is Mr. JD a hard worker?"
Me: "Yes. Mr. JD is a super hard worker!"
Kid: "Yeah. I'm a hard worker too." (with arms folded and nodding his head)

Haha! Oh, I loved it.

In all seriousness though...

When we began our house search, we fervently prayed that God would place us in a neighborhood where we could share the love of Christ. 

On the contrary, one of the first things we recognized when we moved in is how stinkin' awesome our neighbors are and how deeply they share the love of Christ with us. Seriously. Almost every one of our neighbors came to our house to introduce themselves to us within the first three days of us moving in the house. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but we feel like that's a pretty rare gift.

What these photos don't show are the men in the neighborhood who walked from the comfort of their homes to help JD with a solution. One of our neighbors is a former plumber, so he actually rode to Lowe's with JD for a small item he needed. He gave him a play-by-play in what he needed to do. 

These men (and kids) saw JD outside and chose to help a neighbor in need instead of sitting in their comfy chairs in their warm living rooms.

From unloading our packed Uhauls to car rides to freshly-baked cookies to cookouts to finding / killing a snake to helping with the lawn mower, our neighbors are always there with a helping hand. Just yesterday, I saw our little neighbor, Blake, push our garbage can from the curb to our garage door because the wind had tipped it over.

That's not normal. 
But it should be.


While all of the neighbors are amazing, I do feel the need to shed some light on two special families we've grown close to...

(I actually drafted the blog post below in the summer but I'll share it with you now.)

Our next door neighbors have three precious kiddos and we have so enjoyed getting to know the family. The parents are incredibly gracious and we've never met kids that were so eager to serve others. Alyssa (5 yrs old) asks me every day if she can help me water our garden and Blake (7 yrs old) walks over with his mom's gardening gloves to help us pick up sticks in the yard. The youngest daughter normally follows Alyssa around and helps water the garden too. :)

Blake walked up behind me when I was working in the garden one day with his hands behind his back. "I've got something for you, Wincy" (we're still working on the whole name-thing here). Knowing that he was a 7-year-old boy, I'm thinking he's holding a spider or cricket in his hands with the hopes of scaring me. I was shocked when he held out his hands with this lovely little peony he picked from his mom's garden. 


The day we were moving in all of our big stuff, our neighbor up the road, Julia, brought us a basket of goodies (Pringles, granola bars, pretzels), raspberry sweet tea, lemonade, and this fantastic bouquet of flowers she put together from her garden. 

Did I mention that God has blessed us with incredibly gracious neighbors?


We are in constant awe of where God has brought us. We know that it's only through Him that we live on such a wonderful street and that He has surrounded us with yet another family to join into.

JD and I have a LOT of work to do in terms of loving our neighbors more deeply and being intentional in helping them out whether in need or not. 

Do you have any ideas for helping to draw your neighborhood together?



Jitney's Journeys : Ecclesiastes 3:11 Painting


What an amazing promise from God!

One of my friends asked me to make her a customized 16" x 20" art piece for her home with Ecclesiastes 3:11 being the main focus.

Color theme should consist of blues, grays and purples
with a tree somewhere in the painting.

The biggest challenge of not having a whole lot of initial vision for a piece is just that... not having a grand initial vision for the piece. 

But I went with it. I'm honestly not even sure how I arrived to completion with this piece because it started out way dull and kind of dark. Then I started highlighting areas and made the leaves (unrealistically) purple, turquoise, gray and white. It brought a whimsical flair to the piece; it brought hope, which is what Ecclesiastes 3:11 is all about. 


Confession: I wish I could say that I free-handed the wood grain on the tree but I used a stencil. I've been wanting to use this stencil for forever, and I finally did. It was worth the wait. Everything else was freehand though, I promise.


The sides are painted in gray and lavender stripes to highlight some of the lavender she has as accent pieces in the room.



I've really never done a piece like this for someone, being without a mixed media theme, but it was super fun to make. I hope Nicole loves it as much as I do!!

Jitney's Journeys : Rustic Wooden Frames (Chalkboard & Photos)


One of my closest friends is expecting!! She's still keeping it hush-hush but she gave me permission to post the chalkboard I made for her. 

Here's our conversation via text that led up to this marvelous piece:
Her: Any ideas on where I can find a neat chalkboard?
Me: I would try Etsy first, Hobby Lobby or even TJ Maxx.
Her: Thanks! Let me know if you see any while you're out and about.
Me: Thought... So I can probably make you one.

Please note that we've never built a frame before (we leave that to the handyman, my Dad), especially not a chalkboard with a frame from all bare wood. But we're always up for learning something new and trying to conquer a challenge. The result?

Not to step my bounds here, but I was kind of obsessed with how well this turned out. She wanted something rustic and with a chalkboard size of 11" x 14". So JD and I rummaged through our scrap wood, found a solid 2' x 4' and cut it ourselves. The frame looked awesome as we pieced together the first three sides... but then we got to the fourth side and the measurements were way off. I'm not even sure how we could be off by that much.

So we went back to the rummaging pile, found another large 2' x 4' and walked it up to our neighbors for a more precise measurement. Whew. It worked that time. 

I sanded the boards after they were cut to the right size, distressed them, stained them, then nailed in some massively intense nails to keep the frame intact (nails also courtesy of Julia, our awesome neighbor). The final dimensions are 17" x 20".

Voila!

I left one nail head jutted out a bit to give it that rustic vibe.


After making the chalkboard, I covered it with paper and drilled a few screws in the back to hold it in place. I also added some wire for hanging and later added a photo hanger in case they wanted to hang it vertically.


Before she came over (and knew that I wrote "Coming in September"), she asked me to write "12 Weeks, baby is size of a lime". So I erased my previous message and went with this instead...


I think she would've been pleased either way but oh well-ity. The saying turned out super cute too. I'm just an all-around pleased designer today. :)

I've also decided that this is the technique I want to use for our dining room photo wall. Whoop whoop!! Finally. Some more clarity in home decor.

Here are a couple of other chalkboards we've made recently using antique baseboards but both have been sold...



End Note:
I'm thinking we'll start carrying the thick wooden frame as a new line for Jitney's Journeys in the Todd Nest Shop and our Etsy Shop. Both chalkboards and photo frames. What do you think?