Mini Gourd Lovin' Crafts

Basket of Mini Gourds Waxed

Autumn is most assuredly my favorite time of the year. Crisp air, changing leaves and mini gourds. Yeah; gourds. I know; right? Other people are thinking over-sized bright orange pumpkins, trick or treaters, mums and putting their flower beds to sleep for the winter and I am dreaming of little mini gourds.

My (over-zealousness) sheer delight of mini gourds happened quite by accident (as most of the wonderful things that happen in life do) when I was but knee high and decided to try to plant THE great pumpkin patch of all time in our family garden and somehow mixed in a packet of gourd seeds with my pumpkin seeds. When the pumpkins began to grow I noticed oddly shaped ~things~ twisting and growing among the vines. My Grams (father's mother) in her typical no nonsense way eyed them and proclaimed "Mini gourds. Completely worthless. Might as well pull them up and give your pumpkins a better chance to grow"

I could not. I would not! I felt so sorry for them. Colors of dull green, dull yellows and off whites, bent and twisted, so small in the shadow of the great pumpkins. Not big enough to make a birdhouse out of. Poor, precious little mini gourds. Thus began my life long love affair (and maybe a touch of over-protection) of the mini gourds.

Today these little mini gourds have completely ~ caught on ~ in Autumn designing and Fall tablescapes. Your imagination is the only limit on the possibilities of what you can do with them. Wreaths, snowmen, even nestled among the great orange pumpkins somehow makes the pumpkins look brighter by making the orange colors look that much oranger (is oranger a word? well; no matter. Today it will be)

I like to imagine that out there in the great wide world; bent over in the garden, are other people tenderly cultivating these simple, tiny, little odd shaped bits of completely fantastic and falling in love as I did so many years ago. If you simply do not have the space or the time to grow these little gourds then head to your nearest produce stand/farmer's market where you can buy them up by the bushel basket for a fraction of the cost that you'd pay at your local grocers. Then let you imagination run wild creating spots of indoor Autumn. Here are a few ideas to get you started.


Fall Tips!

Harvesting:
 
Leave the gourds on the vine until a light frost or the stems turn brown. If you need to pick a gourd before the frost, the gourd should be very firm to the touch. Cut the gourd with an inch or more of stem. Wash the gourds in soapy water. Dilute household bleach may be added to the water if desired, and may help delay mold formation. A light coat of non-glossy floor wax gives the gourds a natural glow.

Drying:
 
Dry the gourd fruits naturally by placing in an area with good air circulation. Bringing the gourds indoors may help them dry faster, but gourds can be dried outdoors even in cold areas. When the seeds rattle, the gourd is dry and ready for crafting. How long it takes a gourd to dry depends on the drying environment  -- the warmer and the better the circulation, the faster the water will evaporate from the gourd. Light may help to retard formation of mold, but the mold on the outside of gourds is a natural part of the drying process; as long as the gourd remain firm to the touch, do not discard it. Turning the gourds and wiping off the mold on a weekly basis may help the gourds dry sooner. If you don’t wash the gourd off with the bleach mixture, you’ll probably see some mold growing on it.  Don’t be alarmed if it does. Some people prefer it that way because mold gives it an unusual rustic look. While the natural method of drying in time-consuming, it is still the best recommendation for drying gourds.

Cleaning:
 
Once the gourd is completely dry it is ready to be cleaned. Rattling of seed is a good indication of dryness; however sometimes the seeds adhere to the inside of the gourd and in this case the gourd will be very light and sound hollow when tapped. Submerge the gourd in a bucket of warm soapy water and scrape off the outer skin with a plastic mesh bath or kitchen scrubby. Again; bleach may be added to the water, but it is not a necessity.

Using sandpaper or steel wool to clean dry gourds is OK if the gourd is going to be painted -- but there will be fine scratches from these abrasive materials which will show up if the gourd is stained with wood stains or a light coat of leather dye.

Mini Gourd and Faux Leaves Wreath.

Wreath Form (either wire, hay or Styrofoam)
Fake Leaves (any deep green or fall color will do)
Mini Gourds
Hot Glue Gun
Glue Sticks
Optional: Florist Wire (comes in green and brown- use the color that matches your leaves)

Tip! If you use a Styrofoam wreath spray painting it in a deep green (if using all green leaves) or dull brown (if using fall colored leaves) will hide any areas not completely covered by your leaves.

Tip! I have found that simply using a hot glue gun will hold your gourds to the wreath frame securely for one season of use BUT if you have created a masterpiece that you want to use year after year then the florist wire will hold each gourd in place when the glue begins to break down.

In this case I used a Styrofoam wreath, spray painted it a dark forest green and set it aside to dry. In the meanwhile I cut off all of the green leaves from a couple of old faux vines that had stashed away (for who knows what) until I had a nice pile. Once my wreath had dried I then began to hot glue my gourds around the center of my wreath BEFORE adding in the leaves. In the past I have glued the leaves first and then added the gourds but found that the gourds didn't hold very well and I ended up using twice the amount of florist wire than was necessary to hold them in place. Not a very visually appealing look.

Once I had the gourds glued to the Styrofoam wreath I then secured each gourd using green florist wire (so I could use this again next year) Simply wrap a piece of florist wire over the handle of each gourd and then loop it around the styrofoam wreath and twist it in a knot on the back side. (the wire sinks into the Styrofoam so you can't even see it) Then it was simply a matter of glue, glue, glue leaves all along the top and in between each gourd. Make a loop with a piece of florist wire or use a piece of ribbon as a hanger and that's it. Ready to hang.

So easy!

Mini Gourds Painted White/Black and Covered in Cheese Cloth

More Than Conquerors

Your Victories

Deuteronomy 28:13 KJV 
"And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them." 

I must in all humility admit that I have had some great victories in my life. God has liberated and set me free from so many of my old sins, old bondages and bad habits. The thrill of freedom I've experienced since being liberated has been absolutely amazing, humbling and completely undeserved.

This is something God wants for all of us to experience in this life. Every single yoke that the devil has placed around your neck; God wants to see broken. He wants to see His people walk in freedom. To get out from under the bondage that the Enemy has held you in for far too long.

Let's get personal ...

I have been crippled by issues of self esteem most all of my life. Feeling like nothing that I ever did was good enough or important in the grand scheme of things. I always felt that even when I gave it my best that it still could have been done better somehow. I always second guessed every decision I ever made both in my chosen career in Medicine and even in my raising of my children. I'd lie awake at night replaying in my mind how I could have done something different and the outcome be better. I stayed exhausted all of the time. Exhausted from stress and exhausted from lack of sleep. It was truly awful.

It's not so much that I was looking for perfection in everything that I did as I was looking for approval for who I am. Someone or something to validate my existence on this planet. It was years before I finally figured out that the only One that I needed approval from was/is God. It's His opinion of me that counts and not anyone else. My existence in this world is validated simply by the fact that He chose to breath life into me. 

I still have many, many battles that I need to win and obstacles that I need to overcome but; Praise God! we don't have to do it alone. I am sure that you do too. I encourage you to pick one thing you'd like to start working on today. Maybe it is your self esteem. Maybe it is something else but pick something and let's start to work to overcome it. To claim the victory.

Next, start visualizing your victory today. Think about what your life will look like when you're free. No more guilt. No more stress. No more sleepless night worrying about things that you can not go back and change.
 
I use Deuteronomy 28 as an incentive. I encourage you to read the whole chapter. It basically says that if you obey God, He will bless you, and if you disobey God, you will be cursed. Now that's a powerful incentive, wouldn't you agree?

I like working with and cooperating with God to conquer things that the Enemy has been choking me with for too long. I like not letting the enemy rule me. In fact, I think the most exciting journey in life is simply saying, "God, I want to change. I want to please You."

When you get into that frame of mind, you can get free from one thing and go on to another thing and another thing and pretty soon, you'll start to realize that you have some real authority in Christ. All of those chains that the devil has spent years binding around your neck are just gone and now you can walk upright, unencumbered without the weight. It's awesome!

Don't live your life without the thrill of growing and changing or you'll miss out on the good things God can do through you. Take some time today to visualize the person you want to be and start pursuing God's freedom. Because one day at a time, you and God can do anything!

Tick, Tick, Tick Goes the Time

Making the Most of Your Time

Ephesians 5:15-16  KJV 
"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise"

Time really does fly, doesn't it? On the other hand, in some situations, it may seem like time crawls! No matter how fast or slow it feels like time goes by, each of us only has a certain amount of time on this earth. With that in mind, I want to ask you, what are you doing with your time?

Time is such a gift from God! I see every day how He takes His time to make us what He wants us to be. And then, in His mercy and grace, He gives us time to get in agreement with what He's doing in our lives so we can experience His goodness. What a loving God!

So, ask yourself, "Am I in agreement with what God is doing in me? Or, am I struggling and fighting, impatiently trying to do things my way?"

I can assure you, if you're struggling with God, you're just wasting your time, but if you're in agreement with Him, you're using your time for great things.

Remember, God is gracious. He takes His time. We might think He's taking too long when, in His goodness, He is just waiting for us to line up with the work He's doing in us. He won't rush. He is patient. Our struggling only delays our progress.

So maybe this is a good time to change your outlook and start looking ahead to a new way of doing things, a new vision for life, a renewed faith and trust in the One who is always at work in us, and always for our good.

My encouragement to you is to trust God and spend your time getting in agreement with what He is doing in your life. Let Him define your purpose. Know in your heart that He has great plans, and no matter how much time He takes, He loves you, and He always has your best interest at heart.

New Beginnings

The Place Where You Are

Genesis 13:14 KJV 
"And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward"
 
It seems that life always has its ways of bringing us to a place where we need to make a fresh start.

In the Bible, Abram found himself in that very place when his nephew Lot chose the best land in the area, leaving Abram with the less desirable land. But God didn't abandon Abram. Instead He showed up and gave Abram a bold new vision.

I like what the Lord told Abram after he and Lot parted ways. He told him, 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are.'

It's that phrase, "look from the place where you are," that stirs me. That's the point of a fresh start, a new beginning. God Himself will bring us to that point occasionally.

You might be there right now. Maybe you want to break a bad habit or revive a lost dream. Maybe you want to get a handle on your finances, start your own business, write a book, whatever it is, God could be telling you to get started right now. This could be your new beginning!

After God told Abram to look from that place, the next thing He told him was, 'Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you' (Genesis 13:17 NKJV).

God could be telling you right now to get up and get on with your dream or vision, your assignment, your life, because He is giving it to you. Your part is to walk it out.

Do what you need to do. It may not be easy. It might take some time. But trust God and go for whatever it is. Look from the place where you are right now - and go!