Prom Crashers

 So my best friend Erika and I decided that we would surprise our "bebes" as we call them for their prom! We both came home that weekend and surprised them while they were taking their pictures! They all looked so pretty! We were both debating on whether or not we were just going to put on a sparkly dress and crash the prom, too...but we decided (reluctantly) against it. 

the prom crashers (well...prom pictures anyway)

Katie, Rocky, and Kaya were so surprised! We took like 500 pictures for them, like we were worse than the parents. Their dresses were so beautiful!

just a little something I thought went with the post!

just me and my bestie!

Be strong and courageous

Hey everyone! I hope your week went smoothly. Mine is definitely a lot better now that I finished all of my tests and projects.  Even though it was pretty rough, I had some pretty neat things happened! After my sport management test on Monday my professor told me after reading my resume (we had to turn in our resumes for an assignment), she was so intrigued with my blog that she looked it up! We talked a little about the possibilities I have with my bkrafty business! It was so so awesome. She was so encouraging. It honestly made my day! Thank you, Dr. Sparvero! It really reminded me to keep my head up and embrace the possibilities I have with my business in the future.

deuteronomy 31:6 canvas

This canvas in particular has a great message! This verse is a great reminder that God will be with you in every one of your battles. I painted it for my friend Rona, who is a new Theta this year! Thank you so much!
Have a great weekend y'all!

15,000!!!

OH MY GOODNESS. I woke up this morning to a text from my boyfriend saying I had reached 15,000 VIEWS ON MY BLOG!! He was number 15,000, so he was pretty excited about it. *Shout out to Dave!!* That's just crazy- 15 whole thousand views. Just WOW!!!!

 

This weekend I was so busy painting and doing homework that I barely even posted or checked my blog. Thank you everyone for continuing to check it out every once in a while. It's exciting for me to see the increased traffic! Let's see what I have been up to lately...

Eeek super excited about some things I am posting soon. Christina Williams of Christina Williams Designs (check her out of Facebook- AWESOME things!) had me make a plethora of canvases for her upcoming shows including a few Bible verses, a TCU canvas, her own personal logo, and my favorite...HALLOWEEN CANVASES! It's never too early for Halloween. Starbucks is already kickin' the season off with their delicious pumpkin spice latte...YUM.

Lots of love to all of my viewers and thank you for the support!
<3 Bethany

For I know the plans...God's little miracles.

It's been barely a week and most of my friends are already swimming in homework, reading assignments, and study groups. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since I started this blog. WOW! What an awesome thing this has turned into. With summer I had more free time to paint, but I forgot how challenging it is to balance school and painting once the exams and such start to pile up. Another important component is your faith. 

Something I learned my freshman year is that you should always make time for your time with God. Whether it is reading the Bible, going to church, or meeting up with your small group- always make time for God. There is no match for the peace and joy you get after studying the word. My roommate Morgan was a huge part in my growing faith last year! She encouraged me to come to Austin Stone with her (it's a very casual sort of contemporary worship that most college students go to), and it was great. We were put together by luck (aka Potluck), and I am so happy we were! She's awesome...just one of those small miracles. I don't know what I would have done last year without the wonderful friends I made through my Young Life small group and my Theta Bible study. SO if you're in college I would highly recommend joining a group like this! 

Here is the canvas that inspired this post. I did it for Christina Williams Designs! I have done a few different designs of this verse, and I love seeing how different they can be but still share the same message. SO cool!

SHOUT OUT TIME: 

I want to give a little shout out to some other people who have been so supportive of bkrafty! 

• To my roomies now, thank you for not getting mad when you wake up and my bottles of paint are all over the kitchen table...thank you! 
• To Ms. Williams- I simply cannot thank you enough for all of your support. I get so excited whenever you send orders my way. You have helped my little business grow! Thank you!!
• To Erika- you're so supportive of me!!! I am extremely thankful for your friendship. You're going to be so great at starting Young Life at SHSU! I am so excited for you. You are going to do such great things. I know it!
• My small group - you have taught me so much and always remind me of God's love. Thanks for loving me like no other!
• To Mamaw and my mom- you guys probably take up over half of the 13,000+ views. Mom you rock for not getting mad when the entire house in covered in my canvases. I love ya'll!

This weekend I took advantage of the extra day off and did my best to get as many paintings done as possible and finished around seven total.

Wishing everyone a great week! 

Bethany

8000 Views and Summertime News

Summer has been off to a good start so far. I went to Heart o' the Hills for my counselor orientation, got to see my big brother graduate from Texas Tech, saw so much family that I hadn't seen in way too long!, painted big orders of graduation gifts--and still have more coming! (Kat that's you!), hung out with my best friends, gone country dancing one night, been on about 5 flights, finished an online class, and just had a blast during every second of it. It's been pretty busy over here, but that's the fun part!

TECH GRADUATION!

 Some of my awesome fellow counselors at the Heart! We got a night off, so we were pretty happy!

My parents (and family in the background) all excited to be at graduation

I had an order for one of my close family friends. She and her mom have been in the process of redoing her room, and asked me if I could make a few canvases with her monogram and one with her favorite Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11. It's funny because the color scheme she picked is the one my mom and I used to redo my room this past year! Here's what they turned out like:

After I finished those, I had another order from her older brother! He asked me to make this canvas for a friend's birthday. I love making stuff for guys because they are so funny when they describe what they want, and then they are COMPLETELY amazed when you finish it. It was so rewarding seeing how impressed he was with it! Thanks, bud!! I hope the gift is a hit!

Thanks so much you guys for supporting me. It's hard to believe I have 8,000 views! My brother keeps telling me I need to look into getting sponsored, but I don't know the first thing about that. If anyone has any details on that, let me know. I think that'd be so fun! 

Philippians 4:13

Before I went off to counselor orientation last week, I had a lot of special orders to do! The best one was for a girl in Dallas who has been battling cancer in high school and is going to Baylor next fall. Her mother emailed me with her daughter's beautiful story, and I had tears in my eyes as I read it. The special cross with the canvas ribbon was something her mom sent me that really made the canvas have a special meaning for her. She is so brave, and it is incredible that she has been able to keep up her grades though her battle. She was so thoughtful and asked her mom if they could order another canvas for a friend fighting against cancer as well. Congratulations on your graduation, Caroline!! I hope you love your gift! Baylor is lucky to have such an inspirational girl come to their university!! 

Faith

A few months ago I shared Jacque and Mike's story with y'all, and I am soo happy to tell y'all that it looks like they will be able to bring Phiona home soon! I was lucky enough to get to make another canvas for them last week, and it was delivered to Jacque last night! It has such a sweet message, and knowing how true this is for them was so heart warming. It's about God's timing. I really hope y'all like this one because it's one of my new favorites! Please keep Jacque, Mike, and Phiona in your prayers!! #bringphionahome

Psalms 71:14

As y'all know, some of my favorite colors are turquoise, light blue, and white...but I absolutely LOVE gold. Especially when paired together! This week I painted a canvas for my friend Allyson, and I got to use all of those colors together!

Hope y'all like it!

Rez Week at UT!

So today I was walking out of Gregory gym and noticed these huge white wooden boards all set up around a tent. I'll admit, I have seen some pretty strange things at UT, so this is kinda the norm. For some reason today I actually went up to the boards and read what they said. After realizing it was a display for Rez Week,  I got really excited and looked at every single board! Some had paintings on them, but the on the other side they were blank. The coolest part was that someone had left prismas for anyone to use, and people had started writing notes to God or scriptures on the blank sides...so...naturally I couldn't resist and this is how I left my mark:

If you want to read more, go to this site! 

http://texasunited.org/about/about-crm/

God's Love

Yesterday I finished this zebra print and hot pink canvas for Taylor, another friend of Erika's. This verse is definitely one of my favorites. I remember I wrote it down after my dad was diagnosed with skin cancer, and it really helped give me peace.

 

This canvas is for my suite mate, Dani! She saw the one I made for Priscilla and liked it, so I made her one with similar designs. I love the colors and how the letting turned out!