The Eyes of Texas are upon yOU..

So last week was simply WILD. We initially had our big/little paddles due for Theta on Thursday, so everyone was stressing about getting them done and making them look perfect! Luckily our new member director changed the due date for that to this Thursday!! (I'll upload my paddle I made for Grace as soon as the sees it!) The big thing for underclassmen do for Texas/OU weekend -especially freshmen- is cooler painting. I think I might have slept for 8 hours total last week slaving over these babies, but here is what all that hard work amounted to!

 

 The OU game is our biggest event of the football season, and the boys ask dates to go with them. It's really a fun experience because you have the game AND the state fair! Since we didn't exactly do too well in the game, most of us went to the fair. It was AWESOME! Everything was packed, and I ran into literally so many people that there was no way it couldn't be fun.

 ^ My honorary little sisters Chloe and Paige! They are the sweetest girls I know. We went on some rides together at the fair!

 ^One of my favorite people in Theta!! I'm going to miss her next year!!


Hook 'em.
Xo BK

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

Back to School Festivities

Rush is finally over and classes have officially started at UT...yay school! In honor of school kicking off and summer ending (tear) I'll post some of the TEXAS canvases (finally)!!! It kinda funny because some of the canvases I made were for girls going through rush, and I ended up meeting a few of them! Some even ended up being Thetas, YAY!  Hope you like the pictures, I put some from rush up, too.

Ps. If you're looking to give a gift to someone who just went though rush, you should check out Melissa's Custom Gifts on the Drag (Guadalupe) right across from Dobie Mall. There is free validated parking if you park there!! If you have a Facebook, go like the page! They are doing a Jon Hart giveaway, so don't miss out.
Here's a link to the site!
Melissa's Custom Gifts

Baylor Bears

Before I left for Austin I made one of my camp friends a canvas with Baylor colors and her monogram on it, and since today is her first day of classes i thought it would be a perfect time to post it! We always instagram pictures of crafts and stuff, so it was cool getting to make her something, too. Good luck on your freshman year Meghan I know you're going to have a blast!!

Just Bringing Art

A few weeks back a great friend of mine named Tory had me paint two canvases for her best friends' graduation gifts. It turns out that one of the girls loved her canvas (YAY!) so much that she wanted me to paint one for her boyfriend. He is in a band called Just Bringing Art, and she thought it would be cool if I painted their logo on a canvas. She's such a good girlfriend! I hope he loved it.

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!! 

Best of friends

My best friend plays softball for Oklahoma State, so I almost never get to see her during the school year. They travel ALL the time, and this weekend she is finally in AUSTIN! They play UT this weekend, so I get to go embarrass her in the stands. As her best friend, it's my job. One of my favorite campers from Heart o' the Hills (my summer camp where I am also a counselor) saw some of my stuff on Instagram! Her name is Sam, and she asked me to make some canvases for her with the sweetest canvases about friendship!! It made me SO excited for this summer when I get to work there!

The eyes of Texas are upon you!/bkrafty hits 5,000 views!!

Hey everybody! WOW, I can't believe I have over 5000 views. My boyfriend texted me the other morning to tell me, and I almost thought he was lying. It's crazy to think that this school year is almost over, and my blog and business have grown so much! Thank you to everyone who is reading, sharing, and ordering! Y'all are the best!! This week I have a treat for all you Texas Longhorns out there. I had an order of graduation presents for some girls who are attending UT next fall.  The  only specific details were to make them all different, but to have their names and  beautiful burnt orange! 

 

Thanks y'all! HOOK 'Em!

Jacque & Mike's Story

One day earlier this month I received an e-mail from Jacque for a very special order of canvases. The thing I love most about doing this is that when people ask me to make a canvas for them, they share a little story with me about who or what it's for. Jacque's story she sent to me was so beautiful that I asked her if I could share it with you. I know it will touch your heart! 

In March of last year, she and her husband Mike went through a very devastating time in their lives when they had a miscarriage. They just prayed for God's guidance and that He would lead them in the direction they were to go. How amazing is that?! This story really hit home with me because I remember when my aunt and uncle were trying to have another child, and they decided to adopt. It was a very long, exhausting process, and it's definitely not easy. They adopted Lacy from St. Petersburg, Russia, and she has been such a blessing to our family. I know Jacque and Mike deserve a blessing just like that! God listened to their prayers and this is what happened. 

 In the summer of 2011, they were presented with an opportunity to go on a missions trip to Uganda, Africa to work with the orphans in Iganga. It was there that we met and fell in love with Phiona. Her story is tragically beautiful in that she was almost aborted before she was born. The "house mom" at the orphanage talked Phiona's biological parents out of aborting but they only accepted on the condition that the house mom take Phiona once she was born. So, the day she was born, her biological parents gave her up. She lived with the house mom until she was 4 and has been living at the orphanage ever since. She is absolutely beautiful and is so full of joy and love that it would bring anyone to tears. Jacque said that she and her husband really do believe that she is the answer to their prayers and the "direction" that God wants them to follow.

I made this for little Phiona! The canvas next to it is for Mike and Jacque. I told my Bible Study to pray for them and that they get to bring Phiona home soon! They are so wonderful!! Send your prayers their way <3 <3 <3

Happy Birthday to ME!

Hello wonderful readers! Yesterday I celebrated my birthday back home with my family and my wonderful friend Erika (her name is probably in every other post by now!) A bunch of her friends at SHSU ordered canvas from me, and this is us in mid delivery process)

I absolutely LOVE her. It was the best present to see her on my birthday!

 It was such an awesome weekend with so many great things happening. First off, on Friday night, the sweetest girl Emily Puig texted me and told me she got into UT! Then about 15 minutes later, I ran into her! It was definitely a God thing. I was so happy to see her, and we got a picture to savor the moment...it's not the best quality, but oh well!

Then my family went a beautiful wedding for Andrew and Bridie Chaudior! I snapped a few pictures throughout the night and wanted to share them with you!

Sunday was my birthday, and it was a very busy day! I had breakfast/brunch with Erika, my mom, and my grandma (aka Mamaw) at La Madeline...which was absolutely delicious. I flew back to ATX later that afternoon and had a birthday dinner with some friends!

Look at that beautiful longhorn!

TURQUOISE

Oh and check out this creation while you're at it! I am absolutely obsessed with turquoise, so I had a hard time giving this one away! I'm actually redoing my room at home with a turquoise, gold/yellow, and tan theme.

Proverbs 3:5 for Hannah!