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Keep Kids Smart with ART

Starting this Friday, March 20, the Boca Raton Museum of Art is launching a new series of free Online Community Art Initiatives for all ages at this link. Featuring the new Keep Kids Smart with ART series to help parents and their children who are home from school.

The Museum has always provided the community the added benefit of an Art School campus with an innovative art faculty, since its very beginnings in 1950. These art educators are using their expertise to develop online resources using the power of art. Also for seniors who are keeping social distance and who might feel isolated.

This series will provide art-oriented ways for people to creatively utilize their new free-time at home. Online art lessons, tips for parents to use art-making and creativity with their kids at home, and activities for all ages.

The resources on this landing page will evolve as time passes, as the art teachers receive feedback and reactions from families about their needs. It will also branch out to the Museum’s social media channels for ongoing activities — #BocaMuseumatHome.

Mirror, Mirror; Mulatta Seeking Inner Negress II – Alison Saar

New Exhibit: The Ultimate Collection of “Selfies” by America’s Leading Artists: from 1901 through 2015.

The term self-conscious takes on a whole new meaning in today’s social media era.

At a time when millions of selfies are posted every day and identity is proving to be more fluid, this exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery shines a new light on self-portraiture and representation.

The show was created to commemorate the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th anniversary, celebrating the artists who make the NPG Collection so extraordinary.

Eye to I brings together the work of major artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. The powerful works are from every decade, starting in 1901 and continuing through 2015.

The Museum is launching a new series of free Online Community Initiatives for all ages, including Keep Kids Smart with ART that will aim to help parents and their children who are home from school.

These free Online Community Initiatives will also reach out to seniors who are keeping social distance and who might feel isolated.

Starting on Friday, March 20 the Museum’s website will provide regularly updated links to new ongoing activities here, including live interactive streaming and tips for parents.

The Museum has always provided the community the added benefit of an Art School campus with an innovative art faculty, since its very beginnings in 1950. These art educators are using their expertise to develop online resources using the power of art.

Quote from the Museum Director:“Art, culture, and creativity have always made a difference in powerful ways, especially during challenging times,” said Irvin Lippman, the executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. “While the Museum is temporarily closed, we will continue to give back to the community. Being inspired and creative have not been canceled. These artists in our new exhibition, “Eye to I: Self Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery,” made a lasting mirror effect of themselves, cutting across time and creating a very personal art that engages us – the viewer.” adds Lippman.

According to the National School Boards Association, kids who study art are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.

Studies show that art helps kids earn higher report card grades because skills developed through art lead to better learning in other areas.

Tips for parents and students on using art in your home:

  • Provide a special “creative zone” at home.
  • Make sure that your “creative zone” is mess-friendly and able to stand up well to spills and art-related fun.
  • Focus on the fun process, not on the outcome.
  • Create a special area to showcase your child’s artwork.
  • Watch and encourage your children as they work on their art.
  • Ask them questions to engage them while they create.

Check out Boca Raton Museum of Art’s online art today!

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Overcomer Movie – Fandango Tickets

SYNOPSIS

Life changes overnight for coach John Harrison when his high school basketball team’s state championship dreams are crushed under the weight of unexpected news. When the largest manufacturing plant in town suddenly shuts down and hundreds of families begin moving away, John must come to grips with the challenges facing his family and his team. Urged by the school’s principal to fill-in and coach a sport he doesn’t know or like, John is frustrated and questioning his worth … until he crosses paths with a student struggling with her own journey.

Filled with a powerful mix of faith, a twist of humor, and a ton of heart, the Kendrick Brothers return to theaters with OVERCOMER, their newest feature following FACING THE GIANTS, FIREPROOF, COURAGEOUS, and the #1 box- office hit, WAR ROOM. The inspiring family film stars Alex Kendrick, Priscilla Shirer, Shari Rigby, Cameron Arnett, and introduces Aryn Wright-Thompson. Opening nationwide on August 23, OVERCOMER dares to leave you filled with hope, inspired to dream, and asks the question: what do you allow to define you?

ABOUT PROVIDENT FILMS

Provident Films, a division of Provident Music Group, a Sony company, develops, produces and markets faith-based films. A pioneer in the genre since 2006, Provident Films’ partnerships include Sherwood Pictures/Kendrick Brothers (WAR ROOM, COURAGEOUS, FIREPROOF and FACING THE GIANTS), The Erwin Brothers (WOODLAWN, MOMS’ NIGHT OUT and the $83 million box office surprise, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE), Kirk Cameron (CONNECT) and Graceworks Pictures (INDIVISIBLE released Oct. 26, 2018). For more information, go to www.providentfilms.org.

ABOUT KENDRICK BROTHERS PRODUCTIONS

Kendrick Brothers Productions is the company of brothers Alex, Stephen and Shannon Kendrick that exists to honor God and share the truth and love of Jesus Christ through movies, books, curriculum and speaking. By blending engaging stories with doctrinal integrity, the Kendricks seek to encourage and inspire audiences with resources that positively impact their lives and strengthen their faith, families, and personal relationships.

2018 marks the 15th anniversary of the release of FLYWHEEL, the Kendrick Brothers’ first feature film. Produced with a shockingly modest budget of only $20,000 and intended for Albany, Georgia residents where the brothers served on staff at Sherwood Baptist Church, FLYWHEEL went on to sell over a million copies in DVD format.

“We’re just amazed at what the Lord’s done with it,” says Alex Kendrick.

2018 also marks the production of the Kendricks’ 6th film, OVERCOMER. Between those two milestones, the Kendricks’ first film and the production of their latest film, the Kendrick Brothers’ body of work has been credited with creating a subcategory known as faith-based films.

With more than $150 million in box office receipts across five films plus millions more in DVD and on-demand sales worldwide, the Kendrick Brothers are recognized as leading the genre.

WHY IDENTITY?

“The movie OVERCOMER is about identity, an issue that everyone deals with. Everyone needs to answer the questions: ‘Who is God?’, and ‘Who am I?’, and the Scriptures deal with both of those things. When a person discovers who they are in Christ, it opens up an understanding of how they can live that out in a daily basis in what they do in their relationships with others,” said Stephen Kendrick.

“When we started the process with OVERCOMER, Alex began to unpack this idea of a cross-country runner who’s dealing with the issue of identity, and at the same time, I’d been studying Ephesians 1 and 2. We can see how the Lord was paralleling our paths to specifically make this movie.”

“Cross country is a very difficult sport. From the time you start, you do not stop or pause until you cross the finish line. And in many regards, that’s like our life; that’s our journey of faith,” said Alex Kendrick.

“As people are walking out of the theater, we hope that they begin to ask questions about where their identity is found, because too often we find it in our circumstances, in our titles, in what other people are saying about us, in our jobs, in our positions or awards. Those things can be taken away,” said Stephen Kendrick.

“I hope moviegoers will realize their salvation is about much more than just having a ticket to eternity. They were actually given a brand-new identity. Which means, they have access to spiritual blessings, they have an inheritance, they have all this stuff that’s available to them, this side of eternity. And when you realize that, that means the decisions you make, the relationships you have, the trajectory you choose, the ambitions that you hold, all of that stuff will reflect, and be indicative of your brand-new identity. That changes and transforms the way you live,” said Priscilla Shirer.

WHAT IS AN OVERCOMER?

“OVERCOMER in many regards, is a discovery of who we are in Christ, who gets to determine our identity and what we have to overcome to embrace the life God has for us,” said Alex Kendrick.

“Overcoming is about powering through and realizing that on the other side of it you are stronger and more courageous than when you started,” said Shari Rigby.

“Being an overcomer means you keep your head up and you know that you’re going to get through it; you figure out a way to get through it, you keep your faith strong, you get through it, and you just thank God,” said Aryn Wright-Thompson.

“Being an overcomer means there is pain, discomfort, inconvenience, life’s tough, and yet you have joy and peace and all the stuff that you can only have if there is an anchor in your soul,” said Priscilla Shirer.

Social Corner

Website

Facebook 

Twitter – @overcomermovie 

Instagram – @overcomermovie

Family Guide – some great talking points for discussing this movie as a family!

Enter Below to Win Tickets to the Overcomer Movie

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Healthy Baby Home Party

Thanks to Seventh Generation for this awesome, free, home party! This party box had tons of great Seventh Generation products for me and for my guests!

Seventh Generation is all about high quality, natural ingredients, and being honest and upfront about what’s in their products. The more products I try from this brand, the more I love it!

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For starters, this dish liquid, diapers, and baby wipes. I love that the diapers and wipes are free and clear. My little guy has sensitive skin and I have to be careful what brands I use for him. He has no trouble at all with these Seventh Generation products.

I love the wipes, they’re thick and soft as well as fragrance free. Which means that I can comfortably use them for cleaning little faces and hands when on the go.

My favorite item of these 3 though is the dish detergent. It smells so good! It smells like I’m going to the spa every time I do dishes!

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Speaking of the dish detergent. It was one of the samples included in my box. I was so excited to share this awesome dish soap with my guests!

Also included was Seventh Generation laundry detergent (which I’m also currently reviewing – so look for a post soon about this product), baby wipes (Seventh Generation seriously needs to sell a big box of these individual packs, they’re so convenient to just have in my purse), Zarbees baby cough syrup (seriously the best! I keep this stuff on hand in the winter), wildflower seeds, coupons, a bingo game, and mighty mealtime toddler meals. Plus some pretty cute brown bags so everyone could easily take their samples home.

I ended up combining my party with Mother’s Day. We were already having a bunch of people over and what better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than sending every mom home with an awesome sample bag?

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And last but not least, bobble was one of the party box sponsors and they sent a Bobble Infuse water bottle (and lots of coupons for my guests). I love that the bobble water bottles have a charcoal filter. This way I can easily drink any tap water or water fountain water without having to worry about how clean the water actually is – it’s not recommended for other waters since the filter is just designed to remove impurities from tap water.

My husband stole this water bottle. He’s all about filtered water and was so excited that there’s a water bottle with a filter!

I received these products free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

This post does contain affiliate links.

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Live Free – Coloring Book Review

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Live Free, An Adult Coloring Book by Margaret Feinberg.

This is such an awesome coloring book! On the left of each page is a spot for journaling or creating your own thoughts, and on the right is a fun picture with a verse to color.

I love all the intricacies of these pictures and it’s so relaxing to just sit for a few minutes (with 3 kids, that’s a max of 5 minutes at a time) and do something creative that doesn’t have a deadline and that doesn’t have to be done “right”.

I’ve been just leaving this out on my living room table, grabbing the nearest marker, and coloring away when I get a chance. Luckily, the pages are heavy enough none of the marker is bleeding through.

In 2 weeks this is all I’ve gotten done, but I think it’s turning out great, and I’m having so much fun picking which random colors go where.

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As I work on my picture I find myself pondering what it is to be a “living stone”. Someone who brings life to my family and those around me. At the same time as I’m “bringing life” to my picture. Margaret Feinberg did a terrific job of matching this picture to this verse.

And my 7yr old picked out a page as well. This kept her busy for quite a while.

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This book is full of beautiful pictures and inspiring scriptures. It’s going to take me forever to color all of these pages, and I’m loving every minute of it!

I received this book free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own. This post does contain affiliate links.

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Special Valentine DIY Charms from Glamulet


Design and share your own unique Glamulet Valentine charm for a chance to win that charm for free! Check out these cute designs! The more sharing you do, and the more votes you get, the more likely you are to win. So, get your charm designed today so you have plenty of time to share!

Speaking of voting, here’s my design. And I would love some more votes!

It’s super easy to create your own. The hard part is deciding what picture you want to use! In 3 easy steps:

1) Register
2) Click and design your own charm
3) Promote your own design through your Facebook page and other social media

And as a special blog promotion, Glamulet has a discount code for my readers. Want to design something and give it to your special someone for Valentines Day or just order something special for yourself? Use this 15% discount code. Code: BB-VD15

The code expires February 14, 2016.

I just love Glamulet charms!  They’re so bright and sparkly!

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In fact, I really love these design your own Valentine charms and not just for Valentine’s Day! My sister’s getting married in a few months and these would make great gifts for the bridesmaids. Either a photo of her and each bridesmaid or a photo of one of her engagement photos. It would be a great wedding memento!

There’s so many special ways to gift these Valentine Charms!

This is a Sponsored Post.

 

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Free Date Night

If you don’t know about it already Bing rewards you for searching using their site. (sign up using my link and I get 500 points) You can earn up to 30 points a day for online searching and 10 points a day for mobile searching for a total of 40 a day, plus they have bonus points and double point days and such, so points add up pretty quickly. Every 450 points I redeem a $5 Groupon credit. There’s other things on there, like Xbox credits and Amazon gift cards, but groupon is my favorite.

So, last month, I had $20 in Groupon credit sitting in my account. I like to spend it on restaurant discounts and then me and my husband go out to dinner or lunch for “free”. WooHoo. So, Groupon e-mails me a discount, if I spend $30 and purchase a groupon through their mobile app (which is already on my phone) I get $10 off. The math is pretty easy, $10 off a $30 groupon = $20, which is the amount of my current Groupon Credits.

I go search Groupon for anything $30 to $40 and see if there’s anything interesting. For $30 I can get a groupon for $60 at the Tennessee Riverboat Company. Not bad, Dinner cruises are $25 to $30 a person so I go ahead and get it. Now, I have a free $60 to spend at the Tennessee Riverboat Company. Of course, we pick the Mystery Cruise because it sounds like fun.

So, the mystery was pretty much what I expected, not that entertaining but still fun, and I think they just threw all the names in a hat and pulled out out and that was our murderer for the night.

Plus you get a 2 hr cruise down the river on a little riverboat. – to put little in context, I’ve been aboard some of the larger old Ohio riverboats like the Delta Queen when it was still operating as a riverboat. I think one paddle-wheel is bigger than the boat we were on for our cruise. Anyways, little riverboat, it was a very nice 2hr ride. It rained the first 20 minutes, but we were inside eating – and the food was DELICIOUS! – so it didn’t matter. After dinner we went up on the deck and the weather was perfect. Saw some really pretty houses – we’re house hunting currently so it was fun to see some of the large houses on the river.

It was fun to do something different for a change (we left the kids with my MIL) and get some time to ourselves. Not sure I would actually pay $60 for the dinner cruise but if you like being out on the water, it’s lots of fun and the food is good.

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My Disney Side Party

Thanks to Disney Side @Home Celebrations for my awesome box of party supplies for my #Disneyside party! With all these snow days we’ve just been off of our schedule for weeks, so I decided to keep it simple and do a playdate. Actually, I did a playdate and a pre-playdate the night before plus a few other random things throughout the week.

The first evening we had some friends over and the kids played the disney bingo and won prizes from our Disney prize bag – I used the stickers, balloons, bracelets, tatoos, and bumper stickers. A couple of the kids that were going to come ended up not being able to come as planned but we still had a great time! We had spaghetti for dinner and monster cupcakes in our Mickey Mouse cupcake wrappers.

The next morning we had our playdate. There were 6 kids total, we decorated T-shirts, played Disney bingo, colored our race posters, ate more cupcakes, and let the kids play.

I had traced mickey and minnie pictures onto the shirts before the party so all the kids (or moms) had to do was color them in. We all had a blast! I think the moms had more fun than the kids did coloring!

I don’t have a color printer or a photo printer so I gave away all the photo card paper at the party, and it’ll definitely get used. People were pretty excited to get to print their own pictures!

Only a few of the kids wanted posters so I had a few posters left over after the party that I sent to my sisters for Valentines day.

The next day me and the kids made our Mickey Mouse cookies and shared them with some friends we had over. The cookies turned out great and the kids had a great time decorating them! I finally figured out a good sugar cookie icing recipe (water, powdered sugar, and food coloring – when it dries you can stack the cookies without the icing sticking) so now I just need to nail down a good sugar cookie recipe. My recipe was ok but I’ve had better.

We’ve had so much fun showing our #DisneySide with our Disney @Home Celebration box!

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Free Shaving Supplies

Click Here to go to Harry’s shaving cream launch page. The more friends you get to sign up (just submit your e-mail) the larger the item you will receive when they launch. Free shaving cream at 5 friends, free handle at 10 friend, free shaving kit at 25 friends, and free blades for a year at 50 friends.