Classic Book Titles {Synonyms!} Quiz: The Results

I recently posted a classic book titles synonyms quiz {click here for that}.

Here are the long awaited answers with the top guessers below:

1. The Grasp-er in the Barley - The Catcher in the Rye

2. Amazing Prospects - Great Expectations

3. Arrogance & Bias - Pride & Prejudice

4. Courageous Fresh Earth - Brave New World

5. A Goodbye to Upper Apendages - A Farewell to Arms

6. Conflict & Solace - War & Peace

7. Away With the Breeze - Gone With the Wind

8. Eden Misplaced - Paradise Lost

9. Trek to the Middle of the Planet - Journey to the Center of the Earth

10. Creature Ranch - Animal Farm

Kristin of Sew Technicolor & Elle Alice {AKA: Elena} of Beautiful Hope got all 10 answers correct!  They are some seriously bookish, clever gal pals!

Anastasia of Royal Daughter of God got 9 right!  Superb deducing skills!

Madison & Khloe Grace were fabulous runners-up with 3 correct guesses each!

Bookish Love,
-Bess-

P.S.: This was fun!  Thanks to all who participated!  Maybe next time we could do children's book titles?  Hmmm...

Good Neighbors {+ Free Printables}

"Love your neighbor as yourself." 
-Matthew 22:39 NIV

That's a pretty big deal - to "love your neighbor as yourself."  It becomes an even bigger deal after "an expert in the law" asks Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" in Luke 10:29.  In classic Jesus-style, He responds in a parable that makes it crystal clear {read the full details in Luke 10:25-37}.  The story of the Good Samaritan shows us that a neighbor is not defined by location, creed, or status, but by mere humanity.  As human beings on this planet earth, all descended first from Adam & Eve, & then Noah & his boatload of kin, we are more than neighbors, but fellow relations {created by our Father God} who are called to love our other billions of fellow relations as we love our own self.  Can you say deep?  That's some ocean full of purpose right there!  If we were truly to love others - all others - as we love ourselves what would that look like?  What would change?  Would we share our faith more, extend our grace further, take the chances we are given every time, & truly live & love to the full?  While we are but flesh & bone humans & our progress is at best imperfect, we can seek to every day show more godly love {the love that the Samaritan showed/the love that Christ showed}.  We can try to, in our own imperfect way, "love our neighbors as our self."  
* * * * *
I've seen many neighbors come & go since I moved into my apartment nearly 3 years ago.  And, although the "neighbors" in scripture stretch far beyond next door, those found a hop, skip, & a jump away are included as well in the command.  Here's a free printable tag to tie around a tin of cookies, a potted plant, or any other new neighbor token you can come up with.  Let's start loving our neighbors as ourselves... & remember, it goes beyond your neighborhood to the farthest reaches of the globe!  

Click on each printable, right click & save to your computer {or copy & paste},
open in a word document, resize if necessary {I found these need to be shrinked down quite a bit}, print, & love your neighbor!

tags:

bonus art print:

CONDITIONS OF USE FOR PRINTABLES: My printables are free for personal use only. Feel free to share them on Pinterest provided you credit & link back to http://bessbag.blogspot.com/ {Bess' Bag}. If you want to blog about these printables, or share a project you created using them, it would be fabulous, just be sure to credit & link back to http://bessbag.blogspot.com/ {Bess' Bag} (feel free to use 1 or 2 photos, but please don't share the actual printable on your site - just add a link to it). Thanks & enjoy!

Neighborly Love,

-Bess-

Autumn Wishes

What are your autumn wishes?

Love,

-Bess-

Classic Book Titles {Synonynms!} Quiz

The book club I'm a part of recently played this  fun book title guessing game.  Here's how you play: You're given synonyms for a book title & you have to come up with the real title.  Here's an example: Tiny Females is Little Women.  Got it?  Good, now let's see how many you can come up with!  Leave your answers in a comment, if you like, & I'll be posting the top guessers {& a link to their blogs (if they have one, that is)} in a future post where I reveal the answers!

Let's get started, shall we?

1. The Grasp-er in the Barley 

2. Amazing Prospects

3. Arrogance & Bias

4. Courageous Fresh Earth

5. A Goodbye to Upper Apendages

6. Conflict & Solace

7. Away With the Breeze

8. Eden Misplaced

9. Trek to the Middle of the Planet

10. Creature Ranch

Bookish Love,
-Bess-

Simple Autumn Art {Nest Feathering}

This past Christmas I came up with an easy-peasy idea to cover up my non-Christmasy canvas art.  I decided to do the same for fall, but with an autumn quote I discovered on Pinterest {it's originally from a writer named Faith Baldwin}...

{source}

Click here to learn how to make your own!

Autumn Love,

-Bess-

It's My 500th Post!

It's officially my 500th post!

You'd think I'd have ran out of things to say by now, but nope, I'm still chatty {& crafty}!  In honor of this milestone, I'm listing 50 random truths about moi {cause 500 would be way too many}...  Click on any underlined words to visit the matching post!

1. My favorite place to shop is a local thrift store where the prices are low & the selection is vast.
2. My favorite book of the Bible is Romans.
3. I pretty much always sing along with the radio… provided there are no passengers!
4. Some of my favorite smells include cookies baking, pumpkin spice, wild honeysuckle, & salty ocean breezes.
5. I’ve never been kissed. {The period after that sentence seems so definite! =)} Actually, I’m aiming to save that first for my future husband.
6. The last book I read was Wish You Were Eyre by Heather Vogel Frederick.
7. I’m not gifted in cookery!
8. I love the name Felicity. If ever I have a baby girl that will likely be her name!
9. I like to skateboard, but not all trickster-y {yet}.
10. I’m an introvert.
11. I’ve had both long & short hair, but am currently long & seriously debating cutting it shoulder length {or so} again. Any thoughts?
12. The last movie I saw in the theater was the animated snail flick, Turbo, with my nephew.
13. I love the word zephyr {which is a gentle, heavenly breeze}.
14. One of the bravest things I’ve done is traveled to Scotland & England without a tour guide, & all by my lonesome. Yikes!
15. The songs Nothing Is Wasted by Jason Gray & The Truth About Me by Mandisa really speak to my heart.
16. I love to take walks around the neighborhood for exercise – I’ve been known to go on an hour stroll on many an evening.
17. I’m in a book club.
18. I don’t drink coffee.
19. I’m very old fashioned & vintage-y. For instance, I don’t tweet, text, or have a fancy cell phone.
20. The craziest college course I took was Stone Carving! I thought I could be Michelangelo. Uh, not so much.
21. I love vintage TV shows! Some of my favorites include The Doris Day Show, That Girl, & Punky Brewster!
22. I have bunting hung in pretty much every room in my apartment. I like to treat each day as something special.
23. I drive a PT Cruiser.
24. My living room wall is covered partially in book paper.
25. I recently attended my oldest nephew’s wedding! Crazy!
26. I’ve never ever had a boyfriend. The one time a guy told me he wanted to be my boyfriend {when I was in college} I told him, “Get in line.”
27. I’ve never been good at consistently writing a daily diary/journal.
28. I’ve been known to procrastinate.
29. I’m awfully fond of libraries.
30. My first paying job was at the large downtown library in my city. I was the assistant to the Teen Summer Reading Program director & a reference page. I absolutely loved it!
31. I once faked a British accent in London.
32. I saw something strange in Loch Ness! Not saying I spotted Nessie, but I definitely saw something.
33. I rode city buses for the first couple years of college.
34. My couch {which I covered with a comforter} was my mom’s & is older than I am!
35. I once was a volunteer guide for a traveling Anne Frank exhibit that came to my college. As I was leading a home school group through, & explaining different things about Anne’s life, a girl completely passed out right in front of me! Thankfully, she was okay {I think it was low blood sugar}.
36. I feel like God’s given me a heart for kids & the elderly.
37. I have a really good friend who is over 90! We met in church when I was in high school & she’s a true kindred spirit & a gift from God!
38. I played the violin all through middle & high school.
39. Autumn is my favorite season, although recently I’ve struck a fancy to spring, as well.
40. I’ve seen Jane Seymour in person & spoken to her {in the briefest of moments + snagged her autograph}.
41. I’m in, what feels like, a real in-between time right now, searching for the path God wants me to walk - & waiting & trusting Him for guidance & purpose along the way. I know He’s working on me through it all, too.
42. Sometimes all I can do is pray, “Jesus help me.” But, I’ve found that’s sufficient.
43. My favorite part of blogging is interacting & sharing with all of you!
44. I have strong insecurities about my legs – I just don’t like how they look. However, I’m so thankful I have legs & that they can walk, jump, & run. It’s only for this temporary life that I have em, so this pilgrim that’s passing through is going to strive to be thankful, remember I was created by the amazing artist God, & forget the rest.
45. I talk to myself sometimes - okay, probably a lot of times - but only when no one’s around. I think living alone can do that to a person.
46. Once I found myself forced to walk alone in the dark in Wales – not exactly knowing the way. Long story. It was a little {okay, more than a little} scary, so I softly sang the hymn, “What A Friend We Have in Jesus” & prayed most of the way to my destination. I made it all in one piece! {Thank You, Jesus!}
47. In middle & high school I loved to make fashion design sketches.
48. I call my mom at least once a day.
49. I’m mostly an evening person, because I just don’t like waking up early for work throughout the week, but I love Saturday mornings!
50. One day I’d love to go on a missions trip.

Thanks for reading!  Here's to 500 more posts!

Love,

-Bess-

Make a Book Paper Statement Wall {Nest Feathering}

There's no question that books - & the written word, in general - are high amongst my favorite things.  What better way to embellish a bare, blah wall than with something you love?  Here's how to create your own book paper statement wall in 5 easy steps! 

Step 1:

Find an old book you don't mind ripping apart.  I unearthed this lovely children's treasury out of a favorite used book store's free box!  When searching for a tome look for special type/font, illustrations, & page color.  Depending on the size of your project, you may need more than one book.

Step 2:

Carefully tear the pages out your book(s) or cut the pages out with a craft knife.

Step 3:

Figure out the layout for your pages.  This can include drawing the plan out, as well as placement rehearsal, & trial & error.  In my experience, this took a while {& a lot of rearranging}.  I first thought I would create horizontal stripes, but after I began that I felt it sort of cramped the space {instead of making it look wider}... eventually the more organic {i.e.: inexpiable} design took shape, & made me strangely happy.  

Step 4:

Use wall sticker material to hang your pages {that way they're removable & won't damage the surface}.  You can either buy wall sticker material or you can recycle the packaging from previously purchased wall stickers.  I did the latter, as I had bought several stickers for my apt. & kept the sheets they came on {which still had lots of wall sticker material on it} thinking they'd come in handy {which they did}.  I cut the leftover wall sticker material into strips {about 2-3 strips per page}, glued them to the back of the page with a glue stick {non-sticker side down}, let dry, peeled off the backing, & placed the sticker-side to the wall where I wanted the page.

I finally found a purpose for this large glassless/backless frame I snagged at a thrift store!  The dragon-looking creature in the left corner is the "Jabberwocky" & directly under it is Lewis Carroll's famous poem of the same name.  Love!

Step 5:

Enjoy!

Bookish Love {From the Nest},

-Bess-

P.S.: I'm so glad to finally share this project with you!  It's actually been done for over a year {talk about procrastination}! =)

Song Love {September}

"Beautiful Day" by Jamie Grace


"Build Your Kingdom Here" by Rend Collective Experiment


"Holding Nothing Back" by Ryan Stevenson

Musical Love,

-Bess-

Flameless Candle Easy Update

Flameless candles - what a fabulous invention!  I love that I can leave em unattended & not worry about my nephew being around their cozy glow {he's in kindergarten now, by the way (& reading) - mind boggling}.  However, they can look sorta plain.  Here's a super easy way to update em!

What You Need:

a medium {or larger} sized flameless candle {mine's from the Dollar Tree}; glue stick; vellum scrapbook die-cut; rubber bands; clear brush on glue {optional} 

What You Do:

Glue on your vellum die-cut & secure with rubber bands while it dries {I left mine overnight}.  If you want, you can add a clear brush on glue over top afterwards.  Easy, right?  

Easy-Peasy Crafty Love,

-Bess-

September, How Did You Arrive So Swift?

The hazy inbetween - 

Flirting with orb's rays & frozen dew.

Chosen amongst the powers to peruse 

Two seasons at once -

Melded into one month:

September, by name & by song.

Love {Anew In Sept.},

-Bess-