Summer Reading Displays, Take 2!

We have been working on all kinds ideas this summer at the library! New this month is our summer display, "Wouldn't it be nice to find a new read?" a twist on the Beach Boys tune. It's like "Blind Date with a Book" that we run in February, just with a summery twist.

Paper Crush, an awesome blog/store/idea mecca stole our hearts with this popsicle banner! Get yours here. We printed ours on cardstock and then used some kind of ribbon to hang it. Our lovely PR lady made the signs

We wrapped the books using paper gift/treat bags, folding the top, and adding curling ribbon, finished off with cute printable tags and glued on decorations.

You can get the decorations here
The label border came from here
"I Love Summer" tags came from here
"Happy Summer" watermelon tags from here
"Hello Summer" tags from here

You can find more ideas for displays and crafts on our Pinterest board, Library Programs, or on my board Library 101. I have more printables here.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Ministry Venture on Teachers Pay Teachers

I've spent a lot of time in prayer about life and what God is calling me to this year. I think He has some awesome things in store! He keeps confirming again and again what He is leading me to in my personal life and in ministry. I know I'm not in ministry as a paid gig right now, but what He has given me in volunteering far outweighs anything. He has given me countless gifts this year in my friends and those I serve in ministry.

This coming month, I'll be launching a YDisciple group for incoming freshmen girls. We're currently setting dates to meet, and I am so excited for the journey that lies ahead!  I'll share more this summer as time goes on, but God has a plan for this. If He can get us through the scheduling, He can get us through anything!

I've also been working on some new projects this year, and today I want to share one of them with you.

I decided to start sharing some of my ministry resources via Teachers Pay Teachers, a site where teachers/librarians/staff and the like can share their resources for free, or for a small charge.  I was checking it out when it hit me that I had been wanting to share some of mine, so I started looking up what there was to offer for Catholic schools, religious education, and VBS.  Not a ton of offerings, compared to how many listings there are for binder printables LOL!  So I dove in and made an account and listed 9-10 items the first night.  I'm now up to 12, and will be adding more as I wade through all of my files.

Here's my store! Everything is FREE!

My graphics aren't cutting edge and most are editable, but it's FREE.

I am also a lover of Life Teen.  So you'll find some items that are compatible with their ministry platform, but I will not put their name/logo on it, as I don't want to incur any fines for copyright infringement.

Finally, if you'd like customized items, I can do that too. These items are just what I had saved from awhile ago and I have lots more up my sleeve.  Just email me at randihom@gmail.com! 

Summer Reading Displays

I am so excited about the 2015 Summer Reading Program this year! I don't know if I'll get any reading done, but I do want to show you all the displays I did. The theme for the adults was "Escape the Ordinary." Our programming librarian Amy and I used Pinterest a lot in our planning. Check out my board here.

Here's how I made the display:

1. The first thing we did was to move the shelves down. They were super dusty and I cleaned them all before I rearranged. 
2. Then we took large pieces of foam board and spray mounted blue paper onto them to be our night sky. You should have seen me crawling around on the floor doing this LOL!
3. Then we printed off the skyline featured on this site, which we then cut out and spray mounted to the blue background. It looked super classy!
4. After doing that we printed out the graphics that were given to us by CSL. We also used some we found on Pinterest.

I also printed off this lovely Batman printable and made the darling sign above. I saved it as an image and then printed as a 3X5. It has been a hit!

The different sheets on the shelves and in holders are sheets with trivia and a tic-tac-toe board to fill out for chances to win prizes. These came with our summer reading package, but you can find others on my Pinterest page or make up your own.

We have put up a variety of hero books, from superheros to every day heroes. We also used CDs and DVDs in our display. If you look closely you can see Batman, Rocky, Lord of the Rings, Watchman, and Star Wars. We used war heroes, animal heroes, and others as well.

Thanks for checking out the displays, now go read some books!

May Book Displays

This month I got my first chance to do displays at the library where I work!

Amy, our librarian, and I chose to do a Western literature display, as well as a theme called "Summer Dreamin'". I was maybe a bit too excited to get started lol

Check out the Western display here
- We are using an array of western themed literature: short stories, novels, romance, adventure, etc.

To get the cute bandana banner we used go here and print on cardstock. Finish with twine and tape. Easy! We made a "Wanted" sign after I took this picture using this file from ScrapNTeach's Teachers Pay Teacher's account, and changed it to feature Shakespurr, our library mascot.

Check out the Summer Dreamin' display here
- We are using a broad range of books in both fiction and non-fiction to get people inspired and excited for summer: gardening, crafting, DIY, beach reads, landscaping, outdoor decor, grilling, etc. We chose bright and colorful books to catch people's eye.

You can get the printable citrus slices here, just print on cardstock, cut, and tape them up!
Check out more ideas on our Pinterest board Library Programs and even more here

We had fun doing the display and hope you enjoyed the inspiration!

If you're looking for inspiration on what to read or new music to check out, you should jump over to my friend Rachael's blog Taylor&Kensington. She had great YouTube videos of reviews and more!

LIFT OFF!

Welcome to Hustle and Grace!

I'm Randi and this is my first post! I love Jesus, my hair, modesty, youth ministry, and Pinterest. I'm Catholic and passionate about my faith. My hubby Ben and I have been married for just over 7 years. He works for Zipcar (and we love what Zipcar does for people!). He loves Jesus, his beard, cars and listening to audio books. Together we do youth ministry with an awesome team at our parish. I'm so glad you're here! I am pumped to share my story, shed light on Catholicism, infertility, modesty, women in ministry, and marriage. 

When I was thinking about starting this blog, I was dreaming up a new name and I was thinking about the other blogs I've written. I started out with a LiveJournal back in high school. Classic, I know! I've also had my handwritten "blogs": diaries, prayer journals, doodles on notes...it's no wonder I love to write, I do have an English degree after all! Since then I've had 2 other blogs, "Ministry Life of a Catholic Wife" and "Brite Grey". They just didn't realistically portray what was happening in my life and I couldn't keep my focus. 

So what happened to my last blog?
Well, back when I was writing "Brite Grey", my life took a different turn. I had been working as a youth minister/coordinator of religious education for almost 3 years and had worked at another church before that, as well as retail. I wasn't at peace with where I was for many reasons (I will write more about this later). I prayed a lot about what to do and talked to a lot of different people. My head was spinning with all of this creative energy, but I'll admit it, I was burnt out. I started looking for other jobs, but nothing was working out. 
Fast forward to last year: I was in the middle of VBS planning when I knew God was calling me to leave. It broke my heart telling kids and their families I was leaving, but I knew God had something different in mind. So I left my job, which was really scary, but I had peace about it and trusted God.

6 months after leaving my job (this past December), I felt my creative self coming back. I've been discerning my spiritual gifts and I now realize that I wasn't doing what I loved in a way that worked with my spiritual gifts and personality. I had been praying about starting a new blog since "Brite Grey" didn't reflect who I was. When I stumbled upon the name Hustle and Grace, I knew that it was an answer to prayer! It perfectly described the craziness of my life, but reflected how much God's grace is affecting it 24/7.

I hope this blog is an inspiration and an encouragement for day to day life, one where we can celebrate what God is doing in our lives and ministries. Of course I will share DIY projects, printables, free items, and pictures from all different areas of my life. I hope you'll enjoy my blog, as I share my heart and soul with you.

I'm so glad you decided to stop by! I'd love to share more with you, so make sure to follow me on here or through Bloglovin. I'm also on Twitter @hustlegraceblog and Instagram (my fav!) @hustleandgrace.