MessyMuffin.com

03/16/2026

New post up on the website: Lent and Mirrors.

Lent has a way of holding up a mirror to our hearts. Sometimes what we see there is beautiful… and sometimes it’s a little uncomfortable. But even that can be grace.

In my latest reflection, I’m thinking about Lent, mirrors, and the gentle way God invites us to see ourselves truthfully—and lovingly.

If you’re walking through the Lenten season and longing for a moment of quiet reflection, I’d love for you to read it.

During the Sunday morning sermon about two weeks before Lent was due to begin, I felt like the Holy Spirit was directing me to to do something different with our church’s Lenten decor this year. The last two years, our Liturgical Decorating Team had created a desert-scape using burlap, dried stick...

02/08/2026

A simple cover that I hand-stitched for my highlighting Bible.

I never stick to reading plans, but I had a paperback Bible from my time heading up my church's prayer ministry and decided to highlight in it every verse I read this year, whether in church, as a devotional, during a study, or otherwise. Since it's a paperback and will be getting a fair amount of use, I thought the cover was needed for extra protection.

02/01/2026

Pardon my wonky hand-stitching. Traveler's-style notebook cover that I made to hold the five notebooks for the five journaling challenges (over the course of 2026) at the Journaling Lovers Facebook group. First (February) challenge starts today.

Patches are from Hobby Lobby and are glued on. Beads and charms are from a variety of places and are assembled by me. Elastic cord from Walmart. Fabric from HL (inner) and Amazon (outer). Notebooks from Amazon.

01/16/2026

Something in me finds frost patterns both interesting and beautiful.

12/05/2025

The fly leaf and title page of my Advent art devotional journal.

10/01/2025

Picked up these KingArt glitter gel pens this morning at a reduced price from Walmart. Test page is writing straight out of the box, and first impression is that they're not bad. I need to use them a little more to get a fully formed opinion, though.

09/13/2025

Working on a fall this morning. It's my first creative journal in over a year. They're inexpensive, fun to use, and easy to make. Tutorial at https://messymuffin.com/art-life/creative-journal-tutorial.