Stephanie Says

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. -Oscar Wilde

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:17:26 -0400

It’s the blessing and curse of being pursued by hope, of living with a chest full of the future and the presence of all that is absent.
Believing breaks my heart,
But my unbelief makes me wonder if I even have one.

A hope is coming for me, one that refuses to tire, even when I think im tired of it.
The hope is relentless, it will not fail.

"Churches must become a safe place for doubters. The church should reward honesty rather than punish..."

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:06:08 -0400

“Churches must become a safe place for doubters. The church should reward honesty rather than punish honesty. Because let’s face it: we are small-brained, little human beings. We don’t have the big picture. Bad things happen, and [people] have questions.”

- Philip Yancey // with everything inside of me, i will endeavour for my church to be a refuge for those who have been struck down by their questions. (via unchartedendeavours)

I’ll be living across the street from this starting in...

Sat, 19 May 2012 19:48:25 -0400

I’ll be living across the street from this starting in August! (Taken with instagram)

As much as I dislike a lot of things about Florida, days like...

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:20:22 -0400

As much as I dislike a lot of things about Florida, days like today make it worth it with @ccody (Taken with instagram)

Hanging out getting lunch at Ponce Inlet. What a beautiful...

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:05:51 -0400

Hanging out getting lunch at Ponce Inlet. What a beautiful summer day! (Taken with instagram)

Words In The City At Night - Robert Montgomery

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:37:04 -0400

Words In The City At Night - Robert Montgomery

Road tripping it to Atlanta, Georgia! Already planning some...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:18:47 -0400

Road tripping it to Atlanta, Georgia! Already planning some post-graduation adventures and shenanigans! (Taken with instagram)

"I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the..."

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:44:12 -0400

““I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone.””

- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (via -everybodywantstolove)

Photo

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:05:58 -0400

"Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of its trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no..."

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:02:59 -0400

““Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of its trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse for impossibility, for it thinks all things are lawful for itself and all things are possible.””

- Thomas A. Kempis

Another beautiful night at UCF, but I won’t miss you in a...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:14:33 -0400

Another beautiful night at UCF, but I won’t miss you in a month and a half when I graduate! So close! (Taken with instagram)

Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve been on Tumblr. I guess that’s what happens when...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:08:19 -0400

Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve been on Tumblr. I guess that’s what happens when your house gets broken into and your laptop gets stolen. Boo.

But on the bright side, I have Instagram now AND I will have my master’s degree in FIVE WEEKS.

And then I can go back to having a life and writing again. Whew, can’t wait. It’s been a hell of a year.

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do..."

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:06:14 -0500

““Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.””

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Every woman is like a time-zone. She is a nocturnal fragment of your journey. She brings you..."

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:28:21 -0500

““Every woman is like a time-zone. She is a nocturnal fragment of your journey. She brings you unflaggingly closer to the next night.””

- Baudrillard, Jean

Love Letter Candles One of the candles has an excerpt of a love...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:30:26 -0500

Love Letter Candles

One of the candles has an excerpt of a love letter that I had written to the person the gift was for. The second candle has an excerpt of a love letter that was written to me from the person who I made the gift for. The third candle has a famous love poem or song. In this case the scripture “love is patient, love is kind…” All in fonts that reflected our personalities. I’m very proud of these. I made them and came up with the idea myself.

You will need:

- Three small glass tealight holders

- Clear vellum paper

- Inkjet printer

- Twine or other String

- Beads and Charms

- Scissors and a Glue Stick

Type out the paragraphs you want on each candle and print them out on plain paper to test how big or little the font needs to be or how much you can fit on each candle. This took a couple tries for me. Once you have the sizes right, print them out on a single sheet of vellum paper and cut them into three strips to fit around each candle.

I also had to play around with the ink settings on my printer. You have to find which “media type” works for you. For example “semi-gloss photo paper”, “matte photo paper”, etc. I have a canon 3 in 1 printer and “Other photo paper” was the setting that worked for mine. Do a “practice run” by printing out a single word on one sheet of vellum paper so you don’t waste a whole sheet. Then you have to let it dry for approximately 20 minutes, if it still smudges, then try a different setting. If you are inpatient, you can try a hair dryer to speed it up.

In the meantime I started working on wrapping the twine around the candles and adding beads/charms. Use a glue stick to put glue on the edges of the vellum paper and wrap them around the candles, be careful not to smudge the glass. Then wrap the twine and beads/charms around it. This may take some experimentation too. I realized the candle holders I used got gradually bigger at the top so they kept slipping down. I made the twine tighter and then pushed it up towards the top of it to stay.

Out of different tealights, I found the ones that sit in the little metal tins to be too dark and not allow as much light to shine through the glass. I ended up using light blue ones that sit in clear plastic tins. Definitely the favorite gift I’ve made so far. :)

"The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:59:41 -0500

“The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.”

- Zadie Smith (via pavorst)

"The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it is not. It..."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:54:37 -0500

“The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it is not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of the other person - without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other. They allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now. Their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other.”

- Osho (via ancora-imparo)

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you..."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:36:31 -0500

““Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.””

- Mary Jean Iron (via ancora-imparo)

"I am a work in progress dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding offering me intricate patterns of..."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:28:25 -0500

“I am a work in progress
dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding
offering me intricate patterns of questions
rhythms that never come clean
and strengths that you still haven’t seen”

- Ani Difranco “The Slant”

"Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change...."

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:18:05 -0500

““Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don’t worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.””

- Sara Paddison