I’ve known some pretty creative people in my life, and this long time friend is certainly one of them. Her life is one turn after another and I love to watch how she handles it all with a creative flair. And her latest project – a coloring book with a spiritual tone to it (mostly for adults) is definitely a winner and would make a great Christmas present for any one over the age of 8 – but really thinking for the lovely creative lady on your list or even the teenager who loves to be creative with a crayon or colored pencil. Now that I’ve given you one way to finish your Christmas shopping, let me introduce you to my friend, Karisse.
We’ve not sat down together in a long time – but if we were sitting down together for a cup of coffee in a favorite coffee shop – what would you be drinking and where would we be?
We would be sitting at my favorite coffee shop: The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf! I fell in love with this place when I lived in Los Angeles and wish they had one here in Florida! I would be drinking a Strawberry Tea Latte or a Vanilla Iced Blended which chocolate covered coffee beans. We, of course, would be lucky enough to have snagged the corner with the comfy chairs. 🙂
This coloring book is a new venture for you – but not living the creative life. Can you tell us about some of your other creative works? (Folks, she did beautiful art of Scripture for my boys’ rooms.
My sister and I started a small art company called “Pretty Philosophie“. We paint inspiring quotes and silhouettes. (Our fave silhouettes are of Audrey Hepburn, Anne of Green Gables and Marilyn Monroe.) We never use stencils and I often do the lettering freehand! I’m also in the process of writing two books! One is the story of how my grandmother (Oma) escaped from Concentration Camp in Yugoslavia. (We aren’t Jewish, but German and our people were put into concentration camps right after WWII. The other book is about my experience with cancer and what I learned about myself, illness and God in the process.
Why a coloring book and why a quiet time?
Let’s be real. Sometimes reading the Bible, focusing while praying and meditating on Scripture can be difficult. At least, it can be for me. When I was in high school I started writing out my prayers as a way to help me focus on them. In college I doodled while I took notes so I could pay attention. In my 20’s I started writing out passages of Scripture in “fancy” lettering so that I was forced to work slowly and really meditate on the verses. And I’ve always loved coloring!
Creative Quiet Time: A Coloring Book for Your Soul is my labor of love to pass these practices on to others. I wanted to enable a way for people to spend time with God while using the arts and creativity. Besides, God is the one who created the arts, and, well, creativity! My prayer is that this book enables people to connect their mind, soul and spirit to Jesus and receive revelation of His ways and His love as they color.
What is your favorite coloring page in the whole book?
Oh, that’s a tough one! I think that my favorite, because it’s so detailed, is the “Be kind to yourself” page. “Be kind to yourself” was my motto in 2014 and it bled into 2015 as well. I based that on Philippians 4:8–focusing on things that are life giving, true, beautiful and lovely. So often, we are our own worse critic and don’t see ourselves the way that God sees us. We have a tendency to have a negative track running through our minds. But, Jesus has countless loving thoughts towards us, and I think we should have the same towards ourselves.
What will be coming next from the creative genius of Karisse?
Oh gosh! I am hoping that a second coloring book, or a new and improved version of the current one (with extra pages) are on the horizon. And finishing my books! Both of them! My sister and I will continue to work on our art and are expanding to include furniture refurbishing too!
You love to travel – how has that played in to your creative life?
I think you spice up your life by travel. It’s beautiful to see how each culture expresses themselves. God has used that to reveal to me aspects of Himself that I wouldn’t have noticed if I was at home. I love pulling the various pieces of design from each place too. Thailand is full of sparkles and vivid colors. India is packed with details in every nook and cranny. South Africa has a freedom about it that is so warm and welcoming. France and Italy have a regal beauty that invites you to sit and enjoy what surrounds you. I think I have borrowed from every culture I’ve encountered.
Why do you love the color teal?
You know, that’s a great question. If you knew me in college (or right after) you would say that my favorite color is purple. While I still love purple, in the last decade teal has taken over. There is just something so fun, free and inviting about that color. It’s just perfect.
I grew up on the humor of Bill Cosby. I loved (and still do) that man. Most of his comedy on tv and his tapes was relatively clean and appropriate for most audiences. Now, I can’t say the same for his stand-up, or so I’ve heard.
Humor has a way of connecting with people that some other types of literary genres don’t. I do love to read books about food: memoirs, cookbooks, etc. And that is why I wanted this one from Blogging for Books.
What I didn’t anticipate is how funny it is – but also how damaging that was to me. I had to put it down. You see, I have sin issues with food. I eat too much, I am a glutton, I worry about what food is doing to my body – I can be totally consumed with it. So, to read a book making fun of food, of eating too much, of the problems in America that we have with food – it didn’t do my heart (or my body) any good.
And I think, in every book you read, or however you engage with culture – you have to know how to impact your heart.
I like normal weeks. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love doing fun things and love out of the ordinary with people, and events, and cooking times – but I also like the ordinary weeks. This week…we have no guests, I’m cooking one meal for a family in our church, I will probably do some baking with the boys – but other than that it is pretty normal and I’m trying to use ingredients I already have in my kitchen.
Pepperoni and Cheese Crescent Rolls for a quick dinner for my men on Tuesday night while I run to Target before the ever important NCIS comes on
Broccoli Rice Chicken Cheddar One-Dish Casserole (recipe coming soon on this blog)
When moving to a new place you always want to scout out a couple of things: parks, hiking trails, great local Mexican restaurants, and definitely a favorite sushi/chinese take out place. One of my favorite things to do is to sit on the couch eating take out Chinese. We haven’t done it in a while because we’ve not found a place that’s not really expensive here in our area.
There was a great local dive in Chapel Hill called Charlie’s. It had the best corn egg drop soup and was just down the strip mall from where I worked for a while. I loved everything on their menu. Would love to grab lunch with a sweet friend there or take some home for dinner. This is especially worth it for those cold, rainy winter nights.
It might not be winter yet, but its been constantly raining and cloudy with much of the same in the coming forecast – and I’ve been wanting to try something healthy with cauliflower. Speaking of cauliflower – I hope my Mister will eat this. There are only a few things that my mister doesn’t like – and I’ve changed his mind about one of them already since we got married. So, I think the flavor of this dish will win him over to the cauliflower side!
Sweet Chili Kung Pao Cauliflower
Recipe Type: main dish
Cuisine: Chinese
Author: kcreatives
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-4
A healthy satisfying twist on a Chinese favorite
Ingredients
2 T unsalted butter
1 head cauliflower, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce (bottled) – divide into three
1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers (red, orange, yellow)
1 tsp chopped garlic (1-2 cloves)
1/4 cup salted peanuts
2 T water
Instructions
Heat butter in a non-stick pan or wok.
Add cauliflower and season with salt and pepper.
Saute with the water for about 3-5 minutes.
Add some of the chili sauce.
Add peppers and garlic. Saute about 2-3 minutes
Add peanuts and more chili sauce. Stir until all combined
Remove from heat and stir in the remaining chili sauce.
You can add some green onions/chives or more peanuts on top for presentation.
Serve with rice for a complete meal.
3.3.3077
Trader Joes has a great Sweet Chili sauce that we use for some chinese chicken dishes. It was perfect in this dish as well. I also had chopped up some yellow, orange, and red peppers and had them in the freezer. This dish took all of 10 minutes. I love quick dishes – in between refilling preschooler sippy cups and singing the Dino Train song – quick is good for this busy momma!
If you have a little girl – then this post is for you. I am a boy mom, but I got this from Tommy Nelson because I thought it would be good to be able to recommend to all the girl-moms out there. Yes, Precious Moments can be for either gender, but I think it best fits little girls.
This Bible, with its padded board book style, is beautifully illustrated in pastels that is traditional of Precious Moments. I actually love the retelling of Bible passages that are perfect for little ears – think older preschool to early grade school. As a parent, it would be great just to sit down and read them the story – but even better to read the Bible passage out of the Bible (especially as kids gets older and have more of an attention span and understanding) and then read the passage in the book. It covers a wide variety of stories.
If you want this Bible for your own little girl (or boy), just leave a comment telling me one special thing that you love about your child.
