Create Intimacy with Free Marriage Conversations Cards

11.03.2015 by Marie // Leave a Comment

It finally happens; you and your husband get a date night without the kids. You put on your favorite little black dress that makes you feel like a million dollars. You and your husband go to your favorite restaurant and are seated at a romantic, low-lit booth. The salad arrives and suddenly you remember that you have a work event on Thursday and are unable to take Eli to football practice. You ask hubs if he can take him this week and he says, “Of course.” Suddenly your entire conversation is about the kids, the house, and how the mower needs to be fixed before you have company on Saturday.

These free marriage conversations cards are designed to get you and your husband thinking and create more #intimacy in your #marriage. Click To Tweet

At the end of the night you return home feeling disillusioned and just as tense as you were when you left that night. Your romantic date night wasn’t about you and your husband. It turned into a family meeting and agenda planning. This is so easy to slip into and many marriage experts actually recommend that you ban topics during date nights with your spouse such as:

Kids
Work
Chores
Finances

If you’ve ever tried this, you know that it can be hard! So much of our lives revolve around these things that it’s hard to create intimacy and really connect with your husband. To help you out, I’ve created these free printable marriage conversations cards. These are not only great to promote engaging conversation during date nights. They are also easy to pull out after the kids have gone to bed to be more intentional about connecting with each other on a regular basis. Instead of immediately sitting on the couch and catching up on your favorite show on Netflix, take 10 to 15 minutes to connect using these cards.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

Materials

Free Printable Marriage Conversations Cards (Here is the Back)
Cardstock
Self-Laminating Sheets (These are the ones I used)

Step 1

Download and print marriage conversations cards onto cardstock.

Step 2

Cut out each card.

Step 3

Place cut cards onto self-laminating paper leaving about a ¼ to ½ inch between each card. Seal laminate (or if you are using one-sided, like me, place second sheet over top to seal).

Step 4

Cut out laminated cards, leaving an edge of the laminate around the entire card.

These marriage conversations cards are designed to get you and your husband thinking and create more intimacy in your marriage. The prompts range from silly to serious because both are important to the health of your relationship. Print your cards today and surprise your husband with his favorite meal tonight after the kids are in bed. Use these cards as a jumping point to further conversation and a deeper understanding of each other.

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Break the Machine and Save a Life: Say No More

10.02.2015 by Marie // Leave a Comment

Is there something about your past that you don’t like to bring up or let people know about because then it seems to define you? You are not your past and although we all logically know this, sometimes we can’t help ourselves. We are all guilty of it to some degree. The new friend that turns down a glass of wine because he or she is a recovering alcoholic… We feel sorry for them, appalled that they could ever be so out-of-control or we feel guilty for having our own glass. The list goes on.

Well, I have one of those “things” that I don’t bring up to just anyone. I have fought for the cause and I have educated people but my personal stories were either omitted or portrayed hypothetically in a Jane Doe sort of way. This year I have realized something. By not sharing my personal experiences I am not only allowing it to still have power over me but I am perpetuating the shame and pain that keeps others from speaking up about their experiences and situation. No more.

This may be one of the hardest posts that I ever write so please bear with me… Nothing like just ripping off the Band-Aid so shall we? I grew up in a domestically abusive home with my father abusing my mother which later resulted in one terrifying night of abuse of me when I turned 18. Some of these events are stories I have shared a thousand times without truly taking ownership of them for fear of the exposure and vulnerability of such a thing. If I am unwilling to lay claim to my story then how can I expect other to speak out and get help? I don’t want to continue the cycle of secrecy and violence. There is so much to share, however, that there is no way I could ever fit it all into one small post, but my hope is that by sharing this condensed set of experiences that it will help at least one person get out of their situation.

Some of my earliest memories are ones of terror. I remember being held in the back seat of a car one night (when I couldn’t have been more than four) by my mom as my uncle busted out the window behind us with a baseball bat. Glass shattered around us until we eventually got away and made it to a crappy motel that night (in the glass-filled car).

My terror wasn’t just outside of the home, either. I would see and hear my parents fighting at night. I heard the shattered dishes. I saw my mother’s black eyes. I was there as a kitchen table was flipped at my very small feet. I saw the handprints on her neck and the burn marks on here arms. I know what it is to feel helpless and terrified, wanting so badly to help but unable to move.

There is more to it, however, than just the violence. There is a sickness that surrounds the entire relationship. That sickness is the reason that I got in trouble from my parents when my grandmother manipulated my six-year-old mind into telling her why my mom was really “sick” (read: trying to hide bruises). That sickness is also the reason that after witnessing the shadows on the wall of my father holding a shotgun to my mom’s head I was told for years that I must have dreamed it.

Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, the abuse was not limited to my mom. If my brother or I could not find the mate to one of our shoes, the entire box of shoes would be dumped on our heads. If my 7-year-old brother laughed at something my father said the wrong way, he would be yanked from the couch by his arm like a rag doll. I once walked to the store to get milk at the age of eleven and upon purchasing it, put the change in the grocery bag. Crossing the parking lot that bag ripped and the money flew everywhere as I scrambled to retrieve it. Once I returned home, apparently five dollars was missing. My father was enraged and ran after me as I fled to my room and threw myself onto the bed. I remember thinking in that moment that I was going to die. This man was going to kill me. In the first true show of strength I had ever seen in my mom, she threw herself across me, shielding me, telling him that he would hurt me over her dead body. I remember briefly thinking, “What a stupid thing to say. Now he’s going to kill us both.” But he didn’t. In fact, he turned and stormed away.

Break the Machine and Save a Life. #NoMore Click To Tweet

What is the worst part about all of this? For a long time I had no idea that there was anything wrong with our family. Secrecy plays such a huge role in domestically abusive relationships. I was forced to pretend like everything was okay so I just assumed that everyone else was doing the same. That is where the true power lies. Chances are that many of you know that October is breast cancer awareness month. How many of you know that it is also domestic violence awareness this month?

And that is the true root of the problem. That is how deep-seeded the sick secrecy is of the matter. That is why the cycle of abuse continues generation after generation. I want to break the silence. I am starting right here and right now. Every Friday in October there will be a new post about domestic violence from interviews with victims to places and tips to get help. I am asking you to help me take a stand and say no more! No more tolerance. No more secrecy. No more cycle. Break the cogs and the machine breaks down. Break the machine with me and save a life.

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DIY Marriage Wall Art

09.10.2015 by Marie // Leave a Comment

Sometimes it can be difficult to remember that marriage is a partnership. In our family, my husband works third shift at his civilian job in addition to being a member of the Army National Guard (and having served two tours). This pretty much means that our time together is coveted. It also means that I am in charge of most of the day-to-day workings of our home and family.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple #DIY #marriage #wallart. Click To Tweet

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

If you are anything like us, you and your spouse can get caught up in your respective roles and forget that you’re supposed to be in this together. Instead of traveling on an intertwined path, you and your spouse being living parallel lives separate from each other. This is dangerous for your marriage and sometimes takes a conscious effort to avoid. This DIY marriage wall art can be a prominent reminder in your home to not only keep your marriage on track but also provide and excellent model for your children as well, especially when they see you and your spouse living it.

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

Materials

16” x 20” Canvas
Acrylic Paint in Black and White
Pencil
Heart Stamp
Hot Glue and Gun
Floral Stems (to match your décor)

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

Step 1

Cover entire canvas with black acrylic paint, including the edges.

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

Step 2

Once the paint has dried, write the word “MARRIAGE” vertically down the center of the canvas with your pencil.

Tip:

Start in the middle and work your way to the top and bottom of the canvas. This will help you achieve more even spacing with your letters.

Step 3

Still using your pencil, write the remaining horizontal words on your canvas:

M EANS

p A rtnership

wo R king

fo R giveness

fr I endship

l A ughter

encoura G ement

(means, partnership, working, forgiveness, friendship, laughter, encouragement)

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

Step 4

Carefully go over all of your letters with white paint. It may require 2 or more coats. Just continue adding coats of white paint over your letters until you achieve your desired look.

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

Step 5

Stamp hearts onto the canvas, also with white.

Tips:

To keeps stamped images from being too heavy with paint, use a paint brush to put of thin layer on the stamp and then stamp on canvas.

Be sure to turn your stamp various directions when stamping (occasionally stamping partially off of the edge of the canvas) to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing look.

Step 6

After paint has fully dried, create the distressed look using a dry brush technique.

Tips:

Dip your brush into the white paint then brush back and forth on a scrap piece of paper 2-3 times, leaving only a small amount of paint in the bristles. Then brush onto canvas.

Brush over the entire canvas (including words and stamped images) during this step.

Step 7

Choose floral stems that match the décor in your home and glue them along the edges as pictured. Try to arrange them in a way that does not cover the words on your painting. If some flowers or leaves do cover your words, pull them back and glue them into place.

Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own using this simple DIY marriage wall art.

This simple DIY can have such an impact. Make one for your own home and make another to give as a beautiful wedding gift to newlyweds to help them start their marriage on the right path. Let’s build marriages up any small way we can, starting with our own.