Without a doubt, the most critical piece to any creative work is the spiritual inspiration behind it. It’s critical because without it (at least for me) there is no creativity to work with at all. But there is another reason it’s so critical, maybe even a more important one. When you know that you are doing it for the Lord, when you know that you are being directly inspired by Him and for His glory, simply put…you just end up doing it better. The “duty” of the work is removed, and all that you have left is joy. I can’t produce anything worth looking at out of duty or responsibility, but when I work to create out of joy…suddenly I have freedom to do the thing well.
There was a lot of work that took place to make this event lovely, and being the lucky girl that I am, I have a lot of really great friends that joyfully did it with me. There was no way I could have installed all that we installed by myself. Literally no way at all. They all rallied baby-sitters, cut out more butterflies than I can count, spent two long days helping with installation, and most importantly, they encouraged and said “you can totally do this”, when I was saying “I don’t think I can do this”. They helped make our not so pretty church gym, into a beautiful dessert room to bless the several thousand women that walked through those doors.
And I as I mentioned and fully meant, it was a lot of work. The team of lighting/audio/stage guys at our church are among some of the most talented in the business. All their behind the scenes work made our stuff look good, down to the smallest detail. They too, did it all in joy, and we had a great time working together. I tried to remember to take pictures with my phone along the way to document the process. We started with 4 blank canvases as our backdrop. 
First we painted.
Then I troweled on several different layers of the most beautiful pink and orange plaster my eyes had ever seen. This picture does not do it justice.
Next I added the chandeliers. They were applied using a stencil and it can be found and purchased by clicking here.
Once our backdrop was complete, I moved to focusing on our “lady”. One of the guys from the stage/lighting team introduced me to the coolest store. It is a warehouse full of both new and old store fixtures and accessories. 
We had fun. Can you find Thomas?
We considered making our woman pregnant….
But ultimately decided against it. We took home this lovely and got to work.
I spent a solid two days dying muslin fabric different shades of pink, and all the while, still not knowing if any of this was going to work. God had a little hidden treasure in this process for me, one that I wouldn’t trade for anything, now that I’m on this side of it. This particular project was one that could not be “tested”. There was no way of knowing if it would all come together and look right until the last day. I knew what was in my brain, but I couldn’t do a dress rehearsal in advance. In hindsight, it was so clearly a God thing. I had to let it go on faith, and trust that He would complete the good work. 
And so without any other option, we just let it go and believed, and He did it.
And to my dear Angela, who loves well, thank you for letting me be a part of this. I know I told you many times that you had the wrong girl, but I actually think I was wrong. Perhaps I was just the right broken girl to demonstrate how a lot of broken pieces can come together and be made beautiful in Him. It wasn’t difficult for me to find the words of brokenness to cover all over her dress…indeed that came easy. Maybe you had picked the right girl, one who still daily clings to those very scriptures that we attached to butterflies and hung all around this created lady of ours. Maybe you had the right broken girl after all. You are a blessing and a delight to me…what a joy it all was!
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It was indeed beautiful! You did a great job, I knew you would! You have a great Godly heart and you can do anything with him right by your side. Thanks for doing this and being who you are. Love You!
Angela was a joy too, just loved her conference! Can’t wait to hear more of her messages.
I can’t bear the thought of them taking it down!!! Is it down? Oh…don’t answer that.
she’s down
Stunning work and faith!
Wonderful! So wonderful that God implemented your creativity in such a way! And bravo to the wonderful lighting guys…that lighting is breathtaking and PERFECT.
I didn’t even realize there was more on her dress until you mentioned it. Mind sharing the words and verses?? We would love to know.
Wow, that is stunning! I might show your idea to our women’s director for the spiritual spas she puts on at our church, if that is okay with you. It’s a night for women to come and be pampered and prayed over.
Right girl indeed. I am so proud and pleased that you listened and chose to abide in HIM… look at the results! All for HIS glory girl! Breathtaking, and such fun… I imagine it was an incredible event!
Hope all is well… now excuse me darling, but I most scroll through your old posts and see what I’ve missed the past few weeks!
I am in awe of your God given talents!
That is just amazing, girlie! I will never have any idea how you come up with the incredible ideas that you do. That dress and the butterflies mixed with the chandaliers….so unique!
Wow Amy…absolutely breathtaking!!! The Lord has definitely blessed you with creativity and even cooler that you are using the gifts he gave you to bring glory to Him
Love the pic of you and Angela too 
Oh…and your porch is AH-MAZING! What a great room!!
I am a reader via email subscription and I just had to pop over and say WOW! Wow! This is breathtaking. It is so inspirational and motivating.
With Joy, Carey
One of the most breathtakingly beautiful photos I have ever seen