Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Showers of Blessings


Guys, I just had to pop in for a minute and tell you how God has blessed me over the last few days. And because every post needs a picture, I'm sharing a quick snap of Sawyer's gallery wall in progress. Everything on it was either thrifted, on clearance, or handmade. Sometime soon I plan to post about all that wood burned art.

Anyway, I just wanted to share how good to me God has been this week. I've been kind of stressed the last few days. We just finished up Vacation Bible School at our church (which was awesome - eight kids saved!). I'm in charge of the crafts every year, which I love, but it's always exhausting. And this month it just seems like the bills have been rolling in and I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that school starts back in less than two weeks and it didn't look like Sawyer was going to be able to get into the preschool program we were hoping for and I was trying to figure out the school clothes situation for these kiddos that are growing like weeds, etc. etc. etc.

Man, I tell you what - God has got us covered! A few days ago a friend at church shared a link to Schoola.  Full disclosure, that is my referral link, but this is not a compensated post. I'm sharing it because I got some amazing deals and I want to share the love. Schoola is a program that collects gently used clothing and resells them at awesome prices to benefit schools. When you sign up (for
free) through a referral link like mine you get a $20 credit. Then if you create a collection (also free),
you get another $10 credit. They also immediately email you a 50% off coupon which makes your $30 in credit worth $60. And shipping is free! And if you go through my link, I get a $20 credit too.

So let me tell you what I've gotten with my sign up credits and referral credits so far: for Taylor I got 3 shirts, 2 sweaters, one pair of jeans, one pair of shorts, and a hoodie. For Lily I got 2 shirts, 7 pairs of pants, 3 dresses, 2 skirts, and a coat. For Sawyer I got 6 shirts, one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, and a pair of shoes. And I even got a shirt for me! That's $351.50 worth of clothes, and I've spent $3.30 out of pocket. I've gotten to use a coupon on every order so far, and I'm hoping to get a few more referrals to round out a few more pairs of pants for Sawyer, so if you want to sign up and get
some awesome name brand clothes for your kids or yourself for free, I would really appreciate you using my link above.

And speaking of Sawyer and school, I got a call today that Sawyer is going to be able to participate in the preschool program we wanted after all! Guys, this is a HUGE blessing, and a very direct answer to a specific prayer!

I also got a couple of surprise cards earlier this week - one from a sweet lady at church that was just a very precious and encouraging note that really brightened my day, and one from my secret sister with a gift card in it! That's going to be the start of my fund for my Workbox 2.0!

Kind of the icing on the cake today was this little reminder I got when I was fixing dinner:


This was on the back of the bag of chicken I was baking, and it is my very favorite verse! Isn't it neat how God loves on us?

Happy Tuesday, guys!

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Handmade Gifts

Guys, the craft room is coming together! I've still got a little organizing to do, but I'm getting there. So anyway, I wanted to show you some of the handmade gifts I've made and given over the last few months. Fair warning, a lot of these are quick cell phone pictures I grabbed on my way out the door rather than pretty staged shots, but I'm going on the theory that done is better than perfect.

Let's start with a few things I made for Christmas gifts.


I made paracord fishing flies for the dads and brothers in my life, and I really liked the way they turned out. They were quick and easy, and you can find the tutorial I followed here. I wrapped mine with fishing line instead of an interior filament of the paracord and sealed it with super glue, and I was really pleased with the way they looked. I made some from bright colors and some from muted shades, which made them good for different applications.



I also made several of these paracord lanyards that hang from the straps of waders and hold the tools used in fly fishing.


I made this shirt for my cousin. You can buy a similar one here if you don't want to DIY your own. (Not an affiliate link)


I made Taylor and her best friend Lexye each a Taco Bell Is Life pillow from hand dyed drop cloth.



These were various bracelets I made for moms, aunts, and sisters.






 (I might have kept this one for myself. Shhhh!)


This was the shirt I made Lily for Valentines Day. It was her very specific design.


This was the shirt I made for Levi, which matched the one I made for Sawyer, although Sawyer's said Heartbreaker.


 (No, I have no idea why he was wearing a helmet)


They also got matching Plex shirts.They're both big Yo Gabba Gabba fans.


Speaking of Yo Gabba Gabba, I made Sawyer this Brobee shirt. I passed this little green striped shirt at the thrift store 4 or 5 times before I bought it. I really liked the stripes, but I couldn't think what I wanted to do with it, and Sawyer has a ton of t-shirts. Then one day it just clicked what a perfect Brobee shirt it would make, so into my cart it went. It's one of his favorites.


These little Jesus Loves Me shirts for Lily and my niece Adelaide were made at the request of Adelaide's mom Rachael. You can buy a similar one here. (Not an affiliate link)



This was Lily's St. Patrick's Day shirt.


This little shirt was for my nephew Lawrence who looooves his little guitar!



My brother Cary is a huge duck hunter, so as part of his birthday gift Nick and I made him this duck hunting themed key fob. It was a metal tag from the Target Dollar Spot. I cut a stencil out of vinyl, and Nick sand blasted it. The quote on the back is a scripture reference. We also sand blasted his favorite sports logo into a metal tumbler, but I didn't get a picture of it. (I know, lame.)



This was Lily's shirt for Dr. Seuss Day at school.


This coral earrings and bracelet set was for my sister-in-law Leah's birthday.


Just before we moved into the new house we had the biggest blessing! A lovely lady from our church got some new furniture for her living room and gifted us her previous couch, chair, and recliner. They were in pristine condition - she just wanted some smaller pieces, and they were perfect for our living room! She is a pilot, and I made her this bracelet as a thank you.


This Minnie shirt was for my niece Adelaide's 2nd birthday.


I also found these sweet leggings and made shirts to match them.


 

For Mother's Day I made a few of these fun potholder purse organizers. The floral one came from Walmart and the quatrefoil one came from Target.




On Mother's Day our church gives a small gift to every woman and girl there. This year we gave these lovely fancy paper clips. My mom, Taylor, her friend Lexye, and I added the buttons to the clips, and I cut, punched, and stamped all the cards.


I added vinyl to these cups as thank you gifts for our realty team and they loved them! FYI, these are the Ozark Trail brand from Walmart. I have the same cup in the 30 ounce, and it is identical in looks and performance to Nick's 30 ounce Yeti tumbler for oh, 1/4 of the price. Seriously. Get one.


My friend Melissa's birthday was a few weeks ago, and I made her this sweet little cross stitch necklace. 



This wreath was for Lily's room. It has been on my to do list since I saw it on Capture the Details like six years ago, but I couldn't ever seem to find the fun fur yarn in this shade of green. Then when we were "in storage" as I refer to the time of our life when we were on the market and everything fun that I own was in a storage unit, I found a couple of skeins at a thrift store. I finally got to put it together a couple of weeks ago.  


These were gifts for Nick's grandmother for Mother's Day (the yellow set) and her birthday (the red white and blue set and the cards).


The cards are blank inside and were hand embroidered. I made them using this Amy Tangerine Stitched set I found at Tuesday Morning. They were actually pretty time consuming to make, but also kind of a soothing activity, and I hope she likes them.

   








These were the cards I made her to give her with the gifts, and I am SO excited with how they turned out. Okay, here's the deal. As I was going through all the mountains of stuff I was putting away in my craft room I came across a couple of sheets of 4x6 photo paper. I have tons of this stuff. Tons of it. But I never print my own pictures. I have a photo lab that I love, and I just couldn't begin to touch their quality on a home printer. But several people have given me boxes of the paper, and I was always at kind of a loss what to do with it. I was on the verge of tossing the couple of loose sheets in the trash when my eyes fell on the box housing my ridiculously large collection of embossing folders. I grabbed my Big Shot and some dies and cranked out the coolest paper elements ever! Okay, maybe not really, but I love, love, LOVE the way the photo paper looks with some embossing!





Anyway, that's some of what I've been up to. What have you been making?