craft weekend!!!

friends.  dear friends.  let me just start out by saying that craft weekend was amazing.  you knew i would say that, so i'm just getting the obvious out of the way.  it was everything that you would think it would be and way more.

meg and ashley (she goes by ashley, not ashley ann) and kimberlee and everyone else involved were so fun!  so cool and so beautiful and so normal.  seriously, just normal gals, raising families and being creative.

i took a lot of pictures, but they were all taken on my phone, so not the most amazing quality.  but i think you'll get the picture.  ha, picture...  sorry - still tired....  plus, you can always head over to meg's blog and see pictures that actually make the weekend look as wonderful as it was.

as soon as we got there on friday night, we started crafting.  it was something like a dream.  little stations set up with our 'swag'.  paint, fabric, ribbon, buttons, stamps, canvas, trim, skittles.  yes - she even had a snack bar set up for us.  perfect sugar pick-me-ups for when i was up past 2am!

i actually met up with a lovely lady on my layover in atlanta, and when we arrived at meg's house, it was glowing.  i'm not kidding.  meg's house is amazing.  gorgeous.  her pictures don't do it justice.  it's big and comfy and homey and colorful.  it's everything you would think it is, and more.

 and yes, i found her craft room!

it was small, but perfect.  just stuffed full of craft goodness.

on saturday morning, we go to sleep in a little.  i love so much that meg and kimberlee knew that we were a group of hard working ladies and mom's who loved to stay up and sleep in!  i didn't get any pictures of the food, but i should have.  kimberlee was an awesome chef.  amazing breakfasts and dinners and desserts.  someone bringing you cheesecake while your sewing at 11pm is amazing.  bad for my waistline, but amazing!

we headed out antiquing after breakfast.  we went to meg's two favorite places where she scores so much vintage goodness for herself.  and let me tell you, this place did not disappoint.  i went in looking for a quilt for C's bed, and bearly makin it antiques delivered!  they had so much fun stuff, it was overwhelming and amazing.  i walked away with my an awesome quilt (that even meg was jealous of) and a little blue vase for the kitchen.  i could have gone home with so much more, but i was flying, so i had to shop in moderation.

after the shop, we headed to the barn!  owned by the same people as the shop, this place was dusty and cold and awesome.  so many things i wish i could have walked out with.

after the barn, in true meg form, we stopped at sonic happy hour!  =)

saturday evening was more crafting and a lot of laughter.  i can't emphasize enough how wonderful all the ladies were from this weekend.  it's still amazes me how well we all got a long.  ladies from all over the country (every lady flew in) who i won't soon forget.  connections were made quickly, and tears were shed when goodbyes finally came.  it was like summer camp for grown-ups.  staying up past 2 (that 3am our time!), laughing so hard my cheeks hurt, sharing stories of heartache and fun, and extending prayers for future endeavors.  it was awesome.  i spent less that 72 hours with some of these ladies, and i have truly missed them these last couple of days that i've been home.

and that's waffle up there.  we are buds now too!

it was a perfect weekend. i know that sounds extreme, but it lived up to my expectations 150%!  if you're thinking that putting your name on the craft weekend waiting list is pointless, think again.  you never know.  and if you get the opportunity to do this, take it!  meg and ashley and kimberlee really are just as beautiful and normal as they seem on their blogs.

check out my new friends!  =)

kimberlee, amy, shannan, jessica

and if you didn't catch them earlier - meg, ashley and kimberlee

a chair for C

we still don't have C in a big girl bed yet...  i wanted to share this little chair makeover with you then, but i'm not exactly sure when that will be.

so, it get's its own post!

i found this chair at my local ReStore.

they are kind of hit and miss, but i've had some success up there lately.  like my lamp.

this little desk is child sized, and was only $15!  i couldn't pass it up.

i wish i had found it unpainted, but since it came white, i decided to paint it again.  the white is sweet, but C is getting a white bed and a white dresser, so i decided to do something kind of bold and bright.  plus, it took less than 2 cans of spray paint, so it will be cheap to change if i ever want to.

it's called raspberry pink from Krylon.  C thinks it's red, but it actually works really well with the pillows and bunting i made for her room.

after i sprayed the entire thing, i knew i wanted to add more.  a little something on the top board of the back rest.

i thought about initials, or her name, but then i decided i would do something more generic.

so, i went with bunting

simple and sweet.

but after walking by it a few times, i felt like it needed a little more.

i was originally only going to trace the little flags and connect them.  but then i got gutsy and decided to add the little polka dots.

i definitely don't have the most steady hand, and i pretty much never paint.  except walls.  but i think it turned out pretty cute.  especially for a 2 years old!  =)

and C loves it.  she loves the little cubby area underneath the seat, and she loves that it's just her size.

we have it sitting in the kitchen right now, and she sits and colors at it just about every day.

i can't wait to put it in her room, whenever it's all finished.

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so, i'm leaving for craft weekend tomorrow morning!!  i mean, really?  it is really tomorrow??  it's been very interesting trying to explain to people where i'm going and why.  isn't a weekend FULL of crafting a good enough reason?  i mean, look here and here at what she has teased us with already??

so, my weekend starts tomorrow!  have a good one friends. i promise to take lots of pictures to make you jealous!!  ;)

a little weekend project

well, we didn't get to put C in her big girl bed this weekend like we origianally planned.  the people painting her bed took a little longer than we thought.

so, since i was in the frame of mind of getting her room ready on saturday afternoon, and then wasn't able to, i decided to tackle another project i've been thinking about.

her bathroom.

when we first moved in, we snapped this picture

terrible.  just terrible. 

pinkish tile on the walls.  brown tile on the floor.  and that seat cushion....  terrible.

but remember, we bought this house knowing it would need some work.  there is a lot of potential.  good bones.  and a great neighborhood.  i mean, remember the kitchen??

so, we know we will change this bathroom someday, but for now it's clean and functioning, and it's C bathroom.  so, after we moved in i found a shower curtain that was pretty neutral, put a couple random pictures on the wall, and left it at that.

but lately i've been thinking about the pinkish tile and the fact that this is C's bathroom.  why not just embrace the pink?  it is a little girls bathroom after all.  and i think i'm fine with making it a little girly.  trying to make it look brown just isn't working.

but finding the right shower curtain to work with the tiles was going to be tricky.  everything was either too pink or too girly or too childish.

until i saw this

HELLO amazing amy butler shower curtain!  and HELLO being on sale from $40 to $10!  that's right.  great colors, obviously girly but not too girly, and only $10!

so, this inspired me to give this bathroom a little face lift.  emphasis on the word little.  this project was kind of out of nowhere for the hubs.  and we just spent money on some new furniture for C's room, so i was going to do my best with what i had.

i decided to paint the walls the same color as C's room.  i had plenty of paint left over, and the yellow looked good with the tile and the curtain.

so, this

went to this

not too bad huh?  i know it's hard to tell the walls are yellow in the picture, but i was night.  bad lighting...

i think now the tile kind of looks like it was on purpose.  kind of... =)

the other side

so, heres what i did spent money on.

the shower curtain - $10
the ballerina towel (doesn't really match, but C loves ballerina's right now) - only $3
orange wash clothes in basket on top of toilet - $5

that's it! 

the art & frames i already had.  the ABC art above is just something i created in Word.

the art above the toliet - well, i love it...

a few months ago i found some katie daisey stationary.  so cute.  i knew i would use them as cards, but i also knew i wanted to frame some.  the color in both of these prints matches perfect. 

the basket holding the orange washclothes was used in the bathroom before.  it's not pictured, but it used to be green.  i just sprayed it pink with some paint i already had.  and the little bucket holding her toothbrush, i got that for her pink, orange and yellow party back in september.

so that's it.  one afternoon and $18 later, we get this

i'm kind of crazy about it.  it just feels brighter and cutier and is finally more my style.

i worked on a couple of things for C's new room too, but i'll share those once we finally get her settled in.

hope you had a good weekend!  ready for monday...?

InstaFriday & a trip

well, i had great plans to blog earlier in the week, but time got away from me.  so, i'm doing a little combo post.

let's start with my Instagram pics...

i'm linking up with jeannette @ life rearranged.

we had a really nice laid back weekend, and saturday morning started out with my coffee in my new favorite mug!  the hubs surprised me with this.  i love it!  it's big and simple, yet very cute.  shaun said it was so me.  hmmm....big, simple, yet very cute?  uh....thanks.

the rest of the day i was busy sewing.  i instragrammed my new fabric last week and i couldn't wait to get started.  i had never worked with ball fringe before, but was ready to give it a try.  i used some around the pillow for C's big girl bed, then had enough left over to add a little fun to the bunting i'll be hanging in her little reading area.  LOVE it all!

monday morning we ventured off to IKEA.  the hubs was out of school for MLK day, so we went to get C a dresser.  we had a very eventful trip up.  for the majority of the time it was fine.  then, about 10 miles away, in the middle of nowhere (i seriously felt like i was in another country) C got sick.  like puke sick.  poor thing.  it was terrible.  i was completely helpless and shaun had nowhere, repeat NOWHERE to pull off.  poor thing just had to sit in it for almost 10 min.  but, once we got her and everything salvageable cleaned up, she was 100% fine.  no fever, had an appetite, totally fine.  so, we pushed through.  she fell asleep about an hour after we go there and woke up fine.  strange.  and stinky....

have you ever had these?  they are dangerously wonderful.  seriously.  they are kind of hard to find and i'm glad.  i bought them with the intention of just having a few and then saving them for later.  ate the whole bag before i got home.  dang.

love, love, love, totally obsessed with this little serious of pictures.  this is one of the reasons i don't think i could ever give up my iphone.  i love being able to capture stuff like this, quickly.  C is really into pretending she's asleep these days.  it's kind of my fault.  we like to "trick" daddy sometimes.  that 1st picture is pretty believable.  but i love the 2nd one the most.  she just couldn't hold that smile in any longer.  then "i'm awake!"  love this age, a lot.

more sewing for C's room!  when i cut the fabric for the 1/2 circle bunting, it left me with a lot of strips.  i didn't want to waste them and had an extra pillow form, so i went with this.  and i appliqued a little C on it.  love personalized stuff.

ok - so there's my instafriday.

so, what up with the trip?

well..... 

do you read whatever?  if you don't, you should.  meg duerksen is pretty awesome.  mom of 5, loves god, loves crafts and is totally funny and relate-able. 

well, have you ever heard of craft weekend?  it's an amazing weekend that she hosts, where all you do is craft.  yep, just craft.  her 1st craft weekend was back in september.  i was beyond jealous when i started seeing pictures on her blog documenting the fun they had.  so, when she mentioned she was having another one and the way to get to come was by putting your name on a waiting list, i thought, why not?  so many people read her blog and will be adding their name too, it's not like i'll ever have a chance.

and then, right before thanksgiving i got an email with the subject "Happy News!".  huh?

and then i almost ran off the road!  (just kidding, i never text/read emails while driving, serious.)  i read the email right after i left bible study and i couldn't get home quick enough!  I WAS INVITED TO CRAFT WEEKEND!!!

so, this time next week, i'll be on a plane, headed to wichita, ks!!!!  i've never been there, but from what meg says, it's cold.  but i can't wait.  seriously.  i'm going to meet 11 other ladies who will be complete strangers, so i'm a little nervous about that, but only a little.  i feel like i know meg, and ashley ann (eek!), and i know that the other ladies coming on this weekend feel the same way.  we all love to craft, so it doesn't matter if they are complete strangers or best friends!

so, there you go! 

we are working on putting together's C's big girl room this weekend.  saturday night will be her first night. and...we've been talking about giving up her paci.  she only uses it at night, we we've been talking about how she won't need it when she sleeps in a big girl bed.  wish me luck!  it might be a long weekend.

have a good one blog friends!

burkina bracelets from guest blogger, cami

hey friends!  yesterday i asked you to come back and read about a ministry one of my best friends started.  well, thank you for coming back and reading cami's blogging debut!  her heart is real and i'm so thankful to call her a true friend.  

so - here's cami....

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“We can not use lack as an excuse to overlook need....We were supplied with everything we need to meet every need 2,000 years ago....He showed us fish and loaves would multiply....lack is not an excuse...Love multiplies in ways I never thought possible. If we claim His name, we have NO EXCUSES....He presents us with opportunities daily to be change agents for Him...I don't want to miss a thing.”  -Carolyn Vetter Twietmeyer

                                                         

Well, hello, Jade followers. Jade has been kind enough to let me have a shot at blogging for the first time...and I am pretty excited! So excited that my mind is all jumbled and all over the place! (imagine that!)
Let’s start with what I am trying to tell you all today. I want to tell you about a ministry/organization called “From Daniel’s Tears”. About 9 months ago, my bible study of ten amazing girls began reading “Outlive Your Life” by Max Lucado. And God used it to change our lives in a major way! We had no idea at the time, but we were about to have our hearts broken, be angered, and start having a blast serving our awesome God. We sat around and talked about if we were to “outlive” our life, what would it look like?  Who has God burdened our hearts for? Some of the answers included single women in need, orphans, and special needs. So, we finished the book and began to follow God’s leading.

During this time, a girl in our bible study, Sara, was in the process of adopting a little boy from Burkina Faso. Long story short, she and her sweet family came home with Daniel in August.

While Sara was on African soil for a month, God began his work here on American soil...burdening and breaking our hearts and teaching us about His sadness over the state of this country.

Burkina is the fifth poorest country in the world. And it has a literacy rate of 21% with a 77% unemployment rate. I began reading a blog from the sweet lady, Ruth, (a must read) that runs the orphanage, Sheltering Wings. As I read this blog, my heart was breaking and there were times that I thought that I could not read anymore, but that was Satan trying to discourage me and tell me that there was nothing I could do about the suffering in Burkina. God encouraged me to read, to cry and to weep with the women who are tormented, raped, roaming the streets, and mentally unwell. To cry for the babies left in wells, for babies that had been laying in the hot sun for days with the afterbirth blood dried to their burning skin, starving and alone.

I was reading story after story of mentally unwell women abandoning newborn babies in wells, throwing them across their huts, and simply losing their minds. I have a four year old, a two year old, and am pregnant now...how are my babies any different from these babies? They are not! God is our Father and it is our job to stand up for these innocent children....it is not too far away, it is not too big of a problem. God is bigger than the problems of Burkina. I started asking myself if I truly believed that. God continued to remind me that babies and children are suffering right now in Burkina Faso, as i sit in my air conditioned house. Just because it is not in my back yard does not mean that it isn’t happening. God was changing my heart and stretching me and it was painful. Painful to see where my priorities were. But, if I have learned anything in the past year, it is to face myself and be honest...I am far from perfect, and God has a lot of work to do in me....so let’s get to work!

I emailed Ruth and asked why so many women were “mentally unwell”.  She replied back that it is a real problem in that region of Burkina. Women are accused of being sorceresses and cast out of their family courts left to roam the streets. On the streets they are raped and abused and generally stay pregnant. Ruth said that some women are even chained to trees to keep from killing themselves or others. THIS IS NOT OK. It is 2012 and there are women in the world being chained to trees! I was in complete shock.

Of course, I knew that Satan was out there, and there is a massive amount of suffering in this world, but this was personal now....Sara knows and loves Ruth and the children at her orphanage. These babies are Daniel's friends! My bible study was angered, and it was the anger that led us right into God’s path for us....into action for HIS children!

Let me just say that God is so amazing because through the anger and tears came joy and excitement! God numbered our steps. It was as if we have been walking along a lit path. He lights the path just in front of us and shows us what to do....so we do it, not thinking about the darkness of the rest of the path, just trusting that He is going to continue to lead us into His light. AND HE DOES!!!! Step after step, we have walked right into a full-blown ministry and non-profit organization.

As we sat at dinner the other night, we were telling a friend about how it all came together, and we started to cry, because we did not realize that God had fulfilled all of the areas that we talked about when we started reading “Outlive Your Life”. We had come full-circle. God is using us to reach out to orphans, to women in need, and to special needs....amazing. And honestly, we have never had this much fun. Many of our husbands have gotten involved, as well. We have advocates in Bowling Green, Missouri, Minneapolis, and Lexington. You can be an advocate too!

So what does our ministry do?

We sell $3 bracelets.

Simple, we show our video or tell people about the harsh reality of life in Burkina, and we sell bracelets.

Where does the money go?

$1 to at-risk or rescued from human trafficking girls in nepal that make the bracelets (through an awesome ministry called Eternal Threads)

$1 to Daniel Samson’s former orphanage

$1 to Sheltering Wings orphanage (Ruth’s orphanage) and a fund for the homeless women wandering the streets

Find out more at “From Daniel’s Tears” fb page, the order form for bracelets is on the information page. You can receive a bundle of bracelets to sell without paying up front, as well.

I LOVE serving God like this, because it is easy. If you are following Him, He will lead you and give you the vision, strength, desire, passion, all of it....you just keep your eyes on Him. Thanks for reading my very lengthy post!

Love in Jesus.
Cami

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.

Proverbs 31:8-9

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thank you for reading friends.  please consider partnering with cami and from daniel's tears.  check out their facebook page for bracelets, or you can email me.

help spread the word.  $3 seems like so little to us, but it really can make a difference.   

a $2 lamp

so, i got this awesome new lamp for 2 bucks a couple of weeks ago.  our local ReStore is just a couple of miles away from our house, so when we were there looking for a dresser for C, i stumbled upon this treasure.

awesome, huh?  a regular brass beauty!  and as you can see - $2!!

but i saw her potential. 

we've been wanting another lamp for our living room.  we had one of those floor lamps that were really popular when i was in college, but it just wasn't doing it for me anymore.  plus, you can't pass up a $2 working lamp!

so, i got to work.

i taped a plastic bag around the light bulb area.  i also put the cord in a bag and taped it shut.

i used rust-oleum's ultra cover 2x in gloss navy blue.  i wanted a color that would work in different rooms.  just in case i want to move it, this color will work in a couple different rooms in our house.

so, after it dried, and i found a lampshade at target, here's how it turned out...

YEAH! 

it's kind of hard to tell the color, so here's a closer picture

i love it!  shaun loves it too, but i think mostly because it was so cheap!  =)

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and since it's friday, i thought i would do a little InstaFriday!

i didn't take many pictures this week, so i'm combining it with my little lamp DIY

C enjoying some peas.  she ate the whole bowl!  i think she was mostly exciting about using a spoon correctly, but i was pretty impressed with how into the peas she was.

some new fabric for C's big girl room.  next weekend we are going to move her into a big girl bed.  i've got some bittersweet feelings about all of it.  i know she's ready, and we are too.  it's still just crazy that my "baby" will no longer be in a crib....

i got a new app on my phone.  diptic.  these are a few before and after pictures from my most recent ReStore finds.  the top two are obviously my $2 lamp, and the little desk is still in progress.  i'll share more about it soon!

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so, that's it for friday.

PLEASE come back tomorrow.  one of my best friends is guest blogging.  she is going to share about a ministry/non-profit she has started.  you will love her heart and i'm honored to let her use this space to share it.

happy friday friends!

InstaSunday?

well, i know i usually do posts like this on friday, but since it's my blog and i didn't get to it friday, i'm doing it tonight.  why not?

 

 since we like to have fun, but don't necessarily love crowds, my friends and i decided we would celebrate new year's eve on friday night, instead of saturday.   we found babysitters and headed to near by cincinnati for a night with the husbands.  great memories and a ton of laughing.  seriously.  like, stomach and face hurts laughing.

 

the hubs what looking pretty hot that night...=)

 

bundled up and ready to go back to school.  she was home with shaun or i for over 2 weeks.  she was really excited to go back to school and see her friends.  it was pretty cute.  i'm thankful she has a place to go to each day that she enjoys.

one of her favorite things to do right now.  wear a tutu and dance with her daddyboy.  

she is totally crazy about kona right now.  she is constantly hugging on him and making him sit so that she can kiss him. love that he is such a good boy with her.

crazy about this little picture.  love these two more than anything else in the world.

she is getting good with orange leaf.  once she can't scoop with the spoon, it's time to tip it up!

love that she loves her christmas present so much.  she's behind this little house all the time.  =)

so, it's 2012.  

happy new year blog friends! 

did you make any new years resolutions?

i've made 1.  well, 1 that i have control over.  there is so much that i want 2012 to bring.  2011 was good, but our little family went through a few tough times. i know that hard things will happen no matter what the year is, so my resolution is to be more intentional.  more intentional with my time and more intentional with my life.

i've seen a lot of new years resolutions this year that beg for a fresh start.  but just because there is a 12 at the end of the 20, doesn't mean magic.  i know that for something to be different in my life, it has to start with me.  so, that's my resolution.  difficult things will happen.  but if i'm more intentional with my spiritual life, my family, my friends and my time, i'll know who i am and what i stand for during those hard times.

i was asked by C to dance yesterday.  as i watched her little body twirl and her face light up i danced right with her.  i needed to do laundry and fix her lunch, but i still danced. 

be intentional friends.  so far, it's pretty fun!