Being crafty is in her DNA...

Even Ella likes to be crafty. With a 1x6 piece of wood and some nails, she made this, um... er... craft. She thought it would be perfect for her Papa's workshop. She says he can use it to hang his tools on. Ahhh... through the eyes of a child. I love it.

Place mat pillow

I found this great place mat at the Dollar Tree and decided it would make a great pillow. It's perfect for Shep's room. The great thing about this place mat is that it already had a backing so all I needed to do was unstitch a section, fill with stuffing and re-stitch the place mat. I went one step further and added Shep's name to it.


















Materials
Cricut
place mat
fabric paint
freezer paper
sponge paint brush
iron

Using your cricut machine, choose your design. In this case, I wanted to personalize the pillow, so I did "Shep" using my SCAL software and the CAC One Seventy font. Place freezer paper shiny side down in your cricut machine. Set the cricut (pressure 4, blade 3 and speed3) and cut the design.
Place place mat on ironing board and place the cut out design onto the place mat shiny side down. It must be shiny side down so that the freezer paper will adhere to the fabric. Iron over the place mat for approximately 10 seconds to ensure all parts are adhered.
Take another piece of freezer paper and place on the inside of the place mat before painting. This will keep the paint from bleeding through.


















Once that paper is in place, you are ready to paint. Using a sponge paintbrush, sponge the paint onto the place mat where it is cut out. I use a sort of pouncing method and NOT a stroking method. Once it is dry... that's it!! Fill with stuffing and restitch.

A beautiful end to a not so beautiful week

This week brings back memories and a flood of emotions all relating to my mom. My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2007 and after a short battle with it, she passed away on April 26, 2008. My world completely changed when she was diagnosed with cancer. I began taking her to her doctor's appointments (which were many!) and I ended up having to put Ella in daycare so that I could be with mom while she was in and out of the hospital. Even though that season in my life was incredibly rough, I will always appreciate the many hours that I spent with her in those last months. The chemotherapy treatments and Chappy's Deli afterwards... the determination of her to go Christmas shopping even though she was having severe chemo side effects... Ella spending the night with her... seeing her drive up my driveway in that Honda Pilot with her little toboggan on... her not wanting to leave the house because we had been chit chatting and just enjoying ourselves... her watching me turn 30... her watching me scurry to prepare Thanksgiving at my house... her watching me decorate my house for Christmas... taking her to rehab to work on her shoulder... visiting her in CVICU, holding her hand and singing to her... listening to her about her visit to Australia overnight while she was in CVICU... taking her home from the hospital... telling her it's ok to let go... and finally, watching her let go.

I love you mom. Always.

His mercies are new every morning! I woke up this morning to a smiling baby boy's face, my husband getting ready for work and the glorious sun shining outdoors. I hear the pitter patter of Ella's footsteps downstairs and it's moments like these that let me know that seasons come and go. And no matter what, we must praise Him during the stormy weather and the sunny weather. So, what started off as a week reflecting on the storm of mom's final months is ending in a beautiful way. I am truly blessed and I praise God for my undeserved blessings.

Theology Thursday

thanks to my dear husband for today's Theology Thursday. love you babe!

Belief is not enough
Jas 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! (James 2:19)

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5)

The demons know and understand God better than you do and they are afraid. They know what will become of them. They will not and cannot be in the Kingdom of God. Just a mere belief in Christ is not enough. You must be born again (John 3:3), through repentance and faith (Mark 1:15), unto a living hope (1 Peter 1:3) that manifests itself through works (James 2:17). Test yourself in light of scripture and be sure (2 Corinthians 13:5). You are not saved by your works, but by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8), and your faith will produce goods works. (Eph 2:10)

Barn Door

After finishing the nursery, Scott and I decided we wanted to move Ella's room downstairs so that we would have both kids close together. But where would we move her to? We only have 2 bedrooms downstairs and hers was upstairs (and HUGE too!). What we decided on finally (after going through virtually every scenario) was to move her into the study. Doing this posed a few problems though. One was closet space... the study has a built in book shelf instead of a closet. We are still working on that problem too! But the biggest problem was there would be no door to close for privacy. Option one would have been to close in the opening with sheet rock, paint, etc. I was a bit hesitant about doing this... I really wanted the kids to be able to have another exit option... In case of an emergency. No, I'm not paranoid. Just crazy like that.


Our solution? This COOL, incredible, sliding BARN door!!! We made it ourselves and are totally pleased with it... and it fits our style perfectly. It looks great from both sides... Ella's room is a "cowgirl" room so it worked out great!


Stay tuned for a tutorial on how you can make your own barn door!

Head on over to Beneath My Heart for more DIY projects... her blog is great!!

Great day what a deal

I shop at CVS and Walgreens weekly and use this strategy to snag up great deals. I thought I'd share with you some of my savings...

These items all came from CVS.

I got 76 diapers, 2 Cover Girl mascaras, Tide, and Colgate. I paid $25.21 out of pocket and got back $10 in Extra Care Bucks. I saved a total $38.66! Now, that's savings!! I encourage you to check out Money Saving Mom's site and discover how to use her strategy for shopping at CVS and Walgreens. Happy shopping!

Theology Thursday!!

I plan on using Thursday as a day for discussing theology. I hope to use this as a way to show others that theology is not "boring", "intimidating", "hard to understand" and all the other descriptions we've heard about the study of God and His word. Before I can begin to post anything on theology, I must tell you the gospel... after all, what does theology mean to you if you don't know Christ?

In Mark 1:14-15 Jesus comes into Galilee preaching the gospel of God saying, "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." Repent and believe. Repent and believe.

We were made for God's glory. And we should live that way. But we have failed. Miserably. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) And for that we have been eternally condemned. For the wages of sin is death... (Romans 6:23) It should end there... we should all be condemned to hell and it should be over... but it isn't!!! God sent His only son to die for the ones who REPENT and BELIEVE. Turn from your decietful ways and fall upon Jesus. Call upon Him to save you. Jesus said the kingdom of God is at hand. The day of salvation is now. Do not wait for tomorrow, tomorrow is the devil's day. Call upon Him to save you today. This is our only hope, Jesus Christ.