home

Does anybody have any good ideas for a gift to give my new baby nephew? I can’t believe I haven’t given him a gift, yet! But I am at a loss. He has an older brother with a lot of clothes, so I don’t want to give clothes unless it’s something fairly unique. I’ve thought about blankets but I know he already has a couple really good ones. I’d kind of like to get a unique lovey of some sort … but I can’t find anything that sticks out to me. Oh yeah, and price isn’t a huge deal. But, under $25 would be nice.

I have never played paintball and I probably never will. Don’t get me wrong, I actually think it’s an amazing sport! Aside from sounding painful, it sounds like a lot of fun - like a real, live video game (shouldn’t real life be better??). Back in the day when when he had less responsibility, Joel would play paintball with friends - and every time he talks about it, he gets this dreamy look in his eyes.

I imagine some of you enjoy paintball, or at least have spouses who do. I did not know there were stores and websites that helped you invest in your own gear, did you? You can find all sorts of necessities and accessories like a Tippmann A5 (a best-selling paintball gun), masks, barrels, air systems, and upgrades. They even have some nicely priced packages if you’re just getting started.

Really, I’m surprised by the prices and they even offer free shipping. If Joel ever gets into the sport again, I think I’ll hold onto this website for some gift ideas. When it comes to buying things for him, I am always at a loss.

This is a sponsored post.

It has been a long time since I have visited one of my favorite blogs, making it fun. I absolutely consider this blog writer to be a virtuoso in design and craft. Five minutes perusing this blog and I am insanely inspired.

Right now, there is a feature called Two’fer Tuesdays where you and I can find tutorials for making baby products that appeal to baby’s first sight (in red, black, and white colors).

I totally love the bib and car seat strap and think I’m going to have to get to work. I know a few babies who need some presents.

There are a variety of other tutorials posted on the website, including a fitted sheet pattern, and I highly recommend you check them out.

And, since I’m already gushing over the blog, I can’t help myself … I have to gush some more. Check out this amazing baby room designed for the Do-it-yourself network’s show, Design Spaces. I would say it’s a little bit busy, but it’s also a little fantastic.

I am not service-oriented, I am not a person who thrives on a fast-paced environment, I have often thought about starting a business but know I like the idea more than I would like actually having my own business. There are exactly four businesses that I think I would do great with if somehow a business were to magically start for me:

1. An independent coffee house

2.  A bed & breakfast

3. An independent coffee house and a bed & breakfast in one.

4. A green shop that specializes in cloth diapers and baby slings

The problem is (if you want to call it a problem), I don’t have enough of a desire to do either of these to actually take the steps to do them. I would like what I was doing, but would I be happy? Would all my time and energy go into this and would I no longer have time for the people and things I love? I guess I can’t know for sure, but I sort of think that is what would happen.

I do think it’s pretty amazing all the resources that are out there to help people with these dreams. For a couple of my aforementioned dreams a company like Decision Logic could certainly help me with restaurant accounting services … as many of you probably know math is NOT my skill. We’re talking, I managed to fulfill my college math credit with a course in which we watched courtroom dramas on TV. I am not kidding.

Maybe someday, in the distant future, I’ll actually pursue one of these ideas. For now, I think I’ll just stick to making curtains.

I just put my little one down for her nap. As I held her in my arms while we were walking up the stairs, my tired child wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder. There are absolutely no words to describe how good that feels. There is a little creature in a little bed in a little room upstairs, and she has my heart.

I spent most of my pregnancy filled with anxiety and fear that I would not be a good mom. It was a very difficult time for me and I am fortunate that the day she was born, confidence was born within me. In an instant, I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do for that girl. Every single day for the past 2+ years, my confidence, my love for her, and my hopes for her have grown.

I think a lot about the kind of mom I am, the kind of mom I want to be, and what I can and can’t do to affect the way Rosemary perceives me. I want her to think of me as fun, creative, as a woman who loves God and shares that love with others in compassion. I want her to know how much I love her.

Sometimes I struggle with how much there is going on in my life. I am a mother, daughter, sister, and wife. I work full time, live in and help to maintain a one-hundred-year-old house, garden, attempt to create, have a mild social life, regularly participate in church, keep closely connected with my own family and my husband’s family, and really that list could go on. It’s a story familiar with almost all of us, I’m sure. When we spread ourselves so thin, it’s easy to lose the idea of who we are in the first place. What was it about ourselves that got us so involved in all these things to begin with?

That is how this blog came about. I needed a home-base. A place to show, a place to try, a place to dream, and a place to record. Holding all this stuff in my head was starting to make me sick. There are so many people and things I could possibly be an example to. When I look at my daughter, someone who takes after me in so many ways, I am daily reminded of what that means. For her, it is important that I know who I am, that I am authentic. It is important that I take care of myself in order to take better care of her.

It’s important that when she tells me, as she so often does, “I’m happy, mommy,” that I truly mean it when I respond, “I’m happy, too.”

***This post was inspired by the Artsy Mamas Blog Party where we were asked to write a post about living life authentically and being a creative mama. If you are a creative mama who loves to blog, why don’t you join me?***

 Behold, my kitchen valences! I have been talking about making these for weeks months and it just feels so good to have actually completed them. And even though there are mistakes, I am really proud of these, and motivated to see what other creative things I can do. They are two-sided, so technically if I wanted I could turn them around and have all polka dots - just to mix things up a bit.

First I made a valence out of each curtain, sewing a 1-inch double hem on the bottom and the two sides of each curtain:

Then I laid them on top of each other, right sides out, and pinned them together:

Finally, I folded a flap twice to make ~ 3-inch hem (I don’t remember the exact dimension) and sewed it ~ 1-inch from the top:

Once I finished the first one, the second one was simple. However, in hindsight the second one was a little more difficult because I had to care more about being exact. With the first one, I was making my template as I went.

I predicted the last week would be a whirlwind and oh, how right I was! My Place of Employment gave us July 3rd and 4th off, and I wisely decided to take the first three days of the week off as well. We had nothing special planned and we weren’t going anywhere, but I happily enjoyed what my husband liked to refer to as ‘my staycation.”

Goal number 1 for my ‘staycation’ was to enjoy some quality time with my little girl. Goal number 2 was to do at least one crafty thing. I would have liked to do maybe 5 or 6 crafty things, but I wisely didn’t give myself too high of expectations.

Since this blog is all about my journey to become an expert crafty person, I’ll spare you the lovely details of the trips to the beach, the teddy bear park, the games played, the walks taken, et cetera and so on and I’ll talk about my craft.

Valences.

I made valences for my kitchen and I am so stinkin’ happy with them. I’ve made curtains before, but this was by far the most challenging sewing project I’ve ever taken on. There are definite mistakes and a trained sewer would possibly turn her nose up at the look of them; but I don’t care! I am very proud and very motivated. I promise pictures soon. I have to wash the windows before I dare point a camera in that direction.

The next project on my list is to decorate my cube at work. This place is grey, blue, and gloooomy. Today a coworker described it as ‘being like you’re constantly under a rain cloud.’ I need to make my workspace a happier place and I’m open to suggestions. Perhaps I’ll bring my camera in and show you some pictures.

It’s been a busy couple of days around here. My brother and sister-in-law had another beautiful little boy yesterday and we’ve been entertaining their other son, Gray. Gray and Rosemary are absolute BFFs. Those two 2-year-olds get along swimmingly.

We took him to meet his new little brother, Wesley, this morning. He was quite smitten.

1. Wake up, realize what a beautiful morning it is and decide to go to the beach with your daughter, sister-in-law, and nephew. (Forget to take your camera with you so that you don’t have actual proof of your procrastination.)

2. Pull out the great fabric you bought. Reminisce about how you were indecisive in choosing fabrics. As a result, you decided to make two-sided curtains … and thus got yourself into a project you don’t exactly know how to complete.

3. Call Mary Kay for help. Leave a message because she is not home.

4. Call Sarah for help, because she has made pillows before - and after all two-sided curtains are an awful lot like pillows … right?

5. Decide the best way to do it is to just DO it.

6. Realize it’s been so long since you’ve pulled your sewing machine out that you don’t even know how to thread the darn thing.

7. Let your husband take artsy pictures of the sewing machine while Mary Kay calls you back. Realize Mary Kay is suggesting you do something that is completely opposite of what you’re already doing.

8. Decide that Mary Kay’s way sounds too hard and go about it your own way.

9. Realize that your way involves being an expert at sewing a straight line. You are not an expert at sewing a straight line.

10. Take out the seam ripper and try again. Applaud your unyielding persistence, but realize Mary Kay was right (i.e. you are wrong).

11. Take out the seam ripper, undo, undo. Decide to try again tomorrow.

We went strawberry picking at the Pine Tree Apple Orchard yesterday. It was the first time I ever went strawberry picking and it was a lot of fun. It would have been easy to get carried away! Rosemary loved it, but true to her character didn’t want to eat any strawberries (she’s a vegetable girl). She did, however, like to lick some of the strawberries before throwing them in the box.

It was a little work teaching her to “be gentle” with the strawberries. Regardless, she did great, and everybody had a lot of fun. Of course, the best part for Rosemary was riding on the tractor!

Oh yeah, and Joel accidentally quadrupled the jelly recipe, so we are up to our eyeballs with strawberry jelly! We’ll have to have a strawberry jelly party.