Patience

Many times throughout each day I pray for patience. Apparently God doesn't just hand out patience just because you ask. He gives you opportunities to practice patience.

Take for instance our family's exit from all the Thanksgiving festivities last night. Our very over-tired 4 year old did not want to leave his Aunt Karen and Uncle Loren's house. The very couple who are expecting their first child in February. As I watched everyone's eyes growing bigger with fear, I quietly whispered give me strength . . . give me patience.

It took some time . . . and a cookie, but we finally got said boy into his car seat. The once tantrum-wielding young man, now sat calmly in his car seat discussing the intricacies of the color wheel and asking how the color yellow is made.

As I sat in the car, listening and watching my now recognizable son, I realized he is the answer to a prayer whispered from my broken heart almost five years ago, please God give us the opportunity to be parents again.

Davis, I love you. I am thankful you are here to teach me patience . . . . and all about Star Wars.

A Girly Bulletin Board

My husband's had this bulletin board for over 25 years. Have I mentioned he has a hard time throwing things away. It's a standard bulletin board - not quite special enough to hang in a little girl's room.

I had lots of scraps of fabric and ribbon left over from previous projects.

Add in a little inspiration from her and her.

Now this bulletin board is all dressed up!

I sprayed the whole board with a couple coats of Rust-Oleum's Sweet Pea. I cut four strips of base ribbon to use for each side of the board, and then tied and tied until my little fingers could take no more!

I hot glued each "ragamuffin garland" on to the board. (If I knew how, I would use that little "c" symbol here to indicate that term may be copyrighted by the Nester).

Finally, I tweaked and fluffed it until I was satisfied. I did have to go back in and add a little to the corners. Now I'm off to make some push pins worthy enough to call this girly bulletin board home.

Anyone Out There Sew?

Bob and I are going shopping for a sewing machine next week. I feel like I'm buying a new car. With the high price tag and all the features and functions, my head is spinning.

There's a great quilting shop in downtown Annapolis, Cottonseed Glory. They carry Bernina machines and offer classes and all sorts of support. The reviews I've read pretty much say that the Bernina's rock. Does anyone have experience with one, or another brand/model you would recommend.

Thanks!

My Favorite Outlet

In the 80's home builders did some cheap and silly things. They put in soffits, which as far as I can tell, only serves to fill the space between the cabinets and the ceiling.

(We'll discuss the finish on these cabinets later)

They installed the shiniest, brassiest light fixtures they could find.

They also believed in matching the door hardware to the light fixtures.

But the builder did have one shining moment of clarity. A brief moment when he thought, "I bet it would be a good idea to put an outlet in the hallway upstairs."



From this one little outlet (which is right outside our bedroom), I can vacuum the whole second floor. Thank you, Mr. Builder Man for having the sense to realize that an outlet in a hallway does make life easier for this mom, who usually does most of her cleaning with a baby on her hip. This outlet will come in so handy when I get to put up a beautiful lit garland on this staircase.

Identity Crisis

My blog is having an identity crisis.

The blogging powers that be say you should find a topic/theme and stick with it . . . . consistently. Well, I can't stick to one thing. Obviously, I've picked up some sort of crafting/decorating bug. I think moving into a new home and discovering a whole other blogging community are responsible.

I do still care about our environment and want to save as many trees as I possibly can. If you're missing the green commentary, check out all of the wonderful green writers over in my left sidebar.

I'm going to keep crafting for a little while so I hope you don't mind my little ADD blog. Knowing myself the way I do, I'll probably be onto something else in a few months.

I have just passed my 200th post. I think it's appropriate to open up the floor to you and
answer any questions you may want to know about me. You can either leave them in the comments section or use the email link above.

Now I feel totally exposed and vulnerable. I'm also exhausted because it's 4 o'clock in the morning and I have a very wide awake little boy on my lap!

Transportation Alphabet Wall Art

You'd think I'd be tired of decoupaging by now . . . . but when it's so inexpensive and relatively easy it's a shame not to do it.

Using canvases, scrapbook paper left over from these, a little clip art and some Mod Podge, I created six 12 x 16 canvases for under $10.

These are thin canvases. They come in a 3 pack for $3.99. I didn't like the stark white of the canvas. I taped off the edges and painted it an antique white, leaving a 1 inch border of the original white. I haven't decided if I'm going to frame them or glue some saw toothed picture hangers to them and call it a day.

I "googled" transportation clip art to find my images. A lot of education websites have royalty-free images. It works a little better if the images are in profile and are simple.

I copied and pasted them into Word and played around with the sizing. I printed out the images on card stock to use as a pattern. For the letters, I found a font I liked and printed them in "outline mode" right onto the scrapbook paper.

I decoupaged everything down and that was it! You really could do just about anything - animals, sports or girly things.

My nephew just celebrated his first birthday! Zeke, if you're interested in having some new art for your walls, just let me know. Happy Birthday!

I'm a little late to join, but I just found out about Just a Girl's, I Can Make That Party. These canvases are definitely something that you could make! There are so many great ideas - go check them out!

Great Giveaway

Skip To My Lou is hosting a great giveaway! There's gonna be 5 WINNERS!!! You have an opportunity to receive a digital card file to print your own personalized photo card PLUS 2 sheets of Picture it Postage! Head on over and sign up for this giveaway, it ends Sunday at 12 pm central time.

An Updated Piece and Thank Yous

I'm a southern girl who has never had a china cabinet to display her china. As a combination anniversary and house warming gift my mother in law helped me find this china cabinet at a local consignment shop.

I love the style and the amount of storage is incredible, but I wasn't really digging the hardware. It was a bit dated. (You should be able to click on the photo to make it larger.)

With the help from a gift card from my sister in law to Restoration Hardware, I picked up these knobs and handles. I chose the antique brass finish to match the hinges of the cabinet. There are a few little holes to fill, but I'm so pleased with the result.

Now I have an updated piece and once I get all the wallpaper down and the room painted, I'll be able to display all my "pretties".

Thank you both for this great piece!

And the winner is . . .

Brandy

Sorry it has taken me awhile to post the winner. We've all been a little under the weather.

Brandy has a great Blog, Savin Some where she talks about all things frugal! Brandy, I hope you enjoy your gift and I'll be emailing you today so you can start using your gift certificate to the Monogram Chick's great shop.

Sew Much Fun - Drawstring Gift Bags

A few years ago my mother in law gave me this little sewing machine for Christmas. Obviously, she had a lot more confidence in my ability to sew than I did because it sat in my closet for years .

A couple of weeks ago I took it out of the box for the first time. I looked at all the bits and pieces (I think the proper term for this is notions) and walked away feeling intimidated and defeated.

One of my favorite bloggers, Simple Mom, is hosting the sewing portion of "Holidays By Hand". This was the motivation I needed. Yesterday, I sat down with the manual, and after more time than I care to admit to, I figured it out!

I had a yard of this Michael Miller fabric and thought it would be great to make gift bags for the holidays. I found an excellent tutorial from HappyThings for drawstring bags and got busy.

I followed her directions step-by-step and created my very first sewing project. From one yard of fabric, I will be able to make 8 drawstring bags that are roughly 7 x 10 inches. I plan on using these for goody bags for Davis' preschool class holiday party.

I learned two very important things from this experience. I love to sew - it feels so good to make something all on my own. I also learned it doesn't take a big, fancy sewing machine to make something practical and useful, but it would be nice to have one that has a reverse button! So Santa, if you're reading this . . . .