4th of July Ideas from 2011

Well I'm doing what I love to do every year.  Some 4th of July making!.  Just love it. Maybe it is the red, white, and blue color scheme, my patriotic heart, or just the fact that so much of this day is spent eating and casually entertaining!  Mmmm...fooooood.

So I thought it would be fun to share last year's projects with you.

These little Mason Jar "Sippy Cups" hold the grand title of being the single most popular project on my blog.  My only regret is not using some striped paper straws to style the photographs. But they are still kinds of adorable. You can check out the full tutorial here. 

I also upgraded these cups and used plastic paper for the girl's birthday party last year.  That way, you don't worry about making the paper wet.  Check these out here.

And these are actually for grown ups and older kids.  

Not really meant for little ones to carry glass and slosh around lemonade with paper lids.

This was another popular one from last year. I adore these Sparkler Cupcake Picks!  LOOOVE THEM!  They are so simple and easy and they look just like little sparklers.  I also give you a full tutorial for these.

During the series, I showed different ways to use a bandana. This particular one was my favorite wrapping a pie and sliding a pie server in the knot. Isn't it just so sweet?

I am by no means a "go to" source for food but these berry ice cubes make a fun little treat for your lemonade.  Try to find some star shaped ice cube trays to make it extra fun.

Or some star shaped sugar cookies to make ice cream sandwiches. Just sandwich some ice cream between two cookies and dip sides into red, white, and blue sprinkles.

Hope you liked a little blast from the past.  I hope to start sharing this year's ideas with you sometime this week.

Until then...

Lots of hugs and hope your summer is off to a wonderful start!

♥♥♥

4th of July Wreath + Giveaway! {closed}

 Happy Saturday my sweet friends!

I have to tell you...your response last week to my previous post...just wow.  You have no idea what it did for my heart to have your full support and understanding. It actually made me want to post all the more which of course...misses the entire point.  But it meant so much to me.

I am so sorry I have not responded to any of you by email. Your precious messages have been read and reread numerous times.  I actually have been too busy working on this ruffly and pretty 4th of July wreath so that I can give it away to ONE OF YOU!

You guys might remember my other ruffly wreaths like this one and and this one.  But I wanted to make one that was festive for the 4th of July and get it up on the blog so that I could get it to the winner before the fireworks start. Timeliness, is sadly...not my strong suit.

I just love ruffles.  They can prettify just about anything.  And this wreath just screams summery happiness to me! I love that is mimics a flag with the smaller white ruffles creating the look of stars on the blue part. And the best thing?  My girls helped me make this.  Because they are budding, crafty geniuses...that's why.  It was loads of fun and I am so excited that one of you could win it.

Since I am feeling all mushy and gooey on the inside with love for you precious people, I make no demands on this giveaway.  Only that you leave a comment and tell me where you would put it or who you might give it to to bless someone else.  (Is it awful that if it were me, I would so want to keep it for me, me, me?  Good thing I have two sitting on my front doors in white.)

If you want to follow along...well that is just fine and wonderful because I would sure love to meet you!
I do have fun things to share on this blog and I am working on some 4th of July fun that I hope to photograph and post about in time. :)

Here I go again with the ruffles. I just can't help it.

Let's just have a moment of silence for ruffles, shall we?  They are worthy of such contemplation.

All righty.  Giveaway info...

Just so we are clear. :)

Leave a comment telling me where you would put it or who you might give it to.

That's it.

It will end by midnight Thursday June 14th.

I will announce the winner Friday June 15th.

If I get a lot of entries, I will make another one (that can be used any time of the year) and do another giveaway later in the summer.
***I can only mail this within the UNITED STATES***
{So sorry to all my international friends! :( }

Good luck sweet friends!
GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

My Summer Bucket List

Heeeyyyyyy!

I have missed you.  Terribly.  

But to be honest...I may not be round these here parts this summer. 

{I will get to the Summer Bucket List but I have some things to say...}

You see, I have made a decision.

I want to be more intentional in spending time with my family.  To stop staring at this glowing rectangle while my kids giggle in the background or my adorable husband reads a book when I could be snuggling with him.

I want to be the woman God has called me to be for this particular season of my life.

Not a blogger.

Not a marathon crafter.

Not a writer.

Not a pinterest stalker.

Not a facebook lurker.

I am a Christ follower, a wife and a mother...FIRST.

No worries.  I am not ending it all on the blog.  But I have finally decided that my blog is my own. 

Funny, huh?

As if it somehow ceased to be mine.  But I found myself wanting to appeal to others instead of staying true to my own voice, my own style, my own way of doing things.

I worried over silly things like...
Posting a kid craft and that might turn people away.

My love of packaging posts would grow wearisome to those who come to see other crafts.

I would disappoint those who like my party planning when I'm not doing a party this year.

 {Oh,  I guess the cat is out of the bag on that one.}

I would fight the rising jealousy in me over another crafter's success or growth.
{That ones grieves my heart}

I felt REQUIRED to have a linky party, sponsors, or do posts that would draw more readers.
{not anymore}

I would feel failure over reduced stats or followers leaving.

It's all rubbish.

(Such a fun word...we just got back from a Disney vacation and I heard a family from England say that and it just sounds much more dignified then words like garbage or crap. I completely intend to use this word often and with a slight British lilt).

Now I do have fun things in the works this summer.  One of my favorite crafting holidays is the 4th of July and I hope...HOPE...to pull off a series like last year.  I also have a fun photo shoot project with a friend who is a photographer. I make...she shoots. See? Good stuff.
But I don't want to commit to a certain amount of days per week of crafting, posting, etc.

OK.  You got my long winded "Summer Disclaimer."

Now on to my simple bucket list.

All I did was wrap washi tape around the tops of some coffee stirrers and wrote our summer ideas on the bottom part.  Pretty simple. We wrote them down as a family at dinner and the girls were amazing at coming up some really good ideas.

Last summer, I kind of winged it each day.  And without a plan, I got a little frustrated.  I have no intention of jamming our days with a ton of places to go and things to do. The girls and I will embrace the ideal of a "lazy summer." But we want to have fun and make loads of memories too.

Here is my list in full. I have no doubt we will add to it but I started with 50.  Maybe you have seen a lot of these ideas already and some do cater to where we live or the ages of my kids. 

But maybe it will inspire you a bit too. 

Until next time my sweet and precious friends!
Lots of love and hugs!
♥
xoxo

Pretty Packaging: Tags & Clips

My packaging loving heart has been craving to make some pretty stuff.  I was hoping to have this post ready well before Mother's Day but as good plans always go...I am posting it now.

I have been working for a few weeks on my craft studio/homeschool room.  Cleaning and organizing has helped me find supplies that were crammed in the bottom of baskets and other nooks and crannies. It made it fun to take a crafty break and make some of these.

I used unfinished wood tags and bobby pins with other little paper scraps and random craft bits to make sweet little clips and tags.

I especially love glassine and paper bags for gifts and thought these bobby pins would make such cute and different ways to wrap them. Tiny buttons, crochet flowers and a pom pom glued to the end of each painted bobby pin make easy and pretty bag clips.

A little crochet flower with some distressed and painted bobby pins make a simple bag clip.  Wrap with some fun twine and you have a simple little bag closure.

Decoupage paper to the wood tags to pretty them up and glue a clothespin to it to hold your message.  It makes them reusable and adds a unique touch to a gift.

Use washi tape to add a cute flag or attach a  note. Glue a binder clip to one and make a mini clipboard! So many ideas for simple little tags! Attach a clothespin to the back to clip to a gift or bag too!

You can make them like little dry erase boards by laminating them or covering them with packaging tape before gluing them to the wooden tag.  You could do this with regular paper but I like that the wood keeps them from getting bent and will last longer.  Write a message with a dry erase pen and you have a reusable tag to pass along!

I love playing with pretty packaging.  Enjoy the ideas and hope to see you again soon!

Blessings my sweet friends!

Pinwheel on a Stick

Hello there!

I wanted to peek in with a quick and easy tutorial to make easy pinwheel picks.  Yesterday I made these and the cupcakes because we celebrated Cati's birthday at school today.  Her birthday is not until the end of the summer but they celebrate all the summer birthdays during the last few weeks of school.

Which is rather confusing for Cati. :) She keeps asking, "Am I six now?" 

But hey...she got some yummy cupcakes out of it.

I honestly think these are more versatile then just popping them into a cupcake.  Embellish a package or bag, a garland or wreath, or pop a big one into a goody bag. 

Sorry that I forgot to remove all those hot glue strings before styling these cuties.  :)

It just proves us bloggers are real people with real lives. And some of us...maybe, kinda, might be...legally blind and failed to catch this until photo editing.  So there.  You now know I am legally blind even behind a lens.

I love the colors and patterns of this paper so much. :)

Here are some quick and easy steps to make these lovelies...
(sorry...they don't spin)  :)

Cut two 3x3 inch squares from 2 pieces of paper.  Double sided paper would be easier!

Using double sided tape, tape wrong sides of paper squares together to create a two sided square.

Fold one corner to the opposite corner on both sides creating a crease shaped like an "X."  Cut on the folds until you almost get to the middle leaving about 1/2 inch.

 Fold the left point down with the point towards the middle.  If you start with the left like I did, pull the left side of the other three triangles too.  Secure them with hot glue in the center.

Embellish the middle with a button or bead and hot glue a lollipop stick or skewer to the back.

That's it!

Happy Day Sweet Friends!

A Letter to those of you in my Heart on Mother's Day

Dear Sweet Friends,
As many of you know, I have a very tender heart for so many women on Mother's Day.  I wish many of you a happy one as you cherish those precious blessings in your life.

My own day started so sweet as I opened  hand picked gifts from both my girls.  They each got me gum, picked out precious cards and wrote in their endearingly sweet handwriting of a child. They drew me beautiful pictures that I look at with a heart that swells with a love I did not know possible.

My oldest picked out a hot pink cell phone case for me knowing mine was broken.  And my youngest got me a hot pink set of tools.  I know I will be a smiling fool whacking at some nails with that delicious pink hammer some day soon. Those girls are so precious. They even picked out flip flops for me.  Ella chose green (her favorite color) and Cati chose pink (her favorite color).  When I got dressed for the day, I could not choose which ones to wear.

So I wore both. ♥

Who knew what a mother's heart will do for her precious babies? People looked at my feet and then at me like I was a complete nut but so be it. I am nuts...about my girls!

But my heart typically focuses on many women whose pain was great today.  For many years, this day brought me pain as I ached for a baby.  As I prayed year after year to be called that beautiful name that would belong only to me from my own precious child...Mommy. This day was one where I would wish the hours away, avert my eyes from the the bouquets of flowers being bought or received, or sadly witness happy families with the mother (yet again) bursting with child as they ushered their other children here and there. Sitting with pain and an odd sense of shame as mother's were asked to stand in church to be honored for their so coveted role and title.

It was typically a dark day year after year.

So today is the day I stand up for women who I share a bond with for always.  Where this day brings pain, grief, and maybe even anger.  Because I have walked in your pain.  And carry a bit with me now so I will never forget my journey. Or your fragile heart as you courageously work out these emotions in your heart.

To you...

Women (and men) who have lost their mother in death.

Mother's who have lost a child to death or miscarriage.

Mother's who are not yet mother's because they are waiting for God to bless them by conceiving yet in their hearts they are a mother already without a baby to hold.

Mother's who anxiously wait to adopt and still have not wrapped their arms around their babies and ache for them to be home soon.

Mother's who have courageously given their children up for adoption knowing they will have a better life.

Mother's who may be estranged from their children or vice versa due to past hurts and mistakes.

For you I stand because I have a special place in my heart for you.  

Today I prayed for you all day. 

Loving you without knowing your name and seeing your precious face. But knowing you are there. Praying that this day will somehow bring you peace and a knowing of God's perfect love.

My daughter's birth mother was on my mind a lot too.  

Does she miss her?  Is her heart full of regret?  

I know she has other children she has lost too. Sadly, due to poor choices.  

Does she feel like a childless mother?  Does she know that her ultimate, sacrficial decision allowed me to gain that glorious name...that her birth child made ME a mother? Does she know? 

So I prayed.

For her and each and every one of you.

With more love in my heart then you may ever even know.

And I stand for you this day letting you know that a person you have never met...honored YOU.

Lots of love and blessings,

Jessica

Craft Room Feature: Raising Up Rubies Blog

All righty.  Be prepared to swoon.  This craft room is seriously my favorite craft room ever.  I'm currently working on my own but this one...THIS ONE...(sigh)!  I have seen a lot, pinned a lot, loved a lot.  But this one is so me, so perfect down to the itty bittiest little detail that I am over the moon smitten with it!

Miss Jaime from Raising Up Rubies DIYed this gorgeous room to complete brilliance. And I just love Jaime.  She just launched her new blog and she has tons of talent.  She was a contributor over at Seven Sisters but decided to go on her own and I am so excited to see what she has up her sleeve. If this craft room is any indication of what she has in store...we will NOT be disappointed.  I am already uber inspired by this room!

Um, this table was made from scratch.  

She can have crafty get togethers. For real.
 I think I'm coveting this table.
(I am amazed at how she did the bookshelf in the background there too)

And her sewing area is just amazing. 

This colorful and pretty thread storage is made from an old typesetting box.

The table was decoupaged with a dress pattern and a fabric measuring tape on the edge. 

♥The pretty, ruffled table skirt is made from a shower curtain.♥

All this storage is well thought out and so, so pretty too! 

{I especially love the vintage pillowcases in the birdcage.}

Please check out Jaime's full post on her gorgeous craft room.  There is so much more to this room but if I share it all, you won't get to meet the lovely Jaime. :) Her sweet blog is sure to be an absolute delight and I adore her beautiful style.  She has been blessed with so many creative gifts and I am excited to follow her and be inspired time and time again.

Thanks Jaime for being incredibly, wonderfully YOU!
{oh, and tell your hubby he is pretty amazing for all he did for this space too}
♥
P.S.  If any of you dear, precious friends would like to pin this craft room, please pin it from Jaime's blog so it will link back to HER.  Thanks so much!