Sean and Nicole

I'm a sucker for monograms

2012-01-23T16:55:00.000-06:00

You could put a monogram on toilet paper and I'd buy it. I just think they are the most precious thing ever! Well...second only to newborn babies. So for this project I combined the two! My friend is having a baby boy, so I put together a little custom gift set for her using things I picked up at the last Acumen warehouse sale. They are BabySoy products and are super soft!

Two baby hats, a bib and a baby blanket. For the blanket, I ironed fusible interfacing to the fabric then loaded it into my Silhouette machine to cut out the letter. Then, I ironed it to the blanket and stitched around the edge for added durability.

I used the same letter 'e' for the bib and used the white flocked heat transfer material. Don't forget to mirror your image before sending to cut and to put the shiny side face down in the machine.

I die over these hats! Those knots at the top are so cute. Can't wait to see pics of baby Easton in them!

Nice.

2012-01-19T17:05:00.002-06:00

The other day I had something odd happen to me. Someone called me 'nice.'

I get called lots of things, some of which should be left unmentioned. Organized. Responsible. Bright. Strong-willed. Stubborn. Compassionate.

Nice is not usually a word someone uses to describe me.

I have a couple of theories as to why this is. One, I'm literally married to the nicest man in the world. He gets enough nice comments for the both of us. {He was voted 'Sweetest Senior' in high school} Two, I'm very straight forward and to-the-point. Maybe some think of this as a more aggressive trait. Three, I don't do enough nice things for others. {note: I just typed "I don't do enough nice things for me" first. Freudian slip?}

It's probably a mix between the three.

I write this to document the rarity, but also as a personal challenge for myself to allow God to continually help with my character development. The process of sanctification is a slow one for me. Two steps forward. One step back. The important thing is that I continue forward, I guess -- not the pace at which it is done. My aforementioned strong-willed nature is sometimes a hindrance to this whole process...I think I can do it on my own far too often.

I'm going to do more nice things for others -- babysit their kids, pay for lunch, let someone in front of me in traffic. Not so others will call me nice, but because that's WWJD. Old school, right?

Can you think of something nice someone else did for you that really stuck? If so, please share!

moss monogram door decoration

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Now that my Christmas wreath is down, I needed something new for our front door. I searched a bit on Pinterest and saw something like this so I went for it -- it was really easy! The project from start to finish was probably about 15 minutes and total cost was $12.

Supplies Needed:

Cardboard or wooden letter (I got mine at JoAnns, but those gold 14" letters they always have at Hobby Lobby would also work great)
Sheet of moss - 1 package was enough for me, but if you have a larger letter I would grab two.
Hot glue gun
Burlap or other coordinating ribbon

The moss comes on a sheet. You could purchase regular moss if you want and glue it around, but that seemed too messy for me.

I traced around the front of my letter and hot glued that first, then cut strips of the moss to glue around the edge.

I liked the different textures with the burlap, so I cut a strip about 3" x 20" and hot glued the ends to either side of my H. If you have a curvy letter, you might try to tie a knot with the burlap at the top to hang over the wreath hook. I topped it off with a burlap bow and it was good to go!

These would make a great wedding gift idea, decorations for a wedding or even to just have on a shelf in your home. I have heard that the moss will lighten over time in the sun. I change my door decs for the seasons/holidays so hopefully that won't happen too much, but if it does, there's nothing a little spray paint can't fix. :)

Goals for the New Year

2012-01-04T08:54:00.001-06:00

2011 has been pretty flat - still in the same city, same job, same home, etc. It's been one of those years where I have found it difficult to live in the present because I was always looking forward to what was going to happen next. There were some really great things about 2011, though, like finding a church we love in Fayetteville and being introduced to our couples small group. Those two items have pretty much changed our feelings about northwest Arkansas. I think 2012 will be interesting for us. Sean will finish school and I'm excited to see what type of job he will take and what kind of impact that might have on my job and where we live.

I'm not a big resolutions girl, but I do think it's healthy to evaluate the past year and think of new ways to improve relationships, hobbies, etc.

Here are things I would like to do better in the year 2012:

1. Personally recognize birthdays and anniversaries of family and close friends. Facebook isn't going to cut it here -- I'm talking about thinking ahead enough to have time to mail a card and give a call on their special day. I've set up most of them in my phone with a one week reminder, so hopefully that will help!

2. Do a better job praying for and supporting my own and my friends' marriages. Some ideas I have are: offer free babysitting so the parents can have a date night, offering to clean a friends home, giving random gift cards for dinners, sharing books that have been helpful or enlightening, and choosing one couple to intentionally pray for each month. Do you have other ideas? Please do share!

3. The obligatory 'healthy living' goal hasn't escaped me this year. While it wouldn't hurt to lose a few pounds along the way, I just really want to do a better job taking care of my body - no drastic diets for me, just laying off some of the junk food and getting some sort of regular physical activity. I feel better and more confident when I do these things.

There are certainly other areas of my life that could use some improvements - may 2012 be a year of growth {except in the waistline} :)

Handmade Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T13:48:00.001-06:00

Now that all of the Christmas gifts have been opened, here's a peek at what I crafted this year for Christmas gifts! Not all of the gifts we gave were homemade, but I tried to have some type of handmade touch to them. My Silhouette machine got a good workout this holiday season - that thing is so impressive and I don't even know how to use all of the features!

This was a gift from my brother to his girlfriend, but I helped him out. I purchased the robe from Target then my friend let me use her embroidery machine to add the monogram.

I sewed my sister and brother's girlfriend infinity scarves out of these cute knits I found at JoAnn's. Just cut a rectangle of fabric, sew three sides then pin the two open sides together and sew to form a loop.

My hubs likes Taylor Swift. Sometimes I can't tell if he's joking or not, but I'm pretty sure he's serious. I downloaded a Taylor Swift font (yes, it exists) then used my Silhouette to cut out her signature onto heat transfer material.

I made this picture for my brother who has a corgi. I got the idea on Pinterest and used my silhouette to cut out the shapes onto card stock.

For my brother-in-law I painted a cooler. I just used normal acrylic paint and thought of things he enjoys. The five sides included: His name, an STL cards logo, a silhouette of a black lab, camouflage and water skiing. Sean sprayed a protective coat (Krylon fusion clear coat) to it is water resistant.

The first year I started sewing I tried to make my dad pajama pants. They. Were. Awful. Seriously bad. My sewing skills have improved much since then, so I took another stab at pajama pants and finished these (along with the help of a pattern this go around). This was my first pair of pants to sew -- it wasn't hard but a little counter intuitive when putting it together. These even have pockets and a drawstring! :)

This is a stock photo from WS, but I did a lot of glass etching for the girls on my list. A couple of glass pitchers with monograms and a couple of pyrex dishes with names on it. I used my Silhouette to cut vinyl stencils, then used Armor Etch cream (really easy to use) to etch the monogram.

I sewed this cute camera strap cover for a friend to give away and really like how it turned out. Here is a basic tutorial I followed, but I added ruffles and a pocket for the lens cap to mine.

I really enjoy making gifts for others. It's fun to be able to personalize things and is also very cost effective. There are times, though, that homemade just doesn't work, so I don't force it. I would rather buy someone a gift at the store if I think they will use it more than something I'm able to make them.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We enjoyed time with family and were especially thankful to have an entire week off together to relax and get some to-dos crossed off out lists.

On Marriage

2011-12-22T08:41:00.002-06:00

A recent report shows marriage rates dropping dramatically, specifically among those 18-34. Average age to get married is now 29 years old. A few initial thoughts: not everyone is called to be married. I get that. I also understand that the delay is getting married is accompanied by great things, like a more educated general public and good talent in the workforce.

Soon, those who are married will be in the minority. People have made the case that of the 51% who are married, some of those simply can't afford to get a divorce so they keep their marital status. 39% of those polled believe that marriage is becoming obsolete. All of this leaves my heart a little unsettled.

How can a sacred marriage be protected in a society that doesn't value monogamy? In a society that teaches us to do what is best for ourselves, to respond to our every emotion and that the grass is always greener on the other side? It's a little scary!

I was recently involved in a conversation that essentially boiled down to the fact {from the other person's point of view} that I couldn't possibly be happy because I don't have a child. It was an odd conversation to say the least. I value this person's friendship, but this was way off base. Afterwards it got me thinking and finding comfort in the fact that God assured Sean would be enough for me {meeting my earthly needs and challenging me spiritually, that is. There are certainly holes in my heart only God can fill}. Although I do hope to have a family, no one is guaranteed that blessing and I really do believe that if it were just Sean and I we would be legitimately happy living God's will for our lives that might look different that others around us.

Marriage is tough. It brings extreme joy and also unmet expectations. I can't image a marriage without God -- two sinful people trying to make it work on their own seems extra difficult to me. A cord of three strands is sometimes the only way Sean and I have gotten through a disagreement or challenging week.

I hope that in the midst of declining marriage rates and climbing divorce rates I will take a more active role in praying for and supporting my own marriage as well as the marriages of my friends around me. I think I will brainstorm ideas of how to do this and write another post soon. Any ideas?

Deer Santa

2011-12-13T08:23:00.000-06:00

I get that this is woodland Santa, but I think the painting of a buck on his dress garment is a little obvious. What, you don't own a skirt with a buck on it?

The Christmas Conundrum

2011-12-12T12:31:00.001-06:00

Jen Hatmaker, a wonderful writer and woman of God has this great blog. I linked to one of her posts a few weeks ago on adoption and encourage you to check that out when you have time.

This blog post is on Christmas and how out of whack it has become. She talks about how her family is trying to combat the selfishness that arises during what is supposed to be a sacrificial, giving holiday. Things like watching less TV so they don't have to deal with the extra advertising, buying fewer gifts and giving her kids money to spend on projects around the world.

I appreciate her honest approach and understanding that not everyone will agree and choose to do what she does. I can relate to her feeling that during the month of December people feel off-kilter -- they want to be kind and giving, but there are feelings of obligation and selfishness that seem to always creep in.

This year was probably the first I've given much thought to it. For the past couple of years I have cut back on gifts, but mostly due to a smaller budget and not necessarily to be conscious about celebrating the birth of our Savior instead of the commercialized version of Christmas. My trip to Haiti, and subsequent changes in how I look at things and deal with money had me feeling all weird when my mom requested a wish list for Christmas. The sad thing? It didn't stop me from asking for a laundry list of things I don't need. Sure, I hesitated, but I still submitted the list.

Thinking of family Christmas traditions is a little weird right now because we don't have kids. But really, what better time to change your mentality on the holiday? How could I really expect to teach my {not yet existent} children about how important Jesus' birth was to all humanity if I myself get caught up in the buying of presents, parties and decorating the home? None of those are bad by themselves, but apart from teaching the significance of Christmas they are dangerous.

Deep thoughts for a Monday. ;)

Book Review: Radical

2011-12-07T11:28:00.001-06:00

I just finished the book Radical by David Platt and it's totally worth the read! It's full of good stuff, but the overall premise of the book is that the American dream (big home, good job, lots of money) often falls counter intuitive to what Jesus actually asks of his followers. Living the way our culture says is correct can be a huge obstacle to living out our faith and loving others the way the Bible commands us to.

I will admit that the book starts off as a bit of a downer, but mostly because it was really convicting for me. It highlights a lot of the author's concerns with modern American churches. For example, he asks the question that if the entertainment factor were taken away from church (music, comfy chair, nice facilities) would we still go? Is Jesus enough for us? David Platt is a pastor of a large church in Birmingham, so I enjoyed struggling through some of the concepts with him. He tells of teaching at a secret church in Asia one week then be back in his comfortable, rich church the next and he's had a hard time reconciling those - that comes across in this book and was very genuine to me.

The book discusses topics like what we do with our money and how that may or may not help us on our walk with Christ. It introduces ideas of how to improve our world-view and care for orphans and those in need around the world.

The book ends with a challenge to do something about it. Not just read the book, but take it an put it into action. And by book I mean both the Bible and some concepts Platt introduces in Radical as well.

If you haven't read it, I would add it to your list. It's a short book that's jam packed with thought provoking material. Did you already read it? I'd love to hear what you think. Did you change anything in your lifestyle after finishing?

One thing I'm doing is asking for the book Operation World for Christmas. It's a book that takes you through countries all over the world and highlight specific needs they might have. If you finished it as planned, you will have prayed every nation in the world in one year!

I like my dog.

2011-12-05T13:10:00.001-06:00

I just really like my dog. Look how cute he was as a puppy! He's a really happy dog and does a good job being my friend and constant heat pack. He prefers for Sean to play with him (because he can throw his Kong further), but for sure prefers to snuggle with me.

Here he is snuggling in a blanket after his bath and using my face as a pillow. He didn't think it was weird at all.

This is his best friend, Colonel. They live across the street from each other, go to each other's doors and stare at each other through the window. They are pretty rowdy together, but I think it's cute that they are friends. We won't be getting a second dog anytime soon, though. There are a couple of things he does that are not so cute: he plays fetch all the time. It's a good skill, but if we don't want to play he will whine for a while. He's starting to learn better, though. He will also chew holes in all pairs of underwear or pants within his reach. I've learned the hard way to not throw my pants on the floor!

I think he's extra cute near a Christmas tree. Here are this year's Christmas portraits. Doesn't this one look like a school picture? Hands crossed, head slightly tiled. hehe

He likes to hang underneath the Christmas tree and I think it's cute.

He went to the groomer this weekend, which seems to be a bit traumatic for him, but the guy does a good job. This groomer always points out that he needs to be groomed when I bring him in. I know. That's why I brought him in.

While I'm excited to be a mom someday, right now I'm really enjoying the quality time with Sean and this sweet little pup. :)

Cool sale in NWA

2011-12-02T13:11:00.001-06:00

A disproportionate number of our friends here in NWA work at Acumen Brands. It's a really cool company that develops online retailers, like the Baby Habit, The Hectic Gourmet and Trails Edge.

This weekend they are having a warehouse sale that's going to have some mega sales here in Fayetteville. Here's a link to the Facebook event that shows all of the details. If you're in the area you should swing by and check it out. If not, you could always shop online. :)

Sore Thumbs

2011-11-23T08:30:00.001-06:00

These wreaths are addicting and I've got the sore thumbs to prove it! They come together so quickly and provide instant gratification! They can be made in a lot of different ways, but I make them by using straw or styrofoam wreaths and using floral pins to secure the mesh {hence the sore thumbs}. These are great beginner crafting project and are really fun - I encourage you to try your hand at one if you like them. Everything can be purchased at Hobby Lobby (Sams club has gold deco mesh where I live).

Woo Pig Sooie

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

I maintain that my voice is not physically capable of calling the hogs. It's too high pitched for my low voice tone! Nonetheless, we live in Razorback country. The Mizzou tigers still hold our heart, but while we're here in Fayetteville we are making the most of local events (which pretty much only consist of Razorback related events). Since Sean works with the athletes and gets tons of free gear, it makes it a little easier to cheer for them. :)

Sean's dad and his wife came in town for the South Carolina came a couple of weeks ago. They brought some pretty amazing tailgate food with them!

Isn't Sean handsome?! This is us tailgating at the Tennessee game (after we watched Mizzou beat Texas of course!). Our friends Jon and Kristin have a pretty sweet tailgate setup - complete with big screen TV mounted in a trailer.

My husband has worn Converse shoes since he was a little boy - he even got married in them! I've never been that attracted to them, but bought my first pair this weekend (on sale at Ross!) and really like them.

The news that Mizzou joined the SEC throws a bit of a wrench in our ability to easily cheer for both teams. We will have to see how that plays out with time!

Let's get it on: Destiny in Bloom

2011-11-18T11:30:00.001-06:00

*Mom and other family that might read this blog: this post is about sex. Don't feel awkward reading it because I don't feel awkward writing it.

Yep, we're going there.

The other day I stumbled across this blog: Destiny in Bloom. It's a blog written for Christian women and covers topics like family, marriage, parenting and self image. I was really drawn in by the author's level of honesty and willingness to have frank discussions {albeit, online}.

This blog post, entitled 'Let's Get It On' caught my attention. This is good stuff, friends! Discussing healthy sex relationships is often considered taboo for some reason, especially among more conservative-natured people. Why? Don't get me wrong - it's a private and very tender topic. But here's the thing - God created it, right? God knows our every need and created sex within the context of marriage to be a safe and beautiful thing.

The main topics of this article are:
1. If your husband feels like a man outside of the bedroom, he will inside of the bedroom too
2. Take care of your own emotional junk
3. Use your imagination
4 Have fun with each other
5. Don't use sex as a weapon
6. It's a spiritual connection you only get to have with him

My favorite line of the blog post mentioned above {read it when you have a few minutes} is this:

"Treat your husband as if he already were the man you want him to become. I mean, you have a vision for who he can be, right? So instead of correcting, nagging, trying to get him there, treat him as if he’s already arrived."

What a piece of advice to treasure and heed!

Another resource I would point you to if you're interested in the topic is a book called Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Lehman.

Deco mesh wreath decorating party

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I had some girlfriends over to my place to make Christmas wreaths together! I made a couple deco mesh wreaths a few days prior and was surprised how quickly they came together. It's easy enough for beginner crafters and is great for instant gratification! I'm still planning to do a quick video tutorial on how to make these and will post that soon.

We laughed a lot, enjoyed some Christmas tunes (including Bieber's new album) and had some pretty fun wreaths for the girls to take home!

Here are some of their creations:

Visiting Family

2011-11-16T09:18:00.001-06:00

Fayetteville is really growing on us and one of my favorite things about living in NWA is how close we are to family. Sean's mom lives here in Fayetteville and the drive to my parents house is only about 90 minutes, making weekend trips SO easy.

My parents just bought this really pretty home in Branson Creek - it was fully furnished and is really beautiful.

A couple weekends ago, my Nanny came to visit (mom's mom). Isn't she pretty?! I sure hope I age as well as she does!

During her visit we went to dinner at the Candlestick in Branson - SO delicious! Here's mom and dad before dinner:

My little brother Austin and I at dinner and me and dad before we left. I think Austin and I look a lot alike! Austin is a spitting image of my father when he was his age.

This picture is taken from my parent's master bedroom looking into the bathroom. There wasn't a door for privacy! The actual toilet room does have a door, but the bed looks straight into the jacuzzi tub and mom wanted a bit more privacy, so I sewed these drapes for them. The picture isn't that good, but they are mostly green with purple and gold trim.

I also made mom this Christmas wreath. People decorate for Christmas very early in Branson - it was only Christmas music at the Landing when I was there in early November.

My papa (dad's dad) visited Branson last week, but I wasn't able to make it up there due to work. Thankfully, they made a special trip to Fayetteville so we could meet them for breakfast. My papa is arguably the nicest man on the planet! He loves Jesus dearly, has taught preschool Sunday school since I can remember and volunteers somewhere different almost every day of the week (hospitals, driving friends to doctor appointments, a pharmacy, a theme park for special needs children). His heart is so generous and giving and I'm so thankful for his example!

What a blessing our family is!

Random updates and adoption reads

2011-11-03T10:02:00.000-05:00

I'm here and will have some craft posts up soon. I love to craft. A lot. But sometimes life just takes other turns. I'm in the 10th week of study of Beth Moore's Daniel study - it's fantastic! I have to approach it like an actual class otherwise I will get behind on my daily assignments. I encourage you to check it out - you can buy the book online or in a local bookstore and download the video sessions on iTunes!

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Sean is eager to finish school. Prayers for wisdom as we start the discussions on our next steps would be awesome.

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We really love our church and small group here in Fayetteville. Both have made our transition in this city SO much easier and we feel more comfortable here than ever.

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I've been reading and trying to learn a lot about adoption and orphan care, something that Jesus called his followers to be a part of. We're not really sure how adoption will fit into our lives, so for now I'm just trying to learn a lot about the process, educate myself and Sean and staying in prayer. There's so much information out there! Here are a few of my favorite reads online if you want to check them out:

How to support a family going through the process of adoption. She writes with a good sense of humor and transparency what not to do and what would be helpful.

Katie Davis, a 22 year old who has started a great ministry in Uganda. She has taken in 13 girls and it's interesting to see her view on adoption in context of the devastation the children are facing.

Evangelical Adoption Crusade This one is long but a good read. The writer has a pretty cynical view towards Christians adopting, taking a few notable examples (i.e. the group who got caught trying to sneak children across the Haitian border post earthquake) and trying to turn it into a larger message. I wouldn't stand by a lot of what she discusses, but there are some interesting facts on the number of adoptions and how adoption patterns have changed over time.

A Christianity Today response to the above article. This takes some of the points of the previous article and talks about what we might need to learn from her criticisms.

Commissioned: banner, bag-o and bench seat

2011-10-24T10:52:00.000-05:00

Here are a few commissioned projects I haven't yet blogged about:

These aren't great pictures, but I made a 'Here Comes the Bride' banner for a friend's wedding. Two little boys carried it down the aisle just before Megan and her daddy walked down the aisle. I hope the photographer got a good shot of this banner with the bride in the background! I actually ended up using iron transfer letters for this because that's what I had in hand. If I had thought about it more I would have purchased some iron-on black vinyl and used my Silhouette machine to cut the letters out.

My boss was having a tailgate and couldn't find his cornhole/bag-o bags, so I made him some. They are really easy! I followed this tutorial. Before I sewed the bags together, I freezer paper stenciled the hogs on. I used my Silhouette to cut out the hogs. I purchased the corn feed from a local farm supply company for super cheap.

I sewed this bench seat cushion for a friend's sister. That thick foam is expensive! I price shopped for quite a while and ended up buying it from Hancock Fabrics when they had a 54% off sale. {why 54...why not 50 or 55?} I used an electric cutting knife to trim it to the size I needed then followed this tutorial for the cover. I would say this is an intermediate-advanced project. If you take it slow you will be fine...there's just a lot of fabric on your machine at one time and some angles to work with.

Mizzou's Centennial Homecoming

2011-10-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

Sean and I traveled back to Columbia for Mizzou's 100th homecoming this past weekend. We weren't sure what it would feel like to be back in Columbia, but we LOVED it! Running into familiar faces everywhere we went was refreshing. It felt comfortable to be back on campus and surrounded by black and gold.

We went to house decs on Friday night. For those of you who attended Mizzou, they aren't quite as impressive anymore. Rightfully so they have cut back on the amount of pomping - I mean...those were ridiculously time consuming and expensive anyways. I'm glad they've done that, but they're not quite as much fun to see anymore.

The parade, however, was great! This float was my favorite - my super sweet 16 themed.

After the parade we popped into the new bookstore to buy a couple of things then headed to my sorority house for a brunch. Look at my tan-tastic headshot below. Not sure how I even got that dark and am slightly embarrased that picture will be up in the house forever.

A good family friend graciously let us sit with him at the game. The weather was beautiful (we actually got a little sunburned)!

This is a picture from inside the new student commons center - it's really impressive! Tons of room for student to hang out, study and grab a meal in between classes. They did a great job integrating Mizzou traditions into the new facility.

Last but not least we dropped in HyVee. Oh, how we miss this place! I really didn't realize what I was missing until we went back in - their selection is SO big and prices are good. With the Wal Mart national headquarters in NWA, that's pretty much our only option here. Sean plans to write a letter to HyVee asking them to expand into our area. I'm sure they'll listen. :)

We also spent time with old friends, went to The Crossing on Sunday morning and dropped in the new Goodwill store {it's the nicest one I've ever been to!}. We have no idea where we will end up after Sean finishes school in May, but Columbia is definitely on the list of places we might like to be!

DIY Camping Party Invitations

2011-10-10T14:07:00.001-05:00

These are some party invitations I made for a 10 year girls birthday party and they turned out pretty stinking cute. Since the theme is camping I had the idea to make each invite a s'mores kit.

With some inspiration from the web, I grabbed the clip art from thinkstock.com, downloaded a font called Pinewood and used Publisher to put it together.

Front:

Back:

For the actual invites I used vellum envelopes from Hobby Lobby. I printed off the above design on cardstock, filled the envelopes with s'mores goodies, then stapled the topper to the envelope. I used tape to secure the envelope shut.

You probably want to assemble these close to when you hand them out so the graham crackers and marshmallows stay yummy.

These will be fun invitations to hand out at school! With just $10 and less than an hour's time, these cute DIY s'mores invitations add a special touch to party!

Baby shower - DIY elements

2011-10-04T12:04:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I hosted my first baby shower for a friend here in Fayetteville. Here are the invites I made - based off an idea I found on pinterest.

As my gift to the new-mom-to-be I painted this door sign. It acted as door decor for the shower, but can also hang on her hospital door when little Caleb is born. I left room for them to write in his stats after he makes his appearance. I really like how this turned out. It's just a $5 canvas from Hobby Lobby that I painted. I used a sharpie for his name and the Bible verse, but will probably use my Silhouette to cut out vinyl/heat transfer on the next version for additional precision.

Welcome baby banner.

I made some tissue paper poms (see tutorial here) and some paper pinwheels (see tutorial here) to hang above the food table. The thing to remember about the paper pinwheels is that the larger the diameter of the circles, the longer the strips of pleated paper will need to be. Hot gluing the circles to the front and back centers provides stability.

This was one of my favorite parts of the shower! I set up a onesie decorating station with freezer paper stencils. Here's a good tutorial on freezer paper stenciling. I googled various boy friendly shapes, imported them into my Silhouette software to trace their outline then used the machine to cut out the freezer paper stencils. I hung them on some fishing line with mini clothespins from Hobby Lobby. Other items I had out:

iron and ironing board

fabric paint

foam brushes

paper plates

blow dryer

instruction sheet

The guests loved this!

I bought a couple packs of onesies and blank bibs for the guests to decorate. Note on the blank bibs: when heat setting the fabric paint, don't hold the iron in one place too long b/c the bibs have a plastic backing that could melt.

See all of their adorable creations?!

I also had a stack of diapers out with sharpies for guests to write encouraging notes for the new mommy and daddy.

Overall it was a success! I think Mandy felt loved and cared for - she's got a great support network of friends and family in the area, which I'm sure she will appreciate as she starts her family!

Sewing Essentials

2011-09-27T10:34:00.001-05:00

September is National Sewing Month! Oh, how I love learning more about sewing and making homemade gifts for friends!

Hop on over to the Sew Mama Sew blog for a list of seven sewing essentials and links to multiple tutorials. They include:

1. Pre-washing fabric

2. Taking your measurements

3. Pressing

4. Seam finishing

5. Sewing zippers

6. Buttons and buttonholes

7. Hemming

I know how tempting it can be to take shortcuts during a sewing project - sometimes I'm just so excited to see the finished product that I'm not as careful as I should be. Something important I have learned since I started sewing is to do projects in small increments when necessary. If I try and take on too much I will rush through a project and almost always make some sort of silly mistake. These tips really do help to encourage your sewing abilities and make your finished products look more professional. Try something new this month!

DIY crib bedding

2011-09-23T09:17:00.000-05:00

When a friend of mine told me she was going to have a baby boy I volunteers to sew her crib bedding for her and it was time consuming, but a lot of fun. Here are some details and lessons learned on the project:

I started out following this tutorial for the bumpers. After thinking about it, I wasn't crazy about the rounded edges or that each bumper was a separate piece, so I went in a different direction. That tutorial, though, did talk me through the process of sewing my own piping. Custom piping really adds a finished look to the project and was really easy to do! The new mom to be picked out all of the fabric with a little bit of my input.

I purchased crib bumper pads from JoAnn Fabrics with a coupon. They look like this. Another way to do this would be to recover an existing crib bumper set, which I think would be easier to manage and you could use the previous one as a pattern for the new fabric. I would measure the distance for the bumper ties and sew them on to the outside fabric before assembling the cover. I forgot to do this and had to hand sew the bumper ties on.

For some reason I can't find the exact crib skirt tutorial, but here's one that pretty easy to follow.

Here's the crib bumper set up in my room and after I added the razorback and monogram, cut from my Silhouette machine and applied with fusible interfacing. You might also choose to do this step before you assemble the bumper covers. I wasn't sure where I was going to place it at that time, so I ironed it on later.

Here's the bedding in Caleb's crib!

I also sewed a coordinating valence, which turned out super cute. I took the window width + 12 inches {3 inches on either side of window to allow for valence bar, and 6 inches in the middle for the pleat} x 15" long. I sewed the pocket at the top, tacked the pleat, and ironed it down a bit to ensure a crisp pleat. My serger made the crib skirt and valence project go much quicker than if I would have had to hem all sides, but it's definitely possible.

I would say that this project would be at an intermediate level. The hardest part was measuring out all of the pieces for fabric amounts and cutting. Just give yourself plenty of time so you can work at a leisurely pace and take breaks when you need to. There are so many adorable fabrics out there and this is a great way to personalize your little one's room!

A few Silhouette SD projects

2011-09-20T09:55:00.001-05:00

I can't tell you how much I love my Silhouette machine. It's so versatile! You just download the Silhouette software from their website and connect the machine to your comp with a USB cord. It can be used to cut heat transfer material, paper, fabric, vinyl, etc. The software is really easy to use and has an interface pretty similar to Word. Here are a few of the projects I have done so far:

I did another upgrade to our front door wreath {it has gone through many changes over the past couple of years}. For this I used Silhouette's flocked white heat transfer material and it worked like a charm. I purchased the heat transfer starter pack from their website and it came with a few different colors. One of the coolest things about the Silhouette software is that you can import any image or font you want to use!

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I imported the Razorback image, traced it and cut it out on fabric. I just iron fabric to one side of fusible interfacing then place that on the thick cut mat with the paper backing still attached. I put the settings on a slow cut speed and it works great! One time there were little pieces that didn't cut all the way through, but I just used an exacto knife to help with that. Then, just peel the paper backing off of your new shape, iron on to fabric and stitch around edge for added durability.

Silhouette does sell their own fusible interfacing for fabric, but for this I just used good old Wonder Under and it worked great.

This is the same razorback shape and I also cut the monogram out of fabric. I will post this crib bumper project next.

Another great use for the Silhouette is to cut freezer paper to use for a stencil! It's so accurate and can cut shapes that would take for-ev-er with just a craft knife in just mere seconds. The monogram onesie below is an example of this. I did also make a couple of other precious onesies for a friend's new baby girl, but forgot to take pictures.

The Silhouette is coming out with a new model next month that can cut patterns up to 12" wide {as opposed to the current 8.5"}. I haven't found a need for the wider cutting capabilities myself, but others seem to be really excited about it.

Greener grass

2011-09-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

"The grass is not greener on the other side, it's greenest where you water it!" - Robert Fulghum

Sean and I are incredibly blessed - a solid marriage, secure jobs, loving families, a church home we adore, a growing group of supportive friends in Fayetteville. We certainly don't deserve these things, but are incredibly thankful they are each a part of our lives right now. In yesterday's sermon on marriage at Cross Church Fayetteville, our pastor shared the above quote with us and I can't stop thinking about it. He was using it in reference to marriage and the importance of investing in your spouse to help protect against outside cultural influences, but it's applicable in many situations. My mind tends to always wander to the future - where will we move next, what if any job will I take after this one, when will we start a family, etc. While those aren't bad to think about, they literally consume my thoughts sometimes and cause me to miss out on the now. I feel like I'm always looking for the next exciting moment instead of investing in people and relationships today and trusting that God has me where I am for a purpose.

Right now I'm in a study with a group of women my age working through Beth Moore's Daniel study. It's. So. Good. We are only in week three, but I've already taken a lot out of it. The first half of this study compares Babylon to our current culture - one that values success, beauty, youth and intelligence. Daniel stood firm in the face of many cultural temptations. Beth describes Daniel as "culturally relevant without being spiritually irrelevant." Don't you love that? She also gave a challenge to "do something on purpose, or don't do it at all." I think I'm going to put that in a picture frame at our house!

Our modern day Babylonian mindset would have us believe that the grass is greener on the other side. If only we worked harder, looked better, were smarter, etc. It's going to be my prayer that I not always be looking for the next best thing, the greener grass, but rather that I desire to be exactly where He wants me. I'm not sure what that will look like and imagine it might be quite different that how I pictured my life. He knows a lot more than me, so I'm cool taking a back seat on this one. :)

Pattern Review - The Beach/Bath Robe

2011-09-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

Last night I wrapped up this precious little bath robe for my co-workers daughter, Zoey. I used this pattern that Dana from MADE put together.

The pattern was very easy to follow and the project came together quickly. I have two suggestions - the first is to heed her recommendation of using a very thin towel. I used a regular bath towel and it worked ok on my machine, but there were times it was difficult to maneuver the bulky fabric through the serger. The other recommendation is to use a large beach towel. If you use bath towels, you will need two of them. Buying an inexpensive beach towel would have saved on total cost and time.

I made a novice sewing mistake in this project. I didn't have bias tape on hand, so I thought I could substitute with ribbon. It doesn't work. Lesson learned. It's easy to think that bias tapes are just strips of fabric, but their quality of being cut on the bias makes them significantly more flexible and easy to use on curves.

Overall it turned out pretty darn cute and would be great for after bath time or when heading to the pool next summer!

Haiti Trip Part 6 - Application in the U.S.

2011-09-12T09:57:00.000-05:00

Transitioning back to life in America hasn't been easy. I was only in Haiti for 10 days, but all of my senses were overloaded with a culture very different from my own. Upon my return to the U.S., I connected through Miami and the airport had been closed for two hours when I arrived. Due to this, it took over two hours to get through customs and many people on our trip missed their flights. I finally got to my gate and excitedly dialed my husband, longing to hear his voice. I was met with a tender voice on the other end alerting me that his grandfather had passed away during my absence. I felt so sad - yes, that his grandpa had passed away, but more so that I wasn't there to comfort him and his family during a time of need.

My flight was delayed a few hours, so I was going to miss my connecting flight in Dallas. In order to ensure I made it for the funeral the next day, I re-routed to STL and arrived around 1:00am. As I waited around the Miami airport, my gate was full mostly of tourists returning from their Aruban and Mexican beach vacations. They were all very vocal about their frustrations of flight delays and I wanted to punch them in the face. It was really hard to have seen starving children that morning and now be surrounded by people complaining about petty problems. I felt really vulnerable and like my joy was being stolen almost immediately upon my return.

How do I not forget what I experienced in Haiti and still be mindful of how incredibly blessed I am? This weekend I attempted to go shopping and found a dress for $50 I really liked. When I was in the dressing room I thought '$50 could feed a child in Haiti for a whole month!' I couldn't buy the dress. When I left the store I told Sean my feelings and wondered out loud when this feeling would change and he asked me if I ever wanted it to change. I think the answer is no. I don't want to go back to normal. I don't want to spend frivolously just because I can. I don't want to forget what I saw while in a third world country.

The reality, though, is that life is different here. Even the poorest here are better off than the majority of Haitians. In my life I will likely never go hungry, I will have access to appropriate medical care, I will have a roof over my head. I don't believe guilt is an emotion that God desires for his people. Discernment, sure. Guilt, I don't think so. Sometimes that's what I feel and I need to be praying that He would show me how to transition best.

I so desperately don't want to forget these faces, the smells, their gracious humility. Right now I'm not really sure what it looks like to stay involved. There are certainly many worthy organizations to donate to and disciplined prayer for the people Haiti is something I care deeply about. I would love to take another trip with Sean so that we can both experience another culture together. I'll say that it was a little difficult to come back and share pictures, stories, etc. and for Sean to not be able to fully relate or be interested in the same type of lifestyle changes. He was 100% supportive (he wrote me letters to read each night I was gone and they got me through some tough days!) but still didn't see what I saw.

I encourage all of you to take a trip like this sometime soon. Travel outside of your comfort zone to experience God's people and creation in another part of the world. Many Americans have a very narrow worldview. I do feel that mine has been expanded after this trip, but certainly has a lot of room to grow. It was and continues to be a great learning experience. It was challenging physically, emotionally and spiritually - a challenge I really needed at this time of my life.

Jesus spent a lot of time with the least of these. He loved others deeply, served other sacrificially {to the point of death}, and didn't care about cultural norms. We aren't just asked to take care of widows and orphans, we are commanded to do so. Taking a 10 day trip to Haiti isn't enough and I know that. If anything this trip exposed my weaknesses and shortcomings and for that I am thankful. The process of sanctification is sometimes slow and messy, but how wonderful that He loves me enough to give me grace and allow me the opportunity to grow closer to Him every day!

Cher's speech on Haiti

2011-09-09T11:10:00.000-05:00

I love the movie Clueless and recently remembered Cher and Amber's debate on the people of Haiti.

"If the government could just get in the kitchen and rearrage some things, we could totally party with the Haiti-ans"

I wore tons of knee high socks after I watched this move. I also coveted a closet that spins around.

Pattern Review - Flower Girls Dress

2011-09-08T08:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I finished sewing a flower girl's dress for a friend who is getting married this fall. It wasn't an easy project, but it was definitely fun to try something different.

Butterick B5458

I made dress A (tea length) in a size 3T. I used an ivory taffeta for the main fabric and a synthetic silk for the lining. Both are pretty fabrics, but since the taffeta is a pretty stiff fabric, the gathering sections at the top of the skirt got pretty thick, making it very difficult to maneauver through my sewing machine. I got it done, but it took an extra dose of patience and a very slow stitch speed. Making this dress with any type of cotton or seersucker would go alot faster.

I did add a couple of additional tulle layers to the outside of the dress to make it a little 'poofier.' The dress has a petticoat sewn to the lining that helps it keep it's shape. The bride sent me some extra fabric that her bridesmaids dresses are made out of and that's what I used for the sash.

The pattern calls for a zipper in the back. I thought that would take away some of the cuteness, so I opted for buttons instead. I waited to do the buttonholes until the dress was together, which wasn't a good idea due to the bulk of the attached skirt. For others interested in adding buttonholes, I would do so after the bodice is together, before you attach the bodice to the gathered skirt.

The pattern is easy to follow and there aren't a ton of pieces to cut. I would rate the level of sewing at a medium and time at approximately 5-6 hours total (shorter if you use fabrics that more easily gather). I would for sure sew another flower girls dress for sentimental purposes, but the reality is that sewing one yourself doesn't save a ton of money (if any) because there are so many websites out there offering inexpensive flower girl dresses. For example, this one. It's fun to have a custom made dress, though, and lots of love went into this one!

Haiti Trip Part 5 - La Baie des Moustiques

2011-09-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

One day of the trip we hopped on a bus and tap tap and headed towards La Baie des Moustiques (mosquito bay). La Baie is an orphanage in a more rural part of Haiti affiliated with NW Haiti Christian Mission. Our goal was to hold a basic eye clinic for patients that would not be able to travel to the mission for our regular clinic. Grant and Natasha are a young married couple that run La Baie. We all had a lot in common - previous Kanakuk staff, from Missouri, big college football fans. It was a really unique experience to meet my peers who have given up a life of comfort in the US in order to live out God's calling. They were just so normal. I know that probably sounds weird, but meeting people that are like me but living a life very different from mine was really interesting {and convicting if I'm being honest}.

We crossed this river on the way to La Baie.

I found this photo online, but it gives you a great idea of what a more rural area of Haiti looks like. More huts, goats, and more a desert like appearance.

Photo Credit - Andy Olson

On the way to La Baie our truck got stuck in the mud (Hurricane Emily moved through the area the day before we arrived). I'm in the back of the bus. I thought we were moving closer to try to tie a rope or something, but no....we just tried to ram the truck out. Didn't work and the bus got stuck too.

After about 45 minutes or so, we got the bus out and all crammed in to drive the remaining couple of miles to La Baie's campus. We set up this clinic and ended up seeing around 90 patients this day. Some of them were referred on to surgery with our team, but an unfortunate reality is that they likely don't have the means to get transportation to the mission.

We got to do something pretty cool on this day trip - we visited a beautiful beach! The water was cool and such a relief from the hot Haitian sun. We didn't stay too long because we needed to try and make it accross the river again before dark.

This is me on the back of a big tap tap. Think bed of a truck with 2x4 benches built in. It's a pretty dusty ride, but you get lots of air and great views.

A soccer game.

Remember the whole wanting to get back before dark goal? Well, that didn't happen. I wish I had a picture of what did happen, but imagine a huge dump truck stuck in a mud pit like below. It made the road impassable by vehicle. The ironic thing is that there was a giagantic pile of gravel next to the mud pit that could have helped, but there was no way of moving the gravel.

The decision was made to start walking. We were about 20 miles from the main mission, about 45 minutes or so by car. Grant called some of his Haitian friends who owned tap taps and they started driving our way. We walked for probably 2 or 3 miles in the mud before they caught up with up. I have a smile on my face below, but I was scared half to death. These tap taps were just some type of 70s model ford ranger. No backs, so you just sit on the edge of the bed and hold on for your dear life. I thought for sure I was going to fall out! Thankfully, no one was injured and we made it back to the mission around 11:00pm. Showers were a must after swimming in salt water, walking through mud and a very dusty tap tap ride home! We pretty much all agree, though, that this was one of our favorite experiences! It was so Haitian. Fly by the seat of your pants. Flexibility was requred. Good attitudes all around. So fun!

Haiti Trip Part 4 - Cool People

2011-09-02T09:40:00.001-05:00

I met some of the coolest people in Haiti. Americans, Haitians and other countries represented. If you only have a few minutes right now, please go read this post by Stephanie Joyner then come back for the rest of this post later. She and her husband, Noah, are trying to adopt two kids from an orphanage in Haiti (and have 3 boys of their own in America) but the process is held up because they are not yet 35 years old (they're 32).

Their boy, M, was one of our patients at the mission and this is her journal entry recounting her feelings and experience around the surgery and subsequently having to leave him back at the orphanage. Seriously heartbreaking. Noah and his brothers work with a ministry called HaitiLove - their vision is to connect American churches with Haitian churches for the purpose of real growth and discipleship. Check it out when you have a few minutes.

Photo from the Joyner's blog

This is Johny. He's from Port de Paix and is a translator and is awesome. He's humble, funny, has hope for the future and loves Jesus. This video shows his personality and what he's saying is totally unprompted {you will have to excuse his language in some parts. Some terms that are pretty offensive here are not so offensive in their culture}. He's comparing a couple of Haitian and American cultural differences: men holding hands and skinny jeans. I'm not saying I agree with what he says.

This is Connie, a nurse anesthetist from Kansas City. She was the only anesthesia trained professional on this trip - what a job to have! She was under a lot of stress and handled it all with such humility and grace. This girl was there to serve others and that was very apparent in her actions and attitude. If you want to see her trip pictures you can visit her blog here. The itty baby in the picture below has an interesting story. He's 11 months old, though you certainly wouldn't know by his size. He's blind and from an orphanage about 10 hours away from the mission. A lady from the U.S. flew all the way to Haiti just to pick him up and bring him to our team of doctors. He's too little to do much right now, but surgery might be an option for him later.

I don't have a picture, but our team of physicians was outstanding. I work with a lot of doctors, many of whom are so busy they aren't able to attend their own children's activities. These doctors, though, make it a priority to travel (some of the every year or even two times a year) to meet a deep need in the country of Haiti. They take time out of their schedules, pay to travel to a 3rd world country and work from morning until evening - all with servant's hearts. It was a blessing to be on a team with them.

This is Courtney, a full time staff member at the mission. She runs the special needs orphanage and a few other outreach programs. She has a heart of gold and seeks to glorify the Lord is all she does. She is SO good with those kids and has even been the mother of a sweet little baby. The special needs orphanage has had 24 funerals in the past two years. It takes a special person to see God in the midst of such tragedy and she's that person.

There were a lot of other cool people. Dentists who fly in just for the weekend to provide care. College students who choose to give up a summer of comfort to serve at the mission. Grant and Natasha are newlyweds committed to the people of Haiti - they run an orphanage at La Baie and are cooler than cool.

Praise God for people like these! Oh, how I pray that my heart becomes more like theirs. More like Jesus.

Haiti Trip Videos - Kids

2011-08-31T11:03:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are a couple of videos showing some of the precious kids at the mission. Most of them are there for the nutrition program. Notice that they know the word 'photo.' :)

Haiti Trip Part 3 - The Children

2011-08-30T10:01:00.001-05:00

Kids tug on my heart strings. They're so innocent. Pure. There's something that feels so wrong about the fact that there are kids all over the world that live in dangerous, unhealthy environments. Many Haitian children don't have advocates. You just don't really see that in the US. Here, if a parent is unwilling to be an advocate there is usually a family member, friend, social worker, or judge that is willing to fill that role. These pictures evoke a few different emotions in me, some conflicting. Sadness, confusion, simple joy, anger. It's ok to feel a mix of emotions - it's a complex situation that is so much bigger than you or I.

Toms shoes sent a TON of shoes to the mission where I was staying. One of the teams that was volunteering there went all over the NW Haiti region to pass out the shoes. It was cool to see the little kiddos running around in their new shoes! Interesting side note: Toms asks that when people hand out the shoes they not speak of Jesus or any particular religion.

There is an infant orphanage on the mission campus. This place was both fun and heartbreaking. I loved holding the sweet little babies, but felt very sad leaving them knowing that their care {though better than many kids in Haiti} would be in inadequate.

Meal time! I tried to figure out what they were eating. It looked like some type of gravy to me.

One day we traveled to La Baie - about an hour away. It's a more rural area. I'll blog more about that day in another post.

Christy is on the left below. Oh my goodness she was so sweet! Her dad is a physician in Port au Prince, but they don't have any ophthalmologists there. One of her eyes crosses in, so our pediatric ophthalmologist did a pretty quick surgery and fixed her up. The surgeon was in surgery for quite a while so she hung out with us in clinic for a few hours. After about 30 minutes she was running the place!

On the right is a picture of a super cool mom and her son, M, whom she and her husband are trying to adopt {along with his sister}. Haiti's adoption laws state that you have to be at least 35 years old to adopt. WHAT?! They're the poorest country in the western hemisphere with a huge overpopulation and orphan problem and they so strongly limit who can adopt?! That's nuts to me. I'll blog about this family's Haitian ministry soon so you can learn more about them.

The girl in the red shirt runs the special needs orphanage and is way cool. She LOVES living in Haiti and taking care of those kiddos. This little boy is in one of her outreach programs and has severe autism. His smile could light up a room, though! He had strabismus surgery (crossed eyes).

Ugh. I just want to eat these kids up. I don't have my flip camera with me today, but tomorrow I'll blog a video that shows these kids in action. It. Will. Melt. Your. Heart.

This girl is only 17 and has been in prostitution for a few years. Prostitution is a big problem in Haiti. Lack of leadership, financial resources and education all contribute to this issue. I heard stories of disabled, blind women in prostitution - just kills me. I mean, can you imagine?? She has some type of tumor, but the surgeons didn't know what kind. They took a biopsy home with them and will hopefully learn more about how to best take care of her for their next trip.

These kiddos are from the St. Louis du Nord community. Due to the high mortality rate for kids under the age of 5 (50%!) many parents don't name their children for a while. The little boys on the right didn't have names yet.

Random fact: there was a Mizzou student and an Arkansas student on this trip. None of us knew the others, but how random to have those type of connections meet up in Haiti. Sean in the picture below is from Mizzou.

This little girl, Miriam, had her second corneal transplant this trip! She had her first last year. This is Dr. Moyes in the photo, someone I work with and is from the Kansas City area.

This image is burned into my mind. Tears are welling up in my eyes as I write this. When I walked close to these babies they would all reach for someone to pick them up. I wish I had 5 arms! I tried to rotate holding these babies, but they did not like to be put down. That was really hard for me. It's seems silly for me to write what was hard for me, considering what is hard for these kids every day. I felt like I could never do enough - so overwhelmed by the whole experience.

This little guy is 12 years old, 5 feet tall and 41 pounds. He has been in the special needs orphanage for two years and is dearly loved by the staff and volunteers there. I think he probably has some sort of absorption issue - he's getting the same meals as the other kids who do not look like this, but he just isn't getting the nutrition he needs.

I'll end with this one because it's a happy one. These boys chased me around outside asking me to take their picture. They just giggled so hard when I showed them their picture from my camera. Their life is simple. Their life is much harder than mine. Their life will be full of seemingly insurmountable challenges. But they're happy, smiling and laughing. I learned a hard lesson in humility while in Haiti. Be joyful always.

Haiti Trip Part 2 - The Campus

2011-08-26T14:14:00.000-05:00

The Northwest Haiti Christian Mission is a special place. They do have full time staff that live at the mission and help it run, but for two months out of the year the Haitians run all operations. Here are some photos of the grounds to give you an idea what we were working with.

This is a picture of one of the women's dorm rooms. They were totally full during my trip because there were so many volunteers at the mission.

The kitchen area. The mural cracked me up because it was a painting of every food you would not be enjoying during your time in Haiti. Pizza, ice cream and wedding cake were not on the menu. We ate a lot of rice, beans, goat meat, and oatmeal. I'm not a picky eater at all, so I didn't mind the menu. It's hard to say no to the food they offer when you know there are literally hundreds of kids downstairs that don't get enough food to eat.

The dining area.

This is a new chapel area at the mission - where we had morning and evening devotionals.

This is going to be a new aquaponics facility. They will raise fish and grow plants on water in hopes of making the mission for self sustaining. There is a cool couple who lives at the mission full time trying to get this off the ground.

Waiting area in front of the clinic. A surgeon out of Kansas City paid for this clinic to be built. The benches (and more) were completely full all day when we were in clinic.

This is the machine I ran most of the time while I was in clinic. It's called an autorefractor and tells you their prescription. See that AC unit in the window? It. Was. Glorious.

The mission has two orphanges on campus. This is the infant orphanage and there is also a special needs orphanage. I think both have 20-30 kiddos enrolled.

This is the post-operative recovery room.

Pre-operative area.

When I helped in pre-op I just administered dilating drops, pain medicine and took vital signs.

There are two operating rooms at the mission. Physicians and surgeons coming from all specialties visit the mission.

The mission also runs a nutrition program. Kids have to be in the 2nd or 3rd stage of malnutrition to enter the program. Once admitted, the kids and their caregivers can get two meals a day M-F at the mission. Kids who are in school can also get breakfast before heading to their classes. The meal is a special type of rice that has been infused with vitamins missing in their typical diet. Something else I learned about while is Haiti is a product called Medika Mamba {peanut butter medicine in Creole}. It's produced by a company called Meds and Food for Kids, owned by doctor out of St. Louis. Visit this website to learn more and see some before and after pictures.

It was pretty hot at night, so a lot of people just put their mattresses out on the deck to sleep. I did this the last night I was there and it felt amazing {but I was covered in mosquito bites, which is why I didn't do it every night}. That dog, Duke, lives at the mission. He came from America to stay with his family who also lives at the mission.

The mission itself has high concrete walls and guards at all gates {armed with sawed off shotguns...yikes!}. They really try to ensure that everyone within the gates is there for a purpose. I felt very safe the whole time I was at the mission.

The next post I will share with you some photos, videos and stories about the precious Haitian kids I had the priviledge of loving on.

Haiti Trip Part 1 - Getting there

2011-08-25T09:18:00.008-05:00

I've had some time to process my experience in Haiti and attempt adjusting back to the American way of life. My prayer is that I don't let the American way of life get in the way as much as it did before the trip. I'll start off my Haiti series with an easy post - how did I get there?

On the way to Haiti, I connected through Ft. Lauderdale. From southern Florida, Haiti is only a 2 hour plane ride away. Here's an aerial view of Haiti - it's seriously a beautiful nation. Much more mountainous that I expected. Haiti has less than 10 major cities and is approx the size of Massachusetts. There is much of the island that is unpopulated, but the cities are severely overcrowded. When we landed in Port au Prince, we hopped on a small plane that took us to NW Haiti. Here's something that really surprised me: I didn't see any direct damage from the earthquake. The area that was damaged is very centralized in Port au Prince and is the most populated area of the country, which is why it caused such severe devastation. Although I certainly did witness some of the economic and social impacts of the earthquake, the actual physical damage, though, wasn't widespread over Haiti.
This is the landing strip in NW Haiti. There were donkeys present.

From Port de Paix, we hopped on a bus and drove about 90 minutes to the mission in St. Louis du Nord. There are seriously people everywhere on the streets. Some people were walking back from markets, asking for food, hanging with their friends, eating garbage that others have left behind. It was really shocking for this to be the first thing I saw in Haiti. It's heartbreaking and difficult to look at. I tried to not take too many pictures - I think the people of Haiti are aware of their state of poverty and having a bus full of white people leaning out of the bus taking your pictures probably doesn't make them feel very secure. Any pictures I took of people I tried to ask permission first.

Trash is everywhere. I didn't see a trash can in public the entire time I was there. This was honestly really hard for me to understand. Why is it like that? Why do the people seemingly care so little? I'll post more on this later, but what I have tried to remind myself of frequently when I felt a judgemental nature creeping in on me is that I, too, am guilty of sin. When sin entered this world everything changed - our relationship with God, our relationship with others and even our relationship with the environment.

When we arrived at the mission, I set up my home for the week. I liked having a tent - it was my own space. They do have dorms there at the mission with bunk beds (think like camp), but there aren't any windows and it was SO hot at night that I appreciated the little wind I did get in the tent. The temp was probably around 95 during the day and probably 80ish at night - it felt like 100% humidity. A few people on our trip did get sick from dehydration. One day I drank four 32oz. bottles of water and didn't pee once. TMI? Sorry.

This is the view from my tent. LOST, anyone? I was bummed because no one else on the trip watched the show LOST - I kept wanting to make references to the black smoke, Locke and the others, but no one understood me. I looked it up - it was filmed in Hawaii, not Haiti.

In the next post I will show pictures of the Eye Clinic and talk more specifically about what we did while in Haiti.

Talents

2011-08-21T18:04:00.002-05:00

For most of my life I wasn't very talented. I have two left feet, a black thumb and couldn't carry a tune with a bucket. My sister was always way more athletic than I was, so when my parents would brag on us as kids it was usually about some record Kristel set and that I was "doing well in school." It's true that God blessed me with academic talent, but I hardly considered that a real talent {although it did help pay for my college education}.

I'm not sure what led me to buy a sewing machine, but I'm so glad I did. Now, I have a talent. A real, live talent! I can create. It's not really anything special or unique and it's certainly not perfect, but I can take a pile of fabric and turn it into a dress that brings team spirit, a curtain that helps make a house a home or a set of bedding for a sweet little baby to snuggle with.

God gives all of us different gifts and talents - that's the beauty of the body of Christ! We are all used by Him in different ways, both big and small, and the body doesn't function well if any one piece of the body is missing. Think about how cool that is! Whether you're a stay at home mom, a teacher, or a corporate executive God created you just for that role.

Do you know what your talents are? Are you allowing God to use those talents for His glory? I know that I certainly fall short of this far too often than I would like. It's easy to think things are our own, whether that be possessions, time, people, talents. Nothing I have is mine - oh, how I need to be reminded on that often!

Sewing to-do list

2011-08-17T15:38:00.007-05:00

For accountability purposes, here's my current commissioned sewing to-do list:

~~1. Razorback dress for Sarah (her little boy is having a Razorback party this weekend, so this is priority numero uno)~~

~~2. Flower girl dress for Christy - new adventure but I'm up for the challenge!~~

~~3. Crib bedding and window treatments for Mandy - also up for this challenge. Almost done with this!~~

4. Bench seat for Sarah's sister

~~5. 2 SMU dresses~~

~~6. Nebraska dress~~

7. Little girls robe

8. Arkansas dress - online order

Home again

2011-08-14T19:17:00.001-05:00

I'm back from Haiti and I have mixed emotions. Its hard to understand why the people of Haiti live the way they do and here I am back in America getting a pedicure.

Immediately upon my return I felt like my joy was being stolen through cancelled flights, exhaustion and the news that Seans grandfather passed while I was in Haiti.

I still need time to process my thoughts before I offer them up. Today I feel angry and annoyed. Hearing people complain about a flight delay, the price of gas and how hungry they are is really frustrating when contrasted with the life most Haitians are living. I'm praying through this and hope God shows me the right balance of conviction of stewardship of the gifts he has given me and living outside of my comfort zone with a changed world view.

The trip was overall really awesome. We saw over 800 people in clinic and performed over 90 eye surgeries. Praise God that those surgeons are faithful and give of their time and skill to people in great need. Our group stayed generally healthy with the exception of a bit of dehydration. I saw a lot of devastation and terrible conditions, but also saw the beauty of hospitality and humility of the Haitian people.

I will share pictures and stories soon.

Leaving for Haiti

2011-08-04T08:51:00.003-05:00

Today I start my trip to Haiti. I will fly from Fayetteville to DFW to Ft. Lauderdale today, then stay overnight in FL. I've got an early flight out of FLL tomorrow to Port au Prince, after which I will hop on a small place to NW Haiti.

Tropical Storm Emily is expected to have already passed Haiti before we arrive and will not have yet hit Florida by the time we leave.

I have a mix of emotions right now. I'm so thankful for this opportunity - God opened doors that I thought would certainly remain shut. Praise Him! I'm excited to get out of my comfort zone for a bit and feel a heavy burden to not let his opportunity go by without it impacting my life for the long haul. Am I going to try to do my minuscule part to help the people of Haiti? Yes. But if I look at this trip as only a way to serve the less fortunate, I am missing the impact that sin has on my daily life and the great need I personally have for growth.

We are all in some type of poverty, whether the source be financially, relationally, spiritually or {fill in the blank}. The people of Haiti are in great need - I'm not sure my heart is ready to experience the disparities I will witness. I, too, am in great need of my Savior and am full of gratitude that He has afforded me an opportunity like this to learn more about myself and the chance to love on others like Jesus did. Oh, how I pray I'm able to do that!

I'm not exactly sure what communication will look like. I hope to update a couple of times from Haiti, but we'll see. I will return from this trip late on Saturday the 13th.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers along the way.

Sean's 26th Birthday Fiesta!

2011-08-04T07:58:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my dear husband's 26th birthday!

He started his day by waking up at 4:30 for football practice. :/ I stayed in bed. After practice we hit up Chipotle, where they gave him a free birthday burrito! I don't think this is a regular practice there, but he of course accepted the gift.

After lunch we prepared for the party and spent a little time at the pool with our friends Kristin and Jon. Here's an action shot of the fiesta!
We played and laughed at mustaches...

I made some yummy lime cupcakes with lime buttercream icing.

I decorated our front door wreath for the occasion.

Even Wyatt was dressed to impress!

Happy Birthday, Seany!

Thanks to everyone to came over to celebrate! Sean felt very loved and said it was his favorite birthday ever!

Sarcasm - a repost

2011-08-02T09:07:00.004-05:00

I think this post on sarcasm is worth re-posting. I completely agree that sarcasm is an easy way out -- people (including myself) disguise sarcasm as humor, but it's usually laden with some other negative emotion like jealousy or anger. I have really been working to consciously choose my words in a way that are uplifting to those around me. I am very strong willed and could probably win just about any argument put in front of me, even when I'm wrong. Sometimes those character qualities can be used for good, but left unchecked could be very harmful to my relationships. Praise God that He offers me grace and guides me in this never ending process of sanctification.

yo-yo necklace

2011-07-28T20:45:00.003-05:00

Sean's cousin Kaitlyn saw this necklace in a boutique shop and sent me the pic.

Using this tutorial, I made a bunch of yo-yos from my scrap fabrics and gave her this necklace when she finished college!
The straps are strips of knit fabric {they roll when you stretch them out} and each yo yo is secured to their neighbor yo yo with a few stitches.
Kait really likes dinosaurs and I had a random dinosaur button - match made in heaven!
This project is really easy and a great way to use up scraps, but there is a lot of tying of knots because I used needle and thread for the whole thing. Try it!

Scrapbuster DIY headband tutorial

2011-07-24T16:46:00.008-05:00

These headbands would be great for a beginner {or expert} seamstress. They are really quick {I finished these three in about 30 minutes} and use materials you likely already have in your craft stash.

Needed materials (per headband):

Scrap fabric, approx 3" x 12" (2)

Fusible interfacing 3"x 12" (1)

1/2 in elastic, about 6" (might need to adjust for your head size)

basic sewing supplies

Cut out fabric (taper towards the edges so it's approx the same width as your elastic). Layer pieces as shown. **Note that the fabric pieces are right side together and the fusible interfacing is on the outside. Stitch around 3 edges, making a tube. Flip right side out (use a pencil to help push it through)

When the tube is right side out, iron flat. The fusible interfacing will help it stay smooth and also provide a little extra structure.
Top stitch around all sides. When stitching around short ends, add in elastic. Back stitch a couple of times to reinforce the stitch.
I chose to make mine reversible, but you could do the same on both sides if you want.
For the braided headband, I just cut a few strips of 45" fabric about 1" wide then braided them. I wanted it to have a frayed look, but if you want it clean, sew wider strips into tubes, then flip right side out and braid. I cut two pieces of the long braid about 12", then secured to elastic.The finished products! I like the versatility of this project: unlimited fabrics/ribbon to choose from, reversible, however wide you want it. Sewing customized projects is a great perk of knowing basic sewing skills.

I'm linking this project to:
Making the World Cuter, The DIY Show Off, Skip to My Lou, Today's Creative Blog, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Tatertots and Jello, Kojo Designs

Sean is a kid magnet

2011-07-21T09:47:00.006-05:00

A couple of times a month we help out in the 4 year old room at our church. These kids are so precious and give Sean and I a lot of laughs. They seriously LOVE Sean -- sometimes parents will say "look...Sean is here today!" to convince their kiddos that they're brave enough to be without mom and dad for an hour.

Here's some picture evidence to support my claim: {the pics are blurry partially due to the iPhone and partially due to the fact that these kids never stop moving}

Four years old is such a sweet age. I feel like the seeds of the gospel are being cultivated as their little hearts and minds begin to grasp what Jesus is all about. They ask good questions, have a silly sense of humor and are eager to learn!

Easy Fish Tacos

2011-07-19T10:58:00.004-05:00

image source

I have to admit I was skeptical about fish tacos, but after much prodding from Sean I added it to our menu plan last week. These were SOO good!

Ingredients:

White fish (I used 3 tilapia fillets, which was plenty for two people)

1 bag cole slaw mix

miracle whip/mayonnaise

packet of taco seasoning

taco shells/tortillas

lime

toppings: cheese, sour cream, salsa

Thaw fish, pat dry with paper towel. Salt and pepper, bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until flaky.

While fish is baking, mix 1/4 packet of taco seasoning with 1 cup of miracle whip. Add enough cole slaw mix to make it proportional.

Remove fish from oven and flake apart with a fork. Sprinkle with lime juice.

Build tacos to your liking. Mine had hard shells with the slaw mix on the bottom, then fish, cheese and salsa.

Optional additions that might be good: avocado, mango salsa, cilantro

This meal was yummy, quick and inexpensive which means it will likely become a staple at my house!

Haiti update

2011-07-18T08:50:00.002-05:00

God is good! The same week that my final payment was due, I met my fundraising goal for Haiti! I have been very humbled by this experience. It was important to me that people didn't give out of a sense of obligation, but out of obedience to God's calling. I supposed I wouldn't technically know the answer to that, but seeing so many friends and family members not only donate, but give of their finances cheerfully was amazing.

The trip dates are August 4-13. I've received all of my immunizations, will start anti-malarials this week, and have also started accepting medical supplies to pack in my extra duffel bag.

If you're in the Fayetteville area and want to donate supplies, here's a list of what the surgery center needs the most. These should all be commercially available. If you're not local, but would still like to help, you can send me your cash donation and I will run to the store for you.

4x4 gauze
2x2 gauze
Kerlix
Coban
ACE bandages
Steri-strips
Tegaderm
Betadine
Large exam gloves

Specific prayer requests: safe travels for our team, an open mind and heart to process what I will be experiencing, and that our surgical team would be efficient with time and resources to help the most people possible.

Wyatt update

2011-07-14T12:52:00.006-05:00

Wyatt is hilarious. And really cute. He's just over 5 pounds, energetic but also snuggly and is really smart.

He has a knack for being exactly where I need to be: see below for proof. He wants to be on top of the laundry pile while I fold clothes, on my pillow just before bed, on top of the comfortor when I'm trying to make the bed, etc.

His favorite toy is this Kong. The dog loves him some fetch. He's really good about bringing his toys back to you...too good, in fact.

He's also really excited about Milk Bone's new addition: mini milk bones. They are just his size! Previously we were getting the small ones and breaking them in half. Mini stuff is just cute.

One of his new tricks is catching a toy off a bounce. He's getting pretty good at it!

He brings us lots of joy and laughter! So glad he's around. :)

Birthday girl onesie

2011-07-12T13:51:00.004-05:00

A friend from Columbia has a little girl, Jillian, who is turning one next month -- she asked me to help create her birthday outfit and I was happy to oblige.

I appliqued the cupcake liner and candle, then ruffled the tulle for the 'icing.' Sewed all with my machine.
I also added colorful pleats around the leg. Sewed a fabric tube 4"x20", ironed flat, pinned the pleats then sewed it.

Here's the adorable hair clip that coordinates! It has an alligator clip on the back that can just clip either into her hair or onto a headband. 45" of fabric and two rows of tulle, pleated and sewed onto a round piece of felt.
The tute is made of all bright colors -- it's super cute, but that glitter got everywhere! She only turns one once, though, so I think glitter is in order.

Can't wait to see some pics of little miss in her outfit!

I'm linking this project to:
Making the World Cuter, The DIY Show Off, Skip to My Lou, Today's Creative Blog, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Tatertots and Jello, Kojo Designs

Lake day

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

We were in Branson for the 4th this year. Other people's love for Branson cracks me up. See below.

We went out on the lake with Kyle and Jess (Sean's brother and his wife) and REALLY enjoyed the day together!

I think Wyatt likes the lake. As long as Sean or I were nearby he was good.

Similar pic from last year. Yes, that's the same dog. Yes, he needed a haircut. No, I didn't realize how bad it was.

Kyle, Jess and Axle.

We even took Wyatt tubing!

Such a fun day out on the lake!

25th Birthday

2011-07-10T18:22:00.004-05:00

I turned 25 last week and had a great birthday. I had doughnut for breakfast, went to the farmers market, cake for lunch and catfish hole for dinner. My tummy hated me for those decisions.

My parents came to stay with us and we went to a Naturals game (they happen to be playing the San Antonio Missions that night). It was HOT!

Sean got me a DQ ice cream cake. It's good, but really rich!

Sean got me XM radio installed in my car and with my bday money I ordered a Silhouette SD machine. It seems kind of complicated but awesome, so I'm looking forward to trying out some projects when it arrives.

I have been on the hunt for these tongs for-ev-er. Silicon tipped (we don't use metal utensils on our pans), straight edged tongs. Seems simple, right? Wrong. They were always in the wrong color, scalloped edged, no silicone, etc. Well...I was at TJ Maxx and found the exact ones I wanted on clearance. Hello, birthday.

I have also wanted a beach towel for a long time. I always feel weird taking my bath towel to the random apartment complex pools I crash these days.

My parents generously bought me a new vacuum! I'm beyond excited about it. It's very light, which is good for our 3 story home and has picked up an amazing amount of stuff from our carpets already.

Looking forward to age 25!

Date, pillows and t-shirts

2011-06-27T11:13:00.004-05:00

This weekend was pretty low key for us. We watched a few movies (Gnomio and Juliet gets an A, True Grit a B- b/c I fell asleep, and Pride and Prejudice an A), went on a date, and I got some sewing in.

Went to Red Lobster for dinner b/c we had a gift card. Then we went for dessert and drinks at Bordinos on the patio.

I sewed my first pillows with invisible zippers. Where have these been all my life?! I seriously loved sewing with them and how the finished product looks so professional. I'll definitely be using them again. Another throw pillow tip: stick with down/feather inserts. If you use stuffed filling, they will be flat pillows within a year.

I also finished a t-shirt quilt top. I fixed that wonky looking white one in the middle after I took this picture. These aren't particularly difficult, just time consuming. I learned a couple of lessons that I will definitely refer back to if I make another one.

I've been doing a lot of custom orders for friends and love it! I like these orders because they're personal and they're helping to pay for my Haiti trip.

That's all for now!

True.

2011-06-21T16:06:00.000-05:00

Weekend Sewing

2011-06-20T15:23:00.005-05:00

Sean worked a lot this weekend, so I had some free time to finish some projects I've had for a while. In addition to the apron I blogged about yesterday, I sewed some pillow covers for a friend -- they're for her 10 month old boy. The small pillow was his daddy's when he was a baby!

I don't know why, but this picture of Wyatt cracks me up. Him among all my scraps...bored to death.

I've decided to go with blue, green and white as kitchen colors. Last fall we got new white square dishes and I think the pop of blue is fun. I sewed these new kitchen towels yesterday and love them! You can see a bit of the green zebra print I also bought in the pic above. I'll post a tutorial for the towels soon... {excuse the wrinkles below}

I've also been eyeing these blue and white ikat plastic dishes from Target. Aren't they adorable? I have been patiently waiting for them to go on sale...Sean, you read this blog, right?

That's all for now. :)

The $100 apron

2011-06-19T15:25:00.003-05:00

My sweet Grandma donated towards my Haiti trip in return for an apron. Her only wish was that it include some sort of butterfly (every time I see a butterfly I think of my Grandma because she loves them so much!). I found this precious fabric at Hobby Lobby and lined it with fabric I had on hand.

I followed this apron tutorial. It's a great one! I'm so glad I took the extra time to line the entire thing, topstitch the edges and and serge some finished seams. It's probably the most professional looking item I've ever made. It's definitely not hard to make and it took me about 1:45 from beginning to end. This would be great as a wedding shower, mothers day, or birthday gift!

2 signs of adulthood

2011-06-16T08:34:00.004-05:00

There are two things my grandparents used to do that I expressly associated with adulthood. The first was my Nanny wearing a nice anklet -- I remember telling her I wanted one when I was about 6 years old and her responding that I would have to wait until I was a big girl. The day I graduated from grad school I bought me an anklet!

The other is that my Papa would always mix cereal -- really 'adult' cereal like Raisin Bran and Fiber One. Man did I think that was gross! Well -- a lapse in judgement led me to purchase a 3-pack of fruit loops at Sams a few weeks ago. That stuff is terrible. I was hungry by 9am every day! This morning I went downstairs and mixed Raisin Bran and granola. I guess I'm a real live adult now!

On a more serious note about growing up, you should read this article: The world is full of boys who can shave. It's so interesting to me! The basic premise of the article is that the transition from boyhood to manhood is typically indicated by 5 sociological variables: leave your parents home, finish your education, start a career, marry a woman and, finally, start a family. Those variables are all messed up in our culture today...occurring out of order and often not happening at all (think Failure to Launch). Many of the same principles apply to women as well...but I think to a much lesser and different degree.

Our weekend via an iPhone

2011-06-13T11:51:00.003-05:00

We had a busy weekend! Here's a few picture highlights:

Wyatt got a summer haircut. I don't think he was happy about it, but it has been so hot outside that he needed some help cooling off!

My best friend from Branson got married! I threw a lingerie party after her rehearsal dinner. Her MIL made this white dress for her!

The bride and I at her rehearsal dinner. Sorry for the remaining fuzzy pics. We in fact were not in a smoky bar...not sure what's up with them.

Me and the hubs. He was a big help that day! In case you're wondering, my dress is from JCrew and my gray ruffle necklace is from Target.

We also went to Sean's grandpa's 90th birthday -- I'll post pics on that one later.

VBX started at our church last night -- I'm teaching the 4 year old class and thought this was too hilarious. Look at precious little Jack's outfit.....

And now look at the outfit Sean was wearing at the same time....lol. Too funny!

Overall we had a fun, busy and tiring weekend. I'm still trying to wake up today. :) It was an honor to be by Melinda's side and her and Aaron took their wedding vows. I pray for many happy years of marriage for them!

Haiti Trip Update

2011-06-08T15:25:00.003-05:00

In less than two months I will be in Haiti. Assisting with surgeries, trying to love and serve others, and seeking a changed worldview. My heart and mind aren't prepared. Not sure if they ever will be, but I trust that my Jesus will help me along the way.

I've got 4 weeks left of fundraising time and I'm about half way to my goal! So many of you have responded in faithfulness whether it be in prayer, donations for the mission or financial gifts.

I for sure want to do my part to raise money for the trip, so if there's something {anything} I can help you out with let me know -- sewing, crafting, cleaning your house, walking your dog, babysitting.

Some specific prayer requests for this stage of the journey: continued growth in mental and emotional preparedness, that I would use my time and resources here in the US before the trip in ways that will be most impactful for Haiti, financial goals to be met.

This is a video the mission put together about some of the challenges people in Haiti are facing today. Heartbreaking.

Where is Hope? from NWHCM on Vimeo.

Cute apron

2011-06-07T12:56:00.004-05:00

I sewed this ruffle apron for a friend this weekend -- didn't she do a great job picking out fabric?! Thanks to Hobby Lobby for placing coordinating fabric next to eachother! We even used her new embriodery machine to add some personalization to the waistband. Love it!

I'm alive.

2011-06-03T11:20:00.003-05:00

Just not blogging much recently.

Here's a quick recap on the past couple of weeks:

My work is a little crazy right now. Good crazy, not bad crazy. Last weekend I went to Branson for a girls weekend with my mom and Aunt Dana, which was super fun. We shopped, ate a lot and spent some good QT at the pool. I also got a Brazilian Blowout. Do you know what that is?

It's awesome is what it is! It's this treatment for your hair where they paint it on like color, blow dry it, straighten in (which seals the product in), then rinse. From then on, you don't have to straighten your hair for 3-4 months! I can seriously blow dry my hair and walk out the door which is pretty amazing considering before my dog and I would like a lot alike (re: Poodle).

Sean will be on a man-only float trip this weekend, which means I should have plenty of time to organize my closet! Do any of you other sewers out there relate to not wanting to get rid of any clothing -- holding out that you'll someday have time to spruce it up?? That's what I do, but I'm exceeding my storage capacity, so some of it needs to go.

Next weekend is my BFFs wedding - so excited for it! A girlfriend of mine just got an embroidery machine, so I'm going to try monogramming stuff for a wedding gift. I'll let you know how it goes.

Repost: Goodwill dress refashion: summer dress

2011-05-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

Here's an oldie (sp?) but a goodie I'm entering into a contest online. I almost actually wore this dress today, but it was wrinkled and I was, well....lazy. :)

______________

I'll be honest....when I picked the following dress up from Goodwill even I didn't realize how BAD it was! Just look how big those armholes are! None-the-less, I liked the soft turquoise color and the lightweight cotton material.

I trimmed most of the top of the dress off, took in the waist, hemmed up the bottom, then added the collar and straps.

This dress isn't perfect as I was a bit rushed when sewing it, but I still think it's super cute and very wearable!

Easy desk spruce up.

2011-05-17T14:27:00.003-05:00

Fact: I spend more time at my desk than I do with my husband. Man, that's a bummer to actually type!

Fact: my desk is boring

Solution: Add some color to my desk. I used fusible interfacing to iron on some fabric to my existing mouse pad.

I used mod-podge to cover my existing coaster.
It's now a little cheerier (is that a word?) at my desk. Another thing that helps is this cool desk calendar that Sean bought me for Christmas.

Happy Birthday, Wyatt!

2011-05-16T10:11:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was Wyatt's first birthday! Here are some pics to document the celebration.

Yes, I made him a birthday hat. They were selling for $13 at a dog store here in F-ville. No thanks, I'll just make one.
Here's his pupcake.

He ate the icing first. A dog after my own heart.

Birthday boy bandanna to wear to the dog park!

Here's his b-day goodies. Some treats, a new bone and some detangler. ;)

He loves his new bone....

Clearly...it already looks like this. Dang. Anyone know of good, strong rope bones?

At the end of the day he was tuckered out. My heart felt so full as my puppy snuggled on my chest. I'm sure someday that feeling will be replaced an even greater fullness from a snuggling baby, but for now Wyatt suffices.

Happy Birthday, Wyatt. We love you!

Congrats, Kait!

2011-05-16T10:06:00.003-05:00

This weekend, Sean's cousin Kaitlyn graduated from the UofA. We had a little celebratory brunch for her at our placebefore the ceremony. I made this yummy cake -- I tried to follow the 'rules' of freezing, leveling off, crumb coat etc. I looks pretty good, but could have used another coat of icing.

I found these really cute printable letter banners here. Would be great for showers!

Way to go, Kait! This girl worked hard for her degree and deserved a day to celebrate her accomplishment. See her necklace? That was my graduation gift to her, and the project sneak peek I blogged about last week. I'll post more on that later.

Haiti trip

2011-05-11T16:20:00.001-05:00

Let us love not with words or in tongue, but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18

As I was laying in bed the other night, I told Sean I want this to be my life verse. Oh how I desire to love others through action and in truth!

A surgeon I work with has developed a tender heart for the people of Haiti. His organization, theiteam, partners with the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission to help provide much needed surgical care to the people of Haiti. After significant prayer, God has opened some doors for me to join his team on a 10-day trip this August.

As I begin preparations for this trip, I covet your prayers. Prayers specifially that my heart would be ready to experience all that I see and also that financial support goals are met on time.

I desparately need to be pushed outside of my comfort zone -- to experience something other than the easy American lifestyle. Right now I just feel overwhelmed with the whole process of planning, fundraising, etc -- I hope over the next few months to blog about how the Lord is preparing me for the trip.

Project sneak peak

2011-05-10T20:34:00.001-05:00

Started working on a graduation gift today -- here's a quick teaser.

Color of the year

2011-05-08T18:25:00.002-05:00

Pantone's color of the year for 2011 is Honeysuckle -- a bright pink. Here's some honeysuckle Etsy inspiration for you.

_______________________________________________________

'Honeysuckle - 2011 color of the year' by CloudNineStitches

Pantone's color of the year

Honeysuckle Pink Flower and ... RusticGem $30.00	maxwell--honeysuckle ruffle ... lillypieaccess... $25.00	Timeless Elegance with Honey... LadyTA $39.00
Honeysuckle Hues Pup Cup wit... thelab $9.00	Custom Birth Announcement Pr... AppleBlossomPr... $28.00	Pillow Pair . Suzani in Hone... BlueDoorStyle $23.00
Honeysuckle . 8mm flower . p... DancingMooney $7.00	PIZZAZZERIE FEATURED Flower ... greenbeansie $13.00	Pretty in Pink Honeycomb Dog... SillyBuddy $27.00
Honeysuckle Dress kelseygenna $210.00	Bridal Shower Invitations - ... swankypress $30.00	LISA Honeysuckle satin and c... ChloeANDMaddie $39.95
Crystal Honeysuckle Earrings scraptherapymo... $18.00	Soft Honeysuckle Pink Cotton... KariOriginal $16.00	Feather Headband- Amaranth P... TheFaerieMarke... $35.00
Butterfly Ruffles Skirt PDF ... pinkchickadeep... $6.50

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Repost: On Enemies

2011-05-02T09:04:00.003-05:00

This blogger did a good job capturing some of the feelings and thoughts I've had regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden. Click here to read her full post.

Dog or monkey?

2011-05-02T09:02:00.001-05:00

Wyatt makes some really strange noises. Sometimes he sounds like a monkey.

What we're up to

2011-04-17T19:03:00.004-05:00

Spring football is over! PTL! I'm so excited to have my husband back! He has been working so hard we've probably had dinner together 5 times in the past month.

We are going to Branson for Easter and I'm so excited to see family and friends. I'm hosting a wedding shower for my BFF from high school on Saturday -- here's a sneak peek at some of the decorations I made! The colors are gray and yellow. :) The brides parents own a precious cafe in Branson and are going to do the food (chilled pineapple soup is on the menu!). I'm not sure if I was kind enough to my bridesmaids. If you're reading this, girls, please accept my dearest apologies for not loving on you enough during the whole process! It's so fun for me to help celebrate their weddings now.

This week is going to be a short one, which is good b/c I need a bit of a break from our normal routine. I'll be in office on Monday, clinic on Tuesday, Springfield for meetings on Wed and Thur then Branson over the weekend. Can't wait! p.s. Spellcheck is flagging 'Branson' -- who doesn't know what Branson is?! ;)

baby fever

2011-04-14T14:38:00.003-05:00

Baby fever is serious. I mean...it's serious when a real baby has a real fever, but it's also serious when a non-baby owner has unreasonable desired to add one to the mix.

That is me. At least...this week that is me. It tends to change depending on my schedule, how many babies I'm around, etc. For the first time ever someone told me that they didn't think Sean and I wanted kids. I know it's silly, but that kind of hurt my feelings! Of course we want kids! The fact that Sean and I both desired to finish grad school and we staggered it has slowed down the process.

Our conscience thoughts affect our subconscious thoughts. Do you ever have dreams that feel SO real?? Well, last night I dreamt I was pregnant. Here's how it went:

I wanted an alcoholic drink while on vacation in Mexico -- Sean informed me that next Tuesday I will be 12.5 weeks pregnant {odd that he knew i was with child before myself} and that the alcoholic drink wouldn't be a wise idea. We told my parents, who were apprehensive about how we would afford the baby {probably would be their real life reaction too}.

When we got home from vacation I started making plans immediately. I met with my office, all of whom are guys, to describe my expectations during pregnancy and my plan to work from home after the baby was born. {that's how it works in the real world, right?...just get to choose how and where you work?} They all agreed.

It all felt so real to me that when I woke up I grabbed my phone and started to go to craigslist.com to look for maternity clothes! I felt both silly and my belly to make sure I wasn't pregnant in real life.

Could we have a baby now? Sure. Would it be easier on all parties if I waited about another 1.5 years? Absolutely. I desire to honor God's timing and trust in Him. This will all happen when He is darn well ready for it to!

Recent projects

2011-04-14T11:22:00.006-05:00

I spent some quality time with my sewing machine last weekend. Here are the fruits of my labor:

Two aprons for an upcoming shower. One will go to the bride and the other will be a game prize. I used my serger a lot more on these aprons and it went so much faster!

A couple of t-shirt dresses. Sorry for the terrible iPhone pics!

I saw these at Wal-Mart. Peeps on top of cupcakes. Genious!

I hope you're all having a great week! Look out for a crazy dream post in a bit.

My crafting to-do list

2011-04-06T12:30:00.006-05:00

Jute covered letters - so presh!

Another ruffle apron for a wedding shower game prize.

A Razorback romper. I purchased a plain black one online and will probably freezer paper stencil the letters on. This romper with a fun necklace and some comfy red wedges I have would be a fun game day outfit!

How cute is this little girls romper?! Did you know american eagle has a kids line? Looks simple enough to recreate and would be a cute baby gift!

I have a couple of orders for game day dresses that I need to finish in the next week.

I would love to try one of these for my BFF's wedding shower in a couple of weeks. I think it helps make for a really sweet picture of the dress on the wedding day. If you don't want to DIY, you can get them for a reasonable price on Etsy, like this one:

Isn't this necklace adorable? It's from anthro, but a tutorial to make your own can be found here.

Whew! It makes me tired to look at all of these, but I'm excited to cross some of them off my to-do list soon!

This weekend

2011-04-04T09:10:00.003-05:00

We had beautiful weather in Fayetteville this weekend! Sunny and 80 degrees. We had multiple visits to the dog park and watched Sean's cousin run in a track meet here at U of A. Sean is working with Razorback football right now and they are in spring training, so I haven't seen much of Sean recently. Just a couple more weeks of spring ball, though. Wyatt and I have had a lot of QT together which is usually consumed with playing fetch or snuggling on the couch.

I also got my hair done and added some dark to it -- strongly dislike it and will hopefully be going back today for a quick fix. :)

I hope you all have a great week!

Preppy

2011-03-30T16:37:00.003-05:00

Do you guys remember when the word 'preppy' was thrown around like an insult in Jr. High? i.e.: "Ugh, he's such a prep!"

Well...I never really understood that whole thing b/c I love being preppy! {maybe I was the target of those insults and I was just oblivious, lol} It's such a clean, classic style that I'm so attracted to. If you ever want to know where to get me a good gift just start at JCrew and Banana Republic.

I added some preppiness to this blog today. Hip colors: check. Chevron: check. Monogram:check.

Pepper stuffed chicken and corn casserole

2011-03-30T09:37:00.004-05:00

Both my paternal grandmother and my mom have made me little scrapbooks of their favorite recipes. As someone who needs to build my cooking skills, these have come in handy so often! The other night I made these two dishes for dinner and they were SO good!

Corn Casserole:

1 can cream style corn

1 can regular corn, drained

1 box jiffy corn bread mix

1 cup sour cream

1 egg, beaten

Mix all ingredients together and bake for 45 minutes at 350.

Pepper stuffed chicken:

Pepperjack cheese

Banana pepper slices

Chicken breasts

Bacon

Pound out chicken breasts, put slices of pepperjack cheese and a few banana peppers in the middle then roll up and wrap with bacon. Use toothpicks to hold it in place.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

The banana peppers give it such an interesting flavor -- not something I have cooked with before. They're not spicy, which I appreciate. Craving it again right now. :) Hope you enjoy!

Insecurity

2011-03-25T11:11:00.004-05:00

Not really even sure where to start with this post. Insecurities are so crippling and are only intensified in this fast-paced, completely 'wired-in' culture we live in today. Everyone has their own insecurities they battle with, but even defining mine has proven to be difficult! I know that my insecurities bring up feelings of inadequacy, jealousy, and self-pity. Who wants to live with those feelings?! Not me! Sometimes I think the blog-o-sphere and Facebook help contribute to my insecurities -- I'm sure that's true, but I also have a responsibility to believe the truth about how God made me and the ability to choose not to act on my insecurities. I picked up Beth Moore's book called So Long, Insecurity and loved it! She gets down to the core of insecurities and empowers us to do something about them. Here's a few excerpts to suck you in. :)

************************

"Insecurity is more than a complex emotion. It is a lie about our God-sanctioned condition. While something may cause us to feel sad, angry, or threatened, we have the power to choose whether or not it gets to assault our security."

Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will recieve what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

"We don't feel threatened all the time. Just too much of the time. We're up to our ears in social networking, in touch with a hundred women yet especially close to none."

"When we work from an activated mentality of God-given security, we are fully capable of thinking another woman is beautiful without concluding we are ugly. We can esteem another woman's achievements without feeling like an idiot. We can admire another woman's terrific shape without feeling like a slob. Where on earth did we come up with the idea that we have to subtract value from ourselves in order to give credit to someone else?"

We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. - The Message, Galatians 5:26 ******************************

What a tough subject...one I certainly can't tackle on my own. Thankfully, God is good. He's gracious. He's forgiving. He loves me.

This week's meal plan

2011-03-22T12:29:00.004-05:00

Monday- Chili, cornbread

Tuesday- Chicken stir fry

Wednesday- Bible study cook out

Thursday- Chalupas

Friday- Homemade Corn Dogs, mac n' cheese

Saturday-Bacon pepperjack chicken, corn casserole

Sunday- leftovers

Our cute dog

2011-03-21T10:00:00.003-05:00

Wyatt is a funny, funny dog. 3/4 of the time he's super cuddly and chilled out, but the other 1/4 of the time he wants to play fetch. He's seriously obsessed with it! It's fun that he knows how to fetch, but if we don't feel like playing he makes it well known that he's frustrated. See example below:

He really does bring a lot of joy for Sean and I -- he's always doing something cute or silly. He's also served another very important purpose in my life: delaying my baby fever. :) That baby fever, might I add, tends to spike about every other month.

How we celebrated

2011-03-19T15:39:00.001-05:00

The traditional gift for a 3rd wedding anniversary is leather. Sean got me these cute boots - can't wait to wear them! My gift to Sean? The go-ahead to purchase an iPad2. {which I am conveniently blogging on now} Not a leather gift, I realize, but more fun than any wallet I could have found.

After football practice, Sean brought me a flower then we headed out to dinner.

We hit up a local placed called Theo's -- SO GOOD!

We enjoyed having dinner out, eating leisurely and talking about all that has happened since we got married.

Thanks to my parents for treating us to a nice dinner on our anniversary. It was fun to put on some heels and go on a date with Sean!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Our 3rd wedding anniversary

2011-03-15T08:13:00.007-05:00

Thanks, Facebook, for the reminder!

Today is our third wedding anniversay and I am filled with a thankful heart. What a blessing marriage is! The Lord wrote our names on eachother's hearts early -- I was just 16 when we started dating. From a very young age Sean was my protector and provided an example of how to live a Christian life. How special that my sweet husband help lead me to Christ! My marriage is full of laughter, comfort, understanding and redemptive love that no other human can provide. Of course, marriage is not always sunny. There are times of miscommunication, anger and disappointment -- all of which serve as a reminder of how sinful we can be as individuals and a couple when Christ is not at the center. I am his and he is mine.

Here's a photo recap of our relationship:

This picture was in 8th grade - last day of school. Sean really liked me and I liked him too, but he was too scared to ask me out. :)

This is that same summer on a Youth Life trip to Colorado. My birthday was on that trip and Sean gave me a really sweet card and letter. lol...Sean hates this picture. It's a high school dance -- look how short his tie is! And what's up with my makeup?!

We were so fortunate to attend college together at Mizzou!

We attended a lot of sorority parties -- this is a formal from freshman year. Sean proposed on Good Friday in '07 -- he sent me on an easter egg hunt all over Mizzou's campus, complete with a friend in an easter bunny costume. I'll post on that soon.

We both finished college a semester early -- just in time to get ready for the wedding.

We said our wedding vows on March 15, 2008. The whole day was so wonderful!

We honeymooned in Mexico

We lived in Branson for a short time before moving back to Columbia so I could attend grad school.

Visited Chicago for our 1st anniversary

Had a great week together out at Sean's family cabin in Colorado.

I finished graduate school

Went to Aruba last summer -- so beautiful!

We moved to Razorback Country for Sean to complete his masters in athletic training.

and we added Wyatt to our family!

That brings us to today -- we have no idea where we will be in a little over a year and are so excited to see what the coming year will bring. God has been so faithful in our marriage that it's almost overwhelming. What an awesome God He is! Our marriage is also supported by a great network of family and friends and we are ever so grateful for that. Looking forward to many more years to come with my sweetheart.

BBQ pulled pork

2011-03-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

BBQ Pulled Pork

1lb pork loin

1 cup BBQ sauce

2 tbsp cider vinegar

1. Cut pork loin into large chunks, place in pan with BBQ sauce and vinegar.

2. Bring to boil, then simmer, covered for about 20 minutes

3. Shred the pork (with sauce) using a fork
4. Serve on a bun, garnish as desired.

Experiment with different BBQ sauces for the flavor you like best! I was really surprised at how easy it is to make pulled pork!

Taco pie

2011-03-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a good, quick meal idea. If you're looking for healthy, I might pass this one up. {or make some substitutions}

Taco Pie

1 lb ground beed

1 can crescent rolls

1 pkg taco seasoning

8 oz sour cream

shredded cheese

1. Line pie pan with cresent dough, bake as normal

2. Brown ground beef, add taco seasoning

3. Fill shell with beef, sour cream and top with cheese

4. Bake at 375 for 10 mins, or until cheese is melted.

5. Enjoy!

You can top with salsa, fresh tomatoes or whatever strikes your fancy. :)

Easy goodwill refashion

2011-03-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

My sewing machine and I have missed eachother recently! Lack of time and inspiration are to blame. I needed some quick projects to help get me back in the game. I found this dress at the thrift store the other day for $4. Pardon the terrible before picture -- the camera battery died after this shot and I was too impatient to wait for the recharged batter before sewing. You get the idea, though -- frumpy dress that hit mid-calf {not flattering on me!}

I just cut off some length, sewed a ruffle around the neckline, hemmed the bottom and added a waist tie. I can wear it w/o a jacket when it warms up {warm weather can't come soon enough!}

The back...

Close up of the neckline. Clearly wasn't wearing the right bra. Sorry about that.

Super fast and easy -- just what I needed!

Pins you can see

2011-03-06T14:41:00.003-06:00

When I'm sewing, I always manage to lose one or two pins. They are really hard to find in our carpet! Since I have a puppy at my feet at almost all times, the dropping of pins issue has escalated. Enter Sculpey - clay you bake in the oven. {I got these on sale at JoAnn for .97 each) I just formed it into little shapes, formed it around the end of a straight pin, then baked them at 275 for 20 minutes.

These shouldn't be hard to find in the carpet...or my dogs mouth. win/win.

Weekly meal plan

2011-02-28T12:06:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted my meal plan for a couple weeks because...well...I haven't had a meal plan. We were out of town for a bit and spent the last week eating down our stock of food. re: lots of random meals

Monday: Rotisserie chicken, baked potatoes, peas

Tuesday: Dinner at church
Wednesday: Pulled pork sandwiches (I'll share this recipe later this week, so easy)

Thursday: Taco pie (new recipe, I'll let you know how it goes)
Friday: Chicken a la king
Saturday: Pork loin, mashed potatoes, veggie
Sunday: Leftovers (Sean has to work)

Hope you have a great week! I made a trip to the thrift store yesterday and picked up a good dress to refashion -- can't wait to share it with you!

-Nicole

The Possessionista

2011-02-22T14:14:00.003-06:00

This blog, the possessionista, finds takes fashion trends from TV shows and finds them in stores. Brilliant! A couple of items I'm coveting today:

This dress that Quinn wore on last week's episode of Glee.

These black cuff boots similar to what Ashley wore on her hometown date with the Bachelor this week.

I plan on visiting this site frequently! Off to search for Michelle from the Bachelor's monogram necklace now!

So cute!

2011-02-22T08:58:00.003-06:00

How cute is this play kitchen!? A super talented lady over at Dwellings by Devore makes some of the most wonderful things! This table is so awesome! It started as just a regular wood table that she painted, added the glass sections to, and accented with nailhead trim.

So inspired by all of her work!