Sewing skirts!!

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book:

Sew far (sew far/So far.... get it?? *giggle, giggle, snort*!!) I have made 6 skirts from it!! I had basic sewing skills from when I was a teenager but that's all the skills you need in order to do this! It teaches how to draft a pattern from your size! and it's not hard (ie- you don't need to be a math major!) and it has cute unique ideas!

Here's two of my skirts that I have made so far:
Yes, only my bottom half as I had just gotten out of the shower and didn't do my hair or have makeup on!!



a brown skirt made from a sheet!! I found the shirt at a thrift store for 3 dollars!! This is my 3 dollar outfit! and today I found some brown and turquoise bracelts at a yard sale for 50 cents each!! (pics to come in another post!) A VERY thrifty outfit!!

The bracelets that fit perfectly!


And for more frugal fashion ideas check out Jen's blog Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Bulletin Boards!!

I know that these very words can cause cold shivers to go down the backs of many... or not. I enjoy doing bulletin boards, when I was a preteen/teenager me and a girl that went to church with us stayed at the church building during the afternoon and worked on a bulletin board.

But- unless you have ideas to go on- this is a very scary thing! LOL! When I was a preteen we borrowed a book on bulletin boards from my dad and used an idea from there. Since then I have bought a couple of books on bulletin boards.... but they were pretty useless. A while back I was googling bulletin board ideas and came across this awesome sight- it has over 500 photos of boards!! Now- I'm not saying that I agree with all of these- you have to weed through a lot of unscriptural ideas or change them into scriptural ideas. This is the website-http://www.boardsgalore.com/ and here is an easy link to the slideshow- http://boardsgalore.com/Slideshow.htm

I did a bulletin board for a friend from church thursday- took my little sis to help me out. These flowers are AWESOME and soooo easy - check out the website for them- http://www.craftstylish.com/item/7515/how-to-make-simple-white-paper-flowers

And here's the bulletin board that we did!


up close of the flowers:

Point of View

If you want a lesson in seeing other peoples point of view... go fabric shopping!!

Due to finances, this year I have been making aprons for wedding presents for the bride. We have two from our church getting married the SAME day... different locations and times but the same day. I went to Joann's today to look for fabric for the girl getting married. Her name is Amanda. I do not know Amanda I have only met her 2 or 3 times, her 'husband to be' attends church with us. I asked her Mom and Aunt what style she likes- what type of fabric she would want, both said that she is old fashioned and likes pastels, and flowers.

This is the exact style I HATE! LOL!! I like bright modern stuff. I like old fashioned if it has a modern twist to it. So, I didn't think to bring another person with me to have another opinion and had the worst time at the store. Every piece of fabric I came to made my toes curl because I couldn't stand it! Then every piece I *sorta* liked I second guessed myself over and over! LOL!! I could NOT decide what to do and was really stressing out!

Finally I realized that I would have to STOP looking at it from my point of view because I simply couldn't stand that style and would have to look at it from anothers point of view! And once I did this- I found options that would work!! And some I even liked from my point of view.

It was a lesson that I really needed to learn- I get to the point where my opinion is right/more important and dismiss everyone else. What is it that they say? Walk a mile in another person's shoes? And by trying to understand others you can come to a compromise that you BOTH like! :)

(Note- I am speaking of matters of OPINION only- I do not believe in compromising on God's word when God does not compromise on his laws.)

This is what I am more drawn towards: and


This is what I ended up buying for Amanda: Only it is on a light yellow background with pink and orange roses and I will be doing a light pink ruffle and pocket.

I'm back!!

Life has changed a lot... we have moved back home to Florida and my husband is only preaching part time and is working at a grocery store right now. He is *hopefully* going into the army in the summertime. I am working now- substitute teaching. I miss staying at home- but my schedule is really flexible doing this and I am home by 3:00 in the afternoon. I'm only working 2-4 days a week.

Money is realllly tight for us right now so the posts may focus more on thriftiness now :) :)

My goals to get back into: bring dinner to elderly people and to start having people over again!!

Our lectureship starts this week so I will not be doing anything this week other than learning more from God's word and Christian fellowship!!

Coming Attractions: What I have been up to- making aprons!! (this is me and my dog roxie)

Packing?

We are moving! Somewhere... :) My husband is looking for a job (he's a preacher), right now we are looking at a place in Louisiana and in Georgia. I'm working on packing up our house!! Woo hoo. any tips?? You'd think I'd have it down to a science as we have moved 3 times already....plus I was a PK and moved a lot from that!

no new posts??

I'm slacking on blogging!! I'm still here, still homemaking. Still baking, cooking, creating, crafting, cleaning and sewing! However, we've started a new adventure!! We are adopting a baby!!! I've started a new blog (my third!!!) and it's all about our adoption process.

There will probably be more posts once we are into the loooong wait but for new the posts will be few and far between!!

Thanks for understanding!!

www.growinginourheartscan.blogspot.com

I'm Ba-ack!

Yes, I realize it's been a while :) OH well!

I just realized that I get to plan !3! parties this year!! I LOVE to plan parties! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

First is our 2 annual ;) ice cream party. Last years was a hit! (pics to come). Everyone brings homemade ice cream and desserts.

Second is the church's Christmas party. They throw it every year....but no one decorates :( Come on people!!! How NOT fun is it to have in the same building with the same decorations that you have fellowship meals in? (strawberries, BTW are the decoration!!). So I told them last year that I would decorate and everyone LOVED it! And I loved the attention :) :) :) (I forgot to take pics though!)

And thirdly my husband is turning the BIG 3-0!!! In January....he-he-he and I will still be a young 23 :) Sorry, drives my husband crazy :) Anyways I'm throwing a chocolate party for him...it will be fabulous!!

So, these are what I get to dream about and plan. I would be a party planner....but well, I don't drink and will not plan parties that involve alcohol.....so that leaves me with kids parties.....and I don't like most kids :)

The invitations from last years party:
The centerpieces I made:


*Warning* don't serve lemonade at an ice cream party.BLAH...but it's cute,yes?

The ice cream toppings


This years will be bigger and better :)

As Easy As Pie!!

Well, I forgot to post my handtowel from yesterday! Oops!! So you get 2 today!! Cleaning and Shopping. The Friday one's great because I always try to get the house all put together before the weekend so that I can be lazy and do what I want. I LOVE Saturday's because I love shopping! LOL!! Shopping is always fun!!

Our fellowship meal is this coming Sunday and I wanted to make a pie. I'm not very good at pies.... give me a 5 page recipe to make a gourmet dessert and I can do it. But pies?? Nope !! So I want to practice at them!! And I made a BEAUTIFUL and tasty apple pie. I made it in my cute retro pie plate (yes, I know it says strawberry pie... oh well!!) and now it's sitting on my table looking all yummy!!

This 'n' That

I've order this book from amazon "Sew What! Skirts and I'm so excited for it to get here!! I want to sew a skirt!! It can be so hard to find one that fits perfectly! all the reviews I've read for it are great!
www.amazon.com
(click above to go to the book)

I've started using natural cleaners....because chemical ones give me a headache, I worry about always scrubbing my hands to get off residues and they cost so much! I've been using vinegar and water in a spray bottle to clean bathrooms and the kitchen and windows and it works great! I read in someone's blog the other day (sorry, I don't remember who!!) that they added lemon juice to their mixture so I added some. It works even better and masks the vinegar smell some (yes, I know you can add essential oils...but I can't find any/afford any!). I think that it helps cut through grease even more. And like the blogger said, I like the feeling that I can clean my counters and then set food on them without worrying about picking up chemicals from my cleaner!!

Tired Feet :)

Today's dishtowel is Thursday and Baking... I think this just might be my favorite one. I love baking!! Check out my other blog for proof!!


I've wanted to start bringing meals to people and I had decided earlier this week to bring some shepherd's pie when I made it for us (I menu plan the whole week). Well, yesterday I had just about talked myself out of it! I am very good at talking myself out of stuff that I need to do. I don't know why I just am! A bad habit I need to break.... well, like I said I had talked myself out of it and last night a wednesday night bible study we were discussing matthew 25: 34-46:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Everyone was discussing these verses and suddenly I realized this was talking to me!!!! By me feeding people who need it I am feeding Christ and fulfilling my Christian duty :) So, I made some shepherd's pie, corn muffins and peanut butter cookies! YUM! And now I'm tired of being in the kitchen :)

The other problem with this is that I have nibbled so much whilst cooking that I will NOT be hungry come dinner time!! But I'm sure I will end up eating anyways :) LOL!!

Here it is all packaged and ready to go. It's for a single person so it's easier to send a portion rather than a whole dish as they will not eat it.

Cards and Tuesday

Not much to say today... I'm kinda dragging :( So I'm going to leave you with some pictures of some cards I made and sent today. And of course a picture of the towel!!!

China Patterns

I have a few pieces of china that was handed down my from grandmother to my Mom to me.... there was more...but it the box got dropped off of the uhaul the first time we moved and Ilost several pieces and chipped even more :(

I want everyone's opionion on whether I can mix and match these pieces: what do you think?

These are the pieces I have:

Upclose of the pattern:

My other china: These aren't quite the same white.....but the camera doesn't pick it up :(

More pics: how it would look together:

I think they go together. However, what would you think if you came to dinner and saw them mixed and matched??

My dishcloth for today: Tuesday and Ironing Did I iron today? NO! I hate ironing worse than ANYTHING. And except for pants that need creases I do not see a difference between a dress shirt that is tossed in the dryer to get wrinkles out and that is ironing ;) Shame on me, I know!!


By the way, the pattern is called 'silver mist' by taylor smith taylor. I have looked and looked for a date for these. I can't find anything. If anyone happens to know let me know!! :)