From Pin to Reality

A few weeks ago I gave myself the challenge to start taking my pins off of Pinterest and start making them a reality. I came to report back to let you know how I did.  

1

Washi and felt heart arrows

I have become obsessed with arrows. I don't know what it is, I just love them!  If you missed my DIY love shirt {with arrows} you can see it here.  As a follow up to that, I decided to take some dowels that I had in my craft supply box and used some supplies I had on hand to create these felt and washi heart arrows.

0

A Mother's Choice: How I Decided to Be a Young Mom and Kept My Baby

I was barely nineteen. Not much older than he is now.  I was faced with a decision that would not only affect me, but a decision that would directly affect the lives of two others and that would create a ripple, affecting countless others. I knew almost right away. Several negative pregnancy tests did nothing to alleviate the nagging suspicion of what I already realized. 

5

Free Superbowl bingo printable

The big game is coming up! If you are anything like me, I half pay attention to the game and mostly pay attention to the food.  The commercials are the thing that usually draws my attention, so I thought it would be fun to make a Superbowl commercial bingo game.

0

What to watch this month

It's been a busy month for us. We got off of the high of the holidays, and pretty much all of us hit a wall. It's been hard to get back into a routine. The older kids have finals and the oldest is not only cramming for finals, he's also studying for the SAT's that are conveniently on the weekend following finals week. We are all looking forward to a long weekend {the kids have Monday off to celebrate the end of the semester} so we can recharge. I fully expect lots of snuggle time with the littles and some down time with some Netflix. I haven't watched a Netflix original series that I didn't like yet {Orange is the New Black and House of Cards are both amazing!}, so I can only imagine what's in store for us with Puss in Boots.

0

Custom LOVE sweatshirt

I bought this H&M sweatshirt for $1 at a garage sale this summer knowing I wanted to put my own spin on it. I don't know about you, but I tend to hoard craft supplies until I have the perfect craft, and even then, I go back and forth with ideas second guessing myself.  

0

What is our common denominator?

I'm not much of a sports fan.  I follow along enough to make occasional comments, but sports just aren't that fun for me when I don't actually know the people that are playing.  

source 

0

Dr. Seuss Curious Crandalls nightlight

Our family are huge Dr. Seuss fans, so when I saw this 15 minute craft lightning challenge, I jumped right on board!

One of our favorite books by Dr. Seuss is the Sleep Book. I love the part about the Curious Crandalls. Those Curious Crandalls sleepwalk on hills with assorted sized candles.  They stay asleep even with dripping wax falling on them!  But not to worry, there is no dripping wax from these candles.  They will make the perfect nightlight for your littles after you read the Sleep Book and they head off into dream land.

1

My dream job

In July of last year, I had the chance to go to Uganda, Africa. It was a lifelong dream of mine and no joke, it lived up to everything that I would have ever expected or wanted.

This video still brings tears to my eyes as I watch it because it's everything about the trip that I imagined.  You can read the re-cap here and a reflection from a month later here.

0

easy leather bead bracelet

Before Christmas, I had the chance to shop House of Gems, an on-line wholesale bead and jewelry making supply shop.  I was like a kid in a candy shop!  Expect to see more projects soon, but for now, these leather bead bracelets are the first thing I tackled.

I don't wear a lot of jewelry, but when I do, I like it to be small and subtle. Sometimes small and subtle is hard to find in the stores, so after hunting, I decided to make my own.

0

Valentine pipe cleaner tree

We barely got the Christmas decorations down before I started thinking about decorating for the next holiday.  I found a few supplies that I had on hand and made these Valentine's pipe cleaner trees.

0

Must read books in 2015

I'm a sucker for a good book.  I have a beach trip coming up, which means ample opportunity to catch up on some good books.  I'm always looking at lists that have people's favorite books on them, and since these lists are helpful to me, I thought I would offer up my favorite reads, in case that was helpful to someone else looking for a good book.

2

Interchangeable photo booth props

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid Crafts, Michaels and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

Photo booths are all the rage!  They are the most fun part of any party now it seems.  Michael's store has these super fun spring wood surfaces that I had the most fun decorating and creating with.

I think we have all seen the classic photo booth mustache, but have you seen it made into an interchangeable prop?  I did just that with some fabric scraps and some Velcro.

1

From Pin to reality

Please oh please tell me that I am not the only one who pins things on Pinterest only to have them get lost on your board, never to do anything with them again.  The genius that is Pinterest thankfully came up with the "oops" button so that stopped me from pinning the same thing over and over again, though I still have to go back to my old boards before that was available and clean up a bit.  Oops.

0

Am I the only one wearing workout clothes to actually work out in?

Now that the kids are back at school, I have gotten back into running errands. Sue me if those "errands" include a trip to Marshall's, TJ Maxx and Target. There are a few obvious themes this time of year. The most obvious one is getting back in shape and hitting the gym. There are racks full of work out gear front and center in every store it seems. I haven't bought any new workout gear in over a year and thought that it might be time to get a few new shirts, you know, while everything is on sale and all.  But then I was hit with the reality that I don't think that people are actually buying these workout clothes to wear to workout in.

0

January memory verse free printable

It's a new year.

A fresh start.

A chance to reflect on the past year and look forward into the new year.

Sometimes this looking back and moving forward can stir up mixed emotions.

If I can be honest with you, I am not quite sure how this year will be able to even compare with last year.  I had amazing life changing experiences I'm not sure anything in the coming year will even be able to compare. I'm going into this near year already comparing it to the last knowing that it already pales in comparison. 

0

My one little word: intent

I've seen lots of bloggers chose one little word for the year, but I have never done it myself. 

I actually had a word to focus on when I went to Africa this summer {excess} and I thought that I would chose one little word to focus on this year.  Not so much as a resolution but as a way to live. I started seeing these one little words pop up through my instagram and blog feeds and I was trying to pin the perfect word down. A word that I knew I could work with and that would inspire me to think and change.   I spent time on Ali Edwards blog reading people's OLW choices and none of them stuck out to me like Steph's from Crafting in the Rain .  She picked the word intent and I immediately knew that that was my one little word for the year.

0

Holy Craft year in review

I can hardly believe that 2014 is over.  It was probably the best year of my life! Mostly because I got to take an amazing trip to Africa, a country that I have longed to go to for as long as I can remember, and an experience I can hardly put out of my mind for even a second.

0