craftee mcgee

instaFriday: hello february!

2012-02-10T16:20:00.000-06:00

oh look, here i am, back on my blog. shocking i know. it's been a rough couple weeks around here and i've struggled to keep up with everything so if you're waiting on something from me, i'm sorry and i'm almost there!

my grandpa passed away last saturday. he lived a long, full life and died peacefully at home at the age of 88. when he was diagnosed with lung cancer this last year he decided not to undergo any treatment and faced the cancer head on. we don't often see my dad's side of the family so the funeral was a sweet chance to be with family. my dad shared memories of grandpa at the funeral and was able to life the spirits of everyone there. the day was long and hard, but everything went as well as it possibly could have.

the funeral was 4 1/2 hours away downstate so brandon and i left early, early wednesday morning to be there by 10:00 am. honestly, i slept for the first few hours while b drove, but i woke up to a beautiful sunny day.

wisconsin farmland

can i live on a farm? please?

since we were already down in civilization we made a few stops on the way back (hello target!) and did a little shopping. while we were at joann's i found some happy fleece remnants and decided to make a few new tug-of-war toys for the pup. i made a few when she was a puppy and they're just shredded balls of fleece now. she still tries to play fetch with them, but they're kinda gross. hello cute replacements!

"uhhh mom, you made me look over there, but there's nothing there"

sunset in the woods

i'm trying to be more intentional about telling brandon the things i appreciate about him. he does so much around the house and i don't always notice or acknowledge it. i am so thankful that he brings in wood for the furnace and makes the coffee every morning and does the dishes when i cook- all while working on his masters. so enter the tiny mailbox of loooove. i found this beauty in the $1 section at target and now it lives in our kitchen. if the flag is up that means there's a little token of love inside!

you've got mail!

i'm always on the hunt for vintage jewelry that can be turned into something else. turns lots of giant, hideous clip on earrings make beautiful cocktail rings.

my current favorite cocktail ring!

i'm in a valentines-y kind of mood lately so i've had my valentine's day mugs on rotation. this one is my very favorite. a little bit sassy, just like me!

today is also my wonderful father in law's birthday. not that you read this, but happy birthday bob! you are a blessing to me and so many others!

i'm linking up over here with jeannett!

thankful...and a sale (or 3)!!

2011-11-24T15:56:00.001-06:00

happy thanksgiving! i am spending today baking pies and stuffing myself with turkey surrounded by my family. i am so thankful for our ability to drive down and be with family. i'm thankful that my sweet nana is here for another year to share this day with us. i'm thankful for the relationship my husband and my dad have- they spent this morning out on a long bike ride together. i'm grateful that i can sit and write this in a warm house while we wait for more food than we need to be ready to eat. i'm thankful for a little sister who is going to brave toys r us with me tonight to look for a gift for my husband (yes...toys r us...for my 28 year old hubby!). i'm thankful for my parents who have hosted thanksgiving as long as i can remember. i'm so thankful for my sweet hubby who stopped to get me coffee after his ride today (none. in. the. house.) and thankful for the people at caribou who worked today so i could have that coffee. i've been there and working holidays was no fun (though tips were always better!).

i'm also so thankful for the opportunity to be craftee mcgee and to run my little shop. i'm thankful for each person who buys from me to allow me to keep doing what i do. and this weekend i'm hoping to make it a little easier to buy from the shop. sale time!

black friday
starting at midnight (pacific) tonight the black friday sale will go live. all day tomorrow you'll get 25% off your whole order with the code BLACKFRIDAY11. use it to buy that statement necklace you've been eyeing or one of my new cozy crochet products!

small business saturday
all day saturday (and probably sunday too!) receive a free pair of charm earrings with any purchase over $20. just put the charm that you'd like in the message to seller and i'll add the earrings to your order. any charm earring in the shop is eligible and i can make earrings from any of the reCharm options!

cyber monday
all day monday receive free {domestic} shipping on any order. just use the code CYBERMONDAY to receive the discount. original i know...
the free earrings offer is still available today! just enter your choice of charms in the message to seller!

MOVEMBER
this month brandon has been growing out his 'stache to help raise money and awareness for men's health issues. i tried to grow a mustache of my own and failed (thank goodness) so i'm offering these fabulous mustache charm earrings.

they're $8.50 shipped and 50% of the proceeds from these earrings will go directly to movember. i'm not putting them in the shop so that more of the money can go towards the cause so send me a quick note with your email address & i'll invoice you directly through paypal!

just to help you plan your shopping the turnaround time right now is 4-6 business days and our Christmas Order Deadline is Monday December 12th. thanks to all who help keep this little shop running. i really am so grateful for each order.

what i wore wednesday: halloween edition

2011-11-02T01:54:00.000-05:00

i'd know that silhouette anywhere!

Mary Poppins!

yes, it's true. i'm linking up for my very first what i wore wednesday over at lindsay's lovely blog. i keep meaning to link up but clearly i have a blogging problem (in that i don't blog) so here i am! when i saw a picture from this post floating around the internet somewhere (probably pinterest) i knew that this is who we needed to be for halloween! mary poppins is my favorite movie of all time. i have the whole thing memorized and could watch it over and over. my mom used to rent the movie AND a VCR so that i could watch it because i loved it so much. between mary poppins and the sound of music, julie andrews was my hero by the time i was 8! i can't believe i have never thought to dress as mary before!

Photo credit: Disney via imdb.com

when i first saw the inspiration photo i thought this would be an easy costume because so much of mary's outfit (and bert's) are staple wardrobe pieces. i had black tights & shoes, the white shirt and a black coat. i happened to have a vintage grey wool skirt that i had picked up at goodwill a while ago that fit the outfit perfectly! brandon already owned a black shirt & pants and a vest. easy.

the thing i had forgotten about were all of mary's many accessories. you can't be mary without a black hat or a carpet bag. and the parrot! i searched high & low for just the right black hat and couldn't find one! this hat was a big, wide hat that i cut down to be the perfect size. i glued on the ribbon and some berries (spray painted) and daisies from the dollar store.

my original plan for the gloves was to bleach the gloves i wore to prom, but they didn't bleach. so instead of wearing green gloves, i found these wool gloves at the last minute at goodwill.

"to carry carpets in?" "no, made of"

carpet bags are very hard to find! i ended up finding a bag just the right size and shape at...where else...goodwill! and the fabric was from an earlier thrifting trip. i killed me to cut the piece i got in half. the roman numerals on the selvedge tell me this gorgeous fabric is from 1965. i was able to cut it directly in half and attach it temporarily to the bag so i could use it again. not sure what it will be, pillows maybe?

the bow tie was a simple little red piece of ribbon. i glue a safety pin on when i glued the center strip. that helped me pin my ruffly shirt closed to look like it had a high collar.

and of course i couldn't stop there! i needed a scarf. a real, lacy, open mary poppins scarf so i ordered some perfectly shaded yarn & started to crochet. unfortunately i didn't start until a couple days before halloween and tiny hooks & lace weight yarn take forever. my scarf was much narrower & shorter than i would have liked but it definitely looked like mary's! i think i'll add to it since i still have two cones of yarn!

and last but not least the umbrella! i was kicking myself for not buying the umbrella when i went to the broadway show in chicago last year, but since i didn't i had to make my own! i found a plain black umbrella for $5 at walmart. (yes we really only have walmart and goodwill up here. also a kohl's, but it was out of the halloween budget!). i grabbed some felt from my stash and cut out this little parrot based on a sketch i found online of the original movie prop. i sewed it together and stuffed it with a handfull of fiberfill. he got stuck to the umbrella handle with electrical tape and then i added the beak, eyes and feathers with more felt. this guy might be my very favorite part of the whole costume!

here we are! my handsome chimney sweep and i! i think he should wear that hat all the time! we went to the lion's club party in town but arrived just too late for the adult costume contest. sad. the sweet old guys from the lions liked our costumes so much they gave us bags of candy! we enjoyed the rest of our night trick or treating with some friends & their kids and then finished the night at a party. halloween should not be on a monday!

practically perfect!

on ~~hubby~~ bert:
newsboy hat: goodwill, $1.99
black shirt: structure
grey vest: the suit he wore to prom
black pants: suit from his best friend's wedding
red scarf: simply vera (kohl's) by way of goodwill, $1.99
{i had to rip off a bunch of ruffles & roses)

chimney brush: ace hardware

on me mary:

black hat: goodwill, $0.98

white ruffly shirt: already owned

red bow tie: made by me

white gloves: goodwill, $1.99

scarf: made by me

carpet bag: bag +fabric all goodwill, total $4.99

umbrella: walmart, $5
parrot made by me
grey skirt: goodwill (long ago), $3.99
(dyed a darker shade)

black coat: kid size winter coat from walmart! $20

(yes, really, walmart! love this coat! not as heavy as my crazy wool peacoat but perfect for our cold cold autumn!)

i think julie would be proud! and i might have to start wearing this on a regular basis. or at least carrying the umbrella!

photo credit: Disney

linking up here!

{almost} wordless wednesday

2011-08-17T12:03:00.001-05:00

i give you: chipmunk bum in gutter.
he was hanging out in the gutter, eating some seeds or nuts or something when our ferocious pup ran up to sniff him.
he turned to run up the gutter & got stuck. like this.

linked up here!

black gold: cold press iced coffee

2011-08-15T13:39:00.001-05:00

i'm putting my coffee snob hat back on today to teach you about a little secret: cold press iced coffee. iced coffee gets a bad name for itself, with its watered down wimpy taste, but not cold press. it's magical, smooth and delicious. black gold. cold press coffee is brewed cold for a long period of time so it's never hot and never needs ice. this is the way caribou makes their iced coffee and it's a trade secret i've never forgotten!

the cast of characters:

(will make one gallon)

6 oz coffee

1 gallon cold water

metal filter

giant spoon

plastic wrap

2 (1) gallon pitchers

the process:

first tip: make this at night. it's going to brew for 12 hours so if you start at night it will be ready in the morning (and NOT the middle of the night)

weigh out your coffee. i use my trusty postal scale. add a jar or bowl and then zero out the scale.

you'll need six ounces of coffee. aren't those beans just beautiful?

set your grinder to coarse and grind up your beans. same grind you would use for french press. (french press...cold press...get it?)

you'll end up with big beautiful coarse pieces of coffee. dump the coffee into your one gallon pitcher.

fill the pitcher with water. you want to make sure the water goes all the way to the one gallon line, so the coffee will come to the very top of the pitcher. stir the grounds & the water to mix well.

cover the mixture & set it out on your counter for 12-16 hours.

less than 12 hours and the coffee won't have its full flavor.

more than 16 and it will start to taste bitter.

this does not need to be refrigerated but shouldn't be left in the sun.

wait patiently for 12-16 hours.
if you're smarter than me you'll make this at night and spend most of that time happily asleep. i was not so smart, so i had to strain my coffee at 2:00am. i'm sorry for the terrible pictures!

after 12 hours, a lot of the coffee will have floated to the top. use a giant spoon and remove as much of it as you can. once you touch the mound of grinds with the spoon, they will start to settle back to the bottom, so you only have one shot to get as much as you can!

pour the rest of your sludgy mixture through a metal coffee filter into your second one gallon pitcher.

(a strainer lined with a paper filter will work but the end result won't be nearly as delicious. if your coffee maker didn't come with one of these guys in it, go out and spend the $3. you won't be sorry.)

this part is tricky to photograph and do all at the same time and since this was 2:00 am my usual photographer was fast asleep! i also didn't yet own two one gallon pitchers so there was a lot of container shuffling. basically a giant mess.

here it is in all its glory! cold press iced coffee. store it in an airtight container (caribou uses this one and we do too!) in your fridge & enjoy!

cold press iced coffee tastes best when enjoyed black. drunk from a mason jar. with a green straw.
also delicious: half & half and a little bit of white chocolate syrup.

linked up here & here!

InstaFriday: week 3

2011-08-12T14:20:00.000-05:00

agh! it's been over a month! no excuses...let's just jump right in to the pictures!

(these actually span more than a week)

i was doing laundry & the lid of the detergent jar slid off into my nose.
wasn't broken but it hurt like the dickens.
and i had this nice bruise!

just a little visitor in our backyard. usually they're in a group of four or more.

the tower of embroidery floss. we bought it just like this from a little old lady at a garage sale.
organized by DMC number!

last week a few unfortunate things happened
1. faerie fest was rained out by a giant storm that blew up right in the middle of the parade. there were screaming little girls in fairy costumes & much mayhem. highly unfortunate & probably turned a lot of little girls of to faeries...for life! (fairy? faerie? what's the difference?)
2. as i was packing all my soaking wet stuff up and standing in the rain, another vendor backed into my parked car. luckily she had insurance, because she managed to do $2800 in damage!
3. my phone decided to freak out & needed to be factory reset. mostly fine because it was backed up but i lost all the pictures i had taken since my last back up- the pictures of the faeries and of my smashed up car.
4. i had to drive said car, with it's mirror duct taped on (all classy like) down to illinois to help my grandma move out of her house. i love that house. i've always loved that house and i wanted it to be mine one day. but since papa died last year it's been too much for her. her new apartment in the spiffy little retirement complex will be great for her. (and i've decided i want to move into a place like that asap, but that's a post for another day). my trip home was wonderful, but very bittersweet.

209 beverly road.
i've spent every Christmas Eve of my life in this house.
many summer days.
countless sleepovers where it was too hot to sleep because my grandparents kept the house at 82 degrees.
it has a laundry shoot and an intercom system.
neil armstrong once sat on the couch discussing flight plans with papa.
(we now own that couch. kinda awesome)
there were hatboxes with fantastic old hats in the upstairs bedroom & toys that belonged to my mom in the basement.

it was so strange to see everything empty!
this is the "den" where we sat on the blue leather "davenport" and watched tv.
there were two tv's- a big one so nana could watch her old movies or painting shows (bob ross anyone?) and a little one for papa to have sports or news on all the time.
in that back corner was the stereo and all of papa's music collection. everything from 45's to CDs.

here's the living room.
the Christmas tree was always in the corner near that window. every year after Christmas Eve dinner we sat on the floor, cheeks red from the crazy high temperatures in the house, and opened gifts one by one. but only after all the dishes were done! papa made us wait until every dinner dish was finished before we could open even one gift! by the time i was a teenager we convinced him to start presents right after dinner if we all helped with the dishes.
nana took all her naps on that gold couch and after she woke up we played countless games of "tiles"
(rummikub to the rest of the world)

at nana's new apartment i found pictures on the fridge i had never seen before, including this one and a few too embarrassing to post in public! she must have unearthed a box of old photos while packing!

nana has this on her dresser in her new apartment. aren't they the cutest?
he was a pilot & she was a stewardess.

one of the beautiful lakes on my drive back up from illinois. i really do love where we live.
even if i miss target. a lot.

this past weekend some of my best friends came up for the weekend.
we started things out by going to the white stag for dinner.
they basically only serve steak & baked potatoes. it's amazing.
this baby here is described in the menu as one pound of pleasure.and it was.

we rented a boat from the resort brandon works at and spent all day saturday out on the water! the lakes are all connected, we live on the largest inland chain of lakes in the world (who knew?!) and we were blessed with a beautiful day to explore them!
we ate, we drank, we swam, we tanned (okay i burned a little).
all in all a wonderful day with wonderful friends!

just some of the vintage sheet goodness i found on my hunt the other day. one wonderful thing about the woods is that vintage is plentiful & nobody really cares that it's old!

speaking of vintage...our goodwill just bags up the jewelry & sells it for $3 a bag.
this was my most recent score. total $9!
there was some other stuff in the bag but it was too hideous to photograph & will likely go straight back to goodwill with my next donation!

some of the animal themed gift for our new niece or nephew. (and also a fuzzy dog elbow. or knee?) looks like that little one is making an early arrival so i'm crocheting like crazy!

linked:

treasury tuesday: #10

2011-07-05T13:22:00.001-05:00

treasury tuesday is back! i've been featured in some beautiful treasuries this week & wanted to take a moment to thank the people who put them together. thanks to the great craftcult widget you can mouse over the picture to see the item name & price and click the picture to go directly to the item's listing! {the widget still isn't compatible with google reader so click on through to see these beautiful collections!}{{craftcult is the same site that stores screenshots of front page treasuries in case you made it & missed it!}}

a greeny green mood
featuring the sweet pea begonia clip. thanks bettas!

from my faves.

thanks so much my dear leonora!

craving a dirty martini.

this one made the front page!! thank you NoMarkAtAll!!

scoop of vanilla.
featuring my vanilla dahlia earrings. thanks wendy!

have you been featured in a great treasury? have you made a beautiful collection recently? share in the comments, i'd love to see them!

happy 4th of july!

2011-07-04T19:20:00.000-05:00

{source: my3boybarians via pinterest}

happy independence day america!

instead of celebrating with a parade or fireworks we're stuck at home since brandon is sick with a killer version of whatever i had earlier this week. we did manage to fire up the grill for some celebratory hot dogs! i hope your holiday is healthier than ours!

my week {via instagram}

2011-06-03T14:44:00.001-05:00

yep i've been a bad, bad blogger again. anytime the current post is the same weekly feature as the last post...ugh! in my defense we had some crazy windstorms and lost power this week, which made it hard to blog! but here we are again at another InstaFriday!

we saw this mama bear and her cub coming home from a friend's house not long ago. here she's protecting her cub who has scurried off behind that tree. don't mess with a mama bear!

we enjoyed a lovely, lazy brunch on the porch on saturday. brandon worked in the morning, then came home and made brunch. love him!

on tuesday the power went out just as the sun was setting so i had plenty of time to set up this pretty candle tray. it gave us enough light to see but also gave us headaches...don't mix that many candle scents!

just organizing my spray paint collection!

a couple of new dessert stands for an upcoming craft show. love them in all white. hooray vintage glassware

the lovely view off of our back deck. it seems like just a couple days ago we were talking about how the trees were full of buds. now...leaves! unfortunately that process is the cause of the worst allergy season of my adult life. today i can breathe and see out of both of my eyes and i didn't have to overdose on antihistamines to do it {for the first time this week}. hurrah!

this was only a small portion of the vintage craft books on sale at a local thrift store. i didn't have enough cash for these but rest assured i'll be back!

i made these lovelies last night while watching craft in america from pbs {which you need to go watch! i've watched 3 episodes and have been so inspired by it!} i had plans to make 5 or 6 more of these flowers but had to stop because staring at the flame made me a little blind.

naptime on the couch. seriously...i love them!

linked:

we're off on a spur of the moment trip to door county to spend the weekend with my parents at their cabin. brandon & my dad are planning to golf & do some cycling and my mom and i are headed to the antique mall!! see you sunday night!

InstaFriday: summer WILL come!

2011-05-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

two posts in one day {crazytown}

i take so many pictures on my phone with the lovely instagram that when i saw instafriday at life rearranged i knew i needed to link up! enjoy my week in pictures!

last saturday night i sent out a tweet asking for help with a children's church craft. we were hoping to play outside but in case of rain i needed a craft for
3-5 year olds. my sweet friend nicole came to my rescue with this adorable rainbow. it didn't rain so almost all the kids went outside but one little lady & i stayed in to make rainbows & talk about God keeping His promises. thank you nicole :)

signs that summer might soon, possibly, maybe be coming to the woods!

{starting top left & moving clockwise}

1. pesto made with fresh basil from the pots on the deck! i am so, so happy to have fresh basil again. granted i've had to bring the pots inside three times this week, but we're headed in the right direction.

2. we grilled this week & had our first s'mores. aren't those marshmallows beautiful?

3. less beautiful, but much yummier is my first cherry pie of the season! i love pie & it is synonymous with summer to me. cherry pie is at the top of the pie ranking system. this one was made with cherries we picked and froze last summer!
4. also synonymous with summer in my mind: root beer floats! this one was made with ibc rootbeer & vanilla bean ice cream in a mason jar. perfection.

this week in the #setupshop chat we talked about packaging. this is what earrings look like when you order them from the shop! white box, green & white twine and inside the earrings are on a business card. love the simplicity! the reCharm necklace comes wrapped just like this too {shameless plug!}

i've been trying to keep track of all my summer plans and craft shows so i made these pretty green calendars one day and glued them right into my inspiration notebook. perfect size for the pages!

my name is jacqui and i'm addicted to spray paint. it's true. i can't help it. i'll spray paint anything that isn't nailed down {and it's starting to drive poor brandon crazy!} i like to paint things and i just can't stand brushstrokes so spray paint it is. currently i'm in love with rustoleum, but that's a post for another day!

brandon saved this desk from the burn pile at HoneyRock and it is exactly like the one we had in our first apartment the year we did the graduate program. i love it. but i will love it even more when it's grey!

here are some finished products! everything in this pile will be incorporated into my craft show booth for this summer. i am so excited about doing outdoor shows!

this little beauty is next up on my list. my first instinct is to paint it, then use a glaze to highlight those pretty carved areas, but the grain of the wood is so pretty i might just break down and strip it & restain it. thoughts?

i am loved. brandon brought me these last saturday when only a few had bloomed. they are opening slowly and lasting forever. aren't they beautiful? they put a serious smile on my face!

i love these two. they make my days happier. and yes she's giving him a high five! her reward was a carrot.

oh you wanted another picture of my super cute dog? no problem!

Great is Thy Faithfulness

2011-05-27T13:22:00.001-05:00

I shared this story over at thirty one: 10 on Tuesday but I wanted to make sure I shared it here too. It has been on my heart lately that I need to share this part of story more.

Also I know that this is a long, emotional pictureless post so later today I'm linking up to InstaFriday!

I have always said that I have a boring testimony. I used to wish that I had a more interesting story to share, but in reality my ‘boring’ testimony is a blessing and a tribute to God’s faithfulness. I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home, I went to a Christian school for 9 years and was active in my youth group throughout high school. I was a straight-A student who cared more about school than partying and didn’t really think I needed much help from anyone. God had gifted me with leadership abilities & a good brain and I was pretty certain I could handle everything on my plate all by myself

{I know…I was that girl. But I was fun too I promise}.

I got to college and continued to handle things all by myself. I went to a Christian college and was surrounded by other Christians for the first time in my life. For the first year of school, that was wonderful; I was spurred on in my faith and I grew in new and exciting ways. By sophomore year things took a different turn. I was surrounded by ministry opportunities, Christian peers, Christian professors; I was going to chapel, leading a small group and taking theology classes, but my heart started to harden. I was so focused on having it all together and doing the right things that I stopped focusing on what really mattered, my relationship with God. I had big plans for my future; I was planning to graduate early and go to grad school. By 23 I would have my masters in counseling and be set on my path to success.

But that’s not quite how it went.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Junior year was difficult. For the first time in my life school got hard, and I didn’t really know what to do. Two friends from my high school youth group, strong Christians, passed away within one week of each other. One of them committed suicide. My best friend and I stopped speaking because I wanted to try dating and he didn’t. But I kept going. I kept being the girl who could handle everything on her plate and didn’t need help from anyone. I was wrong.

Senior year came and I decided not to graduate early. I was on track to be done with everything important first semester and was going to spend my last semester taking fun classes and hanging out with friends. I start the semester like I always did, organizing my color-coded class binders and writing all the important dates in my calendar, but something was off. I pressed on. A few weeks into my classes I started realizing that for the first time in my life I couldn’t do school. For no explicable reason I was unable to keep up; I couldn’t focus on my reading and I was having trouble getting up in the morning to go to class. {Side note: I was a psych major. I knew what was going on. In the back of my head a little voice said, Jacqui you’re depressed, but I ignored it thinking that surely I didn’t struggle like that.}

By the end of September I was falling behind faster than I could catch up and had been informed that I was failing multiple classes. The idea of failure completely overwhelmed me and drove me further into my pit. When I would wake up realizing I had missed my first class, I would be so upset with myself that I didn’t see a point in going to my next class. This led to sleeping in my dark basement bedroom until 3:00 or 4:00pm. I was a wreck. I had lost myself, my identity. My closest friends were all out of the country for the semester and my roommates couldn’t be bothered to help. I was completely alone and could not face the fact that I needed help.

Then God did something funny. He gave me Brandon. When we told our story a few weeks ago to the junior high ministry we stressed that God does not solve your problems by bring you a boyfriend/girlfriend. I will stress that again today :) Brandon and I met at a time when I was far from a fun and attractive possible mate, but he saw something in me that was worth fighting for. I asked him today why he stuck around and he said that I deserved someone to fight for me and to help me and he knew that I was better than the person I was in that moment. I’m so glad he did. Brandon gave me a reason to get help and to get better. I started going to counseling with a wonderful counselor, I spoke with our fantastic dean of women who helped arrange incompletes with my professors so that I would not fail every class, and I finally, finally admitted that I couldn’t do it on my own.

Through counseling, much prayer, the support of my family and the presence of Brandon, who showed up at my house and woke me up for class almost every day of second semester, I finished college on time. I did not graduate early. I did not get an easy last semester full of fun classes and time with friends. My grade point average, which I had prided myself on for so long, plummeted. I did not go straight to grad school. I am 26 and do not have my masters. None of this is the path I would have chosen. None of this is the plan I had for myself, but God had a better plan. In the midst of the darkness of depression it didn’t seem like that plan was full of hope or prosperity, but it was. God is faithful and He used that dark time to teach me that I couldn’t do it on my own, I needed a support system. We are designed to live in community. He also gave me my very best friend and sweet husband at what seems like the most illogical time. {I learned a little bit later that Brandon was also going through a huge struggle & loss of identity in those months. God gave us to each other. Two are better than one.} More importantly, my life is so much better when I draw close to my Savior. When I am reliant on Christ for my strength, I am able to do more than I could have ever done on my own. God is faithful and gives us exactly what we need, always.

Life is not perfect. I am not 100% past this. There are times when this struggle rears its ugly head; when the smallest of failures threatens to send me back to my pit. But I am now able to see it coming and defend against it. I turn to Christ, I turn to the Word, I turn to Brandon, I turn to trusted friends and yes I turn to chocolate! I no longer allow the depression to rule my life. God is faithful.

feel free to right click & download this in its full size!

Footnote: I spent a long time believing that because I was a Christian I shouldn’t have been struggling with depression and it took me a long time to get past the shame I felt. I thought that I should have been able to pray it away or with enough faith it would go away. There is no shame in being depressed. There is no shame in going to counseling. There is no shame in medication to help adjust the chemical imbalance in your brain. God has given us these means, along with prayer and His Word, to be healed. If you are facing this struggle, do not face it alone. Do not stay in your dark basement like I did! Seek help in your community, with those you trust. Or, please, email me: jacqui@crafteemcgee.com

linking up with...

treasury tuesday

2011-05-24T00:12:00.000-05:00

ohhh i've been a bad blogger. so sorry! spring has finally sprung around here and after i sit in my office all day, i just want to be outside. we've been walking outside, eating outside, reading outside and even boating on the chain of lakes! love spring in the northwoods!

first things first, i'm sharing my story over at ThirtyOne:10 today. this is a part of my story that i don't tell often but it has made me who i am in so many ways and is a true testimony to God's faithfulness. head on over and leave me a little love? this was not an easy story to write!

on a happier note, i haven't done a treasury tuesday in weeks. it seems the pictures still won't show up in google reader so click on over to see these three beautiful collections that i was lucky enough to be featured in!

featuring the punch buggy earrings. thanks for the feature looploft!

this gorgeous water for elephants treasury features the reCharm necklace. thank you so much ringlebee!

and featuring the birds nest earrings. perfect treasury for spring! thanks kokadoodle3!

have you been featured in a great treasury recently? created one? or have you seen a gorgeous collection on etsy? leave the link in the comments!

an optimistic recipe

2011-04-26T11:12:00.002-05:00

one of my very favorite warm weather drinks is the iced white mocha. i usually hate fancy coffee drinks AND white chocolate but this drink is an exception. i recently rediscovered our stove top espresso maker and in an effort to make spring arrive i've started making myself iced drinks. so without further ado here's how i make an iced white mocha {which coincidentally is very close to the caribou coffee recipe...but not close enough to get me in trouble for sharing my secret training!}

the cast of characters:

coffee. good coffee. finely ground.

{begin coffee rant} it doesn't need to be an espresso roast although it will taste more authentic if it is. espresso refers to two different things, one is a roast, one in a brewing method that involves high pressure and high temperatures. you can make espresso with any coffee. so long as it's good coffee. buy it whole bean and grind it at home. never, ever, ever no matter what anyone tells you, put your coffee in the freezer! so bad. little moisture droplets form and crystalize on the coffee then turn into moisture then back into ice. its bad news for the flavor and freshness. store your coffee in an opaque container away from the sun. {end of rant}
milk. it will taste better the fattier it is, but we use 1%. if i'm feeling totally crazy at a coffee shop i order a breve latte. that's a latte made with half and half. just so darn good.

white chocolate chips. mini chips would be best but you can use regular old white chocolate chips or shave bits off of a white chocolate bar. the goal is tiny, uniform pieces.

ice. the bigger the pieces the better. melts slower & keeps your delicious drink from getting watered down too quickly.

the process:

yuck! yes i cleaned the stove immediately after looking at this photo. i'm a messy cook.

1. prepare your espresso. have you ever used a stovetop espresso maker? they're a fairly inexpensive way to make some delicious espresso! i didn't failed to document this part of the process BUT the wonderful kim of yellow songbird has already posted all about making espresso. go over to her post & see step by step photos!

the quick how-to:

fill the bottom with water, to below the steam valve.

fill the filter with very finely ground coffee and tamp it {pack it in}. i've found filling it all the way to the top makes slightly bitter espresso, so i underfill just slightly.
screw the lid on as tightly as possible. you want to make a good seal so the steam is forced up through the coffee grounds.
put the espresso maker on your stove at medium high heat and wait.
once the water starts boiling the espresso will force its way into the top chamber. at that point remove the espresso maker from the heat and let all espresso bubble up to the top.

here is your espresso!

you will probably get 3 or 4 shots of espresso from your pot, but i only used this much. probably 2½ shots.

2. dump some chocolate chips into your cup. not too many or they won't melt and things get gross. if i were one to measure i would guess we're looking at about 2 tablespoons? maybe 3.

3. pour the espresso over the white chocolate chips and stir until melted. this will take a lot of stirring if you don't want sludge at the bottom of your cup!

4. fill the cup up the rest of the way with milk, add a few ice cubes to help it continue to cool, add a straw and you're done! if you're feeling adventurous, top this with some homemade vanilla flavored whipped cream. truly delicious. speaking of caribou coffee recipes... ;)

a quick note: you could easily change out the white chocolate chips for milk or dark chocolate chips & turn this into a regular mocha!

i'm linked up with what i whipped up wednesday at sugar & dots!

He is risen indeed!

2011-04-24T15:16:00.000-05:00

{source}

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood
by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and
bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them,

'Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but has risen.

Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee,

that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men

and be crucified

and on the third day rise.'

And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest."

Luke 24:1-9

Have a blessed Easter! Rejoice today, knowing that death has been conquered & your debt has been paid!

saturday snapshot

2011-04-16T16:44:00.000-05:00

tomorrow is my dad's birthday so today i'm linking up this sweet snapshot of the two of us! aren't we cute? i've been a daddy's girl and a cubs fan since birth! love you daddy! happy birthday!

leaving on a jet plane!

2011-04-07T13:16:00.001-05:00

today is the day! it's finally here! right now i'm on a plane on my way to phoenix, arizona for creative estates! i have been looking forward to this weekend for months and i can't believe it's finally here!

we were delayed about 20 minutes this morning because there was pretty dense fog in chicago which kept the plane we were using from landing on time. once we got on the plane they let us know we'd be delayed even longer because the plane was too heavy. what? isn't that something they can calculate before we're ready to leave? so we sat awhile and then pulled away from the gate. hooray! but no. we just taxied out away from the gate and then they brought out a little cart to move things around so we wouldn't be so heavy. how does that work? we finally left an hour late and the little flight tracker website tells me we're about to leave missouri and fly over a small corner of nebraska. hooray inflight wifi! which is the only thing this flight has going for it. no movie, no audio channels and tiny seats. i usually like to listen to the aircraft control channel, but i think that might be just united? speaking of united, i really hate the new logo and airplanes. that is all.

that's my "we're finally in the air" face!

i am so looking forward to learning, soaking up some sun and finally hugging some wonderful girls in real life this weekend. i am so blessed to be attending this event and will do my best to blog & post photos during the conference! make sure to follow me {@crafteemcgee} and the #creativeestates hashtag on twitter to be included in all the fun!

handmade with purpose

2011-04-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

have you heard about this yet?

over 20 handmade shops and blogs have joined together to give back.

during the month of april 2011 each of the participating shops

will be donating proceeds to the charity of their choice.

please help us give back by:

-buying handmade goods from participating shops

-sponsoring participating blogs

-donating to designated charities

-spreading the word on your blog, facebook, or twitter {#handmadewithpurpose}

-visit our blog, Handmade with Purpose, to receive updates and future information

so for the entire month of april, 20% of all sales from craftee mcgee's will be donated to the american red cross to help with relief efforts in japan. immediately after the earthquake and tsunami i decided to give in my own small way. i am happy to be extending this through the end of april. if there's nothing you like in my shop you can donate directly through the red cross.

please stop by and check out all the wonderful shops and blogs who are making a difference this month!

Aisle to Aloha Studio

Food, Wine & Mod Podge

secondhand saturday!

2011-04-02T20:07:00.000-05:00

two posts in one day! crazy huh?

i already link up to yellow songbird's saturday snapshot party but i've been meaning to start a secondhand saturday post. remember when i introduced it way back when? i thought about moving it to another day but i think i like secondhand saturday more than thrifty thursday. what do you think? which sounds better? is there another day that works?

the thrift stores up here in the woods are magical. really, really wonderful! the goodwill in wheaton had wonderful clothes. i'm pretty sure there was a woman exactly my size who shopped only at jcrew and banana. she must have donated once a week! my entire work wardrobe was from that goodwill! vintage items in wheaton were either really hard to come by or crazy expensive because everyone is looking for vintage. i thought that when we moved i would be trading my wonderful goodwill for overpriced touristy antique stores. i was so very wrong! every store up here is full of vintage and no one seems to notice! my theory is that as the older people who live up here decide they can't handle the winters anymore they clean out their homes and donate things. vintage things. vintage dishes!

i started looking for vintage pyrex when we lived in wheaton and couldn't justify what people were asking for the simplest piece. all these pieces here were purchased for under $20 total. maybe under $15! i love finding a piece at a store for $1.49 then running home to check the pattern online and see how well i did.

so here is the beginning of my newest collection!

from left to right:

pattern: floral bouquet. this one is a corning ware casserole dish & came with a matching lid. hooray! i hear this pattern includes a coffee pot. that's something i need to find!

pattern: early american. brown with golden symbols of americana! lamp, kettle, federal eagle, coffee grinder, etc. this is a one quart casserole no luck on the lid but i'll find a discarded one somewhere. this is part of a cinderella set so there are 2 more matching casserole dishes out there to search for.

pattern: square flowers in verde. round casserole {also part of a cinderella set}. this might be my new favorite pattern. pyrex love tells me that this pattern is relatively common but also mysterious. they aren't sure that 'square flowers' is actually the original name of the pattern. whatever it is, i like it!

both of these are the "crazy daisy" pattern and i'm hoping to find the rest of that mixing bowl set! this one isn't in fantastic condition but it was 75¢ so who cares! i plan on using the mixing bowls anyway so used condition is just fine. how cute is that little creamer? also 75¢ and makes me want to collect all the different pyrex creamers! i also found this pattern in a bunch of corelle plates that will soon be making an appearance in the shop in the form of fantastic dessert stands.

i'm off to finish up some laundry for creative estates {woooo hoooo!} but stayed tuned til next saturday to see the super fabulous set of dishes i got this week. one of my best finds yet!

saturday snapshot

2011-04-02T11:39:00.005-05:00

well it looks like i've been a bad blogger this week since my last post is also a saturday snapshot. fail. fear not i have much fun planned for you this week. so for now i'm linking up to kim's saturday snapshot party! on to the snapshot!

i posted a couple months ago about missing my sweet papa. this wednesday would have been his 90th birthday so i've been thinking about him a lot. this picture was taken at my house probably 22 years ago. we were celebrating my little sister's birthday and i felt the need to bury papa under a pile of toys. he was such a good sport and i look so proud of myself! he was really the best grandpa a girl could ask for, when i was 5 and when i was 25.
love you papa & i miss you everyday!

head on over to yellow songbird to see all the other saturday snapshots & have a great weekend!

saturday snapshot

2011-03-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

linking up again this week with kim's saturday snapshot party at yellow songbird! i know- it's sunday- but thanks to the servers at go daddy my blog was down all day yesterday. fabulous! today it's all fixed so here i am, linking up a little late!

some time in the year 2009 my best friend lynn gave me a random package of stick on mustaches {because i like fake facial hair- perhaps a mustache collage coming soon} i didn't have any reason to wear the mustaches so i saved them for a special occasion- what better than lynn's wedding?! i was hoping to secretly pass them out to the bridesmaids during pictures but it was too hot that day and my brain wasn't functioning properly! so instead we put them on right after the wedding and had the husbands do a little photo shoot.

we called this one "mustache face" and i love it!

head on over to yellow songbird to see all the other saturday snapshots!

what i loooove

2011-03-23T13:29:00.001-05:00

so i was thinking about taking pictures of my outfits for a what i wore wednesday post, but let's face it folks, snow boots & sweaters are getting old. i'm sick of them. i've been trying to dress like spring in order to make spring show up, but we're in the middle of a giant snowstorm right now so that's not working very well.

instead of boring sweaters i compiled pretty pictures of thing i love and i'm linking up to what i love wednesdays over at lollipops!

we had a taste of spring this weekend. we took the dog for a walk in the sunshine {without coats on} and i wore flip flops to the grocery store. that little taste of spring made me want more!

1. brandon is a cyclist. i am not. he's hard core. i am not. no leisurely sunday afternoon rides around here because he's just too fast! i couldn't keep up if i wanted to because he has a road bike and i have a wanna-be mountain bike. i've had my eye on this pretty little bike for a while. she's pretty but not too girlie. she could make me legit!{yes, brandon i want a bike that costs more than yours did- sorry!} trek madone 3.1 wsd

2. hello gorgeous clutch. you may have noticed eclu as the featured seller on the etsy front page not too long ago! the shop is geared towards bridal parties but i want every single one of their clutches. you can design your own & choose the flower/bow color plus a print for the inside. i don't need to design my own, i LOVE this one! look at that big beautiful green bow! eclu: design your own clutch

3. it's no secret that i love sweet harvey, llc. i have some of brandi's beautiful letterpress & i want more! aren't these cards perfect for writing a happy note this spring? sweet harvey: vintage bike letterpress flat notes

4.i love this bag. i love everything about it! the color, the knobby, nubby fabric, the ruffles. if i could own this i think i would hang it from a hook on my wall and just look at it! made by hank: tough ruffles shoulder bag

since my optimism is not working, the snowblower is back out, the scraper got pulled out of the trunk, and i wore my boots today. winter is hanging on! these are the things that i love when i'm stuck "enjoying" more winter.

5. ghirardelli mint bliss squares. 60% cocoa dark chocolate infused with mint. amazing. these are my favorite ghirardelli product but they have been discontinued. i had a stash from the last time i visited a ghirardelli outlet, but i was running out. my wonderful mother in law went to their ghirardelli outlet and sent me a new stash. this might be the last of them so i'm trying to make them last. ghirardelli: mint bliss

6. i love the west wing. it's my favorite tv show ever. i started watching it from the beginning {for the 2nd time in 6 months}and it keeps me company while i work in the studio. if you haven't watched it or think you wouldn't like it i suggest giving it a try! seasons only cost $18 on amazon right now so it can't hurt to buy just one! west wing

7. when it's cold & snowy i like to make things with yarn. it makes me feel warmer. my current yarn love is stitch nation bamboo ewe. when stitch nation yarns first came out it i bought all three varities and reviewed them here. bamboo ewe is my absolute favorite! super soft! i'm working on a bunch of tiny granny squares right now. perhaps for a giant blanket? debbie stoller: stitch nation bamboo ewe yarn

8. we had this wine with dinner last weekend and i loved it! i first discovered mezzacorona when i worked at the melting pot. we served their pinot grigio for $9 a glass and i loved it. happily it only costs $8 a bottle in stores {restaurant wine mark up is just so crazy}! recently i decided to see if the pinot noir was any good. i don't do well with really heavy, kick you in the throat red wines, so this easy pinot made my mouth happy! mezzacorona: pinot noir

9. those were the only things i had planned to mention, but as we battle this snowstorm, i must say i LOVE my boots! i bought these when we first lived up in the woods three years ago. we spent a lot of time in the snow and i already had the classic sorel caribou boots but i wanted something cuter. these beauties {sorel malina's} were on clearance at a local store. they only had one pair left, just my size & they've been keeping my feet warm & toasty ever since! sorel

head on over to krystina's blog & check out the other lovelies who've linked up!

bead for life

2011-03-21T18:49:00.000-05:00

if you are visiting from faith blogs today, welcome! i hope you'll keep checking out the great bloggers listed in the faith blogs directory!

All images in this post are ©csteinberg2007, and are used by permission of the photographer.

recently i attended a ladies night out with some lovely women here in town. a friend hosted a bead for life party. until that night i had never heard of bead for life but i came away inspired by the organization and what they're doing in the lives of women in uganda. i want to introduce you to bead for life and possibly inspire you to get involved!

aren't they beautiful?

we watched the following video that tells the story of this wonderful organization. it's a little bit long, but i encourage you to watch the whole thing, it's worth it!

we also got to watch a video tutorial on making paper beads & practice right along with the video. this is not as easy as it seems! sure you can roll it up any old way and end up with a bead, but to get pretty, uniform looking beads is hard!

rolling a bead

i left the party that night with four gorgeous bracelets and inspired by the work being done in uganda. i love what they said in the video about feeling the woman's hands who created my beads. what an amazing connection!

my bracelets! this photo is {obviously} mine!

according to their website the mission of bead for life is to create, "sustainable opportunities for women to lift their families out of extreme poverty by connecting people worldwide in a circle of exchange that enriches everyone."

BeadforLife is guided by the following principles:

Creating businesses and jobs through entrepreneurial development is a more sustainable approach to poverty eradication than providing aid. Rather than becoming dependent on handouts from abroad, members build their skills and long-term capacities through meaningful creative work.
Concerned citizens in resource-abundant countries care about the issues of extreme poverty and are willing to get involved.
Paying the members fair trade prices allows them to meet their daily economic needs. Investing 100% of our net profits in community development projects for impoverished Ugandans allows for a long-term sustainable future.
Working together enriches all of us.
{source}

i want them all!

getting involved is as simple as going shopping! you can buy jewelry as well as bags of beads to turn into your own jewelry at the bead for life shop online or visiting their brick & mortar store in boulder, co. if you want to do more, consider hosting a bead party. you can spread the word & help accessorize all your friends! bead for life will send you everything you need to host a party for free! info can be found here.

also just a reminder that from now until april 15th, 10% of all sales from my etsy shop will go to the american red cross to help with relief efforts in japan. you can also donate directly through the red cross. thanks!

saturday snapshot

2011-03-19T12:57:00.002-05:00

hi all! i'm linking up today with kim's saturday snapshot party over at yellow songbird! such a fun way to dig through old photos!

in all the craziness the past couple weeks i didn't acknowledge two important events! march 5th was our little fuzz monster's second birthday and march 9th was the four year anniversary of the day brandon asked me to marry him. i'm writing up the story for this week {better late than never?} but here's a snapshot from that night.

it was pretty late at night but we went back to my parents house and woke them up. they already knew it was coming but were so excited to hear the story they came downstairs in their pajamas. i love that my dad snapped this shot of my mom hugging the two of us after i showed her the ring!

oh klondike days

2011-03-18T14:17:00.003-05:00

two weeks later here it is! the post about the crazy craft fair i did! sorry it took so long to post this, i had to catch up sleep and orders after the show and then was down with the stomach flu this week. i'm finally back at it!

klondike days is a two day festival held by the city of eagle river that celebrates all things winter & woodsy! i knew that the festival wouldn't quite draw my target market, but my mother in law wanted to pay the entry fee so i figured i should at least test the waters!

perhaps because i didn't pay the fee myself, or maybe because i wasn't expecting things to be super awesome i was a little behind in preparing for klondike days. the week before the show there was a lot of this happening at our house {fabric flowers, snack & my little snuggle dog}

she's a great snuggler, but not a very good helper!

i finally decided to just let myself sleep and whatever i had would be good enough. the show wanted us to demonstrate our work while we were there so i figured i could just keep on working throughout the weekend! since the highschool where the festival was happening is only 4 minutes from our house we only took the big stuff- tables, chairs, shutters & doors- the night before and then brought all the product the morning the show started.

these doors that i use for my display were abandoned in the basement of our house in wheaton. i LOVE them. they are old & solid & beautiful! there were actually 3 of them & we were hoping to bring them all with us to the woods, but the single one had to stay behind. it was going to be my new headboard- sad!

this picture was taken at the end of the day sunday- things are looking kinda bare!

my booth was on the corner of the craft fair, right across from the teaching drum. since the festival was all about outdoor living the teaching drum people were there to talk about wilderness skills. now i'm a camp girl, i have some wildersness skills, but these were serious people! they were all dressed in leather outfits they had made, there was a shelter set up in the middle of the gym and animal skins hanging everywhere. i definitely live in the woods!

all day saturday and sunday i had a perfect view of one of the guys actually 'creating' one of the skins that they have hung up. it started with a big furry piece of an animal and he just used a weird branch to remove the guts & fur. saturday it wasn't so bad, but sunday the animal smelled horrible which made the gym an unfortunate place to be. i sent brandon over to take pictures of the process but he didn't want to just stand there & take pictures so he did a walk by photo shoot with my phone- little bit blurry!

he said they usually use wolf skin {not sure where they're getting that?!} but this was just a deer

back to the fun parts- my display! i've determined that i need some sort of backdrop for indoor shows. i've only ever done outdoor shows and the back of my tent creates a nice wall but indoor i don't have anything. when you walked up to my booth the back of it got lost in the massive amounts of fleece at the blanket booth behind me & the giant sign from the dip guys next door. funny thing about being next to the dip booth- i wasn't allowed to have any food or drink all weekend {no coffee!!!} but it was okay to sell & sample dips and skin animals. weird double standard. and yes, i snuck coffee in anyway, which was tricky! a friend and her family came for the festival which was mostly outdoors so she had a thermos in her backpack pocket- they took it from her at the door! the food options out in the foodcourt included a paul bunyan brownie that took up 4 cafeteria tables, elk burgers, bison burgers and {of course} brats! brandon had to man the table so i could leave & gobble down lunch!

my booth & my wonderful helper for the weekend!

besides the doors for the statement necklaces and wreaths, i also had two tables. both were covered with white table cloths and then burlap. i try to make sure my table cloths come down as far as possible in the front so i can hide bins & supplies under the table. in the middle of my larger table was a "tree" {just branches in a jar of sea glass} that held all the flower clips. i couldn't get a great picture of it since i didn't have a great backdrop. i found these fabulous shutters at goodwill down in wheaton for $1.99 and use them as my earring display.

also included here: payment accepted & custom order signs

the smaller table just held cake stands. these were a huge conversation piece and i sold a few, but people were really funny about them. i admit, if i saw these at a craft fair, i would just leave thinking "i could make that!" and that's fine! the funny people were the ones who obviously wanted to figure out how they were made without asking me or actually touching the cake stands. this led to a lot of people bent over, awkwardly trying to see the bottom of the plates. these same people would leave as soon as i tried to make conversation. made me chuckle! the most fun was having people recognize some of the china as their mom's or grandma's pattern, or even as their own!

i didn't get good pictures of my headband display {a wine bottle} or the bracelets {on a velvet bracelet holder} but those both sold well! a couple of the crocheted bracelets i was working on sold right after i finished them!

more pictures of some of the craziness i encountered? why sure! sorry for the poor quality, these are cell phone pictures i snapped quickly as people walked by!

the typical klondike days patron. these people didn't really go for
fabric flowers or crocheted bracelets :)

he was wearing a hat made of a whole skunk, but he must of gotten hot because the
skunk was just sitting on his shoulder

this was the booth across the track from me. she came to visit a few times and was pretty frustrated with the whole festival. it moved weekends and the price of admission tripled. she said in the past 10 years attendance has gone down dramatically and it won't really be worth her time anymore. she said she only sold one hat on sunday {perhaps because everyone at the festival already owned one?}

it was a very interesting weekend! i learned more about my target market and gained experience at an indoor show. i discovered that little old ladies aren't afraid to wear giant flowers! i did just fine financially and got to watch a hatchet throwing contest. i met people who raced dogsleds and others who did the 6 mile race in snowshoes. i learned more than i ever wanted to know about leather outfits & skinning a deer. i'm not sure if i'll be back next year {i might need to add a line of fur necklaces...} but klondike days was a weekend i'll never forget!

linked up with sew chatty's made with love monday, blue cricket design's show & tell wednesdays along for the ride's saturday is crafty day and the craft fair link up at the mrs.!

random thoughts on a friday afternoon

2011-03-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

i'm sitting at work waiting for the bulletin to print & thinking of all the work still to be done at home. klondike days set up begins in 2 hours and i'm not quite ready! i won't be taking much product over today since i live so close and i don't want it all to sit there for too long. i will be taking the display over, including the two massive oak doors i use for hanging necklaces on. luckily we don't have very far to go because they don't quite fit in our car! come to think of it, neither does the 8 foot table i'm using. hmmmm

you may have noticed that the shop is looking pretty empty. i've cleared it out for the show and will restock next week with everything that's left & hopefully some new products! i made a few statement necklaces for the show that i'm secretly hoping won't sell. they might be my favorite ever! like this one, shown in progress...

sorry for the crummy late night phone photo!

this week has been stressful, filled with not enough sleep or coffee, feelings of anxiety and not good enoughness {yep. made that up} but i have been reminded again and again that God's mercies are new every morning. what a wonderful gift! when i would go to sleep exhausted and discouraged i would awake to a sweet, encouraging email or a note from a friend. thank you Lord that your mercies truly are new every morning! feel free to download and print the verse below to remind you on your tough days!

i'll resurface on the blog sometime next week but look for me on twitter this weekend with updates from klondike days. i'm really not sure what to expect from the show since the other festival activities include horse pulls and chainsaw carving and dog sleds! we shall see :)