Dear Lillie

Coffee Table Step by Step

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:30:00 +0000

First, let me start off by saying I am far from an expert on painting furniture. In fact, although I have painted probably about 80% of the pieces in my home I normally just rush through painting them and skip steps and then always end up regretting it later. Well, I don't normally regret that I painted the piece (I LOVE painted furniture), I just regret that I didn't take the time to do it properly. This time I decided to take my time and at least attempt to do it right. I photographed the step by step process of stripping the top. I didn't bother to photograph the painting part because I figured that wasn't really necessary. Anyway, like I said, I really don't know what I am doing I generally just "wing it" and hope it turns out. If you want to really learn more about painting furniture I highly recommend visiting one of these blogs, where these lovely ladies have a wealth of knowledge and give far more detailed information on painting furniture: Marian at Miss Mustard Seed, Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect, and Kate at Centsational Girl.

Okay, so here is what the coffee table looked like before. We bought it about 5 years ago. It was a floor model at Pottery Barn and was hugely discounted as they were clearing things out plus it had a few little dings in it. I LOVED the size of it and the fact that the drawers pulled out on both sides (there are four drawers and each one is really long and can be pulled out from either side).

When we moved here three and a half years ago the movers damaged most of our furniture. In those first few weeks I painted so many pieces (with help from my sisters) I thought I would scream. The coffee table was on the list but I never got around to it and I just decorated the top to hide all the damage. Over the past few years it has gotten more and more messed up and finally last week I decided to fix it up. I had originally been planning on painting the whole thing one color but then decided it might be fun to strip the top and stain it for a more natural look and then paint and distress the bottom. I figured worse case, if it didn't turn out right I could just paint over the top.

The top had all sorts of marks like this:

So, here is what I started with:

I followed the directions on the can and brushed on a coat over the whole top and then let it sit for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Then I started scraping away.

In some spots it came off ridiculously easy and some spots not so much.

So, I brushed on another layer of the gel:

Here it is after two rounds, looking better but still not done:

Lillie loves "helping" with my projects but because this wasn't a child-friendly project she just watched and made sure I was doing it right. =) She was allowed to help paint the other two projects I did last week, though (a chalkboard frame and an armoire).

Whew! Three rounds later here it was! I could already tell I was going to love it! I have to say even though it did take three rounds it really was quite easy. So much easier than I had anticipated. The last project I did using stripper was a nightmare and I had been scared to use it since. This was remarkably easy and it was even quite fun watching the old stain just peel right off!

After that I used my little sander to sand the whole top down. You could just use regular sandpaper too. I bought this sander at Lowe's five years ago for less than $30 when I was fixing up a pair of twin beds for our last house (those poor beds got damaged so badly in our move I could only salvage parts of both and made the daybed out on our back porch with the pieces that were usable). Anyway, it was a worthwhile investment as I have used it over and over for quite a few different projects.

Once I had it sanded down I used this stain and applied one light coat. After that dried I added a second coat and that was it!

And that was it for the top!

For the bottom of the table I used Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter. I used one coat and then touched it up in a few spots with a second coat. After it had dried I hand distressed it with sandpaper. I plan on sealing the top but just haven't quite gotten to that yet.

And don't forget today at noon we will be having our largest batch ever of Growth Charts available! Yay! And if they sell out don't worry we will continue to be making much larger batches as long as their is still a demand for them!

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Our Family Room

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:30:00 +0000

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful here yesterday and we had a wonderful afternoon with the girls at the playground. It was the first time we had really taken Lola and she loved it. I also got a few more projects finished up including painting an armoire. I haven't photographed it yet but hopefully will at some point this week. Anyway, I thought I would show you the coffee table that I painted last week. It really lightens up the room!

Here is a photo of the coffee table from this fall. You can't really tell in this photo but the top of it was all scratched up. I had things strategically placed on the top of it to hide all the damaged spots.

I also switched the rug and placed it going the other way. Before it was running in length from the sofa to the opposite wall.

And now the length goes from the chairs to the kitchen area. I have no idea why I didn't do that years ago. It's hard to tell in photos but it looks so much better! I nagged the boys (Jon, Jason and Jason's best friend Jake who was here visiting) for days to help me switch it but they were not interested at all in helping. I am pretty sure they categorized this as one of my "projects" that did not seem worth it. So, finally the other morning Lillie, Lola and I did it. Well, actually Lola wasn't a whole lot of help but Lillie is turning into quite the little helper. I was quite proud of the fact that the girls and I got all of the furniture off (the coffee table weighs a TON) and got the rug moved and then everything put back on again. Especially because I think it looks so much better now. However, Jon didn't even notice it after I changed it and tried to get him to guess what was different in the room when he got home from work was so I can see why the boys weren't too keen on moving it. I think I may be alone in thinking it made that much of a difference. Oh well! I do have to say, although he may not have noticed the rug change he does love the new look of the coffee table!

We often get e-mails asking if we have a TV and if so where is it? Well, yes, we most definitely do have a TV, and here is a picture of where it is. I never show this side of the wall because it is so boring but I have promised a few people I would try to take a picture of it next time I took photos of our family room so here it is. I really want to paint the TV console too but it will probably be a while before I get to that. I have several other projects ahead of that on my list.

And yes, one of the knobs is missing on the coffee table. I knew it was around somewhere and I finally found it last night in Lillie's closet. I have no idea how it ended up there but at least now I can put it back on!

I also wanted to introduce another new Reagan Pillow! This one is made from a summery plaid fabric and has a cream ruffle. It has just been fully stocked in our shop!

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! I will be back tomorrow with a step by step on how I transformed the coffee table.

Just a Quick Hello

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Just wanted to pop in and say I hope you all have a lovely weekend and to wish Jason a Happy Happy Birthday!

I will be back Monday with some pictures of our family room and a new pillow!

A Winner and Houzz.com Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

So, yesterday afternoon I got an e-mail from the lovely Susan Duane, saying that the feature she had written for Houzz.com was up and it was on their front page! How exciting!

There is our front door in the bottom left corner! Thank you so much, Susan! You can click here to read it.

Okay, so now for what you are all waiting for....

The winner of the Ruler Growth Chart is:

I hope I counted right...(we used to have all of the comments numbered but when blogger changed their format that went away so it was not so easy this time) =)

Congratulations to Maggie! Send us an e-mail at dearlillie@hotmail.com with your address!

We will have more growth charts available today at 3PM EST.

Because of the move this week this upload will be similar in size to all of our previous ones but then on Tuesday we will have a much larger batch available! And from here on out our batches will continue to be much larger now that we are working in a considerably larger space and have more help! YAY!!!!!

I started uploading the pictures I took of our family room with the painted coffee table and framed chalkboard today onto my computer last night and should have them all ready to go for next week! I can't wait to show you all. I normally rush through my painting projects and then regret it later but this time I really took my time and did it properly and am so glad I did! And I took pictures step by step for a tutorial. Here's a little sneak peek:

Have a wonderful Friday!

Lillie and Her Princess Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

A few weeks ago Lillie was sitting on my lap as I was working on the computer and saw a preview for these "Genevieve" shoes from Jessica at Joyfolie. Unless it happens to have a Disney princess on it, I have never seen Lillie get excited about shoes or clothing but she was absolutely enthralled with these and started asking every day if she could get a pair of "those beautiful sparkly princess shoes". Well, last week they arrived and she was thrilled. Of course as soon as we got to Colonial Williamsburg she wanted to take them off because she "didn't want to get them dirty".

Hmmm....deciding if she's going to let me take some pictures...not looking very promising.

Actually, why not? Watching Mommy try to take pictures while bouncing Lola up and down in the Bjorn, balancing the diaper bag, Lola's water and feeding her cheerios with one hand while attempting to not drop the camera and snap pictures with the other hand is always a good laugh.

Some of my favorite pictures of Lillie are in shoes that Jessica has made for her. We called these ones her little George Washington shoes. They were adorable!

And I think these are my all-time favorites:

Joyfolie has grown leaps and bounds and they are now manufactured instead of handmade and sold everywhere from Anthropologie to Piperlime! Some of my favorite shoes on Jessica's site now are the "Kat" shoes (and I love that the print is this Shakespeare quote, "And though she be but little, she is fierce.")

I also love these "Luna" shoes: (and read below for a special Dear Lillie discount on these!)

And check out these Maci Spectator Boots:

AND GUESS WHAT?

Jessica is offering a special discount to Dear Lillie readers!

Use the code DEARLILLIE30 to get 30% off the Luna shoes (shown above), Charlotte in Tweed and the Sabre Cuffed Bootie

or the code DEARLILLIE40 to get 40% off the Callista Boot in Slate

If you have never been to the Joyfolie website or Jessica's blog, I highly recommend you head on over. You are in for a real visual treat!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday! And don't forget - today is the last day to enter our Ruler Growth Chart Giveaway!!!

The Nate Show and a New Pillow

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Shortly before Christmas we got an e-mail from The Nate Berkus Show asking if we might be interested in being on a segment of their show. After pinching myself and wondering if I was reading it correctly I wrote back and said of course we would be and about a month ago we filmed a "House Proud" segment and then went to New York to film a segment in their studio at CBS. We found out that it will be airing on March 19th and I am partially excited, but mostly nervous - haha! I don't like talking in front of more than two or three people, so being in front of the was camera was nerve-wracking to say the least. Anyway, although I am nervous I am looking forward to March 19th!

It has been a busy week here so far. Everything has been successfully moved up to New Hampshire and I have been working like crazy back here in Virginia on some new projects. The coffee table is pretty much finished and I moved the rug around and added a chalkboard frame to our family room. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and it will be sunny enough for me to take some photos today. It is so much fun to see a room feel fresh and new with just a few simple changes. I also got our porch put back together and have been cleaning closets and drawers and baskets and got the garage completely overhauled (it was a complete disaster - you could barely move out there!), and I am hoping to start on my next big painting project tonight once the girl's are in bed. And then I've got quite a few new things I will be starting to work on for Dear Lillie. And we've already got several new things in production right now for spring and summer.

Today we have our newest Reagan Pillow Cover available. It is much brighter than our usual color palette but the second I saw this fabric I fell in love with it! It is just so bright and cheery and I love the mix of colors in it - it makes me so ready for summer.

And we have also restocked our Bird's Nest Pillow Covers:

Also, I wanted to let you know we have updated the information on the Gilles Family from our post on Sunday.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Ruler Growth Chart Giveaway and a Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Guess what? Today we are giving away one of our Ruler Growth Charts!

When we made our last batch one of them didn't turn out quite as well as the others so we thought we would save it and use it for a giveaway! There is nothing wrong with it at all, but the wood didn't take the stain quite as smoothly as normally.

So how can you win this board?

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.

You don't have to have a blog to enter, either. If you aren't a blogger, just enter a comment and then where it says "comment as" scroll down near the bottom and click on anonymous. However, if you do that, make sure to leave your e-mail address so we can confirm that you are the winner. If we draw the name of someone who doesn't leave any identifying information we will simply draw a new name. Make sure to check back here on the blog to collect your prize!

And if you want to up your odds of winning you can "share" the link we have on facebook with your friends. If you do that you get TWO more entries.

Just write "shared on FB" on two separate comments below!

We also wanted to announce the winner of our Maison De Stencils Giveaway:

Congratulations to Janelle Fritz! Please e-mail Laura at maisondestencils@yahoo.com to collect your prize!

You have until Thursday night to enter and then on Friday we will announce the winner!
(We will also be restocking them on Friday as well).

*Please note: Our contests are normally open to everyone however because of the cost to ship this item we are limiting it to Continental U.S. residents only.

Good Luck and Happy Monday!

Our March Mantel, A Move for Dear Lillie, our March Family, and Tomorrow's Big Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Whew! I have quite a lot of info to fill in this post! It was quite a week. Sorry, for the lack of posting but I got quite sick. I honestly don't remember the last time I was that sick. Fortunately, I am feeling much better and it has been a busy weekend so far. We started spring cleaning - yay! Yesterday we cleaned out the fridge, freezer, pantry and cabinets! And not just the quick cleaning, I mean the empty it all out, scrub it down kind of cleaning. Ahhhh! I love how that feels. Now I am hoping today to attack the upstairs closets. I also started stripping our coffee table and am hoping to get it painted today and then have an armoire that I hope to get to painting tomorrow so if they actually get finished and turn out okay I should have some fun new projects to share later this week. Also, I am hoping to get started on some Easter decorating this week too!

This week will also be busy because we will be moving our main location! As many of you know, we have been having more and more trouble keeping up with inventory and keeping our items in stock. We have been getting help and working as fast as possible but even still just can't seem to keep up with everything because there is just only so much space here to work. We had been talking for a while now about moving up to NH where we have a very large workspace we can use but had been unsure about making such a big move. However, these past few months we started realizing we didn't have a choice if we wanted to grow. Once we realized that, we have become very very excited about the move. It is going to not only allow us to be able to keep up better with the items we already make it should also hopefully allow us to finally expand our production and start making more of the items we had been hoping to but just haven't been able to yet, which we are incredibly excited about. It will make things a little more interesting seeing how I will still be here in VA but seeing how I already take trips up to NH pretty regularly, adding some more trips up there shouldn't be too difficult. So, at the beginning of this week Jason will be moving all of our inventory up to NH. Our shop will remain open and everything will still process and ship normally. Jason will have some help and the whole move should hopefully take less than 24 hours. The only hiccup will be that we won't be offering any Growth Charts tomorrow. We will have another batch available Friday and after we get settled into our new space we will be able to be making much larger batches so hopefully it won't be so crazy for people trying to get one in their shopping cart!

So, although we won't have a batch available tomorrow, guess what we will be doing?
We will be giving one of the growth charts away here on our blog!!!!!
YAY!!!!!! So be sure to come back tomorrow to enter!

Now back to some decorating. Before I get started on Easter decorating this week, I thought I would show you what our mantel has been looking like lately. The winter months are always kind of hard for me but here is what our mantel has looked like since we took our Christmas stuff down.

Lillie always likes the pink flowers at the grocery store. =) I prefer the white ones but every now and again get the pink ones which she loves!

Also, we wanted to tell you all about our March family. Each month we pick a family or organization and we send a portion of every sale that month to them at the end of the month. This month we are going to be giving a portion of every sale to Darrell and Trish Gilles and their children, whose home was completely destroyed by a tornado last week. They all survived but have suffered some serious injuries so please keep them in your prayers. If anyone would like to help them financially their is an account set up for them at

PNC Bank
Darrell Gilles Family Catastrophic Relief Fund
Checking Acct. Number: 302866564
Routing Number: 083000108

You can see a facebook page set up for them here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/gillesfamily

And a YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUKXXQ_b2_c&feature=share

I hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

Free March Download and More Nest Pillows

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Jenni still isn't feeling well and hasn't been at the computer for a couple of days, but she wanted to make sure that I put up the free March download for everyone.

Also, our Nest 14x14 Pillow Covers are back in stock!

I hope you all have a great day!

New Seersucker Pillow Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Jenni was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so she wasn't able to do the post she had planned for this morning, but I figured I would go ahead and announce our new pillow covers--The Reagan Ruffle Pillow Cover in Seersucker.

Lillie's First Bike

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Lillie has been wanting a bike since last summer. We kept telling her we would get her one this summer. Well, yesterday Lola, Lillie and I headed to a consignment shop trying to hunt down a few needed things for the girls and this lovely bike greeted us at the door. Lillie squealed and clutched her hands to her heart and said, "Oh look at this beautiful bike! It is just my size!" It was so sweet and my heart melted. Still, I figured seeing how we had held off this long why not wait a couple more months...right? She's been begging for one just about every Target trip for the past year. But then I saw the price which was great and texted Jon a picture to see what he thought but knew he was working out one of the players so didn't think I would hear back from him before we left. I told her we probably wouldn't get it today but we would think about it and I would ask Daddy about it tonight. Well, just before we left Jon texted me back and excitedly said to get it! When I told her we were going to get it I think it may have been the most excited I have ever seen her in her three little years!

Even though it was FREEZING as soon as we got home and I got the seat adjusted to her size she hopped on and in about five minutes she had learned how to peddle. She was just absolutely so thrilled and happy and wanted Jon, Jason and every one of our neighbors who drove by or walked by to get their mail to watch her. She's normally pretty shy around people she doesn't know and doesn't talk much but yesterday she wouldn't stop chatting to anyone that walked by about her new bike! She even saw one woman who was walking by with her phone in her hand and said, "You can take a picture of me and my new bike if you want!" If you knew how much she hates having her photo taken you would know how hilarious that was.

I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I have to say this was probably one of the most special afternoons I have had with her. I didn't have my real camera outside with me but I did get a few shots and a video with my iPhone.

After dinner last night we went to Target and got her a helmet so don't worry - she will be nice and safe.

I also wanted to wish Dana a very happy birthday! Love you!

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Quinn and Lindsey

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Lillie is going to be a flower girl in May! One of Jon's players, Quinn and his fiance Lindsey are getting married and we are so excited for them. Lindsey played on the women's team here at William and Mary and graduated last May. She's been a huge help to me especially these past couple of months when she's been helping out several days a week both with Dear Lillie things and with the girls. They love her! And Lillie is very excited about being a flower girl. She was a "flower baby" in Jamie and Josh's wedding but was too little to actually do anything but have Jason carry her down the isle. =) I am getting a little nervous she's going to chicken out when it come time to head down the isle this time. Especially seeing how this past week she's been asking Lindsey and I if "maybe instead of being a flower I could be a truck?" I am thinking maybe she thinks it's like Halloween and she is dressing up like a flower or something? Oh to be able to get inside the mind of a three year old.

Anyway, we are so very happy for Quinn and Lindsey. They are such a sweet and wonderful couple and we are so honored for Lillie to be a part of their special day! Here are some of their engagement shots taken by the talented Cathy Lachine:

Also Quinn is up for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award!

He is one of just ten players in the entire country up for this award.

I know I haven't written much about the season this year but these guys are all just such amazing kids which I know is pretty rare these days in college sports. I know how proud Jon is of them all. Quinn is an amazing role model and a perfect example of what we love so much about being a part of the TRIBE family here at William and Mary. You can read more about Quinn here.

If you have a second please head on over and VOTE for him!

Also our Emily Dickinson pillow covers are back in stock

both as a set and individually.

And we are finished up more Nest pillow covers which will be available towards the end of the week and also plan on having a brand new Reagan style for sale on Wednesday.

So far 2012 has been a bit of a blur and I have done very few projects. I have several that I am itching to get to work on and think I am finally going to be able to this week! I can't wait! First, though, I really need to clean out my closet and the garage - yuck...

Have a wonderful Monday!

Pajama Dress "Tutorial" (Jason's February Post)

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

When I started doing monthly posts for Dear Lillie last summer I made a promise to keep my topics of choice "somewhat related to the general theme of the blog." In keeping with that promise, I decided to try my hand at a little crafting this month. What I thought would take about five minutes wound up taking three days... and still ended up looking like it took only five minutes.

So here is my attempt at a Pajama Dress tutorial... Please keep in mind though that I have never used a sewing machine before (unfortunately I guess I can't really say that anymore).

STEP 1 - FIND FABRIC

Just Jenni's taste...

Lillie, of course, had to go with Dora.

STEP 2 - TRACE TWO OUTLINES

My right hand was apparently crippled in the outlining process...

STEP 3 - CUT OUTLINES

At this point Lillie and I found ourselves a bit overworked and decided take the rest of the day off.

Little did I know Lillie would want to take turns cutting... Expect this step to take at least an hour if your "helper" is equally interested in "helping."

STEP 4 - PIN SIDES

Lillie was actually surprisingly good at this.

STEP 5 - POSE WITH A PIN WAY TOO CLOSE TO YOUR FACE

STEP 6 - SEW EDGES

Jumping up and down on the foot pedal continuously makes things interesting.

No one says it has to be perfect, Lillie.

STEP 7 - REALIZE YOU SEWED THE ENTIRE DRESS SHUT

Apparently when Jenni said "now sew all the edges" I was supposed to know that meant to leave holes for Lillie's arms, legs, and head. Rookie mistake.

STEP 8 - HAVE A WOMAN EXPLAIN HOW TO FIX IT

STEP 9 - TURN DRESS INSIDE IN

Clearly Lillie had lost interest by now, at which point I realized I was just at Jenni's house making a dress by myself--awkward.

STEP 10 - PHOTOSHOP SOME EXTRA LENGTH ONTO THE DRESS

STEP 11 - PRETEND IT TURNED OUT WELL

So yeah, it looks like something a Flintstone might wear when dressing down, but at least we tried...

Maison De Stencils

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I am excited to introduce to you our newest sponsor, Laura of Maison De Stencils, who designs and sells Euro inspired stencils. Check out some of these designs:

And guess what?

She is giving away TWO stencils to one of our readers!

1 stencil that is 12 x 12 inches & 1 that is 5.5 x 11.5 inches.

The winner can choose 1 of each size stencil they like in those 2 sizes.

Here are some of Laura's customer's photos:

I love this schoolhouse cabinet from Lady Butterbug:

So how can you win two of these fabulous stencils?

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

You can comment each day if you would like to up your chances!

For an extra entry simply visit Maison De Stencils and come back here and tell us your favorite item!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Little Spring in the Family Room and Tagana Rose

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Okay, so I know that it actually is a little early for spring especially seeing how it snowed here two days ago, but I am starting to get that itch for warmer weather! Actually it was beautiful here this past weekend and again yesterday. I am hoping it will stay that way. Anyway, earlier this week I finally removed the valentine silhouette pillows that were in these chairs and added these new nest ones. I also added the nest back onto the wreath. (You can see the wreath and it's seasonal changes here in this post). I think these are my favorite pillows I have had in these chairs. I really like how the brown and cream tie in with the rest of the room.

These pillows are now available in our shop!

I also wanted to introduce you to one of our new sponsors, Tagana Rose:

They are currently under construction but are reopening on March 5th.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

Ten Months

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Our little Lorelei Wren is ten months old today! I can't believe it has been almost a year since she was born. She's turning into such a fun little person and it is so sweet watching her and Lillie as they are starting to attempt to play together. Well, mostly Lillie playing and getting Lola to laugh at her games. I love them so much!

I wasn't planning on really taking any photos this weekend but the weather was gorgeous and Lola was so happy that I ran inside and grabbed my camera out of my bag. I was able to take quite a few photos of my little munchkin although I didn't really get one I loved. It was really exciting though to finally be able to take shots of her sitting up! Just last week she finally started sitting on her own for more than a few seconds! YAY!!!!!! (I often photoshop out the hands that are behind her) =).

funny face

She loves to clap now! It is so cute watching her clap at the basketball games or when Lillie is doing something she thinks is funny.

Just like her big sister, Lola loves animals. She got so excited seeing the cats Luke and Lucy and was really gentle with them.

And clearly has no fear of them...

(I almost didn't put this shot up here to avoid getting any comments on how the cat could have turned around and scratched her. Lucy was actually just scampering by and in real life it wasn't really how it looks in this shot, but the shot looks pretty funny so I included it...)

Aunt Patty and Lola

Lola and Lauren

And Lillie and Lauren

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! We will be back tomorrow introducing a brand new pillow!

A Couple New Things in the Nursery and Our New Emily Dickinson Pillow Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

As I was scurrying around getting ready for our photoshoot last month there were a few projects on my list that my mom and sisters helped with. One of the things I really wanted to make for the little tree in Lola's room were these little stars. My mom had made some for her tree using a tutorial from the gorgeous blog Modern Country and then made some for Lola (or I guess really me)...=) I put some on her tree but then decided it might be cute to hang some from the ceiling to balance the other corner that has the hanging branch. And even though the tree is obviously gone now I kept these ones hanging in her room.

My sisters also helped me out. I STILL hadn't covered the euro inserts that were at the back of the daybed. You couldn't really tell in photos but it was always driving me crazy in real life. It was on my list of things to get done before the shoot but I couldn't decide what to make and then Dana sent me a picture of ones she had made for her new apartment. She told me she had just used a throw from Ikea and cut it up to make several new shams for her large pillows in her bed. They were perfect! I was running out of time so my sister Jamie made them for me! Because the fabric was stretchy they were a little annoying to work with but I LOVE how they turned out.

Also, we are excited to introduce our first new spring pillow cover today!

It is available in our shop both as an individual pillow cover:

And as a set!

I hope you all have a most wonderful week!

Happy Sunday!

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Lillie and Lauren

Just popping in to say I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Jamie and Josh's Painted Roman Shades and Breakfast Nook

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I love this shot of the tulips that Jamie took!

Earlier this month Jamie made a new Roman Shades for her breakfast nook to match the one she made a couple of months ago for her kitchen. She made them out of a drop cloth and then just taped off the lines and then painted them in with some brown paint. I have to say when she first sent me a picture of them (back in November) I liked them but didn't love them. Then when we went up in December to visit I saw them in real life and LOVED them! It's funny how some things can look so much better in photographs than real life, and other things look so much better in real life than in photos. I actually think Jamie did a great job of photographing them (I took some photos back in December and wasn't happy at all with them) but still, I wish you all could see them in person because they are fabulous.

Also our "Love Is" 18x18 Pillow Cover Sets are back in stock!

And lastly, I wanted to thank you all for your e-mails and comments full of encouragement after yesterday's post. That meant so much to us. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Valentine's Link Party Features and a Little Venting...Sorry!

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Thank you guys for participating in our first ever link party! It was so much fun to go through all the links and see all of your wonderful posts and all of the beautiful photos. I tried to comment on as many of your posts as I could but because I had either Lillie or Lola in my lap when I looked through most of them I didn't always have free hands to type, and there were several that I did try to comment on that the word verification wasn't working right on my phone and wasn't letting my comments through. So, whether or not you did get a comment please know I did enjoy viewing every one of them!

Before I share my favorites with you, I wanted to write a little bit about our shop. I have gone back and forth about writing this for a few weeks now. I generally like to keep this blog more inspirational and don't like to vent or write anything I will regret later. However, due to the amount of e-mails we are getting lately I think I am going to go a bit out of my comfort zone and address our current struggle with keeping items in stock.

First, though, let me say we cannot thank you all enough for the fact that because of you we are able to run Dear Lillie and I am able to stay home with my girls while still contributing to our family's income. Since we reopened last fall is has also become a full-time job for my brother, Jason, and my mom and sisters continue to make some of our items like the tutus and hats. Every few months as our business grows we revamp how we do things and get more help as needed. We have plans for moving our location in April to allow us to do a much better job at keeping up with the quantity of items we need to be making and will share more about that soon. In the meantime, though, we are working out of our small 1800 square foot townhome. Every month the amount of hits we are getting on our blog and website are growing and in just the last three days alone we have received over 100,000 page views here on our blog. This is not only extremely exciting it is also a tad overwhelming too. The reason I am writing this is because we have been getting quite a few frustrated e-mails. A year ago, when I would make a "batch" of pillows it would be somewhere between 8 and 12 pillows. Now we have help with both the screenprinting and sewing and our batches are sometimes as large as a couple of hundred pillows. We have been able to do a better job with the pillows as far as making enough of them that although they often sell out, it often takes a day or two so everyone has plenty of time, and that has helped with keeping customers from becoming frustrated. Our newest problem has been the growth charts, and this is mainly what I want to address.

We have pretty much dismantled out back porch so that we can make as many of these as possible at a time and we have enlisted a third person to help Jason and I with them as well. The thing is, although we are working on them as quickly as we can they are rather time consuming and there is just only so much space on our back porch. This week we will have listed three batches (one on Monday, one on Wednesday and another one coming tomorrow). Unfortunately there are far more people trying to purchase them than we have available in each batch and they are selling out almost instantaneously from when we load them in. Obviously we understand that this is very frustrating for customers who are sitting at their computer trying to add one to their cart right at the exact moment and still aren't able to get one and we receive a ton of e-mails within a few minutes of them being loaded from people missing out on them. I have to say, most of them are very sweet people wondering if it is possible to pre-order one (which we are not doing at this time because there is just no way to keep up with them) but there have been several that have been rather rude. I try not to let myself get too upset by them but I did want to address it here on the blog. There are only so many hours in a day and there is only so much room in our home to be working on them. I go to bed every night betweeen 2 and 4 AM (and Lola gets up most nights at least 3 or 4 times), and during basketball season my husband is gone the majority of the time so I am often juggling everything on my own, and lately Jason doesn't get home to his apartment until the wee hours of the morning either. We are not intentionally doing anything to frustrate people and are working our absolute hardest to make as many as possible. And don't worry! We will continue to make them each week and starting in mid to late April we hopefully will be able to make larger quantities of them at a time.

Okay, sorry to have vented. I don't want any of you to think I am complaining. I absolutely positively LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do and I really and truly am so grateful to you all because without you guys making it possible I wouldn't be able to do it. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am that I am able to stay home with Lillie and Lola. I have briefly mentioned it on this blog but not gone into detail (for a bunch of different reasons) but both Lillie and Lola have had some health issues that have required many trips to the Children's Hospital and weekly therapies. Being able to be a mom and be home with them and take care of them all day yet still help pay our bills is something I feel so blessed by. This has been such an exciting year so far for Dear Lillie with the magazine shoot in January and something else coming in March that I will share as soon as I have permission to and I cannot thank you all enough!

Okay, enough about that. Now to something far more fun!

Okay first, I have to say it was so much more difficult to pick than I thought it would be! In fact I decided to go with FIVE instead of three! I guess it's okay to break my own rules, right? Even just narrowing it down to five was extremely hard. Thank you all for sharing all of your fabulous posts!

Although it was hard narrowing it down to five, I did have one absolute favorite:

I am MADLY in love with this pillow from Craftberry Bush (and the photos of it!)

Seriously the whole photoshoot Lucy did of this pillow is just gorgeous! I highly recommend heading on over to her blog and checking it out! I visited her blog for the first time thanks to her linking up and am now a HUGE fan!

And now for a few other favorites:

I love this pillow from Josie Jones and Co. and the whole soft color scheme of her room.

This display by Kristin at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia is beautiful!

These Jane Austen cookies by Be Book Bound are fabulous! And the best part is she has a tutorial on how to make the silhouettes so that you can place them on the cookies. I am dying to try this!

And how adorable are these Valentine's Owls from Keeping it Cozy?
I want to make some for Lola's room using some of the extra damask fabric from the lampshade and her crib bedding.

I hope you all have a fabulous Thursday! I will be back tomorrow with some painted Roman Shades!

Also, just a quick reminder that we have a section here on our blog that tells all of our paint colors (you can find it by click on the link "our house" above or by clicking here) and a F.A.Q's page. Jason is doing an amazing job keeping up with the e-mails but they are coming in faster and faster and if you are in a hurry for an answer about paint colors or where an item is from or what kind of camera I use many of the answers can be found there.

Happy Valentine's Day and a FREE download

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:15:00 +0000

I just wanted to pop in real quickly to wish you all a VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Here is a free download for one of my favorite "love" verses. Jon and I used this in the first page of our wedding program. Although for our wedding it was typed up differently to go with our theme. Our program was actually one of my favorite things from our wedding. I will have to photograph it sometime to share with you all. In the meantime here is the download.

Happy Valentine's Day, Jonathan Reid! I love you!

And don't forget to scroll down to the post below to join our Valentine's Party!

We will be choosing our three favorites to feature later this week.

Valentine's Link Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Last year we did a ton of PINK everywhere for Valentine's Day. This year I had planned on doing something completely different, with lots of creams, ivories, tans and book pages. Well, there really hasn't been time to do any of that these past few weeks and to be honest I wasn't really in the mood to do much anyway. So, instead we just added a few simple touches for Valentine's this year.

One of the projects I had planned on doing was making a big coffee filter heart. I really liked the way the cupcake liner L that we made for Lillie's birthday turned out, but it took FOREVER so I thought it would save some time using the coffee filters that I have seen some people use. Well, I didn't make it to the grocery store until last night and I needed them the night before so I could make it and get it photographed yesterday during the daylight. So, I ended up just using folded up white tissue paper because I had a bunch of that on hand. I am not the biggest fan of how it turned out. In fact, I don't really like it much at all but fortunately it was completely free and Lillie loved it - it's pretty easy to impress a three year old with a project - haha! I rushed through doing it (I didn't start it until after midnight and knew I had to finish it before I went to bed because I needed to photorgraph it yesterday) and didn't take the time to properly "fluff" out each tissue. I actually took step by step photos to do a tutorial but I think I will wait and make another one with coffee filters and show the step by step with that. I do want to make another one really soon. I am trying to figure out what shape to do to hang in Lola's window.

And over here we used the LOVE banner and Love Birds cutout from last year.

And then we have the "Love is" pillow set on our sofa. We just restocked them in our shop this morning.

Okay, so now it's time to LINK UP!

This is our first time hosting a party and we are so excited!

The rules are EASY!

1.) Your post has to be Valentine's related. It can be a project, a party, a gift, or anything else Valentine's related.

2.) Post a permalink. Make sure to link to your actual post, not your blog.

Please only post links to your blog posts, and not shops or advertising links.

3.) Please make sure to link back to the party. You can either use this button

or include a text link that links back to here:

"http://dearlillieblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-link-party.html"

We will choose our three favorites and feature them later this week!

Have fun! We can't wait to see all of your projects!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Is...and Reagan Pillow Covers and a SALE

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

As I mentioned in yesterday's post we have some new pillow cover sets available in our shop. They actually sold out much quicker than expected but we do have more being finished up that we hope to have available again on Monday. They make a great replacement for the Silent Night/Holy Night sets for the rest of the year! Anyway, here are some photos of them.

And today we are introducing our newest Reagan Pillow Cover in Toffee and Cream! We have two of these in our home. One in our living room and one up in Lola's room. It is my favorite of all the Reagan ones!

They are for sale now in our shop.

Also we are having a SALE on all of our THERMALS this weekend!

And lastly don't forget that on Monday we are going to be hosting our first ever link party!

We can't wait!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday!

A Texture and Action TUTORIAL, New Pillows, More Growth Charts and an Upcoming Link Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Check out more of our tutorials here!

First, we want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts most importantly for all of your prayers but also all of the kind comments, e-mails, texts about precious Blake. They have meant so much to us.

We plan on getting back into a bit of routine now and hope to have several new items ready in our shop in the coming weeks. We have several new items that are in production right now. This morning we have a new set of pillows available and at noon we will be offering another batch of our growth charts. We started working on the pillows shortly after Christmas and had planned on offering them in mid to late January. We got a little behind on things though but they are finally ready to sell. Although we think they would be a great Valentine's gift, they also are a great sentiment year round to have! For any of you that bought our Silent Night/Holy Night Set over Christmas these would be a great replacement for those for the rest of the year. And they also would make a fun anniversary or wedding gift! The photos on our website were taken at night but I hope to take better shots to replace them today and once I do I will share them on the blog.

We are also excited to announce that we will be hosting our first ever link party on Monday! We don't plan on hosting them regularly but figured it would be fun to have one for special occasions like Valentine's Day. So, on Monday get ready to link up any Valentine's related post you have been working on and later in the week we will showcase a few of our favorites!

Okay, and now for a tutorial on how to add actions and textures in Photoshop.

This tutorial is done using Photoshop CS5.

I seem to get all of her laughing and grinning from ear to ear shots with my phone these days and they are too pixelated to do anything with. Then once I get my "real" camera out I get the "no more pictures look" =) I actually did get some of her laughing with my real camera this day but I had my shutter speed too slow and so they were all too blurry to do anything with. =(

Step 1: I open the photo I want to use. For this photo I decide to clone out the stairs and make a solid background to start with. I use the clone tool on the toolbar on the left (the ninth tool down on the screenshot below) and start getting rid of the stairs.

Step 2: Once I have removed the stairs I crop my photo using the fifth tool down on the left (you can also use the second one down).

Step 3: Now that it is cropped and I have it how I want it I will run an action. For this photo (and all of the ones shown at the top of this post) I used Paint The Moon's Heist from Annie's Blessings Set. This is one of my favorites and I use it regularly. I also have to say Annie is such a pleasure to work with! If you haven't already I HIGHLY recommend checking out her site.

Step 4: For this particular photo after I run it I decide I want to adjust the settings some as it is a little too harsh on this photo.

Step 5: The first thing I do is bring the blue wash layer (you can see that highlighted in the bottom right area of the screenshot below) down to about 8% opacity.

Step 6: I play around with a few other layers just a hair and then close that up. I then click on the whole Heist layer and take the opacity down a bit. I think I took it down to around 50 or 60%.

Step 7: After staring at it a bit, I decide to crop it just a tiny bit more. (That tool is the fifth one down on the toolbar on the left).

Step 8: After that, I flatten the image and save a copy of how it looks now (I always keep the original photo too).

Step 9: Now it's time to add a texture. For this I use a Vintage Screen by Florabella. I simply place the texture over my image.

Step 10: For this particular image I used the overlay option (as seen highlighted in the bottom right area of the screen shot below). I generally play around and decide which option works best for the image I am working on.

Step 11: This is what it looks like once it has been applied.

Step 12: Now there are a lot of different ways to fix how the coloring looks on Lillie's face (yikes!) but the option I used this time was just simply the eraser tool found on the left of the screen shot below - the 11th one down. I choose a large brush option and about 50% opacity. Quite often I go even lower than that sometimes even down to about 10% and just play around until I get it right.

And there you have it!

I also really love the Whitewash Texture by Florabella which I use quite often.

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Blake Brower Hubbard

noreply@blogger.com (Dear Lillie) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

This is by far the most difficult post I have written. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and today I want to share with you all very briefly the events of last Saturday, but more importantly and more in depth the beautiful life and testimony of the sweetest little boy, Blake Brower Hubbard.

For those of you that know our family, you know that the vast majority of our family is VERY private, so I want to assure you I would never share any of this without their approval. They want for Blake and his life to be able to touch as many people as possible and therefore have opened up their hearts and want to share his testimony with all of you and this entire post has been approved by them and has their blessing.

Last weekend was the most difficult weekend our family has ever experienced. On Friday we found out the sobering news that a grandparent had cancer. Little did we know that the next day that news would seem minor. On Saturday our world was completely turned upside down and life as we knew it completely changed. That afternoon, my sweet little cousin Blake was playing at a friend's house. He and two of his friends made some paper airplanes and then went out into the woods to find a place to launch them. They found an electrical tower and decided to climb it so they could see how far they could throw their planes. Tragically, as Blake was nearing the top, the electrical current was so strong that it took his life. One moment he was playing and laughing with his friends and then next he was in the arms of our Savior. As horribly tragic as this event was, Blake's last moments were spent doing what he loved best. Playing out in the woods with his friends; sweet innocent boyhood fun. Paper airplanes will forever hold a precious spot in our entire family's hearts.

This is one of the planes a neighbor found from that day and brought to my aunt and uncle.

I was watching the William and Mary game on television when my dad called me to tell me what had happened. I wish I could say that I was strong because I was alone with the Lillie and Lola, but I was so overcome I fell on the ground and sobbed hysterically. I couldn't believe that is could possibly be true. I had thought I know what a "broken heart" was, but I soon learned that I had never known what that truly felt like. It literally was as if someone was ripping my heart from my chest. As many of you know from reading this blog we have an extremely close family. When I was in college I actually lived with my Aunt Patty, Uncle Jeff and their three kids, Robert, Lauren and Blake so they were like a second family to me. Precious little Blake was like my baby brother. I knew what I was feeling was only the tiniest fraction of what my aunt and uncle and two cousins were feeling and my heart was completely broken for them! The grief was paralyzing. The second Jon got home from his game and could watch the girls I hopped in the car and drove as fast as I could to be with them. I cannot describe the shock, pain and heartache of that first night and the following day.

By Monday morning though, it was a completely different scene. The strength and grace that my aunt, uncle and cousins displayed as they have gone through this is something I can't even begin to put into words. It is a testament though, of their faith in Jesus and the promise that they will see their precious son and brother again and will be spending all of eternity with him. I have never been so proud of them or the rest of my family. Along with my parents and siblings, every one of my aunts, uncles, cousins and their children traveled to North Carolina. Including my cousin, Cathy and her husband who have five children all age five and under. And Cathy had just given birth SIX days before when they traveled from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Yes, you read that right! Now, I want to say that our family is far from perfect. Like all families we have our issues, but we are really close and our love for Blake was so evident last week as we all came together. It was also absolutely incredible to see their community come together and the Body of Christ envelope the Hubbards with love and support. Not only did I feel pride, I felt such an overwhelming feeling of love for our whole family, I also felt so proud to be a Christian as the love that the Hubbard's church and school family truly displayed the love of Christ. We have a LARGE extended family and I cannot tell you how many of Patty and Jeff's friends opened up their homes to all of us and made us feel like family. More rooms were offered than were even needed which is hard to believe.

You can see how amazing my aunt and uncle are when you read this statement they gave to the Raleigh News and Observer, “As we mourn the loss of our dear son and brother, Blake, we want to give thanks to GOD for his sustaining grace in CHRIST and we want to thank the community of our friends and family who are supporting us through this,” the statement said. “We are especially grateful to students and faculty of Trinity School, where Blake was dearly loved and where he loved to be. We welcome your prayers.”

Here is their beautiful family last summer at Lauren's high school graduation.

And this was just a couple of weeks ago.

Blake and Patty

Blake, Jeff and Lauren

I wish I were a better writer and could convey to you Blake's spirit and his personality. He was the sweetest little thing. As my aunt said, he was "a seven year old trapped in fourteen year old's body". He was smart, funny and full of life. Like his parents, and his brother and sister, he was incredibly athletic and was a talented tennis player. He was so sweet and innocent, and always had an impish little grin on his face. Chip Denton, who spoke at his service described him perfectly:

"When we say that Blake was innocent, we are only half right. He presented as a shy boy. He was still skittish a bit about girls. His dad showed me a picture on his phone, one he took just a few weeks ago: What you see is his smile. Sweet is a weak word for it, but I cannot find another. It was the kind of smile that has roots somewhere deep in the soul and is just on the verge of blooming all over the face. Especially in the eyes. He was quiet, but it was a rascally quiet. How we will miss you, Blake, our quiet rascal. Ask any of his teachers. It was never anything serious, never anything malicious or mean, but somewhere beneath that smile was simmering a plot of some sort. Usually it was the sort of thing a teacher has to pinch herself hard so as not to laugh about, while she goes about correcting him. That apple didn’t fall far from the tree, did it?

He was a small one, and he loved small places. One of his teachers found him eating lunch behind two tables underneath the stairwell. If he couldn’t find a nook or a cranny to fold himself into, he made one.

And he took his time. He was a slow one—I don’t mean, intellectually slow. No, he was plenty bright. He was just plain slow. Jeff and Patty said the other day, in one of those rare respites that the grieving get from their hard, agonizing labor of sorrow—they laughed that finally Blake was in a place where no one would have to tell him to hurry up. He was the original Unhurried Child. Mrs. Whisenhunt remembers that last year, in eighth grade, Blake would still be eating his lunch well past lunch, past recess, and into fifth period class.

"Blake," she said one day ,"You have all this time to eat lunch! Why does it take you so long to finish eating. "It's CPM's," he said. "Chews Per Mouthful. I need more chews per mouthful than the average person."

He loved his friends and his friends loved him. Listen to this, written on the butcher paper in the Upper School: “Blake, You were a great friend at all times. You always put me and everybody else in a good mood. I am super glad we got to spend so much time together last week. Love you, buddy.” He was planning to spend Saturday night with a friend sleeping over, and they were setting their alarms for 3 am, to get up and watch the Australian Open. And when he died, two of his friends were with him. Awful for them—and we must pray for these friends—but thank God that when our Blake died, he was not alone. One minute he was with his friend, the next second he saw a bright light and was with Jesus.

Here are some photos of our little athlete Blake

He was such a loving boy. One woman at his funeral spoke of her memories of him snuggling up to his mom and sister, Lauren, for years as he sat in the bleachers watching his older brother Robert play baseball. That was such a perfect description of him. One of my favorite memories of him was how he used to snuggle up with his mom and tell her how he loved her "all the way to God and back". In fact, I loved it so much that I shared it with Jon when we were dating and he had that inscribed inside my wedding band. It has always been special to me but now even more so.

Here I am showing Blake the inside of my ring at our wedding reception.

Blake's funeral last Tuesday was a sight to behold. It was held in the gymnasium at his school, Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill and people were lining the walls and spilling out into the hall. His love for Jesus was so wonderfully displayed in everyone that spoke about him. And that is what I really want to share with you all as you read this. The testimony of his precious life and faith in Jesus. Again, I am not a writer so I am just going to quote directly from Chip Denton again and his words from Blake's service:

"Yesterday morning at 7 am, Jeff Hubbard knocked on my front door. I was shocked. The last time I had seen Jeff, I wasn’t sure he could walk across the room without collapsing. I think it was the first time he had been out of his sad, sad house since he returned in shock and grief on Saturday night. His brother Dale had driven him over because Jeff had something he wanted to say. And when Jeff has something to say, he figures out a way to say it. Right then and there.

“We are dying inside and we don’t know how we can go on, but we are going to be OK,” he said. “We have hope, and that hope is that Blake is with Jesus now. Please tell people that. Please tell them that Blake believed the good news about Jesus. The most important thing—his faith—is not something we have to worry about.” Patty, you showed me Blake’s Bible yesterday, the one where he had written “On February 2, 2006, I asked Jesus into my heart.” Jeff, you have always joked about being the last person who should have worked in a school, you who didn’t exactly take to school. Brother, you schooled me good yesterday: If anyone is in Christ, he is new creation. Alive. Present tense. With the Lord. Home. Safe. Waiting on us poor sinners whose labors are not yet done. Blessed forever. Indestructible. Blake Hubbard is so alive right now that if he grabbed a high voltage wire it wouldn’t even tickle him.

Jeff and Patty, we love you and we are praying for you and we are going to be with you. Grief is a long, steep climb. Jeff, when you came to see me yesterday, you showed me that you and Patty are people who grieve in hope. Alleluia! But it is still grief, and we will not deface the beauty of his life among us by throwing platitudes at you. The truth, however, is not a platitude, and set down this in your hearts forever: That the steady love of God in Christ, for you, is as sure today when Blake is gone as it was last week when he was here. May God grant you the grace to grieve right through this and never lose sight of this good news. We love you.

Blake had so many friends. Some of you friends are followers of Jesus, and some of you aren’t. His love for you all was the same. But his parents told me that he asked them, many times, how he could find ways to talk to you who don’t believe about Jesus. I think he felt like he didn’t do that very well.

He didn’t plan it this way, but God did. Friends, this might be Blake’s best chance to tell us all about his Jesus. I think he’s got our attention, don’t you? Are we listening?

This is from the front page of Blake's Bible that was on the top of his stack of books on his nightstand.

And when his parents flipped the page they saw that he had rededicated his life three months to the day before he went home to be with Jesus!

In the days since his passing I know so many lives have been touched by sweet Blake and his love for Jesus. Because this blog is such a public forum there is just one that I am going to share with you because I have permission from my dear cousin Lauren.

This is a direct quote from Maggie's facebook page from this Saturday night (Maggie is Robert's girlfriend):
"A week ago today I WEPT with Lauren at the loss of her little brother, but tonight at church I cried tears of JOY with her as I watched her proclaim her faith by being baptized. What a breathtaking image of her REBIRTH through Christ. I am blown away by her strength, wisdom and ability to CLING to her Savior in this time. PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!"

And now I have lots and lots of pictures to share because he was just the cutest thing EVER!

And are you ready for some ADORABLE baby pictures of him?

Have you ever seen a more darling baby?

Oh how I want to kiss those perfect little cheeks!

Good-Bye Sweet Blake! We cannot wait to spend eternity with you!

I ask you to PLEASE continue to keep Patty, Jeff, Lauren and Robert in your prayers.