Holy Craft

Garage Sale Finds Friday

2013-05-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another week of garage sale finds Friday where I share with you a few of my favorite garage sale finds from the previous week.

This week, I found these gorgeous blue tinted Ball Mason jars.

One of them even has the zinc lid.

I couldn't pass up this jar that had my maiden name on it.

I've seen a lot of fabulous milk jars, but these still had their original tops.

I love that!

I paid $8 for all of these fabulous jars. So, what did you pick up this week?

Did you know that the Silhouette machine can cut fabric???!!!

2013-05-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the Silhouette machine can cut fabric?

It can!

And it is awesome!

This past weekend, I loaded up a few of my goodies that Silhouette so graciously provided, and headed over to my sister in law's house to work on a project she wanted to complete.

Val had a few 10x10 canvases that her husband made for her and they were just waiting for a project.

In true engineer form, my brother in law initialed and dated his work.

Val went to her fabric stash and picked out a few different kinds of fabrics to use.

Silhouette has a fantastic fabric owl image that I bought to use for this.

It made the design so easy!

We knew that we would need to use spray adhesive to mount the owl to the canvas, so we didn't use fabric interfacing for the large owl shape.

This was the first fabric cut that we made and I was super impressed!

After we cut out all of the large owl base shape, we needed to get started on the details.

I took my clean cut fabric interfacing and cut it down to the size I would need.

I used an iron to adhere the rough side to the backside of my fabric.

Once the sheet cools, peel off the backing sheet from your fabric and you are left with fabric that can easily be cut and ironed on to any surface.

Look how clean the cut is!

Val started playing with patterns and shapes on the owls and once the base shapes were in place, she ironed them on.

After ironing on the base shapes, the small detail shapes were next.

Look how cute these owls are!

Val wants to use button eyes, but didn't have any on hand, and it was starting to get close to dinner time for her one year old, so we quickly finished with the main part.

Just image button eyes.

He's adorable already!

Val used spray adhesive for the backside of the owl

and smoothed the completed owl onto the canvas.

Here are two of the four owls.

Who doesn't love a cute owl?!

If you don't have a Silhouette yet, and the fact that it cuts fabric has totally changed your mind on buying one, here are some great deals for you!

To get these deals go here and type in "holy" at checkout.
What would you cut on your silhouette?

Starting to prep for our master closet makeover

2013-05-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading along for any length of time, you will remember mention of my master closet.

My master closet is one of the reasons I fell in love with this house.

My husband has his own walk in closet in our bedroom, and I have my own 15 x 7 foot closet {yep, it's big!} off of the master bathroom.

I shared some of my inspiration for my closet here.

If you want a master bedroom tour, you can see my epic room makeover entry here.

{I came in second, so no room makeover by Vintage Revivals {bummer!}, but I did update it a bit myself}

My husband started to make changes to my closet by giving me a built in sewing area at the back of my closet.

After several quotes by local closet companies, my husband and I found Easy Closets.

**I'm not getting paid by them, in fact we paid them a small fortune for my new built in's.

If they want to knock some off the price for talking about them, I wouldn't complain!**

Easy closets was about half the price of the local companies and offered many of the same features.

One company looked like they bought the cabinets from easy closets and then charged me double for them to install them.

My husband worked up a plan, talked to a design consultant, we measured, and then measured some more, and then decided to place our order.

From the time we placed our order to the estimated time of delivery, we had a week.

A week to clean out my current closet, to demo the cheap wire racks, patch the walls and repaint, getting everything ready for the new closet built in's.

I spent an afternoon cleaning out my closet and taking things off of the shelves.

This is the left side as you walk in.

And this is the right side.

I have a lovely window on one side.

Standing with my back to my built in sewing area, this is the view of my closet and the cheap wire shelving that I had in there before.

My handy husband set to work taking out the screws,

which left huge holes in the wall in lots of various locations.

He ended the night of demo by patching the holes with magical compound.

This compound had to be spread in the holes several times {each time allowing for shrinkage} before being able to paint over the holes and pretending that the wire racks never existed.

After the compound dried and several layers were applied, I painted the spots.

You can hardly tell the shelves were even part of my closet!

This is the master closet after the shelves are down.

A different angle of the closet,

{and messy sewing area}, taken from the bathroom

with the shelves removed.

The delivery of my closet shelving is scheduled for tomorrow.

39 boxes and 1,400 pounds!

I should bake the UPS guy some cookies while I'm thinking about it.

ps-if you are a facebook fan, you are probably shaking your head and saying "what? I thought the closets were already delivered." They were. I wrote this post last week. It's how I stay on top of things! Want to stay on top of things too? "like" me on facebook.

Mod podge vintage suitcase upcycle

2013-05-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

While on my junk shopping trip in Seattle with my friend Mandi, I picked up this blue Samsonite suitcase from the Goodwill outlet.

Not sure what SP is, maybe salt and pepper?

Susie Parker?

Shirley Potts?

Regardless, it's a plain old vintage suitcase that was in good condition and has tons of life left in her.

She just needs a good makeover.

I literally had all of these supplies on hand in my craft closet.

I'm a hoarder what can I say?

All you need to give your own suitcase a little update is some mod podge, fabric, and my new favorite tool the mod podge roller applicator.

I'm all for basic supplies, but believe me, this roller applicator is beyond basic.

That bad boy was invented for a reason.

It makes big jobs with mod podge so much easier!

You literally pour your mod podge into your container and screw the roller on top.

I applied mod podge to the whole front of the suitcase in about three seconds.

After I rolled on a layer of mod podge, I lined up my fabric with the suitcase edge and spread it into place.

I folded the edges over the bottom and secured the fabric in place with more mod podge.

I repeated the process with the top of the suitcase as well.

I folded the corners and cut the excess fabric off.

I took a smaller brush and secured the fabric edges down with a layer of mod podge.

Trim off your extra strings and there you have it!

Isn't this the cutest upcycled vintage suitcase you ever did see?!

Keeping your home stylish while raising a family

2013-05-20T05:30:00.000-07:00

When we moved two years ago, it felt like we had made a transition.

The kids were 5,8 and 11 at the time and while they still played with toys, it wasn't like the days when they were toddlers when I transformed our formal dining room into a play room.

We no longer had plastic kitchens and bins of toys lining the shelves in our dining room.

Probably because we now had a bonus room with a HUGE walk in closet that stored all of the kids toys.

Our kids had gotten to the point that they weren't home all day every day, and they didn't need toys to entertain them while I got work done around the house.

They had school to occupy their time, friends to play with outside, and big kid things that were more fun to them than toys.

However, we can't limit every evidence of kids living in our house to our bonus room.

I have always wanted our home to be kid friendly, but still feel homey and stylish at the same time.

I'm sure it's not the best kept secret around, but I am a door junkie.

I love to have a mess of toys, crafts, or whatever on one side and be able to close it off with a door so that no one is the wiser!

I don't like visual clutter.

Case in point, my now 7 year old, still has lots of kid stuff.

Toys and collections that his older siblings have traded in for books, musical instruments and shoes {yes, my daughter is a shoe horse!}.

This is Owen's closet in his room.

I love being able to close the doors and not think about what is behind the doors.

When the doors are open, built in shelves that my husband made help Owen store his legos, robots and science kits.

We haven't banned toys downstairs, but the only place that we have kid toys is in our entertainment center.

Again, I have doors that I can easily close to contain the mess.

The kids can find puzzles, books, drawing paper, Lincoln logs and leapsters in the cabinets.

I have never wanted our kids growing up in a house where I cared more about the furniture and decorations than I cared about their well being or their development. Most of our furniture and decor is second hand and has been bought at garage sales or on craigslist. If a vase gets knocked over and broken because they are having a nerf war, so what, I paid a dollar for it.

Drawers in my buffet may be filled with crayons and coloring books instead of the latest home decor magazines, but my kids know that this is their home, not a magazine photo shoot.

We may not have the nicest furniture from the most upscale stores or the latest trends in home decorating, but my family lives here. I have three kids who tromp through the house in muddy shoes, kids friends who break things and a house that we live in. My kids and their childhood experience mean more to me than the upholstery on my couch.

So remember, the time that your kids live with you is short.

You will one day have your house back and you will be able to keep it clean for longer than 20 minutes.

Just not today.

If you are anything like me, in life, sometimes we all wish that we could close the doors to our messy selves and only let our pretty exterior show, but that isn't always the case.

I had the opportunity this week to view a sneak peek of the newest Lifetime reality show Pretty Wicked Moms and thought it was fabulous! I'm a sucker for crazy train wreck like reality TV and this show totally fits the bill!

Pretty Wicked Moms is a cast of six young moms {well, one mom is a dog mom...does that count?}, living in the Atlanta area. Sad to say, but as a stay at home mom for the past 15 years, I have encountered just about every one of these moms at play groups, birthday parties or Bunco nights. If you have young children, I think you can relate to these moms or at least know a mom who is just like one of the cast in this unscripted Lifetime reality show.

All of these moms want to portray a perfect life with perfect kids, but their "closets" are a total mess, they just close their pretty doors and hide all their dirty little secrets and now you can get a behind the scenes look at what those little secrets are!

Tune in to watch parenting like you've never seen before with the first episode of Pretty Wicked Moms on Tuesday, June 4, at 10:00 pm ET/PT on Lifetime

I look forward to catching more of this show when it airs. Set your DVR's! You won't want to miss it.
FTC DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT Holy Craft aims to provide unbiased editorials. However, I wish to disclose that from time to time I may receive free products or other compensation from companies for blogger reviews

Winner of the Mombo nursing pillow

2013-05-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

I drew a number using Random.org to pick the winner of the Mombo nursing pillow.
True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:3Powered by RANDOM.ORG The winner is Lauren.

Lauren said...

I would love to try this! I'm due in August and am hoping to breastfeed my little girl.

Lauren, watch for an e-mail so that I can get your address to send this off to you.

Are you local? Have a teen driver? Want to join me at the EMP?

2013-05-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hey local readers, I'd love you to join me at the Drive it Home Show, presented by the National Safety Council and Allstate Foundation, Tuesday, May 21, If you have tween, teen, or are concerned about teen driving safety, it will be an informative (and entertaining!) event. Please feel free to share this post with anyone who might like to attend. Details are as follows:

What: Drive it Home Show, presented by the National Safety Council and Allstate Foundation

When: Tuesday, May 21 from 7pm - 8:15pm

Where: EMP Museum - Level 3 (325 5th Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109)

Price: FREE!; no tickets required

Parking: Pay lots are available near the museum and metered parking is available on the side streets across 5th Avenue N.

BONUS: You can enter in the sweepstakes at the event for a chance to win gas cards and a brand new car!

If you'd like to attend, click here to register and when checking in, let them know that Clever Girls Collective sent you. Hope to see you there!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Garage Sale Finds Friday

2013-05-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to another week of garage sale finds Friday.

Where I share with you some of my favorite garage sale finds from the week.

We all grew up with Pyrex dishes.

When I saw these Pyrex bowls in these fantastic blues and yellows, I knew I had to snatch them up!

The colors are amazing!

I got the whole stack for $5.

I love vintage tins so when I saw this vintage honey tin for $1 I was sold.

It still has great colors to it, and despite holding five pounds of honey, isn't the least bit sticky!

If you are from the Pacific Northwest you know all about Frango mints.

People out here love their Frango mints!

I didn't grow up here, but I can't tell you the amount of times I have heard the story about how kids grew up going to Fredrick and Nelson and getting a Frango mint!

This tin is from the Bon Marche, which was bought up by Macy's shortly after I moved here.

The nostalgia of it makes people out here think it's the best thing ever!

I'm not a smoker.

I don't think you should smoke.

Smoking is bad for you.

BUT, I love these tobacco tins.

The graphics are cool.

The packaging is awesome, and the colors are pretty sweet.

What's not to love?!

I got the whole lot for $5.

So, what did you find this week at garage sales? Anything worth writing home about?

Origami Owl lockets + giveaway!

2013-05-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Mother's Day last week, I got this cute little box in the mail.

It came with a cute little handwritten note, packaged and inspected with care.

Love that!

This is what was inside that sweet blue box.

Once I put everything together, this is the necklace I had made and lovingly selected just a few weeks prior.

I filled this locket with a "love life" plate and put a few of my favorite things inside.

I adore the beach, warm breezes and sand between my toes, and everything in this locket reminds me of that. It's like a warm day at the beach condensed down into a locket full of goodness.

I love it!

One of the things I want my readers to come away with from my blog is to be inspired.

I also only share products that I love with my readers,

and I am in love with Origami Owl!

Put those two things together, and you have this awesome custom necklace in our giveaway prize pack.

I'm sure you could find 100 different things to wear this necklace with!

The locket includes:

Large Silver with Crystals Locket
32" Silver Link Chain
Three Dangles: "Open my heart" dangle, pink pearl and vintage crystal
Large Gold "Inspire" Plate
Five Charms: Large Rosegold Gear, Silver Crystal Heart, Vintage Flower, Black Cameo, and Fleur de lis

Want to win?

I know you do!

And you will love your new Origami Owl locket as much as I love mine!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's in my cart at the Dollar Store

2013-05-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

Last month, I started a fun little series called,

What's in my cart at the Dollar Store,

Where you get to have a glimpse into the things that this Dollar Store expert is buying.

So, want to see what's in my cart this month?

I usually buy my make up at garage sales.

Seriously.

During the summer, I can almost always find a Mary Kay salesperson selling off her makeup dirt cheap.

I've actually been using some Mary Kay concealer that I bought three years ago!

My guess is, they discontinued that particular concealer because the packaging held too much and people weren't running out.

Well, I finally ran out.

And I got a zit.

So, I headed to the second best place to get my makeup, the Dollar Store.

{You can read more about what other makeup I suggest you buy at the Dollar Store here.}

I picked up some concealer and some lipstick with built in lip gloss.

My youngest son loves our Jacuzzi tub.

He takes a bath every day and usually snorkels while in the tub.

Not joking.

He goes through a lot of shampoo.

I love the Breck kids 2 in 1.

He's a boy. It works.

I cook from scratch a lot.

I like to use fresh ground pepper but when I have a recipe that requires more than a teaspoon, I go with the black pepper already ground up.

If you buy spices at the Dollar Store, just read the label.

Make sure you are getting what is in the bottle and nothing extra.

I don't want to buy black pepper with anything added.

The label says black pepper, so I buy that.

Seems legit.

{You can read more about the food items I recommend at the Dollar Store here.}

I also buy most of my wax paper and freezer paper at garage sales.

I think this may be the first time in my whole adult life that I have actually purchased wax paper from an actual store.

I buy more storage bags from the Dollar Store.

Sure you can tell they aren't the ziploc brand, but I'm not paying twice as much for them now am I?

They do the trick.

I love these cello bags for packaging things.

I used them for packaging brownies for a bake sale.

They worked great.

So that's what was in my cart at the Dollar Store.

Freezer paper burlap bunting banner

2013-05-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Every time I walk into a craft fair, bunting banners seem to be all the rage!

Every booth seems to have one.

When my friend Mandi at Persnickety's moved her shop to a cute little town called Sumner, she asked if I would make some burlap banners for her to sell at the shop.

Today, I will show you how I made them.

I cut my burlap into pennants with a pattern that I made.

It's not hard, just a triangle with a little extra at the top so you can fold it over.

I used twine and some hot glue to secure the top of the burlap to the twine.

Burlap unravels and is sometimes really thin, so I thought I would secure the loose ends in place with some mod podge. I mixed my mod podge with some white paint and painted it on.

It doesn't take long to dry.

I thought it would be easiest if I had freezer stencils made up for the letters.

I cut my freezer paper down to size to fit in my Silhouette.

I always use spray adhesive to secure the paper to the cutting mat.

After I got my font and letters the size I wanted in my software, I cut them out of the freezer paper.

I cut the freezer paper down so that I had a small surrounding area around the freezer paper.

I positioned it in place

and ironed.

I used tulip fabric paint for the lettering.

Carefully dab your paint in place on your stencil.

Once it's dry, you can peel off your freezer paper and your letter is done!

That's it!

Somewhat time consuming but a fun little addition to any room, for a baby shower, or for your craft booth!

Where do you find support as a parent?

2013-05-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

For the past two years I have had the honor of being in the top 25 creative blog moms at Circle of Moms.

Circle of Moms by popsugar is a community of moms providing support in all areas of parenting. If you are a working mom, a stay at home mom, a mom of a teenager or a newborn, you will find information and support at Circle of Moms.

From the moment I became a mom I sought out other parents who could help me normalize parenting. I have been involved in lots of co-ops, play groups, moms Bible studies, MOPS, and on-line pregnancy/parenting support groups. The ability to talk aloud about what you think only you are experiencing was so helpful to me and those groups helped me get through some difficult times in parenting especially in the early years.

Circle of Moms has a video series in partnership with Kia discussing some of the very parenting topics that I discussed with other moms at the playground. Topics of discussion that you could eaves drop on just by showing up at any pre-school drop off! Below is the latest video from Circle of Moms by POPSUGAR.

I loved this video discussion! It was like sitting around with a bunch of girlfriends at a play date chatting about the latest with your kids.

One of the hot topics of discussion is how to tackle a weight issue in your child. Many parents aren't sure how to have this discussion with their children. A therapist gives some great tips on how parents can open up the dialogue with their kids so that change can occur to promote a healthier lifestyle.
**Tip: Being a good role model is key!**

Another favorite topic of discussion in mom groups that I have been a part of is birthday party celebrations. The circle of moms video series in partnership with Kia takes some time to discuss this as well.

I remember going all out for my oldest son's first birthday, and yet it's a celebration that he won't remember! There are whole blogs and websites dedicated to birthday party planning.
Are you a parent that likes to keep it simple, or do you go all out with a huge themed party each year?

And finally, all parents of multiple children struggle with how to incorporate a new baby into the family without making the older children feel left out.
It was always really important to me to spend one on one time with my older children when there was a new baby in the house. Even if I was tempted to put a movie on and take a nap when the new baby slept! My oldest son and I would build trains that would take up the whole downstairs. My daughter and I would read books together or play kitchen. We would spend time with the baby monitor plugged in to the garage outlet and ride bikes in the cul de sac.
If I needed to get some cooking or laundry done, I would try to incorporate the things that I needed to get done, and let the older kids be involved in it too.
The circle of moms video series in partnership with Kia has some great tips on how to make that new baby adjustment easier for your older kids.

Where do you find parenting support?
Are any of these issues things that you have talked to your girlfriends about?

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kia through their partnership with Circle of Moms. While I was compensated to review the Kia Motors video and write a review, all opinions are my own.

Garage Sale Finds Friday

2013-05-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to a new year of Garage Sale Finds Friday. Where I share with you some of my latest garage sale finds. I'm hoping garage sales are back in full force around here. The weather has been less than cooperative. So fingers crossed, the garage sale signs continue to pop up.
And while I mention garage sale signage, I need to redirect you, my readers, to my post on garage sale signs and how to direct people to your sale. Because sales are few and far between, sometimes I will hunt down a sale with a cruddy sign, just because there isn't much else out there.
Today, I zig zagged for blocks tracking down a sign that had every detail known to man, but not a single arrow! That's all you need people. An arrow...that's it!
I digress... Here are my scores from today.

I picked up a whole box of vintage buttons for a dollar.

Don't know what I am going to do with them, but I adore vintage buttons.

Any suggestions?

Lace is HUGE this season!

And vintage lace is even better.

I picked up 4 skeins for $3.

I also have an obsession for vintage ornaments.

I love these pink ones still in their box.

I got two boxes for a dollar each.

Milk glass seems to be coming in again.

When I worked at Goodwill we couldn't give the stuff away.

There was so much of it!

Now it seems like people are starting to collect it again.

I liked this shape of this bowl and thought it would make a great bowl for fruit during the summer.

So what did you pick up today? Anything fun and exciting?

Chipboard paper dolls with new Silhouette Chipboard

2013-05-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Silhouette had these adorable paper dolls available for free download.

I LOVE the free downloads from Silhouette.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for Silhouette to come out with chipboard.

Well, wait no longer! It's finally here!

I decided the new chipboard would be the perfect opportunity to try out a project I had been working up in my mind.

When I was a kid, if I visited a gift shop, I always wanted to buy paper dolls.

So, I thought I would make some!

I was just waiting for the perfect time to use the paper doll download from Silhouette!

It couldn't be easier!

Start by opening your file in a silhouette document.

If you are making a print and cut design don't forget the most important part is adding registration marks!

I usually resize mine because I don't like them being huge on my page.

Plus, I'm still working with the small size Silhouette, not the 12x12, so every inch counts!

Resize your image to fit inside the registration marks and the cut box.

You will start by printing your image.

After your image is printed in your printer, place it on your cutting mat.

When you add registration marks, Silhouette automatically knows you want to print and cut.

It brings you to this screen that says detect registration marks.

I always detect them automatically.

It will think about it and move your paper around.

Sometimes if you resize your registration marks too small it will have a hard time finding them.

If that is the case, I usually have to feed my project in a few times before it finds it.

Once the machine detects your registration marks, cut as usual.

One of the hardest things with paper dolls is keeping them all together.

I always used to shove mine into my book but inevitably a shoe would fall out!

So I thought while I was cutting chipboard, I would make a storage box as well for my paper dolls.

I hate to waste paper when I make a cut, so usually I fill it with other things to cut so I use up all of my paper. I put some pennants on the page with the box.

I took some scrapbook paper scraps and gussied up my box.

I even added my pennants on a string.

It's the perfect storage spot for your new set of paper dolls!

Just enter "HOLY" at checkout here to take advantage of these great deals!

Taking an issue and making it an initiative #SocialPower

2013-05-06T20:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Social Power for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

We all have things in life that we wish we could change.

Usually we complain about them to our friends and relatives.

Sometimes we even mention our issues to upper management.

Most of the time, we never see anything come of our complaints. We never get resolution to our problems. Sometimes all we want is an "amen" from the choir or an encouraging nod that others can understand our situation and want to do something to change the current state of a problem.

That is where Social Power comes in.

We all know how powerful social media is in our lives.

When my husband and I were preparing to buy a new washer and dryer, I took to Facebook to ask for my friends opinions on the best brand. Should we go front loader or stick with top loading. The consensus of several peoples experiences ultimately led us to our decision.

But it doesn't just stop there. We had great success with our washer and dryer, so I asked about a coffee maker, where we should stay on vacation, what books I should read. The list goes on.

The ability to have several people weigh in on a decision that you have to make is always more reassuring to me, than blindly making the decision on my own.

I have recently taken on more of an advocacy role. Not on purpose, but because like I tell my kids "see a need, fill a need." I see an issue, and I want to see if we can resolve it. I know I'm not the only one who feels a particular way about an issue, but sometimes I feel like I am the only one making any noise or supporting my issue.

Social Power is a loud voice for you.

I watched that short video and was inspired to take my issue and with enough support, hopefully, turn it into an initiative.

You see, I have been noticing that our school district has been having more and more half days of school.

Half days of school in our state count towards a full day of instruction but we all know that in a shortened day, our children aren't getting the same instructional time as they would be getting in a full day.

My oldest son will be heading to college in just three short years. I fear that he won't be as prepared as some of his peers once he gets to University.

Because I feel so strongly about our children getting the instructional time that they deserve, I started an issue on Social Power.

I know I'm not the only one who has noticed an increase in half days.

I know they many other parents feel like their kids aren't getting the instructional time that they deserve.

Help me make a difference!

If you agree with me, visit my issue here and support it.

Share it with your friends on your social networks.

I'm sure there is something that you are passionate about as well.
Make your voice heard!

Give Social Power a chance.

It may be that you want to let Starbucks know that you would love for them to deliver or you want your Big Mac served in a box like they used to. Or it could be a larger issue that you would like to see resolved.

Many voices together can make a big difference!

Books to Read

2013-05-06T05:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a few months since I have done a Good Reads with Holy Craft, but I do have a few books that I would recommend for you. Get your lists ready! 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excecss I'm not a huge self help book reader. I don't love to read devotionals just for fun, but the way that Jen Hatmaker writes this book makes for a fun quick read. I would love to sit down and have coffee with her sometime! It seems like we would be fast friends. In fact, that's what it felt like you were reading. A blog, written by a good friend. This book will have you thinking about how you view your "stuff". God & Your Stuff We had a fantastic sermon at church about tithing. Everyone's favorite subject! And it had me instantly volunteering to teach some type of class at church on how we as Christians can be good stewards of our money. I wanted to base it on my "Living Well on Less" series and found that this book was a good companion for that. It was a great book for exploring the connection between our eternal souls and our earthly possessions. Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse I love this PBS series and have already recommended book one. When I saw book two at the library, I snatched it up. It's such a revealing glimpse into postwar London. If you have watched the series many of the stories will be familiar to you. The Secrets of Mary Bowser This book is super duper long. I've had to renew it twice just to get through it! At times the book drags on and probably could have been made into a series of books or even cut by a few hundred pages, but all in all, it's a really insightful look into the life of a freed slave during the time of the Civil War. Mary Bowser is a real individual who helped spy on the Confederate Army by pretending to be a slave. If you like historical fiction (the author took some liberties, so while it's a non-fiction character it's not all historically accurate) it's a fantastic book. My current read is Garlic and Sapphires This is one of those books that got lost in the stacks. It's older but totally worth the read. It's an interesting look into the life of a food critic. Ruth was a successful food critic in LA and made the move to New York. Ruth quickly realizes that anonymity is the key to a true food experience. The red carpet gets rolled out for her when she poses as Ruth the food critic, but when she shows up in character, she has a whole different experience. It's interesting to see the restaurant industry in a whole different light. What have you been reading? I want to add a few things to my request list at the library.

Mombo nursing pillow and baby lounger review and GIVEAWAY!

2013-05-05T16:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

For five years (yes 5!), I nursed babies.

Being the milk truck for my three kids has been a huge part of my life.

One that I can honestly say was such a fantastic bonding experience for my kids and I.

When I had my first son, I was barely 20.

Most of the doctors and nurses at the hospital made comments to me that led me to think that they didn't think I could nurse my baby since I was a young mother, that I would give up quickly and not stick it out. I guess I like a challenge, because I stuck it out and nursed him for 21 months!

I will confess, breastfeeding is hard.

I remember sitting up in the middle of the night with a screaming infant who was having a hard time latching on, ready to warm up a bottle of formula that we received at the hospital.

But we stuck it out and I am so glad that I did.

I found so many benefits to nursing my kids that I can't even list all of them.

A few of my favorites are that quiet time that the kids and I would get to have before or after a nap or a long restful sleep. The babies would curl their little fingers around my hand or reach for my hair and just snuggle in. Or when those babes fell asleep in my arms after some nice warm mama milk.

Nursing always provided a way for me to help calm my babies. If we had tried everything and weren't quite sure what was wrong, we put a boob in it! That usually helped!

As the kids got older, if they fell down, or were upset, nursing helped provide them with the comfort they needed to get back up and conquer the world.

I always found that nursing was so convenient. I never had to remember bottles or formula. If a play date went long, it was no big deal.

It seems like every day scientists are coming up with new benefits to breastmilk which is why I think nursing is so important for every mom and baby!

I love any product that helps to support nursing moms and their babies, which is why I love the mombo nursing pillows.

My youngest son is seven, which doesn't feel like that old, but baby gadgets have changed so much in the past few years!

I often times find myself wondering how we survived the baby years without some of the new products out there. This mombo nursing pillow is one of those products that I scratch my head and think would have been such a help for me in those first few months and then as my babies got older. One of the key components to a successful breastfeeding experience is proper positioning. Where was the mombo in the middle of the night with my newborn?!

Mombo is a product for both mom and baby. It's been rated one of the best nursing pillows.

When you have a baby, you know they have a lot of gear. This nursing pillow helps cut down on some of that extra gear because it's not only a nursing pillow for infants, it's also a soft lounging area for your baby with removable soothing vibration. No more bulky bouncy seats taking up floor space!

One side of the mombo is covered in extremely soft fabric that provides a soft spot for babies to lounge. The other side is a bit firmer to provide the support that a nursing mom needs while feeding her baby.

The vibration feature is a bonus! We all know how much babies love their little rumble seats! That gentle vibration is just what babies need to feel calm and the arms of the mombo provide the security that babies love.

Want to know how you can win your very own mombo?

Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want a mombo deluxe nurser.

If you just can't wait to win, you can purchase your mombo at Babies R Us and Toys R Us.

Be sure to like Comfort & Harmony on Facebook and Comfort & Harmony on Twitter for the latest news and updates.

Red Striped Maxi dress

2013-05-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I found this red striped jersey fabric at Wal-Mart for $1.50 a yard.

I immediately thought that I would make matching maxi dresses for my daughter and I.

I haven't gotten to making my maxi dress yet, but with lots of begging, my daughter had me finishing this one for her since we had a forecast of good weather.

I didn't write a tutorial.

My pattern wouldn't be anything you could follow even if I did share it!

I just started sewing.

The top gave me some issues because I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it.

I decided on this basic bodice top.

The back panel ended up being a happy accident.

It was too large and when I folded it in to see about taking it in a bit, I liked the way that the straps fell in the back. There is a seam at the back that I don't love,

but I still think it's pretty cool, and it has my daughter's stamp of approval.
Before you go running out to your Wal-Mart to get this fabric, let me warn you, it is the worst! I have sewn jersey before and this stuff is literally from the devil. It's thin (I had to double it up to "line" it), it's stretchy and it likes to stick in your machine. You have to have patience and know a few tricks to get around some basic sewing techniques. But it's a cool fabric so if that doesn't put you off, head on out. You may score some cheap fabric!

Tombow colored pencil gift tags

2013-05-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Last month, I was contacted by the people at Tombow to do a product review.

Tombow sent me these products to play with and if I did a review of them, in celebration of Tombow's centennial year, the company would donate $100 in products to the Council for Arts Education.

I'm always one to support Arts education so of course I was happy to review these great products.

Check out that blue box.

It's filled with amazing color pencils.

I've always borrowed my kids, so it's nice to have a box that is just for me!

I whipped out some of my old stamps and stamped white cardstock.

I sat down with the brush pens and color pencils and had my best time!

The products are so easy to use and are far better than your kids craft supplies.

Tombow has products for grownups.

I made a few gift tags.

This fish birthday tag

and this adorable giraffe for baby.

The pencils and brushes go on and almost make a watercolor finish to your project. I would definitely recommend them!
Thanks Tombow for supporting the Council for Arts Education!

Candy box party favors

2013-05-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

My kids love to provide a special treat for their classmates on their birthday.

This year, my daughter's 11th birthday fell just before 5th grade camp.

I made up these special birthday candy box party favors for her cabin mates to enjoy while at camp.

You all know how much I love the Dollar Store,

in our local mall, we have a Japanese dollar store called Diaso.

Everything in the store is $1.50.

You can usually find some really interesting items, but some of my favorite finds are the bento box accessories.

I picked up these small foil liners and these food packs

and then picked out my daughter's favorite candies.

I may have over planned with candy because I didn't end up using it all.

Oops! More for me!

I laid out the food boxes and found small cupcake liners and the foil liners to be great candy dividers.

I filled the liners up with some sweet treats

and topped it off with an M&M packet.

I closed up the food container and tied a ribbon around it.

Aren't these fun?!
The kids at camp loved their special treat!

Suggestions of things to buy at the Dollar Store for crafting

2013-04-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

After the success of my what not to buy at the Dollar Store posts, many people are left wanting more.

I had a suggestion to write a post about the craft items I recommend buying at the Dollar Store.

I thought it was a great idea!

Keep in mind the Dollar Store has new items in the store all the time.

I may not have included something I would normally buy (for example, tape runners and Elmer's glue pens) because it isn't currently available.

If you would like to see my full recommendation of items to buy {and what to avoid} find the lists here.

Mirrors and Frames

While I like to buy mine at garage sales, if I were in a pinch and didn't have some available I would buy these. I know lots of bloggers have done great projects with dollar store mirrors and frames.

Isn't this Pottery Barn inspired tiled mirror fantastic?!

It's from Dollar Store mirrors.

You can find the tutorial on Dollar Store Crafts.

Flowers

These flowers are great for taking apart and making headbands for little girls.

Like this one that I made for decoration for my sister in law's "she's about to pop" baby shower, and then as a gift for my sweet niece.

Satin Ribbon

I will pick this ribbon up in a pinch and depending on my project.

If it doesn't need to be heavy duty then this ribbon does the trick.

Again, from the She's About to Pop baby shower, I used the satin ribbon on the banner that I made.

Styrofoam Shapes

Styrofoam forms can get expensive. I love when I can find them at the Dollar Store.

I used the cones for these twine wrapped carrots that I made at Easter

and I used the flat circles for this vintage sheet music wreath

Glass Vases

If I can get glass vases for a quarter at a garage sale, then I will snatch them up, but if I need them for a project, these vases from the Dollar Store are perfect.

You can make your own DIY mercury glass vase like I did.

Floral Moss

I made these moss balls and cubes for decor around the house.

Raffia

Raffia is probably my favorite craft supply behind a glue gun.

I love it so much!

I use it for trying up all sorts of things.

I used it on this spring votive holder.

Tissue Paper

Tissue paper is good at so many things besides putting around gifts.

I used tissue paper to make these pom poms at my niece's mermaid birthday party.

Storage baskets

Storage baskets from the Dollar Store are great for a lot of things.

I used them for party favors for my daughter's spa birthday party.

Clothespins

Erin at The Buente Family crafted these clothespins for an advent calendar for her son Chase.

Wine Glasses

She Knows made these wine glasses for a dinner party for all of her friends.

Glasses

Kendra at the Adventures of Brad and Kendra made these etched glasses.

Flip Flops

Paper so Pretty made this flip flop wreath but there are lots of ways to embellish a pair of flip flops to wear.

And they make great party favors for a spring birthday!

Those are my recommendations. Did I miss anything? What do you buy at the Dollar Store to craft with?

Sewing pillowcases for kids with cancer

2013-04-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

For the past four years, I have spent a Saturday in April sewing pillowcases for my friend Paula's Pillowcase Project. Paula's oldest son Gary was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma. While Gary was being treated at Children's Hospital in Seattle, the itchy scratchy hospital pillowcases were downright uncomfortable for a bald kid going through chemo.
Once Gary was finished going through treatment, Paula started Paula's Pillowcase Project with some soft flannel fabric purchased on black Friday and cut and stitched with loving hands from her friends in the community.
The planning for the event starts long before the sewing even begins! Paula still waits in line on Black Friday with her sons getting the best deal on fabric that she can. She recruits those people willing to wash bolts and bolts of fabric to have them ready for the Friday before so that "kits" can be cut and put together.

Here are the "kits" cut and ready to be pinned together before they get sewn.

There are so many fantastic fabrics and prints ready to appeal to any age kid!

Pinning is done to get the several layers of flannel together.

The most genius process of making these pillowcases is the first step where you make a hot dog with the fabric.

There are many hands ready to help on Friday and Saturday.

And lots of machines to help stitch!

If you don't sew, those who can cut with a rotary cutter and those who can iron are just as important as those who can sew a straight stitch!

Paula says that in the past five years of running this project she has a 100% success rate for finding a job for volunteers young and old.

Many of the volunteers are parents of children with cancer and I have been honored to work along side children battling cancer as well.

This is Paula's youngest son Sam sewing the decorative stitches on one of the top layers of the pillowcase.

Over the years they have found that once the pillowcases are washed, the decorative flap gets rumpled, so sewing a decorative edge not only makes it more fun to look at, put serves a purpose.

One of the rooms happily working!

There is one other sewing area and another room where pinning and card making takes place.

Once the pillowcases are finished, each of them get a handmade card and a ribbon on them.

This years final pillowcase total was 222!

Throughout the year Paula pops into the oncology unit and personally delivers the completed pillowcases or leaves a stack that says "please take one". She also has the help of a social worker on the floor now who can pick out a pillowcase that is hand delivered to the young patients.
All of the pillowcases are free of charge for the kids, and the smile that lights up their face is priceless!

How to use any image with your Silhouette Software

2013-04-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

I love my Silhouette!

One of my most favorite features is the fact that I can take just about any image and use it in my software.

This feature comes in handy quite often, and I must confess, I rarely buy anything from the Silhouette library.

I will also confess that I am no Silhouette software expert.

I'm still learning all the time!

There may be an easier way to do this, but this is the way that I do it.

I start by doing a google search for the image that I am looking for.

This time I was looking for an image of a trillium flower.

I am my daughter's cabin leader at 5th grade camp and they are the trillium cabin.

Who doesn't need matching t-shirts to commemorate their time?

I am a true sorority girl!

I need a t-shirt for any event or it didn't happen!

I'm always looking for an image that has crisp lines, which is why I settled on a sketch.

Once you find the image you want to use, right click on it and save it as an image with a name in a file that you can find.

Don't judge, but I will save stuff and forget where I saved it at or even where it's at!

I'm getting better, but it's the story of my life!

Open your Silhouette software and open the image that you just saved.

It should pop right up.

Select the "trace" feature and click on "select trace area"

That area is the shaded blue rectangle that you see around the image.

You will also see yellow lines on your image.

You can use the trace settings with the high pass filter and low pass filter to get the lines where you want them. I haven't found a science to this. Just keep messing with it until all your lines that you want are yellow.

Once the lines you want are yellow click on "trace outer edge"

Once the outer edge is traced you can click on your original image and drag it.

You will see the image that you just traced in red.

I usually delete my original image because you don't need it anymore.

There are lots of intricate lines, and since I am going to make this into a t-shirt, I can't have too many extra details, so I use my eraser and take out some of the extra dots and lines that I don't need.

Once I have the image the way that I want it, I select the whole image and group it together.

Now you can move your image and start designing whatever you want.

Easy as that! This feature opens the possibilities for so many things! Just this past week I used this trace feature to make three different projects. These are the completed cabin t-shirts that I made using the flower I showed you above. I even made the most of my fabric transfer and used the negative and positive space.

I also made this custom cape for my sister in law.

She is going to a superhero party and the birthday girl {Myla} LOVES batman.

I was even able to use my silhouette to cut my felt.

Super stoked that I figured that one out!

I even used the trace feature to make this vinyl chandelier on my vintage window. Isn't it lovely?!

What's the first thing you would make using the trace feature?

Handmade Charlotte Folk Art paints and stencils

2013-04-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post as part of a sponsored campaign with Plaid and The Blueprint Social. All opinions in this post are my own.

Some of my favorite parenting moments happen snuggled up in the morning with one of the kids after a refreshing night of sleep.

Those little bodies sneak in for morning snuggles, curl around my warm body and reach for my hand.

We have a little secret code at our house.

If you are holding hands and squeeze the persons hand three times it means "I Love You".

Sometimes we keep squeezing and adding squeezes making it "I love you more and more and more".

Eventually, we giggle and it turns into a "no I love you more",

"well, I love you to the moon and back",

"no, I love you past the stars and back through infinity",

and well, it just keeps going.

But it usually starts with "to the moon and back",

which is why when I saw this stencil by Handmade Charlotte, I knew I had to use it!

I got a little package from the people at Plaid that contained all of these goodies.

I love folk art paint so I was excited to get more to add my to stash!

I had this suitcase in my garage that I bought for decor for this wedding.

Start by taking your stencil and pick out the negative space.

It is quite easy and took less than three minutes!

I used painters tape to tape the stencil in place in the middle of the suitcase.

I poured out a little of my folk art paint {WAY more than I needed!}

and used these nifty pouncers on my stencil.

**Tip** Always use less paint than you think you need on your pouncer.

Pounce your little pouncer out a bit to get some of the extra paint off.

This helps you to keep your edges crisp on your stencil.

Let it dry and remove your stencil.

Stand back and admire your handiwork!

You can use folk art paint and stencils on wood, tin, suitcases...you name it!
What would you make?

Silhouette vinyl promotion plus vinyl tutorial

2013-04-19T05:30:00.001-07:00

You all know how much I love my Silhouette. I post about the projects that I do all of the time. One of my all time favorite Silhouette products {besides the machine of course} is the Silhouette Premium Vinyl.
This month is the perfect time to drop the hint to your husband to buy you that Silhouette machine you have always wanted. The special sale comes just in time for Mother's Day and includes two rolls of Silhouette Premium Vinyl!

BUY HERE

{Don't forget to type in "HOLY" as your promo code to get the 25% off!}
If you already have a Silhouette, you might want to stock up on premium vinyl while you have the chance! Silhouette has reduced the price of their vinyl from $14.99 to $9.99. With this promotion, you get to save 25% more on top of the deeply discounted $9.99 price! It's a screaming deal!
Do you need a project to inspire you? I upgraded this beautiful vintage window with Silhouette's Gold premium vinyl.

For this project you will need premium vinyl, an old window and your Silhouette.

I found an image that I liked and used my trace feature to make my own Silhouette image.

Check back next week for a tutorial on how to make your own image out of just about any picture!

Since I wanted my vinyl to be cut larger than my cutting mat, and I wanted one continuous picture (not just words or letters like I have done in the past), I needed to figure out how to cut and piece together my image.

For this project I ended up needing three different cuts.

I used the grid feature to help me see where the image was and position the image to be cut.

Once the grid feature was in place, I drew a cut line using my grid line as a guide and placed it just below the page edge. This cut line will do one of two things.

It will let you know where your image ended so that when you place your image for the second {or third cut}, you can see the line and visually know where to position your image.

Secondly, the cut line cuts the image in an area that you wouldn't have cut otherwise.

If you see just above the cut line that I drew, the lines above are continuous.

If I would have cut it out without the cut line then I would have had vinyl on the edge that hadn't been cut.

These are all of my cut pieces.

I weeded out the extra vinyl and was left with these pieces.

I use contact paper to transfer my images.

The hardest part is lining up the pieces.

Once you get all of your pieces lined up on your transfer paper, line up your image on your window {or wherever you want to put it}

Easy as pie

And it looks fantastic!

Now what are you waiting for? Go snap up some SUPER cheap premium Silhouette vinyl for your next project!
BUY HERE {Don't forget to type in "HOLY" as your promo code to get the 25% off!}