I’m writing to let you in on a decision I made this week.

I have been very tired lately. And busy, and overwhelmed. I’m pretty sure my family misses me. I miss me. And I know God misses me.

In a moment of lovely clarity this past Tuesday I mentally divided my to-dos into needs and wants and blogging just didn’t make the cut. I’m going to take a break – probably just for the month of February. Just to regroup, refocus, and be still.

It’s a little sad – I love blogging. It’s a really fun outlet for me. But it is very time-consuming – mind consuming! And, I’ll miss y’all!

Anyway, I don’t need to hang around long. I just wanted to let you know so you didn’t think I was kidnapped or in a coma or something. I still plan to post about our playroom shake-up, yarn & hot glue, and curly hair. AND, Craftcation is very much still on! (There are still a couple of spots left if you want in!) I hope y’all have a lovely February and I do hope you all come back to see me in March!

There are going to be flowers budding next time we talk. And t-shirt weather! And, I’ll have an almost-2-year-old! (Can you believe it??)

God is good, friends! He calls us to Himself. He is a giver of good gifts. Peace out!

Here’s what to do:

1. Add the number of spots you wish to purchase to your cart and check out securely using PayPal:

2. Do a little happy dance.

3. Grab one of these pretty little buttons and display it proudly on your blog sidebar – you’re in!

4. Await a celebratory (and anticipatory!) message from us – your humble Craftcation hostesses and guides.

Didn’t get in? Email us at: craftcations@gmail.com and let us know you’d like to be put on the waiting list. Who knows!

Have a lovely Wednesday, friends. Is it unseasonably warm where y’all are, too?

But first, the recipe. Because, well, to borrow the words of Ron Swanson, it involves my #1 favorite food, wrapped around my #2 favorite food. Yes, bacon and chicken. I am a carnivore. Unapologetically. And bacon and I are tender friends. And thus, one of my favorite grilling recipes which needs to exist on the internet because it doesn’t  now (that I could find) and it’s so stinking yummy.

Enough build up? Ready to see it?

(Oh, and if you are not the carnivorous type, you may want to skip to the second part of this post…)

Here it is, y’all:

Pineapple-Bacon-Chicken Skewers

(The recipe - I found it in an issue of Family Circle years ago - called them “Chicken-pineapple kebabs”, but I think bacon should get a spot in the billing, plus, I don’t like the way “kebabs” is spelled.)

So, this is a pretty easy, clear cut recipe, but I’ll break it down like a fraction for you anyway:

Ingredients:
(fyi- this served 5 adults, 2 picky children, with leftovers – you can adjust it depending on how many people you’ll be serving.)
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
16oz bacon
1 can pineapple chunks or one fresh pineapple
1 large Vidalia onion
14oz barbecue sauce (I like something in the hickory brown sugar family if possible)
Jasmine rice enough to make you happy – I steamed up 1.5 cups dry and that was just about right.
14oz pineapple preserves (really, the pineapple preserves and hickory barbecue sauce are the stars of the show. Well, except the bacon… and the chicken… okay, it’s an all-star cast!)

Directions:

Soak a dozen large bamboo skewers for a few hours. (I just stuck mine in a tall cup in the morning when I got up.) Or use metal skewers.

Cut the chicken into 1″ cubes and place them in a bowl.

Cut the bacon into 2″ pieces (or just cut all the strips in half) and put them in another bowl.

Cut the onion into largish pieces and put in another bowl. Are we sensing a theme? Do the same with the pineapple – either cut it up or dump it out of the can and drain. No one will judge you for eating pineapple from a can – not even me. Put them in bowls.

Or, you know, forget the bowl things altogether. My only big piece of advice here is: don’t get chickeny hands in the pineapple bowl unless you’re certain that you’ll use all the pineapple for the skewers and don’t want to save any aside for your picky children. Nothing like a bit of salmonella to ruin a fun evening. (this did not happen to us, yet I live in constant fear…)

Start steaming your rice (according to package directions, of course) and skewer up all the ingredients – you don’t need me to tell you what order. Most importantly: it’s nice to start and end with an onion, and it’s key to wrap the pieces of chicken in bacon. Yep, that’s key.

Prepare your grill and throw those puppies on! They should be good if you cook them for 6 minutes on each side. (It’s not my fault if you eat undercooked chicken. ftr.)

While they’re grilling, combine the pineapple preserves and barbecue sauce in a pot on the stove (or on the sideburner of your grill) and when the skewers are nearly finished cooking, brush that delicious sauce onto them so they get nice and glazed. This will make you glad. Put the leftover saucy sauce in a gravy boat or cool, stemless martini glass – you don’t want this goodness to go to waste.

Now, pop the skewers off the grill and onto a pretty serving platter. Put your perfectly steamed rice in a pretty bowl and set them both on the table before your eager meal companions.

Then, if you’re like me, free the grilled goodness from the skewers as quickly as possible onto a heap of rice, add a bit more magic sauce and dig in. Mmmm… happy summer in January!

Okay, really the post could end right there. But, I’m just so excited about tomorrow and Craftcation sign-ups and getting to know who’s coming!

I’m excited as we move into the next stages of planning to get to do it with our guests in mind!

I’m excited for y’all to meet Devon and Peyton!

I’m geeked to get to treat all of our guests to Nourish loot upon arrival!
(Oh, yes! You had to know Nourish would show up as a sponsor, right?)

 I’m excited to line up sewing machines and pretty stacks of fabric and hot glue guns and projects galore!

I’m excited to get to host twelve of you for your very own (and the very first!) Craftcation!

I am looking forward to sending y’all pretty badges to put on your blogs that look something like this:

Won’t you be fancy?

I can’t wait to meet new fun friends and eat awesome food and enjoy pretty Tennessee summer evenings together on that great big porch!

It’s going to be epic, y’all! Are you going to be there???

Eeee! Tomorrow at noon, CST. Be there or be square!

Also, to answer a few recent questions:

1. Can I purchase more than one ticket? There are twelve spots and when they’re gone, they’re gone. BUT, if you get to the sign up page, you will have the option to purchase up to three spots. So, you may sign up for a friend if she misses the sign up screen.

2. What happens once I sign up? You will receive an email from us with lots of exclamation points and smiley faces. Also, further instructions and possibly a short questionnaire. You’ll know it when you see it.

2. What if I don’t get a spot? Angst! We’re not sure how tomorrow will go, or even if all of the spots will fill up, frankly. Time will tell! But if spots fill up and you didn’t get one, there will be a waiting list and you may still get a spot!

3. Are the tickets refundable? Tickets are refundable for 30 days after purchase, and after that they are transferable. If for some reason you are not able to come, we will have a waiting list and you may sell your ticket to the person at the top of the waiting list or to someone you know – no problem (just as long as it’s not a boy or a baby!) If you are unable to transfer your ticket to someone else, we cannot refund your purchase price after the 30 days.

Okay, I totally digress.

The point is: one of the very last questions on the survey completely caught me off guard and nearly paralyzed me for an answer. I stared at it for a long time, so unsure of what my answer should be that I almost abandoned my survey efforts altogether. The question?

Are you an artist?

I cannot tell you how many times I have asked myself this same question – only not pointedly because, obviously the question makes me very uncomfortable. Um, I like to sew and decorate and take pictures and write, but they’re all just hobbies. I also love to fiddle with photoshop and hot glue guns and wall colors, but again, I’m pretty sure that doesn’t make me an artist. Does it?

____________________________________________

About six months ago Ryan forwarded an email to me that he’d received from David Bean – one of the coolest, most successful  advertising/lifestyle/celebrity/musician photographers in Nashville – maybe the country. Y’all, HE is an artist! (Go ahead, take a peek at all his cool work, you know you want to!) The email from David was announcing a pay-what-you-want photography workshop to be held this winter (last weekend, actually) to benefit the Got Your Back Movement, which provides uniforms (and thus, the ability to attend school) to children in developing countries. It was an invitation to spread the word and/or attend the workshop. Ry thought I should go.

Well, yeah! I had definitely heard of David and although I knew I’d have a whole pile of insecurities to get over in order to actually show my face at this workshop, I would give anything to get to be there and learn from him and see him in action. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

So, yes! I signed up. I paid what I wanted, put it on my calendar and tried not to think about it for fear  I’d chicken out.

Fastforward to last weekend. It’s a cold Saturday morning and I’m weaving my way through Nashville, getting lost and actually showing up fifteen minutes late to this huge opportunity, freaking out that I’m going to offend my teacher as I slip into the back of his {gorgeous!} studio while he’s already started speaking.

Good thing is: he didn’t notice me. Better things is: few people did. Oh, what a relief. I was in a room full of photographers – if they didn’t have a thriving business of their own, there were talented students and well on their way. Some people traveled eight hours by car to be there. I traveled 40 minutes and still couldn’t seem to make it there on time. Y’all, I was beyond intimidated.

As David talked I watched in the corner of my eye a make-up artist carefully preparing a {gorgeous!} model for our morning photo shoot. I was already sweating – is he going to ask us to shoot in front of the class? Will we have to show our work? Is it lame to take notes? Lame to not take notes? Was I taking too many notes? So, so nervy.

After a couple of hours of super interesting and helpful instruction (the lighting stuff he taught us was so cool – and yes, I ended up taking lots of notes!), we 25 students made our way across the studio where his assistants had been setting up a shoot for us.

It was all so neat and interesting – I couldn’t resist sneaking a few photos with my phone.

I wanted to take pictures with my real camera, but I was nervy and didn’t know the rules and didn’t want to be the only one shooting.

When everything was finally set up and instructions had been given, other students began taking out their cameras and fiddling and shooting. Shooting the model felt like the obvious (and probably smart) shot, but I was so much more interested in how it was all happening.

As David shot, images were being instantly fed to his computer and to all of our phones and ipads with a program called CaptureOne. It was neat to see how the shots were coming through and he was demonstrating right and wrong ways to shoot people with instant examples. Really neat.

I let all the most aggressive folks do their thing while I hung back and soaked it all in. (Does this make me sound like a total fraidy-cat? If this were the survival of the fittest I would be failing big time.)

I finally worked up the guts to step up and take my shot. We were each allowed 20 seconds with the model.

I love what I got.

When I got home that night Ryan was anxious to hear all about it and see what I did. I dumped my SD card onto my laptop and I’m pretty sure he laughed as the photos came up. 90% of my shots were of what was taking place around the subject instead of the subject itself (or herself). He laughed because I am a documenter – I shoot life as it happens and not life as it’s set up to look awesome. Yes, I sometimes make adjustments in my everyday shooting to catch favorable light or to clear distractions from a shot. But he was right – it’s where I’m comfortable. And – he pointed out – it’s what I’m really good at.

_______________________________________________________

And if you’re dying to know what answer I finally settled on for that silly little survey: yes. I answered yes.

I am an artist! I see beauty where no one else sees it, I create beauty so others can enjoy it – it’s like David Bean told us that day at the workshop:

“We are created,
by a Creator
In His image.
Thus, we are all creative”

Also: big thanks to Lisa and Marcella for helping us out with installing new fonts onto PCs in the comments from last week. Y’all are too kind!

And now, on to more typeface goodness:

(“Ostrich” is one of my favey faves and I used “jellyka delicious cake” on a wedding program I designed for my cousin’s New Year’s Eve wedding.)

skinny jeans solid | primer apples | channel | ostrich sans dashed | ostrich sans rounded | gil sans (system font) | jellyka delicious cake

And, because I can’t bear to leave you all without an image, this is the best photo I could dig up from the program at the wedding – an Instragram. You are also seeing a strip of pictures form the photo booth, which was supplied with all kinds of fun props. That photo strip currently resides on our refrigerator door and more than once Oliver has asked me, concerned, why I am shooting his Dad.

Coming up this week: A peek at a cool photography workshop I went to last weekend, some Craftcation FAQs, Craftcation tickets go on sale Wednesday at noon, and to finish out the week I want to show you a cool hair trick and a project I did last week with yarn and hot glue. Oh shoot… I also have a killer recipe I want to share! So many things, so little time! It’s going to be a good week!

Cheers!

Yes, I’ve recently discovered the magic of animated .gif’s. Please don’t ask me to explain the process – it’s pretty simple, but there’s no sense in reinventing the wheel on this one. Check out an awesome tutorial here.

Happy Friday, friends! We’re just so thrilled to all be back under one roof! God is good!

Okay, not really. I’ve survived worse.

But, for those of you who have noticed on my sidebar, yes, all of my happy friends and followers have been wiped out. One day the widget was gone, and when I tried to fix it, it was empty. Ah well. Like I said, worse things…

BUT, a few things I thought would be useful to share with you:

1. If you want to re-follow and subscribe via Google Friend Connect (not sure what this even means or does, honestly – please, enlighten me!), you are invited to join my three new best friends over there on the sidebar. Hello, friends!

2. Second, while we’re talking feeds and my limited understanding of such things, I thought it might be interesting to tell you about what I use to follow all my favorite blogs. Bloglovin’ (who totally doesn’t know I exist and certainly hasn’t asked me to share this with y’all) is a great way to keep all of the blogs you love to read in one place.

I used to keep a feed on my sidebar when I was in Blogger and that worked well. But WordPress doesn’t have anything that works like that, so my friend Kayla Aimee told me about this.

Just go to their site & search for blogs that you want to follow. Then click follow. Pretty easy. Every evening you will get an email with all of the new blog posts that have been published on your favorite blogs that day with a little picture or preview of that post.

Another thing I like about bloglovin’ (not my #1 pick for a name, but I like the system, so I’m moving on…) is that they have an iPhone app. So, when I’m at the salon waiting for my hair to process (wait – what? You’re not a natural blonde??) or in the car waiting to get Oliver from preschool, I can just open up the app and check in on stalk all my friends and favorites from there. (You think you guys are the only ones who read blogs and don’t always comment? I’m so guilty, y’all!)

It’s just handy and I like to use it. So, I’m sharing it with you!

I hope this wasn’t the lamest post ever. Just a couple of blog-following tips and, for good measure, a photo of two people I’ve been seeing a lot of these days:

Happy Thursday, friends! Ryan has been in Boston since Sunday afternoon (it’s been a looong week, but I don’t know the rules about blogs and saying your husband will be gone for five days so I never mentioned it…) and is flying home today! So, after a quick rainy run with my girls and just a little more single parenting, and I get to see my beloved again! Hurrah!

God is good!

But one thing he definitely did notice was the blonde-haired, blue-eyed pair of onlookers who couldn’t bear to be anywhere in the house except for where the action was. (Who can blame them?). I finally agreed to let them watch him work under the condition that they stay put in their chairs and not ask too many questions. We wanted to keep the shutter man happy, after all.

While he was working I snapped this photo of the kids with my iPhone and posted it to my Instagram. After further inspection, however, I noticed a few funny things about the photo:

1. My beautiful, expensive, beloved DSLR is sitting literally within arms reach on the table as I snapped this photo. Glad to see  this resolution is going so well.

2. I put that pink headband on Hazel moments after the shutter man arrived because the colors she was wearing were clearly not giving him any clues that she was a girl. I could see he was having a hard time remembering if I had two boys or a boy and a girl. This was my silent hint. It worked.

3. Hazel is wearing the “clever disguise” shirt I made for Oliver about a year ago. Only now do I see the convenience of the message and the hilarity of it all. A pretty handy shirt for a little girl who looks so much like her big brother and is too often mistaken for a little boy.

4. Just noticed this today too: the far left photo hanging on the clip is actually the picture I took of Oliver when I made the shirt. That shirt feels awesome in this photo.

5. Oliver is wearing his favorite R2-D2 shirt. Can we talk about how hard it is to find tasteful character gear these days? So glad he and I could agree on something that expresses his current passion while avoiding obnoxious cartoonyness. Yes, cartoonyness.

Excited to show you photos of the play room in all it’s shuttery glory! Have a lovely Wednesday, friends!

skinny jeans | lullaby | matilde | optima | clumsy | folk | halo handletter

It occurred to me last week that it may be doing y’all no good to just give you links to download pretty fonts if you don’t know what to do once you’ve hit the “download” button. I haven’t worked on a PC since college, so I’m not really sure how to load fonts on anything but a Mac. Maybe it’s pretty similar?

Either way, here is my ten-cent tutorial on loading new fonts into your computer:

1. Click on one of the links I provided above and click download.

2. Open your Downloads folder on your desktop & find the font folder you just downloaded. Open it.

3. Open a separate folder, click Macintosh HD / Library / Fonts

4. Drag the .otf or .ttf file(s) from your downloaded font folder into your font folder. (It will appear in alphabetical order in the adjacent column.)

5. That should be it! Go get ‘em with your fancy fonts!

Have a fabulous Tuesday, friends!