Silver and Gold is a series where I’m sharing my favorite blogs with you, the old and the new.

This week’s edition of Silver and Gold is all about my fellow contributors over on Simple Organic. I say it all the time, but it seriously such an honor to be on a team with these ladies. Most of them I didn’t find until I started writing for SO and I remember wondering at that time why I hadn’t already been reading these!

• Keeper of the Home

Stephanie’s blog was one of the first places where I learned about the real/nourishing/traditional food movement. She has a wealth of resources for the Christian mama living a natural life. (She also runs a great new blog called Saving Naturally which is all about saving money while eating/living naturally!)

• Kitchen Stewardship

Katie’s blog goes in depth into the real food movement. I’ve learned so much from her. If you’re looking to make-over your eating lifestyle, she’s got baby steps to get you going and puts an insane amount of research into everything she writes. I have an exciting giveaway coming up featuring something written by Katie!

• Progressive Pioneer

This mama, Amy, just welcomed home a new baby! Her blog showcases her passion for natural living and she’s got lots of great ideas, tutorials, recipes, etc. Such a goldmine! Plus, she has beautiful artwork on her blog painted by her husband. I love blogs with hand-drawn logos!

• SortaCrunchy

Megan is not only a natural-living mom but also a beautiful writer– she inspires me in both areas! She’s a big breastfeeding advocate, loves the Lord, and is very open and honest with her readers which I love.

• Vintage Chica

Eren takes beautiful photos, has great style and there’s lots of inspiration to be found on her blog, with many tutorial/DIY posts and lots of great ideas and recipes.

and I can’t forget our fearless leader, Katie who is a fabulous editor and writes the majority of the posts over at Simple Organic. She writes great articles and keeps the blog running smoothly. Oh! And she and her husband are raising money for a future adoption, too! <3

Do you have a favorite blog to share in the comments today?

I’ve been getting a lot more into repurposing/refashioning lately. So, I decided it was time to make a committment. I headed over to Wardrobe Refashion and signed the pledge for four months. That means that from September until the end of 2010 I am pledging to not buy any new clothes. I will repurpose, refashion, and buy second-hand to my heart’s content instead.

If you would like to play along, you have until August 31st to sign this pledge (she opens it up periodically) which will begin on September 1st. Let me know if you’re joining up!

I, Nicole {aka Gidget}, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of “new” manufactured items of clothing, for the period of  4  months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

SouleMama‘s {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Hey friends. I just wanted to let you all know that I’m gradually going to be adding some recommendations to my sidebar. Some are paid-for sponsorships/ads; some are not. Any clickin’ you feel like doing will be greatly appreciated by me, and by my sponsors.

The only way they will be there is if they are promoting something I truly love though, you can count on that. And I’ll be sure to tell you all about each of them as we go.

If you are interested in sponsorship, you can email me.

For now, any proceeds that come from blogging (as well as my etsy shop and “our” coffee shop) are still going towards financing our adoption of this flippin’ adorable little guy. Seriously, I think he is the cutest thing ever. Thank you again, for all your support, prayers, and just for being here.

xo

For more information, you can view my updated disclosure policy.

This series took a little hiatus (as do many of my series, heehee), but I do hope to get through the alphabet eventually.

For E, I wanted to tell (and show) you a little about our town. We are so thankful and feel very blessed to live here. Who knows if we’ll ever be homeowners… for now we are content to live in our little rental place, relatively close to the beach, minutes from friends (walking) and family (driving), and a pretty short commute for David.

I just love the vibe of Encinitas, it’s a surf town that cares about sustainable living (the Christmas parade had a Go Green theme). It has a small-town feel, but has a lot to offer, too.

As a teenager, growing up about 20 minutes inland from here, I often escaped with my girlfriends to Encinitas. It was a place where I often dreamed of living. I still have to pinch myself sometimes, even though we’ve been here a year now. We live about three and a half miles from the beach, which means that we often get the sun even when the beach stays cloudy. We’re also less than five minutes driving from Trader Joe’s, which is a little slice of heaven for me.

One of the beautiful murals at our local TJ’s.

I love downtown Encinitas because it reminds me of our college town and because of all the great shops and restaurants along there. A couple favorites are Honey’s, Swami’s Cafe, and Ecotopiia, and we’ve also got a couple of yarn stores and several surf shops. The library, which has a beautiful ocean view, is close-by as well.

This fall our little downtown (where we dream of someday living), which runs along Pacific Coast Highway, will be getting a Whole Foods, too.

Every Friday morning I head out while everyone is (hopefully) asleep to meet some girlfriends for coffee at the coolest place around. It’s in a part of town called Leucadia, which I love. David loves to hit up Leucadia Donuts which is just down the street.

Pannikin Coffee & Tea

I could probably go on and about why I love Encinitas so much, but really, you’ll just have to come visit for yourself, if you’ve never been. I’ll leave you with a couple of our favorite beach spots (we have a couple more we really like too)…

Moonlight Beach, also the favorite of tourists, is Gigi’s favorite because of the playground. I try to avoid Moonlight on a hot summery day usually, since it’s a madhouse. But it’s still a fave of mine for a picnic dinner, a bonfire (in the off-season), or a winter playdate at the park.

A February evening at Moonlight.

This is how we roll.

And what I’ve decided is my happy place… is the walk from Swami’s to the San Elijo State Campground. I cannot walk along this path without uttering thanks to the Lord for His creation over and over.

Swami’s (the surf spot, as opposed to the Cafe mentioned earlier).

Thanks for visiting my town!

You all know how much I love ice cream, especially homemade!

Well, today, I’m over at Pure and Noble, where I’m so honored to be guest posting for sweet Brooke. Find me over there, talking about my love of ice cream and sharing some beautiful helado-inspiration… more than just what gets eaten with a spoon.

I do realize that August is over half gone, but nonetheless I do have a verse to share…

Last week, I accidentally took a week off from blogging. For me, writing is like exercising– the more days I skip (assuming I exercised every day {wink, wink}), the harder it is to go back. I planned to do a “digital fast” on Wednesday, with no facebook, blogging, reading blogs, etc. Instead, I prayed for Daisy and for a friend of a friend’s father who has Lyme disease, and also for fresh vision for my own writing. It was good! And after that, well, I just ended up taking a few more days off. So, here I am, back and ready to finally share August’s verse with you.

I am really trying, in the Lord’s strength to be less of a time-waster these days. I’ve been studying Titus and Proverbs 31 lately and this verse really stood out to me as one I needed to be trying to live out in my life. I really believe the Provers 31 wife is an example of the kind of godly wife I’m asking God to make me into (it’s a process, as Nancy Leigh DeMoss says), and I think this is a good starting place for me.

If I had a dollar for every minute lost to “eating the bread of idleness…” yikes. I’d be living in a cottage by the beach off that income.

I work well with deadlines. As a literature student and a teacher, everything I did was based on a timeline, with due dates and a strict syllabus/calendar. I think one of the hardest things about my job as a homemaker is that the work is ongoing. You all know how it is… just when I get through all the laundry, the basket in my closet is almost full again. Same thing with the dishes, with picking up and straightening the house.

And as much as I love blogging, I’ve wasting away many precious minutes online. That’s not to say that I’m going to cut myself off from the blogosphere, but every now and then I just need a fresh reminder of keeping a balance, and using my time (online) wisely. Sometimes, hopping from blog to blog or actually getting caught up in my reader is a great way to unwind and chill out. I just need to make sure I have some priorities in place.

One priority is exercising my own writing skills, along with sharing inspiration and encouragement with those of you that grace my blog with your reading time {again, thank you}. It’s a vision I feel like the Lord has put in my heart, and confirmed over and over, that no matter how many readers I have, there is a purpose behind my blog and what I’m doing. I don’t count my work on my blog as idle work, if I’m being wise with my time with it and not letting it overtake everything else.

In one of Carolyn Mahaney’s messages on Titus, she said something that really spoke to me:

“There is time to do everything God is calling me to do.”

Time is just another way the Lord provides for me. This month’s verse is a reminder to me that in order to really have that quote fulfilled in my life, I have to do my part, too. I have to force myself into not eating the bread of idleness, but instead making the most of the time I have in my home, with my family, on the computer, in the sewing room, etc.

I’m realizing more and more, as I settle into my “career,” what that looks like for me. So I’m maximizing my mornings, and praying that Brody goes back to 6-8 uninterrupted hours of sleep, which has gone on hiatus since he was sick last week, so that setting my alarm for 6am isn’t quite as daunting. I think I also need to create more of a schedule, a life syllabus if you will, for myself, so that I can stay on track with what I want to accomplish (and with the visions God has given me), and keep my priorities straight as well.

Today I’d love to hear your verse for August, and also your thoughts on prioritizing, time management and not eating the bread of idleness. xo

SouleMama‘s {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

I’m still working on a tutorial for my t-shirt halter (I’m hoping to make a tute that is adaptable to your personal size), but in the meantime I’m leaving you with this fun reFashion!

Yesterday, Gigi was sick (poor thing- hoping she wakes up better today after a good night’s sleep) and slept/watched movies a lot, and Brody was his chill little self so I got some sewing in (!!).

I had a pretty grayish strip of fabric that I had saved when I shortened a dress for my sis-in-law (Thanks, Angelina!). I have a hard time throwing away scraps, and I guess it’s a good thing!

I scrounged up an old gray tank that had been banished to the drawer, and decided to give it new life with a little ruching and a couple of t-shirt flowers! Read on for photos and the how-to.

First you’ll need a strip of knit fabric (cut-off of the bottom of a dress, from a t-shirt, or just purchased).

The width on mine was about 5 inches total and I folded and pressed both ends toward the middle (making sure to overlap them), so that the new width measures about 2.5″.

I ended up using two ruffles that each started as a strip 17″ in length. I found it a little too hard to gather the ruffle when it was one long piece (my thread broke!).

A good rule of thumb is to make your pre-gathered ruffle one and a half to double the length you want your finished ruffle to cover. For example, my neckline was 21″ and my total strip length was about 33″ after I sewed the two strips together (that comes later).

Sew a long stitch all the way down the middle (of each if you have 2). I set my machine to the biggest stitch length which is 5.0. You’ll want to make sure you have a few inches of thread hanging off on both ends and do not back stitch.

Pull your top thread from both ends (gently- I broke mine once and had to resew it!), moving the gathers towards the middle to make your ruffle. This is a simplified version of the fancy method of ruching {pronounced rooshing}.

If you did your ruffle in 2 halves, now sew them together, pressing the seam open. Make sure you push your gathers as close to that seam as you can to try to hide it.

Pin your ruffle to your shirt in the desired place (hopefully you’ll have your pins all going the right way unlike me, oopsie). I’m a pretty symmetrical girl so I just did mine from shoulder to shoulder. Sew a straight line down your ruffle over the large gathering stitch. If you want to be extra professional you could rip out the larger stitch later (I skipped that).

After that I decided I needed a little extra somethin’ to finish it off. Plus, I had that seam in the middle where I connected my two ruffles that I wanted to distract from.

I took a t-shirt from my repurposing pile; hopefully you have one you can spare, too.  Cut off the hemmed edges of the two sleeves, careful not to cut the thread of the serged hem.

Then sew a large stitch down the middle and slightly gather it (just like in the ruffle, only less gathered).

Twirl it around to make a little rose, handsewing it together as you go (this is not an exact science). You can adjust the gathers as you go to get it to sit how you like.

Hand sew your two roses wherever you like (or make more!). I put two of these just to one side of my center seam. I wanted it to cover the seam (or at least distract from it), but not be right in the middle.

Voilá!

This is such a fun and easy project. It took me most of the day (hence the darker last photo), since I was working in between tending to a sick child and normal baby duties but if you have a block of time it would come together in a jiffy. This tank top will now be out of the drawer and proudly hanging in my closet (when I’m not wearing it, that is)!

If you make one, I’d love to see it! Leave a link in the comments or post a photo over on facebook!

I recently repurposed a small closet to be my “office.” It’s not quite done yet, so before I show it to you, I thought I’d find some inspiration from others who have done the same.

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The above one is just screaming my name. I love the color and the use of space. (And my husband would love the use of pegboard- he loves that stuff). It’s full of stuff, but not too cluttered.

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This one is a more clean, modern take.

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Talk about cramming lots in a small space! I love the ingenuity here!

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I tore this idea out of my Martha mag long ago, feeling inspired by it’s simplicity and element of surprise. It’s not so much of an office in a closet as hidden craft storage/workspace. Maybe someday I’ll have a secret craft cabinet like this. Martha even has the full DIY directions!

Even CNN has a little gallery of these closet-office gems.

Stay tuned for my finished version, sometime in the near future.