Green Eyed Monster

I got bit by the green eyed monster this week. Just a little. But enough to make me feel a little yucky.

See, when we moved into our house over 5 years ago we only had 2 kids. I had the whole dining room as a studio. As our family grew the studio moved into one of the spare bedrooms. And then as it grew even larger, it dispersed itself mostly into the garage and closets.

I've been seeing such beautiful, inspirational, and organized studios on the blog and that's where my envy crept in. My inner two year threw a temper tantrum. "I want my own studio too. Wahhhhh!"

Ouch.

"As another cure for envy, look at yourself through God's eyes-uniquely and wonderfully made. You are a child of god, saved by grace and placed in the exact spot and circumstances that he planned for you."

-Psalm 139:13-16

I thought about it today and realized that if I had room for a studio in my house right now, then I wouldn't have all my beautiful children. I also realized how lucky I am to have a house at all. Sometimes it's very easy to take a lot of things for granted. I am so blessed to have the life I have and when the time is right, one day I will have a studio again.

Also, my little time with envy motivated me to clean, organize, and prettify the areas I do use to work in.

Here a little before and after of our office area:

I do all my emailing, blogging, paying bills, and writing of my books in this room. My husband does a lot of work in here too. It's designed to be the dining room (hence the light fixture) but we switched the rooms around. Anyway, I spent $1.99 on a roll of red wrapping paper and lined the backs of the desk. I spent about 2 hours cleaning, dusting, organizing paperwork, and throwing almost a whole garbage bag away of old papers.It felt really good.

I chased that ugly green-eyed monster away!:)

Let's make a quilt!

When Old Red Barn did a Quilt Along, lots and lots of people were inspired.

Me included. I have plans to make this quilt for one of my boys as a Christmas gift.

But first, I'm going to make this one. Except it's gonna be a lot cooler.

This quilt is originally called Country Hearts (by Jackie S. Underwood).

I plan on using waaaaaay more updated fabrics, including pieces of my daughter's now outgrown wardrobe. Sara's mother made an adorable one using baby girl clothes and I filed it somewhere in my brain archives.

Are you interested in making one with me? I will break it down STEP-BY-STEP and be available to answer any questions that you have. I don't have any quilting buddies in my real life:), so how about we make a blogging quilt circle. If you are interested leave me a comment and I will start a real tutorial.

If not, I'll show you my progress anyway.:)

oh!, and thanks for the sugar advice. I'll let you know how we do.

Sugar...or not?

Hi.

My name is Chrissie

and I am addicted to

sugar.

(And no, I'm not kidding)

While we've been at the beach our eating habits have gone from okay to worse. My children have been eating fortified sugar cereals almost every morning for 2-3 weeks. I know, I know, bad mommy. When I woke up this morning and made them eggs and toast they threw a fit!
I won't even go into some of the snacks they've been enjoying. Let's just say they weren't top quality. I made them this chart and hung it on the fridge today. So far it's gone over pretty well. Feel free to print one out if you need or would like to.

I bought this book last weekend for 50 cents. I was surprized at much I liked it and learned from it. We are a family that is addicted to sugar. We have to change it!
Here is an excerpt from the book:
"Sugar has been blamed for hyperactivity, diabetes, hypoglycemia, severe mood swings, decreased brain function, serious digestion problems, yeast infections, obesity, and tooth decay. It depletes your body of all the B vitamins. It leaches calcium from your hair, bones, blood, and teeth, and interferes with the absorption of calcium, protein, and other important minerals in the body, and retards the growth of valuable intestinal bacteria."

Awesome.

Anyone have any advice for me? Should I try to quit cold turkey? Try limiting it? My husband and I are ready for a change and want to be good eating role models for our kids.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
xo
Chrissie

"Sew" crafty

I love making cards. They are short enough projects for those days that I don't have any scheduled craft time, and they are so much fun. This is a series of sewing machines.

I started out by writing the tag line.

And then I remembered my sewing machine has this cool do-hickey thing...

Fun!

If you are interested in any of them leave me a comment and I'll put them in my etsy shop for you.

We are packing up everything this week from the beach and heading back home. It's been a wonderful month, but we are ready to head back home and get back in a normal routine.

Later gators!:)

Small treasures

It's nothing earth shattering, but I found lots of little treasures over the weekend. I am on the search for two large (real wood) bookcases, but everything I saw this weekend was particle board.
Anyhoo-I've been on the search for little items to redecorate the guest bathroom when all the demolition is repaired. I love these two mirrors below. They will probably get a coat of spray paint. They were marked 1.99 each at GW but I got them both for 1.99.

I love this basket at a garage sale for 50 cents. Perfect for holding some beautifully wrapped soaps or some handtowels.

Perfect shelf for the bathroom, just the right size. It will definitely need some new paint though. It was a GW find for 3.99.

I found this planter at GW for only 99 cents. Isn't it cute? It looks like a white picket fence to me. I just happened to have a plant that fit in there perfectly.

Books for only 50 cents each at a garage sale. I forgot to take pictures but I also got the boys 3 shirts each, all brand name and in great condition for $1 each. Preparing for some back-to-school clothes. I also found myself a really cute pair of Old Navy wedges for $1, the tags were still on!

Oh yeah...remember this mirror?

I gave it a coat of aqua spray paint and it's hanging in the Master Bedroom. Maybe one day I'll show you the whole room.

I allowed myself $20 to spend and had just enough left over for a caramel frappicino. Yahoo!

Go to Rhoda's to see what everyone else scored.

Happy Monday!:)

xo

Chrissie

I was dared...

I was planning on joining in on a Frugal Friday linky party tomorrow, but when I saw Crystal's post it got me thinking about a lot of things.

So, here is a picture of me. For reals. No make-up. No photo-shopping. Hair back in a ponytail. A baby around my neck.

I realize this blog post really is a message to myself. Those two eyes up there...one is green and one is blue, but they allow me to see all the beautiful things around me. My body has produced four beautiful and healthy babies, so what's a few stretchmarks?

I am beautiful, just the way God made me.

...and so are you:)

Featured Artist-Julie Abbott

I've never featured another artist on my blog before, but I really wanted to share this woman's work with you. She is a folk artist and when I found her blog last week, I felt like I had stumbled upon a secret place full of art made just for me!

I love her use of colors and the simplicity of them all.

When I showed my husband her work, he said, "It looks like something you would make honey." Lo and behold, when I saw this my jaw dropped. Remember this one that I painted only a couple of weeks ago? Crazy coincidence.

Her quotes are beautiful and really pull on my heart strings. As soon as I have a little money saved, I am commissioning her for an original piece.

Take a look at her blog and leave her some love.

I love an artist whose work speaks to me, and inspires me. Julie does just that.

Footprints

One night I had a dream--I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord and across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints, one belonged to me and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before me,I looked back at the footprints in the sand.I noticed that many times along the path of my life,there was only one set of footprints.I also noticed that it happened at the very lowestand saddest times in my life. This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,you would walk with me all the way,but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my lifethere is only one set of footprints. "I don't understand why in times when I needed you most,you should leave me." The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child,I love you and I would never, never leave youduring your times of trial and suffering. "When you saw only one set of footprints,it was then that I carried you."...Mary Stevenson

Tasty Tuesday

Did your mom let you eat peanut butter and marshmallow puff sandwiches when you were little?

I've got something even better. It is the E.A.S.I.E.S.T summer treat ever. I make it at every single birthday party I throw.
All you do is mix one jar of marshmallow creme with a stick of cream cheese. That's it. Serve with fresh strawberries and pineapple and your guests will be stuck to the food table the entire party.

It's delicious! Do you like my new party container? You put ice in the bottom and then your food stays nice and chilled. Courtesy of my mom, who bought them at Belles.

Check out more yummies over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Coffee, anyone?

It's time again for Rhoda's weekly link up over at Southern Hospitality. I am not finding a lot of good deals right now, but it is forcing me to be in "use up what you have" mode. I showed you the elephant cards I made last week. They came from this pack of cards I picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents! It was opened but there were only 2 cards missing!

This pack is going quick. This weekend I made up a bunch of these coffee cards. In "use up what you have", no money is spent. I only allow myself to use fabric and paper scraps that I already have.

Sorry about the picture quality. We had a terrible rainstorm today that forced me to take the pictures inside.

I think this one is my favorite.

And...
Here's a before and after I thought you might appreciate. A friend of mine dropped two of these palm tree paintings off for me to do whatever I wanted to with. The price tags on these were $25 a piece. She gave them to me for free! Here's the before:

And here is the after:

I am not gonna lie. This was a hard project. I ended up spraying the whole thing white, and then going back over it with acrylic paints. The rattan material inside is practically impossible to paint over. I do love how the frame turned out though.
I may scrap the coffee painting and just use the frame.

Just goes to show you that some ideas just don't turn out the way you thought they would. But it's always a learning experience!

Thanks for looking at my thrifty treasures.

Happy Monday:)

Hello, it's nice to "meet" you:)

Someone just emailed me to let me know that Chris from the infamous Just a Girl mentioned me today in her Feature Friday. I was so pleased that I think may have even blushed. I love that blog!

If you are here visiting, welcome. And while I'm doing formalities, I do want to give a shout out to the new people who have signed up to "follow". I love all the sweet comments you leave, and I just love making all these new friends. So thank you for reading.:)

Blogging is so much fun, isn't it?

Say Cheese

Just in case you needed to smile...

...my little guy is irresistible.

Boogers and all;)

Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend. We have 2 birthdays and a lot of fun to have!

xo,

Chrissie

The Elephant Parade

Ashton asked me to draw him an elephant the other day and I liked it so much I made them into cards.

I hope you are finding time to create fun things too.

xo,

Chrissie

Mother to Daughter

Be her mother. Not her best friend.

Let her live her own dreams. Don't try to make her live yours.

Keep in mind that she's always watching you: how you care for your family, how you worship, how you handle life.

Display her artwork as carefully as you display your other paintings.

Remember, when she trusts her mother to stand by her in times of crisis, she'll learn to stand up for herself.
Enjoy every moment she wants to be around you.

The clock is ticking.

Excerpts from the book Mother to Daughter, by Melissa Harrison and Harry Harrison