Where I've been...

Let me be very clear that the picture below is from this blog (Made with Love and Glue). She's got a ton of ideas on quick and easy Teacher Appreciation gifts and this one is my favorite. I'll be making some on Sunday.
...and the word on my computer status? Not even looked at yet. But in other news, our home computer has been infected with a virus and is on lock-down. So I haven't had a computer all week! Thank goodness I can check email on my phone.
Today my Logan turns double digits so we will be spending the whole day tomorrow celebrating his 10th birthday. I hope I'll be able to share some pictures next week.
What else? We had a small bout of a throwing up/going out bug that went through the house. Needless to say, I've done a lot of laundry this week.
Oh, and to make everything even more exciting, I decided that the mosaic backsplash that I've been working on for 3 weeks for our kitchen isn't going to work. I just don't like it. Since it will be permanently attached to my kitchen walls, it's pretty important that I love it. I may spend a few hours tonite seeing if I can get some of the stained glass to pop off so I can re-use it.

Other than that, everything is great:) I am quickly borrowing my husband's work computer but I must go now. I hope everyone has a blessed weekend and I hope I can read some of your blogs soon!:)

xo,
Chrissie

Winner

My husband just got done trying to explain to me that I have lost the hard drive on my laptop (which coincendentally is the computer I house alllllll my photos on and blog from). I have no idea right now if and when I will get to get back on it.
So I'm blogging from the home computer to let y'all know the winner of the hope plaque:

Congrats Sun-Kissed Scholar! Please email me your snail mail info and I'll send it out.
Thanks to everyone who played the Favorites Party. Feel free to still join along. I really enjoyed coming to visit everyone.

I hope I'll be back soon! I hope everyone had a blessed weekend.
xo,
Chrissie

Favorites Party

Happy Friday!
It's time for a little sharing...I can't wait to hear about some of your favorite stuff. I'm especially hoping some of y'all will share some of your favorite books, because I am in desperate want of a good read right now.
Well, here's my current faves right now:


This artist:
I love it all. Her etsy shop rocks.
My Favorite Lunch:
I lay all this out on the counter every afternoon and have some sort of combination of it all.
100 % whole wheat pita, hummus, taboule salad, chickpea salad, pesto, and kalamta olives. My very favorite...the crumbled goat cheese. I could put it on top of anything! It's how I eat a lot of the veggies that I don't love.

My favorite workout- Zumba:

I'm not a treadmill type of person...I get bored too easily. But dancing, for an hour? It gets your heartrate up and it really is so much fun.

My favorite new show...real life stuff and it's funny.

Parenthood

My Favorite Sweets:

The Immaculate Baking Company: Cookies with a Cause

I started buying these in an attempt to make our sweet treats a little more concious. Little did I know that this natural cookie company is also a huge supporter of American Folk Art. I will never buy another cookie again. (well, that is probably not true...but I do love these!;)

Did I mention I was doing a giveaway today? After you link up below leave me a comment to enter. This is a wooden plaque I made with the word "hope". I'll pick a winner on Sunday night.

Ok, now share!!! (Please don't forget to link to your "favorites" post, not your normal blog link. Thanks!

Face Painting, or, How to Make a 4 year old Happy

Ava, like a lot of other four year old girls, is infatuated with fairies and princesses.
Her BFF and her have spent countless hours the last few months playing pretend princess and fairy.

The other day I remembered I had a pretty cool book on how to draw them.

Ava suggested face painting...and you would have thought I had told them they could have hot fudge sundaes for dinner:)

I used regular old acrylic paint (non-toxic) and they were tickled pink! (By the way, I consider myself to be a pretty good painter, but face painting is a whole different story! I'm going to have to use much smaller brushes next time. Fortunately, they are not art critics. ;)

Also, if you decide to do it with your kids, and you take them outside for a few pictures, you may want to clean up first...

...or a certain younger sibling may help himself. Not that I would let that happen or anything.

I'm linking up to Simply Feather's "Paint with Me Thursdays." This weeks theme was toys.

DON'T FORGET TO COME BACK TOMORROW FOR THE "MY FAVORITES" LINK UP PARTY. THERE MAY BE A GIVEAWAY TOO...HINT HINT

Will you come?

Spring is in the air and there is a palpable inspirational energy in the air. Will you come over to my little ol' blog on Friday and share your favorites?

Your favorite new book, a recipe, your favorite shampoo, chocolate, music or t.v. show...anything that you love? Perhaps you can show pictures and provide some links to those faves of yours.

I would love to see what's inspiring all of you right now. I'll have a linky-link so we can all visit each other.

I hope you'll come!:)

Mosaic Butterflies

Well, dang it, I thought I would get much better photos of these butterflies.
There are three of them. My almost 18 year old customer asked for purple, yellow, and pinks...

I used stained glass and tile (why oh why can't I get this picture to come in right?)

Oh well. I still need to add wire antennae...and then they'll be done. They really are much prettier in person...

The flowers are gorgeous too. I hope my neighbor doesn't mind me using her front walk for photo shoots ;)

Did you have a nice weekend?

I'm pooped! Does anyone else ever look forward to Monday mornings when everyone goes to school/work? I love the weekends, but they are still a lot of work! :)

Some thoughts on food...

I haven't actually seen the movie Food Inc. (although I plan to soon). I watched an Oprah show where they spoke about the film and showed some clips from the film. It was enough to make me start really thinking about our food intake.

Have you ever considered that most of what we put in our bodies isn't really food?

The preservatives, the food colorings, the additives, the sugar and high fructose corn syrup...the food that we all feed to our kids and ourselves.

It's no wonder that most of us suffer from daily ailments: allergies, headaches, bad periods, depression and anxiety, stomach aches. We aren't eating REAL FOOD!

How is it that I'll be 35 this year and I've been eating "fake food" almost my whole life?Let me quickly add that I am by no means an expert. I am the guiltiest of guilty. I thought we were doing pretty good because we don't keep soda in the house. I only buy 100% whole wheat bread. We drink 2% milk...BUT- we have a long ways to go.

We have started with our small garden. We decided on The Easy-Care Bag Garden. You simply set out purchased bags of topsoil, cut open the bags, and plant the seeds and seedlings right in the topsoil. By the second year, it should be fully functional as a food garden with 15 vegetables and 5 herbs producing steadily from early summer to late fall. Our garden right now should yield:

• carrots


• cucumbers


• spinach


• sugar snap peas


• 3 types of tomatoes


• blueberries


• strawberries


• a papaya tree


• basil


• thyme


• oregano


• rosemary


• sage
  
  A couple of other things we've done...replaced our milk with organic, bought the kids some all natural cereals (try the fruit-o's, they are good!), and introduced two more servings of vegetables a day.

Also, check out this book too. It'll get you thinking...I promise.

I'll be back soon with some art and sewing to show you.

I've been busy and I can't wait to share!:)

Someone is four

Four years ago today I gave birth to our first and only daughter. She was four weeks early and weighed in at 7 pounds even.
She is a constant joy and source of laughter in this house.
There are days that I have to pinch myself because I feel so blessed to be her Mama.
My heart is tender today with the thought of how quickly she is growing...:)
We are off to celebrate with Minnie Mouse cupcakes and pizza.
Happy Birthday sweet Ava~ we love you so much!

Friday...a book, a recipe, and some inspiration

Happy Friday Friends.
My kids have been on Spring Break this week, and while we had a very good time, my husband informed me that I have the day off today!
Which means I can catch up on a couple of projects and get ready for Sissy's birthday without being responsible for feeding, entertaining, and changing diapers.
YAY!!
Here is a collage of inspiration for the week...

1. more pillows... closeup., 2. heart´s heart - multicolor, 3. Chloe, Beatrice, Pixie, Poppy, Olive, 4. doll quilt, 5. Polkadot shoes, 6. matruschka pimpinellskova #2, 7. matruschka pimpinellskova #2, 8. Oilily fabric brooches, 9. van dik hout - mijn houten hart, 10. love on a wire, 11. turquoisepink1, 12. flowers for hairpins 1

On another note, I make steamed broccoli about once a week, and was getting rather tired of it. I tried this cold broccoli salad for Easter and I highly recommend it. My kids were munching on it like little rabbits:)

• Large head of broccoli
• 10 slices of bacon, cooked crisp
• 5 green onions
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1 cup mayo
• 2 tsp. vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar

Cut the broccoli into florets, add cooked bacon to it along with green onions, raisins. Mix mayo, vinegar and sugar together and toss with broccoli mixture.

Lastly, I actually read this back in December but picked it up from the library again. It is not a Christian based parenting book, but it has to be one of my favorites ever.

“If you are raising children in these anxious times, you need this book. It will inspire you, reassure you, and, most important of all, it will remind you that less is more, that simplicity trumps complication, that rhythm and routine bring peace to the soul. In this profound and practical guide, Kim John Payne offers parents a doable, step-by-step approach to simplifying everyday family life, from the toy box to the dinner table. In the process, he reveals to us the rewards to be found in slowing down, savoring our children’s childhoods, and more fully enjoying our own adult lives.”—Katrina Kenison, author of Mitten Strings for God

Here is wishing you a wonderful weekend.

xo,

Chrissie

A New Corner of Our Home...2

Over the last few months my kids have all shown a lot more interest in art. I do guided art projects with them regularly, but now they are all interested in drawing and coloring more often on their own. I wanted to set up a space just for them where they could go at any time and have all their art supplies ready and accessible.

I went to Home Depot and bought the two pieces of wood and painted them white. My husband screwed them into the wall for me and I hot glued the black clips from Target's dollar section on there so they could have a rotating art gallery.

I've had these three letters forever; all collected from Goodwill trips at various times. They all got a coat of black spray paint.

I had the silver buckets from Ikea and I threw away all the old mismatched, dried out, and broken markers and crayons. New art supplies are so inspiring! There is a strict rule to always put the lids back on:)

I found these magazine holders in the dollar section at Target. They hold coloring books in one and drawing books in the other. White drawing paper is all set to go in the organizer.

We set this up for the kids Sunday night so when they woke up on their first day of Spring Break Monday they would be surprised. They were all proud to see their artwork hanging and they have already used this space constantly.

I spent less than $18 on everything and used what I had. I'm pleased with the area but I'm really happy to see how excited my kids have been using it. The neighborhood kids have been enjoying it too!:)

A New Corner of Our Home...One

Instead of striving for a "perfect" house, I'm embracing the "we have four small children" house. Celebrating that fact and trying to curb some of the decor to make it slightly more kid-friendly while still trying to eliminate clutter.
I thought I would show you some of the corners I've been working on...Here's the first one.


My budget for this small project was...$0! I had all the frames stored and a lot of them were different colors. I spray painted them all black so they would all be unified.

I wanted a variety of the kids at mostly recent stages so I just printed them on watercolor paper using my printer at home. I can update them easily.

I centered all the photos around our family name plaque, which has been in several different places around my house.

A few of my favorite...

this silhouette was made at Walt Disney World in 1981. It is me, my brother, and mother.

Remember I told you of my new favorite color combo? I forgot that I had this piece. I bought it from this etsy shop about three years ago.

There's not a lot of room for much on the piano without it looking too cluttery, so I settled for some fresh roses and a spring themed item. This is a good excuse for me to splurge on fresh flowers for myself on a regular basis:)

Thanks for looking. I'll be back with more soon!

xo,

Chrissie

Oh, just in case you were wondering, I used the brown paper method for hanging the frames. I traced them all on brown paper, cut them out, and taped them all over the wall and moved them around until I liked the arrangment. Then I actually hung the frames.

Also, check out Kimm's Trash to Treasure party today for other frugal decorating ideas!

Happy Easter!

Have a wonderful Easter holiday, friends!

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

John 11:25-26