Fall Swap

Sweet Lori hosted a fall swap and I got my package this week from Kim. It was full of lots of fun fall stuff, including a bag of Halloween M & M's that were eaten before I could get pictures of everything!
She made this little owl pillow. Isn't it cute? I love owls.
I told her I loved acorn decorations and she sent me these three. They look good with my faux pumpkins, right?

She also made me this fall inspired monogram, which I put in front of my white pumpkins.

Autumn themed paper plates and napkins...

An extra large coffee mug and some yummy Autumn spice coffee...:)

And last, but not least, this delicious smelling bath soap. It really smells like pumpkin spice.

Thanks Kim! You spent a lot of time spoiling me!

I forgot to take pictures of what I sent her, but if she blogs about it I'll put a link here.

I hope you guys are all feeling well. I've finally caught the little flu bug that all of my children have had. I'm going back to the couch...Thursday night is my favorite TV night!

xo,

Chrissie

More Christmas prints and the winner...

This print is now available in my shop. I will also be making some cards and ornaments using this print too!
Thanks for your suggestions and kind emails as well. The winner for the 24 hour giveaway is...Bailey! Email me your email address and I'll send the .jpg file over to you!

Happy Hump Day!
xo
Chrissie

Etsy shop update and a 24 hour give-away

I have a new "She Said" girl and this time she's got a holiday theme. You can get a 5 x 7 print right here.

Or if you like how about as a Christmas card?
I even made up a jpg. template so you can use them as gift tags. It'll be emailed to you and you can print as many as you need. All available in my etsy shop.

Would you like to win one of the jpg. templates?

I'm having a 24 hour give-away. Leave me a comment and tell me what you would like to see in my etsy shop. I would love to reach 200 sales soon and I would love to make some more things that you would like. You can even leave one comment per suggestion, and I'll pick a random name tomorrow night at 8 pm.

Thanks and good luck!!:)

Clothesline? Yay or Nay?

Like many of you, I have spent a good portion of my days doing laundry.
Which means that my washer and/or dryer seem to run almost non-stop all day long.
When I got our electricity bill last month, it was waaaaay too high. I am one of those turn-off-everything-freaks too. So I decided to do something about it.
I did some research on the internet and found out that using your dryer can account for up to 10% of your electricity bill. I found this great article about line drying and I decided to try it. I think it's wonderful when frugality and green living go hand in hand.

I already had the drying rack so I decided to try it for a month before I invested in a clothesline. It actually is working out really well. I was worried that I would be spending a lot more time doing laundry, but I'm not. I only do one load a day. I wash in the morning, hang the clothes and let them dry in the sun. In the afternoon, I throw everything in the dryer for 5-10 minutes to fluff them up and get rid of any wrinkles. I fold or hang everything and then I'm done for the day.

The only exception to this rule is towels. Towels that are dried outside are very crunchy and we like our towels soft. I do these loads at night, right before I go to bed, because the power is cheaper then. When I wake up they are ready to be folded and put away. If it's a rainy day, I just bring my drying rack inside and let them dry that way. It just takes a little longer.

Do you line-dry your clothes? Am I missing anything? I would love to hear any tips or tricks of the trade.
Oh, and by the way, my bill came down almost $100 this month!:)

Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Costume

With four kids and a very limited budget, I decided I wasn't going to spend more than $5 on each kid's Halloween costume this year. That sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? Would you believe that I came under budget? (She pats herself on the back...:)

If you are in your early to mid thirties like me, there's a good chance that you played with Strawberry Shortcake too. She sure has changed, hasn't she? Ahem...
We actually "used what we had" for her costume. The green and white striped shirt started out like this...

Got a make-over using Crystal's reverse applique tutorial...

and turned out pretty cute!

We had the white tights and I stuffed them with newspaper before we painted the polka dots on.

Lastly, we hot glued one of the strawberries from her plastic food play set onto a summer hat.

I will pick up some pink hair spray, you know the washable kind, to finish it off.

Just in case you were wondering, we found Logan a mask at Goodwill for $2.99 which he is pairing with black jeans and a black t-shirt, I found Ashston a Darth Vader costume on Craig's List for $5, and the baby got a hand-me-down puppy costume.

If your kids trick-or-treat, are buying costumes or making them? I would love to see...:)

Go to Kimba's for other DIY projects!

Work in Progress

"You yourself are a mosaic...

Shattered, fragmented, and

awesome to behold."

This is the first time in a looooooong time that I have some commissioned mosaic pieces.
I had stopped doing them for awhile because it was starting to feel a little tedious.
But right now it feels so good. The slowness and "exactness" of it is just the meditative medicine I've been needing.

I'm lucky because both clients aren't in a hurry. They just want them when I'm done. Which means I've been saving the work for night-time, when the kids are asleep and I can have time to reflect and think.

Piece by piece.

or...

Peace by piece.

Life has been feeling rushed and swollen and way too busy. I've been thinking a lot about how I want to spend my time. What things I want to priortize. What direction I want my art and business to take. Trying to remember that my relationship with God needs to come first.

That without Him I would have none of this.

When I read this post by Jill, I felt called to do the same thing. Some of them are pretty much exactly the same as hers. I hope you don't mind Jill! I loved the idea of purposefully making sure I was doing some random acts of kindness for my loved ones. Try it. I dare you!

Wednesday's to do: smiley face waffles. How can you go to school without a smile on your face when your Momma makes you smiley face waffles?:)
Okay, I'm going to go back to my reflective mosaic making.
I'll let you know how it goes:)
Have a beautiful weekend friends. I'll be back on Monday to show you the Halloween costume I'm making Ava.
xo
Chrissie

Oh! and a p.s.
One of my favorite new blogs is giving away a very cute Halloween banner, plus showing you how to make your own. Check it out!

Halloween Frames

Last week when I was showing you my Fall decorations I mentioned I wanted to fill this little area with some Halloween frames. Of course, to show off all my kiddos and their costumes every year. I didn't even have to go to the thrift store, I did all the shopping and re-purposing inside my house! (except for the little candy corn frame, which was a gift!;)
This scrolly frame was moss green and I just spray painted it black. I altered the photo at picnik.com.

This was another frame I had lying around. It also got a coat of black spray paint.

This was a wooden frame that I had spray painted red for something, but never used it. It got sprayed black too, and then I decoupaged it with some Halloween scrapbooking paper.

I'm going to keep my eye out for some smaller frames that already have a Halloween theme or maybe just plain black or orange. I'd like to fill this whole table up! The kids keep asking, "Where's the picture of me in "such and such"...

Oh, and I had to share this little pumpkin with you. Logan made it in Kindergarden and looks forward to putting it out every year.

I think I'm going to try to do the same thing at Christmas time. Pictures on Santa lap, Christmas morning of years past, and the obligatory family photos!

Ah, all of the holiday memories on display for everyone to see:)

Thanks for looking!

xo,

Chrissie