Fun Times!

I just love it when God sends a kindred spirit my way :) Heather Dickinson and I met through our blogs some time ago, but we never thought we would actually get to meet sometime, especially since they live in South America!

  I'm so happy it worked out that they could come see us while they were here in the states. We'd never met them before in our lives, but we just chatted away like we'd known them forever. (I feel like I have known them forever, just from reading their blog!) 

Can you believe we got a pic with everybody looking at the camera??

 I usually can't do that with just my 3 boys ;)

(You'll have to excuse Weston's casual attire - he threw up all over his cute little church outfit. He seems to be feeling better now though, in case you were wondering...) 

Poor Dave was smitten. It took little Mary about 5 minutes to have him wrapped completely and hopelessly around her little finger. You know it's bad when he'd rather hold a sleeping baby than go through the lunch line! He thinks he needs a little girl. I'm not so sure - she'd be too spoiled rotten! :)

All the littles had a great time together. It just ended too soon! We decided we need a longer visit sometime, so the kids can play while Heather and I do some thrift shopping and crafting! 

Thank you, Dickinsons, for coming to our neck of the woods - you've been a Blessing to us, and you're welcome here at the old parsonage anytime! 

Share some Etsy love!

I am so thankful for all the plugs I've had for my little etsy shop, and all the lovely ladies (and a few guys!) that have actually bought things from me and supported my business :)  So...I'd love to pay it forward and put in a plug for some other etsy shops! 

These gals do AMAZING work. You really owe it to yourself to check 'em out!

My bloggy friend, Jenny, makes fantastic handmade cards - I have some of them myself, and they are simply breathtaking. You can visit her shop at... 

Handmade by Jenn

 I just love this one...

 And this one is so sweet for Easter!

She also makes hand painted signs that are super cute!

Another shop I love is 

Created by Trish

She also makes handmade cards that are just awesome.

See what I mean?? This is beautiful. Who wouldn't love to get a card like that?!

This one is precious.

Good grief, these girls have some serious photography skills, too. Love their photos!

Pay these shops a visit, and give 'em some love. I promise - you'll love the eye candy!

Here's Your Sign...

I've been into making signs lately. Once I discovered how easy it is, I got kinda sorta addicted. Besides, it's a fantastic way to use up old frames or cabinet doors. 

I had seen a similar "Cottage" sign on Pinterest (where else???) and fell in love with it. I knew it would be perfect for the top of this armoire in the living room. That's always one of the hardest places for me to decorate - for some reason it always stumps me. So I'm super happy to have that little problem solved!

The next one was made from an old mirror that was discarded when we redecorated the church bathrooms. Yep, I painted right over the glass. I love the saying, and the song. 

(Thanks, Jenny, for the inspiration!)

The little chalkboard sits in the kitchen...

I'm still waiting for applicants.

I've already shown this one in another post, but it's a sign, so I'll stick it in here again! It's a great reminder to be content with what we have.  

 I'll share the "how-to's" with ya. This is the easiest way I've found anyway.

Chalkboards:

1. Print your quote on paper making sure to get your font size as big as you need.

2. Rub the back of the paper with chalk.

3. Position it on your chalkboard, and trace the letters with a pen or something sharp.

4. Remove the paper, and go over the faint chalk lines with a chalk marker.

Works like a charm!

Painted Signs:

1. Print your quote on paper.

2. Lay some graphite paper over your sign, place printed quote on top.

3. Trace the quote with a pen.

4. Remove paper and graphite and go over the faint lines with paint. For the "God Is Faithful" sign, I used a black sharpie and it worked GREAT. 

That's it! A super easy, and fun winter project. 

Linking up with Chari's Finished Object Friday!

A Very "Pinteresting" Valentine's Day!

Well, I didn't do much as far as Valentine's decor this year. Ok, make that I didn't do squat as far as Valentine's Day decor this year. But we made up for it with goodies!

There were so many different yummy ideas on pinterest I couldn't decide which ones to try. I went with the strawberry cake mix cookies from this pin, and let me just tell you - that recipe is a KEEPER! I had to hurry up and bag up the ones for the school kiddos because they were going fast. We made them last night and there's not so much as a crumb left for today, Valentine's Day. *sigh *...

(*disclaimer* This post is full of  pathetic Iphone pics, I know they're terrible...)

We made some of them just for the boys' teachers...

I found that idea on pinterest too, but couldn't seem to find a ready made printable for the tag in a Valentine's Day version...so I just put one together myself real quick in photoshop. It's not fantastic, but it works. The guys wrote little notes to their teachers on the back.

The boys have been "selling" candy bars for the school fundraiser, and I'm pretty sure their daddy and I are their best customers. Something HAD to be done. (They really are that good.) So I found a candy bar wrapper printable on pinterest here,  fancied them all up, and handed them out at church as Valentine's gifts. Whew! Got rid of those wicked things. Now I owe the fundraiser envelope quite a few pennies...

 The boys were thrilled with their lego star wars Valentine's cards, complete with glow stick light sabers. 

Here is the link to that pin.

Which begs the question...

What in this world did we do before Pinterest???

 And I still have a whole board full of ideas to try next year :)

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all! I hope it's SWEET!

Sneak Peek!

Progress is being made here at the old Parsonage! So I thought I'd throw a few sneak peeks out there while I work on finishing up the rest of it. 

 Today I'm working on making covers for these pillows that came with the sofa...

because really, teal velvet just isn't my thing. 

At the moment I have 3 finished pillows, and 4 to go. 

I think I can I think I can I think I can....

 I managed to get the whole room painted
 in one day (Woop Woop!!)...

with the "help" of my trusty assistant. ;) 

I only hope he never loses his eagerness to help. 

BUT...I think I can safely say that is the last time I will be painting anything while home alone with a 19 month old wild man on the loose. It was quite interesting let me tell ya!

Happy Friday, Y'all! Go to the Chari Tree to see other "Finished Object Friday" posts :)

Bringin' in some Spring!

Most of you know I don't deal so well with winter. I'm a southern girl through and through! I struggle with feeling "down" during the dreary winter days. So, I thought what better way to beat those blues than to redecorate! The victim of my latest whims is the living room. I had started lightening things up in there a while back, and this is as far as I got...

Now, I'm taking it up a few more notches.

I want it to look more like spring time in there!

Here is a polyvore idea board I threw together with some of my plans for the room.

I've already been hard at work on it, and some things have already been crossed off the old "to do" list. I got the script rug and a "leather" recliner for Christmas, so that helped get me started. 

I thought maybe you guys would like to go on this little journey with me. 

So whaddaya say, are ya with me? 

I'll keep you posted as I get some things done in there, and show you how it's coming along. I'll tell you one thing, I'm loving it already!

Family Photo Shoot

I just realized I never shared our newest family pics here on the pitifully neglected  blog. So, better a bit late than not at all, right?

My guys (that would be all 4 of them...) are SO happy that family photos are done for another year. We tried at least 3 different times, all with no success, so we finally said phooey on it and took the best ones and edited Weston into the pics later. He was so not cooperating. And our patience was so running out...

And I would like to know when these little guys got so BIG! Jackson's almost a tall as his mother. Wow, I'm starting to feel old...

Me and this handsome guy celebrated 14 years together this past fall - and I wouldn't trade him for anything. 

I loved the sunshiney leaves bokeh! Too bad he was such a sober faced little thing...

The middle blue eyed boy is growing up, too - he just had his 7th Birthday party. He's the family entertainer - keeps us in stitches all. the. time. Just last night he said to Jackson, "If you don't watch it, you'll get sent off to college at a very young age." Gotta love him! 

I gave up trying to get a good shot of the 3 boys together. It's hopeless I tell ya.  Here's a few samples... (pay no mind to the photo quality...I didn't even take the time to edit these!)

And then he makes his escape! 

Sigh...maybe next year...

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's already 2013? Me neither. But I'm looking forward to a great year. I love a fresh start, new goals. Thanks to my Mother-in-law, I've already met one of my goals - she helped me take down and pack away ALL the Christmas stuff! It would have taken me weeks...

I have to share my latest thrifty find with ya. I wanted some new parsons chairs for our dining room for Christmas. I found a set of 4 tan fabric covered chairs on craigslist for....

wait for it....

20 bucks. 

Yep, as in 5 bucks per chair. Unbelievable! I was so stoked. The covers are even removable and washable. Awesome. So my sweetie got me 2 new ones to go with them, giving me a total of 6. Yay! 

He also promised me some new flooring for our kitchen/dining areas. So I'm really excited about that!!

All the garlands and stockings have been safely packed away for another year...

 I decided to leave the cards up for a bit longer. I just love seeing all of your faces! Thanks to everybody who sent us cards - it's one of the highlights of Christmas for us :) 

And just in case you didn't get a card from us, I'll post  it here...

Happy New Year from our house to yours!