In His Grip

Crocheted Flower Hair Clips

One of my close friends asked me to fancy up a package for her niece's graduation gift.  As far as I am concerned, the wrapping of a package is just as important as what you might find inside.  If the outside looks fabulous the anticipation of what is hidden beneath the wrapping is much greater.  And besides, I love making presents look good, it just the kind of gal that I am.  

Choosing some jars of embellishment from my shutter supply holder, I decided to make some hair clips that will not only fancy up the package but can used later as well.

First I crocheted some small flowers and the use millinery flowers and little jewels to give a bit of a sparkle.  I then hot glue them to alligator clips.  They can be used clipped onto a headband or just directly into your hair.

What a fun package for graduation with a bonus of hair clips besides.  Side note:  I love the owl gift wrap. I tell you, owls are everywhere.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, A Silly Little Sparrow, Lady Bug Blessing, All Things Heart & Home, Its Sew For You, Blue Cricket Design, The Thrifty Home, Sew Chatty, Fabric Bows & More, My Girlish Whims, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thirty Three, Sew Much Ado, Someday . . . Crafts, Tea Rose Home, Lil' Luna, Momma Hen, Sugar and Dots, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Sweet Peas & Bumbulebees, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, Somewhat Simple, Its So Stinkin Cute, Firelies and Jellybeans, Gluesticks, Tidy Mom, Simply Sweet Home, Its Fun to Craft, Its a Hodgepodge Life, The Shabby Nest

Jacket @ Starbucks

Last week while waiting at Starbucks for some people I was meeting to arrive, this gal with a wonderful jacket walked in.  I tend to be attracted to a very specific style.  One might say that it is a little out there in terms of color and pattern. I admired her jacket from afar and thought to myself, that is the cutest jacket I have ever seen.  As one of my friends arrived I pointed the jacket out and mentioned that it would make a great blog post.  She suggested I ask the woman if I could take a picture, and sure enough she allowed me to take her picture as she told me the story of the jacket.  Her sister had been to Paris earlier in the Spring and had bought this jacket.  When her sister got back to LA she decided that the jacket would just not work for her on the west coast, but thought that her sister in Kansas City might like it.  And boy, howdy, was she right!  This jacket totally works here in the mid west, we midwestern gals are not afraid to wear bright prints and something other than black.  Okay, maybe that's just me :o)

50 Years Of Commitment

This past Friday we celebrated Jeff's parent's 50th Wedding anniversary.  What a true testament to commitment. Jeff and I both feel so blessed that we both came from families that some how figured out how to stick it out through thick and thin.  Knowing that our folks made it to these kinds of milestones, just gives all of us an great example to look to when the rest of our culture does not always hold marriage up to be what real families are built on.  I love what their marriage says about commitment.  Thanks for being the parents to my guy and the grandparents to our children.  Congratulations, Jack and Karen.

Three Word Thursday

Praying for comfort . . . 

New Loveliness

This past Sunday was our 29th wedding anniversary.  That just seems pretty crazy to me because I don't feel any older than I did at 19 the day we got married.  Although, we have lived a lot of life and seasons have changed, we are back to the way it was back then, in our home alone just the two of us.  Jeff is such a good guy, and he takes hints well.  I hinted back last Fall that I would really like a rose Swarovski crystal ring.  Okay, there was really no hinting about it, I straight up said that I would like this ring, I even took him into the store so that he could see it up close.  Not even thinking that he would remember such a request, I tend to say I want a lot of things, he surprised me by remembering that I wanted this ring.  I just love it!

 
I personally think that the ring screams my name and the color is so pretty.  The crystal goes all the way around the ring and it catches the light and sparkles when I move.  Its like I am getting a little wink all day from my guy. 

Three Word Thursday

New roof, YEAH!

 

Thrifty Photo Blocks

I am finally getting back into my crafty self.  Not that I haven't been doing anything creative, I just have not taken the time to take pictures and blog about them.  But this one idea has got to be one of the easiest and most functional things I have made in a long time.  I am the Live Out (outreach) director at Indian Creek Community Church in Gardner.  I wanted a way to display the way our people were living out the love of Jesus and decided to do it through pictures and came up with these blocks.

 
I cut 2 x 4's into squares and then painted them with white satin spray paint.  Easy so far right?

 
I then sanded some of the paint back off and rubbed it with a little watered down brown acrylic paint to give it just a bit of a worn look.  I drilled a hole in the top of each block.  Using my handy Cricut machine I cut out the letters that I needed.  I made them 2 1/2 inches high.

 
Using some of those fancy Christmas ornament hangers, I straighten one end and glued one into the hole on the top of each block.

 
Tah-dah, thrifty photo blocks that I can change out to highlight the Live Out opportunities and events that our people at Indian Creek Community Church, Gardner serve in.  This particular display shows our folks serving our community at our Easter egg hunt we organized, serving over 400 Gardner folks.  Turned out to be the largest event for Easter in our community.  Yeah!

I am participating in the followng linkys:  Today's Creative Blog, Ladybug Blessings, Costal Charm, A Silly Little Sparrow, All Things Heart & Home, Blue Cricket Design, The Thrifty Home

Three Word Thursday

Woodpeckers not welcome!

 

Mother's Day Recap

Mother's Day is one of those days that as time goes by it means something different to me than in did when my kids were young.  When all my kids were home, we celebrated with wonderful handmade creations that I still have and treasure to this day.  Now, its not the gifts that I receive but the time that we spend together.  Saturday the girls and I spent the morning at garage sales and then on to help Anna get settled in Lindsey's house for the summer.  Just the fact that the two of them want me to do these kinds of things with them is the biggest blessing of the weekend.  They also gave me this wonderful necklace from the Vintage Pearl.  When it comes to blessings, my nest is full even if it is only the one I wear around my neck.

 
Look at this great meal.  Jeff honored his mother and I on Saturday by cooking up this fabulous meal.  We topped it off with Strawberry Banana Cream Pie and with the wonderful weather were able to eat out on the back porch.

 
This is the new bird feeder that Jeff gave me.  Our last one was destroyed in the the hail storm that we had a couple of weeks ago.  The package says that it is squirrel proof, only time will tell if that is actually the case.  It was a great weekend, that seemed to have a it of a bird theme, nest necklace, barbacue chicken, and brid feeder, that's kind of random, but I loved it. 

Teacher Appreciation Week

With this week being Teacher Appreciation, the folks at Indian Creek Community Church, Gardner wanted to bless the teachers and faculty at Wheatridge Middle school where we meet for church each Sunday.  One of our people came up with the idea of collecting teacher supplies.  You know, those supplies that teachers use but are not supplied by the school.  Things that they purchase out of their own pocket.  What a fabulous idea, Willie!  For the last month our peeps have been bring in all kinds of supplies, scissors, dry erase markers, page protectors, etc.  But there are others that serve at Wheatridge and we did not want them to get left out of the love.  So some gals and I made rice crispy treats for the entire staff.  Now these were no ordinary rice crispy treats, we made them the size of Texas.  Knowing that all of our children spend so much time at their schools, we depend on these folks to help shape the future of our nation and we at Indian Creek Community Church just wanted them to know that we support them in all that they do for the students they touch each day.

 
We placed each rice crispy treat in a cello bag with a card attached.  One side said "Thanks."

 
This is what went on the other side of the card.

 
We made 80 GIANT treats for the staff at Wheatridge Middle School.

 
Thanks so much to all the teachers that make our children into the adults of the future.

Three Word Thursday

Spring is coming?