Going Private

Thank you all for your insight, one of the many reasons I love to blog. Even before I read all of your comments, I knew what I wanted to do. I just hate the thought of missing out on any new friendships or reconnecting with old friends… or making it a pain to sign into my blog, however I have decided that for now I will be Going private. Maybe I will change my mind later and open my blog back up, but for now, please leave your e-mail address and I will put you on the list, if I need to, I will make two blogs with the same post so I don’t leave anyone out. This will happen in the next two weeks.

Thank you!

I also hope no one ever ever feels obligated to leave me a comment, I love blogging. I do it more for myself than anyone { I guess I’m kinda selfish that way} ;) As many of you mentioned, I thought back to what got me started blogging in the beginning! I’m thinking my LOVE for blogging will return, when I know exactly who is peaking in at my life. I’ve just felt a little uneasy posting pictures of my family or my deep thoughts lately, wondering who was out there.

ANYWAYS… I know, I tend to ramble…. It’s just apart of who I am! :)

LOOK at this CUTE Annie doll I just bought! EEEK! Is it not SO stinkin’ cute?! I’m so excited!! Take a peek at THIS BLOG

to see more… there are a bunch of different seasonal ones, and others! I think they are so fun. They are all handmade! I wish I was as talented as Miss Christine!

I have more FUN HALLOWEEN IDEAS coming up! I love Halloween! Such a fun holiday, all the little kids dressing up, fall leaves floating down from the sky with a crisp breeze cooling the evenings down, the smell of apple cider and cinnamon! YUM! I ♥ it all!!!

Linky Love…

Hello friends! First off I should definitely apologize for leaving that creepy spider picture up so long! ha! ;) I have some link love to give you all today! Some new favorite blogs and a fun give-away to tell you about!

Let’s get to that give-away first! You know those SUPER cute watch bands everyone is making & wearing?! Well you can get your own for free! Just go to THIS BLOG and leave a comment! Good Luck! Hope one of us wins!!!

Lately “house crashing” is my favorite thing to do! BIG THANKS to all who have already let me in to see their spaces, I LOVE seeing how other people decorate and make their house a home! So when I stumbled on THIS BLOG, I instantly fell in love!

This blog is called Not So Idle Hands… SO many fun ideas on here!

♥ it! From craftiness to recipes…

Okay all of you in Young Women’s… if you ever need a handout idea… try Paper Cakes & Icing. DARLING! The last 3 handouts I made, were from her ideas! The girls LOVED them! !!

Last little gem for today, NAP TIME CRAFTS, don’t you love her name? So true at our house lately!

Speaking of crafts… look what I’m getting ready to make! I bet you have all seen these all over blog world too! I think they are darling! My CUTE friend Christine really inspired me to make them!

I' usually don’t start decorating for fall this early… but I’m afraid I’ve caught the bug! ;) Hope you all have a perfect day!

The itsy bitsy spider…

So I’m not a huge fan of spiders, but I’m not deathly afraid of them. I don’t have to call my hubs over to kill them for me either. I usually just get it over with and do what needs to be done. Well this “little” spider started out making a little web on our garbage can. He was catching a ton of bugs for me so I decided to let him live for a minute. :)

 

Well after a few days or so I noticed he had gotten a little bit bigger. Brooklyn had noticed him too, and it soon became a nightly tradition to peek out at our little pet spider and see if he’d gotten any bigger. Well garbage day rolled around, and Zach took the garbage out for us. I didn’t expect to see the little guy ever again. I thought for sure he’d be dumped and taken away with the trash. Boy was I wrong! This persistent little guy, was out and about re-building his beautiful home that night.  And you know what… this went on for almost a month! Each week the garbage can would go out, I’d think he’s in for it this time! Then that night we’d roll the garbage can back in from the curb, and he’d be at it again, re-spinning that web of his and catching more bugs. Going on with life and never complaining. How he held on while the garbage man tipped him upside down and shook him around I will never know! I even started to feel sorry for him. Don’t judge me, but one week when their wasn’t much garbage I just let him be, and didn’t bother taking the trash to the curb!

Anyways… this week, I haven’t seen our itsy bitsy spider. I kind of miss him. I think it’s because he reminded me  every day, that we don’t need to sit around wasting time, that no matter how bad things get… we have to keep on going! Pressing forward. As silly as it may sound, he inspired me!

Sometimes I work myself up. I say yes to more than I can handle, I overbook myself,  and I become increasingly weary with life. I want to be more like my pet spider…take life a little slower, hang on when there are those bumps and shakes on garbage day (or screaming crying kids in town.)   Be satisfied with my mundane every day tasks that need to be accomplished.

Life doesn’t have to be perfect.

In fact it’s more fun when it’s not!

Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them.
~ Robert R. Updegraff

What inspires you?

Vintage Flower Tutorial…

Okay, here is the little tutorial for the cute flowers…

Step #1 Go buy some Acetate fabric, I got mine at JoAnn's, just ask a salesperson in the store if they carry it.

Step #2 Cut your fabric into circles, I totally freehanded mine (obviously) It really doesn’t matter though. You can cut as many or as few circles as you want. And if you really want a fun vintage look, put some tulle circles in between! {SUPER CUTE!}

Step #3 Light a tea light candle, singe the edges, so they curl up just a bit, you can blacken the edges for an extra vintage touch, or don’t just depending on your style. Just play around with it until you get what you want. We noticed that some fabrics singed easier than others.

Step #4 Stack your singed circles on top of each other from biggest to smallest.

Step #5

Bring needle & thread up from bottom center through each of the layers and sew pearl(s) on.

Step #6

Place a piece of coordinating ribbon in between alligator clip and adhere with a glue gun.

There you go! We also thought it would be fun to mix different colors of fabric or clip these onto headbands , purses, scarves, etc. The possibilities are endless! Have fun!

Another kind of crazy day…

Introducing… Kolbin J. Keck… I’m an auntie again!

{isn’t he PRECIOUS!}

We got to see him today, and AHH! I could hold him all day long!

We went to see our other precious angel too…

We love you Jayden!

My dad decided that we weren’t getting quite enough excitement around the place, so he decided to add to it… he ended up having a blockage in his ♥, luckily he only needed one stent. He has been so healthy all his life, and to see him in that hospital bed, was sort of a shock to me. It made me appreciate and love him that much more. My dad is one of my heroes and I’m so grateful that he is going to be okay! {No more excitement dad!} ;)

My in-laws, are so much fun, when they decided to take in an exchange student, it was really no surprise. We already love her! She turned 16 today, so we got to go eat some cake and ice cream! Happy Birthday Saskia!

Then we ran straight to recipe group… you can find all our yummy recipes HERE. Thanks Hannah for hosting! I always look forward to getting together with the Cookin’ Mama’s!

The weather is turning a little cooler, I have mixed feelings about it all, of course we hate to see the SUNSHINE go… but a little more of a schedule, all things cinnamon & spice, pumpkins, and of course my favorite hot chocolate season, get me pretty excited too. Look at this CUTE new cocoa cup I bought…

I think it will help me ease into the cooler weather!

Hope you are all enjoying your week!

Where have I been?

{BEWARE LONG POST AHEAD!}

Holy cow! It’s been one of the craziest and fun couple of weeks we’ve had all summer! Here is all our happenings in a nutshell…

Had a little baby shower for my sister Krystal

( I had so much fun planning it with my mom!)

Thursday we went up to a local bead shop… SUPER cute beads at great prices, if any of you want her number (she just does it out of her home) shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get you her phone number! Here are a few of the watches I made. I think we made 7 between 3 of us!

We also made some cute little flowers for Brooklyn’s hair, in fact I’ll be wearing them too! The black flower is what they look like, I’m planning on making a few more in the different colors. My cute cousins Jill & Rachel showed me how to make them, out of Acetate fabric. (if things slow down maybe I’ll do a tutorial on it) SO fun!

Just when I thought we couldn’t cram one more thing into the week, we did. Zach’s company took us on a little getaway to the Salmon River Lodge. It was incredible!

We hiked, we jet boated down the river (over & up waterfalls!), we ate amazing food, sat in a natural hot springs (possibly my favorite part of the whole trip) and explored the beautiful country! I am so grateful for such a fun experience!

I am actually looking forward to things slowing down… if that ever happens, and actually getting into the fall schedule! I’ve missed you all!

More posts coming soon!

Hope you have a perfect Tuesday!