Life These Days

Life has a way of taking unexpected twists and turns.  You don't know where you will be tomorrow or how your circumstances may change.  At this time I find myself in a place where I never thought I would be.  I'm am not sure what tomorrow will bring and I rely on my Heavenly Father for support to carry on.  Each day is an opportunity to witness His hand and provision in mine and my children's lives.  Due to circumstances in our lives, we have had to leave our home.  Leaving most of our possessions behind.  It has been a difficult month.  We have grieved over everything we lost, over the uncertainty of our future, and over the pain we have felt in our hearts.  But during this time, we have experienced many blessings and God's provision.  We were able to celebrate with my sister as she received her Master's Degree in Speech Pathology.  I am so happy for her!!  It has been a long and tiring road for her. We are celebrating my daughter's acceptance to the nursing program.  She has completed her first year of college and I am so happy and excited for her!!

I am so thankful that God has blessed us and kept us through these difficult days.  We are on a new journey, unsure of what we will face in the upcoming future, facing the challenges that lay ahead of us.  Taking each day as a new and glorious blessing from our Heavenly Father.

Cross One off the List

I have finally done it.  Finished a project!  YEAH!! There has been a creative dry spell here.  Most of our time has been occupied with accomplishing our home school goals for this year.  We are close to completing  everything on our list and I am feeling much better.  The past six weeks have been intense but good.  We both have such a sense of accomplishment.  

Organizing has been on the top of my list lately.  Things have gotten a bit out of control.  

I needed somewhere to corral all my unfinished crochet projects.  I always have more than one project going on at a time.

I posted about this project here.

I had this apple basket in my basement for a while (a couple of years, I think).

It definitely needed a new look.

I think everything looks better in a coat of white paint.  

I then stenciled YARN onto the front.

I don't have a vinyl cutting machine so I printed them, cut them, and traced them onto the basket.

I originally wanted to purchase wooden letters but I think our little puppy would have too much fun chewing them.  So I decided to paint them on.

After I traced them in pencil, I used this paint pen to fill them in.

Here it is freshly painted.

I then sanded the letters to distress them a bit.

Here it is filled and ready to go.  It will be great to have all my projects in one place ready to work on.

It feels great to have one project crossed off the list.  My next big project is our garden.  It definitely needs to be cleaned up and prepared for planting.  The weather here in April was quite warm and sunny but May has brought many days of rain and cool weather.  I'm hoping for some sun so I can prepare the garden for planting.  The planning has begun and I can't wait to plant.

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My Faves

Where have I been?  There has been a lot going on here.  Much like everyone else.  The days are swallowed up in what seems like mere seconds.  It has been nothing more than the daily grind here.  We are working on finishing our homeschool curriculum sometime before July.  It is the first year of high school for my son.  He is completely right brained and an artist and I am trying very hard to incorporate that into a Classical Education model.  He was participating in an amazing art class but his teacher had to drop the class. It was quite sad for him.  She was a perfect fit.
Samples of his work:

Portraits of characters from the tv show Smallville.  He is mostly self taught in portraits.

Some comic book art

This is his passion.  He enjoys creating and has started working on some custom figures from his favorite comic books.

Although my posts have been scarce I have been spending some time reading some amazing blogs.  One of my favorite bloggers is Edie from Life in Grace.  She is a rock star and her every post is filled with amazing insight.  Her posts are as chic and eclectic as her home style and I am continuously blessed and inspired when I read her blog. She is my go to on what to read next.  A professed C.S. Lewis fan, she chooses some of the most amazing books and I am continuously challenged by her reading lists.

From Edie's blog I was introduced to Paige's blog, Simple Thoughts.  Many of you may be familiar with her blog and her story.  It is truly amazing and I have been so blessed to read her posts.  I have been reading through the archives.  Her blog is filled with beautiful photos, thought provoking posts and words to inspire.

Following links on Paige's blog I was blessed to find Sibi's blog, Pearls and Grace.  Her blog is filled with stories of God's grace and goodness towards us who are so undeserving.  Her story is a true testimony of God's unfailing love, even when we feel alone and abandoned, He is there and knows our every pain.

Last but certainly not least is Jaime of Crafty, Scrappy, Happy.  Her blog is filled with so many good things. Complete eye candy.  She shares amazing projects that turn her house into a home and inspires me with her style.

These are a few of my favorites.  My go tos.  The ones I can't go without.  I hope that you take time to visit them.  What are some of your favorites?  Who or what inspires you, challenges you and encourages you?

Gone to the Dogs

All of my days have gone to the dogs.  Of course, they are the cutest pups in the whole world and a ton of fun but my days are running together without any time for creating.  I am in need of some creative time.  Working on projects is my therapy.  Right now, I am in purge mode.  I have been going through the things that have accumulated in our storage space in the basement.  Looking forward to a yard sale with my neighbors.  I always feel like I can create better when I have purged.  Working in a clean and neat space is always more fun.  So I continue to clean out in little spurts while the pups are outside.

Homeschooling has gotten a little behind since we got the new puppy and our husky became ill.  The husky is doing so well.  We had a vet appointment this week and they were happy with her progress.  She is almost healed.  Her fur still needs to grow in from surgery and she still looks out of sorts because of it but is  feeling much more like herself.

I haven't done much creating but have spent some time getting inspiration from Pinterest.  There are so many amazing ideas on Pinterest and when I have a few spare moments I always take a peek.

On my to do list:

Gallery wall for our stairway:  I have started it and have a few prints and frames to finish.  I can't wait to reaveal it.

Inspiration

source

Baskets for organization:

source

Burlap baskets

source

Completed projects:

Ipad case for my daughter~I crocheted it using a chunky yarn

Tailoring some pants~I am short and needed to hem some pants, I also have some pants that flare and I am slowly sewing them to straight leg pants~One pair completed today

This is what has kept me busy these days.  Fun and a lot of work.

Hoping to post some pictures of completed projects soon.

Spring Fever

I love spring.  The promise of new life.  It is so refreshing after the darkness and cold of winter.  Of course, we have gone from spring sunshine and warm temps to rain and chilly temps, but that is a true taste of spring in New England.  I am enjoying daylight saving times and longer days.

A true taste of spring here.

Forsythia in bloom makes me smile.

 A bit of sunshine to enjoy on these cloudy days.

While the weather is a bit gloomy I have been sprucing up the inside of our home a bit here and there.

As we await the return of spring sunshine.

This little bowl is a bit like a nest.  I filled it with twigs, moss and some book page strips.

This was inspired by Jaime's spring decor.

Enjoying lattes with my daughter.

Yum!!  Where's the chocolate syrup?

Invited our neighbors to tea.

Transformed a plain jar.

My daughter wanted a spring decoration for her room.

I started with a plain gravy jar.

Wrapped it with some twine.

Some scrap lace and  bauble I had.

This little decoration was made with things I had on had so it did not cost anything.  For now she has some silk flowers leftover from my wreath but it planning to get out there when we have good weather and fill it with forsythia.

Fun things to pass the time as we wait for the spring sunshine to return.

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Spring Yarn Wreath

Yarn wreaths are my new favorites.  I love the endless possibilities.  I have seen them all over blog land and Pinterest.  My new addiction, but I have not made myself an account yet.  I can only imagine all the time I would spend dreaming on there.

With so many fun choices I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do.

I purchased a straw wreath at AC Moore with a 40% off coupon.  It cost less than $2.  I did not find a yarn I liked so I headed to Joann's.

I purchased this yarn at Joann's.  With the 50%  coupon it was less than $3.  I chose a light green color.  The texture of the yarn seemed perfect for a wreath.

There were perfect floral picks on sale.  I chose a couple with simple small flowers that I could pluck off.  I only used one on this wreath.

I used the whole skein of yarn to make the wreath full and a bit fluffy.

Then I randomly hot glued the floral buds around the wreath.

The spring banner I made with a scrap of fabric I cut into triangles.  I used a Sharpie and wrote the letters on them.

It is a perfect addition to our door.  

This was  thrifty, fun, and super easy.  Yarn wreaths can become addicting.  I am thinking of what I can make next. 

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