Be still my soul.

Be still my soul. 

And get ready to take a deep breath of fresh air.

This cd....

....is now in my possession.

Timing couldn't be any better.

And here's a sample for your listening pleasure.

Christmas on a Budget II: DIY Recipe Card/Photo Holder

Here's yet another gift giving idea! This sweet little craft can be used for lots of things {photo holder, love notes, daily reminder}, but I think I especially like the idea of using it as a recipe card holder! The great thing about it is you can use the leftover wood and paint from your letter art decor to make this! 

Here's what you'll need!

• Furniture Dowel Rod Cap {I found mine in the wood section at Hobby Lobby - 3 for $1.47}
• Clothes Pins {Also in the wood section at Hobby Lobby - 24 pack for $3.47}
• Furniture Tacks {Near the material section at Hobby Lobby - 1 pack of 180/$2.21}
• Burlap or Scrapbook paper {Burlap can be found in any material store - About $3.99/yard. You will only need about 1/8 yard for this project.}
• Piece of wood {Like I said, I used leftover wood. Mine was a 2x10 and 8" long. If you need it cut, Home Depot will cut it for you.}
• Spray paint {For this one, I used Satin Red Garnet by Valspar. I plan on using Dark Walnut on another project.}
• Spray adhesive
• Hot glue gun
• Sand paper {optional}

1. Cut your wood to the size you want. Mine was 8" long. Spray paint wood, dowel rod cap and clothes pin. Let dry.
2.{Optional} After paint dried, I used sand paper to sand the edges of the project to create a rustic look. Just a preference....but I think it adds character! :)

3. Use a hot glue gun to glue dowel rod cap to top of board.
4. Cut piece of burlap about 1" smaller than board. Spray with spray adhesive glue and place in center of board.

5. Use a hammer to nail furniture in all four corners of board. This is just an extra assurance to hold the burlap onto the board. And once again, I think it adds character! ;)
6. Use a glue gun to attach clothes pin to top of board.
7. I used some extra burlap to create a cute little flower for the bottom of the board. You can find a great tutorial on how to do that here! I wanted my flower to have a little more depth, so I sprayed a little bit of my paint on a newspaper, dipped a wadded up paper towel in the paint and sponged it on to the burlap flower. I LOVE how it turned out!! I then used a glue gun to stick it on the bottom right corner of the board.

Ta-da!! So fun and easy! I got this idea from shanty-2-chic. There's tons of other variations of this craft and plenty of ways to make it your own!  If we break down the cost and round up, all-in-all it was about $7.00 to make the entire project! Not too shabby! :)

Reflections

So I just realized I had forgotten to post this after I wrote it...oops! My B! Haha! So please pardon the time lapse as you read some of my ramblings! :) Oh and also, please excuse this picture of Piper....she wanted to get in on today's blogging action!

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I'm feeling as turkey-hungover as ever!! Somewhere between my bed and the living room couch, all motivation ceased to exist! So today has been filled with lots of time with Piper and Lola {my two sweet puppies} and old, girly, romantic movies....the kind I can only watch when I'm either alone or in the company of another girl! My special guests were Judy Garland and Tom Hanks. Romance was going strong!

Matt and I were able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year, once with my family last week and again with his family yesterday. We both feel incredibly blessed to have such great support groups!! So, in the order of Thanksgiving traditions, I thought I would talk about the thing for which I'm most {very} thankful for! I'll give you one guess....it starts with "M" and ends with "att"?!  Our first year of marriage brought so many unexpected twists and turns....some that would tear most couples apart, but I can honestly say that I have never felt closer to this wonderful man! I read something today that said, "The couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything designed to tear them apart and come out even stronger than they were before." I really couldn't agree more.  I think today's society enter into marriage so lightly that when the bumps in the road do come, they automatically assume it's the other person's fault and jump ship. Definitely not what God had in mind when he designed marriage. Marriage is a team effort and some days you have to make a choice to love the goopy-eyed, vermon breathed, frizzy haired mess that's laying next to you {poor Matt....Sleeping Beauty wasn't my favorite princess for a reason!}. Anyway, today I was reading some of Matt and I's first emails to each other. They contained all the usual get-to-know-you questions along with a few epiphanies and dreams. We had the world figured out and our lives all planned...funny how much we DIDN'T know! Haha! I think if anything, these past couple years have taught me how to "let go and let God". Granted, I'm still in the middle of learning that and there's been plenty of kicking and screaming along the way, but I am learning. Nothing panned out like we had planned, but we can only put our hope in the fact that God does have our best interest in mind and he is faithful. Some days it's easier to do that than others, but luckily when one of us is feeling down the other is there to help bring the other one up. We're a team. And a pretty good one at that! ♥

Christmas on a Budget: DIY Letter Art Decor

So I stumbled upon this blog on none other than the oh-so-awesome, Pinterest! I truly am addicted and inspired by that whole site! Anyway, with our finances this year, Matt and I are having to be very careful about every little penny, so that makes Christmas gifts a little tricky! Enter Shanty-2-Chic. This is seriously the cutest blog and I've gotten so many craft ideas from there {a couple which I will use in the next few weeks}! Here's today's project that will end up in the loving home of my mom & dad {they have received strict instructions not to look at my blog until after Christmas!}!

Here's what you'll need:
2x10 Board {We bought ours at Lowes. The original length was 8' but for my project we cut it down to about 35". I'll be using the rest for other projects.}
Spray paint {For the spray paint and board, both of which can be used on other projects, the cost was about $15.}
4x6 Photo frames {I found mine at Dollar General for $1.50 each}
Hot glue gun
Photos {Here's a flickr site that gives literally hundreds of options for letter art for FREE that you can print off on your home computer...yayyy!!!}
Sand paper {Optional...only if you want to create an antiqued look}

Here's my frames! I decided to spray paint them a dark walnut color, but before doing that, remove the glass, if possible. The glass in my frames wouldn't come out without breaking the entire frame, so you can either tape off the glass or slide a piece of paper in between the glass and and frame. I tried both and sliding the piece of paper worked much better. But don't worry...if you do end up getting some paint on the glass, it can be easily scratched off with a toothpick.

Make sure you lay something underneath the frames before you spray paint. I used two coats of paint. Do the same thing with the 2x10. Be sure one side is completely dry before flipping it over. I used Satin Red Garnet by Valspar for my board. It turned out a really pretty barn red.  After my board dried, I used sand paper on the edges to give it an antiqued look.

After frames have dried, remove the holder from back of frames. This will make it easier to glue it to the board. 

Cut and insert the 4x6 pictures that you printed off into the frame. I turned all of my pictures into black and whites.

Lay out and measure the frames on the board. Mine were 2" away from the outside right and left edges and about 3/4" away from the top and bottom.  I spaced my frames 1" apart from each other.  Then use glue gun on all four corners and press on board. 

And there you have it! A wonderful and personalized Christmas gift! You can read Shanty-2-Chic's how-to here. Let me know if you end up making one for yourself! :)