Trunk or Treat Loveliness...

We went to a local church's Trunk or Treat

with my parents this past Saturday!!

Costumes, candy and bounce houses...

my boys were loving it!

It was a tad chilly, but we stuck it out and even

made a short stop at our favorite park on the way home.

We had three very tired boys that night!

Excited to do some trick or treating with friends tonight!!!

Tough Transformer! When he had his mask on he wouldn't talk,

like he was in character or something...so funny!

Iron Man striking a pose!!

Sawyer just wore Spiderman pajamas, they were nice and warm!!

We had to wake him from his nap to go to the Trunk or Treat...

hence the paci!

My handsome husband with Sawyer...Sawyer got one sucker

and was totally fine! HA!

"Cheese!"

The boys were so excited to see people dressed up in Star Wars

costumes!! Yoda was awesome!

Waiting in line so patiently...sweet boys!

Love this face!!

G-Daddy made Sawyer's day by blowing tons of bubbles!!

He loved it!

I had to include Baby Carson's sweet puppy face! : )

Nana and Sawyer!!! And that might be the same sucker he had all day!

Sweet Bear in his new Bear hat from the market that morning...LOVE!

Hope you have a great Halloween!!!

Linking up with...

Embrace the Camera...

So, there's this blog ...

Emily issues a challenge to "embrace the camera."

Do you ever feel like you have a ton of pictures of your kids,

but very few with YOU IN THEM??

Yes, this is my dilemma as well...

so I'm going to work on it.

Care to join me?

Love this one with Micah from this past week!!

God uses the scraps...

I've been hard at work today on stuff for a trunk show in a couple of weeks and our Christmas Boutique in December! I'm so thankful that my husband is "between jobs" and can be Mr. Mom while I get some much needed work done before my parents get into town tomorrow! YAY!!

As I was working...I was thinking about the scraps that I use to create things. Sometimes the tiniest piece of felt or fabric can become something. It's all useful.

Sometimes I feel like I have very little to offer the Lord, like my remnant is so small...

But, the beauty of a Restoring God is that He uses the small talents we have, the small giftings, the small capacities...and He does the work in us to create something useful. We are lovingly stretched and pruned so that we are capable of holding more, being responsible for more, and have more authority.

We ALWAYS have something to give away to others. ALWAYS.

The little or a lot that He has given you in this season is needed in the world. 

Release your blessings today! Take the small scraps you have and let the Lord create something lovely. Offer up what you have to Him. 

Those who use their talents wisely and multiply their blessings will one day hear....

"You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." Matthew 25:21

"You are Lovely" Wall Hanging!

So, yesterday I posted this free printable...

Isn't it so pretty?

Well, I wanted to hang it immediately...

So, I printed it out on cardstock...it looks really great! 

Great quality!

And then I rummaged for some things I already had...

old frame with broken glass?    CHECK

                          paint?   CHECK

left over burlap from craft night?  CHECK

                          pretty trim?  CHECK

And here's how it turned out...

So girly and pretty!!

Painted the frame turquoise,

Covered the frame board in burlap and glued with hot glue.

Glued the print on.

Added trim pieces to sort of look like tape.

DONE and DONE.

Love.

Hope that inspires you to get this lovely print on your wall!!

Wordless Wednesday...

Get some. NOW. As good as Starbucks, ya'll!!

You are loved. You are lovely.

I've shared a lot recently about "risking it" in faith when God calls you to something.

I believe now more then ever that in order to unlock the hidden dreams of God's heart, we MUST step out in faith. We have to say "yes" to Him
BEFORE the path has been laid out before us,
BEFORE the answers have been given,
BEFORE all the "numbers" add up.

There is an act of surrender that comes when we let go of our fears and choose to believe in be Bigness of the God we serve. We stand against the lies of the enemy that come in all sorts of forms and we cling to the promises of God. We remember His goodness, His faithfulness, His love for us. And we move forward secure in that.

We don't have to fear what's around the corner when we KNOW who we are. When we walk in the authority we have been given as sons and daughters of the King. We are loved. We are lovely.

Link

I LOVE this printable from Heather on her former blog Blessed Little Nest. Print it out, put it on your wall. Remember that you are loved today by the King of the Universe. There is nothing to fear in the presence of such a Love. Step out. Risk it all when He asks you to. Ask Him for the BIG dreams of His heart and then run after them.

Have a great Tuesday!

Instagram Polaroid Banner!

So, I had planned on posting this on Saturday...
I guess the fact that I didn't means we had a really great weekend!

And we did!!
So thankful for community and our church!

And, so here's the little project I wanted to post on!! YAY!

I love having photos of my kiddos around the house, but I like the idea
of photos displays that sort of evolve over time...
where pictures can be switched out often.

I'm dying to do a big picture wall over by the stairs!!!
Maybe mix in some cute art pieces as well?

But, for this project, I got this amazing idea from
Mrs. Shauna at The Reed Life.
She had this great inspirational post!

It's basically Instagram photos that have been printed out on photo paper...
and then taped to card stock to create a polaroid image!
(Isn't that cute?)

The space at the bottom lets you write little messages just like on a polaroid pic!
I LOVE the idea Shauna did with the words from
The Storybook Jesus Bible...
I will definitely be doing that one for by my boys' beds!

So, next I punched some cute hearts in fall colors...

And then the crazy part...
I sewed it all together with my sewing machine.

I know, I was a little nervous never having done it before, but it
worked beautifully
and now I'm wanting to think of more projects
where I can sew paper!!

Maybe cute Christmas cards or gift tags???

Here's another pic

Love this one of the Bear!

So, it's an easy one, but I'm loving it!

I'm thinking I'll take some winter pictures of the boys and do

a Christmas themed one!!

Hope you have a great Monday!

I'm linking up...

Our life via Instagram...

Here's our week...

well, some of it...

It's been cold and rainy most of the week,

so I haven't taken many pictures.

But these are pretty great! 

So hopefully quality will make up for quantity! HA!

Buddy Bear in his mohawk hat!

He's so serious here! HA! My thoughtful little man.

Brother LOVE!

I love Sawyer's face in this one...pure joy!

Tire swing...but "not too fast"...as Gavin would say!

Micah looks so grown up here...

And here...

Maybe not so much here...HA!

Tickle torture from Dada!

Freedom!!! So sweet!

Mama and Micah on the dock!

I send this to my mom to show her that the leaves were 

still pretty here! Love these across the street from us!

So, that's our week!

Hope you had a great one!

I'll be posting a little craft project tomorrow 

and also another one of my thankful posts on Sunday!!!

Have a great Friday!

I'm linking up with...

Wordless Wednesday.....er.....Thursday

Love this...

"Mom Fail"

I'm having one of those "mom fail" days...you know the ones?!

I was whining to my husband about it and he said, "Blog about it!" HA! So, here I am...I'm posting about my not so great morning in the area of motherhood.

Do you ever feel like you just can't get all your ducks in a row? Like there's always some aspect of your life as a wife/mom/homemaker that's suffering? Well, I've sort of been living in that place for a while. Like last night I finally finished and put away ALL THE LAUNDRY...but now the kitchen is a mess and I really need to wash and change all the sheets on all the beds, and I need to start making product for my shop and a show coming up......

Ugh.

Finish one project just to start another one. It can get mindless sometimes.

And this morning, I realized that I'm incredibly unorganized and it's suffering in the area of remembering the one thousand things I need to remember for Micah's kindergarten class and Gavin's preschool class.

I forgot to send Micah with his library books. Library day is Wednesdays.

I  have thought all week that his field trip is on Friday and it's tomorrow. He needs to bring a juice box. I don't have any and I just got home from the store.

Today was fall party day at Gavin's school...aaaaand supposedly they were supposed to wear a costume for a parade...oops. Had to run home and grab a pirate hat so he wouldn't feel left out.

I know my boys won't remember any of this and I really do know that I haven't scarred them for life, but sometimes I'm feeling like there's just too much to remember and I'm not doing a great job of remembering even 50% of it.

So. Take and deep breath.
Know that I AM LOVED BY THE MAKER OF THE UNIVERSE!

Let myself off the hook.

Forget about what teachers or other parents might be thinking about the "not-so-all-together mom" that I may appear to be.

My boys are loved. I am a good mom.

I may need a little organization help as I transition into a "school mom", but that's okay. Let's get some organization tools and move forward.

Phew! I feel much better! HA!

Anyone else feel me on the "mom fail"???
HAPPY WEDNESDAY! : )

Craft Night! YAY!

We had our first ever Craft Night at my house last night!

It was so fun and we had a great turn out.

I can't wait for all the craft nights to come!

My head is already spinning with ideas for a 

Christmas craft night! YES!

Here's some pics from last night...

I was lucky to get any because I got caught up chatting and 

forgot to take any!

sunflowers are my favorite! HA!

I covered the table with craft paper and chalked some designs
on it! Love this idea and makes for easy clean up!

A little spool and needle with thread...with the real things set on the table
beside them!

Coffee...always lots of coffee!

Such a great group!!

Lovely finished work! Love the buttons!

Love all the personalized touches that people added!
Makes it so unique!

My hoop! I wanted to make something with the
"be awesome today" phrase! 

We had such a great time!

Have you ever had a craft night?! 

You should try it!

Can't wait for the next one, ladies!!

Thanks for coming!