Checking In

It was a fun and creative week here last week.

I got to celebrate two friends' 30th birthdays. That was a whole lot of fun by itself, but it also meant that I got to make presents. I whipped up a pencil case for one friend who wants a new Bible (a journaling one for taking notes) I included a few Bible friendly pens to get her started. I made my other friend a little zipper clutch in which I put some raspberry pineapple tea-sers (little single serve baggies of loose tea) with a cute tea ball. Both friends received a set of "insta-magnets" - they turned out really cute. 

On Pinterest I saw fabric bracelets something like this and was inspired to give it a try. I will be making more of these for sure.

Then rainbow bracelets inspired by these. I couldn't stop at just one. I also made a few tiny beaded bracelets - tricky to finish, but I love the results. My crafting "A.D.D" kicked in in full force this week. There just wasn't enough time to delve into any more types of crafts or I might have.

Friends of ours are in their fundraising stage before going out onto the mission field. Lisa painted this great signs and hung them around the room. They're painted on old aviation charts. They were so beautiful, I had to take pictures and share. I think Lisa should paint more and make prints or postcards or something. I'd buy a set!

I had an interesting time in my Journaling Bible. I accidentally tore a page (top middle) I had finished during advent and had to do a repair job, then I did a page that I wasn't really happy with (top right). It's not that's it's all bad, just not how as nice as my original sketch and vision. I was thrilled with my Hebrews 11 page (bottom). This was a lot of fun and it helped me gain some of the lost confidence. In the end I just had to remind myself that my art does not take away or add to the Word of God. It's merely a tool to help me "hide His Word in my heart". If you are interested in following my Bible Journaling experience, I post regularly on Instagram (user name: mrsgingras).

This is a close-up from my DF journal. This was more like what I was going for in my Bible (again, the top right picture above). It's a bit more whimsical, but I'm glad I was able to capture it even a little in my journal.

(The art card on the right hand side with the scripture verse and heart are Stephanie Ackerman's used with permission)

Here's my week five spread. I doodled a lot. I struggled a bit with my anger toward my children and my daily prayer was from James - quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. We started the Forty Days of Faith at church and I love the quote that our pastor shared from Smith Wigglesworth: 

"Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials."

It's going to be a great 40 days!

Checking In

We're still buried in snow, but the sun is shining and there is hope of spring. That also means that spring break is coming! Although, that makes a financial dent in our lives, I'm sooooo thankful that we get to have my David home for a whole week! We hope to take a little day trip to go scope out some property for some of my family, I have my (hopefully last) road test booked and we plan to spend some great family adventure times together. Let's get to what's been going on:

• Micah is 9 months! I can hardly believe it. He's cruising (slowly) around my furniture these days and he's so proud of himself when he pulls himself up that he gives a little giggle. So cute.

• Remember when I told you that one of my favourite teas had been discontinued? Well, apparently it isn't in the states, so a friend of mine recently brought me home two boxes! *sigh* It's been lovely!

Honey Vanilla White Chai Tea - Celestial Seasonings

• I won another blog giveaway! Thanks, Heather for providing the pattern and thanks Make IT Snappy for hosting the giveaway. I am looking forward to giving it a try. Interested in your own? You can find the pattern here.

• We filed our income tax on Monday and we'll be getting a decent refund. Some of our plans include to replace our printer (it will be here tomorrow - yippee!), build a triple bunk bed for the littles, cover financial baby step one and begin our snowball! It's pretty exciting!
• My blanket is on pause. I purchased yarn on sale (BOGO), but I don't like the colours with the ones I've already used. No yarn budget right now, so it might be awhile. It thrilled me to bits, though, when my Malachi "demanded" a snuggle with the blanket. He was so cute, playing with his toes in the holes and saying things like "hey, green! Hey, purple!" etc.

• I have 9 small all in one diapers that I didn't need. Two were finished, but seven have two more steps to be finished. I've decided to finish them up and sell them. I'm just waiting for my supplies to come in. It would be nice to make a little cash and to actually have them used instead of sitting with my fabric (taking up valuable real estate). 

• I have another mei tai on my sewing desk, no, not to replace my lost one, but for a new baby.
• Abby goes downstairs most weekdays after lunch to play. My friend and neighbour looks after two boys after kindergarten for a couple of hours and invited Abigail to join them. Every time she hears a sound from downstairs she blurts out "Is that the boys?" Abby has grown to really look forward to her times with "the boys". Here they all are sitting on their snowmen.

• Abby picked out a card for me last time she ran errands with her Papa. It had to be a musical card! It was so sweet of her, she insisted on the card for the song and didn't realize that she got me a baby congratulations card. Abby, by the way, wants another brother and a sister. No comment.

Checkin' In

Happy (almost) Valentines! It really snuck up on me this year and I find myself two days away without any plans. We have had a lot of other things on our mind. In the meantime, let's get to it!

• Today is my meal planning/grocery list making day. I work one month at a time... payday to payday. Last month I worked on emptying my freezer stores - work with what we had, so nothing goes to waste. This month, freezer meals! I've been invited by a friend to join in a small group cooking co-op night. The idea is that we each are responsible for 2 recipes that we make enough of for each family. We then go home with a nice variety of meals. We get to work together, which makes the kitchen work much more enjoyable and we get to have a great variety to go home with. These meals will be some of my months plan. I have a Pinterest board with links to sites full of great recipes. I will be choosing a few of them. My hope is to have at least half a month of freezer meals. I'm not a huge fan of cooking and this will be nice to have. 
• David and I have been exchanging mirror messages this week. Fun and easy and encouraging!

• I finished the iPad mini cover. It turned out pretty good.

• My David made doughnuts last week... from scratch. DANGEROUSLY YUMMY!

• I received love in the mail. Packages are great, surprise packages are awesome! By the way... LOVE this darljeeling earl grey!

• I've had to patch my couch cover. It's in rough shape, but the patches will hold until I can re-cover the whole thing. I've been inspired by these and would love to try my hand at something that fun!

• Valentines Day may have snuck up on me, but it has been on my mind for awhile. I took these pics a week ago.

• I had planned on making Valentines, but with our printer dead (sad day that was!) and not having sent them in to get printed... well, maybe next year. Enjoy my intentions:

• I've been really enjoying quiet time in the Bible lately. I've had to re-prioritize my day to make it work and it's been worth every minute!

• Micah has had a terrible diaper rash until recently. Thanks to my mom and sister (they sent me the base for it at Christmas), I whipped up a batch of diaper cream and it totally did the trick. It also, by the way, cleared up my dry and cracked hands from all the washing I'd had to do. Jenny, if you want some for Ezra, I have some extra!
• David and I are taking control of our finances. Friends lent us The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and we are SOLD! We're working on baby step one and are so excited. It will be hard work, but worth it in the end.
• Road test in two days. Nervous. More nervous this time than the last. Oh well. This IS THE WEEK!

My Tea Cabinet

I am thrilled with how this project turned out and though it took some time, it was worth it. I have a bit of a sad recycle fail story to include. I wanted to keep this project cost effective and really liked the idea of reusing. I shopped my favourite thrift stores for jars and scored 45 matching jars! I was thrilled. They cost 25¢ each. There weren't many lids and most were rusted and in rough shape, but I wasn't too worried because I knew you could buy lids at most stores in canning season. Home with my jars. Washed my jars and they sat waiting for lids. Well, turns out that it costs about the same to buy whole new jars with lids than just the lids. In fact, I soon realized that the jars I bought are GEM jars and need a special lid. $9.00+ a dozen. Ugh! I could get a dozen jars with lids for around $7/doz. This was so frustrating. After several days of research (my David even looked all over the internet) it became apparent that it was best to buy new jars. Being ever so gracious of my love of projects, my David bought me new jars.

Truth be told, these ones fit even better in my cupboard. As you can see on the top shelf, I did need some larger jars to hold some tea that I have a lot of. Including my current favourites, White Vanilla Coconut and Honey Vanilla White Chai (which I sadly discovered is discontinued....WAAAA!)

I found printable labels online for mason jar lids. I was going to copy the idea, designing my own version, but my little Print Shop program didn't quite have the effects I was looking for, so I adapted the free printable labels to suit my needs better. I colour coded the kind of teas and included the brand of tea so that I could easily replace a tea as it ran out.

Doesn't it look beautiful? Oh, and just before I forget, if you want to store tea in clear jars, be sure that they go into a closed cupboard. Tea is best stored in airtight and light free containers. Tins are perfect, but the cost was too high for me to consider. I do have 50+ different kinds of teas.

Checking In

It's been a bit of an overwhelming week for me, but I am loving the fall and I get to see my Mama and Daddy tomorrow!!!! Let's do a quick check in, shall we?

• Here's the view outside my kitchen window. This is our first fall in our house and I love being surrounded by trees and watching them change colours.

• Last weekend we took a nice drive out to Lockport. We stopped at the Captain Kennedy House (didn't go for tea as we decided to save that for a date adventure instead of a family adventure) and walked around the gardens there. They are beautiful.

• My David bought me a whole wack of jars for our tea collection. I love the result. I'll show you more pictures and tell you all the details soon.

• One of my personal challenges in motherhood is teaching my children how to help and then letting them. This takes way more time and isn't exactly helpful... yet. I keep working at it, after all aren't we all works in progress? I stopped in the midst of the helping one day to take this picture. As I learn and grow in my role as a mother, I'll learn to appreciate this more.

• After showing you my latest wallets, a friend commented on facebook that she loved the wallet that I had made for her, too. I didn't even remember making her one at first. I thought it would be a fun trip down my sewing memory lane and show you the wallets I've made. I don't think they are all here, but this is a good representation. 

I sewed this style many times, but was never quite happy with  how insecure the cards felt.

I switched to clutch wallets and though I am still tweaking little things, I'm much happier with these.

• In case you're wondering, my David is loving his new job. We as a family are especially loving having him home at the same time everyday (well, except for the monthly staff meeting), and every weekend off together.
• Here's a typically conversation with my Dolly these days:

Dolly: Why don't you like Wow Wow Wubzie? (a really stupid tv show)
Me: Well, it's just a little sillier than I like.
Dolly: Well, you need to get $8 and get a van and drive far far away and go tell Wow Wow Wubzie, "stop being so silly".

• Check out these cool gourds that David bought for me to decorate our fall table with. 

A Birthday Check In

Well, once again I've been blown away by the generosity and love shown to me over my birthday. My goodness! I am a blessed woman! It started with early birthday gifts that I got to choose and order online. David bought me these great prescription sunglasses from Zenni Optical. They took a total of 4 days from the day I ordered them to delivery at our door... from CHINA! Crazy. I really like have sunglasses again.

(added grey sunglass tint)

Then I ordered two custom pieces of jewelry. Thanks to generous cash gifts from both sets of parents. First the next ring in my family ring stack. It happens to be David's birthstone (a 4mm square citrine) on the narrow twig band from Olive Bungalow. I love this website and I am so glad to be getting my next ring. I hope to order the mini stack ring with the three little's birthstones on one ring this fall. I don't expect to see the ring for another few weeks as last time it took about a month to get. I think it sits at the US/CANADA border for quite some time for whatever reason. It gives me something to look forward to.

(looks similar to the second ring from the top in this stack only the stone is a bit larger)

Next I ordered a custom bracelet with my children's names stamped on it from Etsy shop Three Little Pixies. Since we know we're having another boy and have chosen his name, I didn't mind ordering this one before Micah's arrival. The ring obviously needed to wait because I don't know which month he will be born in yet. I love supporting handcrafters and I love jewelry, so this was a win win. Again, I don't expect to see it for some time, but another thing to look forward to.

(obviously Abigail, Malachi and Micah are the names that will be on my bracelet)

David really wanted to throw me a party and we were excited to find out that the movie the Artist was supposed to be released on DVD the day before my birthday. We're kinda known for our movie themed parties and David had some great ideas to go with the movie. Well, they changed the release date until June (I think) and spoiled David's plans. He was so disapointed. I told him that I didn't really want to plan anything (March had been crazy) and why don't we just go out on a nice date. David called from work telling me that he arranged for friends of ours to babysit our littles so we could go out to dinner on my birthday. I got to choose where we were going, but we'd need to be home by 7:30, because our friends had an 8:00 appointment. Dinner sounded (and was) wonderful! We went to Mongo's. I chose that restaurant, because it's not a place I would bring my littles until they're older. I liked the idea of having a sitter and not needing to worry about a child friendly restaurant. David got off work early. Our friends came and sat down to eat their supper that they brought while my littles ate their KD. Off we went. It was great. I really enjoyed myself. We went window shopping for a little while and a small drive with some Tim Hortons.

We got home right at 7:30 (didn't want to make our friends late) and found a house full of my friends surprising me for my birthday. David managed to arrange a great surprise party for me. He did a great job!

(I didn't actually take any pictures, but a friend emailed this one to me. This isn't a whole group shot, just those who happened to be in the kitchen at the time)

David called up my friend Donna and wanted to order custom baking for my party. He wanted to hire her, but she insisted on making it my present... and a lovely talented gift it truly was. You can read all about the details on her blog Peek-A-Boo Window. I did "steal" her pics to show you here, though.

So many people in on the surprise! So many lovely gifts (it would take a week to "show" you them all), so many people showing me their love and support! It was lovely. I even had a few gifts and wishes given to me on the following Sunday from those who regretfully couldn't make it to my party. Part of the fun has just begun as I have some gift cards to spend, too. SPOILED! Yup, I sure am.

Not that this has anything to do with my birthday, but I did manage to sneak in some sewing last week (my Dorcus is back from her "spa" treatment). Here's a custom Mei Tai. I used a combination of this tutorial from Jan Andrea on the Web and an old pattern that is no longer online. It turned out pretty nice and is already in use by this cutie: