Bottle cap trivet...

I had an unexpected day off of work on Monday. It was glorious! I needed some time to just be home and do some things around the house, so it was perfect timing.

I have seen these "bottle-cap trivets" made up a few different ways, and I decided to try making one with fabric. In case you are inclined to make one, I am including the (incredibly) easy instructions.


First, have your husband drink some beer.



Just FYI- it took my husband 5 months and a board game party with 15 of his friends to come up with this many bottle caps. I definitely won't be complaining about that one. Everything in moderation, right?



I prefer to use an assortment of fabrics. You could do this with one fabric as well, but it just wouldn't be as colorful!



I cut some circles that were a little wider than the bottle caps.




Then, sew around the edges like so...




Here you can see the width of the fabric in comparison with the bottle cap.




Finally, pull on the thread to tighten the fabric around the bottle cap.


Then, make a million of those. After 3 hours, 2 large cups of coffee, and 6 episodes of "Ruby and the Rockits," I finally had enough to assemble the finished product.



As I painstakingly sewed them together, I thought, "there must be a better way to do this." But, it escaped me so I just kept sewing.

And Voila! A bottle-cap trivet that is definitely too pretty to use just yet...

What have you been making lately?

Spring, Spring...

Hello, SPRING?

Are you there?

I have resorted to making flowers out of felt in your absence...


Sadly, they just don't have the same smell.




I even bought a brand new navy trench-coat in anticipation of your arrival.


So you see, I am ready.





(Do you think you could make an exception this year and come, say, 3 months early? Just wondering.)

Posy's Winter Survival Guide

In honor of Winter, which is right now in the process of bestowing upon us Minnesotans yet another layer of icy goodness, Posy has decided to share with you some tips for Winter Survival. I thought we should call it "How to Whine Your Way Through Winter; Tales of Survival from a Wimp."

But, Posy opted for a more positive spin.



(We realize that not all of you lovely Blog-friends are knee-deep in snow, and I am trying not to be bitter about that.)


So without further ado, here are the first 10 tips for winter survival that we would like to share with you.



#1

Make LOTS of smoothies. This one has banana, frozen strawberries and blackberries, orange juice, and vanilla yogurt. Yum.



#2

Eat citrus fruit. Not only is it good for you, but it tastes SO GOOD. I love the little, peel-able "cutie" oranges that are in the supermarkets these days. (Bonus: can you find Posy in this pic?).



#3

When you think you've had enough fruit, eat some more. (You may notice that a lot of these posts are about food, need I remind you that Posy is, ahem, a pig? She may be tiny, but she can really pack it in).



#4

If you don't like your walls, paint them. For a while, I hemmed and hawed about painting the living room, but now that it's done I am amazed at how much better I feel.

The old color was simply depressing. Now, we have a space that we really enjoy being in, and that has helped the winter feel a little less bleak. What better time to fix up your house than when you are stuck in it?



#5


Bring some GREEN indoors.

I stuffed some moss in an apothecary jar and I am amazed at how it brightens up our coffee table. Green is just a happy, Spring-y color.



#6

Invest in some pretty new potted plants. I found these two at Bachmans- Rosemary for cooking (on the right), and I still don't know what the other one is. (If anyone knows, please tell me so I don't end up killing it by over-watering or something! )



#7

Spend time with people you love. Nothing warms you up better than a hug and time spent with friends and family!

#8

Make something out of fabric that reminds you of Spring. (I will be posting what I made out of this soon, I'm super excited!).



#9

Pull out those pretty teacups and use them for consuming hot beverages. This cup from Anthropologie actually makes things taste better, I swear!



#10

And finally, remember there is always someone out there who is worse off than you. (I just had to throw that in there, didn't I? Call me passive-aggressive if you will).

For me, I just think of my dear sweet Aunties in Alaska who are getting around 3 hours of sunlight a day, and that helps me keep perspective. Seriously, how do Alaskans survive winter?

Support for a good cause...

So many people have been affected by the devastation in Haiti. Many people, like me, are at a loss to know how we can help. A friend of mine is hosting a sale in her Etsy shop tomorrow, January 23rd. For one day only, 50% of each sale will go to support the relief efforts in Haiti.

I would highly encourage you to check out the items she has for sale! There are some beautiful knit items, hand-dyed silk scarves, hats, and much more. (You may even see a picture or two of me modeling them!). I love being able to support handcrafted work, and this is a great opportunity to do just that and show support for the people of Haiti as well.

Her shop is called NineTen Textiles, and it can be found here.

My Mom...

My Mom is one of the most influential people in my life. In fact, I think it's safe to say she is the most influential person in my life.


She raised 4 children who all love Jesus Christ. If you asked her how that happened, she would probably laugh and say "It took a LOT of prayer!"


She home-schooled every single one of us kids, all the way through high school.


Every time I am discouraged, she reminds me of how much God loves me, how much she loves me.


She bakes bread from scratch every week, even grinding her own flour. Seriously, Martha Stewart would be tongue-tied around my mom.

She can speak with many accents- Scottish, English, Brooklyn, Southern, you name it- She could fool the natives!


She has the most incredible singing voice, and she is the one who taught me to love singing.


My Mom will feed anyone who walks through her door. I think she even tried to feed the mailman once.


She has kept Starbucks in business all these years with her (almost) daily 2-pump-vanilla-caramel-macchiato.




She doesn't like our dog, Sami, very much and has been known to chase her with a vacuum once in a while (I didn't say she was perfect!).


She always decorated our house and made it such a warm, lovely, comfortable place to grow up.


My Mom taught me that laughter is important, and being able to laugh at yourself is absolutely vital.




Today is my Mom's birthday.
Because I love her so much, I won't even put her age here.

(I will say, it is a significant birthday and everyone is always shocked when they hear that she is no longer in her 30s. Once a sales guy at Barnes and Noble hit on my mom- he thought she was my sister. No joke.)





Mom, I love you.


Thank you for being such a Godly woman, for teaching us to love life and to love God with all of our hearts. You are truly remarkable in every way.



1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

happily ever after...

I love a good before and after. I think this is a great example of how much a little bit of paint can do... Here's the "before" of our little townhome:

(yes, my hubby was too lazy to move while I took the picture...)

And now, for the After:

(I still haven't decided what to do with this wall... It's still a work in progress!)

I also had fun coming up with a new centerpiece for our coffee table. I just put a bunch of green moss in an apothecary-type jar. I love how rich the green is- it makes me think of Spring!

Needless to say, I'm exhausted. Josh and I are SO thankful that my Dad came out to help us paint! It was such a huge blessing. Thanks Leon! Love, Billy-Bob and Lula-Mae.

(We were a little high on paint fumes, so we decided to make up some interesting names for ourselves. Don't go judging us now...)

The Funeral

I have had a song echoing in my mind for the past few months. It's from the group Band of Horses. They are not a "Christian" band, but for some reason their music always resonates with me. I'm not sure what their meaning was when they wrote the song "The Funeral," but the lyrics have been haunting my thoughts, and I have since attached my own meaning to them.


I've been witnessing a funeral for the past two years. I've been slowly, painfully putting a dream to rest with God's help. As someone who is driven by dreams, changing paths was worse than torture. I followed a path, a dream, for years and was spurred on by the dream itself, by the calling God had placed on my life, by the encouragement of others, by my own sense of accomplishment.

At every occasion I'll be ready for a funeral

At every occasion once more is called a funeral

Every occasion I'm ready for the funeral

At every occasion one brilliant day funeral

Somewhere along the path, the dream ceased to be life-giving. It started to feel like a burden, like I was striving for something without knowing why. So I revisited the dream, lived in the thought of what I used to long for and realized that that life no longer seemed so glorious. I no longer wanted a life kept breathing by recognition, by being scrutinized and evaluated constantly, a life spent playing different roles.

I'm coming up only to show you down for

I'm coming up only to show you wrong

To the outside, the dead leaves, they all blow

For'e they died had trees to hang their hope

Now, as I look around at my life I see something different. Instead of long hours spent pursuing a hollow dream, I see priceless moments with the people I love. I see a life overflowing with God's love, a life that breathes goodness and beauty into it's surroundings. There is a strength, a discernment that I didn't have before. I have a God who loves me unceasingly, a husband who loves me, a family that comforts and spurs me on, the hope of dreams to come.

In the light of Christ's sacrifice, funerals have a different meaning. They symbolize a death, a burial. But more than this, they symbolize a life reborn, a life fully recognized. How else can we come face to face with our Savior but by shedding the existence we know? And as we step into that light, we leave behind the scent of death and are overcome by the brilliance of His presence. This brilliance sparks and burns away the chill, leaving us completely wrapped in His glory.

Every day, I am ready for a funeral.

I am ready to put my dreams, my hopes, my will to rest for the sake of following Christ. But as I shed those burdens, laying them to rest in the wet, black earth, I am not overcome by the sense of loss. It is certainly there, trembling at the back of my mind. But stronger still is a sense of peace. God has asked me to lay this down, but in it's place there is Hope for the future.

Every occasion I'm ready for the funeral

At every occasion one brilliant day funeral

New Scarf...

I've been seeing this pattern all over the internet, and I finally decided to try my hand at making one. I decided to use fleece because it is so easy to just cut and use without hemming. I have also seen them made out of old sweaters and lighter fabrics like silk.


This took me a whole half hour yesterday.


If anyone is looking for a fun, simple, rewarding project you should try it out! Although I am sure there are many tutorials out there that are better, I drew up a little diagram to show how I made it! You can click on the picture to see it bigger.




So there you have it, easy and fun and you can wear it to ward off those wintry winds!

stop being such a whiny-bum and paint those walls!

I know, I know. I am really good a whining about things and not so good at just getting stuff done. So this January, I decided to quit whining about the state of my walls and whip out the paintbrushes.

First, I spent a couple of weeks hemming and hawing over paint samples. Then, I dragged my sweet Hubby to Home Depot and we bought actual paint samples. Did you know they sell little 5 or so oz. samples of paint these days? What a revolution! I bought 6 samples.

Then, we rolled on the paint in some strategic areas of our home to get a better feel for the colors.

In the picture above were my two favorites in paint-chip form. On the left we have Pale Lichen and on the right is Dynasty Celadon, both from Behr. In reality, the Pale Lichen is just too pale for the living room area I think. I know it's difficult to really get a feel for the color from this photo, but the Dynasty Celadon is more of a bluish gray with a hint of green.

Here's another closeup of the Celadon with some of our wall art.


I am about 99% positive we will do the Dynasty Celadon in the living room, and then Pale Lichen in the Kitchen/Dining room area. I am jealous of anyone reading this, because you can come back and see the end result and I have to actually do the work!

But, seriously, come back next week to see the amazing transformation. Hopefully amazing in a good way...