Mom's Group Craft Day

This past week I had the privilege to be able to present some quick, fun and cheap gifts to the mom's group I am apart of (which I love by the way!). My friend Adrienne (who is really the creative genius) and I were able to pick a few of the many projects we have done and show them to our group. Instead of printing off instructions for each of the ideas we as super duper thankful for Pinterest where we can mark all the great tutorials out there for the projects we presented. The pin board on Pinterest that contains the tutorials for all of the gifts that we presented you can check out HERE. For those of you not familiar with Pinterest each picture can be clicked and it will take you to an individual website that should have the tutorial for that project (if it doesn't let me know!). I was able to make a couple of these projects and thought I would show you the quick finished product and how long and hard they were to make.

First I did a rosette necklace. I had seen these all over blogs and wanted to try one. It was pretty easy to make as I followed the tutorial on the pin board. It took about an hour to make and was made with only a glue gun, yea! All I had to buy was the chain which was $.99 for about a yard. I had scraps of fabric I used for the rosettes and some ribbon to tie it in the back. It only cost me $.99 to make this, that is a good deal :)

 I made this shirt really quickly following the reverse applique tutorial on the pin board.. I bought this shirt at the dollar tree and I had the knit fabric for the back from a skirt I had made earlier. I was able to make this shirt in about 30 minutes. It was super quick and I chose to use a zig-zag stitch around the heart so that my stitch didn't have to be as straight :). It was really easy to do and I would highly recommend trying this out! I am hoping this is a great shirt for Brooklynn!

I liked the contrast of the blue thread with the pink heart. This was super easy and I am always thankful for Ashley's (from Makeit-loveit) easy and user friendly tutorials.

Hope this was helpful! If anyone has questions, let me know!!!

A small table and some Easter goodness

I love the idea of re purposing things. I mean how great is it to be able to take some junk behind your shed and make it something awesome?? While pondering my excitement about restoring things I began to think about where that comes from. Is it some unique fascination I have with being thrifty? Ok, that could be a possibility. Is it the way I like to use up junk, or it is something deeper? I just finished the book of Revelation in the Bible and I love the hope that it brings in the last chapters to a wholly redeemed earth. It made me think about re purposing. It's as if our hearts were made for this. From Revelation 21:3-5 it says, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” YEA! The thing I was drawn to was the last phrase. I am making everything new. God is in the business of re purposing. He loves to take the things that have been discarded by the wayside and make them beautiful. It is not because of our own merits or goodness, but because of His goodness, sacrifice and awesome ability as Creator to make beauty from ashes. During this past Easter weekend I thought about  how God could have scraped everything and started over. He could have just thrown the world behind the shed and started again. But that is not His way. He loves to redeem and maybe that is why we like to. It is a bit of His heart reaching through trying to teach us how He can make all things new. Like Easter. He took the ugliest thing on this planet, a cross, and made it a symbol of hope. I am pretty sure the Romans never would have hung a cross around their neck, in their homes or as an adornment. It was a despicable thing yet those who follow Jesus see it as a symbol of hope. He has triumphed over death so that it is no more. That is the beauty. I think we all want that.

We had a relaxing and enjoyable Easter and love having the kids really grow to understand all that surrounds it.

Ok, so I was up late the night before finishing the girls dresses and Josiah's tie. I would highly recommend the tutorial for this tie. It is soooo easy and turned out super cute! It is from seekatesew and you can check it out here. I had fun making it and it took about 45 min, seriously!

How cute is this little guy and his first Easter egg? Ok, I know he's my kid so I can say that :)

I also made a lamb cake and this was the only picture that I took of it (lame), but I love the idea of incorporating Jesus being the Lamb of God from the Jewish tradition of Passover. Brooklynn told me it was not the best face I am clearly not an artist or good at cake making, but you get the point :)

Along the lines of re purposing we have a great porch in the front of our house. I have seen pallet coffee tables all over the internet and knew my porch would be a great place for one. I had a pallet sitting behind our shed for a while and got it out. I sanded it and then cut 4 - 4x4's to 8" long. This was seriously the easiest thing ever and I love it. I screwed in 4 wood screws per leg to the underside of the pallet to secure each of the legs.

It really was quick and easy to toe nail the screws into the top. 

I then stained the whole thing. I didn't do a great job staining mine because I knew it would be outside and I did want the rustic, weathered look. It was simple to do, but I love that it was free and I am now able to enjoy sitting outside on our front porch much more. Yea!

I love my new plants on the porch too! It is so shady I am hoping these will make it, they are supposed to :)! Thanks for reading!