Crafting… Wreaths!

Remember how I told you this spot in my home needed a splash of color?

Well, my friend Whit passed down some material to me when she moved. And when I completed my office closet, I found some craft wire in a box I went through. I immediately thought about making a rag wreath. I used to make them when country style decor was all the rage back in the 90s. Not to say I’m huge into country decor, I lean more towards a contemporary cottage style, but I still love a hint of rustic here and there. Really my style is I use what I like and keep it very simplistic. What style is that??

Anyway, I tore strips of material, used some white ribbon from my stash, twine from my stash, made a circle from the wire, and just tied the ribbon in knots of various kinds around the circle. I added a looped ribbon at the top to hang the wreath. Here are some pictures of the process:

Here is the end result:

Close up!

It added just what was needed and I didn’t spend a dime!

These wreaths are a no brainer craft. All you have to do is tie knots! You could use an old shirt even and tear it into strips, and make a wreath!

My Broom Closet Turned Office Closet!

I’d like to thank my friend Sarah for giving me a gallon of paint she didn’t like in her house that I LOVE in my house! It was the perfect shade!

We have a broom closet off of our dining room that served as a place to store cleaning supplies and the vacuum system that’s installed in our walls. Its from like 1962, so we kind of prefer our Dyson! We decided this space would better function in our home as an office space. A place to put our computer that is coming with my Father-In-Law in March, and a place for me to store my craft supplies. It makes perfect sense as I craft at the table anyway. Why not store everything next to where I craft??

Here is a look at it all emptied out before:

That “lovely” shade of dusty blue is everywhere in this house! I loved getting out my hand-me-down paint and watching the blue slowly die! I refreshed the trim with white and gave the inside two coats.

Here is a picture of it painted and filled with all my goodies!

I left some of the hooks up in the closet in case we ever decide to switch it back to a broom closet. I actually used one to set my clock in! I also hung up my paper cutter.

I wanted the space to look clean and organized for the times the doors, (we had bi-fold doors on here originally,) were left open. Now Nathan says he loves it so much he doesn’t want to put the doors back on! We’ll try it and see how it goes.

I used my baskets, file boxes from when I was a teacher, (from Ikea) and made labels out of my scrapbook paper scraps. Most of my craft supplies have fairly girly colors, so I tried to balance out the presence of girly with more of my earth toned stuff. My house is done in earth tones, so I didn’t want this closet to be full of pink.

Nathan loves knowing where everything is. I even have a basket for tape and lightbulbs. Odd combination I realize, but it works for me.

Once we get the new computer, we will knock out one of the shelves. Some of my baskets will need to be relocated at that time, but that’s okay. I’m not going to complain about a free computer.

There you have it! I completed this project in one weekend without spending any money! Maybe your friends have a gallon they don’t love that you would. Its worth asking! Thanks again Sarah!

Ruined Curtains and a Broken Heart…

I know this sounds so lame, but I’m just devastated. I am having a get together at my house on Monday and made a list of things I wanted to spiff up before company came over. My curtains were pretty wrinkly and they were driving me crazy. I tried putting them in the dryer damp, ironing them, and they still had those deep set fold marks. I read somewhere that you should wash your curtains and pull them out of the dryer right away to get the wrinkles out. When I pulled my “waffle weave” curtains out, I had shriveled up curtains half the size they were before. I BALLED MY EYES OUT! Here I was, just trying to make the best of what I had and I destroyed them!

I thought I’d try to rescue them enough to where I could hang them up for privacy. As they were, they couldn’t even cover the window. I cried the whole time I was ironing the first two panels. “I’m such an idiot!” I kept saying. Nathan was distraught. He’d never seen me like that over something like curtains. I’ll admit I did get a little ridiculous. But I was just so darn excited to get my house all gutsied up for my friends, and now I have to have ugly, shriveled curtains hanging up while I throw my first party in my new house!

I sound so pathetic and I am completely aware of this. I think I just felt broken hearted because earlier in the week, I had decided to return a set of curtains I bought a month ago because we just didn’t need to be spending extra money. I had the set of curtains we bought when we moved in and I was going to make the best of what I had. My mom and I had talked about hanging them differently to hide the bar a little better, and I figured, may as well wash them if I’m gonna take them down! Then the wrinkles will come out! In my effort to make the best of what I had, I ruined what I had. Ugh. If only I had left them as they were!

So there you have it. My sob story. To make things worse, there are people who say they don’t look that bad and to buck up. If that’s what you have to say, please don’t say it. I know they look terrible and there is a part of me that’s grateful I was able to stretch them out enough to have privacy while I save for new ones. BUT please. I spent $100 on them. That’s a lot for me. Now they look like someone hung up mismatched sheets.

There are so many other terrible things happening in the world right now, I keep telling myself that! But there is a part of me that is very sad. Very sad I ruined perfectly good curtains in my excitement for my party. [sigh.]

Okay, now that I shared that with you all, I must get over it. Hopefully we will be able to replace them once our tax return gets here. Seeing as we haven’t even received all our W2s, this may be a longer wait than I’m up for at the moment.

You can see what they looked like before in these pictures:

They flowed to the ground, they were nice and full!

Here they are in the dining room. They fit that little nook just right and all though the room is a mess, I was pleased with how the curtains turned out. I just redecorated this area over the weekend and will have more pics to share of my project on Monday, but alas, the lovely curtains are no more.

These pictures don’t do the damage justice by the way.

They barely cover the window now!

Even on the shorter window, they are 6 inches too short. And terribly shriveled-ish.

This is a close up. I ironed each panel and pulled and tried to stretch them out. They had a subtle waffle pattern before. Now its like major bumpy and totally uneven. The bottom line of the curtain is inconsistent and wavy. Ugh.

Enough complaining. I must move on. God is sovereign even over my curtains and there are many other more important things for me to be focusing on and mourning over.

Thanks for listening guys.

Please Watch This!

I have been convicted for getting upset about my curtains.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/special/32-hours-the-church-in-haiti

This sermon is amazing. Mark Driscoll shares his story of the 32 hours he was in Haiti. Please, please watch this.

Becoming Proverbs 31… Seeking Christ

Isn’t it funny how when you are teaching about something in God’s Word, you are instantly thrown into testing on the subject?? MAN did I have a week last week! Can I just say that I adore my daughter, I LOVE my hubbie, but I just didn’t enjoy being the little wife and lovin’ mama so much last week! Please tell me you all have weeks like that?

The good news about my crummy week is that God totally prepared me to approach this weeks Prov. 31 teaching with a fresh perspective!

By the way, if you’ve missed the first five sections of our study, click on the categories tab to the left, scroll until you see “Becoming Proverbs 31″ and all the previous installments are waiting for you there.

This week we are looking at verse 13. “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.“

Does this verse mean that you all need to go out and learn how to knit/crochet/whatever? YES! Just kidding… it totally doesn’t!! Remember Prov. 31 is NOT a to-do list. It is an outward showing of an inward growing; its our hearts behind  what we do that makes us Prov. 31 women.

So far in our study, we’ve looked at more general teachings behind the life of the Proverbs 31 woman. In verse 13, we start to see more specifically what she does. In verse 12, we talked about how “she does her husband good and not harm,” she does stuff! She doesn’t sit around. In this verse, we get to see what she does:

“She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.”

She seeks and she works. This week, we will look at the first part.

She Seeks!

The word seeks gives us a glimpse into the intensity with which the Prov. 31 woman goes about her day. The Bible does not say she browsed, she bought, she looked at, but she SEEKS. Seeks means to pursue, to go in search of, to try to obtain. She was serious about her tasks and didn’t see her daily stuff as unimportant. (By the way, stay-at-home-moms, so often our culture tells us that what we do at home is unimportant and we would be better using our lives and talents outside the home, this verse is living proof that that is not true! We can serve our God, our family, and have good business, all from the home!)

I did some research on wool and flax. These were common materials used by weavers in her day. Wool was often used for outer garments due to the fact that the sheep often got bits of this and that stuck in their wool while grazing. The wool would be itchy and scratchy with bits of sticks or grasses poking out here and there. You could see why it would be important to seek out the good stuff, the better wool. Reading on in Proverbs 31, we know that she not only makes garments for herself and her family, but she also sells them as a business!

Vs. 18 and 19: “She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.”

Vs. 21 and 22: “She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.  She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.”

Vs. 24 “She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.”

Again, this doesn’t mean we should all go out and take a course in weaving. What we can learn here is that weaving was “her thing.” Her talent, her gift. She was serious about this gift that she had. She used it to bless her family, to prepare her home and her kids for times ahead (colder weather vs. 21), she believed in quality and gave them the best (scarlet and purple clothing indicated dignity and wealth vs 21,22). We also learn that she used her gifts and talents to extend the family income– she was profitable. She was a merchant supplier. (vs. 18,24).

So… what’s your “thing?” What’s your gift? Your passion? Your hobby? Do you know? Do you use it? How do you use it?

As you’re reflecting on that, it’s easy to turn to the to-do list and feel burdened by this teaching. “I don’t have time to use my gift like that! I can barely get in a shower and make dinner let alone make time for fill-in-the-blank!”

Let me say this, God does not give us gifts to burden us. He gives us gifts, as well, gifts! Remember, we are the body of Christ. As his bride, we can see in this passage the importance of taking our gifts from God and using them passionately for His glory.

With that said, I fully realize that we all go through seasons in our lives. When Molly was born, my focus was not getting back into blogging ASAP, it was on healing from my c-section and caring for my baby. When my mom was recovering from her surgery, her focus was on getting better, not on playing the piano again right away! So those of you who are kicking yourself repeatedly over this, please stop. Take a moment and look at your heart behind the usage of your gifts.

What is your heart behind not using/using your gift right now? Are you being obedient to where God has you in life? Or are you just setting it aside out of fear or out of laziness? Are your priorities in the right place? If your answer is yes, and you are continuing to be obedient to where God has you in life, there is no need to fret!

Lets take a look at our friend Martha. Luke 10:38-42

“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.  But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,  but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

If we are anxious about whether or not we are doing enough, we totally miss out on the only necessary thing! The good portion, the aspect of life that cannot be taken away from us, time with Jesus. Sitting at his feet. We get so busy serving and doing that we miss out on Jesus. Or, we can even choose not to participate at all–missing the mark and the joy we could have with Jesus.

The greatest gift we have recieved from Christ is the gift of His salvation. He went to the cross in our place! We have been redeemed! My prayer is that we would not miss out on that glorious fact by burdening ourselves with all this stuff that we miss out on, HIM.

Yes, we have been given gifts and talents that we may use for His glory, and yes, it is good to use them and use them with great passion! BUT it is not good to be distracted by them.

I have gone through times in my life where I sat there and thought, “Am I doing enough? Is God pleased with my life? How can I be better? Is this good enough?” And what I think we need to realize is that we alone can never be good enough. Rom. 3:10 “As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one.” Not one! Only through Christ and God’s grace have we been redeemed because when God looks at us, he doesn’t see our many short comings, he sees JESUS. His good and perfect son who took our place.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Rom. 3:23

Praise God for that!

Next week, we will dive into the second part of verse 13. “And works with willing hands.” We will talk more about the times when we face the opposite problem of not working for the Lord, or working for the Lord with the wrong heart behind it.

Father God,

I cannot imagine the immensity of your gift for me. Your life, for mine. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the gift of your salvation. Thank you Lord that in your grace, you saw it as good to bless us with other gifts and talents as well. I pray Lord that over the next few weeks, you would reveal to the women reading this what your heart is for them regarding their gifts. Show us all your will for these blessings.

You are so good to us Lord and we praise for all you are working in our hearts and in our lives. Make us more like you. Teach what it means to be a woman of God who passionately uses her gifts for your glory.

Be in Haiti Jesus and with all your servants who are there giving to the needy in every way. Provide them abundantly with all the strength and supplies they need.

Thy will Lord, we love you, in Jesus’ name,

Amen!

WFMW– While You Were Out!

This past weekend, I took advantage of the fact that Nathan was going to be gone at a conference. I enlisted the help of my parents and we finished our bedroom While You Were Out style!

Here’s the before pics from the day we moved in:

Here’s a during pic– my parents did a quick one coat paint job so we could actually sleep in the room… it was too ugly to sleep in. My dad also added bead board to cover up the wallpaper that wouldn’t come off no matter what we did!

Here are the after the While You Were Out Day pics:

(PMR’s instead of TLC, PMR meaning Peter, Mary and Rachel!)

No curtains yet! But the trim is installed and painted!

Close up of the bead board all trimmed out and finished.

Here’s a pic of the original light fixture! I think its so quaint and fits the cottage look we were going for.

I had a lot of fun surprising Nate with this! I was exhausted by the end of the weekend, but I still think it was worth it!

Surprising your hubbie while he’s out works for me!

My Talented Brother!

So last week, I told you all about my talented crocheting sister Lizzy. Today, I must tell you all about my very talented brother Aaron. He has created a website with music he’s recorded while attending Life Bible College. Its pretty amazing what he does, and I wanted to share it all with you because being creative means so much more than being crafty! Basically, I see being creative as using whatever gift God has given you to your fullest capacity! Click the music link once you go to the site. He’s good, so it’ll be worth your time!

Check it out! I’m a proud little sister!

LOEFFELMUSIC.COM

Less Clutter=Happier Home=Happier Mama=Happier Daddy=Happier Baby=Happier Home!

I am a total advocate for less clutter, if you couldn’t tell from my post title. I know people have different level of clutter tolerance. I’m going to say mine is pretty low, though I’ve seen some homes I absolutely adore that have WAY more stuff in them that I would dare to put in mine, and because of the way in which the stuff was presented, I thought it was still pretty!

I love THIS POST by the Nester instructing us all in how to accessorize our homes. I realized when I could barely fill my hutch that, well… I don’t own very many accessories! As a mom with a baby about to crawl, I don’t think this is a bad thing. I have less baby proofing to do!

I do have a major concern as I look about my home though. All my stuff is neutral. I have no color in my living room, none! Okay, I have a light green shelf and a red basket, but the rest are considered neutrals. How did this happen? In my quest for timeless, I think I got boring. Ugh.

The good news? I can change this problem. My plan? Allow this change to happen over time.

As much as I want to run out and buy stuff to bring more color in home, the money just isn’t there right now! So, I’ll use what I’ve got and when the budget allows, pick up something I love here and there (hopefully at a great price!)

Proverbs 14:1 says “The wisest of women builds her house.” The word “builds” implies that it isn’t done in an instant, it is done over time with hard work. In the mean time, here are the places in my home I’m looking for deals to improve.

This is set up just inside the door, its practical, but kinda boring. Its an old potting bench we use to store our shoes. The basket holds the clutter that would otherwise get dumped on the floor when you walk in, i.e. mail, wallet, keys, etc. Notice how everything is beige? That oh-so-subtle green shelf is my only color! I’m looking for a wreath or little somethin’ somethin’ to hang from the little peg in the middle. By the way, my dad made me that shelf when I was a little girl!

This chair is crying out for a throw pillow! The little square you see in the corner of the throw is an engagement pic of Nathan and I. A friend of my family’s made this blanket for us when we got married.

I love these black and white pillow covers I got off of etsy. I have pillow forms for 24 inch pillows, I’m hoping to get covers in red for those to make this area look less colorless.

While those things are things I am waiting on, I’m pretty thrilled that our fire place is now finished! Remember what it looked like at Christmas?

Here’s what it looks like now:

My dad made this ingenious mantle to hide all the chords in from the tv. You probably noticed in the second pic the dvd player and x-box on the floor in front of the fireplace. We don’t have anything to put them in yet, though I have a feeling my dad and his awesome skills may come to the rescue again! (Aren’t you all jealous of me for having such a talented dad? He makes all this stuff from mostly scrap wood people!)

I would also like to find three matching accessories I can spread out evenly across the mantle. I don’t want to compete with the tv, just add to the beauty of the mantle.

My home is forever a work of progress. But if it wasn’t, I know I’d get bored in 2.5 seconds! I like thinking about what I’d like to do to spiff it up. Knowing what I’m looking for also keeps me from impulse buying stuff without a purpose.(I’m looking forward to bargain hunting during yard sale season!)

Do you keep track of the little things you want to spruce up your home/living space? Do you look around your home and see too much stuff and just tolerate it because its always been there? Your home shouldn’t be a place you tolerate, it should be a place that brings you rest and helps you rejuvenate.

I’ve been working on the decluttering challenge that Amy at the Finer Things has given us all, so far I’ve decluttered my home of 31 things! That gives me 699 left to get rid of before the end of the year!

Like I said in my title, less clutter=happier home=happier mama=happier daddy=happier baby=happier home!

Frugal Friday… Reality Check.

What does it mean when your “Other” category in your budget goes $65 over the budgeted amount?? Hmmm…. I’m thinking there may need to be some spending re-evaluation in the Dowd house.

I could say it’s because I bought new clothes for Molly at The Children’s Place sale– which were needed and at rock bottom price. AND Nate needed a new haircut after the front of his hair got burned off, poor guy. If you hadn’t heard, he saved the day during an adventure we had with a turkey. (You can read more about it HERE.)

BUT we could have bought LESS for Molly, we could have buzzed Nate’s hair ourselves, or gone to a cheaper hairdresser. My concern lies in the fact that those totally okay purchases shouldn’t have broke the bank. Its all the other “Other” purchases that I feel got out of hand.

I blog about faith, money, being a homemaker, crafts, but I also blog to be real about our finances for the sake of accountability and to encourage everyone else out there reading this that yes, even I the dedicated, coupon clipping, money saving, penny pinching person that I am look at my spending at the end of the month and go, huh?? What happened there? Oops. Goofed that one up!

Now that we’ve acknowledged the goof, we talked about what we are going to do about it, and what we are going to change so it doesn’t happen again the following month. No Molly buying for me, hopefully no burnt hair for Nate, however, the true enemy is the little purchase here and there. We are going to be watching the beast named “Other” in our budget very carefully in February to make sure he doesn’t eat up more than he’s supposed to.

Just a question for reflection for you all: Do you have an other category? Is it under control? Are there any changes that need to happen to tame your “Other” budget beast?

Becoming Proverbs 31… Revive Our Hearts Style!

As I am battling a rough week with Molly, I found some excellent posts on Revive Our Hearts website. I thought this may be a great week for us all to dive into some else’s teaching about this amazing piece of scripture and/or catch up on any of the weeks that you’ve missed or want to revisit from our series.

For the first five installments of my Becoming Proverbs 31 series, click on the categories tab and scroll until you see “Becoming Proverbs 31.” There you will find all the posts previously written.

Nancy Lee DeMoss is a wonderful teacher whom I’ve personally learned a lot from. I used to listen to her teach in the days I was so nauscious with pregnancy that I couldn’t really read my Bible! She is wise and has some different reflections I feel are also valuable to gathering as much as we can from Proverbs 31.

Here are the links to some of her studies:

A Virtuous Woman

Modeling Humility

Committed To Marriage

A Godly Woman’s Work

Working Joyfully

No Mundane Tasks

A Picture of Eternity

God Will Meet Your Needs

What Keeps You Going?

Rest Through Turmoil

The Heart of Compassion

And there are so much more! Just keep hitting the NEXT button at the top/bottom of the page!

Love you all and thanks for being patient for the next installment! I hope you enjoy Nancy’s teachings in the meantime!

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is vain, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised!” Prov. 31:30