Finished Object Fridays - Big Sister Shirts

Funny. It seems like when I was doing FOF every week or even every other week, I hardly had any projects to share... now - when I do it once a month - I have a hard time picking WHICH project to share!! This one wasn't too hard to pick though. Such a fun and exciting time for our little church family. We got to welcome a new little member! :) My friend Regina just gave birth to baby girl #4 a couple of weeks ago!! Welcome to Baby "D!" (or "Love" as she will be known here...)

Last year my mom, with her nose for bargains, found a Cricut machine at a local Goodwill. My sister and I snatched it up and we share joint "custody" of the machine. And.... since she's off at college, guess who gets to store it!! :)

A while back Melissa made these shirts for Brittany's boys. I had heard that this kind of project was easy with the Cricut, but I wasn't too sure until I got into it. (It is EASY, but even easier if you know how to run the machine... I'm learning!) :) I used this tutorial - great explanation!


So Regina came over one afternoon and we started working on these. I finished them up and made a little surprise for baby "D!" I also made bows to match.


Here they are posing with their shirts right after they got them:


And here are the three big sisters posing with the little sis!!

Yep... they are ALL smitten with this little one!!!

And wouldn't you be?? This is a picture I took of her just this week:

She's growing and changing so fast!!

Maybe you have a project to share? I'm excited to see what you all have been working on!!

~PS. Just FYI, Cricut doesn't know I exist... not an advertisement, just craftiness at work! :)

Book Review: The Girl's Still Got It

The Girl's Still Got It is a unique look at the story of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz. Liz Curtis Higgs has written several books. In this book, she looks at the book of Ruth verse by verse. She adds in historical and Biblical context that helped me gain a better understanding of the events in the book of Ruth as well as what preceded it. She literally breaks the book up verse by verse and explains it very well.

Most of her books that I have read have been fiction books. (A few of my favorites!) She is an excellent author, and while she stays away from fiction in this book, it has a story book flair that make it an extra fun read while you are learning so much about Ruth. I really enjoyed reading it. (One little warning from me, however, is to just use caution when recommending it. Some of the content is a little mature for, say, a young teen.) The book is written as a women's Bible study and would be a great one. She includes two different study guides in the back - one geared more for a single meeting for a book club, and the other guide for week by week lessons. Mrs. Higgs has a bubbly personality that shows through in her writing.

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Thanks to Blogging for Books for this review copy. My opinions are my own. :)

Book Review: The Fiddler

The Fiddler is the first book in the latest series by Beverly Lewis. In this book "Englisher" Amelia Devries is tired of living up to the expectations of others, namely playing classical violin as her father desires when her true love is country fiddling. She gets lost in a rainstorm and ends up at the door of Michael Hostetler, a young Amish man who is going through similar emotions.

This is an enjoyable light read. I didn't feel as though the characters were quite as well developed as the author's previous novels. One reason for this may be the fact that Ms. Lewis usually uses an entire trilogy to develop her characters and their stories. This novel is more "self contained," Amelia and Michael's story is concluded at the end of this book. Although it is a little different from her other books in this respect, I really liked that I didn't have to wait for another novel to come out to find out what happens next. And I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, The Bridesmaid.

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This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review by Bethany House Publishers.

PS~ Hold onto your hats... more reviews to come!! I guess I've been reading more recently! It seems like I don't have any review books for a while, and then I have a huge stack of them... :)

Finished Object Friday: Wreath Makeover (And Fall Home tour!)

It seems strange to already be almost halfway through September doesn't it? And yet this is only the second Friday in the month... I had to double check to be sure! So yes, today is Finished Object Friday!! :)

I've been doing a bit of crafting here and there... but one of my easiest projects was one that was half done already! You may remember the patriotic wreath that Angie and I made for summer. And you may remember that each of those fabric flowers was attached to the wreath on a small hair clip. This made for really easy removal and the wreath was quickly ready for a makeover for fall!

Such a quick little project!! I just added a few little things from my fall decor stash, whipped together a pretty bow, and the wreath was good to go!!

Speaking of quick, I pretty much all of my fall decorating done in one afternoon! Here's a peek at some of my other decor!

Fall Mantle:

I have enjoyed having a piano to decorate:

Here's a couple of closeups of the vignettes on the piano:



I love featuring this Bible in my decorating. It reminds me of my grandpa - a dear saint! and also of the sacrifices that our soldiers make to protect our country!

A sweet story about my grandpa. Grandpa passed away in 1996 - it will be 16 years ago at the end of this month - so hard to believe. The week before he died, he and my grandmother came to visit. We had a wonderful weekend with them doing all kinds of fun things. I was taking horse back riding lessons at the time and they got to come see me ride. On Saturday, we spent some time at our local county fair. My grandpa was wheelchair bound because of a problem with his leg. A lady came up to him and told him "I can see God all over you!" Little did she know he was just about a week from Heaven.

This is one of my very favorite pictures:

That is my dad with my grandpa and me... they are rolling hot tamales - a family tradition (and secret recipe...) ;) I'm doing what is still my favorite thing - snitching before they are rolled!! ;)

Well... I didn't mean for this to turn down memory lane! You never know where a post will lead! I hope you don't mind... But now that I'm finished rambling, it's your turn! Maybe you've been doing some fall crafting... OR feel free to link up to your fall decorating! I'd love to see!!

In August...

... we spent some time in Tennessee...
Visiting sites...

and visiting with family and good friends. The time is never long enough! I sure didn't get much "creek side" time in, but just a little before we left. :)

We got to celebrate Angie's birthday with her before she left for her second year of Bible college. We sure miss her!!

Happy, 21st, sis!! (Sigh... what happened to my "baby" sister??)

Where was I? Oh, yes... back to August....
We visited a very nice American history museum in our area.


Celebrated the (hopefully SOON!) arrival of a new little one!

Oh, and big sisters deserve a treat too... :)


And also enjoyed the celebration of a new family created - my cousin Brent married his sweetheart!


We also spent some time with good friends at the Dallas Arboretum.


Whew... what a busy month we have had!! And with all that, I also haven't been feeling so great. Hopefully that is pretty much behind me!

And this past Saturday? Another birthday.... mine this time. Nothing fancy, just some fun with family. :) This is the "cake" that I wanted... Yummy!!!

So yes, it's been a very busy summer!!! Wow. So hard to believe that it is September already! We are looking forward to an exciting fall!