Addison's First Christmas: Baby Ornament

Since this will be Addison's first Christmas I am really hoping to start some fun traditions and I hope to share them with you over these next few weeks.

One tradition that Nick and I hope to do is to purchase or create an ornament for Addie (and our future children) every Christmas. I would like to somehow have the date as well as her name included somewhere on the ornament so that we not only know whose ornament it is but what year it was received. :)

This year we are pretty tight on money so I knew I was going to have to find an ornament that wasn't too expensive. I looked everywhere from Hobby Lobby to Wal-Mart to Hallmark. I couldn't find anything cute that wasn't way too expensive or gaudy looking. I finally had a DUH moment and decided to check out Etsy! Of course I was overwhelmed by an array of ornaments but after hours of searching, I finally found an adorable ornament that fit all of my requirements (and my budget)!

The shop I bought it from is called "From Nancy's Heart" and the store owner (as the name implies) has some of the cutest ornaments I have ever seen! I already have my eye on a few that I hope to get as gifts. They would make adorable gift tags!

Anyway, I was excited to see that it arrived while we were in Iowa and I couldn't wait to share it with you! You will have to forgive the pictures. Our camera was dropped (wonder who could have done that...) and is no longer in service so I am stuck taking pictures with my phone. Sorry about that!

Here is how it was packaged! Isn't that cute? Part of me didn't want to open it because of how pretty it was wrapped!

Eventually I did open it though and here is what the ornament looks like! Eeek! I LOVE it! It is even better than I imagined it would be! I wish I could show it to you in person so that you can see all of the gorgeous glitter!

Nancy also sent a really sweet card so I wanted to share that with you too! Her customer service was amazing!

I wanted to put it on a tree but didn't have mine up yet when I took this picture so I used my mom's little feather tree instead! :)

Again, the pictures do not do this ornament justice so I apologize for that. We are completely thrilled with how it turned out though! Nancy is such a sweet lady and obviously very talented! She has so many cute ornaments in her shop so you should definitely go check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I look forward to sharing more traditions with you in the near future! :)

Power

When I think of the word "power", many things come to mind. In fact, there are 32 different definitions for the word in the dictionary! Now that is one incredible word!

Well we had quite the experience with power last night. Hurricane force winds reaching 125 mph hit us suddenly in the middle of the night which resulted in lots of damage. Trees were ripped from the ground, roots and all. And I'm not talking little small trees, I'm talking massive trees that have been standing for decades! Power poles were snapped in two leaving many (including my household) without power for hours. There is a barn at the end of our road that is no longer standing and its rubble can be seen for miles. That's a lot of power!

Fortunately, the only damage that hit home with us was Nick's shop. Part of the roof was ripped off but thankfully, it was not the area that Nick was using so no damage was done to his supplies. However, someone else was using that area and so I am sure they are feeling a little bit differently about the situation today.

Here are a few photos of the aftermath.

Now that's a lot of power, huh? One thing that hit me today though was this. Who gave the wind that power? Our mighty Lord did! He has the power. He has ALL the power! He IS the power! Nothing can compare to Him. So why do we not fear Him more than we do? He is an all powerful God and He should be feared! Why are we so quick to misuse His name and sin against Him when the truth is, he could take us away from this earth if he wanted? We too quickly forget that this God of ours is not just the New Testament God,  but He is the Old Testament God as well. The two are the same!

Fortunately for us, He is also a compassionate God who loves us more than anything. More than we could ever imagine! He spares us time and time again. He spares ME time and time again! Everytime I fall, He is there, waiting to help me back up. He is my provider, my sustainer of life, yet I treat Him as a convenience store God. I act like it is His job to help me through the tough times and then leave me alone once things get better. Wow. I can be so blind.

Why is it sometimes so hard for me to pick up my Bible and read His word? Why do I have to force myself to spend time praying and talking to Him? I need Him so much but I act as if I can make it on my own.

Please pray for me as I work on getting my priorities straight each and every morning. Often times it is a struggle for me. I know that it will look different every day but I want to be dedicated to my Lord as He is dedicated to me!


Let us not forget the true Power.

Purpose.

This morning I went to my friend Leanne's house for brunch and of course, true to form, we spent hours chatting. It was great to spend time with such a dear friend and I really needed it. We had some really meaningful discussions and I left with a light heart.

Anyway, one of the things that came up was blogging and the reasons behind it. She shared with me how her blog has become a way to document her life and her children's lives and it really got me to thinking. What is the purpose of my blog? I mean really? Why do it?

I have come to realize lately that this blog has kind of become a mishmash of randomness and it really has no specific purpose. So I have decided to give it one and what better purpose than one that I find the most meaningful: to be myself. That may mean different things but basically I want to share my thoughts and my life with others.

I don't really feel the need to create fancy tutorials or projects that I think will draw readers in. I have discovered that I really am not great at that and so therefore I will leave it up to those who are! :) I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to impress others either. I honestly don't have the time or energy to focus a lot of my attention to this blog because I need to be focusing it on other things, like my family and my Lord. Because of this, my posts will be sporadic (which you are used to already) and will probably be short and centered on what is taking place in my life. Let's think of it as my public journal!

I don't want to sound haughty because, believe me, that is the last thing I want. I just want to be honest with you and with myself. I truly hope that I am not coming across as rude or conceited. I feel that it is important for me to share the purpose of my blog with those who read it and I really hope that will understand where I am coming from!

For those of you who blog, I'm sure you all came to this point in your blogging as well. So share with me, if you will. What is your purpose for blogging? I would really love to hear it! :)

Now I'm going to leave you with some seriously adorable pictures of a very adorable little girl! LOVE HER!

 

Thanks for stopping by and thank you especially for understanding my purpose! :) 

 

DIY: Tulle Pom Poms

When I was picking out the decor for Addison's nursery, I realized just how expensive it can be! I was originally going to go with a cheap bed set but then fell in love with this bedding from Babies R' Us and of course it was fairly pricey! However, I figured if I could save money on all of the other areas in the nursery, it would be worth it. Right? So instead of buying an expensive wind up crib mobile, I figured I could just make something!

In came these adorable (and much cuter than any mobile) pom poms! They were so cheap and easy to make so I am sharing them with you! The great thing about these is that they can be used for a variety of purposes, not just as makeshift crib mobiles! :)

I know there are probably other tutorials like this one out there, but I am sharing with you how I made mine!

Here are the materials you will need!

 

• Tulle (I found some white tulle at The Dollar Tree in the wedding section!)
• Ribbon
• Rubber band
• Scissors
• A book to wrap the tulle around. The size of your book (or blu-ray in my case) will determine how big or small you want your pom poms.

 

1. To begin, close the end of the tulle in your book or blu-ray case and start wrapping it around. Wrap it about 20-30 times, depending on how full you want your pom-pom to look.

 

2.  After you are finished wrapping, cut the tulle so it's no longer attached to the spool.

 

3. Cut the tulle down the center of the book and take it off the book. Keep the tulle in a neat stack.

4. Now cut the tulle in half again. Since I am a perfectionist, I like to measure the tulle so that I can find the exact middle. You could definitely just estimate though!

 

5. Combine the two piles. Now you should have a nice stack of squares!

 

6. Find the middle of your stack and gather it in your hand.

 

7. Use a rubber band to secure it in the middle.

 

8. Tie a piece of ribbon around the rubber band. 

 

9. Begin to "fluff" your pom pom by separating the pieces of tulle. Pull the tulle in different directions so that it starts to form a ball.  You will need to play around a bit with it until you have the look that you like!

 

Ta da! The perfect tulle pom pom! I actually created this pom pom to go on top of a gift box. I think it's the perfect embellishment! You could also use this same technique to create a fun hair bow or even add it to a decorative pillow. The possibilities are endless! :)

 

I hope you enjoyed my version of the pom pom! I LOVE the look it brings to the nursery and Addison really enjoys to look at it as well!

I'm linking to these parties.

DDJ Images

It's official, my extremely talented mother has finally decided to open her own Etsy shop called DDJ Images where she will be selling her gorgeous prints!

She has a wide variety of photographs ranging from gorgeous flowers... 

to breathtaking landscapes,

Including some amazing nature shots,

along with some amazing black and white shots.

Do me a favor and stop by her shop to check it out! I spent hours setting it up and making it look as professional as possible. I'm still in the process of uploading some photographs. Any feedback would be fantastic! :)

Summer Splash!

Since we've been in Iowa it's been nothing but cloudy, rainy, and cold! I was looking forward to experiencing some warmer weather for a change but, up until today, we hadn't really had any. So, when we woke up to some sunny skies, out came the baby pool!

 Addison had a blast splashing in the water!

We put her favorite toy in there with her and she would smack it against the water so that it would make really big splashes.

 

The water kept hitting her in the face but she didn't mind one little bit!

 

Let's just say that Addison wasn't the only one who got wet. Mommy ended up pretty wet as well but I loved it! It's so fun to watch her play!

Thanks to Nana for taking the amazing pictures! :)

A Baby Shower!

So guess what, I'm back in Iowa! Crazy, I know! What happened is that my husband decided to go on a youth trip to Pennsylvania with the youth group and since I wouldn't be able to travel with Addison, he suggested I ride back to Iowa with my mom so that I wasn't alone for the whole week. That being said, my posts have been a little difficult to write up. Sorry about that!

A little while back, (alright, two years back) I threw a baby shower for one of my good friends and since I'm currently limited to what I have to post about I thought I would share it with you! :)

Here are the cute and simple invitations I created. These were a piece of cake to make and I think I whipped at least 20 of them up in an hour.

Here is the decorated table. The pinata was actually an inside joke among the guests. :)

Here is a detail shot of the diaper cake I made for her. This was my first attempt at a diaper cake and I really loved how it turned out! I think it's great that the diapers were even slightly tinted blue! :)

Here is the onesie bouquet that I made. This was super easy to create! Basically all I did was roll up the onesies and wrap a rubber band around them. I then stuck them in the cute tin bucket (Target dollar spot) and filled in the gaps with silk flowers. So cute!

I made these fun favors for all of the guests. I used a pillow box die and my big shot to create them. I then punched out stars and glued a piece of clear acetate behind the punched area so that you could get a peek at the yummy treats inside!

I decorated with some fun bath toys. They looked cute and the mommy was able to keep them for her sweet little boy!

I discovered through this process that I LOVE to plan parties, especially baby showers. It's so rewarding when everything turns out great and the guests have a great time.

I am linking to these parties!