i am so excited about my latest thrifting haul!! i have made a new friend who owns an amazing thrift store in my town... gina at Gina's Junk
she keeps up with her blog and facebook with all the latest things she brings in her shop and i am hooked. here's what i came home with last week:
a great suitcase that i am using to hold programs at the wedding
(and of course my "partner" had to inspect the latest purchase)
she said she approves
i also picked up a chalkboard that i may use somehow as a seating chart for the wedding guests (although i need to find another one since the guest list keeps groooowing)
and i saved the best for last... THREE butterprint pyrex bowls. i'm hyperventilating just thinking about how excited i was to see these!
Today my real life world and my blog world came together and it was a pretty amazing experience. The story may take a little while to explain but I can sum it up by saying: the Lord works in mysterious ways!
This story starts a few years ago when WSMV in Nashville did a story on Audrey Caroline. After reading the story and watching the video (and going through a box of tissues) I was so moved! I immediately read the blog dedicated to this little baby and I really felt like this one woman's story changed something inside me.
Fast forward to about a year ago when I was reading one of my former sorority sister's blogs and she mentioned a friend of hers, Brooke, who had a similar story. (I'm not going to get all up in her business and tell you her story, but trust me if you start reading her blog, you won't quit). In one night I sat down and read every entry she had written about her journey with her baby Briar. I felt like I knew her. I know a lot of the time blog creepers (as I like to call them, myself included) feel like they are BFF's with the writers, but something about Brooke really connected to me. THEN I found out she lives in the same city as me! Crazy how things work, huh? (keep in mind I have never actually met her, I just *think* I know her haha)
So I have kept up with Brooke's blog and one day she wrote about the Mama Project that her friend Jessica was taking part in. So in the hop-scotch way the blog world goes, I started reading about this amazing photography project that was going on at Capture Photography
Last week I decided to e-mail Jessica and let her know how amazing I thought the Mama Project is, my connection to this topic as it related to Audrey Caroline, and how I wanted to find a way to help, or spread the word, or something. Much like Jessica writes, I feel called to do something to help women in similar situations and share the story of their incredible bravery.
Jessica e-mailed me back and we have been working on a way to get the story to work without exploiting these women, but by using it as an example of courage. We actually had a "coffee date" to discuss the options and afterwards she had another meeting to go to and I took a lunch break at the local thrift store. Well... I walk around the corner at the store and there is Jessica and Brooke!
We stood there for a while talking briefly about the potentially upcoming news story but mostly about how amazing/crazy/weird/exciting it is that all these random blogs brought the three of us face to face. Even if the news story doesn't work out, I still feel like there is a deeper reason God made me reach out to these total strangers. I may just be acting like a "blog creeper" but this whole experience could lead to real life friendships.
And if that isn't great enough (which it totally is) before I left the thrift store I found this AMAZING old window I can use in my wedding decor!!!
in my taylor-made year in review i said that my goal was to have 10,000 hits on the blog before the year was up... and boy did my amazing readers come through!
in just a few hours i had hundreds of clicks and i definitely met my goal. being a new blogger, 10,000 hits is a really big deal for me, so as a reward to all of you who do read.... i'm having a giveaway!
i thought about making something, but then i decided it might be better to give away some things that represent me and my crafting. so i went through my "collections" (what some may call hoarded objects haha) and de-stashed.
first i went through my vintage scarf collection
and picked out a tan scarf
you may remember i have quite a lot of jewelry, so i picked out some matching pieces
and i may or may not have mentioned that i collect pyrex (haha) so i found a piece that i love, but honestly know that i won't use
then i went through my GROWING stash of yarn
and picked out skeins of each color
and my collection of fabric
and picked out a few pieces i knew i could do without
i put it all together to make (what i think is) a pretty cool giveaway!
so how do you win? it's simple.... leave me a message in the comment section. it can be anything you want (just make sure to leave your e-mail address so i can contact you if you win) and i will pick a winner next sunday, january 30th.
and for the readers who don't normally comment... PLEASE leave one this time, i'd love to know who is reading!
when i started this blog a year ago the main idea was to keep up with my "40 goals for 2010" and also motivate me to share more of my crafts. throughout the year my list changed a little and even grew (by 2) and now it's time to see how i did!
#1 bake a batch of monster cookies
#2 (finally) finish my X and O for Valentine's
#3 sew a quilt (let's put this one in the "still in progress" category, but i promise i did start it!)
#4 learn to etch glass
#5 take an inventory of ALL my movies
#6 create a Christmas tree topper
#7 yarn flowers! (i still say this is one of my favorite crafts)
#8 photography project (unfulfilled... but i still plan on doing it, so i'm not calling it a failure.)
#9 make a flower centerpiece
#10 make headbands and hairclips (and more)
#11 shadow boxes (plus i made a few more)
#12 wedding inspiration photo album
( TIME OUT: this needs a bit of an explanation. i follow a lot of blogs and when i see pictures of wedding aspects i like, i save the photo in a file on my computer. i'm a girl... and more importantly i am a girl that likes to PLAN! and now that i will be spending the majority of 2011 planning the wedding of our dreams i am SO glad i have collected so many great pictures. this task is complete and i can't wait to share all of the great pieces of inspiration i have found for our upcoming wedding!)
#13 sew a pillow
#14 create a kitchen Christmas tree (or three)
#15 do another "photoshoot"
#16 wedding scrapbook (i have a post coming up about this on-going project)
#17 make cards (using my cricut!)
#18 wooden T and D letters for the bedroom
#19 master the art of making Sharon's cornbread
#20 BLOG (i did it for one year... i consider it a success! and with your help i reached my goal of 10,000 hits!!)
#21 Audrey Hepburn movie collection (again i'll share more details later)
#22 Read all of Mary Kay Andrews' books
#23 put that sewing machine to work!
#24 make a scrapbook for Baby Lowe
#25 make fabric yo-yo's
#26 make and/or sew a scarf
#27 homemade marshmallows (you can't win 'em all folks. i WILL try again)
#28 organize my old pictures
#29 design a Halloween costume
#30 make my own recipe book
#31 keep my fingernails painted (silly, but done)
#32 transfer my cd's to my ipod
#33 make a cupcake holder
#34 buy and use a flash for my camera
#35 crochet (i did one line of crochet... but i still need to fulfill this one)
#36 complete my Audrey Hepburn book collection
#37 buy the Forever Young Cricut cartridge
#38 make a Christmas village
#39 make wreaths (ha. ha. boy did i ever!!)
#40 find and buy the PERFECT tea kettle
#41 make jewelry
#42 decorate mirrors
woah... that was quite a bit to accomplish in one year. i have had such an amazing time blogging and crafting and i can't wait to see what the new year brings for me.
i know i have a lot of wedding planning ahead of me (holy crap it sounds so weird saying that... but SO exciting) so please keep reading while i take on upcoming challenges.
thank you so much to all my followers (and secret stalkers haha)! i am still in awe of how many people read this thing and i want you all to know how much i appreciate it.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
i know summer is over (trust me it is teeth chattering cold here), but i am still really into the nautical look. after seeing some really inspiring boat-themed pieces, i made a few "taylor-made crafts" of my own.
i started with some white rope and metallic blue leather (or pleather... not really sure)
the first craft was a super-sized necklace.
then a few mathcing bracelets.
and an anthropologie inspired necklace (i saw a tutorial at tatertots and jello)
then i had the bright idea to make bathing suit bags. (i found this idea here) and since i'm learning how to sew, it was a great starter project! and it just so happens it fulfills #23 on the craft list!!
some have rope handles and some have wooden ones.
and all of them are two colors and super cute (in my opinion)
sara at the lovely lemon recently had a giveaway for lucky readers to win one of her awesome crocheted cup sleeves! and honestly, who wouldn't want one?
well guess what... i won!
she has quickly become one of my "go to" blogs and i am REALLY thankful i won the giveaway (and a very cute giveaway at that!)
thanks sara!
in july i participated in a gift exchange at craftaholics anonymous and i loved it so much i decided to sign up again for the december edition
so i got my partner carrie and after "stalking" her blog i came up with a great homemade gift idea! now that the present is safely in her hands... i can show you what i made:
a taylor-made headband for her daughter
a yummy candle (i didn't make it, but i thought it was a nice addition)
some reindeer food for the kids to sprinkle in the yard on christmas eve (it's a tradition in my family. you take oats and glitter and santa's reindeer eat it while he's unloading gifts!)
and i made a different version of an advent calendar
i hope her family enjoys the goodies!!
one of the blogs i follow grrfeisty recently hosted a giveaway for one lucky reader to win an adorable pillow. well it must have been my lucky day because i won!
it came wrapped in an adorable little package...
with lots of cute stamps all over the envelope
she added a sweet hand-written note
and of course the awesome pillow i won!!
thanks so much roxy! and if you're impressed by what you see, stop by her etsy shop and pick up a few things for yourself!
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