Sweet dreams?

Another sleepless night in SC. Blogging helped before so maybe again? (Haha I managed to bore myself I sleep!!) Night before last I messed my schedule all up by falling asleep crazy early by accident. Then I was awake from 11:30 pm - 2 ish am. Ugh.

I haven't been perfect but I have been keeping with the five things I'm thankful for each day. Here are a few:

- the twins are continuing to do good and grow. Liam is over 3 lbs and Kellan is over 2 lbs. so many people are touched by these little fighters. Love them. 

- Mom and I spent time shopping today and she got a great start to Christmas - and a lot of WOW deals. 

- Roger had two follow up appointments and both specialists - cardio and ent - have given him good news! Yay! 

- The family met up at Panera to celebrate Angela's birthday and it was just a great family time. 

- Macy is doing really well about wearing her glasses. Not sure if it's helping but at least she is doing her part. 

- God really worked out some drama at work and I'm so thankful for it! 

- We are getting a cost of living raise backdated to July and I'm very thankful. It will help with Christmas and hopefully help me breathe easier month to month. 

- An old high school friend I haven't seen in 2+ years stopped by on Halloween with her five children! Glad I bought candy this year! 

- Another friend is having a GIRL! :)

I think I may try this as part of Macy's Christmas. I think it's genius. 

Macy and her mommy at our front porch picnic after Katie came home from visiting the hospital. Hope those days are over for a while. 

Angela at the Panera birthday party and Macy. Mae was allll about Aunt LaLa ad Uncle Clay. I thought this was the sweetest picture. 

Her first involvement with Jack-o-lanterns. Lol. Not sure she was digging on it at first but ended up very enthusiastic. 

Here is Milli from Umizoomi. Yes, I know you haven't heard of it. She loves this tv show and thankfully mom can sew. The red ribbons on the hood are ponytails. See? 

Anyway, one last terrible pic of my cat, Smudge, and me on the porch tonight. 

He was wild and I've managed to tame him to the point I can pick him up and pet him. Awwww...

Ok there are your random pics for a while. :) since it's now 4:30 maybe I can roll over a sleep some more! 

Pure Love.

This weekend my sister-in-law brought two amazingly beautiful baby boys into this world. It's been a very difficult pregnancy but she has been so strong and fought for her babies every step of the way.

So Sunday morning at 12:03 am, two handsome boys entered this great big earth. Liam is 2 lbs 9 oz and Kellan is 1 lb 13 oz. they have a long road ahead and you know we would appreciate your prayers. 

Here I am visiting with Liam. These boys are so cute. And already showing personality!  So cool. 

Ok y'all, don't spill the beans on this ... I've been working on floor quilts for each boy. Here is one - the very first quilt top I've ever made. It's backed in flannel so this side can go face down and the baby will have soft fleece to play on. 

Here is the second, not backed yet but will be soon. This is a brick pattern and I really like it. May do this for Macy, just make it bigger. These are 40 x 40. 

The next photos show a gift I mailed to a friend in Columbia who is expecting.  

I just realized the completed photos are on my camera so these don't show the buttons. Oh well. You get the idea: burp cloth and matching bib. I've really enjoyed my sewing machine lately and wonder if I should try to sell these things. I don't know - we'll wait and see.  

(She is so cute!!) 

This is the week before the massive floods hit SC. I live in the upstate and while we were due 10" of rain, we got no were near that. The system stayed south of us and pummeled Columbia. That place is in a mess. I promise you, no one in Columbia has flood insurance. I just can't imagine what some are enduring. Please pray. 

I'm off to read some in Isaiah and wrap up my night :) thanks for your prayers! Night night! 

Marching Forward

How the heck did we end up in March already?  Heaven help, the time is zipping by and I feel like I'm getting left behind in a daze.

One thing that has me out of it - my health is having weird issues again.  Tummy and chest, scary stuff when you say chest issues.  I'm still trying to pay off the crazy bills from June so I really don't want to go somewhere and have more bills pile up.  I'm trying to stay calm and convince myself it's all tummy related like I was told it was so quit worrying that my chest hurts, too. *sigh* Do you pray? And if so, can you say a prayer for me? Thanks.

I also have an acquaintance - the wife of an old boyfriend (99% of the time I end on good terms, so no hard feelings) - she has some serious health issues with major surgery coming up at the end of the month.  March 23 to be exact.  I told her I believed in God and was sending up prayers for her, her family (they have three kids) and the doctors.  It's really serious stuff, so if you wouldn't mind saying a prayer for them, too, that would be great.  I appreciate it greatly.

I'm so excited - I introduced one of my online friends to one of my real life friend's online store and she loved it! I mean, I love her stuff, but it was so cool to connect someone else to it, too.  You are welcome to visit - she was interested in calligraphy and it just so happens my friend sells calligraphy teaching kits! I know, how perfect!  www.leenmachine.com Go ahead and click it - you know you want to. :)

Have you heard about these people who role play online by stealing other people's photos of their babies and children and such? They make entire role play lives around these photos of kids they don't know.  Seriously, go to twitter or instagram and look for #rpbaby.  Completely terrifies me of having pics of the sweet nieces online.  I'm sure someone thinks that's harmless, but I think it's horrible. Thoughts on this anyone? Because I'm half tempted to just take down the blog and keep my private instagram and private facebook.

On a much happier note, I'm heading to my brother and sister-in-laws for supper tonight and I'm taking Vulture Dip.  Sounds totally gross but it's yummy.  My brother is bonkers for it.  Just so happens I found the exact recipe I use online - here it is.  The blog is called "Food from the Forest" but she has the recipe there if you'd like to try it.  Think spinach, cheese, tomatoes, picante sauce... it's good, trust me.  I'll probably pass on it to play it safe, but I'm glad to bring him something he loves.

Ok, let me go get ready to head for their house.  I'll post cute pics again soon - once I figure out how to easily watermark them before posting. :) Happy Hump Day!

Crafty Bethie

I'm pretty excited about two projects I did over the weekend - a Happy Thoughts Jar for a dear friend and a piece of Valentine's Day decor for my house.

First, the Valentine's Day decor - burlap and buttons heart! I took the time to type out some steps so others can do this for themselves at home - posted over at my craft blog, Pressed Clovers.  So for more of a how-to, go visit there.  My aunt heard I was trying to learn to sew and gave me a ton of thread and a vase full of buttons. After sorting them by colors, I knew I wanted to make her a gift to say thanks... so I'll be working on something for her this coming weekend.  I'm not sure she's the bright-red-and-pink-button-heart-decor kind of person.  But I really loved how it turned out and REALLY like the buttons with threads still attached. Something from the previous owner.

 


Then the Happy Thoughts Jar for my dear friend, Paulene.  I started one for myself with scraps of scrapbooking paper and an empty kleenex box. This is one much cuter.  I took a vase I already had, added gift wrap tissue and watered down glue and made a scene I thought would be fitting for Paulene - a You Are My Sunshine theme! I took the first picture at home, but couldn't find my ribbon so I did a quick trip into Hobby Lobby for that and took a final photo in the car.  Inside the vase are strips of paper waiting for her happy thoughts.  At the end of the year, she can dump them all out, open them up and see all these blessings she's received in 2015.  So easy but so cute.  A coworker brought me more vases so I'll be making a few more of these!

I mentioned receiving a sewing machine for Christmas on here before.  Well, I finally got the sucker set up and let me tell you - it's all kinds of Oh-La-La! It sews with the press of a button.  Cuts the thread and pulls up the needle with another button. Crazy? But I'm so excited.

source

I have a quilt kit that I won from Fabric Editions that will be my first attempt at real sewing. It says for beginners so it better be telling the truth! So cute? I think so! It's very similar to this one - just cute baby girl elephant print instead. Let's hope I can do this thing right. We have a baby on the way at church and I thought if it works out ok we can gift it. :)

I'm off for home and some tacos with my family.  Looking forward to some good food tonight! :)

DIY Gifts

I'm cross posting this from Pressed Clovers, my "crafty" blog. It's a few DIY gift ideas that I seriously think you could still do before the holidays are here.  Enjoy!

DIY Gift Ideas

Ya'll know I started this blog as a play to show my scrapbooks for my Etsy company, Pressed Clovers.  But then I started doing other crafty things and putting pics up here, so it's turned into a crafty blog. 

When I started thinking of ideas for homemade gifts, I realized I had quite a few tutorials or ideas already posted on this website! Here are a few reminders and links to things I've posted in the past.

1)  The Christmas Scrapbook.  I make my mom one for her birthday on January 4th and print dozens of photos from Christmas for her to put into it immediately.  This way she hasn't forgotten any of the details and can have it ready for the next holiday season.  Don't forget to include the double sided stickers for the photos! (more photos in the link). Basically, each page has a place for a photo and is already decorated. All she needs to do is put in the pictures and write her memories.

2)  Photo Flower Pots.  While I made these for Mother's Day, I think it would be nice for Christmas, too. There are still flowers in the winter!  This isn't difficult at all and is completely personalized.  Print pictures on plain white copy paper and mod podge them to your flower pot. Easy Peasy!

3)  Monogram is all the rage! Many of us have tons of buttons laying about - buttons in jars, buttons in drawers, or in my case, buttons from a yard sale.  Tons of buttons. A quick run to my local craft store for a burlap canvas and some hot glue can turn buttons into beautiful monograms. Loved this gift idea! So quick, can finish it in an hour. 

4)  Teenagers! What about them? I wondered the same thing. Which started another one of my traditions - a scrapbook for my preteen niece.  With her, however, I buy lots of fun teenagerish stickers for to her decorate the book herself. I provided the book and basic layouts, tons of printed photos which all included her, and the double sided tape squares. She really impresses me with her creative ideas! This year, I'm giving her all the supplies pre-cut (mats for the photos and decorative strips of paper and tape, and stickers, of course) and letting her design the actual pages!

5) Toddler Artwork  This is my most favorite DIY project I've done to date.  Having my baby niece participate by "painting" four canvases and then I hand lettered the word LOVE on top. This is currently hanging in my bedroom.  Not keen on something that large? How about a small canvas or cardstock even, let them add a little paint and you add a monogram with a sticker!  Make it your own creation! :)

6) Baby on the Way.  New mothers or mothers-to-be... even grandmothers! love having these premade scrapbooks for the newborns most stellar moments.  The delivery day, the first day home, the first bath, baby sleeping - this provides a place for all those photos and will become a gift to the baby one day.  While baby boy is featured, just think pink for a girl.


I hope some of these ideas may inspire you to try a handmade gift this Christmas or into the New Year. Share your ideas with me, I'd love to hear them!

A Little More Kitten

Look what Katie found!
I want one with my name!!

Welcome Back! Hope your weekend was fabulous. I've been burning up my comp time and taking days off from work, so I'm all confused as to what day it is... today is my Monday.

So what happened over the weekend? Well, a lot of shopping. Mom is finally feeling a bit better (she's battling the shingles) so we went shopping after work on Friday. And again on Saturday. I'm so glad she's feeling better. She said this is the worst pain she's felt in her life. 60+ folks, get your shingles shot! :)

Sunday, we missed church AGAIN. I'm really missing church, the learning and the people. We have all been so sick and haven't made it in a while, but next week I'M GOING. Anyway, we missed this week for a family reunion.

I totally ripped this pic off from All Recipes,
but click here for the yummiest recipe.

I made squash casserole and hummingbird cake. I have the BEST recipe for squash casserole - everyone L.O.V.E.S. it. I do add garlic and Perfect Pinch to mine. And the hummingbird cake was very moist and tasty, too! Here is the recipe for it - the only change I make is to sub half the oil for applesauce.  While I'm on the subject of food, let me recommend the All Recipes app for your phone. I'll whip out my phone in the grocery store and make sure I'm getting all the ingredients I need while I'm there.  Love it.

Being cute and adorable is a tough job, so Macy was knocked out on the way home from the family reunion.  She wanted to play with the big kids so bad but they weren't interested.  But she really did have fun and ate so good! I told AH (Sweet Niece #1) we had a family reunion on Sunday and she really perked up.  "Food!" she said! Ha!!! Definitely plenty of food at a Southern Family Reunion.

Have I mentioned here that I have FIVE (1,2,3,4,5!!!) cousins who are expecting right now? I'm spending my nights sewing felt friends as part of my gift.  I'm searching for books to match the animals. Won't that be cute? I found a farm book this weekend to go with all the farm animals.

The last thing I'll bore you with - one of our election workers and I ran into each other at Walgreens (when I was buying my purple reading glasses <3!!) and I wanted this kitty cat Post-It note dispenser.  However, I would not pay $10 for it.  She's one of these guru couponers and she got it for me for $2.50!! SERIOUSLY?! YAYAYAYAY! So happy! I'm gluing a little pink bow to one ear so she'll be a cousin to Hello Kitty (which I adore, yeah, I know I'm old but I still love HK). This cat makes me so very very happy. How could you not just feel warm and fuzzy with this kitten sitting on your desk?

Ok, I'm off to concentrate and be focused.  My lunch break is over for the day.  Have a great week!

Monday Muses.

The weekend was a good one! Saturday morning I texted a friend until she mentioned - you know, we could talk. HAHA! So we did and it was great. She gives good business advice and I'm thankful for her.  :) I spent Saturday day at a pottery show with my mom and sister - our annual outing.  All three of us found someone we knew, so it was even better having our joy spread between friends.  I adore pottery and picked up a few pieces for gifts.  I could have gone hog wild, but didn't really have the funds (or the need) for all that in my house.

Sunday I met a sweet little boy, Lane, 3 weeks old and oh my gracious he is a cutie. How can you not fall in love with newborn babies? I think it's impossible.

One thing that keeps coming back to me over and over is how attitude plays such a large factor in our daily lives.  Like - Yes, I'm tired, still sick, butt draggin', etc etc. I could complain and moan about how TIRED I am, how BAD I feel, DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. Play it up, get more sympathy, wallow in my low points. 

OR - I can get in the floor and marvel at how wonderful it is to play with my niece, notice how quickly she is learning her nursery rhymes, watch how she plays with her blocks and laugh at her silliness. Live life instead of letting life lead me around by the nose and suck out the joy.

I CHOOSE JOY!

Yeah, it doesn't always work.  Saturday evening I let things get to me a little too much and my feeling were hurt. Which pissed me off. Oh woe is me. (Seriously, get a grip!)  But it didn't last long and I was feeling ok again. Because SERIOUSLY - how blessed am I? Abundantly.  Amazingly.  Wonderfully.  God is so good and I am so ungrateful and being so childish.  By not taking care of myself (going to bed on time!!), I'm making it more difficult to love life. Bad Bethie. So my goal this week is to get back on track. 

And since I just snapped another person's head off... maybe I should go to sleep about 8 p.m. and see if I can restore my relatively good nature.  It's slipping quickly.  :)

What's been keeping me busy?!

I wanted to show ya'll what I've been up to and what's been keeping me busy.  My Etsy store, Pressed Clovers, has been hopping with specialty orders.  Having the customer come up with the requests usually leads to GREAT ideas that I wouldn't have thought of on my own, but I then fall in love with - precisely what happened with these. I'm going to share a few pics from the recent books, but you can see more at the Pressed Clovers Blog, or PC Facebook page. Or heck, visit the store and make your own request for an awesome book!

This mother has taken a photo of herself on Mother's Day since her first son was born - and it was time to give him a book (which you know will be passed down to his daughter) of his mom on Mother's Day.

Want to see more of this book? Click here to see the PC Blog which will show you more!

The next request was from a mom in PA that keeps a scrapbook of her son each school year, which includes the holidays.  She wanted the ability to put more than one photo on each page, so I worked up 13 pages of cuteness for her son.

To see more of this book and the holidays included, Click Here for the blog post about it!

I had a close friend want a baby girl scrapbook for a special child that the parents have prayed for and wanted for many years.  Blessing has been granted and special delivery will be here soon!

Trust me, I know some of these pics are less than stellar, but sometimes I'm in such a rush to ship, I just need a few pics to get approval from the customer. No Internet at the house sometimes makes life difficult. :) 

Are you ready for the last book today?? It's an ADORABLE Halloween book, which just turned out C.U.T.E.  This mom is putting all her son's Halloween costume pics in one book, with journal pages to write about her memories of each one. Love this. 

See the rest of the book by Clicking Here. I really do love these ideas that folks have been coming up with, and plan on using what I've learned on my new projects.  So exciting!

What are your thoughts?  Ideas for books, likes/dislikes, recommendations??? Please share!

Home of the Brave

Happy (late) Fourth of July! 

My family and I had a nice fourth, canning green beans most of the day and enjoying a quick cookout for lunch.  I started my morning with a thank you to those who have served in the quest for freedom, past and present, because that's what it's really all about.  So thankful for these brave men and women who made freedom their mission in life. 

Here are a few pictures to celebrate with the cutest patriotic babe in the South! 

I just loved her little outfit.  Too precious!   From her birthday party a few weeks ago. Just in time!  She's really walking now, doing the balancing act with her arms out beside her. It's just adorable. Can you tell I'm totally loving on my sweet niece? Adore her. Glad I was able to spend some time with her, reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" and "Where is Love, Biscuit."

Today, it's back at it, so I suppose I should get started. ... in case you are wondering, I'm feeling a bit better.  Despite the fact it's poured rain and I haven't seen sunshine since I left the beach. I'm in a bit of a ditch or hole, but I'm finding my way out. I know, we bloggers don't talk about stuff like this often, do we? But I think every one of us have experienced it at one time or another. I just had too much bad news and stressors to deal with at once, but God carrying me through it.  :)  The down times have a purpose, too, so I'm trying to focus on that. 

Ok, I'm gone for the day.  Ya'll have a great weekend and I'll see you back here next week!

Sweet Niece #2 turns One!

This weekend my Sweet Niece #2 turned ONE!  We had festivities to celebrate this important milestone in her life, with lots of icing (of course!)

We had family and friends - especially the Prayer Peeps - here to celebrate Macy's birthday.  Mom and I, with much help from Dad, Aliah and Katie, set up a canopy in the yard and decorated in lots of pink and green!  Tissue balls, balloons, streamers, and cute bunnies! Loved it.

We found tin tubs at the dollar store and wrote each kids name on it as their goodie bag.  Inside we had bunny bags from the clearance bin after Easter with a Bible board book (dollar store - 2 for a buck), bubbles (left over from wedding), stickers (dollar store, 6 packs for a buck), and a washcloth that will expand full-sized in water (dollar store).  The older girls got extras like flower erasers, hangman notepads and colored pens. 

My sister made the smash cake from cutouts from a sheet cake and stacked it up for height.  Then she added tons of icing to make sure it was extra messy!

Pinned it, Did it! We used small plastic cups to hold the "rabbit food," carrots and celery sticks with ranch dressing in the bottom.  No more ranch on the cookies and watermelon! It's all contained and neat. Yum! Mom made these delicious cookies. The veggie sandwiches were cut in hearts and flowers with wheat on one side and white on the other.  

Another Pinned it, Did it! The cupcake liner wreath and handmade bunny ornaments for the adults. The goodie bags helped decorate with the cupcakes and smash cake.

The Birthday Banner.  Scrapbook paper glued to cardstock backers and I simply stapled the ribbon to the front. I was out of energy at that point - and you know what, no one noticed. The letters came from a banner from Party City that was on clearance.  We didn't use the banner, just the stickers.

The canopy was six-sided and green (I know it looks black) and we found these green tissue balls at Hobby Lobby - three for $7 or so.  The colored honeycomb balls came in a large package of decor items from Party City for a one-year-old birthday and they were about 70% off!! We used a metal wreath form tied from the top to connect all the streamers in the center.  A cluster of balloons were on each leg.  It was very cute and girlie. :)

The most popular place was the ball pit we made.  Sweet Niece's parents gave her a sandbox for her birthday and we put balls in it from Toys R Us.  The baby jail held the quilt down to keep things clean and contained the balls from rolling all over the yard.

Time to open presents!! She was interested for a while, then was done with that.  

Sweet Niece and my brother and sister-in-law.  Isn't this a great photo?? They are a cute couple. :)

Sweet Niece #1 popping out of the box.  We wrapped large boxes for the kids to climb through like tunnels - a hit! One was a cave (only one end was open) and the other a tunnel. They were so proud of themselves when they crawled all the way through!

PawPaw and his grandbabies

Aunt Donna and the birthday baby!

One exhausted birthday girl at the end of her party.  

And one more cake picture because she was loving it!

This party was so special to our family.  My sister had a difficult pregnancy with several issues and so many people were praying her through it.  Then when Sweet Niece made her appearance several weeks early, there were still issues and our family and friends were there, praying both of them through it.  These people are so wonderful and dedicated to prayer and support. Thanks so much to everyone who went through it with us all! :)  We love you!