More Winners!

Desserts in Jars goes to: Lisa @ Simply Things Family

Beyond Bath Time goes to: erinb1

First set of winners ...

Parenting with Scripture goes to: jrich88

Together: Growing Appetites for God goes to: kaflannery

Next set coming Sunday or Monday!

Summer Bucket List

Just before the last day of school we came up with a big list of things we wanted to do together this summer and we've had fun marking some things off already:

Make Jell-O Boat Desserts:

Covered Wagon Craft:

Go on a road trip and to the pool {no photos of this!}

Have a slumber party with Mama on the last day of school:

Make S'mores:

We've had a movie night, played in big cardboard boxes (a fort!) and made a cute flag cake:

More fun to come!

Beyond Bath Time: A Giveaway

Ok, last review and giveaway today! Up today is Beyond Bath Time: Embracing Motherhood as a Sacred Role by Erin Davis.

Confession: I have not finished this book so I cannot do justice to sharing about this book - please keep that in mind as you read my thoughts. I've struggled to get into this one - though Erin's voice is upbeat and easy to connect with. I don't relate with where she came from - not wanting children to be able to be more involved in ministry - I've always wanted to be a wife and mom!

With that said, obviously she does have children now and has had a major heart change in the process which I think will be a blessing to lots of moms who are hearing our culture say that how we want to spend our days is more important that filling our days with diapers, laundry and messes.

Perhaps you or someone you know is wrestling with questions such as these and would be blessed with Erin's perspective?!

Please leave a comment on this post by Saturday, June 16 at 10pm EST to be entered into a drawing to win a copy of this book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review and share about it here. All opinions are my own.

Desserts in Jars: A Giveaway!

Completely different kind of book today - but one I think you are really going to love! I know, right? Desserts in Jars: 50 Sweet Treats that Shine: what's not to love about that?!

This charming cookbook comes out in just a couple of weeks and I received an advance copy to review.

So far, there are a few things I love about this book:
* the pictures!
* it is spiral bound inside the hard back cover!
* and the variety of recipes included!

Chapters divisions are:
~ cakes and cupcakes
~ pies and pastries
~ custards and puddings
~ fruit desserts
~ frozen desserts
~ mixes for giving

I have my eye on making Ice Cream Cakes in a jar, Pumpkin Cheesecakes, Flourless Chocolate Cakes and Almond-Poppy Seed Cakes! You already know my affinity for jars - talk about a cute dessert!

In a pinch, I tossed some frozen balls of cookie dough into jars after Church on Sunday and came out with this:

Then, I tried the Campfire Bars mix to give as a gift:

Ok, want your own copy? Leave a comment on this post by Friday, June 15 at 10pm EST.

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book to review and share here. All opinions are my own.

Together: A Giveaway!

Remember by post on Together: Growing Appetites for God? Moody Publishers has offered up a copy for one of you! Please leave a comment on this post and I'll select a winner! Comments will be accepted until Thursday, June 14 at 10pm EST.

Two more book reviews and giveaways still coming this week!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Moody Publishers to read and review here. All opinions shared are my own.

Parenting with Scripture: A Giveaway

I am still working through my pile of books to read and review here and am excited to share this next one with you! Parenting with Scripture by Kara Durbin is a, "Topical Guide for Teachable Moments."

We've been reading this book together as a family during dinner times and our girls have proclaimed it their favorite part of dinner! The book is divided up by dozens of character qualities and includes a definition and Scriptures supporting that quality.

A great resource when you need to find a specific Scripture on something for a teachable moment, but also a great conversation starter to introduce and reinforce character and what God's Word says about it.

I love this because it can easily be adjusted for different ages - for example, when David leads these conversations at our table he brings up the characteristic and shares an appropriate amount of the definition and then we talk about what that means and looks like in everyday life. Then, he may read one or two Scriptures instead of all of the ones listed. Right now, this is perfect for our younger ones and we can grow with it as they get a little older.

Moody Publishers has offered to send a copy to one of you as well! Please leave a comment on this post and I'll select a winner. Comments will be accepted until Thursday, June 14th at 10pm EST.

Disclosure: Moody sent me this book to review here and we've really enjoyed it! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Necklaces

Ok, last post of jewelry projects! To finish up - I also made two necklaces. One was made with simple embellishments I found on clearance at Michael's and the other is made of multiple strings of chain and pearls. The fabulous pin was a birthday gift from Grace and is from Premier Designs Jewelry - love this!!

Bracelets

In addition, I made a couple of extra bracelets - the embellishments in the middle were found at Michael's on clearance! This would be a good time to mention that I spent about $20 for ALL of the jewelry I made this week! Thanks, Mom for the b'day money! :)

Pearl Cuffs Anthropologie Inspired

Another fun pin and I wanted one in grey {shocking, I know!} and one in cream - so I made two of these! These are really comfy to wear too! We loosely followed this tutorial.

Old Book Necklace

Love this necklace - we followed this tutorial!

Fabric Rosette Jewelry

I mentioned last week that Grace and I did lots of crafting and it mostly revolved around a jewelry pinboard we'd been compiling over the past months! When describing my accessory habits - you should know that I usually wear the same earrings every day and rotate between about three necklaces. I love bracelets but only have one that pinches - so I have been wanting to do some more accessorizing lately and am now excited about my new jewelry options that we made together!

Today, I'll share some fabric rosette jewelry - there are an abundance of tutorials and posts on this topic on the web. I'm not going to share HOW we did these - but just show my projects! {Ideas inspired by this post.}

The first thing I did was make this cute polka dot rosette - and I planned to make several and swap them in and out on a bracelet - but this one turned out too fluffy so I turned it into a pin!

Next, I made this simple bracelet and then a chunkier one - love each one for different reasons!

All craft supplies came from Michael's and fabric scraps were shared by Grace! :)

Responding ...

Carrie has a great post up today on how we respond to others when they are going through difficult or trying situations in life. I'd love to hear your thoughts as well! What kinds of things can we just do to help?

Hydrangea Time!

It's that time of year again! I've been clipping and clipping lots of lovely blooms!! The galvanized bucket was another thrifted find this week for 0.99!

Thrifty Find!

One day we were able to get out to a thrift store and we each found a couple of goodies! Here is a before and after project! The shade was inspired by this. Total cost: $4!

So, here is where we started - kinda tacky actually!

 

I quickly dumped out all of the old smelly potpourri and destroyed the lamp shade - getting better:

 

Then, I tore strips of canvas drop cloth and wrapped them around each section of the wire frame. 

Much better!!

 

And, here it is in its new home: