pillows

I was looking around my living room yesterday thinking I was ready to make some new pillows. Maybe change things up a little for the fall?? That may never happen because, you know, we have a baby due around here pretty soon. You never know though...these sleepless nights might result in some new pillows. It is not like I have anything else to do!!!

I remembered that I never even showed you the pillows I made in the Spring. So, before I change them again...here they are.

I was inspired by these patchwork pillows. I didn't follow their tutorial exactly. Basically, I laid my strips on top of each other (front side facing front side), sewed the raw edges of my strips together until all the strips were attached, ironed the seams, and then top stitched them. I made an envelope back so that I could take the pillow out easily...because I like to be able to change things up!

I have a great tutorial that I printed off from Tiny Decor Blog several years ago for easy envelope pillow covers. It really is so easy and my favorite way to make pillows. Anyone can do it! When I went to link the tutorial I couldn't find it anymore. Maybe I'll do my own tutorial sometime...or you can just google envelope pillow cover and I'm sure you will find tons of tutorials out there.

This pillow I cut circles and sewed them on top of each other before sewing it onto the pillow. I was originally going to just sew the fabric circles together, but ended up having to use iron-on adhesive to keep the fabric from bunching.

Most of the fabric is from fabric.com. The linen is from Joanns. The red pillow with the pom poms is made by Megan. It is one of my favorites.

So, those are the pillows in my living room right now. The empty wall used to have huge shelves on it, but the bottom shelf was just about at head level for little kids. After a few injuries we decided they needed to come down. It has been empty ever since. It definitely needs something. Maybe three big pictures of my kiddos or some sort of gallery wall?? Someday I'll hang something there.

I am still waiting to hear from the winner of the online SnapShop course. Stacy, please email me by tomorrow or I will need to randomly pick another winner!! I don't want you to miss out!

over the weekend...

...I took a little road trip.

My friend Julie and I drove to Kansas City to visit Mandy, a dear friend from college.

 Mandy just had her first baby...a sweet little girl. We spent lots of time cuddling precious Addy and I started getting very excited about soon having a newborn to cuddle of my own.

 Mandy is a natural with Addy. It was so fun to see her in her new role as mama.

Congratulations Tim and Mandy! It was so great to see you and meet your beautiful daughter.

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...I chose a winner.

 stacyaj01 said...

my little man who is 15 months. I feel like you did with cora, all my pictures need to be perfect. So silly! I love your blog..i have so much to learn form you:)

August 25, 2011 4:41 PM

Congratulations Stacy! I am so glad that you will have the opportunity to take the online SnapShop course. You are going to LOVE it! Please send me your e-mail and I will pass it on to Ashley.





If you are interested in taking the SnapShop course there is still time. Registration for the September SnapShop is open until the end of the week. Click here for details and to register.

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...I heard this.

Our sermon on Sunday was entitled Fight the Good Fight of the Faith based off of 1 Timothy 6:12. I was so challenged. One thing that really stuck with me was this point:

It's a Fight to Develop Your Faith

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

Our pastor said that we have to take intentional action to develop our faith.

Jesus said, "I am the vine (I'm God); you are the branches (you're NOT)".
Apart from Christ I can do NOTHING.
In Christ I am productive and will bear fruit.

The evil one (Satan) wants to disconnect me.
The Holy Spirit wants to connect me.
How well connected am I?

This part of the sermon reminded me so much of why I did the 30-day challenge. My time with the Lord needs to be the priority of my day...everyday. I need to stay connected to Him.

So this week I am thinking on that.
Here is the link in case you want to listen too:
Fight the Good Fight of Faith

Have a great Monday!

InstaFriday

1. An evening spent driving tractors and BIG trucks with dad = BEST. DAY. EVER.

2. Feeding the cows.

3. Driving around Home Depot helping Mama shop for paint.

4. Celebrating a good doctor appointment with a greasy hamburger...for the baby of course!

5. Making breakfast.

6. Baby room progress. Lockers on their way to be sandblasted.

7. Just chillin'.

8. Trying to beat the heat.

9. Progress on my picture wall...just in time to change it up again when Baby Brother arrives!

10. Pushing Cora's doll in his stroller. Levi calls her "dolly". So sweet.

11. Bath time mohawk.

12. A little crafting for a Strawberry Shortcake party.

I'm linking up with Life Rearranged.

Don't forget to enter the SnapShop giveaway. Comments close on Sunday. Go here to leave a comment.

Have a great weekend!

snapshop with ashley ann {a giveaway}

Photography is such a powerful too. I love having the ability to capture the events that make up my everyday. They are cherished memories. Naturally, I started taking lots of pictures after Cora was born. Back then I remember being so concerned about everything looking perfect in my pictures. And I often didn't want to be in the pictures if I didn't look perfect too. Silly, I know. It wasn't until after Cora died that I realized how many of our everyday moments I had neglected to capture. Those were my favorite memories...the everyday mundane moments and routines. I am so thankful for the pictures we do have, but I so wish I could go back and capture those moments. 

When Levi was born I was determined to capture the everyday things we did. I didn't want to worry so much about how we looked, or how clean the house was, or posing the perfect picture. I take lots of pictures now, but I still have so much to learn about my camera. I knew I needed to learn to shoot in manual, but didn't really know where to start. I finally decided to just go for it and have been shooting in manual since February. I have learned a lot from friends and by reading photography blogs, but there were still so many things I didn't understand.

Enter Ashley Ann's online SnapShop course. I have been dying to take one of Ashley's SnapShop classes ever since I met her at Megan's craft weekend. But I was never fast enough to register and could never get in!! I was SO excited to get the opportunity to take her August online SnapShop course. It was FANTASTIC! Ashley does such an incredible job of explaining photography in easy to understand language for a beginning photographer (like me!). And she includes tons of pictures and examples. I learned so much about my camera and feel much more comfortable shooting in manual now. Of course I still need lots and lots of practice! I think my favorite part of the course was Ashley's tips on how to tell a story with your photos and how to capture moments not poses. Loved it! I wish I had known all of that when Cora was here.

Registration is now open for the September online SnapShop course. SnapShop is an introduction to photography course. It is a self paced course and you will have access to the material for three weeks. All you need is a DSLR camera. You can even take this course in your pajamas!! You can find out more information about SnapShops here.

Here is the best part...Ashley is offering a spot in her September online course to one of you. Thanks so much Ashley! Here is how you can enter to win:

 

Giveaway Details:

 1 Spot in the September Online SnapShop Course

(September 5th-26th...a $200 value)

ONE winner chosen at random

One entry per person

Giveaway ends Sunday, August 28th at 9pm (CST)

To enter leave a comment on this post.

Bonus: What everyday moments do you want to capture?

You can find daily inspiration, DIY projects, and photography tips at Ashley's blog Under the Sycamore. It is one of my favorites!

You can read the story behind SnapShops here. So cool!

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As I thought about capturing the precious moments with my kids I just had to share this with you...

There is a family in our little town who had to say goodbye to their 19 month old daughter, Tatum, this past Saturday. Sweet Tatum was just five days younger than Levi and she spent 10 days at the same hospital Cora was at. She fought hard for her little life after a drowning accident. My heart has been breaking for this family even though we have never met. Tatum's celebration of life service is today. I know so many of you prayed for our family and sweet Cora and I would love it if you would pray for this family today...that they would sense God's indescribable love and comfort as they celebrate their daughter's precious life this afternoon. Thank you!

baby brother's nursery {the plan}

I told you yesterday that we were making some progress on Baby Brother's nursery. Actually, there are only three things completely done...the room is painted, cleaned out, and new carpet is installed. Other than that the room is just a vision in my head. Hopefully that vision will become a reality in the next few weeks. I work much better under pressure and with a huge belly anyway (not really!). We are reusing and repurposing a lot more for this nursery than we did for Cora and Levi's nurseries. Here are a few of the things we plan on using in the room...they still need a little TLC.

The crib and headboard are sanded and ready to paint, the lockers are getting sandblasted today and then we are going to attempt to paint them too, and the chair is hopefully going to get a slipcover made by me...we will see how that goes. I have never made anything close to a slipcover, so I am hoping my mom will come to the rescue and help me out on that one. It will definitely be an experiment.

I have been bookmarking my inspiration pictures and finally decided I needed to join Pinterest instead. I love looking there for ideas...I just have to make sure I don't waste too much time pinning now! Here are some of the pictures that are inspiring Baby Brother's nursery:

All links can be found on my Pinterest board along with more ideas for the nursery.



Check back tomorrow for a great giveaway. Trust me, you don't want to miss this one!!

35 weeks

I meant to take a 32 or 34 week picture and it never happened. So, here we are at 35 weeks instead. I had a doctor appointment this morning and everything is looking great. Praise God! It is hard to believe that there are only five weeks left until we meet our third precious baby. When I think of 5 weeks of waddling and being uncomfortable (I am getting huge!) it sounds like a long time. But when I think of 5 weeks to get ready for a new little one in our house and big changes, I know it will fly by. So we are trying to soak up these last five weeks of just the three of us and prepare our hearts to have two little boys in our house.

We are making some progress on Baby Brother's room. The crib is sanded and this week we are hoping to get it painted. We like to work on projects up to the very last minute!

We are making progress on Baby Brother's name too. I think we have it narrowed down to two or three. That is good for us. At least it is looking like he will have a name by the time he is born. I guess we like to work on baby naming up until the last minute too.

I could barely pull that shirt over my big belly for this picture, so hopefully I can squeeze it on one more time for a 39 or 40 week picture. We'll soon find out. Here are a few behind the scenes shots for our little 35 week photo shoot today. Enjoy!

(Ooops! I don't know how this one got on here.

Sorry Joel. Your baby bump was just too cute!)

saying goodbye is so hard to do...

...especially for a one year old.

Levi is majorly spoiled with lots of attention from his aunts and uncles. They all spoil him (he has lots of aunts and uncles), but he was especially spoiled the past few months by three of them who were home for the summer.

My brother Owen worked for Joel on the farm this summer. That meant that he ate lunch with us every day. I'm pretty sure lunch time was one of Levi's favorite times of the day. He would get so excited when he saw his daddy's truck pull in the driveway and would run outside to greet Daddy and Uncle Owen.

Uncle Owen taught Levi some pretty important life skills...like fist bumping. Owen said his goal was to teach Levi how to fist bump by the end of the summer. Finally he got it. Owen was so proud and Levi thought he was pretty awesome.

He also taught Levi how to eat chocolate. Every day at the end of lunch Uncle Owen would give Levi some M&Ms. He now has a new addiction. Thank you Owen.

 They became good buddies and when Owen's last day of work approached and it was time for him to go back to college Levi was pretty bummed. He doesn't quite understand why Uncle Owen doesn't come with Daddy to lunch anymore.

Joel's sister Ivy was home from college this summer too. Levi loves his Aunt Ivy. She would take him to sit on the four wheeler, go on walks around the farm, and pretty much do whatever he wanted.

Maybe Levi would like me that much if I let him do whatever he wanted too?! :)

Uncle James was home from China too. We called him Uncle Snack because whenever Levi went to visit him the first thing he would want was a snack...and James would always make sure to give him one. James also taught Levi about shoulder rides. He thinks that is the best way to get around now!

Levi loved spending so many days this summer with his aunt and uncles. They are pretty great. And now that they are gone he still asks about each one of them every day...all day long. He says each one of their names ("Wo-wen", "I-ya", and "Jum") and then we talk about how they are bye-bye. He is definitely going to miss them. And we will miss them too!