It's Never Too Early...

So, Christmas is breathing down my neck and I swore last year I would ...
1. Not overload myself with neat-o craft ideas
2. Not wait till the last minute...again
3. Go handmade all the way Baby!

So, how am I doing ?
Number three, we'll see...Number two...intentions are good, but the follow through is hard and Number One...too late! So, here's some link love on the projects I would LOVE to make this holiday season...now whether or not it'll happen is another thing entirely.
I'm a big thinker...

Story Dice (Have already made several sets and my neices Hannah and Kasey have tried them and they were a hit)
Dress Up Boxes ( Found most of the stuff at the dollar store )
Footie Pitch Game
Fabric Tic Tac Toe Game
Wooden Pendant Necklace
Super Hero Peg People (I can see that Jack would love these!)
Fabric Scrap Memory Game (I would think scrapbook paper would have the same effect.)
Sewing Caddy (I want one!)
Button Jewlery
Miniature Bowling Game
Storybook Puzzle Blocks (Modge Podge is my new favorite thing! I love this idea!)
Mini Felt Peg Doll Cottage (Lillie and Chloe will sure love this one and I plan on painting some peg dolls to go with it.)
Lap Desks
Book Buddy

So many projects so little time! I think I probably missed some I saved to my favorites, but maybe you can glean some ideas for your holiday gift giving! Have a blessed Day!

Happy 6th Birthday , Lillie Anna!

Six years ago today, I became a mother for the first time. I remember thinking you couldn't properly raise a baby without a wipe warmer and a bizillion contraptions...thought I had to boil everything...worried that I wasn't doing it right...it being mothering. Turns out I didn't need any of that stuff, hot water and soap will do just fine and motherhood is the biggest blessing this side of eternity. To know that you've been given these children by God to raise and nurture...awesome and also a bit scary. No pressure, right? And even though with every subsequent child I become an old pro of sorts, some things never do change. I still worry that I'm not doing things right, but God's grace has been sufficient for me. I love my girl...she's turning into a beauty too fast for my liking...So, Happy Birthday Princess Lillie...

My Momma is Going to Be So Proud of Me...

I want a schoolroom badly. I also want a sewing room equally as bad. Alas, my house doesn't have enough rooms. But I've got PLANS... big plans. Too bad I don't have BIG MONEY. Well, since I don't have a bookshelf anymore, all my school stuff has just been stuck here and there. I won't even begin to express how perfectly dumpy the closet in Lillie's room was...until today. I decided to channel my mother who is the queen of organization and turn the closet into a school closet. I went through the totes and bags of clothes, got out what the girls could wear, put away what could be handed down and packed up the rest. I have a van load of stuff to take off tommorrow. It's taken me three hours and a half to get Lilllie's room into shape. I won't even begin to show pictures of what the closet looked like before I gutted it...far too graphic. Here's before pics...

After gutting...

The carnage...

After ...

Chloe and Jack have played unusually well together, but they miss Lillie, you can tell. She's probably not missing them much, but they're looking forward to her coming home tommorrow.

Have a blessed day!