Weekly Wishlist - Babies on the Brain!

Okay, I'll admit it, I've got babies on the brain! haha. I'm so excited that the ball is really rolling on the process of us getting licensed to foster and adopt! Right now we've got three teenage boys staying with us because Levelland is hosting the Babe Ruth League- Little League World Series and we are one of the host families for a team from Torrance, California. BUT, once the World Series is over and they go back home, I'll start cleaning up their room and getting it ready to become a NURSERY!!! YAY!!

But, since I can't work on the room yet, AND since I've been meaning to get back in the habit of blogging again, I though I'd start with a little Weekly Wishlist featuring some items from my team member's shops from TeamCAC that I'd like one day. Oh how fun it is to wish...

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The most adorable crocheted hats ever! I was lucky enough to win a hat from this shop, but it wasn't a teddy bear hat and that's something I DEFINITELY want to get for our foster kids!

Available in CrochetRUs for $15.00!

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I think headbands with bows and flowers on little girls are just darling. But I think the bows and flowers that are as big as the child's head look silly. (No offense, that's just me...) Which is why I completely adore this lovely headband with a small flower. Also available in CrochetRUs for $5.50!

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I love artwork, especially paintings. (Uh... hello, I'm a painter too...haha) And I love scripture, and I love children's decor. And when all three can come together to create the perfect children's room decor, I think that's magical! I love this painting. It's availble StudioJRU for $75.00!

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Yesterday during our Ladies' Class before worship services, I was tending to the teacher's niece while she taught the class. She was an adorable little 6 month old baby girl who had been fed, had her diaper change and was stubbornly fighting sleep so she was a little fussy. She sometimes cried, sometimes laughed and sometimes coo-ed but through it all, she was making a joyful noise. I love this onesie and it is available in HelensCorner for $10.00!

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From the first time I saw krispybanana's shop, I was in love with ALL of her stuff! There's LOTS of stuff in her shop I would like, but today, this is what caught my eye. I love polka dots and I love bright colors so this is just PERFECT! It's available in krispybanana for $19.00!

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I adore tutus. I adore girls in tutus. I love watching them twirl and twirl and dance and swish... all the things I used to do in the flowy skirts my Granny used to make me. This tutu is just adorable and it is available in AnyaBaby for $22.99! The HUGE bow is cute... but I would only put one on my girls for special occassions, because like I said... if it's too big, I think it looks silly. Which leads me to...

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Also available in AnyaBaby for $7.99, is this perfectly sized (in my opinion) and ABSOLUTELY adorable headband!

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Well, it is fun to wish. And maybe I can use some of the foster money that we'll get to pick these up. That is, if we have enough left over after buying all those diapers people tell me we'll go through... :) Either way, diapers or headbands, I can hardly wait!!!

The Most Fantabulous Giveaway in Blogdom!

Wow... I checked my followed blogs this morning, just casually perousing around to see if anything jumped out and I ended up at one of my favorite blogs: The Shabby Nest.

And as I was reading through the most recent blogs on The Shabby Nest, I got to today's blog and ..... OH MY! She has absolutely the best giveaway going on at her blog! She is able to giveaway a Silhouette machine on her blog that, I guarantee you, will change your crafting world! It's amazing! Anyway, you must hop on over there, read her post and then enter the giveaway... or don't, that would give me a better chance of winning. lol. But really, you don't want to miss out on this one. :)

The Cat's Out of the Bag...

So, I haven't gotten to post much about the foster/adoption stuff because we hadn't announced it to our congregation yet and I didn't want someone to happen to see it on my blog and then the rumors to be spreading like wildfire (which of course is the only way rumors spread in small towns). BUT, this past Sunday we finally announced it to our congregation and of course, they were EXTREMELY excited and happy for us. So now that the cat's out of the bag, I can start posting more about the process and all the fun (and probably even not so fun) things that go with it.

First off, it's amazing to see God working in this whole process. In the very beginning we weren't even going to look at adopting because we knew that it was going to be extremely expensive and that we couldn't afford it. But then as you might have read about here, God provided us with an answer that was so much more than we expected when one night we had dinner with the preacher and his wife and the preacher told us that if we really wanted to move forward with the adoption thing, that we should and that he would make sure the money was there. We were so excited and immediately we contacted the Children's Home of Lubbock, got the paperwork mailed to us and began filling it out.

Well, that was almost two months ago and we had already mailed in the application part and things were looking like they were moving forward for us except for one tiny little hiccup... the Elders of the Church were looking like they were not going to offer us the financial support that the preacher thought they would. So now, we had gotten our hopes up, we were planning to do Foster Care for a while and eventually adopt but now we were worried about what if our foster kids came up for adoption and we wanted them but we couldn't afford to adopt them anyway. How heartbreaking would that be?!? Well, again, God provided us an answer to our prayers that was so much more than what we expected.

We had our first meeting with the people at the Children's Home on Monday and we heard nothing but good news. First off, we had decided that we wanted to do Foster Care first, for sibling groups of two where the oldest is 3-4 and the youngest is as young as a newborn. The people at the Children's home were absolutely THRILLED that we wanted to foster that age group because they are having the most difficult time getting people to foster for that age group. Because they need us so badly, they might rush us through the process to try to get everything finished faster and work more with our schedules so we can get kids into our home even sooner than we expected. (Maybe even before Chirstmas!!! YAY!!!)

Also, Joey asked them how much it would cost if we wanted to adopt our foster kids and we could NOT believe the answer. $350. That's it. $350 for the name change and the court fees. WOW! Did God just bless the socks off of us or what!?!?!?! Of course, it might be a little bit more since we're doing two at a time, but still. Less than a thousand dollars to adopt? Yes, thank you! We're just SOOO excited! And I called my Mom and my Step-Mom and they're about to go Granny Crazy too because they're so excited!

Sooo.... we've got more paperwork to do. We have our going to our first class on August 30th which is for Psychotropic Meds. We've got a house to fix up and get ready and of course.... a room to decorate. Which is going to be the fun part and I think I'll let you all in on some of my ideas.... ;)

We're going to paint the room a warm, creamy, buttery, pale yellow. The cribs (since we're getting siblings we have to get two of everything) we picked out are a dark cherry wood finish. AND they convert from crib to toddler bed to day bed to full size bed, which is just the coolest thing EVER since we don't know what age group we'll get at any time. We could get two kids under two or one as a newborn and one 4-year old... we just don't know. So being able to switch the beds around is going to be AWESOME!!! And then for the decorations, we're going to do baby jungle/zoo animals with light colors in browns, blues, greens, peach/corals, purples, pinks, oranges, yellows, etc. It'll be colors that are not to boyish and not too girly. And of course, once we have the foster kids, we get a certain about of money each month and we can deck them out in more gender specific clothing.

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Anyway, here's some sneak peeks of what we're thinking about....

This is my favorite style of bedding. I like the simple squares that are all the same size with some that have the animals in them, and some that are just fabric. That's what I want, now I just need to figure out if I have enough time for my friend to be able to make the blankets, bumpers and stuff or if I don't have enough time and I just need to go buy them.

 While the above picture has my favorite style and I really like the colors, THIS blanket has my favorite animal pictures on it. BUT, I'm actually sketching out my own animals  so maybe my friend can use my sketches to make the blankets and then I can do some paintings to match. Woo-HOO!!! So FUN!!!

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Okay, that's all the sneak peek you get for now. haha. Sorry! Right now the babe Ruth League -- Little League World Series is in Levelland and we're hosting 3 of the players in our home. Once they're gone, I've got some cleaning, moving around, painting and all that fun stuff to look forward to. YAY!!! And don't worry, I'll keep you updated on the process of Fostering to Adoption as well as how the house is coming along. :) FUN!!!

Giveaway Winner!

Well, the giveaway ran a little longer than I had intended, BUT it's been a busy weekend! Soooo... here's the winner:

Carly said...

Well, I do most of my crafting when my little girl is sleeping, so no music, usually, but I do like to listen to Newsboys, Tobymac, and Sara Groves while running.

August 4, 2010 5:10 PM

 

CONGRATULATIONS to Carly! Thank you so much for entering and now please contact Jenni at her Etsy shop CleverCrafter, to let her know you are the winner and which prize you would like! :)

 

Okay, I'm pretty tired, I think I need to go to bed early tonight BUT tomorrow I'll share with all of you how the meeting with the Children's Home went AND I'll reveal come of my ideas for our NURSERY!!! YAY!!! :D

 

The Sketchbook Project: 2011

I think I'm going to do this! Who's with me?

August Awareness Observances

AUGUST

Cataract Awareness Month

American Academy of Ophthalmology

Children's Eye Health and Safety Month

Prevent Blindness America

National Immunization Awareness Month

National Immunization Program

Psoriasis Awareness Month

National Psoriasis Foundation

National Minority Donor Awareness Day

National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program

 

 

The colors for these Awareness Ribbons include white, orchid/orange, and green. I currently do not have any of these colors in my Charity Bracelets for my Etsy website, but I do encourage you to perhaps wear some of these colors throughout the month of August in honor of people who are going facing these situations. It would also be a good time to donate old eye glasses, I know many places accept them to be used for other people, just "google" it. ;)

 

In the future, I'm going to try to get these posted more closely to the 1st of the month.

 

Many Blessings!

Back in the saddle again...

Well, after a long hiatus of sporadic blogging, I'm getting back into the groove of it again. AND, after a long period of time where I rarely made any jewelry and was only renewing existing listings, I'm back in the saddle again. I've been making lots of new jewelry recently and I've been listing it as fast as I can. Which, granted is not very fast since my camera only holds a charge for 3-5 minutes and in that time I have to take all my pictures and then upload them to the computer before the batteries die. BUT, I've got a pretty good system going and it's working for me right now. It's not as fast or as efficient as I would like, but it's working... :) 

Anyway, here are some new pieces that have been recently added to my shop:

Fly Away Home Earrings - $8

I LOVE these earrings! That turquoise colored bead is REALLY bright, I promise!

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Hot Pink, Black and Zebra Necklace - $25

I know right? GORGEOUS! And there's even

a bracelet and earrings to match it!!!

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Orange and Pearl 2 Piece Set - $15

I love sports! And with football season coming up,

LOTS of sports will be watched at my house.

But instead of wearing some "branded" jewelry that has

a football team or university on it, how about showing your

support by wearing lovely jewelry that shows your

team spirit, without you being "branded"?

This set is great for fans of OSU Cowboys, Texas Longhorns,

Tennessee Vols, or other orange and cream/white teams!

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Pumpking Earrings - $13

My favorite season is just around the corner.... :D

Autumn is almost here and I'm SOOO excited! I'm looking forward to

cooler weather, decorating my house in my beautiful fall stuff

and of course, watching college and high school football!

You can look all over Etsy but you aren't going to find many

pumpkin earrings that are as nice as mine, for as good of price

as mine. Trust me, I researched it a lot! :)

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Well, there's your little preview! There's LOTS more beautiful jewelry listed in my shop so stop by when you can - Vivat Regina! Also, I'll be at the 2010 Garden and Arts Fall Festival in LUBBOCK, TX on September 18th. If you're in the area, I'd LOVE to meet you! Come see me! OR if you're a seller, let me know and I'll give you the details for setting up your own booth! There will be LOTS of people there! :D

Breathe Music In, Breathe Music Out Giveaway!

Contrary to what you may have been thinking, I did not fall off the face of the planet. Nor did I get abducted by angry penguins or arrested for throwing ice cream at strangers. Nope, none of this happened. But, I have been busy. Busy creating new jewelry, busy creating a new line of things that I'm so excited about but can't tell you about yet. Don't you worry... you'll know all about it within a month. :) I've been busy with Vacation Bible School stuff and with Mission Trips and well... life is just busy. So instead of NOT creating, or NOT doing VBS or NOT going on a Mission Trip, I decided instead to NOT blog. And I must say... I've missed it. I've missed writing, pouring my heart out, exploring new items or shops, meeting new people, learning that I'm saying exactly what someone else is thinking or even offering a hand of comfort to someone who just feels blah. I've missed all of that.

BUT, now I'm back, and I plan to stay back. I'm going to get back in my blogging routine and I'm gonna pick back up on my giveaways. Starting with this one. Before we get going on the goodies of this giveaway, I first have to let you in on the inspiration behind the giveaway... music.

I love music. I always have. From the time I was a little girl and my Granny was teaching me songs, music has been a big part of my life. In high school I would shut myself up in my room, listen to Enya and get lost in the lovely music while writing a poem or painting. When I got married, I didn't marry for money like some people, I married for music. My hubby had a LOT and I do mean a LOT of music on his computer when we got married. And it was mostly REALLY good music, so I tease him that I married him for all his music. ;) But honestly, I have developed an even stronger and deeper love for music since I married him. He doesn't just listen to music, he listens, analyzes, critiques, breaks down, enjoys, and listens between the notes and between the words to the music of the song and in actuality, the music of the artist. He is a music guru and to know him is to know that music is an extremely important part of his life.

So... needless to say, I've become somewhat of a musical guru since marrying him. Whenever I'm driving I usually like to listen to music I can sing along with. Whenever I'm cleaning house I like to listen to music that I can sing and/or dance to/with. When I'm reading I like music to just be background noise, something soft and melodic. When I'm going to sleep I canNOT listen to country music because too many songs remind me of sad things and then I get all depressed and melancholy and can't go to sleep. And when I'm crafting I like to listen to different things... but mostly I listen to Josh Groban, Ray Lamontagne, Enya, Iron & Wine, or something along those lines of soothing, relaxing, and artsy. It helps inspire me which is great when one is creating, and it also helps relax me which is EXTREMELY helpful when creating.... have YOU ever tried threading a needle or doing some intricate jewelry making when you aren't relaxed? EEK...

Now... on to the giveaway... this giveaway is going to run from today (August 3rd) to next Friday (August 13th). The sponsor for this giveaway is a lovely lady named Jenni from the Etsy shop CleverCrafter. Here are a few items from Jenni's shop:

Isn't this lovely bracelet warm and inviting? It looks like it would be a lot of fun to wear!

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I love the red of this bracelet! So bright and cheerful!

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Beautiful... Fun... Lovely... what else do you want in jewelry?

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I asked Jenni some questions about music, here's what she said:

"What kind of music do you listen to when you're crafting?"

  I listen to all kinds of music while I'm crafting. I actually listen to music when I'm working and when I'm swimming too! I love my waterproof mp3 player :) I have a very wide variety on my mp3 player right now, lots of rock, contemporary christian, some pop, and country. I picked up the new Newsboys CD today, and pre-bought a new Natalie Grant coming out soon. And this morning's swim featured Rebecca St. James, Three Days Grace, Casting Crowns, Breaking Benjamin, Dixie Chicks, and so much more.

"Who are your favorite music artists/bands?"

Too many to name! Casting Crowns, Barlowgirl, Mercy Me, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Skillet, Tenth Avenue North, Cadia, Flyleaf, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Enya, Loreena McKennett... I love the artists that express emotion!

"If you could go to any concert next week, from any performer alive or dead, whose concert would you like to go to?"

I went to a concert in January with Flyleaf, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace. It was AMAZING! Ever since then I have wanted to see Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace again.

Sounds good to me! Now... since this is a music inspired giveaway and since Jenni creates these wonderful, music-themed earrings.... here's what you can win:

Your choice of any of her guitar pick earrings!!! AWESOME!!!

These are just a few samples from her shop. Feel free to stop over at her shop and see her whole line of guitar pick earrings. They're totally cool! And you can win a pair for FREE!!!

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Here's how to Enter:

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me

your favorite music to listen to while crafting.

2) Leave a comment telling me which concert,

from any performer alive or dead,

you would like to attend.

3) Blog, facebook, or tweet about this giveaway

(including the link back to my blog)

and post your link as a comment.

You have THREE (3) opportunities to enter.

PLEASE NOTE: EACH ENTRY MUST BE IN

 ITS OWN COMMENT OR IT WILL NOT BE COUNTED.

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Well, good luck to all who enter!

*Many Blessings*