Rag Wreath

I've been wanting to make a rag wreath for a short time now and with still having a lot of fabric left over from my drop cloth drapes, I decided to use it up.

All I did for this wreath (once again I forgot to take step-by-step pictures!) was use a wire framed wreath I purchased at Jo'Ann's for around $3, cut strips of fabric (I used drop cloths, muslin and burlap) into strips of about 2 inches wide and 14" inches in length. You can certainly make them as long or short as you want them though. I know someone might ask how much fabric I did use and guess what... I don't know! I bought 2 yards of the muslin and the rest I had on hand. 

Once I had the strips of fabric cut, I simply tied them to the wire frame. I tied the fabric pretty closely together because I wanted the wreath to be full in the end. I love the color, texture and the simplicity of it. 

To hang it from our door, I used a piece of rope/trim ( forgive me for not knowing the exact name of it!) that I found at Jo'Ann's in the aisle with all the ribbon, trim and fringe.

Not only does the wreath look great on the front door but I think it would definitely add a special touch hanging on a mirror or window frame. 

Still Here

These last few weeks have been really busy and I just haven't had the time to sit down and write out some new posts. Even though they have been busy, I haven't felt overwhelmed or stressed out. It's the continuous lesson of living intentionally and keeping my priorities in order.

Much has happened in the last few weeks...

The bible study that I am leading here in our home is going so well... what an answer to prayer. I am looking forward to the weeks to come as we continue or way through Faithful Abundant True and can't wait to hear at the end what God has done in the hearts of the women.

I have had a little dream come true in the last few weeks as well. A friend of mine is graciously giving me riding lessons. I am having the best time and learning so much. I took riding lessons when I was younger and never thought I would be at a place in my life when I could do it again. My friend has given me a gift and I treasure every single minute of it.

My sister, mom and I had a WONDERFUL time at the Country Living Fair and we are already talking about going back next year. The only thing I regret is that I didn't take more pictures. I came home with a few treasures - a vintage chicken feeder (I think I am going to line it with candles and evergreen and put it on our dining room table at Christmas), a really neat field basket, and a bracelet that my Mom got for me. I've been getting over a cold these last few days, so I promise there are pictures to come.



Hope all of you are enjoying these first days of Fall!!!

Take A Guess

My sister, Mom and I are so excited we can hardly stand it!!!

Guess where we are going to be spending next weekend...

Settling Into A New Season

I am settling into a nice routine now that we have a couple weeks under our belt from school starting. I am still getting used to how quiet the house is though. I find myself turning my ear to listen to the sound of the boys playing and the conversations that only takes place among boys.

Our daughter, Jessica has been working a lot and attending college, so she pretty much is on the go all the time.  Even though I don't have the time with her like I once did, I am thankful for the moments we do have - a quick conversation, walking out to her car with her as she leaves, or just a brief hug and "I love you".  

My husband and I are going into this new ministry season fully expecting God to just be huge in our lives and our church this year. For me personally, the last couple of years have been rough, but He is given me a new strength, determination, and excitement for what is possible. 

For the next 13 weeks I have the privilege to lead a women's bible study group. I shared with them last night that one of the most beautiful things to me is being surrounded by sisters in Christ, pursuing Jesus, and wanting to love Him more.

I'm learning a lot about transformation these days. It's something that the Lord keeps showing me, convicting me of, and pushing me towards. Perhaps it has much to do with where I've been and where I need to go because true transformation is a process - from the inside out. One thing that I keep going back to is that the fact that just having a knowledge of God doesn't transform me. It is when I make His truth and His ways be the way I live my life. It's living in His Presence and under His most holy power that radically transforms me so that I can be a woman that has Jesus written all over me. Nothing more, nothing less. 

So, let me ask you my friends, what new season of life are you settling into? What is God teaching you through that? 

"I Am" Sign

A while ago I saw this sign and when I was going back through my  "One Day I will Get Around To Making This" list over the weekend, it caught my eye again and the urge to be crafty.  Over the past week between ruffles and signs, I have rightly earned the name "Miss Busybody" in my family.

I started with a piece of pine wood that was about 28"x36". Of course you can make this any size you want. Make sure to use a soft wood though so that when you transfer your letters, you will see them. I painted the wood cream... of course.

Next, choose the words and fonts you want on your sign. This is the time to have fun and be creative!

The font sizes I used ranged from 250 all the way up to 700 (I am). Once you have them printed out (I just used my home printer), lay them out on your piece of wood and tape them in place. As you can see, most of my words didn't come out on one piece of paper. I then cut the letters and arranged them where they needed to go. I even overlapped a few of the words. Just make sure that you are getting them perfectly horizontal and level (this is when my husband advised me to use a carpenter square) or you will end up with words slanting all over the place. I speak from experience on this one because I forgot to go back and fix where I had the "I am" and didn't see until after it was painted and up on the wall that it was crooked! Isn't every project supposed to have at least one little mistake or imperfection though?

So, now that the words are all in place, take a pen and just start tracing really hard around the letters. This will then leave an indentation on the wood. I didn't believe this at first, but it really works!

I then painted the words using two different colors of acrylic paint - black and tan. Another piece of advice... use a thin brush and don't drink a lot of coffee prior to doing this. You are going to need a steady hand! 

The next thing I did was take a piece of sandpaper and lightly go over all the words, edges, and any other place I wanted a distressed look. I also applied a little bit of Ralph Lauren's glaze over the areas I distressed. The next time I make one of these, I will use a glaze on all of it and distress it before transferring the words so that the entire piece of wood looks more aged instead of just certain areas. 

Ready for the final project...

I am so pleased with how this project turned out... even with my little imperfection.  I love that it is in a place where everyone can see and be reminded of the names of God.

Have a wonderful day!!!

What I Did Today

Made more ruffles...

I did try and take pictures this time but let's just say the lighting was anything but cooperative.
So, here is the tutorial again.

Dining Room

Here is one of my latest projects that I wanted to share...

Our dining room is essentially part of the great room in our house that we had sectioned off by laying hard wood flooring. When we moved into our home, which is the church parsonage, it was very important to us to have an area where we could share meals as a family, entertain, and have a space that was large enough to accommodate a big table for when we have the entire family here. 

The table belonged to my grandparents and not only does it serve it's purpose well with being able to sit 12 people, but there is great sentimental value to it. We recently gave the table a more updated look by painting the base of it black as well as the chairs. You can see a picture here. After having it black for awhile, I decided it just really wasn't the look I was wanting. So, after a new coat of paint, here is the  finished project.

Another thing we changed was painting the brick on the fireplace. I can't believe how much it changes the look of the room and I just love it. 

Another project I finished this weekend was using this tutorial to add ruffles on the drop cloth drapes we have in the dining room.

This was a fun and fairly easy project once I got started. Because of the heavy weight of the fabric, I had to be careful ruffling the fabric so that the thread didn't break. My advice is that if you use drop cloths that are thick like mine, make sure to flatten your ruffles down as much as you can as you are sewing them onto the drop cloth. You can actually kind of stretch them out a little once you have them pinned (and I used a lot of pins to keep the ruffle in place) where you want them so it's not quite so bulky. I absolutely LOVE these ruffles and am ready to make some pillows and even try this tutorial where you can add them to a t-shirt.

I can't believe I didn't even think about taking pictures as I made these, so on the next go round of ruffle making, I promise to get some pictures!

Have a wonderful day!!!