PART I: PREPARING YOUR PRODUCT
Whether you make bows or sell Mary Kay, it is helpful to think about your product. The most frustrating thing I have learned when participating in craft fairs is you never know what people are going to want. At one fair, one product will do great, at another it won’t even get a second glance. Here are a few tips on preparing your product for whatever may come! Continue reading
As you may have learned, the Mother’s Day Out I work at is hosting it’s first ever craft fair fundraiser in November… and it’s all my fault.
You see, about this time a year ago, my Sweet P’s shop was growing a teeny bit and I was having fun sewing random little things for the Pickle. So when an advertisement fluttered across my Facebook news feed about a small craft fair, it caught my eye.
The very first thing that drew me in was the organization: A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee. This organization is amazing, as they promote and advertise Tennessee’s Safe Haven law, which protects pregnant women who cannot keep their children, but also don’t want to abort them. Too many women feel they have no place to go during unexpected pregnancies and all too often we hear sad news stories of babies found in dumpsters, bathrooms, or worse. This organization helps get the word out that there is a better option available that is completely safe, completely anonymous, and is in the absolute best interest of the baby and frightened mother. I was all over this organization!
The second thing that drew me in was the simplicity of a one-day (evening, actually), low-fee craft fair.
And then the doubts came… Continue reading
Have you been on Pinterest?
Have you seen the adorableness out there?
Have you been intoxicated by the pinnings of people with WAY more time on their hands, WAY more space available to them, and WAY more resources at their disposal?
Of course you have. That’s why we PIN, right? We don’t actually DO These things…
or do we?
The Pickle turned two in March. So for her two-year birthday, I wanted her big gift from Mommy and Daddy to be a play kitchen. With all the plastic food and cardboard cereal boxes. With an oven that opens and closes and a sink that really turns.
What I did NOT want was a storebought kitchen.
Not after I saw the Pinspirations, anyways!
No, I’m the type of person who sees something and thinks, “I can do that.”
Even if I can’t.
Even if I don’t have the time. Or the money. Or the tools. Or the space.
I can do that.
Why buy one when… I can do that!
So, as you can see. I did it. And it was quite an adventure. Continue reading
I started this story with how I literally “RAN” up to my future husband at a coffee cart in Thailand. Of course, we didn’t know it at the time. Nor did we know it later that morning when I led worship for the teams that had gathered and my future husband walked up and introduced himself to me.
But as we spent evenings handing out Bibles to Chinese tourists and gathering for team meetings to sip Thai iced teas, we started talking. And somewhere along the way, he got the idea in his head that he could marry this tiny, lively Kansas girl who found her way to Thailand and into his heart.
I, on the other hand, was completely oblivious. Continue reading
I don’t know about you, but parenting is exhausting. What makes it so difficult is that you’re never just parenting. You are always parenting and working. Parenting and providing for the family. Parenting and cooking meals. Parenting and keeping your marriage spicy. Parenting and doing laundry, scrubbing toilets, picking up toys, finding space for your sanity… I don’t know about you, but I could use some extra hands! Which is why I love this blog post. Continue reading
My Grandma was crafty. She crocheted and knitted and sewed and did all sorts of things. The women of her day often did! I recall several of my Great Aunts painting and sewing and quilting. One of them even made ceramics and sold them all the time at… Craft Fairs! So it is no wonder that as an adult and mom and wife I have slowly drifted into the world of craft fairs.
Not the least of which is one coming up on November 16th at Ridgedale Baptist Church! (shameless plug) Continue reading
The Pickle gets the good pillow.
You know that one? The one that is just right. Not too soft. Not too firm. Cradles your head comfortably when you sleep, but doesn’t suffocate you or make the side of your face hurt come morning? Yeah… the Pickle has that one.
I’m not sure how it happened, exactly. We had gone to Kansas about a year ago and Grandma had put a pillow in her Packnplay. She just looked so cute in there, laying her head on a pillow like a big girl, that when we got home I thought she had to have one. So I gave her… that one. The good one.
Maybe I felt her little toddler head needed a good, soft, not too hard, not too big, just right pillow to lay on at night like such a big girl. But however it happened, I gave her that one. And every night when I go through half a dozen pillows to find the one that is the least uncomfortable, I think about her in there laying all daintily on her pillow with her blanket still gently grasped between her pink little fingers. And I sleep fine.
We do that, you know. We moms and dads. Continue reading
It’s that time of year again. As of October 1st, all bets were off for how many different ways you could use a pumpkin in your kitchen! Think Forrest Gump here: Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Muffins, Pumpkin Soup, Roast Pumpkin, Steamed Pumpkin, Pumpkin Stew, Pumpkin Ravioli, Pumpkin… you get the idea.
I’ll be honest, though. Up until three years ago, the closest I ever got to a pumpkin was either carving it or scooping it out of a can. But in Thailand, when I was asked to make a squash casserole for Thanksgiving dinner, I had to face my fears of using real pumpkin head-on. Of course, in Thailand the closest thing they had to a pumpkin was a huge, round, green squash, but it was the same on the inside.
After much internet searching and nail-biting, I embarked on my first squash-roasting attempt with two enormous green monsters and a finicky oven. If I remember correctly, I ruined at least one of them. But the other one worked out and the casserole was delicious! I was never scared to use real pumpkin again. Continue reading
TODAY I…
Slept in.
Did some laundry.
Made a pot of chili for lunch and lunches throughout the week. (nevermind that it was 88 degrees outside today… we had chili anyways)
Roasted two pumpkins.
Made chicken stock in the crockpot.
Took out the trash.
Let my girl eat Cheetos for lunch.
Used my JoAnn’s coupons.
Made pumpkin muffins with the Pickle.
Cleaned the kitchen.
Went to the potty about a billion and a half times.
Walked to check the mail and pick up leaves.
Watched football with my husband.
Gee… and I wonder why I’m tired.
How did you spend your Saturday?
I’ve been meaning to share our love story for a very long time. So with only a month before our 5-year anniversary, I felt that this was a great time to start reflecting and getting it down on ‘paper’. After all, it will be a story we will want to share with our children and grandchildren for generations to come…
Because it’s ours.
Before I get into the really hot stuff, though, I have to lay a little foundation. Continue reading
Rediscovering Yesterday 