Dec 16, 2016

For the Bad Pain Days...




 Lately, I've noticed a trend- bible journaling. At first, I saw the beautiful works of art on the pages of bibles and thought-- there is no way they can read the words now! Now that I have a chance to review one, I understand that it's not about being able to read the words, it's about celebrating the words & verses that touch us. Y'all, I'm so excited to try this whole bible journaling thing out!


  This bible- the NIV Journal the Word Bible from Zondervan is AWESOME! The delicate floral pattern is so cute, you don't need a bible cover! Pages are nice & thick, so I could even journal with watercolor and it wouldn't be too wavy after. This is the best for a gift, maybe someone in your life is sick, or will have lots of time to sit or lay after an accident, maybe they're like me and have a chronic illness that knocks them down almost daily. Whatever the reason, this is the nicest gift- encouraging someone with the Word while giving them some stress relief by journaling!


  I've noticed on the bad pain days that I tend to seek out bible verses that help me deal with everything that comes along with chronic illness. There are so many encouraging ones, but I just had to share my favorites.




  Have you tried bible journaling? Gimme all your tips for it! Comment below!

**This bible was complimentary in exchange for my HONEST opinion. **

Dec 13, 2016

Watch out, drooling will commence in 3, 2, 1...





 We've been in our new home for about 7 months now, and I'm still organizing, sorting, staging, decorating... I mean, does it really ever end? Probably not. Especially because the decorations and style I love is the whole rustic/cozy, Joanna Gaines style. And thank you to Joanna for making this style popular now because I don't have to scour antique shops for 5 years to find the right pieces. I can find things I love everywhere!  And y'all, how cute are these items?! I'm drooling over here! Let's take a closer look, shall we?



   Normally, each New Year's Eve, I choose a new word of the year to focus on. (You can check out posts for previous words of the year here)  It's a great way to improve yourself or your life and just gives you at least one thing to start working on. I never do resolutions because to me, it puts way too much pressure on you. I'd rather work towards something than take something away.

  BUT, when I saw this pillow,  I fell in love! These words/phrases are everything that I want to work on this year, but I couldn't narrow it down to just one word. So, I'm just going to use this pillow as my words to focus on. It's inspired me already, and it's not even New Year's! To have your yearly inspiration on throw pillow is awesome! Sort of in your face, a constant reminder, and that's perfect for me! 

  This pillowcase is made with thick material, and I know it looks like burlap (which is so cute) but, it's not! It's so soft!  You can either buy a pillow form to put in it, or you can do like I did & buy a bag of batting, filling it yourself. It'll work nice both ways. 




  The next thing I'm drooling over lately is this wall plaque. HELLLOOOOOO Anne Shirley! If you know me, you know that Anne was my first BFF. Just a couple of months ago, I did a re-read of the whole Anne of Green Gables series. You know, the story just seems to get better each time I read it.

  I mean, how can you go wrong with this sign? It brings my love of Anne, combined with one of my favorite bible verses, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

  It reminds me that tomorrow is a new day, always fresh, loads of potential to make it into anything I want. With battling a chronic illness, sometimes you need a gentle nudge to remind you of that. For me, it reminds me 1. of God's faithfulness to us & 2. That no matter how much pain I will be in, I determine my attitude for the day. If I didn't succeed in keeping an upbeat attitude today, I can tomorrow. What it boils down to is: it's all about your attitude and outlook on life, not your circumstances or pain level. Right?

Do you use home decor to remind yourself of things? Comment below!

* I received these items complimentary for my honest opinions.*



Dec 5, 2016

Easy DIY Fall Arrangement



Y'all, Fall is almost over, but I finally uploaded the photos so I need to publish this ASAP! Although, I used fall flowers in this DIY project, but you could use any kind to celebrate all seasons!

OK, so everything here I found at Michael's, but again, use whatever you have on hand, or whatever type of flowers you'd like! I plan on doing a little arrangement for all the holidays as they come around.


What you'll need:

Container of some sort, this is a little Wilton bucket that I think you can actually bake in
2 bunches of artificial flowers- I used Sunflowers here. You can also use more flowers if you want a fuller bouquet.
2 blocks of flower foam
Sharp scissors or wire snips
wired, wide ribbon,
Any additional picks or extras you want to add to the bouquet.


1. Cut flower foam to fit inside your bucket or container. I snipped off just enough so the foam would fit, but not fall out easily. You want a snug fit.


2. Snip all flowers at various lengths.


3. Starting in the middle of the foam block, stick in the tallest flowers.  Then, add the medium height flowers, spacing them out enough to make it look full. Lastly, add in the shortest flowers. Fluff all the flowers & leaves throughout the bouquet.


4. Add in any picks or additional decorations. I chose two cute scarecrows. They came already on a stick, but you could easily glue something onto a wooden skewer if you can't find anything already on a stick.


5. Time to wrap the ribbon around the bucket & try your best to make a bow. The AMAZING thing about wire ribbon is when you fluff the bow part, it actually stays! Makes it look so much nicer & for minimal work!  I had to put a piece of tape on the back part of the bucket to help secure the ribbon.


There you go! SOOOO easy & you just saved about $20 each!   I think total cost for my supplies was less than $20 for 2 arrangements.  The thrifty part of me is jumping up & down about this! Hopefully, these two arrangements will last many years to come.

What's your favorite ways to decorate for the holidays? Comment below!