Its a Giddy Day

I am feeling very giddy today.  I'm not completely sure why...hmmm  Mood swing?  Quiet house with the windows open while listening to the kids run and play on this gorgeous spring day?  clean house from the fruits of my days labor?? this wonderful Route 44 Strawberry Lemonade from Sonic's happy hour? The thrill of knowing a 4 day beach Vaca is only 5 days away?

YES!!!!  It must be all of that!!!!  I am just in a giddy happy mood and I thought I would share it with you all.  I feel like sunbeams are dancing in my heart!  I turned on my work computer to try to maybe accomplish something there and turned it right back off.  I cant work when I am this pumped up and ready to tackle the world.  Inspiration is hitting too but really the kind that say I am inspired to go outside and play with my kids on this gorgeous day.  So I think that's what I'm going to do.

Have a great day and I hope some giddiness finds itself into your heart.

Have a great day and God Bless

Easter was DE-licious!!! and a Jewel of a pin

Okay, as an update for the world: I am back on the eating healthy so I can become a healthier sized me bandwagon.  Actually, both my husband and I have jumped on together.  Which is making the journey so much more fun!  After a week of dieting I have lost 4 pounds and seven inches!!!  Goooooo Me!!! Either this week or the next I will be joining a local gym to work out with my cousin. who is already a member, and I just know the pounds are going to start melting away.  Anyway, I have been keeping a VERY close eye on my calorie intake this week with great success, and decided that since today is a holiday it would be what I call a "guilt free day".  I am allowed to eat whatever I want, in a very small portion, and I don't count any calories.  So I didn't go crazy, but I did enjoy some calorie rich foods that normally I would decline when on the weight loss track.  So, for me, while Easter was a lovely Spiritual day spent in worship, busy with the Drama our church put on, and a fun day spent with family it was also absolutely delicious!  I hope you had a wonderful day Celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Now on the crafty side I was VERY busy this week!!  I made a dress for myself for Easter as well as two bolero style jackets to go over my daughters Easter sun dresses (I'm not a big fan of the sleeveless look, even on my little girls).  I used this pattern

I don't know about you , but once those patterns come out of the envelope there is NO getting them back in.  So they get folded and neatly stored inside a large gallon sized zip-lock baggie with the pattern picture facing out of one side so I can see exactly whats inside.  This is actually very handy as it makes it somewhat child and pet proof as well as easier to access.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to sew as well as cutie patootie on the girls!

(Please forgive these HORRIBLE pictures!!)

Now my girls favorite part, and what I am DYING to tell you about, was the simple closure jewel that I used.  Now, if you are like me (a crafty item buying fanatic), you probably have little buttons, jewels, beads, whatever laying around all over your craft area and stuffed in your craft stash bins.  Well in the wee hours of the morning when I decided the jackets needed a little more oomph, and really wasn't looking forward to sewing two teeny hook and eye closures that probably weren't going to stay put with my two rowdy girls this jewel of an idea (ha ha) was born.  Now its not that biggie of a deal, but since it saved my creative hide, was a HUGE hit with the girls, and garnered MANY a compliment I thought I'd pass it along.  Its a jewel with a safety pin hot glued to the back...yah ... complicated right? 

Anyway I am sad to say that the jewel on the 5yr old's jacket only made it through half the day, and by the time the drama rolled around it had been pulled fallen off.  So when I got home I pulled out a little stronger adhesive, and snapped a few pics with my (vastly inferior to my real pride and joy which, at the moment, is inaccessible) camera in order to share my genius with you....for what its worth any way, which isn't much!

So there you have it.  My creative AHA moment of the week.  I would show you a picture of my dress, but I am no longer wearing it, and, trust me when I say, it just doesn't look that great off the body!

I cant wait to make SOOOO many more of these to match every Sunday Sundress that I plan for them to wear this little jacket with.  Oh and they loved the lightweight jacket as well and since it was a breeze to make (I took a few shortcuts, so I'm talking literally an hour from cutout to completion on each jacket!!) I will be churning out a few more of these PRONTO!

Next project while the sewing machine is out (and all my stuff is littering the area) two dresses for the girls, two skirts for the girls, several maxi skirts for myself and perhaps a convertible skirt/dress for me too.  Oh this is going to be a fun crafty week all gearing up for spring break the next week.  I cant wait!!!

I hope you enjoyed this, and I promise next time I will use my good camera.

Have a great day and God Bless!

Hunger isn't a Game!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Walmart Foundation for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

There are people who are starving. Not just in Africa, but right here, in the United States.  Well, Walmart has decided to do something about it by partnering with the Feeding America Foundation April 9 through April 30th. They will be giving away 2 Million Dollars to communities with a high rate of unemployment.  And you get to help out too!!  

During those dates Walmart and the Feeding America group (ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft, and Kellogg's) will be hosting a Facebook campaign where you can go and vote on the community you would most like to receive money to feed the hungry.  There is a list of 200 communities total and out of those the 21 receiving the most votes will receive funding.  The first place will receive 1 Million Dollars and the 20 runners up will receive 50 thousand dollars each.

So please join me in voting by visiting their Facebook page April 9th - April 30th. I am torn between which City I will personally be voting for.  The Beaumont-Port Arthur TX area is where I was raised, but there are also several other locations including some in Alabama my current home state that I am fond of.  Click on the link below and just think how many hungry you will help feed in a community dear to you.

Vote to fight spring hunger with Walmart

 

 

Have a Great Day & God Bless!

A Neat idea for a Bloom

So there are these blooms at Walmart for cheap but they are in the little egg-crate planters all ready to be planted in your flower garden.  That doesn't help you too much for bringing them inside to decorate with though.  And since potting can get SOOOOO messy and cumbersome I came up with a cutie patootie idea.  Well actually it was a collaboration between an idea of my Mother In Laws (I have the BEST Mother in Law in the world for those of you who were wondering!!!) and the final product that I cam up with to showcase her awesome idea.

First you start by cutting apart the egg-crate container that the flowers cam in (not pictured..sorry)

Next you wrap a plastic sandwich bag around the individual, now cut apart, plant.

Next wrap either a piece of tissue paper or, like my MIL did, a paper napkin (shes a genius!). Use some string or a rubber band to make sure the tissue stays in place.

Finally pick up a cute container for a buck at Target or Dollar Tree and put the now prettily wrapped flower into it.  Oh did I mention that because of the plastic baggie you can now water the plant without fear of leaking???  Lu-AHH-Vv it!!!

Finally display your Spring handy work for your family and guests to enjoy.

Hopefully your shelf wont collect dust as quickly as mine does, the bane of having NO carpet in my home is constant dust.  I think I had dusted these shelves three days before this picture! Oh well you get what you get and you don't throw a fit (a rhyme I use on my kids when they don't think life is being fair). 

Oh and check out my little planter on the top shelf.  It was an old metal bucket I spray painted white.  Then I cut out the sweet "Simplify" on my cricket in the pretty bright yellow vinyl, applied to the front, and there I have a new spring planter that pops.

I hope you found some inspiration for simple and less messy plant potting to bring the outdoors inside your home.

Have a Great Day and God Bless