I'm not ignoring you...

Our lame internet is down. Fixed by tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, I was loving Ally's Bloggetty Blog today. Check her out. Love love love
Court

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Tutorial Friday? - Hooded Bath Towel plus fixing your flaws

You might be thinking..."Two tutorials this week? Are you sure?" 

I'm sure! 

I thought a little weekend project would be perfect for you folks. 

There are a few items I'm going to feature as my "favorite gifts". 

This is definitely one of them.

My friend Amy H. in TX gave Evie a hooded towel when she was born. 

We use it NONSTOP! 

Hooded Bath Towel

What you will need:

-Sewing Machine

-Matching thread to your towels

-1 bath towel

- 1 hand towel
- Scissors

The first thing I do is mark the center of my bath towel 

so I know where I want the center of the hood to be.

Then move onto your hand towel. 

If you are using a smaller towel for a smaller child, 

it may be necessary to cut your hand towel in half(width wise not length wise) to make it size appropriate. I just used it as is, and realized it was HUGE so I had to make an edit which I'll explain in a bit.

Fold your hand towel(or half of hand towel)in half like this:

Now stitch with the fold at the top, pin up the left side and stitch
using a strong stitch. As usual I used triple.

Pinned left edge

Once the seam is sewn, I open the hood to make the triangle shape like this.

Lay your hood open so that your seam is up the middle of the back.

I have the hood flipped RIGHT side out and the back bottom of it lined up with the top trim of the towel.

 

Now you will want to pin the hood to the towel.

It will curve as you pin. Be sure to keep the edges lined up.

I opened it up so you could see what the back should look like after you stitch it.

Stitch hood to towel. Again with a very strong stitch.

See #18.....that is the stitch I'm using.

I ran out of bobbin thread.

Okay so I messed mine up by NOT cutting my hand towel in half. The hood was SO large it was too big for me. So I had to rip a bit of the seam on each edge of the hood and fold it back into itself. Then pin and sew so mine looks like this:

Inside of the hood.

Outside of the hood. You can see the stitch I had to make.

And now it sits right.

You can add your own personal applique touches using THIS tutorial, 

but be sure whatever fabric you use is sturdy enough to handle the washing with towels. 

I also made the green and dark green stripe one without so many issues because I went ahead and cut that towel.

Hope you enjoy saving about $13 dollars on your hooded towel.
I paid $7 total for the towel and hand towel at Walmart, and found the same thing online for $20.

Enjoy your weekend

Courtney

Oh forgiving heart

I get upset easily. 

I have a certain standard by which I strive to live, 

and I expect my little circle in life to follow the same rules. 

The most important, though, and the one that means the 

very most to me is:

Do NOT LIE!

Not to me, not about me, not around me. 

Nothing gets under my skin more than a lie.

Of any variety.

Don't say you didn't do something you DID do.

Don't say that someone else said something they DIDN'T say.

Don't tell me you're going to do something you don't plan 

to follow through with. 

The reason I chose this for today's Willing Wednesday

is because I've had Chris August's "Seven Times Seventy" 

song stuck in my head. 

As is usual in life, there are always those at any given 

time who are on your "forgive me" list. 

Even if they don't know it, or don't think they 

should be on it. 

I've had friends and family members who I do things

with/for and my husband always asks: 

"Why do you go out of your way for them when all they do is hurt you?"

I guess the lyrics to this song really explain it best:

I’ve been living in this house here
Since the day that I was born
These walls have seen me happy
But most of all they’ve seen me torn
They’ve heard the screaming matches
That made a family fall apart
They’ve had a front row seat
To the breaking of my heart

7 times 70 times
I’ll do what it takes to make it right
I thought the pain was here to stay
But forgiveness made a way
7 times 70 times
There’s healing in the air tonight
I’m reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around

I remember running down the hallway
Playing hide-and-seek
I didn’t know that I was searching
For someone to notice me
I felt alone and undiscovered
And old enough to understand
Just when I’m s’posed to be learning to love you
Let me doubt again

7 times 70 times
I’ll do what it takes to make it right
I thought the pain was here to stay
But forgiveness made a way
7 times 70 times
There’s healing in the air tonight
I’m reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around

I lost count of the ways you let me down
But no matter how many times you weren’t around
I’m all right now

God picked up my heart and helped me through
And shined a light on the one thing left to do
And that’s forgive you
I forgive you

7 times 70 times
There’s healing in this house tonight
I’m reaching up to pull it down
Gonna wrap it all around
Yeah
I’m gonna wrap it all around

I don't want anyone to think that I am explicitly talking about 

the infamous "Haynes 6". While it applies to some things

I am most certainly not saying that this song word for 

word represents how I feel. 

And I'm not struggling to forgive any of "the 6".

I am however, actually facing the same situation again. 

Saying I'm done, or that I'm not going to do something,

and then forgiveness kicks in and I find myself doing 

exactly what I said I wouldn't do again. I find myself 

vulnerable just like I was the last time. 

I am reading a proverb (or a few chapters) a day, and while I seriously 

can't find the one I'm thinking of (I'll come back and add it), I read one that said

something like:

Someone who is slow to speak gains wisdom, 

but those who speak in haste are seen as foolish. 

I have to wrap my brain around this when it comes to forgiveness. 

I know I'm going to let go of my anger, but in the moment I 

want to protect myself forever from the same 

people who continue to hurt me, 

From a Willing Heart,

Courtney

Tutorial Tuesday - Coat...Plaque?

Coat Rack...Plaque?..

So, a while ago I was at Hobby Lobby and they had ALL of their hooks and knobs on sale for 50% off. 

I'd been wanting to do something like this for my daughter's room for a while, but since they were having the sale I decided to give a go. 

Rather, I decided my husband would give it a go. 

What you'll need:

-1 unfinished wood plaque

- 3 screw in knobs 

(more or less depending on the size of your plaque. be sure the cutter you use is the kind that allows you to screw in the knob before you cut it. If you just snap it, it will mess up the thread and you won't be able to get the knob into the wood without stripping the wood, thus rendering it useless)

-1 can of spray paint in the color of your choosing 

(I used brown)

- bag of mounting brackets. 

(We used the long skinny ones with teeth)

-1 drill with a "bit" that is just smaller than the screw on the knob 

-1 pair of electrical strippers with bolt cutters 

(or anything that will cut the bolt. Hubby said it was fairly easy)

To start: 

  

Paint your plaque. 

Once it is dry, screw the holes for the knobs where you want them. 

We centered one in the middle and then evenly spaced the other two on either side of it. 

Take one of the knobs and screw it into the wood all the way. 

Take a sharpie and mark the bolt where it needs to be cut so that it is flush with the wood. 

Unscrew and cut. 

Repeat for all other knobs. 

Screw knobs into place.

To place the brackets we came in an inch on each side, but the most important part is to be sure you come down from the top the same on both sides so that it will hang level.

All that is left is to hang it on the wall and make use of it. 

This can be done for boys or girl. It can be fancy or causal, and it only cost us about $10.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Sunny Saturday in The South-working and exploring at our house

Sorry that I've been a tad neglectful these last 2 days. 

Here are our Sunny Saturday (although it was a Sunday) photos that I wasn't sure the weather was even going to permit. 

So thankful for the beautiful sunshine. 

Perfect day for trying out the new helicopter

Watching it fly

A litle 4 wheelin', though the battery was...tired

A little hand holdin' because that is what big brothers do

A little bit of being perfect

And the little lady did some discovering...

She found flowers....

And wasn't sure about them...

And we checked out the difference in our shoe sizes...

It was the prefect day for working on refinishing my Grandmother's baby bed...

We don't currently have any grapes growing so this was the perfect spot to hang up the pieces

This is what happens when you use the paint remover. It makes it a LOT easier when there are about 8 coats of white paint and you're trying to protect the integrity of the wood underneath.

And we checked out some more of the beauty in our yard...

Hope your weekend was as beautiful as mine. Sunny or otherwise. 

Courtney

Meeting v/s Exceeding

 1 Corinthians 16:2

On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

 If you know us at all, then you're aware of our financial situation over the last 4 years. 

Just when something starts to look good and promising, another let down. 

I've heard all of my favorite people talk to me about tithing and saving, but let me just say that there was NO WAY to do either when we were putting groceries on a credit card. Groceries. Where on earth would I have found the extra cash to tithe and save?

We put whatever is in our wallets in the plate. 

We put all of our loose change in the kids' piggy banks. 

Son's piggy bank that belonged to my older brother. A prized possession to my 3yo for sure.

We pray about our situation. 

He hadn't let us go hungry or homeless, but we were certainly going into debt. Fast.

Another "Ah HA" moment here. 

Recently a girl told me that has a fantastic man in her life. He is dedicated to managing his finances the way that God sees fit. They both work, and make their own money. They both have bills to pay. They both have things that they like to purchase and needs that the want to fill. 

As they sat down to plan their wedding they began to discuss the budget. 

She was willing to scrap, cut back, and save in ANY area but the photographer. 

When her fiance' gave her the budget her spirit was crushed. "Might as well just have a family member take the pictures if that is all we can spend."

I know first hand what a less than qualified wedding photographer will get you. Our guy kept asking who "Brad" was when people would say.."oh take a pic of Brad doing that". He took his photos with his thumb plugging his beer. (oh yes he only rolls high class) It gets you a wedding disc that says "Courtney and Chris". Chris?? Really? It gets you pictures with photo- shopped "bling" coming off of my already super fabulous ring that is not in any need whatsoever of added bling. 

Anyway it is in situations like this where you can't seem to make your own way, that you can give God not only the opportunity to meet your needs, but to exceed them. 

I have began completely laying our situation at the foot of the cross and walking away free,

This is our garage door. I just love this cross.

but the life application for tithing and saving in a trusting and fearless way just hadn't sunken in. I HAVE to feed, roof, clothe, my kids.

So I started reading. Every day this week. And, in another leap of faith I made a place to store my tithe and savings from penny that comes into this house. (We were tithing to our church in SC but haven't found a church home yet. Saving our tithe to decide on a place to give. promise I'm not spending it.) 

Did you catch this at the top?

1 Corinthians 16:2
On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

So, yesterday I sat down to figure out how in the world we were going to pay for this little trip to Charlotte with our great friends. I had been working a lot, but every time the money comes in, it goes directly to something we need to pay for and leaves me unable to save anything at all. Tithe or otherwise. 

I took out my tithe and stored it. I rolled all of the change I had been collecting outside of what we give to the kids. 2 checks I had really needed to arrive came in the door with my husband and as I sat, it all started coming together. 

I needed.... $122.00

Can you see the total? $122 FLAT!

Right on target, WITH my tithe tucked carefully away. 

This week has been one of major growth and learning for me. 

As I continue to read and learn, I will continue to share his lessons for me. 

Right now, it seems as though he is simply telling me to have faith. 

Oh.....and the bride to be.....got the exact wedding photog and package of her dreams for $30 UNDER her fiance's budget. 

Happy Beautiful Sunny Sunday

Courtney

What Are You Waiting For

It is time for some serious faith based living at this girl's house. 

First let me clear something up...

I was raised "right". I know who God is, and I talk to him regularly. 

I'm completely thankful for EVERY single minute of my days and never get too terribly

down on myself when things don't go the way I had planned or hoped for. 

Lots of people go on and on about how much faith I have. 

In reality it's maybe not even this much some days....

One single mustard seed for those wondering.

less than that amount isn't great. 

I heard a guy named Jo Mcgee (check him out!) say

"God doesn't move on pity. He moves on faith and faith alone." 

Imagine my realization. 

Matthew 17:20

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

oops....

I was so busy being caught up in my "thankfulness" I had started to feel guilty about having needs. 

I felt like there were so many other people with needs, that God might not need to take the time to help me, and help them instead. 

Dear Courtney, I am not the salvation army. I won't run out of supplies. - God

Imagine my dumbfounded look when I think about the time I've wasted trying to carry all of my own burdens. Trying to meet all of my own needs.   

Matthew 7:7

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

I have "known" this as long as I can possibly remember. 

Why wasn't I applying it? 

That to me is like being in my awesome Chevy vehicle and having an accident. I see the Onstar button, but while I'm so very thankful it is there, I think there might be someone worse off than me and I don't want the ambulance to spend their time saving me. 

Jesus took it for me. I don't have to be a martyr. I don't have to lay down and accept what the world has to offer me. God can and wants to change my position in this world. Just not while I'm crying for myself. When I'm crying out to him and believing that he will make it so. 

Now it's time to learn how to get specific and own it. 

Time to tell God exactly what I need and believe it will be. 

Today's inspirations to walk by faith are:

Britt Nicole's "Walk on The Water"

And this girl... Casey Weigand

and taking Jo Mcgee's challenge to read a Proverb a day. 

Get out your Bible. Run after God! Look him in the eye and he will stare right back! 

Get the Angels up from playing checkers and get them busy writing in your book.

Store up those Treasures!

What are you waiting for?

Court