3 hours ago
Clyde's nursery reveal is coming eventually - I'm trying to decide whether to add some name art to his walls before I write the post, but I thought I'd go ahead and share the quilt I made for him now!
I've made quilts for both Wyatt and Gwen, so I knew I was going to make a quilt for Clyde too. I like making my own quilts/crib bedding, because I just usually don't find pre-made crib sets that I really like - this lets me pick my own colors and fabrics. They don't turn out perfect by any means, but I'm not entering it in competitions or anything - I just do it for my babies! I have fun with it!
I got the idea for this block-y quilt from this book. I'm not really a traditional quilter (I wouldn't really call myself a quilter at all, really, I just make them when we are adding to our family). I like big, chunky pieces because it's so much faster to sew together! This book has tons of fun ideas for modern-looking designs.
I just sketched out how I wanted mine to look, figured out how big all the pieces should be, then I arranged them all on the floor before I sewed them together to make sure I liked the way it looked with the different fabrics and patterns.
After I put all the pieces together I took it to my old neighbor who does the actual quilting for me. She picked this cool flame pattern, and I like the way it looks! After I got it back from her I just folded the extra backing over the edges and sewed it down for the border.
I really like the way it turned out, and it looks great in Clyde's nursery!
I feel like I should come up with a name for the final product, something more interesting. "Baby Boy's Quilt" is a little boring - the colors actually reminded me of the beach, which may have influenced the theme I picked for the nursery. . .
Maybe I'll call it my "Surf's Up Quilt". Or "Anchors Away Quilt"? Or maybe I'll steal the baby shower theme name from Ashley and call it my "Ahoy, It's A Boy! Quilt"! Something like that anyway.
In "A Table By The Window" by Hillary Manton Lodge, food writer Juliette D'Alisa inherits a cooking table from her grandmother, and as she is searching through the drawers she finds an old cookbook with a photo taped to the dustcover - a photo of a man with a suspicious resemblance to others in her family. As she tries to figure out who is in the photo, her brother approaches her about starting their own restaurant, and Juliette decides to give online dating a try. Should she leave her food writing job to open the restaurant with her brother? What about Neil, the man she met through an online dating site? What does she really want?
I enjoyed this book. It wasn't one of those books that left me dying to see what happened from one chapter to the next, but it was enjoyable and interesting when I did get a chance to pick it up. I think that this makes it a perfect vacation book, because it is easy to pick up and put back down again while still holding my interest! It was just a nice, cozy, laid-back book, and I liked it.
One thing that also makes this book unique is the recipes the author includes in the pages - gourmet recipes of all skill levels are included at the end of many of the chapters. I feel like I should keep this book in my kitchen so I can try out some of the recipes!
I really liked the main character, Juliette, and she seemed realistic and relatable. I'm also very interested to see what she ultimately decides about all the decisions in her life, especially her relationship with Neil! The ending felt really sudden to me, and the plot was not resolved in this book. I'm looking forward to reading the next book to find out what happens!
P.S. You can read the first chapter here, and also check out some similar recipes on the book Pinterest board!
Note: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
A Sensible Arrangement by Tracie Peterson follows Marty - as a Texan widow she has decided to leave her old life behind and become a mail order bride for Jake Wythe, a banker in Colorado. After their marriage she soon discovers that Jake dreams of returning to Texas and owning his own ranch - which is just the life that Marty wanted to get away from. As their feelings develop for each other and a financial crisis threatens the bank that Jake works at, Marty has to decide whether to tell Jake the truth.
I really enjoyed this book! All the characters were likable, and the romance between Marty and Jake was really sweet, though subtle in it's development. I also thought the message of the book was strong as we read about Marty turning back to God after blaming Him for her husband's death for so many years.
The one thing that I have to say is that I feel like a couple of the plot elements weren't fully resolved - through the book Marty's maid, Alice, is being followed and threatened by a Mr. Smitth, who thinks she is in possession of some gold bonds that were lost when her father was murdered. At the end of the book we still don't know what happened to the bonds, or whether Mr. Smith will be caught. We also don't get to see how Marty and Jake's life will pan out - will Jake keep his job at the bank, or will they go back to Texas? I'm thinking (and also hoping) that we get to see what happens to these characters as this series continues? Regardless, this book left me wanting to read more!
Note: I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
I'm still working on the birth story post for Clyde - I'm hoping to have it up next week! In the meantime I wanted to get this post up about the kid's' Easter baskets, because I always have so much fun picking out stuff for them. Stay tuned for more on Baby Clyde!
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I'm really looking forward to Easter this year. I feel like Wyatt is understanding more and more. The other day we were talking about how Easter is the day that Jesus came back to life, and he has brought it up a few times since then! He was also pretty interested in his Easter basket "presents", but I know more and more about Jesus is sinking in too, and that is what is most exciting to me.
Anyway, we went shopping for the kid's Easter baskets the other day, so I wanted to post some of the things we picked out! The best part is that most of the things I found for their baskets only cost $1 - I like that price! So here are my (inexpensive) Easter basket ideas for toddlers.
If Jesus Lived Inside My Heart book - Alright, we already had this book, but I wanted to post it here because it's one of my favorites. I can't even explain it, you just have to read it. It makes me cry every time, and I think it's such a sweet little book for an Easter basket, so I thought I'd recommend it now!
Hot Wheels cars - Wyatt loves Hot Wheels cars - the other day at the store he grabbed one and was asking me if we could buy it, and I told him we'd have to wait. So I'm going to sneak one or two into his Easter basket. I love that he loves these, because they are only a dollar, and such an easy present that I know he'll like.
Bubbles - What toddler does not like bubbles, I ask you?
Ponies - Gwen picked out these little pony horses at the dollar store the other day - similar to My Little Ponies, but cheaper. I want to try to find a couple more for her basket. This is the first toy that she has actually picked out for herself, which I think is so cute!
Water bottles - Thank you dollar aisle at Target.
Fun dough - Or Play Doh, or silly putty. Whatever you like best.
Flower growing kits - I found these at Target too and snapped them up. I think it will be a fun project, for Wyatt especially, to water them and watch the flower grow! Hopefully they actually do grow or it will be disappointing, but if these don't work I have some seeds and some soil in our shed we could use instead.
Yogurt Melts - I just feel weird about putting too many jelly beans in the kids' Easter baskets. Plus Gwen can't chew that stuff even if I did want to put it in her basket! Yogurt melts are a good alternative, and my kids think they are candy anyway. I just put a few in each of their plastic eggs!
And I decided to change it up a little and put it all into these:
Toddler Backpacks - These are Skip Hop backpacks - I had been eyeing them, but I just wasn't sure I wanted to spend $20 a piece on backpacks for the kids right now. Then I was walking through JC Penny the other day, and spied these on clearance for $6.99 each! Yes, please! They only had the shark and the ladybug, but I wasn't going to complain if I could get them for such a good price! Wyatt has been really into bags lately, and I think he'll love having his own little bag to carry his stuff around.
And Clyde is a little small yet for all this fun, but his favorite thing at the moment happens to be his pacifier - so I finally broke down and got him one of these:
He might get to use his before Easter though.
What are you putting in your kids' Easter baskets?
Twirl by Patsy Clairmont is basically a collection of thoughts on life from the author, specifically how to keep life meaningful and peaceful amidst the "twirl" of the everyday grind.
To be honest, this book just wasn't my style. Each chapter is it's own entity, kind of like individual blog posts - which I don't usually mind, but I felt like the subjects weren't really connected to each other at all, which is what confused me. While I occasionally caught glimpses of the main theme of "twirling" and how that impacts different areas of our lives, I had a hard time picking out a solid point in this book, and even in most of the chapters. The Type-A side of my personality likes a clear point, which I felt was lacking in this book. I just need clearer purposes or points in my non-fiction.
However, I will say that I liked the general concept of the book, and I liked that each chapter was short and focused on a narrow theme - those kind of books are perfect for a brief re-focus as you read chapters throughout the day. I think more poetically-minded, artsy people would probably get more out of this book than I did.
Also, she made a reference to "Christian mystics" which confused me though (she said it like it was a good thing?), so if anyone knows what that is, I'd love it if you'd enlighten me.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, but I'm sure there are some people who would understand/appreciate it more than I did.
Note: I received this book for free from Booklook in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Dancing With Fireflies by Denise Hunter is a small-town, Christian romance book. Jade arrives back in her hometown pregnant and alone, looking for a job so she can support her baby. Daniel, who Jade has always viewed as a brother, helps her as she settles in. but Daniel has had feelings for Jade for a long time, and tries to hide it from Jade to avoid scaring her away. Through the course of the book Jade starts to have feeling for Daniel too, but has to overcome some previous traumas before she realizes she needs to trust God and allow herself to love someone again.
I've read a couple of Hunter's books before, and I like them because she knows how to keep the reader interested in the story throughout the book. But not in an infuriating, you-want-to-shake-the-main-characters kind of way, more in a I-have-to-keep-reading-to-see-what-happens type of way. This book was no exception, and I didn't want to put it down! The characters were likable, and not too perfect, and the story was interesting.
The one thing I don't like as much about Hunter's romance books is that in certain scenes I feel like she focuses a little too much on the physical attraction/temptation aspect of the character's romance. Nothing inappropriate ever happens - the books I've read from Hunter have been clean. The descriptions just get a little heavy for me at times. Also, in this book Jade finds herself pregnant as a result of date r.ape - I feel like Hunter handled this plot element with tact and didn't put an excessive focus on it, but I would recommend discretion before letting a younger girl read because of those elements.
Overall though, I really enjoyed this book! Hunter's writing style is easy to read, and I don't know how she keeps a relatively simple story so interesting, but she does. If you want a quick, romantic read, this is one to check out.
Note: I received these books for free from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
I was asked recently how I made the watermark I used on my photos, so I thought I'd write a little tutorial!
A watermark is just basically just the name of your blog or business, with or without a logo, that you can "stamp" onto your photos. There are several reasons why I watermark my blog photos - to protect them from being stolen and used elsewhere on the web being chief among them. If you are a blogger and you don't currently watermark your photos, it is something I strongly suggest that you consider. Especially in this Pinterest age, it is very likely that your photos will end up somewhere else on the internet, and using a watermark ensures you protect your photos and it allows you to still get proper credit (because people don't always reference their sources properly - shocking, I know).
If you do not have your own photo editing program, you can still add the name of your blog to your photos using an online editor like PicMonkey - just type out your blog name or address into a text box, and you can adjust the colors and opacity to give it a watermark effect.
Personally, I use Photoshop Elements to watermark my photos - this really is the easiest way to watermark, because you can create a brush of your watermark. Once you have the brush, it is literally just one click to add the watermark! I first learned how to create a watermark brush in Photoshop by reading this tutorial, but I'll go ahead and tell you the steps here as well.
1. You want to create a blank file in PSE. Just go to File>New>Blank File.
2. You can make your blank file up to 2500 pixels in width, but don't go over that. You can't create brushes that are larger than 2500 pixels across. Make sure the background is set as transparent.
3. Next, go ahead and create your watermark. Get creative! The one thing I didn't realize when I first made a watermark is that you aren't just limited to text - you can add shapes or whatever. Just make your text and shapes black in color. We're creating a brush, not an image, so the final color will just be whatever color you choose for your brush when you "stamp" your image.
Hint: If you add shapes, I recommend making sure the shapes are behind the text, and adjusting the opacity to make them more transparent than your font, like I did in the image below.
Note: If you are creating a watermark for your blog images and you ever plan on making money off your blog, make sure that you choose a font that is free for commercial use. My first watermark was created with a font that was not free for commercial use, and when I started advertising I had to buy the font to still be legal - not fun.
4. Once you have your watermark the way you like it, you need to make it into a brush. Go to Edit>Define Brush, and it will add it to whatever set of brushes you have open.
5. Name your new brush.
6. Now you need to make sure that you save the brush into your set - otherwise it will be gone the next time you open PSE! Click the drop down menu for your brushes, then click the little arrows that point right in that box. You want to scroll down and click "Save Brushes". Name your brush set and save. If you can't find your brush later, you may need to load this specific brush set - follow the same steps here and click on "Load Brushes", and then select the set that you just saved, and your brush should be there!
7. Now you are all set to use your new brush! Open an image to try it out. Once you have your brush selected you can adjust the settings of you brush with the top settings bar:
You can adjust size, type of brush, and opacity there. I like the "Overlay" settings for watermarks because it has a more subtle effect, but feel free to experiment! For example, here is the watermark used on the "Normal" setting, full opacity:
And here it is used with the "Overlay" setting, full opacity:
You can also make your brush different colors (I use white a lot too).
And that's it! You now have a custom watermark that you can add to photos with one click.
Let me know if you have any questions!
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