Archives for January 2011

Thanks so much for all the entries in the Noonday Collection giveaway.  They are such a great organization so please continue to spread the word.  And now for the winner…

#28 chippinaway. Check your email for a message from me…super congrats.  And thanks so much to Jessica of Noonday Collection for offering up such a great giveaway…totally appreciate it.

I have been working like crazy on orders and Sol’s birthday party.  Oh my, this sweet boy is about to be 2!  I just cannot stand it.

We are going with a basketball themed party, well, because he simply LOVES basketballs.  My boys are crazy about any type of ball, but Sol is particularly smitten with basketballs.  He is so excited he can barely stand it.  At least twice a day he points out his basketball invitation and then chats about his party.  He is just the cutest little thing.

I have completed a few more orders this week, but we had some snow this week in TN which slowed me down a bit, which sometimes slowing down is a good thing 🙂

These key fobs headed out to Kristin in Oklahoma, Kristi in California and Emily in California.  Hope everyone enjoys their fob!

These sweet pillows were ordered by Amber in Kingsport, Tennessee.  She wanted special gifts for her niece and nephew.  Totally love the fabric combination.  Thanks again Amber.

This last 16×20 canvas was ordered by my friend Penny.  Penny teaches with my sister-in-law and is just the sweetest.  She wanted an art piece for a dear friend of hers, that used the main words from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.  I love how it turned out.  Thanks again so much Penny.

And check out what I added to a camera strap this week!  Pretty excited about this.

Happy Friday everyone…have a great weekend.

PS:  Still trying to get a hold of comment #159 Elise Ivey who was the winner of our 2 Months Waiting giveaway.  If you know Elise, give her a little shout and let her know she won 🙂

Are you ready for a fabulous giveaway?  I totally wish I could enter my own giveaway for this one.  I have been in contact with Jessica of Noonday Collection for a little while now…Jessica has ordered a few things from me.  Recently she contacted me about doing a giveaway for one of the Ethiopia necklaces they had featured.  I LOVE this necklace and here is the scoop:

Noonday Collection launched at this year’s Together for Adoption Conference in Austin and is fastly becoming the go to spot for meaningful and fashionable accessories.   Every item is handcrafted in style, with love, and creates a pathway out of poverty for those who make it. Furthermore, proceeds go towards placing orphans in forever families (the owner is adopting from Rwanda and also helps others raise funds for their adoptions). You can read more about the artisans on their website HERE.

This Dangling Saqa Disk Necklace designed by Raven + Lilly, retails for $49. It hangs low and adds that extra drama to an otherwise basic outfit. Handmade by Entoto artisans in Ethiopia using recycled metal beads and melted down war weapons. These necklaces are truly unique. Genuine silver embellishments made by a local silversmith. Each of these spectacular beads is a unique piece of artwork. Loop-tie closure. These women suffer from extreme poverty and poor healthcare. Many suffer from HIV/AIDS and have been outcast from their community.

This necklace is the last of its kind, but there are 2 more made by the same group in Ethiopia that are totally fabulous and are available on the website!

How do you enter you ask?  Well there are many ways:

1) Like Noonday Collection on Facebook (comment that you did, one entry)
2) Subscribe to their newsletter to get weekly style inspiration (comment that you did, one entry)
3) Tweet about this give away (comment that you did, one entry)
4) Follow @NoondayStyle on Twitter (comment that you did, one entry)

5) Facebook about the giveaway (comment that you did, one entry)

6) Blog about the giveaway (comment that you did, one entry)

Please leave a separate comment for each way you choose to enter.

Giveaway will end this Thursday, January 27th at midnight and the winner will be announced on Friday.

I have been working on orders like crazy.  Finished up these recently.  This adorable birthday tee is headed to Erin in Missouri.  She wanted a special birthday tee for her little girl.  Thanks so much Erin…it was a pleasure and hope the party is amazingly fun.

This next order was placed by Megan in North Carolina.  She wanted a 10×10 Grateful piece, similar to the one I made for the Grateful Giveaway a while back.  She wanted to hang this in her husband’s office, so she mailed me stamps that she cut from invoices from his business…a reminder to be so grateful right now for a job and thriving business.

She also wanted a 18×18 canvas for her sister using a line from Near The Cross…”near the cross, a trembling soul.  Love and Mercy found me.”  Thanks so much Megan and hope you love both of them.

And lastly my cousin Jenny sent me an email right after I did our One Month Waiting Giveaway and insisted on being my first order when I opened back up on the 17th 🙂  She loved the piece and wanted a similar one for herself.  I ended up using The Contributor newspaper.  This newspaper is a Nashville paper that is written by homeless men and women.  They then sell the newspapers to bring in a small income.  They are always out on the streets selling them…have work badges and everything.  I feel this is just an amazing thing and always buy a paper.  Check out their site here. I was so excited when I realized that after I was finished with the paper, I could then recycle them into art.  Thanks so much Jenny!

Happy Monday!

First things first…I totally and completely love conversations between the boys right now.  It is just the sweetest thing ever and this morning I over heard Huddy tell Sol  -are you ready for this?-  -can you really handle the sweetness of what he said?- …he said “Sol, you’re my best friend.” Sob!  Oh it took everything in me not to go running into the bathroom (where there conversation was taking place, while Sol was doing his business), break out into the ugly cry and squeeze them to pieces, all while pleading with them to forever be best friends.  The brotherhood of my sons is at the top of my prayer list always.  I want them to be as thick as thieves…hurt when the others hurt…and over-the-top rejoice when the others are rejoicing.  That little “…you’re my best friend” made my day.

Okay, now that all that sweetness is over, how about our 2 Months Waiting Winner…

comment #159 Elise Ivey.  Thanks to everyone that entered.  I really, really enjoyed reading what everyone was anticipating.  And Elise, check for an email soon.

I officially started taking new orders on Monday and I am swamped already.  I cannot say thank you enough for all the business.  It is such an honor and pleasure to make up goodies for everyone who orders.  I truly love it and it doesn’t hurt that are adoption account grows with each order.  Here’s what I have been up to this week:

This tee was ordered by Jessica in Texas.  She wanted a special Africa tee for her mother-in-law and mailed me in a long sleeve she liked.  Thanks so much Jessica and hope you MIL loves it.

This fabric bracelet is headed to Sarah in Iowa.  This is one of my newest fabrics, so I was super excited when Sarah chose it…I’m a big fan of this print.  Thanks so much Sarah.

This set of key fobs was ordered by Cathy in Georgia.  She wanted a few key fob gifts for some special ladies in her life.  Thanks again so much Cathy.

These next key fobs are headed to Amber in Kingsport, Tn, Caroline in Knoxville, Tn and Ellie in Ohio.  Thanks ladies so much and hope you all enjoy them.

This last set of key fobs was ordered by Lauren in Louisiana.  Lauren wanted cool Mardi Gras key fobs to give to some friends during the festivities.  I love how they turn out and hope all the ladies will too.  Thanks so much Lauren.

And lastly are these sweet camera straps ordered by Mechele in Alabama and Mandy in Wisconsin.  Thank you ladies and hope your cameras will look a tad more rockin’ now.

I have picked up lots of new fabric lately…some oldies and newbies.  They have all been added to the “Fabric” tab at the top of the page.

I am working just as quickly as I can on orders and will be returning emails as quickly as possible as well.  I do have lots of art pieces ordered and have already begun on those, but they do take more time, so please be patient with me as I work through those.  Thank you again for all the business…just cannot say those those 2 words enough.  Happy Thursday!

PS:  Super cool giveaway next week by Noonday Collections. Check em’ out and check back to see what will be up for grabs!

This weekend Josh and I went to visit my best friend Ashley and her husband Chris.  Awww, this was the best weekend and totally what I needed.  I adore my kids, but it was refreshing to just be with Josh.

And hanging with Ashley and Chris all weekend was just the icing on the cake.  Ashley has been my very best friend for almost 13 years and she is simply the B.E.S.T.

She is the peanut butter to my jelly, the bacon to my eggs, the steak to my potatoes.  She totally rocks my friendship world.  I am still trying to convince Ashley and Chris to move to Tennessee and live on our street…heck, right next door would be perfect.

We had the absolute best time (to say the least), but I have to admit, Ashley stepped up her friendship game when she put Ikea on the weekend itinerary.  This was my FIRST TIME to go to Ikea…and now that I have gone — I think I may have a problem — I may be an Ikea addict.

OH MY…I could have easily stayed all day long.  The furniture, the prices, the food…It’s as if Sams Club married Aldis and had a totally stylish baby…It was just amazing.

So I thank my dearest and oldest friend Ashley was ruining me…I am a complete Ikea junkie now.  Just blogging about it makes me want to hop in my car and drive way too far to get my Ikea fix.  We did do other things, other than Ikea this weekend, and I was having such a great time that I forgot I was suppose to purchase a 15th paper for our 2 Month Waiting art giveaway.  Chris was super sweet to drive me around to 5 different gas stations on Saturday night trying to find a paper, but turns out, 5th times a charm.  Thanks Chris.

Today we arrived back home and I have been working on our 2 Month Waiting art piece.  I just finished it up, so check it out.

This canvas is a 11×14 and I used an excerpt from the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken.  “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

There are several ways to enter to win:

-Leave a comment about something you are anticipating

-Blog about the giveaway

-Facebook about the giveaway

–Tweet about the giveaway

–Become a fan on Facebook HERE

–Follow on Twitter HERE

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway will end Wednesday, January 19th at midnight and the winner will be announced on Thursday. I can’t wait to see who wins this piece and we are super excited to have another month behind us on the wait list and another step closer to our little boy.  CANNOT wait to see his sweet face!  Happy Sunday.

Thank you guys so much for all the great comments on what you are thankful for.  It was so encouraging and nice to read all the great comments.  So now for the winner:

Congrats to comment #17 Michelle Murphy.  Check your email for a new message from me!

And I have been doing a little crafting here and there.  I recently made up some key fobs for my friend Melody.

I also have been working on some new metal stamping for our up and coming carepoint launch with Children’s HopeChest.  After we get all our 82 kiddos sponsored we are hoping to sell some items to help with the development projects…so excited.

I also have picked up a few new fabrics that are now available in my fabric selections.

And yesterday we had lots of snow in Tennessee.  My kids were elated and it was a great amount to get out and play in.  The kids rocked and were totally fine with the cold, which meant lots and lots of play time in the morning and even more after dinner.

The snow was great for eating and snowballs, but we had such a hard time making a snowman.  We ended up making the world’s smallest snowman and Harper was quite proud.

Their favorite thing was making snow angels.  They all three just plopped right down in the snow and flailed away.

And now for the picture that made me laugh out loud…Sol doing a snow angel.

I totally love his face.  He was absolutely hilarious.

I also would love to give a shout out to Melissa and Doug for making a really great art product.

We are a total arts and crafts kind of family and Harper received this from her Aunt Jen for Christmas.  After our snow fun and lunch, we opened this up and Harper had the best time drawing faces.  I love that the book has 4 skin tones.  New art products like this make me happy and I was thoroughly pleased with it, as was Harper.  She drew myself, Hud and Sol.  And yes, I do have big, beautiful green eyes and yes, she did make the boys into pirates 🙂

I completely heart her.

I will be opening back up for orders this coming Monday, January 17th and will be having another giveaway starting this Sunday, January 16th.  Our two months waiting for our next little boy is the 15th, so this means another art giveaway.  It will be posted late on Sunday.  Can’t wait to see how the piece turns out.  Happy Tuesday!

As some of you may remember me sharing before in this post

an anonymous person(s) has been blessing our family each month by mailing us a Kroger gift card in the mail.

This happened every single month of 2010 like clock work.  At first it just about ate me alive not to know who was doing this sweet, generous, too kind thing for us and not being able to thank them properly.  But I soon came to grips with it because my sister-in-law Kim gave me a some wise words and I had exhausted every possible way to track down our lovely Kroger Fairy 🙂 I kept each little envelope these gift cards came in and made plans for the stamps that adorned them.  You can check out the first Grateful Giveaway I held here. And now it’s time for the last giveaway with these stamps that I so love.

This is a 5×7 canvas with the verse Colossians 2:6 & 7 — “…Continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

The Kelley family is sincerely overflowing with thankfulness to the generous person who blessed us the entire 2010 year.  I cannot tell you what these Kroger cards did for us.

So here is how to enter to win this piece:

-Leave a comment about something or someone you are grateful for today

-Blog about the giveaway

-Facebook about the giveaway

–Become a fan on Facebook HERE

–Follow on Twitter HERE

-Grab my button on the side and share

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway will end Monday, January 10th at midnight.  I cannot wait to see where this piece will be headed.  And a gigantic thank you to our wonderful, insanely great, over the top Kroger Fairy.  We appreciate the love you have shown us.

Happy Thursday!

My video camera was out of battery the other day, so I took this footage on my point-and-shoot.  As I watched it last night, I just sat back, laughed and enjoyed.  Maybe it’s Harper’s leadership or her choice of words, or maybe it’s the boys copy-cat ways or their own pure boyish blunders, or maybe it’s just everything rolled into one coupled with their own personal jumping style, but I just laugh every time I watch it…enjoy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNcmorkgHCM]

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year.  I will be taking new orders again starting January 17th!  Oh and check out this mini Pitter Patter Art by my oldest.  She totally rocked her treehouse.  Happy Wednesday!