Scrappy Lampshade DIY

My 3rd trimester I kind of went into a "nesting" craze, fueled by Pinterest and moving into a new canvas house with all kinds of new rooms and empty walls to decorate. I do not recommend moving while pregnant. If it doesn't drive you insane, it will likely drive your husband insane.

The kids rooms were my main focus this summer, and Lily's room especially. 

After painting and curtains and everything, the room still needed something, some *bam* object that would tie in all the colors: aqua, pink, and white with pops of yellow and green and make them all make sense.

When I saw this lamp over at The Pleated Poppy, I knew it was perfect,  since I had a ton of scraps leftover from the throw quilt I made for her bed. 

So, I found a shade at St. Vincent's for a couple of bucks.  

I ripped it apart, much to the shock and dismay of my husband, who didn't know what I had planned. (You'd think he'd be used to me by now!) 

Then I tied and tied and tied and tied. And tied. I used all my scraps and it took forever.

But I love it! 

Cost of this Project: Approx $15

Shade: $4

Fabric for Shade: $0 (scraps)

Swag Lamp Kit: $10 at Home Depot

Fabric to cover the chain: $1 at Walmart

Go to The Pleated Poppy (linked above) for a full tutorial!

Beauty and the Box

At some point in their lives, usually at a young age, most women are given a pretty little box.  The box can come from many different sources. A mother or grandmother. A father. A boyfriend. A circle of girlfriends. A TV show, magazine, or music video. Some boxes are bigger than others, but usually, they are pretty small. You may keep yours on the bathroom vanity, or carry it around with you everywhere you go.


Contained in the box is its owner's personal ideal of beauty. The box is small, because usually it consists of  only one thing, one tiny detail...a number. Maybe a dress size, measurements, or the numbers on a scale. And every day, or even several times a day, the box is opened. Every time the person looks in the mirror, goes shopping, or finds themselves in a crowded place, they take the box out and compare themselves to what's inside.


"How do I measure up today?" they wonder. "How long before I reach this level of beauty that will make me happy with myself?" They may feel a twinge of guilt, disappointment, frustration, or envy before they put the box away.


And so it goes, every day. A constant struggle to find the personal happiness that can only be found in the perfect dress size.

As I raise my daughter in a society that revolves around image, I can't help but want better for her. I want her to know that personal beauty is so much more what than can be stuffed into a tiny box. It isn't about how small her waist is or isn't, or how flat her tummy is or isn't. It bothers me to hear teenage girls talk about how many calories they ate that day, or how they need to go on a diet, always with this self-loathing in their voices as they stare at their image in the mirror, hating what they see and wishing they could just measure up to some shallow ideal of beauty.


Who teaches them this? These are girls that grow up in church, in Christian homes. Shouldn't they be learning that they are "fearfully and wonderfully made"? Shouldn't they know that the image they are staring at with such disgust is a work of art, created with care by Someone who thinks they are beautiful? Shouldn't they know that happiness comes not from a constant focus on self, but a forgetting of self?


It makes me sad to hear little girls worry so much about their appearance. It bothers me to hear ladies my own age, who are all so pretty just the way they are, talking about "just 5 more pounds" or how much better they looked before they had kids. It drive me nuts to hear grandmothers and great-grandmothers talk about how they "really shouldn't" eat dessert because they want to slim down! I'm all for being healthy, but if you haven't accepted yourself by the age of 70, you never will! And moms, if babies gave you a bigger tummy or hips, hey, don't be embarrassed, you worked hard for those! There's nothing wrong with looking like a mom, you are one! ;)


Health is important, yes. Eating nutritious foods, getting adequate exercise and fresh air, these are all good things. But diet and exercise for the sake of...what? Being skinny? Measuring up to some lame standard of beauty that the fashion and diet industry says we have to look like? (((Who made them so smart anyway? Maybe it has to do with the fact that the more money you spend on their weight loss products, the more money they make off of you?))) That's not healthy or good. It's wrong! When it comes right down to it, it's nothing but pride. Pride is not beautiful.


These are just my thoughts on things I'm working on personally. It isn't easy, I would be a hypocrite to say that I don't struggle with all of these things. I'm no supermodel, it's HARD to look in the mirror and be happy with what I see. I was raised in the same society as everyone else. But the longer I am a mom, the more mindful I am of what I'm teaching my daughter. Every time I look in the mirror discontentedly, comparing myself to a number, every time I say "Ughhh, I'm so fat!" or "I'm so ugly!" my daughter is learning. I'm shaping her ideal of beauty. She's taking away from me the idea that the worth of a woman is measured by nothing more than a reflection in the mirror. I think she's worth more than that. A lot more.


Maybe we should think outside of the box. Throw the box away. Broaden our perspective. Teach our girls that they are beautiful the way they are! It takes more than words to teach. If I tell my daughter "You are so pretty just the way you are" and then turn around and say "If I could just lose 10 pounds I would look so much better" what have I taught her? I've taught her that everyone else is fine the way they are, but not me. I can do better. I can improve on what God made. Wow, if that isn't nasty pride rearing its ugly head in my mirror, I don't know what is. And pride does not look good on anybody.

Psalm 139:14-15 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

 Linking up with Life in Bloom today!

Pumpkin Pattern

I saw this adorable little pumpkin hat pattern, I definitely want to make one for our little fall "Punkin"! Isn't it cute? Even if we have a girl, can't you just see it with with a tiny green tutu?  It ALMOST makes me wish for Fall. Almost. Except that I am ready for cold weather to be over, not starting. (Will summer ever come???) 


I've been taking knitting lessons every week, I don't know if I will have the skills to make this by September or not, but I'm going to try! (I have yet to finish a decent washcloth, so we'll see, haha).



http://blog.innerchildcrochet.com/?p=411

The SugarBow Shoppe -- Making Life Sweet

Since I have my own blog, why not use it for free advertising right? ;)


If you are interested in sweet hair accessories for your little girls or even yourself, check out my Facebook page and become a fan! https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-SugarBow-Shoppe/166356459595 If that link doesn't work for you, just search SugarBow Shoppe in the FB search engine. There you can view my current listings and spread the word! 

I also have a domain at etsy.com, see link below, where my items are available for purchase at insanely competitive prices. (Hmmm, that sounds like a used car salesman, but I really do have good prices!) http://www.etsy.com/shop/SugarBowShoppe

Headbands, bows, rosettes, and hats are all available, and I take custom orders for people I know. I LOVE doing it, so look me up!

Thanks for your time!

Regarding The IFB Cult as seen on 20/20

 If you haven't watched or heard about the 20/20 episode last week "exposing" "THE IFB Cult" go to www.abc.com and watch it. Oh boy, I have soooo much I want to say about this subject. Actually, I have said a lot about it all over the web, haha. Some people make me so mad! But I'm just going to narrow it all down to one little statement:


Revenge-colored blinders do not allow truth to be seen. 


I'll be the first to admit that many  Baptist churches drop the ball on issues like the story Tina told. But not ALL of them, and probably not most of them either. And the group telling this particular story have an AGENDA folks. And it's not good! But regardless of whether the stories portrayed on the program have an element of truth to them or not, these people are on a witch hunt, and they don't care if they bring down innocent people so long as they get their revenge on the people who hurt them. And I'm guessing they probably don't appear on shows like 20/20 for free? 


I wouldn't trust Jocelyn Zichterman with a 10-mile pole. I don't know why, I'd never even heard of the woman before last week, but she has an agenda no doubt about that. She is not someone who has anyone's best interest at heart. 


After reading everything I can find on the subject, all I can see is that: 


1. This is a nationally known story; if Pastor Phelps really had obstructed justice by covering up a rape, why isn't HE in jail? Why isn't HE a person of interest in this case? Why would he make his paper-trail public if he had something like that to hide?


2.  There is no such thing as "The IFB Denomination". Independent Baptists are just that...independent. It's not "The Baptist Church" like there's "The Catholic Church" or "The Mormon Church". Each church is its own entity, and not every church agrees or shares the same standards as another church. 


3. If Baptist doctrines repress women, why are there more women than men in church? 


4. I would be the first to stand up and yell for Pastor Phelps or ANY pastor to resign, go to jail, apologize, if he really covered up sexual abuse in his church. It's a pet peeve of mine actually, churches brushing things under the rug to save their reputations. But looking at the evidence, it doesn't appear that he did that. 


5. Independent Fundamental Baptists defy any modern notion of a cult. Think about it. If a person decides they don't agree with the ideas of a particular cult, what happens? The cult leaders hold something over their heads, making them afraid to leave, something such as loss of salvation, loss of children, loss of life. But if I wanted to quit attending an Independent Baptist church right now, I could! Nobody is going to say I'm no longer saved, I won't go to Heaven, or even hint at it. I wouldn't fear for my life or my family's life. People would be disappointed. I might lose some friends. But that's about it. How does that in any way remotely resemble a cult? Absurd. 


I found these websites to be extremely informative:


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5416470/Fallacies%20of%20Logic%20-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20ABC%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%9C20-20%E2%80%9D%20View%20of%20IFB.pdf

and

http://www.drchuckphelps.com/

http://theologshmeolog.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/not-a-specific-statement-to-specific-ifb-cult-watchdogs-but-a-caution-for-all-of-us-as-we-battle-sin-in-our-local-churches/#respond

Woops, I wasn't going to rant, but I guess I did.

Happy Birthday Easter Lily

It's hard to believe that today is my oldest baby's 5th birthday! This birthday seems like such a big deal to me. This is the year she will no longer be called a "preschool age child", no longer fit in the clothes from the "little kid" section of the store, no longer have to take a daily nap (except on Sundays, because as we told her, even God took a nap on the seventh day!). She'll be starting Kindergarten!

And she has also announced that now that she is 5, she will NOT be scared of the McDonald's play-land with the shaky rope bridge. We'll see about that one. I told her we'd try it sometime, but I have squeezed and crawled through that ridiculous play-land filled with rude and unruly children on too many rescue missions to try it again anytime soon.

The five years since we brought her home from the hospital have gone by so fast. I remember looking down at her little round newborn face and being gripped with sudden and total panic at the thought of being responsible for this tiny life. What was I going to DO?! How was I going to keep this helpless little thing alive?!

But somehow, we have made it through five years already, and I am so thankful for the time that God has given us with our amazing, artistic, expressive, funny, beautiful daughter. Thank you God for each moment!

    Happy Birthday Lily, and may you have many, many, many more!

"Here's Looking at YOU Kid"

So I was going through my canned goods cupboard yesterday, and way in the back I see these 2 eyes looking at me over the top of a can! The only animals we currently own are goldfish and water snails, so I knew it was not a family pet. It freaked me out a little, but I decided to be a big girl and get whatever it was, out.  I gingerly moved the can and found...a POTATO, with a root/eye that had sprouted 7 inches tall and had 2 round  horns sprouting from the top, just like two beady eyes! Scared me to death! lololol I thought maybe I should save it and plant it or something, but potato eyes have always given me the willies, so I threw it away. 


I should have taken a picture though. :)