If I had some spare change...

I'd buy all of these for my house!

1. Distressed European Wall Clock from Wisteria  2. I love you more than buttons have holes, print from YellowHeartArt 3. Recycled Farm Metal from thesteelfork 4. Letterpress Owl print from thepcpress

I suppose they'll just have to go on the birthday list! ;)

DIY Wednesday {Wardrobe Wall Art}

Welcome to part deux of DIY Wednesday feauturing 

{the Wardrobe}

Go here if you missed part one and would like to catch up. 

I didn't know a lot about wardrobes when we acquired ours, but as we explored the ins and outs of our new friend, we discovered that it came with lots and lots of wood slats in odd shapes and sizes.  We learned that these served as hangers for clothing & pants; however I'm not sure about the ones pictured below.  They look more like anchors to me. Someone out there care to give me a hand on this one?  I'd love to know what they were meant for.  

Anyway, all I know is that they were meant as some sort of hanging device that would now be useless to us & our modern suitcases.  

So of course, rather than throw them out, my clever husband came up with a wonderful idea as to how we could use them.  And thus begins. DIY Wednesday {Wardrobe Wall Art}.

Tools:

  assorted wardrobe hangers

hammer

finishing nails

pencil

The hubs and I used a circular mirror as our centerpiece.  Moving outward from this, we developed a pattern of assorted hangers.  The mirror also served to control the diameter of the pattern we had in mind.  

Once the mirror was in place, we leveled and hammered in the first hanger, securing it at three different places. This served as the base of our "pentagon pattern".  

Unfortunately, from this point on, I couldn't really take pictures as we went along because in order to hang each piece of the pentagon correctly it took all four of our hands.  If you need a good visual, just imagine trying to play Twister on the wall.  It took all the coordination & stretching of my short appendages that I could muster up!  

Once we had the pentagon completed, we could then add on our "embellishment" hangers-- These were my favorite pieces to hang & I feel they added just the right touch! 

Re-hanging the mirror-- a perfect centerpiece!

And there you have it!  Wardrobe wall art. 

This project cost us all of $1.47 for the finishing nails :)

mini road trip

We took a little mini road trip to the city yesterday. The real intent was to pick up a friend from the airport, but of course we couldn't pass up a chance to enjoy the city! We left early & found our way to the the best shopping center EVER.

If you know me at all, you know that getting to visit the shop pictured above made the trip for me :) We LOOOVED the area, it was the most unique set up of shops and restaurants I have ever seen. We will definitely be back for more soon!

Tomorrow I will be back with another DIY-wardrobe part deux.

Annnd how do you feel about a fabric giveaway? I am thinking it's about that time ;) Stay tuned....

Saturday Snapshot

I love this shot for so many reasons.  One, it is a picture of my favorite piece of furniture we own, which also happens to be the only piece we have built ourselves top to bottom.  I'll never forget the day I walked into our bare naked apartment (literally, we didn't even have a kitchen table or chairs to sit in) to proudly show my husband my flea market find.  "Look, honey! I bought a door!"  He stared back at me incredulously, and said "A door? really? we already have 4 perfectly good doors!"

From that moment on he was bound & determined to make my decorative door into something practical.  That's where we differ complement each other in home improvement.  He's all about the practical and I'm all about the decor!

He turned my old door into something new, and into something filled with memories that I treasure fondly.

I also love this shot because it shows off our newest thrift store find

 :: antique spools ::

Words cannot describe how perfectly they go with this piece, so a picture will have to do the job instead.

Happy Saturday, friends! I'm linking this shot up to 

Yellow Songbird's Saturday Snapshot & Tatertots & Jello's weekend wrap-up.

10% off your order at My Little Sunshine Fabric all weekend long with the code: DEWY10

psssst....

{the secret's out}

save 10% off any order at My Little Sunshine Fabric 

with the code: DEWY10

This code is good through the weekend ONLY so hurry scurry :)

Ohhhh Sweet Delight!

Joel Dewberry Fabrics 

are here in all their goodness.

I've been sitting here just admiring their loveliness :)

these two prints are just waiting to be made into throw pillows to go in my house!

What will you do with yours??

{Shop here}

{Gluten Free} Mini Cheesecakes

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I am sure you have noticed an increased need in America for gluten-free options for either those diagnosed with celiac disease or with gluten allergies.  And of course, there are those who just feel better when they eat gluten-free diets.  I made these mini cheesecakes for a friend with celiac's today & thought they were a great success!  The crust was really all that needed modifying & personally, I think the modified crust turned out better than the typical graham cracker crust.

Here's the recipe:

{Almond-coconut crust}

1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut flakes

3 TBSP butter, cut into pieces

1 cup almonds, raw

Combine all ingredients in a food-processor/blender until mixed well and ground into a fine consistency.  Divide almond mixture into prepared cupcake tins & press down firmly into tins.

{Cheesecake}

2- 8oz pkgs cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Combine all ingredients in a mixer or blender until smooth.  Divide evenly & pour over almond crust.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Let stand to cool & refrigerate before serving. 

Garnish: Blackberries

Delish! Hope you enjoy it as much as we are :)

DIY Wednesday {Wardrobe Coffee Table}

Ben and I were given a ridiculously large (I was going to say hunormous, but apparently that's not a real word) wardrobe from the 1800's this weekend from some friends in the neighborhood.  It was just taking up space in their garage, needing some TLC, so we immediately took them up on their offer to take it off their hands!

This is a picture of the wardrobe on it's side.  Originally we were just going to use the whole wardrobe as a coffee table, sitting on it's side as is; once we got it on it's side we realized it was WAY to large to be a coffee table as is.  This is when the DIY part came into play.  We decided that the perfect coffee table would be about half its size.  Ben thought if he unscrewed all the rusted latches we could easily divide it into two parts & use one as a coffee table.  Well that didn't happen. It never happens quite so easily in a DIY. Our Dremel came to the rescue, and Ben ended up cutting through all the metal latches to divide it in half.

 Here's one half of the wardrobe, standing up right---pretty sweet!  uhh...and purple-y.

 We took one half and simply laid it down with the purple-y interior facing the floor (no more purple for this house!) Ben and I had just scored a sweet Pepsi crate at the flea market that went perfectly with the look of the wardrobe.  AND it's great for storing remotes & such.

The unfinished but progressing living room. It wouldn't be complete without Bob. That's one of his favorite spots.  His other favorite is that couch in the back of the picture.  He thinks we bought it just for him.  I always find traces of Bob hair on it when we have been away from the house.  

Nice try Bob ;)

Just bought myself....

one of these....

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 and one of these!

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In the plant-able form---not quite palatable yet.  I am soo excited to try my hand at growing blueberries & raspberries.  After all, they are my FAVORITE fruits. SO good.  And I think my CSA will mostly be veggies, so I need to get my serving of fruits somehow.  Praying God blesses my not-so-green thumbs :)

Bob's Got a Girlfriend

Yes that's right.  In God's divine wisdom, He found us some wonderful friends who live just a block away from us who also have a Husky.  Her name is Keco (short for Kevin Costner).  See? It really is divine, they both have ridiculous names, no where near suited for a Husky.  

Bob & Keco like to go for playdates & walks together.  Keco still has to wear a muzzle--being a woman she can get a little "moody" at times, but don't be fooled, she and Bob are meant to be.  *wink*

Here's a pic of the two romping around in the snow.  Oh, yea it snowed last week...Monday, I think?  and a few days later it was 70 degrees.  Weird weather is one thing Missouri & Texas have in common. 

And Bob...couldn't resist this one: he's always got that long, silly tongue hanging out.

Now wish me luck; I'm taking him to the vet today & I have a sneaking suspicion he's not going to like it.  

Color Love {Mustard Yellow}

                                                                                                   

                                                                                     

in order from top left to bottom right:  1.  |yesjess|  2.    |oh,sweet joy|     3.  |ashley carter designs|     4.    |sandy a la mode|      5.  |kalla|

Featured + a Giveaway

I'm heading out for a day on the "town" today---lots of thrifting, picking out some fabric for drapes, all the fun stuff!

In lieu of doing a real blog post I thought I'd link you up to a couple of others who are featuring my shop today!

Check out: 

She did the sweetest little write up of one of my newest products: 

the Ruffled Sunshine Diaper Bag + zip pouch

AND

It's {GIVEAWAY} day over at Take Heart's blog

You can enter to win this sweet thang:

DIY Wednesday {Painting 101}

I am thinking of starting a little mini series of our home improvement mishaps  ahem... I mean, accomplishments.  We are trying to make this casa feel more like "home" than probably any of our previous homes because we know we are going to be here a while & would like to feel settled.  So with that said, introducing  DIY Wednesdays!

{Painting 101}::


Here's what not to do:

-DON'T buy 3 gallons of a paint you have not tried out before hand & have only seen on the sample card in the washed out lighting of Lowes.  Seriously, don't.

INSTEAD:

-Sample. Sample. Sample.


You smart people, probably are already adept at that skill & are thinking, really?! you didn't sample first?!  Nope.   Instead I bought three gallons of purple paint that was supposed to be grey.  Score one for team Carter.

-DON'T paint the whole living room with said purple paint, thinking the purple will magically go away once it fully dries.  It only gets more purple-y.

INSTEAD:

-Sample. Sample. Sample.


See a pattern here?  Sampling saves time & money.  Sampling keeps you from having to re-paint an entire living room the very next day. :)

Here is the final non-purple-y product ::: I REALLY wish I took a picture of the purple walls--just imagine Lilac all over the place--but I think we were too disgusted at the time to even think it was funny. Ohh the joys of trial & error home improvement. :)

Home Decor Mishaps & a Coupon Code

So I painted my living room yesterday and the intent was to have them be neutral grey walls.  Instead they turned out "greyish-purple".  Ben is having a heart attack musing over the possibility of having to live in a purple home.  I am at a loss & REALLY don't want to paint again.  yeesh...should have tested it out first.  But seriously, the swatch looked nothing like this:

What to do, what to do??? suggestions?

**In other more EXCITING NEWS you can get 15% off at either of my SHOPS this week with the coupon code:  STPATTIES

Ready. Set. Go Shop. Here. Or Here. 

{meet bob}

Hi, my name is Bob, I am a really handsome husky & am almost one year old.  A few days ago, my new mom & dad saw my ad in the newspaper and tried to adopt me.

My foster parents had to tell them that they had just given me away to another family.   :(   Mom & dad were really sad that they had lost their one chance at getting the dog of their dreams (I'm quite a catch, ya know).  Little did I know, that my new mom (I think her name is Ashley, or something like that) started praying that it wouldn't work out between me & the other family.  She prayed that somehow I would get to come home to live with her & dad.
















Well, guess what?!  GOD IS GOOD & He heard my mom's prayer. I hear He is in the business of doing that sort of thing.  My foster mom came & rescued me from what was not a good situation & to my utter dog delight, placed me in a home with Ben & Ashley.  Now I have a big back yard, I can go running with my dad, Ben & can take long walks with my mom (she's not much of a runner).  I am having so much fun sniffing out my new family & running up and down stairs & all around the yard.  On my walks, I like to pull my mom around, sorta in a zig zag pattern--it's fun to watch her trip on herself.

Welp, that's me.  I'm Bob.  Now off to mark my territory ;)

{Recap}

I don't know how you feel, but for us it seems the past few weeks have completely flown by! It's hard to believe that next week will mark a month since we started our journey to Missouri. I wasn't able to catch all the memories on film, but the with the few that I did, I felt a recap was in order, starting with....

Ben's graduation from his tech school! {One of the most monumental events of the year for us, which completely summed up God's faithfulness over our lives & in Ben's work}

The icing on the cake was when we found out that morning that Ben's grandparents were driving in to town to celebrate with us!

Oh, and did I mention that my hubby was the Distinguished Grad for his class? no? well he was!

{a wife has to gush with pride every now & again}

{the handsome grad & me}

From graduation we packed our cars, cleaned house & got on the road a day later making stops in: Fort Worth, Oklahoma & Kansas City. We had a lot of fun taking our time & enjoying pit stops, some of which included seeing sweet friends & family!

I only remembered to take pictures in KC, we walked around downtown a lot in a thing called the "Link"--it was a great way to get from one attraction to another!

{Union Station & the Link}

And finally, we made our way home to our final destination & were pleasantly surprised to receive housing on the first day! {When we had heard it could take 30 days!}

Our first week in town & in our new house, God decided it would be good to send us a snow! And we totally agreed! Being from TEXAS, we were like giddy little children :)

and this pretty much recaps our time up until we arrived in MO---I am thinking of painting the house this weekend {eeek!} so wish me luck & maybe, just maybe I will post before & after pics next week. That is, if I actually get it done this weekend ;)

Coming Soon to My Little Sunshine

I'm SO excited to announce that

JOEL DEWBERRY's  AVIARY 2 COLLECTION

is coming to My Little Sunshine Mid-March!!

{cue the applause}

I cannot tell you how excited I am to get my hands on these pretty little prints.  This collection is my favorite of the year thus far & I am so excited to bring it to you guys {at very affordable pricing}.  :)

Start saving your pennies!! 

I know you all want pictures of the new casa, but....

it wouldn't be very pleasing to your eyeballs at the moment....you'd think we survived a tornado in here. yes, an indoor tornado.  


Sooooo instead I am going to talk about Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA.  My friend Rebekah wrote about it here. And she doesn't know it yet, but she's the one who got me thinking about this whole CSA thing.  {Thanks Rebel}  

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Local Harvest describes CSA as stated below,

"Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season."


Here they site advantages for the farmer & consumer

Advantages for farmers:

• Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
• Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:

• Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
• Find that kids typically favor food from "their" farm – even veggies they've never been known to eat
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown

I have been hoping and dreaming of becoming part of a CSA for over 7 months now & have been sadly disappointed to have none in my local area---until now!!  The one thing that has triumphed over my disappointment of moving away from my beloved HEB is the excitement of having a CSA.  That trumps all other food venues. Hands down.  


I signed up last week for my share & was even more excited to find out that several mil spouses from my base have signed up as well! {That's going to make picking up my food a lot easier}  No 40 minute drive for me!  My first share will be ready around the first of April--I can't wait!  I'll definitely be posting an update later on how it's working out, but for now...




Check out www.localharvest.org to see if there is a CSA in your area!  Support local ag & eat the freshest, most yummy, good for you fruits and veggies E.V.E.R.

coming up for air

I know I've been kind of MIA on the blog for the past several days.  I decided this morning to climb up from under all the packing paper to let you guys know---we are still alive & well!  Maybe we are a little scattered & overwhelmed with all the unpacking & Ben figuring out his new job BUT we are here. I have to remind myself each day that little by little we will get it all unpacked & I won't be drowning in packing paper forever (insert sigh of relief here).

Outside of unpacking, (who really enjoys hearing about that?)  we have had a few REALLY encouraging interactions.  I mean, REALLY encouraging.

We've met 6 families so far, 5 of whom have a member who will be working directly with Ben & who all desire to find/foster a solid church body & who enjoy talking with us about things like this.  Really?!  Seriously, we have been floored by the potential community we have here.  And this is only day 8 of being here. It's obvious God is doing something really amazing out in the middle of nowhere Missouri.  And we are excited to be along for the ride.

I'm working on several orders today,---3 custom diaper bags (thoughts on bringing those back to the shop?) and lots of wristlets.  Oh yea, and did I mention, I'll be unpacking boxes for the next year??? :)