The Stamped Envelope

My cousin Kelly is, well.....talented. I'm just gonna take a paragraph and brag on her a little bit, 'cause I can! Plus, she's family and she makes me look good. HA!

I'm often quite envious that Kelly gets paid to do something that she loves to do. Of course, her graphic design mind works totally different than mine. Me, graphic design? HA! I'm still plodding my way through Adobe PhotoShop Elements 6.

That reminds me - I've got to go to YouTube and find a tutorial on that software!




Kelly graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in graphic design. Since then, she's started her own stationary business called The Stamped Envelope. Kelly has designed art on paper in the form of holiday cards, enclosures, invitations, labels, wedding invites, and baby announcements. Recently, I asked her to design a pack of Mommy Cards for me and I fell in love with the final result!

Kelly's goal at The Stamped Envelope is "to create an experience for each customer that provides him or her with a product that reflects their personality in a way that cannot be found elsewhere." You can be sure that every order is made to your complete satisfaction with much care and detail.



If you haven't yet thought of what you're gonna do for your annual Christmas card greeting this holiday season, you should take the time to visit the Christmas section of The Stamped Envelope to see all that Kelly has to offer. There are many pages full of various fun and traditional designs so you're bound to find one that you will like. Oh yeah, you can pay via credit card directly on the website....that's so helpful!

Happy shopping!

Booth for sale

I rented a booth last weekend at our school's fall festival. Here are a few of the canvases I made and tried to sell.





I also bought a few tin buckets from the dollar spot at Target and dressed them up with some ribbon. These would make great teacher gifts, filled with candy, etc.


I've thought of opening an Etsy shop for my canvases but I'm not quite sure yet. You know...I just want to think through my time management, cost for supplies, etc. I'll have more things for sale soon. My friend, Laura, is selling some of her own handcrafted creations this weekend in a Christmas Bazaar so I can't wait to find out how she does!

Just for my friend, Madelyn

In "honor" of this post, I'll put random " " all over words typed "here", just to aggravate Madelyn.

Because "Mad" (ha!) got so tickled about this post, I found another blog that might hit her funny bone. She's a grammatical freak and will probably laugh her head off as she's recuperating at home after some "nice" surgery.


This one's about unnecessary "quotation" marks. What, you don't "like" it when people hike up their "finger horns" and bend them while "talking"?

I hope you're feelin' better, Mad. Laugh until your tummy "hurts"....then laugh "some" more.

Gobble up the savings!

Oh yeah, baby...another $5 off $20 purchase at Walgreens, today and tomorrow only. Click here to print your coupon.

Delete those emails!

Wanna know how to get your email inbox to zero everyday? Click here to read tips and suggestions from Matt Perman. I soooooo need his advice about this. I'm not even gonna tell you how many emails....ok, I will....are you ready? I have 1627 emails in my inbox right now. My earliest email is dated February 10, 2003. Isn't that horrible? I KNOW how to better organize my inbox but I just forget to make those stinkin' folders and such.

What about your inbox? How does it look? Do you fail to delete on a regular basis? Do you create folders for organization?

Cookie Sheet Calendar

I'm in no way posting a challenge right now since I'd be totally insane to do so considering the holidays that are upon us. Oh, but how I'd love to see some of my readers do one of these and one of these and one of these with me. I'm not even sure when I'll have the time to do it but it sure would be a great permanent change come January. See how good I'm getting at posting my craft ideas BEFORE I actually do them? HA!



I bet my friend, AJ, would be phenomenal at this craft....then again, she's probably already made one. She's talented like that.

Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child, sponsored by Samaritan's Purse, is collecting their annual gift boxes the week of November 17-24.

If you live local, you can either drop it off at my church office (WPC) or at the Baptist Student Ministries at CSU on University Ave. If you live on the other side of the river (that would be in Alabama, duh), then you can drop your boxes off at Lakewood Baptist Church. Otherwise, click here to find a drop off location nearest you.

In our home, the boys each have packed a box for another little boy at Christmas. You can chose a shoebox and wrap it with Christmas paper or, you can opt for the plastic boxes and decorate them with stickers. I've heard the children and families who receive the plastic boxes full of goodies are even more grateful since the plastic box itself can be used for many other things such as storing rice, flour, spices, and even carrying water from the well back to their home.

We pack our boxes according to the OCC rules, usually always including a few toys, games, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, hair items, and candy. I hope to one day volunteer at the distribution center in Atlanta so I can see firsthand what goes on to prepare the boxes for shipping to the many countries SP serves.

OCC asks for a $7 donation per box (for shipping costs) and has requested it be paid through their EZGive donation page. Instead of writing a check and enclosing it in the box, as in the past, EZGive allows you to pay online with your debit/credit card. On the OCC website, you can even view some videos of past years' boxes and how they've impacted a certain region.


I'll be sure to post pics of my boys packing their boxes and taking them to the BSM building. Look for them next week!

A little affirmation

I don't know how to make it clear in words, but I've been feeling guilty (or wrong) lately for calling myself a single-issue voter. A few friends challenged me to ponder on the "other" issues and factor my opinion regarding them into the equation (my vote). Frustration set in as I couldn't find the words to explain myself. It's not that anyone asked for an explanation but I wanted others to know why I was so passionately calling myself a single-issue voter....

Then, I got the weekly edition of WORLD (Subscribe now! You'll be glad you did!) in my mailbox a few days ago and found a WONDERFULLY written article by Tony Woodlief entitled, In Praise of Single-Issue Voting. I think I began crying sometime around the second paragraph. Finally, someone has put my heart in words on paper.....and all the world could now read why I feel the way I do. Below are just a few excerts from Tony's article. Please don't skim over them just because you're not a political thinker. Please don't dismiss this article simply because the election is over.

I’ve become convinced that a nation which sanctions the extinguishing of unborn children, and further, the outright execution of near-term infants, doesn’t deserve admiration even if it gets every other policy right.

Those other issues certainly affect a country’s safety, prosperity, and greatness. But I’ve come to believe that a nation that tolerates destruction of innocents deserves neither safety nor prosperity nor greatness. We’ve descended into barbarism, and it poisons how we treat the elderly, the incapacitated, even ourselves. We shouldn’t be surprised, having made life a utilitarian calculation, that more and more humans become inconvenient.

It’s certainly true that there are other issues that ought to concern Christians, like the sanctity of marriage, and how we treat the mentally ill, the elderly, and children who have been born. But abortion is, in my view, the touchstone. Get this one wrong and your moral compass can guide you in nothing else.

I wish I could copy and paste the entire article here on my blog and be assured that everyone will read every word; but I realize that that's not realistic.

You can click here to read the entire article. Believe me....it's worth it.

For Chad

Chad, you are not alone.

Did your city make the list?

A while back, I posted about how my city rated number four on the list of best cities in the nation to raise a family. Seems we've been knocked out of the rankings by a new list that categorizes state by state.

Sorting Halloween candy

Andrew was bored one afternoon last week so I gave him the task of sorting his Halloween candy into like-colored piles. It kept him occupied for at least ten minutes.

Husbands are awesome

This is what my sweet husband got me for my birthday.


A Camelback waterbottle. I love, love, love it! It's nice to workout without dribbling all over myself. I've wanted one of these for such a long time. He remembered and that makes me smile.

He also gave me the new CD by Laura Story, Great God Who Saves.


If you don't know who Laura is, she wrote the songs Indescribable (Chris Tomlin) and Mighty to Save, as well as many others. In the video below, she tells of her love for her husband and describes his battle with a brain tumor soon into their marriage. View her video below to hear her music and know her story. It's good to cry.

Gami came to visit

My mother, also known as GAMI, arrived this past weekend to join us in celebrating my 34th birthday. My children absolutely love Gami. They stood anxiously at the front window, waiting for her car to come around the corner. Too bad that most of us were asleep when she did arrive that afternoon! Sorry, Mom.

Gami played with the kids outside.

Gami helped me bake cookies for our fall festival.

Gami posed with the boys.

Mom also had a wreck on the way back to her house Sunday morning. I thank the Lord that she wasn't hurt. No more staying up til 4am to chit-chat, Mom! Thank you for coming up and spending time with us. We are excited about seeing you in a few weeks over Thanksgiving. What can I cook this year?

A brother sings to his sister

I was looking through my picture folders and found this video of Andrew singing to Abigail back in September 2007 on our trip to Panama City Beach, FL.

Andrew, age 3
Abigail, age 2 months

Abigail has the hiccups in this video....listen carefully!

Photo Contest

I'm entering another photo contest in hopes of winning something big.....$500 in grocery money! The twin sisters over at 5 Minutes for Mom are hosting this contest and giving the winner a $500 gift card to a grocery store in the winner's area. The photo has to pertain to food - whether it be eaten by you, a kid, a pet, or whomever! The deadline is this Friday, November 14, at 3:00 p.m. The finalists will be posted the following Monday, November 17, so I'll let you know if I make the cut!


My entry is of Abigail when she was about nine months old. She was playing with her blocks in front of the windows in the toy room when I decided to give her one of those biter biscuits that make a mushy mess when combined with lots of spit. Fortunately, I snapped this picture before the biscuit made its way to her face and clothes (although, that would have made a good picture, too).

Code words

Has anyone, other than me, noticed that the code words you must type to enter a comment are looking more and more like real words?....except they are really funny.

Some of the ones I typed today:

remoter
baroot
ukella
nomadi

Thanks for thinking of my feet

I am a huge fan of the written letter but I was so overwhelmed with the love and thoughtfulness of my family and friends for their birthday gifts to me that I just had to let the world see and know how thankful I am for these people.....and for my FOUR new PED EGGS! Most of all, my feet are truly thankful!

So, thanks to Kacie P., who put my Ped Egg in my mailbox which gave me a fun surprise Thursday afternoon.

Thanks to Angela, who came over to visit on Friday and brought my second Ped Egg along with an iced White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks.

Thanks to Libby, my sweet college roommate, who sent me a pink Ped Egg in the mail. Love it!

And, thanks to my mother, who arrived Friday afternoon for a weekend visit, hand delivering my fourth, and final (?) Ped Egg.

My feet have never been so smooth. They can now be smooth for the next four years! YEAH!

Read here to find out how they were all "tipped off" and on the same wave length.

Scrabble tile pendants

This is my next big project. I don't think I'll get around to making a lot for Christmas presents but they are on my "CRAFT TO DO" list.

Deep thoughts

Just after bath time, I climbed on the guest bed to have some jumping fun with the boys. Andrew jumped across me several times and finally, fully exhausted, he came to rest beside me. Then he said,

Andrew: "Mama, when I get a wife, can I still come and see you?"

me: (Where did that come from? Now I'm all teary eyed!) "Of course you can! You might not be able to get rid of me and probably won't want me around all the time."

Andrew: "No way! I don't know how I could live without you!"

Oh my gosh! I smiled, grabbed him up and held him close, hugging him tightly.

Andrew: "Ewwww, Mama! You smell like sloppy joes!"

So, no longer teary eyed, but laughing hysterically, I now inform you of what we had for dinner.

Decoupaged composition notebook

I've been waiting to post about this until I actually completed the project. I saw this decoupaged notebook on Grace Violet and dove directly into my paper stash to find the cutest pattern. GV explains the project using a small comp. notebook but I chose to do the larger version. I apologize for not providing pictures of each step. I know it's sometimes hard to understand how an item was made without the visual portion of the tutorial. My notebook is a bit different than GV's, but you'll get the idea.

Materials:
(1) large composition notebook
(1) piece 12x12 patterened paper
glue
exacto knife
acrylic paint & brush
cutting mat

Just a suggestion: I used ZIP DRY paper glue in this project. It is amazing...by far the best glue I've used for adhering paper. The best!



Directions:
1. Begin by placing the cute patterned paper face down.

2. Put glue on 2/3 of the black and white front cover. Why only on 2/3? Because I realized that one piece of 12x12 paper wasn't going to cover the entire notebook. I decided to use it to cover 2/3 of the front and back covers only. Go ahead and glue the cute paper to the front and back. It doesn't take but a few minutes for the glue to completely dry so I was happy to begin cutting the paper around the edges of the notebook with my exacto knife.

3. Rip off the black binding and paint it (I chose white but it can be any color you deem fit).

4. Finally, to hide the uneven sides of my paint job, as well as to cover that last bit of black and white on the front and back, I glued a matching solid color of paper (matching wasn't hard for me since the back side of the cute paper was reversible).


This was my first time doing this and I really enjoyed it. I am already working on notebook #2. Since taking this picture, I've added a light blue piece of ribbon to hide the seam between the white paint and blue solid paper.

It's weird how I love the way my finished products turn out but I just don't think they're worthy of posting on etsy.com, etc. I see so many flaws on my final result that I feel it would be impossible to handcraft anything without them occuring. Who would want to pay money for something that isn't perfect? Would I be jipping the buyer? Any thoughts?

Free Oriental Trading Calendar

Get your free Oriental Trading calender by clicking here.

Trick or Treat?!?!?!

These kids are so darn cute! Andrew was a Mighty Duck hockey player, Abigail was a lion, and Luke was a Georgia Tech football fan. I was a MOM along with my friend, Jennifer. It was the only costume we both could easily find in our closets. Jennifer's daughter, AC, was a Disney princess. We saw many princesses Friday night, waving their wands and wishing away future cavities from all the candy the world will be consuming within seconds, minutes, hours, days, week, months....and, yes folks, even a year later. We still have candy from Halloween 2007. Let's just say it has taken on the aroma of all the surrounding Christmas peppermints in the jar.

All my kids wore the lion costume on their first "real" Halloween. That costume has about seen its last days. Notice the zipper is already stuck at the top near her neck. In the midst of trick-or-treating Friday night, we plopped down in a stranger's yard to take this picture before walking to the next house for more candy.



Is there any redemptive value to Halloween? It seems so greedy to me. Personally, I like getting out and knocking on nearby doors so I can meet my neighbors....but I know this should and could be done at anytime and not just at Halloween. .....Just somethin' the hubby and I have been discussing. Fortunately, I know the families on our culdesac but I didn't know anyone around the corner until we went trick-or-treating!

(Melissa, what would I do if you gave me no shoes?)

Military free meal, 11/17 @ Golden Corral

What do you think about this, military members?

The 2008 Military Appreciation Monday dinner will be held on Monday, November 17, 2008 from 5 pm to 9 pm in all Golden Corral Restaurants.

The free “thank you” dinner is available to any person who has ever served in the United States Military. If you are a veteran, retired, currently serving, in the National Guard or Reserves, you are invited to participate in Golden Corral’s Military Appreciation Monday dinner.

Interesting

Click to enlarge.

Alpha-bath

My sister gave my kids a alphabet sponge bath game a few years ago. The boys have just started getting into trying to match (and name, in Andrew's case) the letters to it's proper place. It makes me smile to see them learning together (without fighting) so I had to get my camera out during bathtime (I cropped out their cute booties). I think it's funny that they put the letter O in the place for the letter D.

Spiced up

Check out how Bakerella spiced up her kitchen and living room.

Why don't I think like this?...I mean, I love food and funky decor.

Crazy and creative!

Clear marble magnets

I will be making these and these for Christmas presents to friends (if I can find the time). Prepare your fridge for invasion.

More giveaways...ending Saturday

Remember the Bloggy Carnival I participated in last week? There's another carnival of giveaways going on this week. Click here to view the links to enter.

President Obama

He is not the man I voted for, but I couldn't help but get weepy when realizing that our country just elected our first black president.

Wonderfully incredible.

I must also add that I was also weepy during McCain's concession speech. Sure, I was disappointed that he didn't win but the tears gathered in my eyes because I could sense the genuine love McCain has for our country as well as heard the humility in which he spoke. I applaud him for giving his support to his new president.

Then again, it's not about us....it's about HIM.

I won something!

Yeah, I won something in the Bloggy Carnival last week! Go here to read about what I'll be receiving in the mail soon. I can't wait for my kids to use it! Check out all the details around the edges, too.

Say something nice about "the other guy"

Abraham Piper has a cool poll going on at his blog, 22 Words. There, be sure to cast your vote...and don't be afraid to leave a kind comment about the opponent.

Apostrophe Abuse

There's an entire blog dedicated to the abuse of the apostrophe. Funny!

An explanation of video

Justin Taylor has responded to Piper's video.

John Piper himself has also responded to his own video regarding why a woman shouldn't run for Vice President, but wise people may still vote for her.

They are very close friends and respect each other greatly - I appreciate their friendship and honesty in that relationship. Please, please, please read this in its entirety. It is well worth your time.

See, Mom, I had fun!

Ok, Mom....don't worry so much about me. See...I was just fine. I have the pictures to prove it. Remember, what's one more kid to Mrs. Jawan on a Sunday afternoon? Nothing.

I'm glad you had some fun time with Daddy today. You really should let me play at Mrs. Jawan's house more often. She told me she loved me and kissed me all over. I laughed a bunch, Mommy. Oh, and I had a few tastes of yogurt so I'll show you which ones I want you to buy when we go grocery shopping next. Andrew kept bringing me handfuls of toys, Luke sang and danced for me, and Abigail tried to change my diaper and swing me in the Johnny-Jump-Up. Only Maggie the Dog can tire me this much. I only took a 15 minute nap during the 3.5 hours there, but how could one sleep with all that excitement going on right outside the bedroom door?

I think Mrs. Jawan was so pooped that her brain forgot to caption some of my pictures below. Let's pray for her.

Dressed for church

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

It's not cold enough for a jacket, yet it's breezy enough for long sleeves. Abigail doesn't have many long sleeved dresses so I just put a top over the cute sleeveless dress this morning before church. She seemed pleased. Can't you tell? Kat made the dress and I think it will be worn many times over the next six months or so. Thanks, Kat!

Target Coupons

If you're gearing up to purchase toys for Christmas (or for a son's birthday, like me), you might want to check out these great deals from Target. Click here to print your coupon(s).

Free Starbucks on Nov. 4 for voters

On November 4, you can get a free Krispy Kreme donut, a free scoop of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's and also a free cup of coffee from Starbucks! Just tell them that you voted and they'll pour you a fresh hot cup of java.

Click here for the proof.

For those of you who are local readers, don't you find it funny that all three of these establishments face each other at the same intersection? Let's meet at the corner and make the round together, shall we?

No wonder we're the most obese country in the world.

Cheesy Poofs

They are like two peas in a pod. What one does, the other has to do.

Harvest celebration with small group

Our small group gathered together last night for a Happy Harvest celebration. The kids enjoyed playing in the back yard, eating spooky treats, and knocking on a few neighborhood doors. Thanks, Jennifer, for letting us all come over and play (and stay late!).

Baby Palin

Cracks me up. So cute!

John Piper's Heart in This Election

God has blessed some people with the gift of clear communication and John Piper is one of those people. I'll never be able to voice the Gospel as clear as he can so that makes me thankful for YouTube and the vast amount of videos one can view of JP preaching and teaching.

In regards to the election, I've not heard one person put it (the election) in such a godly perspective. Praise be to God. "Our allegiance is not to America but to Christ Jesus."

Outline of video:
Womanhood
Race
Abortion
Prophetic Prospective
Sovereignty of God
The Gospel

HT: Justin Taylor (who else?)

Winners of my giveaways

I have already contacted the winners via email but I wanted to announce the exciting news to the world!

Susan won the Glade Flameless Candle.

Her comment stated:
Hmmmm...I think I would put this in my bedroom. I love that fresh smell!

Lisa won the Bath & Body Works Cinnamon Stick Wallflower.

Her comment stated:
Mmm, I love the Wallflowers! My favorite scents tend to be foody - I love red velvet cake, and I've come up with one of my own, brown sugar buttercream, that's just yummy. At B&BW, I love the Vanilla Nutmeg scent. I'd probably put the Wallflower in the living room. Thanks for the giveaway!

I'll be participating in the next Bloggy Giveaway Carnival in January!