Oh, Pinterest -How We Love Thee!

No, as much as we love Pinterest -it isn't the cause of our lack of blogging. It would be a huge understatement to say that Page & I have been busy. We're both prego mamas with photography businesses and homes to take care of. Summer just happens to be peak season for us, so we've not had much time at all to blog. We miss all of you and are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things soon! Thanks for your patience!

In any case, we have discovered a wonderful addiction...ahem...website that truly appeals to us and those of you who love all things creative. In actuality it appeals to anyone who loves good recipes, crafty ideas, fashion sense, brilliant concepts....need I go on? We can't stress enough how neat this site is, we've gleaned so many great ideas!! We wanted to share it with all of our readers so you too can become addicted....I mean, INSPIRED! ;-D

Many people wonder what it is exactly. By it's own definition:

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

Simply put, it's a great place to gain inspiration and organize your ideas accordingly so that when you're "ready" to try that idea, you can easily find it by locating your "pinboard" (place to neatly compile your ideas).

Here are a few "pins" that we've found that we thought we'd share with you on this Crafty Creations Friday....

Avocado Chicken Salad

Creative Cookie Tins - (we're thinkin' Christmas!)

Newspaper Nails!

No Heat Curls

DIY Roman Shades

Ruffled Tshirt

Porch Swing - made from a door!

These are just a FEW of the many neat ideas you can find on Pinterest. Simply link it to your Facebook account and follow friends and their pinboards too if you wish. *Just like any public site, there are bound to be inappropriate pictures/pins - thankfully we've not come across many ourselves, but just be aware when searching.*

We hope this inspires YOU to get creative this weekend!

~Lauren & Page

Mmmm....COFFEE!!!

How many of you LOVE coffee?!?! I DO, I do, I do!!! I even drink decaf for the sake of my little guy and still love it!

Well, did you know that you can actually use it as an odor neutralizer?? Have a stinky fridge? Place some grounds (please use cheapo coffee for this and not your good stuff!) on a shallow tray and place inside your fridge. You'll soon notice that those darling coffee grounds have absorbed all of those icky odors!

For more intensive smells - such as a room that has just been painted (aka my nursery), recently stained furniture, etc. You can simply take an open container of fresh coffee grounds to absorb the odor. BUY a cheap brand for that purpose, but then make sure you throw it out afterwards. ;-) It really works!!

See, I bet you didn't realize that coffee had more than one delicious purpose?!


Have a Quick Tip to share? Please leave it in the comments below and we'll feature it on our blog!!

~Lauren & Page

GOD IS PERSONAL

This is such a wonderful devotion, I pray that you all take the time to read it!! What a privilege to know the Lord and to be able to call Him my friend! He wants to have a personal relationship with YOU too!


GOD IS PERSONAL

Written by Pastor Thomas Smith, St Clair MO

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
John 17:3.

This is one of the most wonderful and frequently misunderstood attributes of our eternal God. He is personal. He wants us to know Him. As a matter of fact, this is the primary purpose of man: to know God. He knows us individually and completely. He wants us to fellowship with Him. We see this characteristic in action in the Garden of Eden. God is seen walking with the first man, Adam, and talking with Adam. This is the nature of God. When Adam sinned, that fellowship with God was broken, but our personal God came into the garden calling for Adam. Because sin separated man from his Creator, God made provision for man's sin in the sacrifice of His Son. God's love for the human race is so strong that no price would be too high to pay to redeem sinners to Himself. God wants all mankind to be saved, and God saves us that we might fellowship with Him. Our Scripture says, ""that they might know thee the only true God."

How is it that we can know God? How might we have a personal relationship with the Lord? God has designed that we know Him by faith. We have not seen God, and we have not heard His audible voice. However, because He loves us so much, He has given us the record and revelation of Himself in the Bible. We can know about God through the pages of the Scriptures. We know how God is because of what the Bible, God's Word, teaches us. However, it is not enough to know about God. He wants to know us personally. The only way we can be brought into a personal relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. It is through faith in Jesus Christ that our sins are forgiven, and the enmity between our Holy God and us is removed. When we repent of our sins and receive Christ as Savior, we are born into God's family. Immediately we have the capacity to know Him personally. We can talk to God and know that He hears us. God can communicate with us through His Spirit and His Word. We can walk with God by faith.

It is our great privilege to know God. Abraham was called the friend of God. Just prior to His death on the cross, Jesus told His disciples that He would no longer call them servants; instead, He would call them His friends. What a joy it is to know that God is personal and can be our Friend!

Baby Nursery {Part III- My Artsy Changing Table Redo}

As I was planning my nursery, I shopped around for various pieces for my nursery that fit my taste AND my budget. That's tough to do because I have expensive taste yet I'm super frugal.
I was SO excited to find this changing table on my local online yard sale site for a steal of a deal- $20!!! Most of you probably would've liked it just the way it was, as it really wasn't too bad. However, I wanted something unique, with character that was fun, artsy and colorful. I bought a $15 quart of Sherwin William's paint (on sale) and for a total cost of $35 (plus my brother's time) -I now have a changing table that was totally what I envisioned! My bro did such a great job, he made the ordinary into extraordinary!! I LOVE how this piece turned out!!

Now, I'm gonna blame it on the prego brain, but I failed to take a good "Before" picture. :-P Forgive me!! Please use your imagination and pretend like the drawers are still in place.



My brother removed all the drawers and hardware and did some light sanding to it, but because of the awesome primer we used (see pic below), it really required no sanding (my favorite kind of project!)



The key to good priming is to have a lot of fun.... oh and to cover all areas that you'll be painting. :-)


Once primed, we let it dry and then began to apply the 1st coat of paint - in my accent color, Sherwin William's Refresh - once that dried, we (meaning my brother) applied a 2nd coat.



As you can see, it's looking good but doesn't have any real dimension to it yet. Some people MIGHT be ok with this as it is, but not me! ;-)



My brother then proceeded with the "fun" part. He used several tools to distress it. When doing this - try to think of places that would naturally be distressed. Don't forget the drawers! It's the details that really gives a piece that extra "wow factor".




Afterwards, we went down to the basement and found some dark wood stain in my collection of paints. Using a rag, he dipped part of it into the stain rubbed it in the cracks and edges of the piece, wiping off the excess. This is where your creative, artistic side comes into play. You can apply however much you'd like, but the goal is for it to look natural and not overdone. Rubbing the stain into the grain of the wood and cracks really gives it that distressed look. Be careful not to apply too much! You must wipe the excess off!


Once we were satisfied with how much "distressing" had been done, he put the hardware back on and drawers back into place. Thankfully I liked the original hardware and didn't have to do a thing to it!


Here is Baby Shaffer's super artsy and one of a kind changing table, refinished with love by his Uncle Caleb.





I hope this inspires you to look past the outward appearance of a piece of furniture, and envision creating it into something you love. Don't be afraid to take a piece and transform it to your liking, it really isn't that hard (especially when your brother does it for you! haha) With a little bit of effort, you can transform "junk" into something AMAZING!

~Lauren

Thankful Thursday: Crazy Weather Blues!

Mark 4:36-45

³⁶And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

³⁷And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

³⁸And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

³⁹And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Let me just tell you... The weather around here has been crazy! In the last month or so, we have had massive hail damage (think ping pong ball to baseball size hail) to all of our vehicles, lost 3 windows in our house, and our metal roof and exterior log walls looks like a giant toddler took a hammer to them.

One of these storms, we were actually in our car. It was one of the most incredible, yet scary things I have ever seen...

It would be really easy for me to be discouraged by all of these things--but... I'm not. I know God has a plan, a great plan, for all that He has allowed to happen.

I have seen some of His Greatness and Mercy unfolding already, and I am really looking forward to how He will take care of the rest!

So, this is my quick Thankful Thursday. God is great!

A side note... Here is a verse that has meant a lot to me the last few days...

Proverbs 21:30 "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD."

So, tell me, what are you thankful for today? : )

~Page