It is Well Boxes

It is Well Boxes {named after the beautiful song It is Well } 

is an idea that God put on my heart several months ago. 

And yet I ignored it. 

Okay maybe not ignored. 

I thought about it but did nothing with it. 

It seems like there are so many people battling serious illnesses 

and so many people who have suffered the loss of a loved one 

and my heart just breaks for them.

 I just kept thinking....what can we do to bring them a little hope and joy? 

I kept thinking...someday, when I have more time I'll come up with a plan. 

{Like that is ever going to happen?}

But God kept bringing the idea to mind and so recently, 

with the input of some of my sweet friends, the idea is becoming a reality! 

What is an It is Well box? 

Surprise gift boxes put together with lots of love and prayer and mailed anonymously to folks battling a serious illness or who have suffered the loss of an immediate family and need a reminder of God's love and comfort. They will be full of comforting items and point to the hope we have in Jesus. Think of it as a secret surprise from God to brighten the day of someone who needs it so! 

Many of the things in the boxes- printables, scripture cards, bookmarks- I will make or have friends create but a few will cost money. At this time we would like to purchase socks from the fabulous Notes to Self Socks company, mailing envelopes, 

and postage to mail the packages. 

{I contacted the Notes to Self Socks company and they are willing 

to give me 25% off if I place an order of 50 or more because they loved the idea! They ROCK!}

How can you help? 

1. PRAY: Please pray that God would direct us in every detail 

of these boxes including what should go in them and to whom we need to send the boxes. 

2. Financial Support: Would you consider helping us financially to 

bless some sweet, hurting people? Every donation, small or large, 

will help and will go directly towards the It is Well boxes- 

once the small Go Fund Me percentage is taken! 

 The more we get donated, the more we will be able to add to the boxes 

and the more boxes we will be able to send!

You can donate HERE. 

3. Physical Help: If you live in the BCS area and want to help 

by putting together the packages, comment below 

and I'll let you know when we gather to put them all together. 

We would love to have you help us!

4. Item Donation: If you have something you'd like to contribute to the It is Well boxes, please let me know! 

God is so good and faithful. 

I posted about this last night on Facebook 

and we are already almost halfway to our first goal! 

Pincushion Frame

I recently saw the cutest framed pincushion on Pinterest. 

{if you don't know about Pinterest....you must learn! It's super fun and super addicting!  If you'd like an invite leave a comment and I'll send one to you! You can follow my boards here.}

It was such a smart idea and looked so easy.....that I decided to make one!

Here's how! 

Supplies:

$1 frames from Michael's

spray paint

batting

glue gun/glue

scissors

ice pick

vintage pillow case/fabric

This is a project that other than waiting for the paint to dry only took about 15 minutes.

How cute and easy is that?

Chalkboard Paint Use #243

It's no secret that I LOVE chalkboard paint.

I've used it to paint plates, to paint frames, and even to paint the inside of my pantry door.

So when I saw these cute little jars at Michael's for only $1.00 each
(over by the wood and paint section- on the left side wall)
I knew that they would be perfect with a little bit of sprucing up using chalkboard paint.

So I brought them home and using a little blue painters tape-

taped off a small rectangle on the front of each one. Then I painted the little rectangles using a foam brush (a must when using chalkboard paint). It took many coats (probably 5 or 6) with lots of drying time in between to completely cover the area since it was on glass. When they dried and I pulled the tape off- a bit of paint had seeped under the tape. I just used a small exacto knife to scrape the extra paint off and they were good to go.

Once they dried I filled them with some items from my spice cabinet that I use frequently.

I went from the shelf in my cabinet looking like this
to this Aren't they cute?

And for only $4.00 they were a super simple and super easy project that I can change anytime!

A Dollar Project

I saw these cute little pictures frames at Michael's in their dollar spot last month.

(BTW.....if you didn't already know......their dollar spot is huge and seriously ROCKS)

Their colors were a bit on the bright side for me, but for a dollar I decided I could see beyond their brash paint job to the beauty lurking below.

So I bought 6 home with me, along with my current favorite colored paint.

I popped the backs off of the frames using a screwdriver and most came off very easily.

I then painted the fronts several times. Because their original color was so bright, it took many layers of paint to completely cover them.

Then I took some cardboard (I used the piece they put in packages of patterned printer paper but any kind of cardboard would work) and spray painted them with 3 coats of chalkboard paint. I traced around the back of each frame and cut them out.

Then I hot glued the chalkboard piece and the back of the frame pieces together and I was done!

Aren't they cute?

And for only a little more than $7 I have 6 super cute little gifts.

I'm going to give one of these little cuties away.

So leave a comment and I'll put your name in for the drawing!

It's the Little Things- Treasures

I love love love looking through antique stores and yard sales to find old things to bring home with me. I love thinking about what the story behind each old treasures is and imagining ways to use them in our home. The items always have such character and I love that!

On my recent trip to visit my sweetest friend Dory , she and I managed to steal away for a bit and go visit some of her local antique stores. We had a ball looking through all the old things and I found a few to bring home with me.

My favorite purchase was a pair of wooden shutters. They were obviously very old and I loved thinking of how they must have looked on an old house once upon a time. I got them for a steal- $20 for the set of two pairs!

I brought them home with the intent to use them in my foyer. However, after I brought them home and set them up against the fireplace in our living room, I decided they were just the right size and height and would be a perfect for a fireplace screen.

I'm blessed that my sweet hubby is SUPER handy. So I asked him if he could make a frame for the shutters- so that they would cover the entire fireplace. Of course he did so - easily and quickly. After a few sprays of paint (I LOVE spray paint) he hinged the shutters on and fireplace screen was complete!

I absolutely love it and as an added bonus it keeps hot air from seeping into our house during the super stinkin' hot Texas summer!

Crafty

My mom was someone that was so very creative! She sewed beautifully, made stained glass, and painted. She was an amazing artist and could make absolutely anything she saw. Her favorite phrase when we were shopping was..........."Oh we could make that!" to which I always replied "Um.ll..no Mom, YOU could make that!".

Although I am not 1/1,000th as talented as she was-I absolutely do love to make things. I do NOT consider myself crafty at all- more like a very good copier of great ideas that I find.

Typically when I work on projects, I do them at my kitchen table. Now because of my OCD tendencies, it's stressful for me because finished or not- come dinner time I simply must remove all the stuff from my table. So, for a lengthy project it become frustrating to have to keep packing up and moving my supplies.

So I recently started thinking and dreaming about the day when we build our forever house (the one we will live in for forever). In it I plan to have a beautiful HUGE craft room. I already have it totally planned in my mind and can not wait. However, since we won't be building our forever home for many years, I started thinking of something I could do in the meantime.

I already have a great craft closet in our guest room. I have some awesome shelves in it (Tony took a bookcase and cut it in half and then bolted each piece to one of the corners of the closet). It is fabulous and every little thing has it's own labeled space! Although our guest room is very small and already contains a queen sized bed, an armoire and a rocking chair I started thinking that I could fit a small table in it- if I simply moved out the antique chest that was next to the bed. A table that was long and fairly skinny- like a sofa table- would be perfect.

And so the quest began. I started looking for tables- at Goodwill, at the used furniture store, at Hobby Lobby, and our school district Swap Shop (basically a garage sale via email). I found several tables- but none that seemed to be the right one for the right price. That is, until one night a few weeks ago. A sofa table popped up on Swap Shop and it was beautiful. It was a cherry wood table and the price was just right. I quickly called the lady(after a quick email to Dory to see what she thought) and went to pick it up. It was indeed beautiful- with not a scratch on it.

Now my intent had always been have a distressed Shabby Chic type of table to match the antique furniture in the guest room. This table was NOT at all distressed- it was perfect. So although I felt badly, we set out to bang it up a bit.

We used the electric sander and sanded it down. We then took an old sock and filled it with nails, bolts, and other random stuff on Tony's workbench and proceeded to beat the heck out of that pretty table. I couldn't help but thinking that the sweet lady who sold it to me- who was so proud of how perfect it was- would have absolutely CRIED if she had seen me beating her beautiful table.

Once it was sufficiently beaten up, we proceeded to prime it, and paint it. Thankfully because it was spray paint it was done in one evening. A little sanding of the edges and we were done and I was the proud owner of an adorable little craft table!

And here it is with all the fun baskets and tins and jars full of craft supplies. I love love love it!

And if you know the sweet lady who I bought the table from- please don't tell her what I did to it. Let's just keep that our little secret. K?

Pincushion Jars- How To (and a jar winner!)

Several people asked for directions so I made a few more jars and took pictures along the way.

To make one jar you will need:

-a jar (any size will do but you probably want a rather short one). I really like these cute new wide-mouth jars)

-a 6 inch x 6 inch piece of fabric

-a piece of cardstock (in a color that matches your fabric)

-batting or cotton balls (I used batting the first time, cotton balls the second- like the batting better)

-a pencil

-a glue gun

-scissors

1. Take the lid off of your jar. Trace it on the cardstock and cut it out.

2. Lay your piece of fabric face down on the table on top of the ring of the lid. Place cotton balls or batting on top of fabric- inside of ring. Try to arrange balls or batting with the most in the center of the ring.

3. Place lid on top of cotton- and press down to push cotton through the lid ring.

4. Holding the bottom, carefully turn lid over to check to make sure the cotton is arranged correctly. You will want to adjust it so that there aren’t too many gathers in one place and so that the cotton isn't bunched up.

5. Carefully holding the lid- flip it back over. Pull one small section back and use glue gun to place a small amount of glue close to the inside edge of the lid. Quickly and carefully (so you don't burn yourself) glue down the piece of fabric- pulling tight. Continue in the same manner to glue down the rest of the fabric- checking often to make sure that the fabric isn't bunching up.

6. Once you are finished gluing you will have some excess fabric remaining. Cut off any fabric that is sticking up. This will help your cardstock to lay flat when you glue it on.

7. Take cardstock circle and cover one side completely with glue. Carefully flip it on to bottom of lid and press down firmly. You need to press as hard as possible because if you don't- your lid will be too fat and will not close. (Trust me.................I learned this the hard way)

And that's all there is to it! Now just fill it and embellish it as you would like!

If you are interested in making a Joy Jar let me know. I'd be happy to share the verses and quotes I included in the one I made.

And the WINNER of the jar is..........................

My sweet friend Shannon!

Shannon, you can choose any of the jars pictured in this post or in the first post I made. Just let me know which one you would like and I'll bring it to you this weekend!

Jars, Jars, and More Jars (and a Giveaway!)

A few weeks ago I saw a tutorial online for making a cute little pincushion jar here.

I thought..........OH how cute and easy....I could do that!

And so after a quick trip to the fabric store for some cute fabric and Wal-mart for some jars- I got to work. I followed the tutorial exactly the first time- and then made a few adjustments for the other jars I made. (If you are interested in making some- let me know and I'll tell you the changes I made)

I decided to make 2 pin cushion jars with tall tops and 2 with shorter tops to use for other things.

I filled one of the pin cushion jars with pins

and the other with some old buttons.

I had several ideas for the other two jars but decided to make one Jar full of Joy and a Blessings Jar.

The Jar full of Joy is a jar full of some of my favorite Bible verses and quotes- things to inspire and encourage.

The Blessing Jar is a jar full of rocks. On each rock you write the name of someone or something that is a blessing to you. This jar would be great for one of those days when you are feeling down - to remind you how blessed you truly are!

These jars were so easy and so cute and so versatile by just changing the fabric that I thought of a few other ideas for them.......

.........they would be cute as a centerpiece on a table at a party- with a cute paper letter on the top of each one- to spell out the persons name or the occasion

..........as jars to hold items in the bathroom or a baby's room (q-tips, cotton balls, etc)

........as candy jars

The ideas are endless!!!

These little jars were so easy and fun to make- I wanted to give one away!

So.........just leave me a comment and tell me which one you like the best and I'll pick a winner to share one with.