Dusty Days

This weekend we cleaned out my husband's old things from his childhood home. He reminiced while I listened to tons of funny stories that were being exchanged over old clothes, toys and pictures. We had a great time! We brought all 5 bins back to our place, complete with 15+ years of dust. Needless to say our apartment smelled like basement, and itched our eyes like one too. As one could only assume, getting these unpacked and dusted was my first priority the last couple of days.

I managed to find a place for all but 2 bins of things in our small first apartment! Took me a while, but today I finally got to dust and vaccuum since we brought the basement home with us. It feels (and smells) wonderful!

We've also been listening to the Real Marriage sermons lately from Mark Driscoll. It's been humbling to hear the ideas he's teaching about friendship, unity, and marriage. We've only been married 6 months (and are still firmly planted in the "honeymoon" phase) but it's always good to be working on your marriage, just like it's always good to be growing in Christ. (It's usually when you think you've got it figured out, that you need the most help.) Anyways, I highly reccomend them, even if you're single.

Today I also managed to create a new save the date. I've been swooning over all the chevron patterns lately, so that's what this was inspired by! As always, critiques are welcome!

(view in the shop)

Working a Latte

Lately I've been slacking.

I realized the other day, when we had my husband's grandparents over for dinner, that on a normal day, I can accomplish a basic clean of our home in 3 hours. (That's putting stuff away, sweeping, dusting, vaccuuming, cleaning counters after cooking, doing a couple loads of dishes, making up our bedroom for people to see, cleaning toilets, wiping down the tub/shower, cleaning the bathroom counters and mirrors and a couple loads of laundry). 

So why then, on a normal day, does it take me 8 hrs.? Because at the very core of it, I procrastinate. I take breaks. Nothing is rushed, because I have all day. 

Life at home didn't start this way. It really did use to take me 8 hours to do all of that, and cook dinner. But now, by the power of God, I've seen real progress! Which is great! But I don't think God would have me grow in this area just to sit around once I'm done with that part of my job.

So after talking to my husband, we decided I should put 3 hours a day towards my Etsy shop goals. This shop is something I started just for fun, and we aren't using it for income, but I have a long term goal of growing it as well. 

Creating this shop will, hopefully, help me learn to be proud of my work, and not shy away from saying "yes, I DID make that" when people ask. I started this blog as a part of this long term goal. It helps me think about marketing my shop, and myself. It helps me stand up for the lifestyle I believe in as well.

So today began my first day! :)

(I made myself a caramel macchiato -- ya know just to get the creative juices flowing)

Caramel Macchiato:

10 oz. of your fav. coffee, brewed
4 oz. of your fav. milk, steamed
A dash of caramel creamer (in the milk before steaming)
Caramel sauce to taste

Steamed Milk:
I don't know if this is the correct way to do this, but it seems to get the job done taste/texture wise.

• Put milk in a saucepan on high heat. 
• Whisk until a nice thick foam forms on top.
• Pour milk into coffee (will be liquid not foam)
• Spoon the foam off the top of leftover milk (in pan) to on top of the coffee. 

I did the cleaning before 11am today, so then by the time my "3 hrs." of design work were up, I felt like continuing! So I probably spent 6 hrs. working on stuff today.

I gave my online shop a makeover, and made business cards:

Then my dear friend, who is newly-engaged, called about ideas for wedding crafts, so I spent the rest of the time grabbing inspiration for that, and then of course writing this blog post.

Today feels way more productive than my recent days. I didn't watch any TV at all! :)


Praise GOD!

Tis the season...

...for weddings!

With wedding season right around the corner, I've had the opportunity to design a few "Save the Date" postcards.

The people I've worked with all loved this one design, and the guests that have received them rave about how good they look!

Check it out for yourself! I've listed some below here:

(Personal information, of course, has been changed)