bathroom remodel inspiration: mint, gray, sunshine, + glass

We're saving our pennies for a major kitchen overhaul, so in the mean time I am going to give our bathroom {we only have 1!} a little facelift. A little paint, a nice picture or two, and some little finishing touches are gonna go a long way. I'm pretty smitten with this color palette, but I'm curious -- do you have any pet color palettes lately?

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I can't wait to get started -- my dad is coming for a visit + to help with this + a bunch of other projects in a couple of weeks. Eek!

once upon a thread inspiration: the house that jack built

You guys! Are you making anything for Once Upon a Thread??

It kinda snuck up on me last time, so I didn't participate -- but this time -- look out.

The details are still fuzzy, but here's my {delicious} inspiration, 

from this thrifted 1967 version of The House That Jack Built.

Amazing, isn't it??
I want to live in that house.
And speaking of rats, can I just say that I killed 8 mice while Richard was gone.
eight.

gallery: colorful knit socks

Time for socks!

There weren't any socks in the laundry basket for months and months

{except for semi-damp Army socks, that is}

and now they are everywhere.

I used to knit & made a pair of socks that I still love to wear.

I was working on them on a flight to visit my parents {pre-kids, obviously}

and the really old lady sitting next to me said, "You must have the patience of Job."

All these gorgeous socks make me want to pick it up again!

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sisters in service: talents of sisters

Welcome to Sisters in Service, a series designed to lift, inspire, and motivate us to celebrate the (many!) different ways we can serve our brothers and sisters while we're here on this earth. Each post spotlights a project or idea that's lifting others, serving the Lord, and changing the world for good!

Today I'm so excited to introduce you to Courtney and Lauren, a pair of beautiful & dynamic sisters and stay-at-home moms, who have started Talents of Sisters, a nonprofit organization designed to make real differences in the lives of women.

Take it away, friends!

In a sentence, what's your project?
We sell donated handmade goods to raise funds which we in turn donate to small charities or other efforts that directly empower, educate and heal women worldwide, and where we can see the actual impact our donation.

Why is this project important to you?
It all started when we read the book Half the Sky. We wanted a way to feel like we were doing something to help counteract the horrible injustices in the world that are done to girls on a daily basis. Being stay-at-home mothers, our circle of influence felt pretty small. We didn't have a lot of means to contribute to causes we supported, and we didn't have the time to really get out there and do anything, so we looked around at what we could do -- make, collect, and sell handmade crafts. 

Have you had any special experiences along the way you'd care to share?
The most special thing so far has just been the positive response.  Everyone we talk to is so open to helping in whatever way they can. Through donations we've received, we've paid for a latrine for girls to use at a school in Africa, a bicycle to help a girl get to school, home birthing kits to help women have safer and cleaner birth experiences, and we've sponsored a woman from Sudan through Women for Women International. 

{earrings and necklace benefitting TOS}

What's your long-term vision for this project?
We would love to have a thriving marketplace with items being donating to us and sold on a regular basis so we can fund some big projects. We'd love to be able to help rescue a girl from sexual slavery, fund fistula operations, pay for a woman to be properly trained as a midwife, and help build better facilities for girls to go to school in.  

How can I get involved?
That's the easy part!  You can donate handmade goods to us in several ways (details on our site).  You can visit our Etsy shop and take a look at what we've got for sale (we've got some stuff that would make great gifts!).  And you can help get the word out about what we're doing. We are always looking for people that want to help in any way!

Isn't that awesome?

I hope you've felt inspired and empowered today.

We can't change the whole world, but we can change the world for one person! 
Ready to donate some handmade items? Or to buy some?
{psst, there's a pretty MM zip pouch up for grabs!}

You can find Talents of Sisters on their web site, on Facebook, and on Etsy.

Thanks for visiting with us, Lauren & Courtney!

design inspiration: michelle armas

I loved my old blog design, but felt like it was time for a change.

{said in wall-e voice} ta-daa!

Designing my own blog has been a goal for a long time, and I am really happy with how it turned out! Simple, clean, and colorful. The color inspiration came from Michelle Armas' delicious painting, Rosalia, which it appears is no longer available.

{Am I wrong? Somebody please tell me I'm wrong!}

I used the Gimp color picker tool to pick a large spectrum of colors from the painting, then used those colors for the text in the new header. This palette makes me drool a little...as much as I like my new blog design, I don't think I'm done with these colors yet!

Color picking in Gimp is easy-peasy and is a great way to translate color ideas into actual designs. It also means you don't have to blindly try to select the perfect colors for your project. You could use this method for Christmas cards, scrapbooking pages, blog/Etsy designs... the list goes on. 

Any color schemes you've been drooling over lately? My paint chip sample collection is accumulating + I'm always on the lookout for new ones...

pinterest challenge!

Been feeling like this lately?

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Yeah me too.
Howzabout a little Pinterest challenge?
Short, sweet, simple: every week, DO something from your pinboards.
Or from someone else's pinboards.
Or just something that you've been meaning to try in general.

So what's got your fingers (or your tummy) itching?
Fabric-lined envelopes and Mod Podge pencils are at the top of my list.
Maybe a lace t-shirt?
or possibly some tinted glue?
Apple cheddar scones?
Peanut butter cocoa?!
(gahh!!)

Next Tuesday we'll do a little linky party so you can show off your stuff.
Sound good?
I hope so, because I will feel really silly if no one links up!

SO to get the ball rolling, here's my pin-did (hee) for the week...

Brown butter pumpkin spice krispie treats!!
And I am here to testify -- they really are that good.
{I mean, we gotta start this thing off on the right foot.}

Let's get out there and start pin-diddly-DOING!
YEAH! (punches fist in the air, rock star style.)

And we'll get away from so much of this...

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...or then again, maybe not.

eta: Here's a button! I'm so excited I couldn't wait until next week.

home / inspired: grey + white

We're buying a house!

{eek!}

This is our first time + we're pretty excited. 

We found a cute little house in an amazing neighborhood.

It is 131 years old.

{I will get back to you on how that goes.}

We'll move sometime in November.

It needs some a lot of updates. Orange shag carpet? Check, baby.

Our first two goals are the floors and the walls.

The kitchen comes next.

I always thought that once I owned a home, I'd go hog wild with bright paint, but now that it comes to it, I'm irresistibly drawn to grey + white. It is so modern, so clean, so versatile. I am a little bit worried that the wrong shade could make the house feel depressing, but I think the right shade would feel relaxing and, well, ahhhh. Here are some of my favorite grey + white images of late...

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Happy weekend, friends! It has been a crazy week here and I know we're looking forward to some down time together. See you soon!

loving words

Happy Tuesday, peeps. It is cold and rainy, so we are off to the indoor swimming pool!

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friendship bracelet inspiration gallery

I hope you've enjoyed our little friendship bracelet soiree! 

To wrap things up, I thought I'd share some favorite friendship bracelet images from the week (sources linked below each image)...

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Simple and snazzy, multicolored and monochrome, we love 'em all!

Hope you've had a knottin' good time this week -- remember that swap signups are open through July 27th, so email us, already!
Thanks for playing along -- group hugs + big wet smoochies all around!

sisters in service: the joyful life library

Welcome to Sisters in Service, a series designed to lift, inspire, and motivate us to celebrate the (many!) different ways we can serve our brothers and sisters while we're here on earth. Each post will spotlight a project or idea that's lifting others and serving the Lord in ways big and small. There are so many ladies out there who are doing some amazing things!

To kick off the series, I've got a special treat for you... it's Heather from Life Made Lovely!

(Don't you just want to hug her?!)

Heather blogs about faith, family, creativity, and choosing a joyful life. Her positivism (and realism) is wonderfully refreshing, as is her cute style! She also has a special project going called the Joyful Life Library, which provides joyful books for families in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) across the country. So... take it away, Heather!

In a sentence, what's your project?
The Joyful Life Library aims to create children's libraries in as many PICUs around the country as we can as a way to bring a bit of comfort from home to the hospital.

Why is this project important to you? 
While we were in the hospital and hospice home with our newborn son, for all but 3 days of his 6-week life, we discovered the difference small bits of comfort can make on your life.  Each small moment of kindness we experienced during those days helped us to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  We learned firsthand that as parents, there wasn't much we could do to participate in our son's care, but by reading to him it helped us to feel involved.  It helped to relax his heart rate and helped to relax us too, and now we want to make books available to all families whose children have been thrust into a similar medical crisis.

What's your long-term vision for this project?

I would love nothing more then to see this project expand to sponsor a library in every pediatric intensive care unit in the country, and of course be able to keep all those shelves filled with joyful children's books.  

How can I get involved?
One of the things I understood very clearly when God put this on my heart was that it was not MY project.  It's HIS and he wants as many hands touching it as possible.  Because of that, we are constantly looking at new ways to get people involved.

If your heart feels compelled to help us bring comfort to kiddos in the midst of a medical crisis, you can:

- Help us establish a Joyful Life Library at your local children's hospital
- Host a book drive for one of our sponsored hospitals that's near you

- Host a virtual book drive (use our joyful life library Amazon wish lists; see two of them here and here) for any of the hospitals we sponsor

- Become a sponsor of my blog, which allows you to buy books for a sponsored hospital AND advertise your business or blog

You can read more about the Joyful Life Library right here.  Thanks for visiting, Heather, and for sharing your amazing project with us! 

uplifting download: he'll go with you

Welcome, Life Made Lovely readers! It's so nice to have you here!

With all the comings + goings of summertime, I've been thinking a lot about busyness, schedules, 

and trying to spend more time doing stuff that, you know, matters.

Sometimes it is hard for me to choose. 

What I should do -- what I want to do -- what He wants me to do -- 

they don't always align. 

But I do know that I can have Him with me, no matter what.

{click here to download}

Whatever life is handing you right now -- you can have Him with you.

He can help you.

He knows you + He loves you.

Isn't that just the greatest?

I think it is!

Hope you enjoy the print -- I'll be back soon with some super vintage finds.

I hope your week is off to a beautiful start, my friends!

pinterest, print edition

Thanks for the sweet comments + e-mails yesterday. I'm doing a lot better today, thanks to lots of rest + blessings over the weekend. Good thing, too, because my little chickies need their mama! They have been so sweet the past few days. Little kids are so amazing in their capacity to just roll with it. Most of the time.

So I like to keep a design idea notebook handy here at home. Here's a few recent pages that I keep going back to for inspiration (sometimes it helps me visualize what a pattern might look like when I actually draw it on paper).

If you're interested in pattern design, try Built by Wendy Dresses. It is my go-to book for a starting point when I'm drafting any kind of pattern, dress or no. I think it is a totally worthwhile purchase!

Speaking of which, the Pretty Blouse pattern will be available on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog on June 16th! I'm super excited/nervous. I still have a little list of kinks to work out, though, and they need to be done in 2 days! Eek! Better get to it...

Smoochies!

pretties for monday

Kinda dark and stormy here today, how about you? Oh well, at least it's better than snowing. These pretties have been burning a hole in my pin boards.

I want this dress so bad...

Source: modcloth.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Drooool. I saw the complete aqua/white set at an antique store on Saturday but couldn't swallow the $40 price tag (fair though it may have been).

Source: flickr.com via Amanda on Pinterest

THANK YOU to La, who pointed me toward these (cheap!) shoes after my mustard-flat-coveting last week. Definitely looking for these on our next pilgrimage to Target.

Source: target.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Light + color. Yum.

Source: designalicious.typepad.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I love the shape of the skirt with the front crochet detail. Darn you for being so amazing, Free People.

Source: freepeople.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Can you believe this stack of happiness?

Source: attic24.typepad.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Happy Monday, everyone!

(ps. how 'bout that Osama?? R and I stayed up super late last night watching the coverage. you should have seen him when Obama announced that it was our guys that busted in and fired the shots. he was jumping around like a kid on Christmas. it's a big day in the Army community.)