do you pin?

Ready or not...

It's coming!!!

{It's bigger and better this time around, too}

Stay tuned for more details.

Map Wall Art

I have had a project like this "pinned" on Pinterest for awhile now.

Yesterday, I finally knocked it off the "to do" list.

Yes, I have yellow walls in my kitchen.

Yes, I know it's daring.

Yes, I've had two people in the last week ask if I plan on keeping it that color.

I do.

For now.

In fact, here's the color pallete for the kitchen.

Found on Pinterest, of course.

{change out that plum color for navy blue and the top color for white}

There are so many great ways to use maps to decorate.

I chose this pin to recreate.

I found 8 11x14 canvases at Michael's.

Found the map at Office Depot.

Then simply traced around the canvases and cut them out.

Hot glued them to the canvas.

(yes, I said hot glue)

And hung them up on the wall!

If I wasn't hosting the next Pinterest Challenge, I'd enter it.

Speaking of...

it starts on August 5th.

More details to come later - but it's BIGGER and BETTER this time!

ditty is 6 months

Time is flying.

My baby girl just turned 6 months old!

We set up a little photo shoot to celebrate the occasion.

Her brother was climbing over me the entire time.

It's amazing I got any clear shots of her.

 This photo shoot was quick and easy otherwise!

See what a simple blanket stuck to a wall with thumb tacks can do for your pictures?

Little Ditty is such a sweet baby.

That smile is pretty much how she looks at all time.

And those cheeks... OH those cheeks.  

I LOVE to kiss them.

Being a Mommy is my ALL TIME favorite.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thank you for allowing me to stay at home with these precious ones by supporting Better Life Bags.

My little ones thank you, too.

Pinterest Challenge Complete!

 Happy Saturday!

Here's what my Saturday morning view looks like:

The Pinterest Challenge voting ended last night while I was peacefully dreaming about more DIY projects I want to complete.

I can hardly believe that it's OVER!

Your projects were incredible, and I was so pleased with how many of your joined up and voted for your favorite.

It became pretty heated between two different projects:

Steph's Baby Bib:

and Stephanie's Reading Nook:

In the end, the winner was Stephanie with her ever so clever closet turned into reading nook!

Congrats Stephanie!

Email me with your bag order!!

And I have to give mad props to Steph (with her baby bibs) for all the recruiting and promoting she did!

She went crazy posting on all different sorts of walls and pages to get people to come vote.

That's the way to win!!

You were so close, Steph!

Want another round?!

under pressure...

Water pressure, that is :)

source

 We've lived in our glorious house in Hamtramck for a little over one year.

Our water pressure the entire time has been HORRIBLE.

I feel like I'm taking a shower at camp each time I turn on the water.

Literally, I wait five minutes for it to warm up.

Then, when I turn the shower head on, there's a 5 second delay until a TINY stream of water comes trickling out.

Not. Any. More!

Our house has looked like this for the past day and a half.

And I don't care ONE bit.

Because not only is the water pressure being fixed,

but we have a short term mission team here putting up BEAD BOARD in my kitchen.

It's tough living in Detroit. :)

Now, despite the amazing water pressure,

I'm not so amazed at the gaping hole in my bedroom left by the plumbers.

They promise to be back tomorrow to fix it.

How do you even fix a hole like that?!

Should probably pay attention tomorrow.

I hear MANY stories of little boys punching holes in the walls.

Might come in handy someday.

My BLOG is also under a little renovation.

Click over now and again to see the changes.

I'll do a big reveal when everything's done.

edit....
Just took my first shower under said Water Pressure.
Glorious.
And they must have done something to boost the hot water, too because I've NEVER steamed up the bathroom like I did tonight!
Plumbers - tomorrow I shall make you cookies.

We've Done Something Crazy...

We've locked them up!

No, not our precious children...

our CREDIT CARDS.

We've bound them with thread and Bible Verses and locked them away in a safe.

No more spending money we don't have.

We've always been good at paying off our credit cards, until this past month.

This was the first month that we spent MORE than we brought in.

And that didn't sit right with me.

So, I took some action.

I took this book off the shelf.

Previously, it has been used to hold down the surface I was spray-painting.

{see the little brown dots?}

So, it has come in handy in the past.

But it has changed our future!

Dave Ramsey talks about and gives PRACTICAL STEPS to becoming debt free, building up an emergency savings fund, saving for college/retirement...

...and doing so right now!

It was exactly what I needed.

Someone to hold my hand through all this adult financial business.

We are already on Baby Step #3 

(Finishing our emergency fund with 3-6 months living expenses saved up).

Baby Step #1 

(saving $1000 QUICK) 

was easy as we cashed in some Savings Bonds that had matured.

Baby Step #2 

(eliminating ALL debt, except for the house) 

was finished easily thanks to me getting on top of our spending the month it got out of control.  But, there are many people who might take years on this step.

{In fact, Dave Ramsey has a podcast where people call in to scream "We're Debt FREE!!!" and tell their story of how much debt they had/paid off... it's inspiring to hear - and a warning to me at how easy it can be to acquire debt.}

But I can't wait to get to Baby Steps #4 and #5 

(investing for retirement and college funds).

He paints the picture that if you invest $500/mo from age 30-70, you could have $5,882,386 tax-FREE!

While I don't necessarily want that much for retirement, it paints a healthy picture of saving any amount for retirement NOW.

Have any of you read this book?

I feel like it was written for financial "dummies" {like me}.

Dave puts things in practical terms and explains it like I'm a kindergartner.

I appreciate that.

{and no, I haven't been paid to tell you all this wonderful stuff.  I just like it.}

Money can be a tricky thing - especially since our salary is provided by givers and churches.

I want to be a good steward of what they are trusting God with.

And what we are trusting God for.

What are some ways you try to be good stewards of the money God gives to you?

Pinterest Challenge Round #1

Round #1 is over.

Scroll through to see the projects that were entered.

Follow the blog to be updated on the next Pinterest Challenge details to start on August 5th.

There will be multiple categories and multiple prizes to be won!

I was so THRILLED to see how many of you entered the 

first ever Better Life Bag Pinterest Challenge!

I hope it was good motivation to get some of those amazing pins off the computer and done!

Don't you love checking things off the list and actually accomplishing something?

You know what's better than that?

Winning a FREE Better Life Bag of YOUR CHOICE!

{does not include bag add-ons or shipping}

One of these lucky ladies is going to do just that by the end of the week.

So....

Without further jibber-jabber, here are your THIRTEEN Pinterest Challenge Contestants!

Here's how you vote:

Click here to be taken to the BLB Facebook Bag Pinterest Challenge Photo Album

{whew.... long name}

"Like" the photo of your choice - the one you want to win.

There is no critera.

Pick the one you like the best.

Pick the one you want to do someday.

Pick the one that looks closest to the original.

Pick the one that has your favorite color in it.

Just pick one!

{The whole point of this was to finally get some of those "pins" done, right?!} 

The one with the most "likes" by Friday, July 22nd will get to design a BLB of her choice!

I'm also showing the projects here with a link to each contestant's pinterest page.

Click on each caption below the picture to be taken there. 

Follow them if you like their style!

{We all love followers.}

Sidewalk Paint

Button Belt

Adorable Baby Bibs

No pinterest name provided... click to be taken to the original blog post tutorial.

Patriotic Strawberries

Handprint Ballerina Tutu

Family Rules Sign

Thread Name Art!   {No Pinterest name provided... click for original tutorial.}

Important Dates Art

Little Boy Pants

Beautiful Wedding Photograph Idea

Frozen Peach Margarita

Closet turned into Reading Nook!

Aren't these great?!

I'm so proud of each of you stepping out and actually completing something from you list!

I just added a few more things to MY Pinterest list.
Don't know about you!

Now head over to the BLB Photo Album to vote for your favorite!

It's a Better Life Bag at stake here.

This is serious.

{Voting stays open until Friday, July 22nd}

The next Pinterest Challenge will start on August 5th!

There will be multiple categories to enter and different prizes to win!!

Follow the blog to keep up with all the details.

Better Life Custom Bags

Here are the bags I've been working on this week:

This new lovely named Elizabeth was welcomed into the shop this week!

She features an adorable bow front.

And a new style of handle: fabric covered rope for strength.

At 11" x 13", it's perfect for carrying around your eReader of choice or your iPad.

The bag is even padded to protect the above treasures.

And you can add on a zipper to make it close - keeping everything nice and securely inside.

I also made this lovely Emily bag.

I'm SO proud of the quality of the Emily.  

This was the first Better Life Bag style and it definitely gets better with age!

Did you know that you can send me your own fabric to make into a bag you like?!

I even discount the bag when you do that.

And while this customer might be a mom someday, she's not now.

But she ordered the Emily anyway and changed the elastic inside pockets to some custom sized slip pockets.

Did you know you could do that?!

Ahhhhh.  That roomy interior is just waiting for you to fill it up!

And those slip pockets...

I just LOVE organization!

And finally, this elegant Carla.

What a beautiful design.

With an add-on flower

AND

she wanted this bag to zip close, so we added a zippered closure bag add-on to the order.

Lovely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget about the Pinterest Challenge.

It ends Friday at midnight!