Have you met Katie?

I am participating in Singles Day for my dear friend Katie! Katie and I met 10 years ago at the elementary school that we both worked at. I was looking for new friends since I had just moved and when I saw Katie I instantly knew I needed to be friends with her. She has such a dynamic personality that you instantly want to be her friend.

 Katie is 38 years old and lives in Lewisville, TX.  She's adorable, HILARIOUS, and an amazing christian girl. She has a passion for children and she has been teaching elementary school for over 14 years.

Katie graduated from Texas A&M and loves to visit every chance she gets. One of my favorite things about her is her sense of humor, we constantly laugh when we are together and she is so quick and witty. She loves watching movies, hanging out with friends and is not afraid to try something new.

Katie is an extremely crafty person and has a great eye for decorating. Whenever she wants to learn something new, she goes for it. For example she recently has taken up woodworking and has already completed some cool projects for her house.

Like I mentioned above, Katie has a big heart for the Lord. She attends church regularly, leads bible studies, and works at her church daycare on her time off. Katie also has a big heart for her family. She constantly puts their needs before hers and is always ready to go visit her darling nephews.

Ive always wondered why Katie has not found "The One" yet and I know that its just because it has not been in Gods timing yet. I know he is out there and I know he will be very lucky when he gets to finally meet Katie.

If you are interested please leave a comment with your e-mail address and info or e-mail me personally. 

Burlap Easter Bunting

Hi friends, long time no type. I wish I had a good excuse why I have been away from my blog. I don't so lets just say that I did something amazing and important :). Anyway my friend encouraged me to continue to blog. 

We (my friend and I) talk a lot about this, how I don't want to post things because they are not perfect or because my picture quality is not as nice as some other blogs. But just like anything else in life, you should not try to please others. Just do what you enjoy and those who read will read. So thanks to anyone who is still reading.

Okay now time for the "Burlap Easter Bunting"! 

All you need to make this very simple bunting is burlap, fishing line or thread, plastic easter eggs, and a needle.

I started out by cutting my burlap into strips about 3 inches wide by 3-4 feet long. You can really cut the burlap into any size strip that you need, crafters choice.

Once I had the burlap cut to size I just folded one strip back and forth and made it look like an accordion. I strung the fishing line through the needle and thread it through the folded burlap.

I had these Easter eggs on hand, they were purchased from Target last year. Plastic eggs usually have two holes at each end. I strung an egg onto the fishing line then began to fold the next section of burlap.

I continued this process until all of my strips were used. Then I tied off each end and found a place for my new bunting.

This bunting took about 10 minutes to make.

Here is another shot, and yes I'm keeping it real and not cleaning the laundry off the dining table before I take the picture. 

Try to make one of your own, it would be very cute hanging down a banister railing or on a mantle.

Have a great week!

The Sweetest Nursery

Back when I threw my friend's shower in good ole OKC, I was able to snap some pictures of the sweetest nursery. Sooooo, I'm going to share it with you today. This nursery belongs to my friend's little precious niece. 

Here are the pics:

Goodbye Friend

Today is an extremely sad day, our sweet lab, Buddy, passed away this afternoon. He has been feeling sick so I took him to the vet yesterday. I was heartbroken to find out that he would need emergency surgery to see what was "not right" in his stomach. I sobbed for the longest time last night, bought him a vanilla dish from Sonic, took him for a walk, and let him sleep in our bed. I knew that having this surgery meant that we might not see him much longer. Today when I woke up I continued to cry, I held him and loved on him and looked into his sweet eyes. We took him in at 9:00, my hubby had to take him because I was too sad. He came out in tears holding his leash. I have only seen my husband cry twice in 7 years. It was so sad. We went back to see him at 10:30 before he went into surgery. The doctor took a blood test on Buddy and discovered that his kidneys were in really bad shape. We went ahead with the surgery hoping for the best but knowing the worst might be the outcome. We said our final goodbyes to the little guy and gave him to the doctor. About 30 minutes later the doctor delivered the sad news. Our little Buddy was in bad shape. He had cancer in his kidney and it had spread to his liver. The doctor also told us it was spreading to his lungs. She said he was extremely uncomfortable and that if we took him home after surgery he might live a few days or a few weeks. We would have to give him fluids several times a day and that might not even make him feel better. I wanted to be selfish and keep him but I hated the fact that he would be in pain and growing weaker by the hour. We decided what was best for him was the worst for us, we had to let him go. 

Buddy was a sweetheart, he was kind to our other dogs, silly as ever, and he followed me around everywhere. When I left the room, he followed. He was the epitome of loyal. When we first got him he had heart worm and needed to be secluded from the other dog. I was on summer break so I toted him everywhere. I took him to run errands, took him to sonic, and while I was at home, he stayed right by me. It was like this for several weeks. When it was time to let him mingle with the other dog, after his treatment was over, he was so used to being with me, he just kept it up. For 6 years, he never left my side. He was my little shadow. I told my husband I will miss him climbing up stairs to join me in my craft room while I sewed, I will miss his skinny grasshopper legs, and I will miss his smile. Most of all, I will miss his presence in our home. 

We will miss you sweet boy!

Snakes and a Bridal Shower

I have always been fearful of reptiles and amphibians, especially lizards! My husband always says they will not hurt you they are just as afraid of you as you are them. I know this is true but their element of surprise is what startles me. Lizards are so fast and they can slither on you at any minute, same with snakes (they can truly harm you though). Anyway the reason I am going on and on about this is because THEY ARE OUT TO GET US THIS WEEK! Not really but we have had 2 snake encounters and 6 lizard encounters in three days.

The first snake encounter happened Tuesday here in our very suburban neighboorhood. I was sleeping in until oh I don't know....10:30 8:00 and I heard a bark that I had never heard before. I walked to the screened porch to find Leilah, our biggest lab, barking at the ground. So I called the other dogs in and yelled at Leilah (because she just wouldn't leave it alone) and I went to investigate. I thought it might be a lizard or a small bird but as I got closer I realized it was a plump toad. No big deal I thought until it started to uncoil and I realized it was a snake, right on our deck! Gross!!! I called the husband which of course didn't help because he was at work and couldn't do anything but sympathize. When he came home for lunch we couldn't find it of course and now it is probably in it's cozy snake home under our deck playing football with its tiny snake children, who are someday going to scare me so bad that I will run in terror and tear my ACL again.

Now for snake encounter number two. I am now on a healthy kick since I over indulged at my sorority reunion this weekend and because I like to get happy meals just to make me happy during the school year. Anyway I decided to start exerting myself more than the occasinal run upstairs to my craft room. So I suggested to my hubby that after we run an errand at Lowes we drive over to the nature trail by the lake close by. It sounded like a wonderful idea and was quite fun coming up to the small lake lookout areas. We walked several miles then decided to head back since it was getting dark. Again it was nice but I had my eyes on the ground since I had just seen a snake a few days before. All of a sudden I hear my hubby yell out ( just imagine what might have been said) and start to run with his knees high up. I stop in my tracks to see a pretty decent size snake slither into the bushes. It had slithered right by his foot and he almost stepped right on it. Now, my husband is manly but definitely not a snake person so he lost his cool in that moment. Gross!!!

Okay now on to the bridal shower:

We hosted a bridal shower for my friend Michelle, who is getting married in July.

Here are the details:

engagement photos hung on a small pennant flag banner

fresh flowers in mason jars

The letter B is from our B wall, her new last name will begin with a B as well

another pic of the fireplace pennant banner

Above the pennant flags we put succulents in jars wrapped with burlap. The small heart chalkboards attached to the burlap are from Michaels.

Not a great pic but we had two of these pennant banners. One here and one in the kitchen.

This was the drink station. Water, tea, and "purcell punch".

This is her grandmothers famous punch

small mason jars with chevron straws (straws are from Hobby Lobby)

We used the bar for the food and dessert

I made the fabric flowers and the chevron runner is actually wrapping paper

We had cheese, veggies, fruit, crab apatillas, oreo balls, and s'more cupcakes

The chalkboards are actually picture frames from IKEA, I just sprayed the glass with chalkboard paint.

Her sister Amanda made this B for the front door

This was the invitation

After the shower, her sister threw together some sweets for the bachelorette shower, this is the bride to be.

Here are the decorations her sister put together. It was very cute.

We had a mexican casserole with chips and dip, she had the cutest plates from Anthropologie

Here is a close up of the sweets. 

Here is the bride before our bachelorette festivities. 

We were all in the same sorority which explains this "kite" pose. I wish all these girls lived in my hometown so we could have this much all the time.

Have a great weekend