So Much to be Thankful For.

                   

                I am not even sure where to begin my heart is so full.......

               
              
               The last week was hectic to say the least. My husband and I spent Tuesday  baking pies with a good friend  and the following day I was able to spend the evening with a dear friend making cake pops and Oreo turkeys. While our six children ran around the yard in the dark with flashlights laughing and screaming. All this in preparation for one day. A day we get to spend with our families being Thankful for the Lord's blessings in our lives.  I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the whole week being reminded of all the people God has put in my families life who love us.

             So much work has to go into one meal but in the end it is all worth it, to be able to have this patchwork of people who have all walked their own roads and many of them not easy ones to walk, to come together under one roof. This group of people who's one tie that binds them all is,  family  and  for one day all feels right with the world. Among the chaos,  with people running every which way,  I stopped to notice all the laughing and smiling faces. To see cousins biking and skateboarding together like this is just the way it always is.

                 I saw Aunts and cousins that I haven't seen in years but the love I feel for those people is so ever present.  It amazes me how accepting children are when they are told this is your family, no questions are asked they just accept them. I am not sure when I will see them again, my hope is that we will all be together again at Christmas, maybe it won't be until next Thanksgiving. I don't know but I do know that it won't be a day I soon forget. I am sure it is a day that most of my family will remember.  A  day we were Thankful for having family, having a place to be ourselves with people who love us and of course so much delicious food!

            I pray that you too will take a moment to really be Thankful for the family God has blessed you with.


                                                                 Hugs.....Naomi


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Quilt Update

Hey there fellow Crafters......

                 I just wanted to post an update on my quilt project. Oh I am so excited I was able to finish piecing the top and fuse all the mittens and lettering. I have started to stitch  the applique. So here are a few pictures. It was so nice to hang in jammies all weekend and quilt. That is something I haven't done in a while. There will be more where that came from for sure!


                                                                                  

 

Well let me know what you think which you can do here or on my new Facebook page. You can find me at Inspirations From A Crafty girl, so check it out and make sure to like my page. I would love for it to be a place we can share all of ideas and current projects as well as answer any questions. So go and inspire and be inspired.

 

  Hugs......Naomi

Quilt Project

 

             I am sure I mentioned this in my last blog but I will say it again I love FALL. This time of year makes me want to start quilting again. I guess it is the cold air or the shorter days. I am not sure, all I do know is that I am so ready to quilt. So the other night I went on a search for a new project. I pulled out an American Patchwork & Quilting magazine from last year, you know one of those magazines you save and mark up with all the future projects, I think we all have them. Well it was a toss up between pumpkins, leaves or these cute little mittens. I went with the mittens. A little early, I know, but I am hoping to have this little wall hanging finished by Christmas time.
           The quilt is called "Bundle Up". I wanted to share with you my color options and see what you think. Do you quilt and are currently working on something?


                                                                                         

                                                                                    

 

I can't wait to hear about your current project and I will make sure to keep you up to date on my progress.

 

 

Until next time Hugs.........

 

                               Naomi

                                                        
                                                         Home Sweet Home 


   Hello to all my sweet friends! I have been busy settling in to our home and nesting as some might call it. Doing so has caused my wheels to turn and this latest project was especially fun for me.
   
    I love to craft no matter what, but crafting with others is always more fun. This last weekend I had the opportunity to spend some treasured time with my niece whom I don't see often at all and we painted. She is such an inspiration to me and so creative.

       The goal for me with this project was to bring the warmth of the inside of our home to the outside.  Our house isn't very big so we really rely on on our patio space when we have any kind of get to together in our home. I wanted the patio to feel like an extension the home not just the patio. I came across these old wooden windows and was so inspired. I knew instantly where they'd go. 

                                       This is the space before the windows were hung.

                                                                                

                                                           
                                        These are old wooden windows. I was inspired by their age to paint them like old store front windows.  This is the space after the windows were hung.

                                                                                   

 

 

I chose to do a fall theme on the windows because I LOVE fall. It is by far my favorite time of the year, from the changing leaves to cooler weather and baking. I also wanted to create a camp theme. Here are the windows after they were painted.

 

 

 

 We named the patio/camp Forever Fall and then I let the kids help me come up with some ideas for our camp activities. These are a little difficult to read but the list is; leaf raking at 11am and pile jumping to follow and the last one says pumpkin carving at 2.

 

 

 

 

and no camp is complete without a camp fire......

 

 

 

I hope that you were inspired to be crafty.

 

 

 Hugs......Naomi

 

 

                                                                                       

     OK so I guess the saying goes better late than never. I dislike late so much but it goes with working full time and parenting. I am trying to cut myself some slack, I hope that you can too.  
     I was able to finish our last project though and it turned out wonderful. As you may remember my youngest daughter, Sophie, was out of town so we were waiting for her to get back to paint her egg.  We also still needed to seal the wood and attach the post to back so they could sit in the yard.
                                              Here is Sophie hard at work her egg.

 

Sophie and her finished egg!

 

 

And here are the bunnies I painted.

 

 

And now all the eggs.....

 

 

I arranged them for the photo but when I was done with the picture the kids placed the eggs and the bunnies randomly around the yard.

 

Here are some close ups of each egg.

 

 

Audrey's

 

 

Lochlin's

 

 

Nolan's

 

I hope you enjoy..... Please share with me what you are working on. I love to be inspired by other's craftiness!!

 

                      Hugs..... Naomi 

 

 

Romans 1:4-5
      And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. (NLT)

     With Easter so early this year I thought I would spend some time working on a few new yard decorations to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior and the fast approaching Spring.
     Here they are our brightly colored Easter Eggs! With the design help of my four children these eggs turned out beautifully. I think that you'll agree. I hope that you are inspired to get crafty with someone you love.
                                                                      Lets get started!

 

                                            It sure was a beautiful day here in Port Orford.

To get started all you need is a template or you can free hand it. I used a template for the bunny but I free handed the eggs, some scrape plywood, a pencil and a pair of scissors.

I used a jig saw to cut out the shapes. A jig saw is such a great power tool and so easy to use. Even Audrey tried her hand at it.

                                                            Now to get painting.
I taped out the lines for the kids to paint and the younger to were able to assist mostly with the design process.

 I knew that Nolan would struggle with the painting so gave him buttons and  let him create a pattern.

                                                          All the kids hard at work!
   Sophie was out of town the weekend we painted. So hopefully this coming weekend we will have all the eggs and bunnies finished and I will post a picture of them in the yard all completed.
      My prayer is that while we all love the traditions associated with Easter like the chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and Easter egg hunts, that we will remember the true meaning Easter. The fact that Jesus is risen! And he sits at the right hand of God.(Mark 16:19b)


                                          I will see you all again soon but until then get crafty!

                                                                                     Hugs..... Naomi

 

                      Proverbs 14:23 All Hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. (NIV)
               
                        This week in our home we have been talking a lot with our children about working hard to get the things that you want and need. Of course most of the things that our children come to us about tend, more often than not, to be wants and not needs and with four children I can not afford just to give them whatever they want and even if I could I wouldn't want to. All this talk has caused the kids to really think about ways they can earn money and they know that doesn't mean asking mom to pay them to do house chores. 
                       My oldest daughter, Audrey, decided to get creative, literally. She started decorating the many pencils we have collected over the years with duct tape flowers and figured she would take them to school and see if she could sell them to her friends. To her surprise and mine as well she has been very successful. The first day she went to school with about five pencils and she sold out and was taking orders for additional pencils. She spent the next couple of evenings making pencils with such excitement. In total she made about 15$. I know it might not sound like much but it has provided her so much more than just money and the opportunity to buy something she wants, this is an experience she will carry with her for the rest of her life. She will look back and know that if she works hard she can achieve anything. She can be confident in her ideas and her ability. I am so very proud of her!

                     Ecclesiastes 3:22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them? (NIV)

                                                                                    


                                                                                     Enjoy Your week and your work!

                                                                                                     Hugs........ Naomi
                                      

Inspire Me!

        I know, I know, I am have been M.I.A but I am alive and well. I am have spent the last 5 months trying to adjust to a new normal. Let me say it hasn't been easy and I keep putting off those things that are normal to me because I can't seem to get it together, things such as my blog. So tonight as I sit at my computer that little voice in my head said JUST DO IT. I don't have anything crafty to inspire you with tonight but I feared that if I didn't do this tonight I just might not do it at all. I can tell you now though, the moment my fingers touched these keys I already felt the weight lifting. :)
      
      So tonight I ask you all for a little inspiration. Inspire me, tell me what keeps you going? For me it has always been God and the way he uses the people around me to lift me up. So I thought what better place to start then here with friends. I just wish I would have done so sooner.
       
     So for now I will leave you, and myself, with a message from 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
                  
        I will be back next week! Until then......
                                                                          Hugs....... Naomi