Valentines Day Card for All Your Girl Friends

Valentines day is just around the corner and I love all the red and pink and lacy goodness! Reed isn't really someone that appreciates the red, pink and lacy things so sometimes I need to come up with some creative ways to celebrate the holiday :)  

Pinterest is filled with super cute ideas for classmates, teachers, and children but I don't have any of those... I searched Pinterest for some to send to girl friends of mine but I didn't really see any that felt like they fit. So of course I decided to fix that! 

One thing that all girls love is pretty panties. So why not celebrate the holiday full of lacy red, pink and black goodies with just that! I created a quick printable comparing friends to pretty panties, grabbed a fabulous selection of pretty panties from TJ Maxx and just as pretty mailers from the Dollar Store.

I can't wait to get these sent out to my girls, I know I would be extremely excited to get some pretty panties along with a little witty card. 

My little printable was inspired by a fun quote I found on Pinterest comparing friends to underwear. I loved how witty it was and wanted to keep the humor but make it fit the "pretty" theme of Valentines day a little better. So changing around some wording and adding some pretty dainty details gave this printable that perfect Valentines day flare. 

If you are as smitten with this little card as I am you can download the printable HERE. 

(Sorry for the language, I messed around with some other wording but just couldn't get pasted the giggles this one generated!)

 

I just love to be cheesy, I think thats my favorite part of Valentines Day. It's ok to be goofy, and cheesy and sappy on a day celebrating love! So, what is your favorite part of Valentines Day? 

Wishful List "Tuesday" ??

This week the blog has a lot going on! I've already posted 2 posts just on Monday and have some big stuff planned for Wednesday. Please don't forget to head over and join the Making Monday Link Party, it is growing every week and has some really awesome features and shares from you guys! Also, this week I'm part of a HUGE giveaway with Victoria's Secret and Sephora, I mean who doesn't want $100 worth of pretty underwear  and $50 of fun jewelry :)

Bring Joy to You

Today I planned on sharing another DIY project with you. I've never done so many DIY or project posts in a row but with all this time on my hands recently I've been able to make loads of little updates and have turned each in to a post to share with y'all! I love doing that, but I felt like I needed to swing back in to sharing something deeper than surface paint and my failing project was the perfect push back. 

Flying King Ranch, York SC (Reeds job)

I started this blog to share my endeavors as a young artist in art school. Then I moved in to sharing my crafty projects around the house and promoting my ETSY shop. I've used this space to share my life and I am so thankful that I have it! 

I hope this blog is a place you can come to find inspiration and joy.

For about a month now I've been singing this song constantly, Garden by NeedToBreath. The lyrics below have hit me hard as I've been out in the boondocks with nothing but time. I think about it almost daily. So sharing with you seemed right.

Let the songs I sing
Bring joy to you
Let the words I say profess my love
Let the notes I choose
Be your favorite tune
Father let my heart be after you

I'm not musical at all. I don't play an instrument and I don't sing unless the music is louder than my voice, (or i'm in the car by myself). So songs, notes, and tunes aren't words that I use on a normal everyday basis. But I realized that the things I do use on an everyday basis like paint, social media, my blog, and every imaginable craft supply are all pieces that God has placed in my life for a reason.
He gave me the creativity that I use everyday and has given me the passion to pursue art so that I can bring joy to you.

I really think when they wrote bring joy to you they meant more than bringing joy to God. Yes that is huge and I want to give Him all the glory for what He has given me the ability to do. Not only has He given me a bit of creativity but He has blessed Reed and I with every dream we could have come up with. I have a studio in the back yard, and all the time I could want to create whatever I want because Reed was able to land his dream job right after graduation.

Who does this happen to? Why are we so lucky?? I don't know and I ask those questions so often. I don't understand Gods grace, mercy, or generosity. But I do know that I want people to be sure of where my joy comes from. I find my joy in creativity and using my hands to build, paint and cook but the ability to find that joy is only here because God has given me the ability and opportunity.

I hope that I can give YOU ALL joy with my gifts. I try to make my projects things that other people find interesting and maybe do for yourselves. My artwork is something that I try and price reasonably and my sculpture is something I want people to be drawn to and linger on the concepts each piece depicts.

All in all, I hope this blog is a place you can come to find inspiration and joy.
I want to give all the glory to God who has given me the chance to pursue my dreams. I hope that with each project and post people can see my joy and know that it's from The Lord!

Flying King Ranch

December SPARK party

It's December, it's officially the holiday season, and it's time for our new SPARK themed party.

Our theme for December is Winter Wonderland!

Time to inspire and be inspired with our recipes, stories, home decor, photography, crafts, DIY projects, Etsy items, and more.

A big thank you to our SPARK sponsor this month, CraftProjectIdeas.com 

There, you'll find a vast variety of kids project ideas, printables, and craft kits. One lucky winner will receive a fun DIY Marshmallow Shooter Kit for kids. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SPARK is co-hosted by these lovely bogs

and these lovely guest hosts


The Crafty Blog Stalker


 SPARK Participation Guidelines

1. Become followers of each of the co-hosts as well as our guest hosts. We all have a variety of follow options on our blogs to make it easy for you.
2. Only family friendly links
3. Feel free to link up your Etsy items (not your shop), but no more than 5 items per Etsy shop
4. NO giveaways or linky parties
5. Link up to the original post, not your main blog
6. Please grab a party button (found at the end of this post) and display it on your blog somewhere. If you're not a blogger, a shout out on your social media sites is greatly appreciated. The more the merrier! 

December Theme- Winter Wonderland

Remember, each month has a unique theme, and we ask that you only link up posts or items that are relevant for that month. Please grab a button to post on your blog and help spread the word!

<a href="http://gracelangdon.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-december-its-officially-holiday.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h425/myartsybaby/th_WinterSparkButton.jpg" /></a>

Cow hide Camera Bag from Porteen Gear

Last week I shared with you some of my favorite etsy finds. 

Today, I thought it would be good to do a little review on one of the items that I recently purchased!!

Robyn at Porteen Gear makes stunning totes and camera bags. 

I order this one for my mom for her birthday back at the beginning of November.

Robyn has pre-made bags in her store but she also does custom designs where you can pick everything from the size to up to 4 different fabrics!  

My mom is very similar to me in the fact that we love to be different and we appreciate little funky things in life :) 

When I saw Robyns cow hide bags I just couldn't pass it up!

This particular bag is an acid washed cow hide. 

The hide is used for the front flap and the shoulder pad. 

Here is a close up of the cow hide. 

Its pretty awesome looking isn't it!

For the back of the bag Robyn uses a waxed canvas that looks extremely similar to leather. 

And for the inside I was able to choose the fabric color along with an accent fabric for the front pocket! 

The bag was designed to carry my moms Nikon D5000 with a 18-55mm lens and an extra 55-200 mm lens. They fit in perfectly and there is even enough room for a few other goodies. 

The bag is nicely padded so no need to worry about the camera or lens getting bumped around too much! There are also pockets on the front and back and interior that are great for little camera extras. 

Robyn has also included a beautiful little zipper bag that is great for extra SD cards! 

The only thing I would say about this entire thing that isn't totally positive is that it takes a few weeks to be made. I messed up by not ordering in time so it made it to my mom about 2 weeks after her birthday. 

However, Robyn totally warned me of this and even added a note in when she shipped it so my mom would know it was from us kids as a late birthday present :) 

My mom was extremely excited to have her new bag!! 

And i think the biggest plus is that its cool enough that when my dad needs to hold it for my mom he wont look too funny :) 

Robyn is super sweet and extremely easy to work with. I would highly recommend her shop and camera bags for any gift for the photographer in your life!! 

Don't forget to check out her shop, and if you order something be sure to tell her I sent you! 

Robyn at Porteen Gear on Etsy 

Etsy Holidays

I've been gone for about a week and I may be pretty distant this week also. 

November went by way to fast and now I am attempting to catch up. 

Which means a lot of my projects are going to be put on hold until I finish up a little bit of school. 

But I thought I would share some of the fun stuff I have found on Etsy lately. 

For those of you who don't know Etsy is a place where collectors and artists can share their passion. 

Everything that is listed is either vintage or handmade! 

Anyone can open a shop to sell their goods and I decided to join about a year ago. 

I love using Etsy it is so easy to sell through and is super fun to shop. 

I thought I would share some of my goodies from the shop 

and some of the fun things I've found while looking for Christmas gifts! 

I'll start off with some of the little treasures I've found recently. 

First: I got my mom a camera bag from Robyn at Porteen Gear and it is BEAUTIFUL! 

I don't have a picture of my moms bag but Robyn does custom camera bags, straps, totes and more. 

The tote that she made for my mom is a beautiful acid wash cowhide camera bag that was customized for her camera gear. Robyn is so easy to work with and is helping me with a few other Christmas goodies this season, and has even pitched in for one of my own projects :) 

Second: These faux lace thigh high tights are beautiful. (Hint hint Reed these would be a fun christmas gift). I just think the Norwegianwood shop has so many beautiful clothes and accessories. Its more than I am willing to spend on myself but one day I hope I can get some of these leggings :) 

Third: The shop Sweet Things by MaraMay has so many cute decorations. 

These are things that I wish I could make on my own but I'm not patient enough to sit down and make them. I love this paper garland, I am going to try and order it for my burlap Christmas tree! 

There are so many other shops I would love to share with you but I just don't have enough time, and I don't want to spoil some of the Christmas gifts that I've already purchased. 

I will do another post like this after Christmas so I can share all of those goodies :) 

Now here are a few of my projects that are proving to be pretty popular for Christmas!! 

The hand-painted scarves are flying out! 

I love making them and I had no idea that they would get so popular. 

You can customize the scarf with a verse, quote, dates, lyrics or whatever you want! 

Check them out here: Scarves

(I need to take some better pictures... I'll get on that my next break from school)

The second holiday goodie that I've got in my shop is a set of Christmas dishes!! 

They are beautiful white ceramic plate and coffee mug that each have a gold ring around the rim. 

I can customize them however you want or you can order one of the sayings I have pre-made,

1. "For Santa" with a "from" tag and your child/children's names

With an "Enjoy" mug

Click Here

2. "A Taste of Christmas" plate and a mug of "good cheer" 

Click Here

These are just a few of my projects from my etsy shop. 

Please stop by and let me help you get ready for this Holiday season :) 

PS> I know this was a post about sales and what not, I've got a lot going on and will be sharing it with you soon! I just need some time to get caught up on life and to digest everything before I share it with the world!! 

I hope everyone of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving and are enjoying preparing for Christmas! 

Little Blue Table

Here is that little table that I showed you in our kitchen tour 

It had a huge transformation but I didn't get to take before and after pictures... sorry

This table was found and given to us by a sweet family friend. 

She warned us that it needed some love but trusted that we could handle it :)

I am so glad she had faith in us cause I love this table now! 

This is the best before and after shot I could get. 

I was lucky enough to come home one day and find Reed working on it 

and he doesn't understand my obsession with photographing everything I do 

which means he didn't take progress pictures :) 

The table was kinda drab and was a bit rickety.

But Reed sanded it down and used LOTS of glue and screws to make sure nothing came out of place. 

The photo on the right cracks me up. 

Look at all those clamps!!  

After sanding, glueing, and filling in a few holes we stained it with a beautiful golden color. 

The legs to the table were a lot more tricky.

We sat there for a while contemplating if it was worth sanding each and every spool.

We eventually decided that it wasn't and so we roughed it up and added some paint. 

I just love this color! 

You can't really tell in the picture but its that blue that I use on everything. 

I've decided its my blue. No one else's, just mine :) 

I really love this table. 

It fits perfectly in our baby kitchen, and if we ever have a need to have more than 2 seats we can pull it out and fit a few more chairs. 

So many items in our home have been gifts from friends and family. 

Thank you for each and every one of them. 

Reed and I hope that we can make these items last for a long time so we can always tell our company how much grace the Lord has poured out on us through others :) 

House Tour: Room 1

Alright, we have been officially in the house for 2 weeks and married only 3 weeks!

It has been SO FUN!! I love having friends over to our house.

Sitting on our sofa watching TV. 

Not having to go home at the end of the day. 

It has all just been so great. I know everyone says the real world will hit us soon. 

But I'm just looking forward to the years ahead. 

I love my new roommate :) 

Alright, this is our first house tour!! 

This is our living rooooommmmm! 

It is a pretty small room only 12x16 so I was really worried about fitting everything in. 

Luckily my mom loaned us the chair and love seat. 

I'm pretty sure it was at one time porch furniture.

But I love it and it fits pretty perfectly in our tiny house :) 

We also got that sofa for a pretty sweet deal off Craigslist for $100 bucks! 

Its a queen pull out and the microfiber has only one little stain on the back of a cushion. 

Finding this furniture was such a blessing. 

This is the other corner of the living room. 

Yes the glorious TV! 

Reed and I received this fabulous TV as a wedding present along with the blue-ray player. 

Of course Reed wanted bigger but our room (and me) would only allow for a 42 inch. 

I think it fits perfectly!!

The TV stand is actually something that my dad had left over from when he owned a hardware store.

It was a rack used to display cast iron skillets. 

Yep, just basic wooden sides with 2 gridded selves. 

The shelves can easily be moved to different levels.

Of course meaning we had to put the raccoon on the bottom shelf :) 

The image on the right is a painting that my grandmother did. 

I had it in my last apartment and hopefully my mom will let me keep it forever!

Now for some detail shots. 

These are all of the pillows that we have around the living room. 

I was planning to make my own pillows out of canvas and just paint them but

I was lucky enough to find all of these at great deals!

The 2 brightly colored smaller pillows I found at a local consignment store for $8 a piece! 

And the 3 larger ones I got on redtag clearance at Belk! 

Reed was getting frustrated with all of my pillow purchases but I think they are perfect for the room. 

And he should be happy that I got them all for great prices. :) 

Annnnd finally our trinket stand! 

We both have a lot of things we want to show off. 

Reed has his animals, I have my artwork. 

I've tried my hardest to incorporate them both in a some what cohesive manner. 

This bookcase was one Reed had and really didn't want to part with. 

At first I had no idea what we would fill it with or where we would put it,

but I am so glad that he made me keep it. 

Because now we have a perfect spot in the living room to display some of our favorite trinkets and gifts we have received over the years. 

I've shown these images before but I thought it appropriate 

to share them now that the room is finished :) 

Just a quick reminder. This is a piece of fencing that Reed and I got at Lowes. 

Check out how we built it here.

And this is the display over the sofa. 

I explain the significance of each piece on this post if your interested. 

We are both so happy with how our little living room has turned out. 

We spend a lot of time hanging out in it. 

Finally it has started feel like OUR house :) 

*PS> Reed has 2 more duck mounts coming in the next month or so. Help me figure out where would be good to add in TWO MORE animals!!