Decorating for Christmas has often been one of my favorite things to do. Yet, some years, we can get overwhelmed with Christmas decor... Where do we begin and where do we end? There's the entryway, the tree for the main living area, wreaths, and garlands, and the list goes on. Today I want to help make Christmas decorating easier for you. I'm kicking off a weekly series... Creating Christmas Memories with Vignettes Every Wednesday between now and Christmas a different blogger will be stopping by with vignettes they've created to inspire you in your Christmas and holiday decorating. I'm so … [Read more...]
It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but until just a few years ago, I didn't have a very regular devotional life. Sure I prayed every day. And some days a lot. I would read my Bible sometimes... or even a devotional book. But, when life got busy one of things that I would let go was my time of soul feeding. Most of us eat three meals a day. When we're busy we might skip one, or two, but we don't go a whole day without eating unless we're purposely fasting for medical or spiritual reasons. So why is it that we often soul fast for days on end? Or maybe I should say soul … [Read more...]
My heart sings for simple doable home decor. Even more... when it's inexpensive to make. Oh! And packs a WOW! Are you ready for a project that's all that and more? I'm going to show you how to create a flowery book page pumpkin that's extraordinary! The best part is that it's whimsical.... it delights children... and make adults smile. I brought one with me when I went to visit a friend and she fell in love with it. Don't you think it's looks adorable in her tabletop greenhouse. Sometimes we take seasonal home decor too … [Read more...]
It's Monday and time for Project Inspire{d}! I am so glad you're here! Now, is a good time to be scouring the woods for pine cones. You'll be wanting to add them to your late fall and holiday decor before you know it. Learn what I do to debug my pine cones and make them pop from this post from the archives. It's a popular post lately. Feel free to "pin" these pine cone crafting tips to remember for later, too. How was your weekend? My weekend began on Thursday this week. Not really, but it sure felt like it as I got to meet a fellow blogger for breakfast. Oh so fun! … [Read more...]
Today I want to remind you that no matter how difficult the day seems... God has promised rich and glorious blessings to each of us who have chosen to call him Lord. Many of those blessings come in the most unexpected ways. I'll be sharing just one here today. Early each morning, I post an inspiring greeting on Facebook. Today it was this verse: I pray also that you will have greater understanding in your heart so you will know the hope to which he has called us and that you will know how rich and glorious are the blessings God has promised his holy people. Ephesians … [Read more...]
We're in the holiday home stretch. For those of us in the States, we're counting down the days to Thanksgiving. Just 26 from today! This time of year, I really enjoy pumpkin dishes. You too? I make a pretty mean pumpkin pie... but my repertoire of tried and true pumpkin recipes is pretty small. That just might all change with these.... 13 Pumpkin Recipes 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Cake from Robyn's View Pumpkin Scones with Pumpkin Spice Icing from Simply Suzanne's Easy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles from A Mitten Full of Savings Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding with Caramel from Scattered … [Read more...]
Raise your hand if you saw a beautiful photo on Pinterest and just had to make it? Keep your hand up if you actually went through with the project. Hold your hand high if that Pinteresting project was an epic craft fail! You are in good company. Heather Mann even wrote the book on it... CraftFail When Homemade Goes Horribly Wrong It's a humorous compendium of real-life attempts to re-create the inspiring images seen on the internet or elsewhere. I shared the book with my friend and she laughed all the way through it. Most of us will relate to miss-reading instructions, … [Read more...]
Today we're making another stop at my friend's home to see her lovely living room dressed for fall. Earlier in the season I showed you her jewel-toned dining room, her stunning entryway, and I showed off my book page pumpkins on her screen porch. This past weekend I was at her home and finally the sun came out so I could get some good shots of her living room. In between a trip to the farmers' market and breezing out for a stop at the hob lob, I grabbed my camera and shot a few photos. I didn't take a lot of photos... this is pretty much everything. This was not a photo … [Read more...]
Welcome to Project Inspire{d}! I am so glad you're here! What a fun weekend! We went out of town to attend a high school football game on Friday night. It was a cross-town rivalry between my school and my husband's high school team for the conference championship. Can you believe eleven thousand were in attendance for that game? Me either... but my old high school has plenty of school spirit and a fabulous marching band. Highlights of the weekend included going to the farmers' market, enjoying the big MSU/U of M game, noshing on good eats, and spending a few hours studying the shelves at Hobby Lobby. … [Read more...]
Have you noticed? It's getting dark so early these days. Gone is the after dinner walk. [very sad face] With more time being spend inside, it's time to make our homes a warm and welcoming sanctuary for our families. There were so many Great Ideas this week for cozying up our homes. Here are just a few of the many... Home. Made. Cozy. 16 Ways Faux Statuary by Homeward Found Decor DIY Reclaimed Wood Bathroom Shelves by Edea Smith Bubble Bubble Toil & Trouble by The Heathered Nest Headboard Turned Quilt Rack by Bre Purposed Empire Dresser Reveal by Forever … [Read more...]
Please … “Pin-it” – Share it on Facebook – Stumble it! My friend mentioned to me that there just had to be something she could do with the garbage can filled with acorns she had just raked up from her yard...aside from starting an oak forest. You too? Recently, I shared the first of several upcoming ideas for creating home decor with acorns here. Can you imagine living in a virtual oak forest and never having crafted anything with acorns? [guilty] This year...I'm making up for lost time. There's a county park within walking distance and I've filled up a couple of bags of … [Read more...]
Last year I went hunting for acorns. I walked for what seemed like miles through the woods that rimmed the cornfield, eyes to the ground, carefully searching for those little nuts with cute hats. After expending all that effort in the hunt, I walked home with a small handful. That's all! This year I had success and found all the acorns I ever wanted! Please … “Pin-it” – Share it on Facebook – Stumble it! You know how you hear that there will be a bad winter when there are lots of acorns? Last winter was the worst I've known, and there were hardly any acorns in my neck of the … [Read more...]
Welcome to Project Inspire{d}! I am so glad you're here! Over the weekend I went out of town for the day and enjoyed a delightful color tour on the way to my destination. In my neck of the woods there are mostly yellows with some oranges and a few rare reds, so it was nice to get to see a little bit more fall color. For those of you who don't have the pleasure of seeing the leaves change color I wish you could have come along with me for the ride. The wind is ferocious tonight... I hope all the colorful leaves don't get blown off the trees. Today I almost got blown away as I went leaf gathering... … [Read more...]
We talk about living with joy here at An Extraordinary Day. All the time. But, it doesn't always happen, does it? What do you think is your number one joy stealer? Fretting! Let's stop for a minute and think about this. If you find yourself stewing on something, fretting about it, trying to figure out how something will or won't happen, you are expending a lot of mental energy. Wasted energy. Fretting does not produce anything other than more worry. All the fretting in the world doesn't change the outcome of a problem. Fretting is a real joy … [Read more...]
Whoosh! That's my word to describe how quickly this week has come and gone. If you've got little kiddos humming around your house, you're no doubt on the look-out for fabulous fall or Halloween ideas for kids. Last week I shared 9 Fun Halloween Ideas, from the link party. This week we struck the mother-lode at Project Inspire{d)! If you're creativity button needs a charge.... we've got you covered. I can't wait to hear your favorite ideas!! 23 Crafts and Sweet Treats for Kids for Halloween.... Pom Pom Spiders by Craftionary Googly Eye Cupcake Topper by View From The Fridge DIY Scuba … [Read more...]
With Sweetest Day coming up this weekend, I thought it would be fun to share a little vignette I recently put together at my friend's home. You might have seen her jewel-toned dining room here. Or her amazing tree-lined entryway here. Or her screened porch here. Today we're back in her entryway. She has the sweetest desk there and it made a perfect spot to create this vignette. Here's how it all started. Around Valentine's Day, I created a box disguised as a stack of letters filled with words of affirmation. (You can find the tutorial … [Read more...]
Today's post is for my WordPress blogging friends. If you've been blogging for any length of time, you've struggled with comment spam. There is nothing I have disliked more than having to check the spam in my comment queue and dredge for the few true readers' comments. In a blink of an eye there could be hundreds of spam comments. Several months ago I shared a fix that worked for me. It took a total of three plugins to almost stop my comment spam. There was one problem with my "fix." It also included turning off the comments to blog posts that were more than 90 days … [Read more...]
