Can you believe we are in March? This year is flying. I feel like we just moved to Indiana, but when I look at a calendar it has already been almost four months.
How long can I say we just moved to town?
In a little recap of what this post is all about, embroidering is my way of processing life. I can always tell what I am going through and what my current struggles are by the messages I sew. The time spent sewing these hoops rejuvenates my soul, gives peace, helps me slow down, and find perspective. Welcome to my latest journal entry.
When it comes to setting up house, I love it. I don’t think I was in this house two weeks, before I started painting it and making it ours. Maybe it’s being a creative, maybe it’s being a girl, maybe it’s that I am in the house all day/everyday, but I feel like it is wired in me to want to make it a comfortable, warm place that we find rest, peace, love, and joy while also being a welcoming and safe place to all who walk through our doors.
I often get asked about my style. I would encourage you to find whats you. Don’t try to make something work for you…that is not you. I love all those clean, white pictures and decor that just scream peace, but when I go to put a room together that is not what my soul is calling out. My biggest advice is to stay true to you. Your place will most be relaxing and peaceful to you…if you stay true to your taste. But, with that, don’t stop trying new things or stretching yourself to find the little part of you in there waiting to be released.
Ultimately, my Heavenly Father is so creative. From the smallest bug to the Grand Tetons, there is an exquisite world that we get to live in that HE created. He’s the ultimate creator and we are made in his image, so we are wired to create in some way. For some, it might be organizing their schedule, singing, skillfully reaching out to those who are hurt and broken… it doesn’t just have to be crafts. I feel we can all be creative with where ever we are. That’s why I’ll go down fighting that there is creativity in us all.
My theory is you can create a nice, warm home inexpensively. Most of ours is thrift store, created, or clearance sales. I pray that when you see my pictures and home, they do nothing for you but to inspire you. You can create a warm home for you too. If you are one that thinks you can’t create, I’d encourage you to keep exploring and trying!!!☺ Trying new things and mixing it up…can unleash new things in you. It’s a skill that needs practice and strengthening just like learning to walk or hitting a baseball. I’d say just in the last two years have I really figured out my style. Be brave, friends.
In the midst of setting up our new house, I am also purging like crazy. I heard this awesome phrase that I am going to mess up trying to recall. It was along the lines of ‘the state of our house, car, counters can be a window of what our heads and hearts look like’. They reflect the amount of thoughts, tasks, craziness we are trying to make sense of. I am guilty of having way to many disaster zones. I don’t want tasks and a perfectly clean house to define me. BUT, I am learning that I can have better systems that help us to stay a little more organized so all of life doesn’t feel last minute or messy. Simplifying can just create breathing room with less to keep up with or put away.
some random things I am loving…
snow (watching it fall I feel a peace cleaning over my soul)
tea (I drink hot tea all the time since we moved north)
getting color on all my walls
contrasting black and white with all my color
creating for my little shelf at a local antique mall
hanging with new friends
swimming (we got a YMCA membership and I’m swimming laps like I did growing up)
laying a bunch of craft stuff out and letting my kids go crazy
reading Caleb’s constant letters, cards, slips of ‘I love you’ notes
jump hugging my boo
watching Reagan dress up and dance
teaching Reagan to swim
watching J comfort and love on his new pup
hearing my kids giggle the belly roaring laugh
long games of Sorry
dinners with new community
hearing the basketball goal in our living room go all day long
essential oils
searching local small thrift shops with an awesome friend
worship
podcasts from Christine Caine
watching the stack of paperwork needed to get our foster care renewal go down
every minute with Matt
Embroidering helps me slow down, think, and find space in all the craze that goes through my head. What is it for you?
These hoops are literally my heart cries poured out. Since I have been setting up our new home, I have found the home phrases standing out to me. As much as I love making this our home, there is a peace knowing that it all doesn’t have to be perfect, polished, or out of a magazine. I believe this is not our home. We are just living and loving till we do go home. Thank you so much for reading, for journeying with us, and for being a tool used to continually encourage me. If you are interested in any of these hoops, please visit my shop.
***Do you embroider? I would love to see your embroidery journal! Let’s start a hashtag #myembroideryjournal to keep up with one another!**
My fingers took one for creativity with this project. There were moments I am sure they were screaming at me to stop and be kind, but I kept telling them this project was worth it. I do believe it was!
I’ve been on a yarn kick with my 
This was a thick dense cover and my fingers felt it as I pulled yarn through it. I learned the hard way, and I have a few ideas that can help you take this idea and make it easier for your fingers.
I drew an arrow on my burlap and then picked one color of yarn to sew around the border. I sewed the arrow like I would embroider a hoop. The difference was a thick, strong, sharp needle rather than a smaller needle with embroidery floss.
After my arrow was outlined, it was time for the fun part. I looked at my huge basket of colorful yarn and started sewing stripes one color at a time.
A few tips to help you:
After I finished sewing my arrow, I made an envelope back like I did on my 
I absolutely love all the color and different pops of textures! It is such a fun element that can brighten up any space. I also love how this project didn’t cost me a thing. I had everything on hand. Recycling an old object can give new life and lengthen the enjoyment of something. That old pillow has never looked better.
Right now I am carrying this pillow with me around the house and playing with it in different rooms. I like it in every single one. I might need to make some more yarn embellished pillows.
What do you think!? Do you recycle your old pillows too!? Would you add yarn embellishments to a pillow like me?
Moving is hard stuff. Or rather TRYING to move is hard stuff. Prepping a house, showing a house, and constantly having it ready to show (all while being a homeschool mama and in the house all day, everyday with kids) makes me want to pull my freshly dyed blue hair out. It’s stressful. It’s in me to let chores go, to constantly choose playing, creating, and being outside over housework. When in a situation that I feel like the house has to take priority, I get short, snippy with my kids, get in task mode, and feel incredibly grateful that my husband still loves me. I hate it.
My heart is finding peace in the midst of living something I would wish on no one. My prayers are more frequently that Jesus would grant me strength to seek wisdom and persevere than for our house to just sell quickly. The work might not be with our house, but with my own heart. We are still here for a reason.