friends Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Spoonful of Imagination

The Whole Lotta Family Love Giveaway

February 8, 2013 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Today, I have a HUGE giveaway for one of you!! I have teamed up with three other bloggers to bring you this bundle of awesomeness!

Money Trail

Carpool-Ninja

DIY on the Cheap

We are joining together to bring you a giveaway for your whole family to enjoy. We have all gone in to offer up a $40 amazon giftcard. I might be slightly jealous of that awesomeness, but we have then each donated another item of our craft.

My good friend, Courtney (carpool-ninja), that I introduced to you in my Girl’s Night post, has written a book. I don’t know how I have such awesome, famous friends. I started getting to know Courtney a year ago and through lots of playdates, girls nights, and kiddo birthday parties she quickly went into the good friend category in my head. Her book is amazing, and I have had the privledge of reviewing it for her. As a stay at home mom of three, there are amazing ideas and hands on activities I can do with my kids. I love that its all in a book, and one way my kids can see me “read” rather than holding my phone as I browse for inspiration or ideas. This is an awesome book. If you don’t win it, you can buy it on here on amazon.

I have just started to get to know Pam with Money Trail, but she’s awesome and I can already tell be someone I love. She has a site and app devoted to: Allowance and Money Management for Kids, Teens and Families. She is offering up one of her apps for free today. This app allows you to virtually track your children’s money, gifts, IOUs, and more. Pam has four kids that are older than mine. I feel like she is one step past me in life, yet shes so humble, real and has so much knowledge that I want to soak up.

You know my friend Erin from DIY on the Cheap, as every other post mentions her, has offered to make a custom wreath for our winner. The above wreath is one she has made for her family, and the winner of this giveaway gets to choose the letter he/she wishes to add for a similar style wreath. Erin is so talented and this wreath is one of her simpler projects. You really should check out the posts through her Boys’ Big Boy Room Makeover series that is happening.

I have made this sweet little vintage Love Sign and teal earrings to add to our giveaway. You might remember seeing this sign on loan for my Valentine’s Day Mantel. It will happily come down and go in the mail to our winner.

There are a lot of awesome prizes here and lots of different ways to be entered for this giveaway. Please feel free to enter in whatever ways you want!

To enter, simply wait for the Rafflecopter box below to load and then follow the instructions. This giveaway ends Friday, February 22, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for the overwhelming love and encouragement from my Falling into my Hole post from yesterday. You guys are the best, and it feels so good to not be alone! I’ll post more of my process in the coming week.

Falling Into My Hole

February 7, 2013 By Erica Deuel 22 Comments

For a week, I have been down. When I say down, I mean like sad, weepy, no patience with my sweet kids, tired, cranky (borderline bitchy), and on the verge of a depressed outlook on life. It has been a long week.

I shared at the beginning of the year that my word for the year is CHANGE. I’ve also hinted to big things coming for us as a family. Everything we’ve been thinking and moving towards was on track and could not be more exciting. That is until this past week. We had a huge set back. Things that were coming together all of the sudden had fallen apart. It wasn’t like a two steps back sort of thing. It was a back at the starting line kind of blow.

Although we have been dealt a hard hand at the moment, I feel like I am carrying things harder than I should. The truth is I am truly blessed. I have an amazing family, a roof over my head, and food in front of me. All our bills might not be paid at the exact moment, but there are plans for them to be, and we will be just fine.

I have wanted to crawl in a hole, feel sorry for myself and not talk to anyone really. That’s not fair, and it is not healthy. When I have moments like this week in my life, I call it my hole. I feel like I have fallen into a deep black hole, and I can’t find a way out.

I know sometimes in life we have to choose joy (as I posted this above instagram this week), but I want that joy flowing more freely…even over speed bumps.

This post might come as a surprise after a few cheery posts about my Valentines Day Mantel, my kids vlog, and a Girl’s Night. All of those moments were real and special but I am also good at ignoring and stuffing my issues. It’s a craft in itself, but I am also a mom to three beautiful kids that I’m trying to nurture in a POSITIVE way. I don’t have to be perfect, but I have to be healthier.

This week, I found myself evaluating my health, and the verdict was not good.

I have not done a good job with my goal of eating breakfast for 2013. Coffee no longer counts.

I used to be a runner! I ran several miles a couple of times a week. Now, I haven’t run in months.

I start my days drinking coffee. (about 3-4 cups a day)

I end my days drinking beer.

I throw a large sweet tea down in the middle of most days.

I sit in front of a computer for my “alone time.”

I eat a lot of sugar. Candy mostly.

My mind is always going.

I don’t know how to not “be doing” and rest.

I think if I was a healthier person, and I had a few of these things in order, I would be able to process bad news better and keep perspective on the bigger picture. So, I need to change. Funny how that was my word for this year!? Change.

Matt and I were talking about how we so easily over estimate all we can accomplish in a year, but we under value what we could accomplish in the next 15 minutes. Vision for the future is so important but life can be simplified just by focusing on today. Do the little things and do them well. Control the things I can control and trust for the things I can’t. So while I’m still believing in big things for this year I’m going to try and focus on the gift I have been given: today. I’m going to work to change the parts of me that I can change today.

In the midst of this crazy emotional week, I got a package from my new friends at Provacative Manners that put a smile on my face.

Danielle Marie & Katrina are best friends that blog together. How cool is that!? I have had the pleasure of getting to know these sweet friends and I am blessed to now have them as my own blogging buddies. They write as they see life, “it’s all about the fabulous lifestyle, fashion, treats (whether that’s dessert, pedicures or a kiss in the rain!) and those common sense everyday manners!” They have gorgeous pictures and are really relate-able.

They sent me a sweet Valentines Day present, and how coincidental that it was all about pampering ME!?

Thank you Danielle Marie & Katrina for not only putting a smile on my face, but a ray of sunshine in my week!!

Thank you to all my amazing readers for being a place that I can process life.

Girl’s Craft Night + Baby Shower

February 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 5 Comments

The other night I got a chance to throw a little girl’s night + craft night + baby shower all in one event with my friend Erin.

We had a blast planning it together for our good friend Dana, and it ended up being such a fun night. It was low key, and the perfect blend of girl time, crafts, good food, awesome friends, celebration of life, and pajamas.

Here is a series of pictures from our night with steps on how to make the sweet “girl” banner I made for our party.

Erin and I were anxious for our friends to arrive, so we took a few pictures of ourselves while we waited. This kept us from eating all the pretty food before they arrived.

After everyone arrived, we ate and ate some more, while catching up. The guest of honor is a candy lover, just like me. We are kindred spirits with our sweet taste buds, so I loved having the task of bringing the sweets for the party. I’m not much of a chief, but I can bake some cookies and buy some candy. Thank you Erin for making the fresh creme cheese and dill dip plus the awesome tortilla roll ups. She had the hard stuff.

After we ate, Dana opened her presents, and it was so fun to see her reaction to girly items!

Dana has two boys and is pregnant with her little girl, Jane. We all found out her baby’s name that night, and it was so fun squealing with excitement for her. I love it. I love that she has the same gender and close in age kids as me too.

I have been busily making Dana some hair bows, and last week I showed you how to make the DIY Burlap Hair Bow I made for her. Well, I used that hair bow and others that I had made to form a sweet bouquet to use as a decoration for the shower.

For the shower, we had everyone bring a frame that they would want to turn into a hair bow holder or a memo board. The bouquet was pretty for the shower, but now that the shower is over all those hair bows needed a pretty way to be stored.

For exact details on how to create one of these chicken wire frames please read about my Pallet Memo Board. For this night, I brought a series of wire cutters, my staple gun, and the chicken wire and we got to work helping one another.

It can be a two person job to hold the wire down (from curling up on you) and stapling. Courtney (featured on the left in above pictures) was a great assistant to all of us. This was my favorite part of the night as we all sat around in our pjs and talked, laughed and crafted. I can’t believe I didn’t get a group shot of us all together, but I did manage to get most of our frames in a shot together.

I love creating with friends and I love creating for friends. It was so fun to craft together, and I also really enjoyed preparing for the night. I made the fun “girl” banner out of paint chips.

In short, this is how you too can make this banner!

1. Gather some supplies

paint chips
hole/circle punchers
stickers to spell “girl”
hot glue gun with glue sticks
ribbon
scissors
brown card stock paper

2. Punch circles out of the paint chips. I used my big circle puncher to punch four large circles out, as those would be the circles I spelled “girl” out on. I used the smaller circle puncher to punch a lot more circles out to use along the top of the banner (on either side of “girl”).

3. Glue the four large circles in the center of your ribbon and glue smaller circles up and down the ribbon on either side of it. I just put a small glob of glue on the ugly side of my paint chips and stuck it on the ribbon. You don’t need much glue.

4. I then used white stickers to spell “girl” on my banner, and cut out some big triangles out of the brown card stock and glued them on the other side of my ribbon.

That’s it! The banner is done! How gorgeous is my model here!? Dana wears pregnancy so well!

We had such a fun night honoring Dana and her sweet baby and just being with each other.

Have you ever had or been to a more informal baby shower like this one? I loved being in comfy clothes and having a girls night rather than an early Saturday morning function.

I’m so blessed to have these girls in my life! Now, Ms. Jane! Hurry up and get here! We are all anxious to meet you!

The banner you could turn into a birthday banner or really any celebration decoration! What kid related outing or craft did you do this week!? I adore all the entries from last week, but the one that had me giggling was the one about fire! My friend Heather has boys that my boys would adore playing with, if there were not so many miles in between our homes. Check out her great post on “Why shouldn’t we look at the Sun?” and link up your own post!

Homegoods Blogger Party

January 21, 2013 By Erica Deuel 17 Comments

Have you ever wanted to go shopping in your favorite store on a private shopping spree before the store opens to the public? The thought of being able to park up close and get in when no one else is around, has always seemed like a dream.

Would I set my alarm to get up early, scrape ice off my car windows, make a stop to get my coffee, all to shop at Homegoods before the store opens to the public…all without my kids?

Yes. Yes, I would! This weekend I had the chance to do just that.

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality invited local bloggers to join her at Homegoods BEFORE the store opened for our own private shopping experience. I love Rhoda, and I love Homegoods. So, of course I said, “YES” I would be there!

Here is Rhoda being her sweet self and welcoming us to her Homegoods party. If you have read Rhoda’s blog, you probably think she is the most creative, sweet, southern, talented, hospitable girl in the world. She really is that way in person as well. I would hang out with Rhoda any time.

I blog because I love it, but another reason I love to blog is all the friendships I have made through it. I love getting to know the girls behind the blogs I read, and especially when I find out they are just as amazing in person. I finally got to meet Lisa at Before Meets After and it was so fun to be with her and a bunch of other local bloggers at Homegoods.

We walked around talking and brainstorming about what we would do with different items throughout the store. It was so casual and easy as we have so many similar loves: decorating and blogging. As we found something that caught our eye, we debated how we would spend our money on all the different items we loved in the store.

I loved all those fun stools. All the different colors and fun designs were calling out to me. I had to silently remind myself that I already have four step stools in this little house.

I have gotten to know Heidi at Decor and More, and she is a blast. She is so creative and fun to talk to. I loved how when we were walking down an aisle and she saw me pick up these pillow shams, she mentioned how they looked like just me and would go perfect in my little girl’s room.

I refrained from the pillow shams, but I was also tempted by this gorgeous painting below.

Donna at My Sweet Things and I laughed about this gigantic friend hanging out behind us as we talked.

I was so tempted to buy this thick wood carved owl. For $14 he was a steal! I put him back, thinking I have enough owls in this house, but I regret it. I might be making a trip back to Homegoods (with all three of my kiddos) this week to rescue this owl and bring him home.

My friend Sally and I both found beautiful signs that have messages that spoke right to us! I love how she picked the hot pink sign to go in her kitchen. Amazing style!

I had a wonderful time at Rhoda’s Homegoods party, and I don’t know how I left with only two treasures.

I did buy that sweet sign. I love every line on it and especially how it starts with “create something everyday.” I hung it up in our school/craft room, as it is the room we spend the most time in.

I also found a beautiful deep purple ruffled pillow. I had made a hot pink felt pillow similar for my daughter’s room, but I loved this pillow and for $12, I didn’t want to try to make it. I added it to our sitting room in the kitchen. I love the pop of purple it adds to the creme pillows already on the love seat.

What do you think of my finds? Would you get up early too to go shopping with friends at one of your favorite stores? Thank you so much Homegoods and Rhoda for this fun experience!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and can enjoy a day with those you love! We are headed to the Hawks game.

« Previous Page

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: