Better Late than Never Halloween!

Well, I think if there was an award for the latest post on Halloween, I'd win hands down! I was having some blogger problems so this wouldn't post when I wanted it to. Ce la Vie!

So here is either a really, reeeeally late Halloween post or it will give you really, reeeeeeally early ideas for 2013!

This one is too funny! Clearly Izzy (left)  is going to be the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre villain and Tessa (right) is NOT going to aspire to be a surgeon. Andrew is the headless pumpkin carver as is his desire in life.

Jake's pumpkin He was Hawkeye for Halloween so his pumpkin was in keeping with the theme of the Avengers

Three faces of Izzy and Andrew's toothy, dentist's nightmare pumpkin

Now onto the Handmade Costume Halloween Fashion Show. We make costumes in this house because frankly I don't have $35 per kid to spend and I look it as a personal challenge to keep it under $10 per kiddo. Of course now they all think I can make almost anything out of nothing. Not sure if that is good or bad or AWESOME! 

Hawkeye for $3.00

 Women's vest that I cut off the sleeves and used one of them to make the arm protector thingy (very technical name I know, I don't want you to know how smart I really am) that goes with bows and arrows. Spray painted knee pads and boots we already had.

Olympic Gymnast

$2.50 for the jumpsuit from a thrift store. Used paints we already had to for the USA and we had the medal from swimming, no one looked that close thank goodness

Princess

Free! Just raided the dress-up box. Maybe we should call her a modern princess since she obviously understands the value of a good pair of shoes instead of glass slippers

Too cutie pies all glittered up and ready to go get some serious candy. You can now see all of the carved pumping. Tessa's is the one with the big eyes, just like her! Mine is the chrysanthemum although it kinda looks like a scorpion now that I study it in this photo. Yeah I meant tot do that! 

Right.

Ellie May Clampett

Free! It you are under 40 you may need to YouTube the Beverly Hillbillies to get this. Aging myself! When I showed the girls one of the episodes, they were totally hooked on the Clampetts. Couldn't convince Andrew to go as Jethro though....

Now onto some goodies that were super easy to do. Cake pops! One of the women I work with gave me a recipe book on cake pops. They have so many ideas but Izzy and I decided the mummies would be good to make for her classroom party.

My first attempt at the wrappings looked a little like they were coming unwrapped!

The fun part about cake pops is that you can also just use edible ink markers to decorate the candy coated pops. Abstract modern cake pop by Tessa Uccellini

Ghost pop

Finished product. These are delicious, I tell you. You could easily eat an entire mummified Egyptian village in under 10 minutes.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Ya'll are experiencing some FREEDOM!

Welcome to No Fear Fridays!  I day when you can get a dose of grace from the Lord and reality from me and my flaws. I hope that by being transparent, it will help you face fears long held inside and allow you to live a life of Freedom from Fear through Christ's saving grace.

When I first started writing these posts, all of about 3 weeks ago, I was hoping it would slowly transform some lives. Well, I should know better than to try and guess how God will use His Words to help a sister out. So today I want to highlight some women who have been brave enough to share their fear(s) with me so I can pray for them and I want to tell you how the Lord has worked a mighty miracle!

Karen from Bargain-ista first emailed me this: "Wow! I really needed this today! I will email you but just know that this post has helped me already :)."

I started praying for her and then emailed her to check on things ( please include an email if you feel comfortable so I can check in on ya'!) and she relayed a story about a co-worker she was having difficulty with. She was being eaten up inside by the situation but God was able to change her perspective after reading the post "Why do I care?".  God can change any perspective when we use His eyes instead of our own. It takes a weight off of our shoulders that He did not put there. We have put that yoke on ourselves and we continue to carry it sometimes waaaay past it's due overdue date. That is not the kind of workout I need or want. I would much rather work out my Trust and Faith muscles and put the burden on shoulders that can more than carry the burden.  Karen- SO glad you are letting God's grace work on your life.

Okay, so here is the super cool part of this.....remember the verse Psalm 68:11? Beth Moore had quoted this verse during her talk that started this whole No Fear Fridays idea.  It is also apart of the Great Forsake and Take which can be found here and is an entire listing of verses that deal with fear. Read them everyday, let them sink way down deep in your soul and start saying them when fear starts to prick your heart. If you do this, I promise you you will enjoy an inspired life of fearlessness and freedom through God's transforming Word! 

Okay back to Psalm 68:11. It says : "The Lords Speaks, and many, many women spread the good news."  Well, Karen does her bulletin at her church and she has decided to include one of these fear verses from The Great Forsake and Take in the bulletin each week!!!! So now we have one more woman spreading the Good News!!!! 

She also made a beautiful printable on the verse 2 Chronicles 20:17 so please go over and print it out. I have printed out 3 of them for various places in my house!

(This reminds me of the Breck Commmercial from the 70's: "And she told two people, and then she told two people...." I may be dating myself here.)

From here many people in her church will read these verses and hide them in their hearts and start to experience freedom.

Can I get a huge AMEN?!? 

This is just one story. I will share others on occasion because I don't want to stay mired in the whole this is what I fear stage...I want to show the lifelong Freedom stage that you all will experience. 

If you have experienced a change in how you are living without fear, does not matter how small that change has been. It is still a change and I still want to know about it so I can dance for joy with you and let others know that they can experience that change too! Let me know and I will include you here and we can get our praise on!

What if you are still living with some fear that won't seem to go away on its own, please let me know and I will pray for you.

If you feel led, please pray for these women as well:
Amy-panic attacks
Margaret- family issues
Jennifer- needed this post about No Fear Fridays, unspecified
Jenny- panic attacks, critical of herself

Here is one word for you to live by this week: FREEDOM
Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Packaging Idea

I started making my pallet wood lighted boxes for Etsy. Here's an example:

I want to try out some cool packaging ideas for when I get orders. Well, Idea. 

This is what I came up with:

I want to keep it rustic like the boxes. Any other ideas? Or do you like it as is?

PS: Don't forget to send me your pictures of your DIY/craftiness if you are NOT a blogger, and I will feature them during the next Secretly Awesome Crafters Protection Program party! To find out more, hit the SACP2 button on the sidebar!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!