There’s nothing like a Harvest Birthday Party in the Fall!

Today we finally got around to having Abi’s 5th birthday party. October was a crazy busy month with three birthdays, our Anniversary, three kids playing sports and a trip to St. Louis. We just had to push Abi’s Fall Harvest Birthday party off a bit, but I don’t think it bothered her much.

If you’ve been hanging around here long you know that we throw our kids “big friend” parties when they turn 1,5 and 10. It seems that I am still throwing a big party every year, but at least it isn’t 5 big parties!! Abi decided on a pumpkin party.

The Perfect Excuse for Beautiful Decorations and Yummy Treats!

I happened to ask her what kind of party she wanted one day while we were walking through Hobby Lobby two months ago. She wanted pumpkins (since we happened to be standing right next to some) so we went with a fall harvest theme. Really, it was just an excuse to use beautiful fall decorations and make some yummy treats.

I always go a little overboard with my parties but it is something I love to do. This is my jam. I would LOVE to plan parties for other people but I will start with my people. Some moms have gifts of math, organization, cleanliness, etc I have the gift of throwing a party…so I might as well do it to the best of my ability! (I feel like I’m slacking a little bit lately on the actual “party” though because I focus so much on the table of snacks! ha!!)

Today I had a sure win when I asked a friend from church if they would bring their horse to our house and let the kids all have a ride!! And they did!! And the kids LOVED it (as far as I could tell). One sweet little boy even said, “I’ve never been a real cowboy before” before his turn to ride the horse. Abi smiled from ear to ear the whole time she got to ride the horse and the other party guests enjoyed it as well. The kids also did a little turkey craft that Abi picked out and they played outside for a bit.

Abi had a great time and I think her friends did too. It was a little cold and a lot disjointed but it was fun nonetheless. Thanks to all who came to share in this day with our sweet sassy Abi. We enjoyed your company and having you celebrate with us. No pictures of the friends on the blog since I didn’t ask their permission!! But here are a few from the party.

Are you a big party planner? If you have great party boards on Pinterest let me know in the comments so I can follow along!

“Christ is the head of our home, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener of every conversation.”

Don’t you think that if we kept these things at the forefront of our minds we would treat people differently? Do you think that if you were more aware of the presence of Christ in your home you would serve others more than yourself? Do you feel that if you remembered that Christ hears ALL your conversations that you would speak words in a different way?



I am very passionate about keeping Christ and His promises in the forefront of my mind. I fail miserably on a consistent basis…but GRACE abounds and I am a forgiven child of God. I know that I am loved. I know that I am forgiven. I know that He will always love me. But I don’t always live like that is true. I don’t live my life in a way that shows that Christ is the head of my home and the unseen guest at my meals. I don’t always speak to my children thinking that Christ is listening. I try. I fail. I am forgiven and I try again. I am grateful that He is in my home and that He is listening to my conversations. Having these phrases in my home helps remind me of the truths of Christ. I am reminded of His love and grace and that He loves me and my family enough to be a constant part of our home and family life. He does the same for you. He loves you. He is in your home and listening to your conversations. Let us pepper our conversations with love and grace. Let us invite Christ into every part of our lives, dinner, bedtime routines, hanging out, He is part of it all.

May you remember how much you are loved and that Christ is always present in your home and your life. Speaking words of grace and forgiveness to the people in our homes and out of our homes. Speaking Christ’s love and salvation to those we encounter is how we can share His gifts with those around us. You are loved. You are a chosen child of God. Live in His grace!!

Mother’s Day brings so many emotions. Some of us who are mothers are so excited to be celebrating the little people in our lives who brought us to this point, while also realizing what it means to be a mom and being thankful for all that our own mothers have done for us. Maybe you didn’t really have a great mom, someone who didn’t lead by example or didn’t show love, which brings a whole new set of emotions. Sometimes Mother’s Day is too hard because of the loss of your own mom, or the loss of a baby that would have made you a mom.

This past Mother’s Day was a little emotional for me as I learned I was expecting baby number six only a few hours before. I was filled with joy and guilt. I was apprehensively excited to learn that I was pregnant and I knew my kids would be super excited because they have been asking me when they would get their next sibling for months. Yet, I felt guilty because inside, my head was swimming with “what” questions. What am I going to do with six kids, when I feel I can hardly handle five? What are people going to say when they find out? What kind of vehicle am I going to have to get to fit the whole family? What am I going to do about my possible job? What? What? What? And those “human flesh” “natural response” questions made me feel guilty. They made me feel bad because I knew with those questions I wasn’t trusting God. I was letting my earthly life dictate how I responded. Over the next couple of days I simply let the fact sink it. One more mouth to feed. One more sweet baby to cuddle. One more tuition to pay. One more sibling to love. And I kept coming back to “what’s one more?” And it made me happy. I was learning to love the idea of six kids. I mean plenty of women have had six kids and live to tell about it…and love it…why did I have to be any different?

A week after my positive pregnancy test I started spotting. It wasn’t much, just enough to heighten my awareness that something could be going on. My kids and I were traveling back to Tennessee to spend a few days closing out the school year they started there and to spend some time with friends. Since I had not found a doctor yet in Missouri I decided to see if my OB/GYN in Tennessee could get me in, to see what was going on. It turns out I had a subchorionic hemorrhage. My dr said it could just absorb into my body or it could lead to something else…only time would tell.

Two weeks after my initial spotting I started bleeding heavily. So heavily in fact that I got scared and drove myself to the ER 25 miles away at one in the morning. Turns out that I didn’t lose too much blood and they sent me home and asked me to follow up with my new dr in the morning. After following up with my dr she scheduled an ultrasound so we could see what was happening with the baby. My emotions were still pretty numb. I didn’t really feel anything other than curiosity. I was wondering why I didn’t feel attached or like something serious could actually be happening here. Wednesday morning I went for my ultrasound but the tech would tell me nothing. I had to wait to hear the words from my doctor later that afternoon…”the baby didn’t have a heartbeat”. Ugh. Like a punch in the gut, this baby that I didn’t even feel or have symptoms from was now pronounced dead. It still didn’t hit me…it still didn’t register. This life that I was starting to feel happy about and also feeling like maybe it was better if I wasn’t pregnant (because again, I’ve got the world in my ear) was now no longer living. This baby that would have brought so much joy to our home, would now never get to meet its five awesome siblings this side of heaven. This baby that I originally felt could have been an inconvenience (because I am human) was no longer with us. And all I felt was numb. I felt like I should cry. I felt like I should be mad. I felt like I should have some sort of emotional reaction but it was as if when the doctor told me that my baby had died that she told me the grocery store was out of cheese puffs. And once again the guilt flooded in.

We told our two oldest children and it really hit me when my daughter said “but you haven’t even seemed sad”. Ugh. Gut punch. Guilt. Round three. I told her that I am grieving in my own way. After talking with my doctor we decided to wait and see if my body would pass the baby naturally but scheduled a D&C for two weeks later since my husband would be out of town the whole next week. I never noticed anything but my bleeding had completely stopped the Sunday after my ultrasound. So, on Tuesday June 21st I went in to the hospital for surgery. I was so worried that the anesthesia would kill me even though I have been put under before. I am good at irrational fears!! The night before surgery I stayed with friends who live close to the hospital since I needed to be there at 630am. I posted something on one of the Pastors Wives groups that I am on so that they could know to be praying for me. The responses started flooding in but I did not read them right away.

I came out of surgery successfully and my doctor told me that I had already passed the baby even though I didn’t know it. And honestly that brought me some comfort. I was glad to know that my body knew what to do and that God’s plan was perfect even though having surgery could have been avoided. I took the day to rest and slept a lot to get the anesthesia out of my system. During one of my awake times I decided to go back to my Pastors wife group and update them on my surgery. I started reading the words they wrote and the flood gates were opened. “I’m sorry for your loss”…”Praying for you as you grieve”…”I too have had a miscarriage and a D&C”…”Praying for you and your family as you experience this pain” over and over these women started sharing their stories of loss and saying they were sorry for my loss. THAT is the moment this all became real to me. The tears came easily and maybe it was the exhaustion from surgery but I think it was God revealing to me what really just happened.

Losing a baby, even during the first trimester, even when they are only 6 weeks formed is still a loss of life. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:13 makes it clear that God is the one giving life in the womb…it’s not just outside the womb where life is easily seen…but God gave us life…and then God took it away. I have no idea why. I don’t pretend to understand. I don’t listen when people say “yeah, well at least you have five other kids”. No, this was a loss. A loss of life. Grief comes and goes. Different things hit me at different times. I suspect it will always be this way. And yes, the grief I am experiencing is different that if it were the loss of one of my kids whom I have gotten to know outside the womb…but it is still grief, it is still loss. The loss of this baby makes me long for heaven even more.

I could sit here and say, well, maybe I lost this baby to make me more grateful for the ones I have. Maybe, I lost this baby so I could share my story. Maybe I lost this baby so I could sympathize with mothers who have lost babies. But I don’t want to sit here and say those things. I don’t know why I lost a baby. I don’t know why God gave and God took away. And that’s okay. I can ask him when I get to heaven. But I want you to know that I understand a little more about this certain grief, this “club” that no one wants to be a part of. Even though my baby didn’t have ears and couldn’t share its gender with us just yet it was still a baby. I am sorry for going into so much detail but I just wanted to share my story with you. I don’t write this story fishing for sympathy, I don’t like to draw attention to myself, I just want my story to be told so others know they are not alone.

Maybe you have experienced this grief and like me didn’t know how to name it. Maybe you didn’t have people around you saying they were sorry for your loss. Maybe you haven’t told anyone about your loss. I want you to know that it was a baby. It is still a loss. It is okay to grieve. God is with you. I also wanted you to know that if you’ve experienced grief like this it’s okay to cry, yell, and ask questions. It’s okay to wonder why this happened. But remember to cling to Christ. He is your hope. He provides the comfort. He is your shelter.

For two years I have been making cards to help parents who have dealt with this grief. I didn’t know I would one day end up needing to make a card for myself. But if you have experienced infant or child loss I would LOVE to send you one of these cards. I normally only do the cards in October during child and infant loss awareness month but since this is so raw for me right now I wanted to offer the cards to you now. Please send me an email (purejoycreative at gmail dot com) with your details (name, address, child details, color preference) and I will get a card in the mail for you. Please put “memory card” in the subject line. I can also write out the name and dates of your baby if you have a later term loss or infant loss. I am so sorry that I am writing out these cards because it means that another sweet precious child of God was taken too soon but it is my way of saying those lives matter too. God cares about all those children as well. God is the creator of life and death was never part of His original plan. Thank you God for sending Jesus so that we could all live with you forever in heaven because of the pain and suffering He endured on the cross.

I am so sorry for your loss. Rest in peace sweet babies. My husband wrote a letter after the loss of our baby and it really sums up what we feel and believe about all of this. We would be honored if you would take some time to read it. You can read it HERE!

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My dear husband has written a letter and we would like if you would read it.



Dear friends in Christ,
Jamie and I would like to request your prayers. Specifically, we ask that you pray for comfort, and for the Lord to renew us in the strength of His Word.

On May 13th, Jamie learned that she was blessed to be with child. The news was received with joy, for we trust His Word, that children are a precious gift. And yet, large families are not always easy. There is the stress of life, the cost, the fear of our inadequacies, as well as the awareness of living in a world that fails to see an additional child as such a gift to be received with joy. The joy of life was diluted, in some way, by the weakness of our own flesh. Faith delighted in the Lord’s gift, while at the same time, our old Adams wondered if it really would all be good.

Soon after, Jamie and the kids traveled to Tennessee. During that wonderful visit she had an appointment with her OB/GYN. She hoped to confirm the pregnancy, but also to find out why she had started spotting. The visit was productive. Indeed, she was pregnant. About 4 ½ weeks along. But, a hemorrhage had been discovered as well. We would need to keep our eyes on things. This bleeding could go away, and everything could end up proceeding as normal. However, this could also be an indication that a miscarriage was likely.

Unfortunately, the bleeding never did stop. After a week or so, it worsened. It became so consistent that, just after midnight on June 6th, Jamie headed to the ER about 25 minutes away. I stayed at home with the kids. A few hours later, Jamie returned home, having had the doctors conclude that she was likely miscarrying. On the morning of June 8th, she had an ultrasound in a neighboring town and it was confirmed that, in fact, she was suffering a miscarriage. This life, which was given from above, had now died after six
weeks of development. “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

At first, I think both of us were a bit numb. After all, Jamie had yet to develop those motherly signs which every expecting mother looks forward to with equal joy and dread. The first ultrasound tech had even intentionally avoided calling this child a baby, or a life. What God had begun to form together was called “a ball of cells.” I just wonder what the LORD might think of that description. It certainly only exasperated our frustration, for our desire to act in accord with our confession was real. We wanted to hurt, and to grieve, for we know, without a doubt, that it is the LORD who gives life. And He had done so. So why didn’t it hurt like it would if we had already heard the child’s heart beating, or changed a diaper or two? Of course, all those fears being relieved through this death only made us feel even more guilt. This was a child. It was the child God had given to us. Why didn’t it feel like a loss? “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)!



Of course, on top of this all, we didn’t know who to tell. The children hadn’t known Jamie was pregnant. And they would have been so thrilled. They always simply assume another one would be coming at some point. That’s the life they’ve always known. Thanks be to God they simply receive God’s gift of life with joy!



Unfortunately, additional burden would come from those who, for a variety of reasons, wonder why we hadn’t already chosen to stop having children. Some voice this concern to us; others only express themselves to others. But the truth is – thanks be to God! – Jamie has never had any complications with any of her previous pregnancies. And isn’t God the giver of life? Who are we to tell him when and where He should do that? Which of our children should we look at as a mistake because we should have chosen when “enough is enough”? It wasn’t so long ago that the voices who see large families as an unwelcome burden today were enjoying their own large families. But I digress. Suffice it to say that the pain and burden is real. Not only is there the loss of a child, but there is the burden of guilt for not feeling the loss, to go with a world that doesn’t understand, all the while trying to figure out how to let our children know what is going on. “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12;10).



 After multiple visits to the doctor for mommy, the children were asking questions. We decided to tell Naomi and Micah. They, we reasoned, were old enough to wrestle with the situation. Of course, as we told them the events of the previous few weeks, we saw the expected joy on their faces when they learned mommy had become pregnant. But then, that joy was snuffed out as we reported the miscarriage. But “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33). For both of them were quick to trust God’s promise. They now had another sibling, as they had always expected they would, but now they had a reason to pray for the Lord Jesus to return. They now wanted to meet that sibling. And there was no doubt in their mind that they would. Would that we would all trust God’s promises “like a child” (Mark 10:15, et al).



At some point, we decided also to tell Hannah and Abi, who also exhibited the same course of emotions: joy turned to sadness. But that is what death will do. At least, that is what death will do…for a time. For even death cannot end the gladness of those who trust God’s certain promises. And so, just as was the case with their older siblings, Hannah and Abi joyfully looked forward to meeting their new sibling. They only wanted to know if they would have a new brother or sister, and other additional questions. Once again, there was simply more reason to pray. “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20)!



 The doctor recommended that Jamie have a D&C, and that she shouldn’t wait for too long. I had been planning to attend a conference in Wisconsin, and Jamie didn’t want me to cancel. So, on Tuesday, June 20th, Jamie had the surgical procedure. The kids were blessed by a neighboring pastor, his wife, and six children, and spent the day playing. This allowed me to tend to Jamie. And thankfully, the procedure was without complication. She came out of the anesthesia just fine. She relaxed in a quiet home, and I tried to tend to her needs the best I was able. Wednesday, another loving family took the children so Jamie could rest again. But because Hannah had her last T-ball game, I had to be absent from a meeting at church that evening.



It isn’t normal for me to be absent from a meeting; especially not a meeting of the Parish Planning Council. I needed to offer an explanation. I was going to have to tell them what had happened. Of course, this brought back to the surface those insecurities connected to how others would respond. Would they understand? Would they confirm the fears of our weak flesh? Would they also think we were foolish? Would they understand why their new pastor couldn’t be present for the meeting?

I should have learned this long ago from the other congregations I’ve been blessed to serve. For every response we have received thus far has been both understanding and comforting. I guess the words our Circuit Visitor (a pastor for pastors) shared with us are really true (duh!): “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort” (2 Cor. 1:6-7).

And still, it hurts. In a way I didn’t experience at first, but somehow hoped it would, it hurts. That there is so much confusion about the gift of life, and the terrible consequence of sin called death, only exasperates the pain. But strangely, now that a few others know the burden through which we’ve been suffering, it has allowed us to hurt. There is no more hurting and hoping nobody will notice, or that it won’t affect my (or our) work. We can grieve. And it is okay to grieve. In fact, it is right that we should grieve. After all, the Scriptures reveal: There is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecc. 3:4).

We don’t understand why the LORD has chosen, in His infinite wisdom, to give and to take away. To attempt to answer that question is to attempt to search into the hidden mind of God, to engage in speculation, and to be left without the comfort of what He has actually revealed. And what He has actually revealed is that He is merciful. That He delights not in the death of anyone. To be sure, this little life had inherited the sin of Adam, but we give thanks that through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, God has reconciled the entire world to Himself. We have no other choice but to trust. “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

At some point, as St. Paul writes, we will all now be able to offer comfort to others who themselves have suffered in this way. I pray that this present suffering would serve to make me a better pastor for such people, and a better husband and father as well. Having had five children without any hiccups, Jamie has now been given a cross to bear that places her among a host of faithful women who themselves have suffered such a loss. What comfort they will all be able to draw from one another. And the kids. Well, they won’t always be so happy about it. In fact, there have already been a few moments of tears. But we will do for them what we endeavor to do for them in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. We will search the Scriptures. We will point them to Jesus. And we will teach them to cling to the clear and certain promises which we have in Him, even as we ourselves cling to them as well. And we will pray. We will call upon the name of the Lord in this, the day of our trouble (Psalm 50:15), and the Lord will deliver us just as surely as He delivered His Son, Jesus Christ, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20).

So, on behalf of Jamie (and the kids), we simply ask for your prayers. But not only for us. Rather, pray for all who struggle to rejoice in the gift of life; who have suffered the burden of death; and for the promises of God in Christ – who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification – to be our joy in the midst of grief. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

With joy in Christ Jesus,

Greg

We just moved about a month ago. We hadn’t moved in 5 years and one year before that was a local move. This move was tougher than the last, since we moved 5 kids this time…and all the stuff. Oh my, so much stuff. We did our best to pair down and donate and pass along a lot of our unused items. It felt so so good to get rid of so much. But when we got here I realized we didn’t get rid of nearly enough. So a lot of our stuff is just sitting in boxes in the unfinished part of the basement…and that is fine, for the time being. I’m going to have to face the facts and go through it all eventually. There aren’t any boxes in our main living areas any more. Last week I finally got the boxes emptied and out of the girls closet and we moved the boxes out of our basement family room into the storage room. It makes it feel so much more like home without boxes lying around every where. Our basement storage as you can imagine is a mess though! Eventually we will tackle that!

One of the best things about our new house is the basement. Half of the basement is finished and as I mentioned before half is unfinished, but works great for storage. There are also two bedrooms in the basement. My oldest daughter was so excited to find out she would be getting her own room!! And I was ecstatic to find out that I would be able to use the extra basement bedroom which has no windows as a CRAFT ROOM!!! So, yeah, no windows…but a CRAFT ROOM! I will take what I am blessed with! So the process of setting up said craft room has been a lot trickier than I imagined. So much of my stuff was spread throughout three different rooms in my old house that now I have to figure out a way to make everything flow in one room. I have taken to pinterest and created a board just for my dreams of how I want my craft room to look and feel. Obviously I won’t be able to implement ALL of the ideas I have pinned but it’s a great way to find some ideas for things I didn’t think of on my own. I am still in need of a desk and some closet shelves but I feel good about where I am at and I am able to work in there so that’s good. I will share some pictures with you so you can maybe get some ideas for yourself…but please know this is just a couple of weeks unpacked and still a huge mess (which I’m not really showing you).  I have dreamed about having my own craft space for YEARS…so I am not trying to rush through the set up and organization of my room. It’s a work in progress and will take some time. Especially finding the perfect dresser to hold up a door as a desk top for me! So excited to have the space and I think my husband is SUPER excited to get all the craftt supplies out of our bedroom!!

And remember that my craft room budget is slim to NONE!! So I am using things I already had and making my own items. Until a craft store picks me up and helps me furnish my room (in my dreams) it may look a little like a college dorm with a hodpodge of mismatched furniture and storage items. And I am okay with that for the time being. I will work on a cohesive look once I get all my big furniture items (which I have to save up for a buy with cash!!) So, please don’t judge my non-magazine worthy craft room. I am just elated to have the space!!!

When you first walk in your can see my wall of embroidery hoops and back on the other door (that leads into the storage part of the basement) is a shoe organizer full of office supplies.

This is on my desk with my essential pens, scissors and other items ready at hand.

I made this washi tape holder out of two chick-fil-a containers and two empty bobbins!!!

My closet holds my bookshelves and I hope to eventually have my husband build some wall to wall shelves so I have a little more space.

This is my desk area and I’m still working on organizing everything but it’s a place to work for now. Since this was an old sewing table there’s a big hole in the middle of the table so I plan on getting a big piece of wood to cover the entire table!

The top of my shelf next to my desk holds all my markers and paint brushes. I love the use of the glass jars and it’s fun to see all the colors all the time!

 I just have a card table set up for now for my painting area and hope to eventually make a big corner desk for this area. To the left will be my sewing area and then where the card table is now I will have a painting desk.

This is my shipping area. It is situated on top of a big filing cabinet that holds all my original drawings and other items nice and organized. At least one place is organized.

So there’s a little craft room tour for you. I hope to come back in a couple of months and show you the transformed beautiful craft room. I can’t wait to get some things up on my walls. I would love to have a couple of  “maker” walls full of art by other people so if you’re up for a trade let me know! Until then, happy crafting friends!!

I shared this a few months ago on my friends blog but wanted to share it here as well!!

I have a creative brain…which means I have issues with ideas popping into my head and then ACTUALLY making them a reality. I fully realize that not every idea that pops into ones head needs to become a reality…but for a creative person we kinda think they do! 

This project was loosely inspired by a photo my best friend shared on Facebook one day (years ago). When we were getting our three girls bedroom all set up I knew I wanted to make this project come to life…and it has changed a bit from the original idea but I love how it turned out.

 It started with a HUGE blank canvas, 20×30 huge! And this wrapped canvas was hung on the girls wall…and neglected. When you run a creative business and have 5 kids and a part time job the things you want to do for YOUR home rarely get done in a timely manner. So this hung in their room for almost a year. And then I had had enough and I needed to get working on it so I wouldn’t go crazy!!

So the first thing I did was paint the background…I used a few shades of blue for the sky and a few shades of green for the grass. I tried to give the grass some texture and I tried to make the sky look like a clear bright spring time sky. I think both of the objectives were achieved. Then the painting sat again…for about two weeks. Then I made time to work on it again. I found some off white rice paper when I was cleaning up my craft space and thought it would make for some great clouds!! I tore the pieces somewhat randomly and then used Mod-Podge to stick them to the canvas.

Then I found some newspaper and painted two shades of green on the newspaper. I then cut the paper into thin strips so I could use it for the stems.

Again, I used mod-podge to stick the newspaper down. The newspaper didn’t lay down as smoothly as the clouds but I am really glad it didn’t!! I love the dimension it adds to the whole project.

So here is what it looked like with the background colors, clouds and flower stems!!

So then I wanted to add the words…so the first thing I did was write the words in chalk directly onto the canvas. This is a great tip if you have an acrylic painting that you want to add details or words to. It wipes away very easily if you mess up and painting over the chalk is super easy!

 Once my words were where I wanted them I painted them onto the canvas. I will tell you that painting words with a brush and actual paint is very challenging for me…but it is something I am working on. So, I am not 100% happy with how the words look but it’s about learning in the process so that’s okay with me!

So here is the piece with everything but the flowers! It’s starting to take shape but really missing the pop of the colors and textures from the flowers!

My friend Danica and I traded creative services. She made me these beautiful crocheted flowers and I designed a logo for her. (I’m always up for a good trade if you have something in mind.) I found my big jar of random buttons and just started to sew the buttons on top of the flowers directly to the canvas. If you have a good needle you can stitch right onto the canvas! It’s so much fun. The possibilities are endless!!  

I love how this project turned out and I’m so excited that I still have some more flowers so I may make some smaller versions of this project as well!!

Have you done a mixed media project? 

I would love to see it. I  have some other mixed media project ideas in mind but I need to learn more about the process…I would love it if you would link up a project you have done in the comments!! 

Have a blessed week!!