For Christmas, my kids gave me the most incredible, heartfelt gift.  With the help of a photographer friend of mine, they reproduced my favorite photo from when they were 7 and 4.  They are now 18 and 15, and my main goal is to be the best mom that I can possibly be.  I have fallen short of that goal on countless occasions.  I have been impatient, said insensitive things, and struggled with incessant worry to the point of smothering overprotection.  In spite of that, they are the two most amazing people God ever put on this earth.  They make me laugh every day.  They make any room brighter with their presence alone.  They remind me daily to not take things so seriously.  And they have grown into exquisite human beings.  I am so proud of them.  They are simply my two favorite blessings.   

The original photo on the left was taken by Cherished Moments Photography, Olympia, WA in 2000.  The one on the right was taken by Nancy Steele at Picture This Photography, 

West Linn, OR.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are all enjoying this special day with family and friends. It is such a busy time of year, it's nice to be able to relax and enjoy all we have been working toward for the past couple of months.  Here are some of the things I made this month.

I made this for a friend to give to her mom.  There is a charm for each of her grandchildren with names and birthdays on the back.  I'm putting something on Etsy so people can do a special order.

I made one of these for my mom 2 years ago, but she lost the original.  This is the new one, which is far better than the original.  My soldering skills have improved since then. The photo is of my mom and dad on their honeymoon over 50 years ago.  I adapted the poem from Robert Sexton.  Dad passed away almost 4 years ago, so I wanted to make a special memory piece for her.

I made this for my sister.  The photo is of Elliott, my great-nephew and her grandson.  I made her one 2 years ago, but it needed updating.  He was here with the rest of my family yesterday and kept us laughing all day.  So full of spunk!

This one is for my nephew's girlfriend, Ashley.  This photo is of my nephew, Aaron, and his son, Elliott.  It was taken the same day as the adorable cowboy shot.  As soon as I saw this photo, I knew it had to be a pendant for her.  

That's all for now.  Soon, I will be adding some fun pendants I'm working on using vintage pin-up girl photos...so fun!  

I'm so excited to share these adorable pillows I made!  I'm NOT much of a seamstress.  In fact, it takes me a long time just to remember how to use my sewing machine each time I get it out.  So when I found this wonderful tutorial to make poinsettia pillows similar to the ones at Pottery Barn, and they required no sewing (well, a few stitches by hand), I was in.  I went to Home Goods hoping to find some neutral pillows so I wouldn't have to make that part.  These were the find of the year!  They are actual holiday pillows and the perfect background for my poinsettias!  The poinsettias were a bit time-consuming to make, but it was worth it!

Here's the link to a great tutorial if you want to give them a try.
http://spartan-living.blogspot.com/