Porch sign.

I was in a little store one day with my mom and there was a sign she had commented on about a porch. My parents love their porch time, so I decided to try to recreate my own porch sign for them. I started with sanding a piece of wood and painting it a light cream color. Then, I taped down the stencil letters. It took awhile to make them all fit and be straight, but this is what it looked like. 

Then, I carefully painted over the stencils with green paint. 

After taking off the stencils there were some areas that needed to be filled in. So, I took a small brush and made the lines as even and full as I could. 

My parents loved their gift. Here is a picture of it hanging in their porch room. 

Happiness.

. Somehow I have stumbled on this topic a lot lately in the past couple of weeks. I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It is pretty much about a woman who lives in New York with her family and she decides to dedicate a year to doing a  happiness project. She doesn't leave her New York life to travel or discover herself somewhere else. Which is great in Eat, Pray, Love. But, she chooses to just incorporate different themes to focus on in her life now. Each month has its own topic ranging from marriage, vitality, parenthood, work, and friendship to eternity, mindfulness, leisure, and attitude. I enjoyed it, and it made me think more about choosing to be happy and working on little things along the way.

I also randomly started watching a documentary about happiness. It was looking at people all over the world and trying to determine what made people happy. The thing that was so beautiful is that certain people who lived in little homes with plastic preventing the wind from coming in or people who had a job where they were literally pulling others around town in a buggy or had nothing but a little cloth covering their stuff were extremely happy. They had a village and family around them. It showed that focusing on relationships and helping others and even just trying new things brought happiness. It's called Happy if you want to check it out.

I guess it just got me thinking too that there really is a lot to be thankful for. Especially, if you have your needs of food, clothing, shelter, and even protection met....unlike a lot of people in the world. So, I'm just challenged to think about those things and to choose to work and focus on happiness in life. Keep that dopamine flowing. Seriously. You won't lose it in the end if you do.

"As the Spanish proverb says, 'He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him'"-James Boswell

Homemade soap.

This January, I decided to sign up for a couple of classes at the Nashville Community Education Center. I'm taking Beginning Sewing and Homemade Soaps. My first class started last week. We made bath salts and body powder. Don't know how many people out there use body powder, but I may give it a try. The process was super easy! Here are the recipes:

Bath salts:
1 pound Epsom Salts
1 pound Baking Soda
1 pound Sea Salt
1 tablespoon Sweet Almond Oil
1 tablespoon Essential Oil
Combine and blend with hands until all ingredients are well blended and have an even mix. Let dry about one hour.

Body Powder
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 tablespoons rice flour
6 drops fragrance oil of choice
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. After all are mixed together, sift to break up any powder that may clump.


This week, we made soap. It was an extensive process, but I really enjoyed it and want to keep making my own. I didn't add any scents to my soap, but put some ground oatmeal into it for exfoliation. I need to wait about 2 weeks for it to harden completely and then I can start using it. Here it is!

Bedroom Decor.

I had today off, so decided to start my morning doing a craft. I didn't document the process too well, but my only supplies included a blank canvas, an old book, mod podge, and black paint. I had seen this saying and wanted to put something in our bedroom...so here it is! I think I will do more crafts using old books because I like how it turned out. 

Fall Decor.

I love fall for many reasons:

I figured it was time to put some fall-ish decor around the house since it is already November! I found this wreath at a yard sale for $1.

I bought some leaf paper shapes at Michaels for two dollars.

Traced and cut out a couple extra leaves shapes.

Got to painting! I used a paper bag to get some different texture because I didn't have a sponge.

I had a roll of hemp and wanted to incorporate that into the wreath. So, I put a little mod podge onto brown paper and wrapped it around carefully to make some hemp spirals.   

Like this. Once it dried I cut them out.

Very quick and easy.

Then, I busted out the hot glue gun.

And, here is our new door fall decor!

I used the extra leaves for some window decor. Hot glued the leaves to sticks, filled mason jars with dried fall goods, and tied a brown ribbon around the top.

Hope you are enjoying your fall!