making me smile

I had some homeade cinnamon rolls recently & it reminded me of my sarah promise I made to try to learn to make these. A blog "friend" (not my actual friend) swears by this recipe.

photo credit: pioneer woman

And if you need some fun shake your booty music, my new fave. (My hip babysitter prob knew about them last year). The band is Vampire Weekend, my fave song has a not nice word in it, so I'm posting my second fave. It was in a commercial during the holidays. This music has gotten me thru Ruthie's spider monkey behavior due to bad ear ache/sinus infection these last couple days.

A beautiful movie I watched the other night, warning it will make you want to have a baby. Another warning: lot o' breast-feeding in it.

$30 v-tine painting for sale

 

 Buy me!!!! 8"x10" with canvas watercolor/acrylic, collage & beaded detail. $30 (plus tax & shipping). Shipping=$5. It would be a sweet v-tine gift to your honey, friend, or parents. Or even a wedding or anniversary gift. I can customize the colors! Email me: sarahlargen@yahoo.com

nita is 60!

 
 
So I could write a book about Nita. I will try to keep it to a post. She is one of a kind & is very proud of her 60 years! She is the cleaning fairy that comes to my house twice a month, and to my mom & sister's house as well. I know her job is not easy, but she does it well. She can fix anything, tells me about flowers & loves to decorate. God has done some amazing things in her life these past few years. She has had too much sadness to bear but she chooses happiness. It makes me smile when I'm across the house and I hear a "I praise you Jesus" coming from the laundry room while she is ironing. Choosing to praise Jesus while ironing does not come naturally. But it is what she chooses.

I made this painting for her: to have faith is to have wings because it sums her up. And this is a little banner I made for her party at mom's house. I can make one for your par-tay too ($15).

lysa terkeurst

I'm excited thinking about going to hear my "friend" Lysa speak in a couple of weeks. Our bible study has read 2 of her books & she speaks straight to me, she's authentic in Christ & reassures me over and over that God uses the imperfect for his perfect plan. If you need a pick-me-up each day, sign up for Proverbs 31 ministry e-devotions. She is the president of this ministry. She was also on Oprah last year about God's domino affect of adoptions in her hometown.

January 28-29, 2011, tickets are $20
Temple Baptist Church – West Campus, Hattiesburg, MS
http://www.tbclife.net/

christmas at the beach

christmas at the beach. love the beach, love the treasure you find in the sand, God is visually evident everywhere. it chills everyone out, it was cold but i didn't care because i was at the beach, even shopping at wal-mart at the beach is a more pleasant experience.

dd props!!!

Gotta share! Not to brag, but I really need to. It was a little excitement for me last week. My dd site, was blowing UP last week & it was because of the powerhouse which is easely amused & its fabu owner bridget tisdale. She featured my work in her monthly newsletter. Such sweet words. I wanted to print them out & laminate them. I wish I could follow bridget around one day, be her assistant and witness the craftiness she gets into. Love you girl. God has given you so much talent & you have done SO MUCH with it.

cross

Size: 12"x4" Price=$40, I made this for a silent auction for JDRF (foundation in MS that raises monies for research into Juvenile Diabetes). I have ideas that swirl around in my little brain-this is one of them so thanks, Ashley, for the chance to work this idea out!


Let me know if you want one & I'll work it up. Details: twigs, collage, crushed shell, & vintage text. Colors can be requested.

chest of drawers redo

Wanted to share a chest of drawers re-do with you. Forgot the before pic, but you can prob envision it, an older piece that was passed along to us with this style of pulls:

 

What I did to it:

-puttied the holes, finely sanded the whole piece, spray painted it silver 

-added smears of a champagne color paint

-touches of Bree wax (to kick back the metallic silver some)

-sanded the edges/corners

-modge podged pages of a old book & then scrapbook paper to the fronts of the drawers

-polyurethaned the drawer fronts & measured/drilled holes

-added these sale bin coordinating/mismatched pulls from anthropologie

Much to my hubby's dismay, these type projects can linger for months, just as this one did. So it started in Nov & finished now. You know with kiddos, you start and stop all the time.

I do, I do, I do!

Pricing: $25 for watercolor & $30 for watercolor + matte (wrapping included on both options). Shipping for an additional $5.

dino duo

12"x12" canvases I worked up for Colton's big boy room! Thanks sweet Meghan.

zhu zhu & poo poo

cute right? I was the one who got it for the kiddos, they didn't even ask for a zhu-zhu hamster thing. it was cute until this day....So ruthie, henry & I were huddled around the potty saying bye-bye to henry's poo & flushing it away. and ruthie was holding this cute hamster and decided it needed to go down too. her timing was perfect, she pitched it in mid-swirl. there was no getting it back.

so 2 months, many unsuccessful plumber visits & $XXXX dollars later....the critter has been caught. but before it was officially caught, it backed things up in the pipes & on hubby's bday, he was shop vac-ing largen goo that had backed up out of the potty and seeped down the hall to both the kiddos rooms. loverly.

but a bright side, we upgraded our carpeted hallway to wood floors. yippee.

ruthie & henry playing in boxes in the hallway while we were waiting on the new flooring.

the other day we passed the zhu zhu pets in the store & henry said...ruthie puts doze in the potty. he knows not to even ask for one.

pocket calendars!!! $5 sale

Pocket calendars (Oct 2011-2012), folded size: 3.75"x 6.75", 4 designs, $5, Limited quantity. Email me to order (sarahlargen@yahoo.com).


Design 1 (front & back view): Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not men.


Design 2 (front & back view): For we walk by faith, not by sight.




Design 3 (front & back view): For from Him, through Him and to Him are all things.


Design 4 (front & back view): I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

jen's bday partay

okay, she said no facebook postings, but didn't mention MY BLOG! she'll never know. don't tell her.

my friend jennifer was being a little dramatic about her age & her bday this year, so she needed a little gathering. A party is the perfect way to start off the new year. And it was a surprise, EVEN BETTER.

yes, that's another caramel cake. i get stuck on things sometimes. i fancied it up with dum-dum pops on top & then white fondant "J" & scallop detail at the bottom, I watercolored the fondant pink & added pink sprinkles (and just peeled it off prior to cutting before it was consumed!!!). I rolled out the fondant & cut it with an xacto. Made the little skinny pennants in background with scrapbook paper. And more of the paper flowers. Greenery from my yard.

 Made wine charms out of Ruthie's christmas dollar tree rings. They are split in the center, so they fit around the stem of the glass.

 The "Jen" sign with another holiday gift: alphabet cards from anthropologie.

 And I made sugar cookies with icing, the first time I've done this. Like this recipe for my icing.

about the wig....Jennifer made the comment once that she if she could, would really love to rock an afro. It makes me laugh where our conversations go sometime-you know how girls skip around. I had to tuck this info away & make her dream a reality.

 

and of course we needed a pinata. don't you always want a turn to hit the pinata at kid parties? it was freezing outside & we were giggling the whole time.