Spring Mantel

Finally posting pictures of my spring mantel! I love all of the colors of spring! I love how "Fresh" everything feels!

Weekend

This weekend was our friends Madison and Jordan's wedding!! I was able to go up to Charlotte for it!

Madison was such a beautiful bride!!
(I stole this off someones facebook :)


Me and Britt- Madison's sister

Me and Linds


In other news....Lindsey found out she got accepted to The University of North Carolina School of Law!!! Saturday she got her letter in the mail!! We couldn't be more proud!!!




(Not sure why this is turned like this)

Book Review

Have you ever heard of Precept Ministries? I was not familiar with it until I moved to Huntsville. This is the Bible study program the womens ministry uses at our church. It was founded by Jack & Kay Arthur in 1970. They write several different types of studies, but the one I have been involved with is Precept upon Precept- John. It has opened up my eyes to a whole new way of studying the Bible! I love it! I would encourage any one to find a class in your area!

This is a book Kay Arthur wrote on how to study your Bible.

This book gives you a step by step guide on how to inductively study the Bible. Many things explained in the book are things we specifically do in the Precept study, but it can be applied to anyone who is desiring to learn how to effectively study the Bible. It has changed the way I study the Bible, and has allowed me to learn and see things I have never seen before! So exciting!!

Weekend Fun

This past weekend, Mandy and Jackie came to visit John and I!! What a treat!! It was SOOOO sweet of them to come!! I had so much fun!!! I only got one pic of us---but I think it was because we were too busy having fun :) We went to eat at Rosies, hit up Dirt Cheap, and several other stores!! Miss Ya'll! Thank you again for coming!! Hope to see you soon!!!

P.S. Please ignore the lamp in the background with no shade...working on that...and it just happens to be sitting on a PIANO!! YEA!! I will be posting about that soon!!

The Bathroom Countertop

So I endeavored upon a little project, something I had seen on a few other blogs, painting the bathroom counter top. Lowes carries a product called Counter top Coating.

There are several different colors you can get it stained to. I got it stained to what I thought was a dark chocolate brown. When I started painting, I realized it was going to be lighter, almost the color of the walls, which was a little disappointing. It was very difficult to paint it on smoothly. I used foam brushes, but it showed every streak, so I ended up painting in circles, trying to make it look "textured:". HA! In the end, I like it a lot more than the blue :) but I am also glad I didn't attempt to do anything more than my small bathroom countertop.
Before

After


During my painting...I got a little careless and accidently did this on one of the cabinets.....

So I did some unplanned cabinet distressing...but I like how it turned out!

All in all, I probably wouldn't use the countertop coating again unless it was just a temporary fix to something I really didn't like. It gets the job done, but it did turn out a little differently than I thought! But hey, not all projects are going to go perfect! But that's the fun of it!!

Book Reviews

One of my New Years Resolutions was to read more. I have really enjoyed the two books I have read so far. I wanted to give a sort of a book review, in case any of you are looking for a good read! :)

"The Man Whisperer"- Rick Johnson

I heard about this book when I was in Columbia, SC. On a Worship Radio Station I listened to, they would sometimes have an "Encouragement Segment" and read a small portion of a book. I don't remember exactly what part of this book they read, but I remember liking it and thinking I should get that book. I always get books used online through DealOz. I think this book cost me $2. It was a great read on how to relate to/understand/encourage/your husband. My favorite chapter in the whole book was Chapter 7. It talks in depth about girls relationships to their dads, and how that directly plays in to the relationship women have with their spouses. I cried reading it, just so thankful for the relationship I have with my dad, and sad for those who may not have had as good of a relationship. This would be an awesome chapter for John to read if someday we happen to have a Gossett Girl. :)

"The Power of a Praying Wife"

What a great reminder of the importance to daily lift our husbands up in prayer, and an awesome guide on how to do that. This book lays out I believe 29 different areas in our husbands life that we can pray about, and demonstrates a prayer for each thing.

Both great books I would encourage anyone to read!!

Congrats Sean & Carmen

Sean and Carmen got married!!

Congrats!! We Are Excited For Ya'll!!!

The Mr. & Mrs. Pillows

I have seen this done on a few other blogs and I loved it! I had to give it a try! I am so excited about how they turned out. The original company to come out with these pillows was Ballard Designs. For just the inserts, they are $59 each!! I think I paid a total of $20 for both, insert and all! So here is a little tutorial on how I did it...

After reading how people have done it, I decided I would make my own stencil.
I printed the letters off of my computer.

Then I traced them on to some heavy duty cardstock.

Then I cut them out with an exacto knife. They were no where near perfect, but that ended up not mattering.

I bought black acryllic paint and that little round foam brush you see in the picture. I made sure to hold the stencil real still and I put the paint on pretty thick. I did practice on the piece of paper first :)

I was so nervouse to pull back the stencil, but I was pleasantly surprised when I did! I thought it looked great! Ecspecially for a homemade stencil!!

I then sewed the pillows right sides facing each other, leaving a small hole to put the insert in.

If you notice in the picture on the Ballard Designs website, the pillows look a little more tapered around the edges, and I really wanted to get that look. After I sewed the pillows right sides together, turned them inside out, and stuffed them, I then went and sewed around the entire outside of the pillow.

If you can tell by this picture, the pillow has a more tapered look, rather than a "normal" looking one with a straight sew.




I love how these turned out! It adds a little more character to our bedroom and it was a fun project!

Our Little House Guest

Last Friday, our nephew Hudson spent the night with us!! We had so much fun having him over! He is such a blessing and brings so much joy in our lives...We missed John David...he wasn't feeling well...and Graham...we missed him, too, but he is not quite old enough to spend the night with us...but maybe one day soon! :)

John and Hud having a night night snack...


I love this! That is my old toy box and those our my old toys! Hud likes playing with them! Even if they are girl toys :)




Mom- remember this old camera??

Major Updates to the Cotton Room

I am so excited about how this room has come together! It feels so cozy!!
Here is the before:


And here we are now!!


Since the last picture, I found a new duvet cover (at my new favorite Target clearance store for $10!!), I added the chair which I loveee and found at a thrift store for $12, the blanket, the mirror which was another $8 thrift store find, and the SHUTTER HEADBOARD! I am most excited about that! I got all four old shutter doors at a thrift store for $15..thanks to my friend Lindsay who talked them down for me :) My favorite blog writer, Layla Plamer of The Lettered Cottage wrote an article for HGTV on making a headboard out of shutter doors...if you are interested in seeing how I did it, check it out HERE!





The mirror I painted with white paint...it was a goldy color before.


You can't tell very well in this picture, but I found the curtains at my Target clearance store for $3 each! They are long white linen curtains and look really great in the room! I also found the bedskirt for $5 at the same store :)

The last few things I want to change are still the light fixture, and I plan on doing some letters above the headboard, similar to what Layla did in hers. Overall, I am so excited about how this room is coming along!!

Basketball Ends...Baseball Begins!

We really enjoyed watching Seth play basketball this year at Westminster. He had a great Senior season!
Here he is on Senior Night


Their season ended last weekend, and now it is on to Baseball!! Here is the poster for the Westminster baseball team...



John is assistant coaching for the Varsity team, so we have a very busy schedule right now! The first game is Monday! We are ready for an exciting season!

Everything

The youth group at our church did this skit on Sunday. It is so powerful. What an awesome reminder of what God has done for us...Praise Him!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

We went out for Valentines Dinner last night with Wayne and Leslie and had a great time! We went to Connors Steakhouse and it was so good!! That is the place John's family took us all after we got engaged!!

Having fun getting ready :)




And Us! Happy Valentines Day!