Ribbon Wands

Supplies:
3/8″ x 12″ dowel
13/16″ screw eye
Thin ribbons (various colors)
Scissors

Directions:
Attach the screw-eye to the top of the dowel (it’ll take some muscle, or drill a tiny hole and then attach). Cut your ribbon into your various desired lengths (we used 6 different colors). Insert the ribbons through the screw-eye, until it dangles at a length you like. Take one of the ribbons and tie it tightly around all the other ribbons near the screw, and knot to secure.

Voila! I handed it to Soul, and immediately, she was running around the house yelling bibbidi-bobbidi-boo! It was a quick project to do for the girls, and they’ve been playing with it a lot since I made it two weeks ago. In fact, Glow takes hers to bed with her, along with 15 million other things she hoards… she’s my hoarder.

For another type of ribbon wand, check out this one we made long ago.

I love the linen fabric on Soul’s dress and I like the fan pattern on Glow’s. Glow totally has this 60’s vibe with her shift dress and bob. They wore the dresses to the wedding last weekend (with denim jackets on top because it rained), and their friend wore this Old Navy dress. They all got ready together (I was busy out wedding prepping) at our house, and they were all so proud of their wedding attire. It was so cute to see them showing off their dresses and shoes to each other.

on soul: linen-blend dress, c/o old navy. sandals, c/o old navy. felt hair clip, diy here. on glow: shift dress, c/o old navy. woven flats, c/o old navy.

This post is sponsored by Old Navy. I’m appreciate the support you give me and the brands I partner with!

I got to play florist this past weekend for my good friend’s wedding. The bride had no specific requests, and trusted my judgement, so I love when I get the freedom to play.

I made 75 feet of garland for the ceremony, 5 bouquets, boutonnières, and pin-on corsages). I made the bride’s bouquet a little different from the bridesmaids by adding some white baby roses and scabiosa pods. I went to the hotel to drop them off, and I left my basket full of all the bouquets right outside the guys’ hotel room while I gave them their boutonnières. Unfortunately, when I came back out, the bride’s bouquet was gone. We looked everywhere and questioned everyone we saw, but nope, it never turned up. Someone must have swiped it during the 5 minutes I was in their room (shared about it here). Thankfully, I had some extra flowers, so I took one of the bridesmaid’s bouquets and used that to recreate the bride’s bouquet, and was able to make another bridesmaid bouquet too. Whew!

My first job was at a flower shop, and I worked there for a few years. Then, I took floral arranging classes and did weddings on the side. Once upon a time, my dream was to own my own flower shop. Ben and I briefly discussed revisiting that dream because I would love to have a business in our community, but now is not the time, though you never know. Nevertheless, I’m thankful to be able to do it here and there like I did this past weekend. And even though it rained all day, and nothing went according to plan, I was so encouraged by how the gorgeous bride and groom focused on God and each other, and didn’t sweat the small things.

I love the off-the-shoulder style, it feels sort of romantic to me, so I brought the dress I made for the little trip we took on our anniversary weekend. I share a little sketch of how I made the dress here. It was also the perfect dress for hanging out in the dessert heat (oh man it’s hot out there!).

Jord sent me one of their wood watches to try out. While I’ve never been into the chunky watches, I think the wood is a bit unexpected, so I like that. I wouldn’t normally wear a men’s style watch, but I totally dig this one. I like pairing it with a vintage cuff, and I want to make some bracelets to go pair with it too.

dress, made by me (new here, vintage here). sandals, gap (similar here). watch, c/o jord. cuff, vintage.

Mexican Burger with Bell Pepper Slices. I played around with a few recipes and came up with this burger with a little bit of a Mexican flair. The ground turkey patty was seasoned with chili powder, cumin, some cayenne (and a few other spices that I no longer remember). I also made some guacamole and a chipotle and paprika mayo to go in it too. We thought it came out just alright, but when we ate leftovers the next day, we loved it much better. I think the flavors had an extra day to blend together. Of course, we had to have a vegetable dish, so we went super easy with sliced bell peppers.

Week of 7/20 – 7/24
Monday: Homemade Pizza
Tuesday: Dinner out
Wednesday: Vietnamese Pork and Rice Noodles
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Leftovers

I’d like to make this, but the ingredients look a little bit intimidating. On the other hand, this Vietnamese Caramelized & Braised Catfish looks easy and delicious.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

How cute is this teepee?!

Love this outfit!

Love this “A Both-And Woman and Her Bible”… “God is secretly weaving together a beautiful tapestry, even though it may look like a miserable mess form our mistaken vantage point.”

Things Filipino Moms Say vs. What They Mean is so funny. My mom didn’t really say those things, but we had a Filipino nanny live with us for a long time while we were growing up (she became a third grandma to us), and she did most of those things. While my ability to speak Tagalog has diminished over the years, I still understand it completely (and can read it fine).

True and Brave would have a hoot coming up with funny faces like this.

Thankful for this special time with Soul and Glow. We miss the big girls, but it’s given Soul an opportunity to step up as big sister of the house, and we’ve seen a lot of tenderness from her towards Glow.

I need to start ordering curriculum for the coming school year. I am not ready for summer to end!

Still in summer wear over here, but these are cute fall boots.

I am so thankful for our church family and how God is teaching all of us grace. We can totally be messy together and point each other back to Jesus.

Our good friends are getting married today and I am so happy for them! I love seeing how God brings people together for his glory.

Happy weekend everyone!

I’ve been reading Church History in Plain Language (totally not done as it is quite a heavy read) and these are a few things that I highlighted…

“Conformity, not distinctiveness, is the way to a trouble free life.”

“But to the Christians these gods were nothing, and their denial of them marked the followers of Jesus as “enemies of the human race.””

“One simply could not reject the gods with tough arousing scorn as a social misfit.”

“In short, the early Christian was almost young to divorce himself from the social and economic life of his time- if he wanted to be true to his Lord. This mean that everywhere the Christian turned his life and faith were on display because the gospel introduced a revolutionary new attitude toward human life.”

Most of those quotes are in one of the first chapters discussing the Christians in the early church around 200 A.D.. The statements are bold, but refreshing. They scare the heck out of me, but also brings me comfort. Another phrase that really struck my heart is from this Girl Talk blog post, “home-life set to the soundtrack of scripture.” That phrase has become my prayer these last couple months, and I’ve been asking God to give me a love for His word, grace, and the gospel. Also, that it wouldn’t just stop there, but that I would teach that to my daughters. I want God’s word to be on repeat in my heart and home all the time.