happy new year! now i can finally show you...

Hello everyone!

I started this post before Christmas, but for obvious reasons I couldn't post it until after Christmas. Since October, I started working on Christmas gifts that I had been brainstorming about pretty much all year long. I love giving a thoughtful gift. I know it takes a lot of effort, but for some reason I just enjoy thinking and thinking about good gift ideas for loved ones. It doesn't have to be handmade, but this year, most of my gifts on Caleb's side turned out to become diy projects. They took a lot of time and effort, but I'm pretty satisfied with the results. Next year I may not work so hard. We'll see.  

For my sister-in-law, Shannon, I designed four prints of quote art by Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (I can't quite remember if that's the full name of the school). Shannon is by far one of the biggest Harry Potter fans I know. She has a whole pinterest board dedicated to things "Harry Potter." I love Harry Potter as well, but I don't think you get initiated into the club until you've read each book in the series at least five times. I've got a long way to go. :) 

I got the idea from this etsy listing. I thought of hand lettering it myself, but I felt that designing on the computer would be cleaner and faster, and I would get to use more colors if needed. 

Anyway, so this project allowed me to explore the world of print design and the wonderful unending world of fonts and colors. There were so many different possibilities. I went through multiple drafts and mediums and I ended up with this:  

Did you recognize any of the quotes? Super fun project. I'm beginning to realize how much I enjoy design. The idea is to hang them on the wall together as a collage, but really you can put them anywhere.

As for Josh, we actually knew his gift way before anyone else. It all started with going to a moving sale, and we found some vintage fly fishing flies.

Looks pretty junky huh? Well, you just need to visualize. I could have done more with this, but since I'm working on a budget, we had to keep it simple.

I had to cut out all of them from the original cardboard if I wanted to keep the cork. It was tedious, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Once again, I carefully chose the color, fonts, and paper. I have some leftover flies that were not used so I will give those to him in a separate bag. 

Now for their son, Phoenix, I had to be really thrifty since these two gifts took most of the budget. What better way to go than by making puppets! Felt is super cheap at the store, and puppets don't take that much material. I scavenged pinterest for ideas and was immediately drawn to the three little pigs. Classic story for any child! These took forever to make, but I really like how they turned out. I made another set for my other nephew, Deacon. 

He loved it!

How was your Christmas? I'll be blogging about ours next!

Hugs,

Jessie

pillows!

My first real sewing project with Bobbie (my sewing machine) was to make decorative pillows to complement our couch. I am in LOVE with our couch. It's comfortable and the perfect size for napping, but it was missing pillows. Our couch is a nice neutral color, so I needed to find some fabric that would give it a nice pop of color. I found some while I was in Phoenix over the holidays. As I researched how to make pillow covers, I learned there were many options. I'm the kind of person that goes for quality over quantity. I am willing to spend more money on items that I know we will want to have around for a long time. I felt that if I were going to make pillow covers, I wanted them to be the best that I could make. Taking into account the style I was seeking, this is what I decided:

• four square pillow covers, two larger and two smaller.
• invisible zippers on all four (gives a more professional and finished look)
• piping on the two larger (you'll see what that is in a second)
• use feather pillow inserts, not the polyester fill

Home Makeover

Hello There!  After many weeks of hard work, most of our big house projects are finished! Come see:

Before

After

Before
Actually the stairs were covered in an ugly blue carpet, but this is what it looked like after we took the carpet off. We already repainted the walls here.  

After

Before

After

Before

After

After

Before

Before

Deacon watching me brush my teeth

After

After

Before

After

Before

After

There are still more projects to be done, but we've kind of slowed down now that winter is coming and Caleb has started school. We are immensely grateful for the family members who came to help us out! We would have never been able to get this far without their help!

As for me and my HOUSE, we will serve the Lord

Joshua 24:15

For the few readers we have of this blog, if you don't know already...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE.

Yeah I know, if you're in shock, that will probably last for the next couple of days and then you'll forget and move on with your life. I'm still in shock and it's been about two and half months since our offer was accepted. I already have some friends who have purchased homes, but it's still completely different when it's you. This is such a....grown-up thing. It's weird. I almost feel like this is a more grown-up thing than getting married! That sounds outrageous, but it's probably because of all the financial planning we've had to do for this purchase. Anyway, Caleb and I are very excited to move into our new home and do some really cool home projects to update the place. It's going to look spectacular!

If you haven't taken the time to read Joshua 24:15, it's basically the title of the blog post. I'm excited to move into our new home where I can create an atmosphere of peace and love. If I ever have friends or family over, my hope is that they will always feel welcome.

The home is actually a duplex, and so we'll be renting out the larger half to some of our friends here in Provo who will be moving to Michigan as well. Not only are we new homeowners, but we're also new landlords...another weird grown-up thing. crazy...

Here are some photos of the house:

Front enclosed Porch

We're not fans of the mint color, so we'll be getting rid of that.

Nice large deck in the backyard

When we get there I'll probably take some more before and after pictures and show you in a later post. We are driving to Michigan next week! I have a lot of things I need to get done before we go, wish me luck!