Hug from Heaven

Some days, creativity could be overwhelming. I have a bunch of projects aligned that I do not know how to finish. The plans just tires me even before I start making them, so I decided to stop crafting, give my mind a rest and calm my thoughts through Cindy Adkin's new book "Do You Need a Hug from Heaven". I sure do.

Reading this book was as quick as a hug but remains like treasured devotion. It had me reflected on things happened in my life which at first seemed insignificant, but as when the time went on, I look back and realized I wouldn't be here if it wasn't because of the past events had happened before.

I find it very difficult to write, but Cindy (of Whimsical Musings) made it seemed very easy. She has written many books already! I wondered why? Maybe because she has a strong belief in her mission to encourage others through testimonies of stories of miracles. She believes in what she does. Her heart is full of joyous praises that she was able to pour it out with gladness. This is the kind of hug I received from heaven that encourages me to look at my life and write down all the blessings I received from heaven.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

Early Valentine's day Gifts

It was an awful morning. I woke-up at the wrong side of the bed and our kitchen sink was clogged because of my ignorance of the capacity of our garbage disposal! Hubby decided to just call the apartment maintenance, but I would have to wait till tomorrow. I did my best however and looked if I could do it myself. And I did! **taps the shoulder.

Aside from the awesome church service today and my new found plumbing skills, someone made my day extra awesome! He surprised me with an early Valentine's day gift! I finally have speakers for my Iphone! Somehow, at the back of my mind, I knew he will gift me with this! He knows I turn-up my KLove App just  right when I wake-up in the morning!

And speaking of surprises, my friend Donna Welter of My Shabby Chateau surprised me with a nice gifts!

 I met Donna through blogging and I thought her blog was truly WONDERFUL! We both share the same interest in everything French.

Everything she touches just shimmers! She loves to put glitters on most of her creations like these clothespins!

 Which made it extra fun and fabulous!

She also owns an Etsy store and there's nothing in there I did not like. All of them are just beautiful!

She included music sheets and copies of pages from English-French dictionary. I thought they are great for crafts and also able review my French lesson too!

She also included these oh-so-cute French inspired cut-outs, ribbons and antique looking blank tags! I promised her that whatever I do with it, it will be glittery to remind me of her!

 And for my most favorite part of the gift. Donna's sweet message!

Right now Donna is recovering from a surgery. I just pray that now may the Lord's hand surround her with comfort which I know He will because He loves her.

Thank you so much again Donna! Get well soon my friend :)

 

DIY Mantle

Someone asked me if I could share some information on how to make a mantle after finding out that my dadzy (my pet name for my father-in-law) did their mantle all by himself.

As soon as got the request, I talked with dadzy about this request.  

Dadzy is very supportive on my writing and photography and of this blog. In fact, he is the only man among my followers! He is very nice to share some information and drawing on how he made this very nice mantle and I thought I'd share it here on my blog for those of you who needs some tips on DIY mantle to save some bucks.

Here is his drawing of the mantle plan where he included the materials and exact measurements. Some of the molding he used were the leftovers moldings he had after their house renovation. 

Theirs has an opening about 12 inches away from the fireplace opening.

 He bought the fancy edge trim and the decorative scroll work from Menards.

Then, paint it any color of your choice :)

You could also staple extension cords on both sides and up to the top like dadzy did so you could plug-in your lights on top!

I hope I explained it just fine, but feel free to ask question if you have one. I would be happy to clarify it for you :)

And my big thanks to my wonderful dadzy! Like what mumsy always say...'you are amazing!'

Prizes and Editor's Choice Award

Wonderful day to everyone! 

I received a tremendously exciting email from Matt, editor of Be@Home which is a part of Become.com's blogging network.  My blog was chosen to be gifted with Editor's Choice button!!!

on Matt's words:

"...we like to reach out and highlight blogs that we find particularly exceptional and interesting. As an editor at a large blog like PocketChange, we like to reach out to our fellow blogging community and let them know that we appreciate their hard work on their site. The button is thus a sign of validation for your blog, showing your readers that someone like Become.com thinks your blog is particularly exceptional."

I don't know if I thanked you enough for this award. This is truly humbling and it encourages me to give my best on doing something I am passionate about.

Pocket Change is Become.com’s convenient source for all-in-one shopping advice. They feature/blog top 10 lists for great online deals of the current year for hot products chosen by their bloggers. Honestly, I enjoyed their featured blogs on their site! It's like one stop blogging and quite helpful.

An speaking of awards, do you remember my dryer sheets tree? It won a challenge and I just got the prize in my mailbox! I couldn't believe these came all the way from Netherlands!!!

I was suppose to win just the stamp set, but Stelle of A Little Bit of Things I Enjoy (who sponsored the prize for the Winter White Challenge at City Crafter) was very generous to include some other goodies!

I was surprised it came with these pearl embellishments, lace and intricate paper cut outs! However, the sweet note is my most favorite :)

You might want to check-out Stella's cool blog and see her gorgeous creations of cards! She is so talented in card making.

Thank you so much Stella for sponsoring this prize. I LOVE each one of them!

Phew! All these Prize and Award talk puts me in a mood to give something away! ;)

See you till next post! I hope you are all having a gorgeous day!

Life's Simple Pleasures

I started the day with a very nice cup of coffee. In my solitary moment, the nice taste of my Christmas Cookie Coffee gave me a sudden urge to be thankful for life's simple pleasures. What can be better way to start a week than to think of something thankful for right?

I am thankful for life's simple pleasure of gifts and discounts! These makes morning shower more exciting! For those who know me, I would not want to get these on their original price. I got some of them as a gift from my mumsy who influenced me to use Baths and Body Works and I got some of them from their huge clearance sale! I love clearance! I am so happy they have the scents I want!
The nice part is, I got my hubby hooked on Peach Bellini foaming handwash and scented candle! I am so glad we have the same taste!

The second simple pleasure I am thankful for is of course Christmas Cookie coffee we bought from Beans and Such that I mentioned here on my blog before. My visit from Lincon Town of IL will not be complete without going there! I absolutely love Mary's shop!

I am loving this coffee flavor. This changed my perspective on coffee taste. I called my hubby from his office and told him he was right!  Coffee and fruit flavor is not the best combination. 

For me, he is a coffee Connoisseur

Well, that's it for me for today.

So what about you? What are life's simple pleasures are you thankful for?

Parisian Tag

Wonderful morning everyone!

I can't stop tagging! Well, making tags that is. I can't stop designing tags until I ran out of my blank paper tags I got from Michaels.

I am so excited to share my new design to all my fellow ladies who loves La Mode Parisienne

 I just love Parisian inspired designs. So I made something out of my own idea with images from Graphic's Fairy.

Except from the fact that I didn't have a colored printer before this, I thought black and white are so elegant and classy color combination.

I played with it a little and put some black and white glitter as border and black feather!

 I hope my term 'La Mode Parisienne' is right or I'll get it from my French teacher. Yikes! I included my hubby's pocket watch in the photo. He prefers pocket watch than wrist watch. Funny!

These tags are going as my little birthday gift to someone and also will be going to my Etsy store!

I hope you all enjoyed my little project

Till the next post!