Joy Leanne

    I've been having fun play around with photo apps today and made up some book labels. I think they would be super cute printed out on some nice card stock packaged with a glue stick, pen, and a book mark or some washi tape. Feel free to print them out for your own use and have a great weekend!   ** I used elements from the A Beautiful Mess app as well as a background from the Rakuga Cute app to create these.

Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.   Thanksgiving ALWAYS preceded the miracle.   Choosing to give thanks, knowing He will provide. Choosing to see life through the eyes of saints and poets.

    So tomorrow is my birthday and I finally finished making my 30 before 30 list. It was harder than I thought. Trying to come up with 30 things I wanted to do in the next year that were PRACTICAL and DOABLE. I mean sure there are a TON of things I would love to do but for various reasons (money, baby coming this summer) it's just not possible. But eventually I did it! The interesting thing is, without meaning to I ended up picking a LOT Of things that fit well with my new years goal. 2013 Goals: To be more intentional... *In relationships *In finances *At home *In memory keeping. Not everything fell into one of these four categories but a lot did. So without further ado.... 30 Before 30 Personal: 1. Memorize 30 verses. 2. Read, finish, or get rid of all MY unread books. 3. Fill up my half-used journals/smashbooks. 4. Sew the Super Tote pattern by Noodlehead. 5. Do one Show. 6. Make 500 things. 7.  Cook a recipe a month off of my pinterest boards. 8. Visit Bush Garden's aga...

                It is so easy to look around at our life and think "This isn't what I signed up for" or "How did I get here?" We look at our big plans. We look at our facebook feed. We look at our favorite blogs. We wondered what happened. We wonder why we don't have the life we so desperately want when every one else makes it look so easy. The funny thing is, I think if most of us slowed down and looked around we would realize that we are in fact living the life we wanted. Our lives, for the most part, aren't that different from the blogs we drool over. We bake, we take walks, we go for ice cream, we do special activities with our kids. The difference between our lives and the lives of the people on the other side of the glowing screen and polished blogs is documenting. The ONLY way that "other" woman is different from us is that she taking the time to notice, document, and dwell on the little moments. She takes time to make much the life'...

  With 2012 now nearly 24 hours in the past and 2013  upon us, it would seem the thing to do is take a look back on 2012. However, I feel like I have done quite a bit of that this past year. With so much having happened this year I feel like I have already one a good bit of reflection. If you would like to read those posts you can here and here. At this point in time I am ready to look forward. I am ready for a new adventure. I am ready to dream, plan, set goals, and draft a map. I'm ready for change. I'm not entirely sure what exactly I want these goals and plans to look like. I know I will be taking some time off for my shop and drastically reducing my custom spots when I do. I want to focus more on creating as the mood strikes, sewing for my girls, sewing for friends, making what makes me happy, finish the huge pile of WIPs. I want to focus more on my writing. For The Clutch Guide for The Motherhood Collective for my own blog, and journaling. I want to make a point of bei...

I'm not sure what it is, but every time I sit down to write I just can't quite bring myself to actually do it. Nothing seems to flow quit as easily as I would like. Maybe it's this nasty cold settling in my chest, maybe it's my weird sleeping schedule lately, or maybe I'm just to lazy to put in the real work of writing. It's easy to say "I write" or "I blog" but just saying those things doesn't make it so. Real writing happens when you are willing to put in the time, day in and day out. When you sit down and take pen to paper (or fingers to key board) even when your mind feels blank. And so today that's what I am doing. Simple writing, because not writing doesn't feel right. As you might remember I did a post sponsored by Tinyprints a while back. I finally ordered my products and got them in the mail this week! I wasn't sure I was going to keep the calendar notebook for myself so I put a favorite family saying on it rather th...

I have shared a few times on this blog about the very cool local magazine I am writing for. You can find the magazine blog over here . Today is the first time my stuff has appear on the blog. The article I write for the magazine is called Vintage Diaries and is a bi-monthly interview with an older women in the community. I spend some time with her and then attempt to share at least part of her story with our readers. Today on the blog I shared some of the tools my family use for keep track of our own stories. You can read the full article here . I thought I would also share here a few of my favorite story keeping tools. Enjoy!   Christmas Journal   Gratitude Journal Travel/Vacation Journal   Hope this inspired you to find a way to keep track of your own stories. Would love to hear what you all do to make sure you remember the little things! Comment bellow and who knows.... you may just win a prize. ;-D Today I am linking up with:  Whatever You Want Wednesday over at Pret...

1) The drama of the past few weeks has not only ceased but look as though it is all resolved. The money is back in our account, the insurance check came int he mail, the new debit cards arrived, and the brick guy is on his way to fix my house as I type. 2) I started working on my office/studio space this week for real. I am so in love and can't wait to finish!! 3) I won a $100.00 Coach gift card from Coach themselves this week. Hoping it shows up in the mail before I head to Gatlinburg Tennessee and the Coach outlet!! 4)Abi has now completed bother her first and second day of school. First day she cried hysterically when I left. Today she threw a fit when I came to pick her up at half day because "She wanted to stay and rest like the other kids." We may be looking into full day. Thought it was a bit sad to see her take this first step, there is a large part of me that can't help feeling that it all felt so RIGHT!  Abi and I are both so very ready for this stage. She i...

Since miscarrying our baby back in February a friend has had a still born baby, another friend miscarried and a former member of our Sunday school class miscarried.  The other day the friend who miscarried was asking me if it got any easier. With out thinking I wrote a her a reply that I hoped would help. It wasn't until later that I realized I was writing exactly what I wish some one had said to me 6 months ago. What I still wish more people would come out and say. And so, as hard as it is I am putting this out there, for those of you who may be wondering "Does it get better." It does get a bit easier. But not as soon as every one else thinks it has and not as soon as you wish it would. There are still moments when it's hard for me. Have grace with yourself. It's ok to be sad. You lost a child. Maybe not one you have held, but one you loved none the less. It's ok to say no to things. It's ok to excuse yourself from situations. I've ducked out of ...

Since miscarrying our baby back in February a friend has had a still born baby, another friend miscarried and a former member of our Sunday school class miscarried.  The other day the friend who miscarried was asking me if it got any easier. With out thinking I wrote a her a reply that I hoped would help. It wasn't until later that I realized I was writing exactly what I wish some one had said to me 6 months ago. What I still wish more people would come out and say. And so, as hard as it is I am putting this out there, for those of you who may be wondering "Does it get better." It does get a bit easier. But not as soon as every one else thinks it has and not as soon as you wish it would. There are still moments when it's hard for me. Have grace with yourself. It's ok to be sad. You lost a child. Maybe not one you have held, but one you loved none the less. It's ok to say no to things. It's ok to excuse yourself from situations. I've ducked out of ...

It's been such a full and busy summer it feels like. And yet when I look at the girls bucket list hardly anything is checked off!! Some things just aren't going to happen. The zoo and Abi visiting my sister probably won't take place as schedules have changed and shrinky dinks are hard to find!. However, many of the things can still happen. Today I am printing out paper dolls and letting the girls work with my markers (GASP!) I got an ice cream maker from my parents and ordered a fun doll pattern to make dolls with the girls. This weekend the girls are staying three nights with Grandma and Grandpa. Then it's time to get to work staying home and having fun! Girls Summer Bucket List o    Zoo o    Finger paints o    Water fight o    Make Popsicles o    Dollar Movies o    Splash Park o    Make ice cream o    Sidewalk chalk o    Photo booth o    Bean Bag Toss o    Fireworks o ...

So I finally sat down and put together two bucket lists for this summer. I am a huge list person. I would venture a guess that you could tell more about who I am from my lists then my journals. Or at least as much. So for the first time I have made a summer bucket list. I made one for the kids as well. But I am to lazy to type it up at the moment. So today all you get is my personal list. So far we are doing pretty well. I've already read a new book. I love it and will most likely end up reading the entire series this summer. Last week I finished a skirt for a friend FINALLY! I love getting WIPS marked off of my to do list. We also made our own bubbles from my Summer Fun Pin Board last week. Still haven't used them yet and have no idea if they work, maybe we will have to try that out today!  What's on your summer bucket list??

 1) I didn't do a weekly five last week becuase the week before felt so blah it didn't really feel worth it. This week has been SO much better! Josh has had an amazing week at work. He had two days this week where he sold two cars. A total of 5 cars this week. Amazing! 2) My sister and a good family friend did an Easter Basket exchange this year. I also had a good friend surprise me with some Easter treats. So good to be known by others. 3) I was interviewed for a local magazine on Tuesday. They are doing an article about women who create and asked me some questions about my Goose Beary Shop.   4) I am enjoying writing more lately. Nothing big but it feels good to be doing something I enjoy again. 5) Went to the Good Friday Service, had friends over to watch The Passion of Christ on Saturday and went to Easter service at our church on Sunday. I enjoyed it all but it made me home sick for MD and Cedar Brook. I would love to hear y'alls weekly five. What d...

It has been crazy warm here for March. We have broken 80 degrees on more than one occasion. While I am thoroughly enjoying the early spring I am a bit worried about that this means for Summer time in Central VA. But we will cross that bridge in a month or two. For now I am very much enjoying the warm weather. Like the plants, and like my mother, I am happiest in the sun. Fall and winter have their certain charms, and I truly love baking bread and working on quilts while the leave change. However, I come alive when the weather turns warm. I am rediscovering old loves. My sewing machine is getting used again, and I am writing with a desire and enjoyment that has been missing for a very, very long time. I have been updating at my other blog Grace and Manna , journaling, and even working on a writing project that I am not quite ready to share about just yet! I am also discovering some new pass times like mixed media journals Smash books are my newest love! You as you can see over at my Pi...