noonday collection giveaway!!

i have an awesome  giveaway for you today!
i am so excited about it!

my dear friend, krista is an ambassador for noonday collection. 
have you heard of noonday yet???!!

here's their mission:

"The purpose of Noonday Collection is to connect you with the lives of artisans struggling for a better future while styling you along the way. Fashion and design are a vehicle for opportunity and change. You, too, can be a voice for the oppressed!"


how great is that?


and their products are just gorgeous.

so this is how krista described noonday....


"It is a company that creates a pathway out of poverty for vulnerable populations by selling fair trade fashion here in the states. The way God is using this to change the lives of women around the world is amazing!  I am wanting women to see how they can purchase a completely unique accessory for themselves or a friend and at the same time help a women half way across the world keep her children instead of giving them up for adoption because she is now earning a fair wage."


ummm...yes, please. love that.
the coolest thing is that krista even got to meet some of the ugandan artisans while she was in uganda getting her son they just adopted last month.
noonday has a relationship with each and every artisan.  also, love that.


okay this is from their website:

We advocate for the orphan by:

• Providing jobs that create a pathway out of poverty for women. A stable income means a family is less likely to abandon their child.
• Help families fundraise for their own adoptions. We give10% of trunk show sales directly to the adoptive family when they host a trunk show.
• Aside from donating 10% towards qualified adoptive families, Noonday Collection gives net proceeds towards orphan care and prevention. 
• The dream: Take YOU on a trip to visit artisans and visit orphans in their distress.

so this is a company we can all get behind, right? 

and what a great time of year....when we all want to find meaningful, special gifts for our loved ones.

so sweet krista generously sent me a noonday product to review for you.  

she sent me these lovely nesting mittens. 

and just in time because it has gotten cold up in here.

now here is my honest to goodness opinion of these mittens....

i love them.

they're super and cozy and warm.
they're made from alpaca wool, so hello, you know they're soft. 

also, they're really long, which is fun...cute and practical.


you can pull back the mitten part when you need to do something suuuuper important like texting. 

" Every product is fully traceable including where we source, what are in the products, and who actually hand knits the items."

okay raise your hand if you want to win some sassy accessory from noonday.


krista is giving a $50 noonday gift card to one of my readers! 
what would you pick from the noonday site....maybe this fancy-pants clutch??

okay here's what you do:


*leave a comment for one entry


*go to krista's noonday page, look around, come back here and tell us which is your favorite item for an extra entry


*become an it's good to be queen follower for an extra entry


*blog, tweet, or facebook about this giveway for extra entries...leave a separate comment for each.  


so that's 6 chances to win! leave a separate comment for each.


contest runs through next wednesday dec. 7, at midnight...winner announced next thursday.



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gallery wall

i'm so excited to show you my finished gallery wall!
i love it.
i wish i hadn't drug my feet so much with this project because it is just so dang happy.

so here was our big ol' blank wall before . . .

and here it is all bedecked in frames . . .

yes, we did a little furniture rearranging as well. :)

let's get a closer look, shall we?

so it doesn't look at all like how i had it laid on the ground.
it kind of took on a life of it's own once we started hanging them.
we didn't have any technical formula.
we hung the biggest one up first and then starting hanging the others around it as we went.
i would step back and look at it and then aj would hang the frame where i directed.
it worked out really well and didn't talk long at all.

i actually left a few frames empty for a few days, but i just wanted those suckers up on the wall!

okay, so i'll show you what's in each frame. . .

we'll start with top left.
we've got a pic of the five of us that callie took a couple of years ago.

next to that we have a cheapy cardboard N from hoblob, spray painted black.

next up, i framed a pretty piece of scrapbook paper next to one of ruby's newborn photos.

beside that we hung up a sweet little pic of fin from farmland adventures.
below that is a cutie pic of our 4 year old avery on the beach.

below that is another {i couldn't help myself} adorable newborn pic of ruby.
then i used a glassless frame to house a piece of fun number typography scapbook paper and a wooden number 6.

next to those, i took apart a random piece of artwork, spray painted the mat & framed one of my grandma's handkerchiefs 

the big daddy in the middle is a sweet photo that AJ took of avery and i in a ferris wheel a couple of summers ago.

this rad print is from the shop for sharlie, created by julie of joy's hope blog.
love that quote so. much.

another beach pic {already had these on hand} of a 2 year old finley and a 4 year old avery.

below that is a weird size frame that i put some burlap looking scrapbook paper and a couple of 4X6's of our family from two years ago.

for this frame i printed out an adorable picture of sawyer that my father in law took on family vacation two summers ago.
love those chubby little baby hands!

top frame . . . old book page with a little bunting made from yarn & scrapbook paper.
bottom frame....  me and the boys this summer about a week before sister came.

and finally...a little bit o' lovin to spice things up a bit.....taken for our ten year anniversary last december.
{baby ruby's in that picture too, but we didn't know it. ;)}

so there you have it...our very fun, eclectic, inexpensive, can evolve & grow over time, gallery wall. :)

this was such a fun project.
it's kind of addictive.
i'm definitely on the look out for more fun things to frame...magazine pics, fabric, great photos, etc.

what about y'all?
anybody else out there have a gallery wall to share?
i'd love to see. :)

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ruby jane ~ 3 months

our sweet girl is three months old.

being a mama is complex, isn't it?
on one hand you're excited to see what they're going to be like, look like, talk like, etc.
and at the very same time, it about tears your heart out to watch them change.

oh mercy, those sweet feet.
i die.

sister loves to hold her hands in front of her.

she's starting to roll to her side.
she loves to be talked to and rewards us with the sweetest sounds.

a few notes about our 3 month old girl.....
*we moved her almost completely over to 3-6 month clothes.
*she's sleeping through the night consistently now
*she's wearing size 2 diapers
*she switches back and forth between her paci and her thumb {mostly only uses her thumb in bed}
*she enjoys looking at hanging toys and batting at them.
*she still loves to be held and be in her moby wrap.
*she is the prettiest, sweetest little girl we've ever laid eyes on. :)



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thanksgiving & instafriday

we had a lovely thanksgiving.
and of course ruby looked adorable in her turkey shirt.

dressing a girl is so. much. fun.

ruby has the sweetest coo and seems to mimic our sounds when we talk to her.

see, she loves her shirt...she's hugging her turkey.

we had a nice house full of people yesterday.
sadly i didn't get a picture of everyone...i guess i was too focused on the food.
because you know i got pics of the food.

i guess you can see where my priorities lie.

and the food was amazing.
turkey, sweet potato casserole {no marshmallows}, cornbread dressing, squash casserole, green bean casserole {obvees}, pies, brownies, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, homemade bread and sweet tea.

and now for a little instafun...my instagram pics for this week . . .

1.  baby girl smiling & happy in her carseat. shocking. it lasted for about 5 minutes.
2. more sweet baby girl goodness
3. happy birthday dear sawyer. . .family fun night at fun city for the birthday boy.
4. i needed extra plates for thanksgiving dinner...dollar tree to the rescue. score.

1. pumpkin pancakes on thanksgiving morning...thank you pinterest and my rad husband.
2.  cranberry sauce straight from the can, just the way i like it.
i want to see the lines of the can on my cranberry sauce.
no high-falutin whole berry sauce for me thankyouverymuch.
3. my little sister is staying with us for a few days.
we took a walk this morning to get some fresh air and energy out.
4. cutie cutie 3 year old boy loving the park.
we ended up walking a little too far and too long with no stroller.
i wonder what the cars were thinking when they were driving by and i had baby girl on my front and sawyer on my back. yeah. it was awesome.
my back is gonna hate me tomorrow.

happy weekend all!! Pin It

ribbon turkey shirt for baby girl

so it's the day before thanksgivng and i have a million and one things to do today.
of course i'm trying cram way too much into one day, but that's how i roll.

i'm hosting thanksgivng for my family.
i've got a big honkin' turkey thawing in the fridge.
i love to make a turkey on thanksgiving day.
i don't really know what the big deal is about making a turkey.
you shove a couple of sticks of butter up inside him and then a bunch more butter in between the skin and the meat, sprinkle some coarse salt all over...and you and your turkey are golden.  :)

i've got several food dishes i need to prepare, clean the house, print out some thankful cards, get the table ready, etc.
plus i decided sister needed a thanksgiving shirt for tomorrow.
and you know me, i have to use what i have on hand.

so i grabbed an extra white onesie & dug around in my ridiculously large stash o' ribbon.
i used the ribbon to make "feathers" and pinned them on in a turkey-ish pattern.

i used a cup i had sitting nearby to trace a body shape for the turkey.

i quick sewed down the ribbons willy-nilly just to hold them in place.

i started out with dark brown minky but had to scrap that when i remembered that sewing minky onto a thin onesie is tor.ture.
so i grabbed some other dark brown fabric i had {courdoroy with polka dots} and used that instead.
i used a little piece of orange ribbon to make a nose & rhinestones for eyes.
you could also use buttons or pearls for eyes, but i decided she's a girl, she needs a little sparkle. :)

i left the edges of the fabric raw because i don't like things looking too perfect.
which, honestly, i couldn't achieve if i tried.

i can't wait to see baby girl in it tomorrow. :)

happy thanksgiving eve!! Pin It

gobble. gobble.

the boys are off school all week.
in an effort to be fun mom rather than the crabby, inpatient mom that i've been, i decided to do a thanksgiving craft with the boys.
our morning started off a little rocky....i may or may not have slammed the cabinet doors when a certain pair of brothers started arguing, again. 
but thankfully, i got myself under control, took some deep breaths & talked to Jesus.

we all love a craft so i knew the boys would be excited when i pulled out the paper, glue & ribbons.
i found this idea for a turkey on pinterest {of course}.
i decided we could do something similar, using what we had on hand.
 
i gathered up some scapbook paper, fall-ish colored ribbons, glue & scissors.
the boys were pumped. 

we used a bowl to trace out a circle for the turkey's body.
then we cut ribbon pieces for the feathers.
the boys glued the bottom half of the circle down and then i helped them hot glue the feathers in place.
{ignore their dorky outfits...we were still in our jammies. still are, in fact.}

we have several low temp glue guns that the big boys can use if they're careful.
after the "feathers" were in, we made beaks, gobblers, eyes & feet out of scrap paper.

now look how cute they turned out!

so fun.
i hung them on the door in the kitchen so we can enjoy them during our thanksgiving meal.

the boys were very proud and i think they turned out awfully cute.

so easy and so fun....just using stuff you already have around the house.

how about y'all? are you doing any fun thanksgivingy crafts with your kids this week?
have you found anything festive on pinterest?
do tell. :)


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