I {Heart} _____ Mondays #2

Are you all ready for some amazingness? Good because this weeks list has me drooling and wishing and hoping! Beware though you may just be hooked on some of these babies!

Since I am starving and my daughter won't move off my lap so I can whip up some breakfast let's start off with the drool worthy. Chicken Fried steak over at The Pioneer Woman. I love me some Chicken Fried Steak. I prefer mine for breakfast with some eggs but ummm check out this plate. Is your stomach growling yet?

Next is this Ah-dorable Camera Strap cover by Shey B. Now Shey has a ton of super cute straps BUT this one came for me in the mail this weekend so Im over the top in love with it. So cute and comfy too!

Now this, doesn't it make you want to decorate for St. Patricks Day? Ya, me too! We don't decorate for much around here but maybe I can convince the hubby we should start. Any suggest
And now, for my favorite! Check this beauty out! This would look so cute on my desk. Especially being so bright. (I am creating a dream studio for myself as we speak). Plus hubby and I are pretty much the perfect pair hehe. So if you don't mind can you all direct him to the link below? Please and thank you!

Don't forget you can find all of these items and their shops by clicking the images!

Just an honest rant

By tonight... I am referring to last night. I chickened out and didn't post this. A friend encouraged me to post it now.

Tonight there have been quite a few blog posts. Posts where people decided to just be honest about their feelings about handmade community and the blog world.

A few of these blogs really spoke to me. In fact I joked with my friend Nicole and said that she had wrote hers for me because she really hit just how I was feeling in that moment.

I have really been struggling with putting myself out there in the blog and handmade world. I am an introvert to the extreme. Being rejected is my number 1 fear and every single day whether it be on my blog or on twitter, I feel rejected. As Nicole mentioned in her post, for all I know people just may not have a response or anything to say but I just feel like it is so cliquey and I am so not in that clique!

I love the people I have met through social networks and blogs. I am also really looking forward to meeting some of them in real life at some upcoming conferences (I am also terrified).

However, I hate the constant feeling of "what do I have to do to make these women like me". How childish do I sound saying that? It is true though. I want so badly to be liked, not for how many followers I have or what items I giveaway but simply for who I am.

I want my blog to be a place for people to come and get to know ME and the things i love. I want twitter to be a place for me and my old and new friends to chat. Right now, it just doesn't feel like that. Right now, it feels like a place where I am constantly trying to keep up. That is not what I want or need for myself.

I am strongly considering taking a break from twitter and maybe my blog as well. Something to pray about. For now, I must sleep. Goodnight and sorry about the rant.

Half Birthday, What?

Woah, Woah, Woah...half birthday? 6 months old already? This is all happening to fast. My baby is going and growing up on me. I remember with Rhiannon, my first, time flew but it was nothing like this. Is that normal? The second grows up faster? Maybe, I'm just more distracted having two? I mean I don't actually believe that in the recent years time has in fact sped up. However, this boy seems to be entering into childhood and out of babydom all too quickly. Yes, I realize I am making words up. You would too if you were realizing your time as a mommy to a newborn was long gone.

Not only is he already celebrating a half birthday, he is doing so much.

-Rolling all over the place, including right off the couch =(
-Actually playing with toys
-Talking up a storm, or babbling whatevs
-Smiling constantly, like seriously none stop, even when he cries
-Scootin' like a mad man, although he is stuck in reverse
-Pulling himself up on all fours
-Cutting his first two teeth

And so much more. STOP THE INSANITY. Someone tell my children to stay little forever!

Just a minute...

I am currently reading and studying the book "Ministry of Motherhood" with some of my mommy friends. Last night we had our monthly meeting to discuss the topic of our children modeling our behavior was brought up. Many of the women mentioned things that their children say that they know they picked up from them. Not bad words or anything, just things that are said out of habit. Or maybe, they are bad words in a sense? I can bring up this topic discussed because I have fallen into this habit and have heard the bad words come from my little's mouth. "Just a minute".

"Just a minute" is not a horrible thing to say, it's not a mean thing to say at all. The problem is that we say it so much that our young children have picked up on it. Saying it on occasion, no big deal. We get busy and sometimes it is good for our children, or us, to wait. Saying it enough for a two year old to repeat? Not so harmless.

Let's compare our relationship with our children to our relationship with our Heavenly Father for just a second. I mean, that is who we are to model ourselves after.

What would happen if everyday, you went to the Father and His response was "Just a minute"? Now, I am not talking about waiting for an answer to prayer, He is still listening when He makes us wait. I am talking about the initial "Dear God..." and He responds "Just a minute, I'm on the phone or working or doing the dishes" or whatever it may be. How loved do you feel?

Ouch! Did I just say that? Did I really just think I would feel unloved if my Father told me the simple words "Just a minute"? I did. I would feel so hurt and unloved. Is that how I am making my little ones feel? Possibly. Gut-wrenching, right?

My children are the center of my whole world. Am I making them feel that way? Or am I making them think that sewing up this last thing is worth more to me? Do they even know the difference? I don't know. Do I want to risk it? NO WAY.

"Just a minute" is now a cuss word in my home. I'm not trying to tell you all that if you have told your child to hold on a second, you are surely a horrible mother. That is not my intent at all. I think we all just need to step back for a moment and think of what we make our children feel when we are often putting them off for even just a minute.

One of the women put it best last night when she said she was full of "mommy guilt". Now, it was not that she was doing anything wrong. Or that any of us were. Just simply that we want everything to be perfect for our little ones. Will we ever be perfect? No. Should we strive for it? Yes, let's model Christ. Join me will you?

Let's all boycott "Just a minute"!

I {Heart} ____ Mondays

I have been oogling over all kinds of handmade and bloggy goodness lately, so, I thought I would share it with you all. Say, once a week? Let's just go ahead and make it a series. I {heart}____ Mondays. Not to be confused with I heart mondays... because surely I do not!!!

First up, Olive Blue's Baby Leg Warmers. Nicole at Olive Blue (a good friend btw) totally kicks butt. As do her baby leg warmers. Rhiannon has a pair of gray and white stripes. ADORE them!

Sew Chatty has changed up her look and now does a canvas with designer fabric accent. I already loved the look but the other day she added these bags to the shop. I die!


I have been searching the web for owl stuff. One of my closest friends has a lil girl turning one and having an owl party, not long after we are throwing another great friends Owl themed baby shower. I stumbled upon these. Why did I not find them before I had my two littles?


And then...the other day, these babies popped up in my twitter feed. I think Eclectic Whatnot shared them. She has been posting lots of tempting yummys BUT nothing like this Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes? Oh My!

Also, not to toot my own horn or self promote but have you seen my new Artfolios? Adorable and so much fun. One is part of a giveaway over at Sew Chatty right now, in case you missed the memo!

(Click on any of the images to go look at these lovelies yourself)

New Shop

Remember this post? You know, the one about all the changes happening at Rock-A-Bow? Well, the time has come. There is a new look to the blog as you can see and...wait for it...the Big Cartel Shop is...OPEN!!! Check it!

There are so many new things I want to share with you. Instead of listing them all here, I'm simply going to recommend that you go check it out. You know what else you should check out? Sew Chatty's blog, Rock-A-Bow is being featured over there as we speak AND there is an awesome giveaway that you are not going to want to miss. Trust. Hang around over there for a while. Elizabeth at Sew Chatty, yeah, pretty much awesome!

So friends, have fun viewing the shop and the feature. Be sure to keep checking back, I'm not done with the new product releases yet. You will not be disappointed.

What is Beauty Anyway?

The other day my mom text over a few pictures of one of the first beauty pageants I was in. We were comparing just how much my little girl looks like me. Twins!

Anyway, they got me thinking. Thinking about beauty, self-esteem and what God has to say about it all. I was reminded of a message that I gave at a mother-daughter tea a few years ago. I thought I would share that message with you. As women, it is so easy to get caught up in what the world says. I thought this would be a nice little reminder of what He says. (a reminder I often need myself)

Please pardon any references to being here tonight or my examples given for little girls as they were the target. I was going to change all of that for you readers but I didn't want to throw off what I was trying to say.


I grew up in the pageant scene. I was what they call a “beauty queen”. Some of my bigger titles include Little Miss Orange County, Miss Anaheim, Miss Orange County, 4^th runner up for Miss California.

Needless to say I have been around and learned a lot about outer beauty, but I also learned a lot about inner beauty. Tonight I want to share a little about those with you.

Being in those pageants, I saw what the world calls beauty. A certain hair color, a particular body type, a specific style of clothing. A lot of the girls in pageants, as well as in the world end up struggling with how they feel about themselves because they don’t look like that, and because really, it is impossible to look like a girl in a magazine.

A lot of you may struggle with that, a lot of girls and women in this room may think they are ugly. That they could never be pretty. I was fortunate to learn that what we think or say about ourselves means nothing in God’s work, what matters is what God thinks about us.

Can I tell you all a little secret tonight? God thinks you are beautiful.

In Psalms 139:14 David says “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Listen to what David says here. “I am wonderfully made”, God created everyone of us, and He made us exactly as He wanted us.

God does not make mistakes, He put those freckles on your face for a reason, He gave you that hair color and body shape because He thought they were beautiful. Everyone of us looks different, and God wanted it that way. I think that it is our differences that make us so beautiful.

I want you to look at these flowers with me. Every flower in here is different but equally beautiful in it’s own way. If every single flower in here looked the same, it wouldn’t be quite as pretty. If they were all pink, pink would be boring and no longer unique and beautiful.

We are a lot like that, God gave us certain traits to stand out, and that is what makes us beautiful.

Now, even though we were wonderfully made, and God made us all so beautifully, the Bible tells us that outer beauty is not the most important. More importantly is the beauty that is on the inside.

1 Samuel 16:7 says "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

So even though all the jewelry and fancy clothes are fun, it should not be our focus. Our main focus should be on what we look like on the inside. What our heart looks like.

Next, let’s look at 1 Peter 3:3-4, these verses will explain a little more about what we just read.
1 Peter 3:3-4 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.”

Now that does not mean we should not take care of ourselves and look pretty but that we should focus more on our inner self.

If God cares more about our inner beauty, then we should probably figure out what true inner beauty is, so that we can work on that. When we don’t know exactly what to do or how to be beautiful on the inside, the best thing to do, is to look in our bible, and see what God says.

The best example of inner beauty that I can think of are the fruits of the spirit. These things, tell us exactly what God wants to do.

The fruits of the spirit can be found in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.

When we act in these ways it makes our hearts soft, and our inner beauty shines right through to the outside.

That leads me to the question: How many of you have thought that someone was not so pretty, but you got to know them and they were such a kind and loving person, that they became one of the most beautiful people you know?

Now their looks didn’t change at all but their inner beauty beamed out of them. Isn’t that cool? The way we act can make us so breath-taking. Looking at all of you, I already know you are so so so beautiful, but can you imagine how much more beautiful you are when you act in these ways and your inner beauty shine through? Wow!

Now is it always easy to follow what the fruits of the spirit say to do? NO! It can be really hard. Like when we really want a piece of candy and our mom tells us that we have to wait until after dinner, is is easy to be patient? No way, I have a hard time being patient when it comes to candy but in the end that patience will pay off.

Think about all the work that was put into tonight. How much time you spent thinking of what to wear, how to do your hair, and all the time your teachers and the leaders here put into making this place look beautiful for you. A lot right?

Now God tells us that our inner beauty is more important, so all the time that was put into to the outward appearance, we should put even more time into giving our hearts a makeover.

Can you think of some ways that we can work on our inner beauty, how do we give our hearts that makeover I just mentioned? Like I said earlier, if we ever have questions on what we should or should not do, we can read our bibles. So reading our bibles is a great step in making over our hearts. We can pray for strength, and for God to help us be kind and gentle and loving. As well as the other fruits of the spirit.

Now another make-over step, that is sometimes a little harder, is listening to and obeying our parents.The bible tells us to honor our parents. Moms and dads usually know what is best for us because they watch over us and a lot of times have struggled with the same things, so listening to them is a great way to stay on track and keep our beauty shining through. I mean moms, how beautiful do your little girls look when you walk in and they are cleaning their rooms after you only asked them once?

Everyone in this room has the potential to be a hundred times more beautiful than they already are by simply following after what God’s word tells us.

Like I said earlier, each of us were wonderfully made and our outer beauty was made perfectly by God. We should take care of ourselves and our appearance, but more importantly we should focus on our inner beauty because that is what God looks at and cares about.

I want to challenge you all, to not only work on your own beauty, but to let those around you know how beautiful they are. It is easy to forget how great we really are, so it is nice to hear it from people that we care about. Can everyone here take on that challenge?