day 2: my praise team

Wednesdays are crazy for me so those posts might come on Thursday mornings :)

2 year old picture of us singing

Today I'm thankful for my church's praise team.  I've been blessed to be a part of the team for three years now and I love it!  It started out with a band and me singing along with our interim music minister.  Soon this new couple I didn't know was added, the Willinghams.  Since then they have become one of my favorite couples at the church.  David and I find it rare to find couples as goofy and laid back as we are, and the Wills fit the bill! (ha!..sorry, it's early, my mind is still in sleep mode so excuse my silliness)

The praise team is also something I get to share with David and my dad.  Both play guitar, so it's fun to play with them, especially since both have influenced me musically throughout my life.

The best part is I get to worship on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings with this small group.  Sure we have silly moments when my mic is twice as loud as the entire group, or when David Willingham (2 David W's...so confusing sometimes) just throws Lydia's shoe, but at the heart of these times together we are preparing to lead our church family in a time of praising, thanking, and loving our Lord.  I love it!

a month of thanks: day 1

I decided in an effort to post more and to thank God more I would do a daily blog post about something I'm thankful for.  This shouldn't be too hard considering I have so much in my life to be thankful for.  Seriously, I love my life and all those in it.  On that note...here is day 1.

my little penguin santa

To kick off this month on thankfulness I will start with one of the biggest blessings God has sent me.  My husband, David.  We have been friends for over 6 years, together nearly as long and married for 8 months.  He sings goofy songs about everything, makes me laugh, loves my knitting, and is my best friend in the world.  He understands my weird mind and appreciates my sometimes inappropriate humor.....ok, a bit more than sometimes.  I found someone I can make music with and who is as big a believer in DIY as I am.  David tolerates my ridiculous love of Christmas decorations and teenage girl movies.  He even bought us our first Christmas tree 3 weeks before Halloween!  We've been through so much together and I'm so excited to see what adventures we will trek through together in the coming months, years, and decades.  Most importantly he loves Jesus more than he loves me.  I think that is awesome and I love having such a strong leader in our household when it comes to our faith.

David, I love you and am so thankful for everything you are to me!

some music

As a trained musician I find myself very prone to judging any music I hear.  I've learned to turn this off when listening to the radio but it comes out a LOT while listening to anything live.  I wince at pitch issues, make faces at bad tone and sigh heavily when someone tries to use their voice in a way God obviously did not intend them to use it.  If you know me, you've probably seen this.  I have a problem hiding my facial expressions.  I'm working on it, I promise :)

Saying all this, I also want to say that I am a huge believer that everyone can sing.  Everyone.  Some might be able to do it right out of the womb and others may have to work on it for a long time...but everyone can sing.  Every person is capable of making a joyful noise. 

Although I think everyone can sing, it doesn't mean I want to listen to everyone sing over a loud speaker.  It's just a personal preference.  I have a weird array of music I enjoy listening to.  The guilty pleasures like ABBA and Ace of Bass, the classics like Queen, and then my very favorites...folk.

the civil wars

I've slowly discovered that my very favorite genre of music to listen to is folk music, and I could listen to it all day every day.  Two of my favorites are The Swell Season and The Civil Wars.  One is an Irish/Polish duo (the stars of the movie Once) and the other a Cali/Bama duo.  The music is so raw and emotional.  If I could sing anything in the world it would definitely be something like this.  Bonus: I already have a guitarist who I harmonize with splendidly at home!

the swell season

Go to their sites and give them a listen.  You can even download a free live album from the Civil Wars on their music page.

I'm not sure how I got from the beginning of this post to the end, just ramblings I suppose.  I've been itching to record some music lately and I think this post is a result.

christmas knits

snowball monster

This little guy is sitting by our tv, waiting for our Christmas tree to go up in a few weeks.  He's also very anxious for me to stuff the Christmas monsters I knit over the summer.  I made him a friend last night, but right now he is footless.  I'm hoping to get those green feet knit up tonight. 

I just love how simple these little guys are.  I got the free pattern from Rebecca Danger's blog, which I love!!  The pattern has teeth, but I tend to like my monsters mouthless lately, plus white teeth on white yarn seems pointless :)

Many more Christmas crafts to come, I promise!

a list

at the zoo

Here's what we've been up to in the Wall house this past week:

• knitting randomness
• making a flower here and there
• playing with iOS5 way too much on my phone
• mini-vaca to San Antonio which included a swank hotel, rainforest cafe, and the zoo!
• 81st birthday party!
• lots of muffin baking
• golf tournament planning at work

Tonight we're making individual pizzas and I hope to either knit some snow monsters or finish up my paintchip books.

Anyone else out there getting inspired by this cold front and getting ready for all the upcoming holidays?

tinsel for your hair

Christmas!

I just love these sparkly, Christmasy, buttony flowers.  This picture reminds me of some of the old tin decorations my mom has from when she was little.  They are quite bright and sparkly in person, perfect for holiday parties and get-togethers!

I would say "buy them now!" but they're for the craft fair.  If you like these and just have to have one let me know and I can make more :)

a quickie

 I just love having all these lined up!  Makes me want to paint every wall in our apartment a different color :)

Ok, back to watching Despicable Me with the hubs.

paintchip books

So...I love these.  I had a few paint chips in my purse today and work and was playing around with different crafts to do with them.  I made my first matchbook style notebook and they're awesome.  I stapled the ones at work but knew they'd be so much better sewn.  On my way home I stopped by wal*mart and grabbed 40 different color samples and came home and immediately set to work.  I have 10 more to do, but I need to cut some more paper for the insides.  Each has 20 pages.

The books above are just the ones I finished before we had dinner with my rents.  I think my favorite part about these, aside from them basically being free to make, are the color names you can see on the cards.  I want that job, naming colors :)

I will be selling these for $1 at the craft fair.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to stamp some simple dots and swirls on them in black or just leave them plain.  decisions decisions!

flower work

I've been working on some new flower techniques lately.  I made the flower above out of piping.  My sister wears a lot of olive green and couldn't find ric-rac to match so I tried my hand with this.  For the most part I like it.  I think it has a more modern look to it.  I'm not thrilled that you can see the stitching that came on the piping.  On my next one I may try pulling that out once the flower is sewn in place.  In my head it will work...we'll see how it works in real life :)

The flower below is a completely new technique for me.  I made a few similar to it for a halloween wreath hanging in our apartment.  At first I thought it looked too childish.  I played around with some button combos and fell in love with the orange and aqua.  The flower still didn't seem complete.  I remembered I had all these tulle circles cut out from making my wedding bouquets.  I snipped 2 down to size and sewed them on with the buttons.  I think it gives the flower just enough sparkle!  This one actually isn't a hair pin either, it's more a brioche. I put a pin back on instead of a clip and wore it with a sweater on Sunday.  Will definitely be making more pins!

I've started making Christmas flowers for a craft fair I'm going to be selling at called Budafest.  It will be my first one!  One of my best friend's sister, Jess will be sharing a booth with me.  I've been to tons of craft shows with my mom but I've never actually sold my stuff in person.  I'm a little nervous but mostly excited! 

I plan to sell my flowers mostly.  I've already made 6 sparkly Christmas ones and have 2 more ready to sew when I get home today.  I will also be making some everyday color combos.  Aside from my flowers I plan to make some felt covered mini notebooks, maybe some reindeer nuggets (based of these cuties), and hopefully some other cute accessories.  I made some super cute garland for halloween out of yarn and store bought pom poms (glittery and plain) that I plan to reproduce in Christmas colors.  I might make some to sell as well.

Of course, anything I don't sell at the fair will be put in my etsy shop.  I hope to post some sneak peak pics of my progress during the next 2 months.  Here's hoping I don't lose steam and show up with 8 flowers and nothing else :)

just give me Jesus

In the morning, when I rise

In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

When I am alone
Oh, when I am alone
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

When I come to die
Oh, when I come to die
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Just give me Jesus

The hubs and I are playing around with some songs we want to record very soon.  This is one of my faves, so simple but very powerful.  No matter what, just give me Jesus, that's all I need.  It's looking like our recording might be themed around the name of Jesus.  I'm a fan :)