Sept 29

Serve willingly.

Our church bulletin board is covered with opportunity.

I teach Sunday School.Ernestine plays piano. Molly works with kids. Abby volunteers with Special Olympics. 

Even if you do not have a church connection, there are community opportunities every where.

Helping others is a wonderful way to help yourself. 

Sept 28

Support local business.  These stairs go up to the antiques area over my local small town hardware store. 

My morning errands included hugs at the bank. Questions about my girls. And helping a friend pick out mums for his daughter. 
Oh and a quick tour thru the room at the top of the stairs.

Sept 27

Angel words. Affirming words.

Use them often. 

I am planning a 31 day series for October too. More stash busting.  31 tags.  Each with a lovely word and embellished in my style and 100% stash materials.  The instagram hashtag will be #stashtag - a full pun on tags made from my stash.

Come on play along.
Follow me at instagram.com/maggiegracecreates

Sept 25

There is a difference between irritation and devastation. 

Keep your perspective.

Took me years to learn this.
Come to think about it.....I'm still learning

Gifts from the stash.

I've been steady working in the studio. 

Crocheting and working on all kinds of things. 

Some just could not be shared yet. 

(Trying not to spoil the surprises.)

This was one of them. 

Plus posting everyday for Simply Simple September has been easy and fun. 

And has allowed me to take a bit of a break on working up posts.

Way back here I talked about the babies joining our life. 

I also mentioned nothing would have to be purchased. 

Well - so far so good on that. 

I am one blanket behind. Little Eloise Ruth's blanket is NOT finished and she is here. But it is still warm weather, so I'm not panicked. 

I decided to do some words art for a few of our little ones. 

(the decision was made after "stalking" mommies to be pin boards) 

I have 100's of word art images pinned as well. 

And - I happen to have all the stuff to make these

IMAGINE THAT

So for Miss Kris' next new grand baby. 

I grabbed square canvas and painted it pale blue. 

Then cut my letters for an easily recognizable children's prayer

And because this is me - I used my CRICUT and the basic cartridge to cut these - I trimmed the "tails" off some of the letters. 

Mod Podge it all on the canvas and look at it and decide it needs "SOMETHING"

Go dig in the stash

(yes it is a seriously deep stash) 

And find a star shaped ornament.

Add lots of extra fine glitter to the star.

I also added a layer of metallic ModPodge in silver to the canvas. 

Because I like texture and depth. 

Here it is all glued. 

At this point I let it dry

Then Spray it with clear sealer.

An important part of the process in the humid south. 

The ModPodge can get tacky (sticky) in the heat and humidity and the sealer stops that. 

I just use a clear spray paint  top coat for the sealer.

Then pondered how to attach the star. 

A hole drilled in the edge of the canvas with a skewer glued in turned out to work best.

Then I glued the star to the skewer. 

Voila

Cute little boy artwork. 

(I'm kinda fond of texture of my studio siding too)

I also agreed to swap an ATC with Kim over at ArtJoyStuff.

I have not done one of these swaps in ages. 

I dug into a deck of vintage playing cards

and put this little art together. 

Go here to see what I got in return.

Totally different styles. But I think that is what the swapping of art is all about. 

I hope this finds you enjoying a beautiful life. 

Sept 24

Appreciate the change of seasons. 

It's Fall Ya'll.

Sept 23

Be an enabler. 

But in a positive way.

I'm helping the youth at church get ready for a fundraiser. 

They are great kids to hang out with.

Sept 22 remember

My dad has been gone for many years now.

Today was his birthday. 

I got a really nice message this morning. From someone who remembered. That means so much to me.

I took flowers to his grave. Then spent some time weeding and cleaning. 

And this year. For the first time ever, I am fully at peace with who I am.

I think he might be smiling right about now.

Sept 21

Saturday morning on the porch. Breakfast. Coffee. Porch swing. Crochet.  Current blanket almost done.

Sept 20

Spend some time outside. My lunch hour was spent sitting on a bench in the park.... crochet hook on my hand.

I was quite the happy hooked at that moment. 

Sept 19

Set a goal.

Work at it.

Tonight the goal was 3 miles. 50 setups with weights. 50 weighted squats. And 50 pushups.

1 hour 7 minutes.  Including warm up. 

I'm not fast and at times it was not pretty. 

But I did it.

And yes.

I'M A RUNNER. I'm not sure when that happened.  But it did.

Sept 18

Fresh air. Roll down the windows and enjoy some fresh air. The weather is beautiful in the south.

Sept 17 do something

Do something thoughtful and unexpected for someone. 

Doesn't have to be expensive. 

When I couldn't go to the beach this summer, my friend Maryann sent me a mini beach vacation.  Postcard and such in an envelope.  It was fun and it really made me smile.

She's really good at this kind of thing.

Sept 16 Buy good tools and take care of them.

I started crafting with very basic tools.  And I still do a TON of my creating with those very same tools.

As I have expanded my creative horizons, I have added tools.

(Just so you know - the people at FISKARS  have not one idea who the heck I am. But their products are top notch)

That paper cutter has cut MILES of papers for my creations. I change the blades often and can highly recommend it. Here is what the pretty new ones look like. Also - if you cut a lot of paper like I do - they have a titanium blade for these trimmers.

Scissors  - the ones in the picture are plain old student scissors - again - I've had these for a long time. The colored handle means to all of my crew that these can be used to cut paper - There is also a ribbon tied on.

Now not pictured - because there is to be NO CHANCE of cutting paper with them and i was working with paper are my Fiskars fabric scissors. Those are ONLY used for fabric - and (pardon my language) there will be Hell to pay if I see them near anything other than fabric, thread, or yarn. I've even seen people put a padlock through the handles of their fabric scissors to keep that kind of thing from happening.

Now all of these things look super expensive (and it can be) but I have added and upgraded my tools a bit at a time - I watch fabric stores and Hobby Lobby and Michaels' sales - and coupons in order to buy things very reasonably. Then by taking care of them - I can really feel like I got my money's worth.

See good tools mean a happy crafter and that is a simple simple thing.

This looks like a late post, but I originally posted this from my phone and the posting failed.  Sorry about that.

Sept 15 encourage children

Encourage children to be their best.

Encourage discipline with love.

Encourage creativity by NOT insisting they do things your way.

Encourage love by exposing them to you loving others.

Encourage self control by hanging onto your own.

Encourage children.

Teaching Sunday School for 3-4 year olds has taught me so much. I adore these kids.

Some of the first ones I taught now have kids of their own. I'll soon get to teach those kids.

Does this make me feel old. NOPE.

THIS MAKES ME BE BLESSED.

This looks as if it is posted late. Sorry - I used my phone to post this originally and the posting failed. 

Sept 14. Plan ahead

I don't have a lot of extra money this year. But I do have a huge amount of love.  I'm making wish packages for a few friends who will appreciate vintage thrifty things with blessings and love. Snippets for them.  Made with love.  And its clearing a stack I've been hoarding. 

Enjoying the cool morning on my porch with scissors and coffee. 

Beautiful.

Sept 13 - look for something unusual

I took the dog out for a stroll this morning. 

He has to sniff EVERY SINGLE BLADE OF GRASS.

EVERY SINGLE LEAF THAT FELL TO THE GROUND LAST NIGHT. 

Anyway. 

We were headed back to the house afterward and I spotted these unusual fungi under my pecan tree. 

Using my size 8.5 foot as a measure. 

The smaller one near my toes, is the size I normally see of these. 

There are several of these HUGE ones.

They're like fun little clusters of mushrooms.

See how big they've grown.

I posted an edit of this one on my instagram with the comment that the fairies really threw a party. 

Simply Simple September is all about living in the moment. 

About being aware. 

I hope you are playing along.

Sept 12 LAUGH

Laugh --- it's good for you.

Giggle - touch your inner child

An old picture, but I love to laugh.

and this...... 

Well -- there is that too. 

Sept 11

We Remember. 

We still Pray.

In God we trust.

Sept 10

Use available technology to make someone's day.

My buddy MaryAnn randomly sends both fun and serious texts often.

I consider her one of my very best friends and we take seriously the fun and important bits of life. And we share them too.

From random babble like the above - to OMG I have cancer (again) - we support each other through the good and the bad of life.

I love that lady so much.

NOTE - neither of have cancer right now - but she certainly was there for me when I was diagnosed. And like me she understood that sending me a replacement kidney would be appreciated. Take off here to see my replacement --- it's a cute kidney.

Are you playing along? ---- I'm having fun. ---- jump on in, the water is just fine.