Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Gift of Love

Okay, so it is quite literally 4 something in the morning as I start this post. I had started a post like this earlier but never got around to finishing it. I just woke up while it was still dark and couldn't sleep, but mostly couldn't stop thinking about some of my friends, Gina and Darrell, and Stephanee and Kelly.

Yesterday, my husband told me about a co-worker and his wife that were married just last year that should be adopting a little baby next month. Things just kind of fell into place for them. His wife had an operation when she was younger and they both knew going into the marriage that she would not be able to have children. Of course, I am excited for them! But I still couldn't help think of my good friends at the same time, Gina and Darrell have been married for 5 + years, and Stephanee and Kelly have been married 3 + years. These couples have still been waiting to welcome a baby into their home. If I can do anything to help, I feel like spreading the word is the least that I can do. You may have noticed that I have buttons on the sidebar that link to their profiles.


You can click on these buttons to read their profiles--as well as copy the code within the
box to grab the button and help spread the word.










Photobucket



I wanted to share a true story with you that was told to me last year, by the mother in the story. I just recently asked her to send it to me in her own words but I guess I am just kind of antsy to get this post up! So I am going from my own memory of how I heard it.

This mother grew up in a family that was blessed with children. She was one of
the older girls and loved having a house full of siblings. While she was still young, 
probably in her late teens or early twenties, her mother died. She had to take a motherly-like
role in the family and always knew that in her own family, she wanted to have
plenty of kids. Well, her husband and she were able to bring 2 children into the world, but
then, because of some complications, they were not going to be able to have anymore.
Somewhat devastated by the news, they tried to cope with not being able to have the
large family that she had always dreamed of. 

Well, when her son was still young,
just able to talk, one day he told her, "Mom, my little brother was born today."
She kind of laughed at his cute little toddler expression, feeling somewhat
disheartened thinking that this was, in all common sense, not true (they hadn't
known for long and had not looked into adoption quite yet), but she still thought
she would play along with his cue. "Oh really? Who told you that?"
His reply was so simple, "Jesus."
She was instantly surprised to hear his answer. It was one of those things
any mother should probably write down because it was one of those
"out of the mouths of babes" moments---whether true or not.

Anyway, during this same week, this little boy's daddy was scheduled
for surgery at one of the hospitals nearby their home. The location of the
surgery was, however, changed last minute to a hospital farther away. It was
inconvenient for them to have to travel the extra distance, but they knew that they had to
adjust their plans to the changes. When they got to the hospital, they had found
out that an acquaintance (somehow someone knew the woman) had been in the hospital and
had just had a baby. Se gave birth to this baby the very same day that the little toddler
told his mother that his brother had been born. And the young mother was lovingly looking
to give this baby boy an opportunity to have a mom and a dad. The little toddler
had been right all along--his little brother had been born on that day and they
were able to leave the hospital with a successful surgery on the father
and new addition to their family.

Image from HERE



I know that to give a child up for adoption takes courage, love beyond measure, and hope. Hope for your new little innocent child to have a home filled with love. I can't even imagine how hard it might be--I have never had to go through that. But I am grateful that at least 2 mothers have done that. My husband's two younger sisters are adopted. When his dad remarried and found that they would not be able to have children, they looked into adoption. It took a lot of patience and waiting, but they were able to adopt Amber and Kaitlin. They look like they fit right into the family. People are always surprised when they find out that they were both adopted. I can't even imagine visiting my in-laws and them not being there or holidays without them. They are a blessing for sure! And they really were given the opportunity to be given something that their birth mothers could not give them alone.

Image from HERE
"A birth mother puts the needs of her child above the wants of her heart."
--Skye Hardwick


I can personally tell you that both of these couples would care for an adopted baby
as their own. I look forward to the day when I hear that they are able to adopt!


Gina and Darrell
Gina and Darrell are amazing friends that would go out of their way to help anyone. Just recently our basement flooded and we were at a total loss of what to do, when Darrell came straight over to scope out the situation. They invited us to shower and do laundry at their house when we found out that our water would be turned off until some pipes in front of our house had been repaired. To our dismay--our home owner's insurance would not be covering the cost because it was an outsource of water coming into our home. Darrell came over first thing after work the next day and helped my husband find the leaks and fix them. They expected no pay at all--they were just willing to help. And Gina is so good with kids. When we attended the same church building as they did, Gina always seemed to have a little kid on her lap. And our little guy loves to go over to their house! They have seen so many of their friends have children of their own and have been patiently waiting for their turn to be parents. I seriously hope and pray that they are able to bless a little one's life by being able to adopt. They have been waiting so long.

Kelly and Stephanee
Kelly and Stephanee are such a fun couple. I met Stephanee when I was working at a Kitchen and Bath Design Firm. She was such a fun co-worker. Each day when I went into work, I knew that Stephanee would be there to make it enjoyable. She has a great sense of humor and can brighten anyone's day! She is actually the person that introduced me to blogging. Yes, all my blogging escapades started because of her! She totally helped me get a family blog going and from there, I was hooked. She met Kelly while we were both working together and it was fun to see their relationship "blossom". I can remember multiple times when he would just leave flowers on her desk at work just because. Since we have not worked together, we have still stayed in touch through blogging and texts. They too have found out that they cannot have children and are waiting to bring a little one into their home.

Please take the time to look at their profiles and help spread the word. 

I know each of these couples would be a blessing to any child.

Baby Swaddler Tutorial

Babies love to be swaddled--that's a fact, but I have a hard time making the blanket stay around them. When I had my first baby, someone gave me a swaddler complete with Velcro. It was incredible, but we only had one. I decided to make more for my next baby.


Here is the finished product!
First, you cut your fabric. I decided to go with a light cotton and make it only 1 layer because Summer is fast approaching.

Then you cut the square pocket where you put the baby.

I just bought bias tape to attach the pocket to the inside of the blanket.

I pinned it, and then followed with stitching on the edge of both sides.

Then, I used bias tape to edge the entire blanket.

Next, I added the velcro. I borrowed a friend's baby to determine where the vecro would go.

I folded it and added the next velcro.

And the finished product. It's incredibly easy and very useful!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Some Changes...

Some of you may have noticed that we are no longer posting each weekday. We decided to make This & That Creative a place where our contributors can post whenever they want--without any deadlines. We did this because some of our schedules have recently gotten busier making it harder to reach our deadlines. We want this to be fun, and not a stressful environment for contributors.

We recommend that you subscribe to our RSS feed, follow, or put our link as a blog listed in your sidebar, so you can be informed when we update!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Creative Spotlight: Nettie's Zipper Flower Tutorial

Hi! I'm Nettie. My 9-5 job is Manager of Sunglass Hut. I am a mommy to 4 wonderful children. I am married to the love of my life. Let's face it though, my life is CRAZY! Crafting and blogging are my sanity. I love to create things. I like making things that look complicated and intricate, but are actually super easy. Some of my favorite areas of crafting are, Sewing, Making Jewelry, Making hair bows, and re purposing old junk. So come and craft with me!









ZIPPER FLOWER TUTORIAL


OK kids... first things first you will need a zipper. All zippers are not created equally. I prefer the zippers with the metal teeth, simply because they add dimension to the finished flower. Now, zippers can be relatively expensive. For this particular flower I used a 22-inch zipper (1 zipper makes 2 flowers generally-the longer the zipper the more petals your finished flower will have). A 22-inch zipper at JoAnn's is about $8... which makes it about $4 per flower... now to me, that is a lot. So.... I go to the thrift store. I buy jackets with long metal zippers, for about $4. That makes each flower about $2... MUCH BETTER! This involves cutting out the zipper, but I just get my seam ripper, and it is done in seconds. It is also important to note that colored zippers are sometimes more expensive, unless you purchase them in the "jacket" form... =) 

*I recently discovered that tent zippers and purses generally have metal teeth... talk about a goldmine! ;)
So get a needle and thread. (make sure you use strong thread) Weave it in and out like so.. all the way to the end.
Just kidding, cut off about 2 inches or so (this will be used to make your center), and then sew to the end. Then you just cinch the thread up tight. This will cause the zipper to twist, kind of like a whirlpool slide.
Once the zipper is cinched up tight, just stitch a few stitches at the end of the zipper to keep it from unraveling. Then start arranging the flower. layer each loop on top of the next until you get something like this. Then start stitching randomly, just to tack down each petal. (make sure you are using matching thread. =) Also, if you have to go over the teeth, make sure your thread falls perfectly BETWEEN them, because they are metal, and sort of sharp, they will cut your thread, and then your flower will fall apart. *trust me on this one. ;)
Then just twist up that little piece you cut off earlier. stitch it so it looks like this.
Then just stitch it to the flower and voila! You, my crafty little friend, have just created a zipper flower. =)... Now just attach a clip or a pin or sew it to your favorite hat, or shirt, and you will be looking FINE! Now hurry and go find a zipper!!!

Nettie's original post can be found here:

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spotlight Award: Crissy's Crafts Gift Boxes

Today I am excited to award the Spotlight Award to Cris 
from Crissy's Crafts with her genius Gift boxes! 


Chances are that you already have most of the tools to make them! 


Here's what she has to say:

Hi! I am Cris from Crissy's Crafts.  I love crafts!! EASY CRAFTS!! Crafts that just by looking at it you can figure it out how to make it!!  I try to make my crafts easy and affordable! Most of the time my crafts are made from recycled materials!
Some random facts about me:
1. I am a stay home mom to 3 wonderful children! The 3rd was a BIG surprise!! :) He was born in Brazil!
2. Moved to AZ recently
3. I am from Brazil.
4. Met Condoleezza Rice(have a picture to prove it!:))  while working at the US Embassy in Brazil in 2008.
5. LOVE Bruce Springsteen
6. Love summer and backyard barbecues.
7. This week my blog is turning 2 months old! :)

Now let's talk about the "Teacher Appreciation Day" Craft!




This craft is so simple but it looks so good! Its a little gift box made out of a toilet tissue paper roll! You can add candy or a small gift. 


I was at the supermarket a couple of weeks ago when I spotted the Hershey's Bliss Chocolate and my mind just started to work! I did the Hugs and Kisses chocolate before but this is year  I wanted to do something different. I came up with this saying: "Thank you for a BLISS school year!" You can download the label for free or you can use any kind of tag. 


Hope you enjoy!

Go HERE to Cris's original post.

And I love that she used this same idea for some thank you gift boxes to give out at her son's birthday. So cute! 
Thanks Cris for sharing this easy amazing craft!

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