{For Unto Us..}

This year, I have been blessed with such a great family...I mean everyday, every minute, all the time I'm blessed with a great family, but this year I think I'm old enough to truly appreciate how great they are.

We spent Christmas Eve around the table {all 11 of us:)}, then opened a few gifts from my sister's boyfriend {I received some small fiesta bowls :))}, and then played our new favorite game: bezzerwizzer.

Ok, you might have to sit down for this one. Are you sitting? Now? Ok, so Christmas morning we ALWAYS get a wake up call from my little brother by 6:45am. This year--7:45am!! Talk about Christmas miracle, ha. ....Maybe that's a bit too far with the miracle, but it was a big deal.


I was a very happy girl today opening all the wonderful gifts bestowed upon me. Especially when I opened Jesus Calling from my wonderful mother. If you are looking for a devo that doesn't require a lot of time, but totally makes you smile while thinking about what a great God we serve, I definitely recommend picking this up.

Well, Merry Christmas, y'all. Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today

Chelsea

*Meep*

I learned that word from another blogger, Amanda (@ kevinandamanda.com) and I get a ridiculous grin on my face whenever I read/use it. *meep*

So the reason for this post, I've found a few new blogs I would like to pass on...I'm a big fan of paying it forward.

Kelley Blake's blog (theeclecticowl.blogspot.com) I don't know if I am so thrilled with this blog because of its name or the spunk I read through Kelley's words? I am very excited to see how she grows as a blogger. Girl's got stttylllle. I especially loved her pairings for these past few weeks while she was taking on the 30x30 challenge (found here).

Ok  Next up, Kendi Everyday. I think this about sums it up:

What I love about this photo...everything! I love her look, her skirt, her boots, the scraf...the scenery! Ah, this just makes my heart smile. Will someone buy me this look? Complete with the beautiful surroundings?




The Retail Princess. Um, coming soon. Let's just say this blog will be one you won't want to miss. Everything girly and more...


But as for the rest of my Saturday night, I'll just sit here while the boy reads his magazines and SNL plays in the background. #lovemylife #yes #ijust #hashtagged #onblogger.

Blog, Blog, BLOG!

Really, I love blogging. And I absolutely LOVE reading blogs. It helps me in more ways than one, and someday I really hope to inspire the hundreds of readers I will potentially acquire...ok, maybe just getting 1 loyal reader will be rewarding enough.


However, you must pardon the busy life of a full-time student with a full-time job. Yuck. I would blog every day, but who wants to read about the girl on campus with the short shorts and Ugg boot combo I recently saw? Or the boy with gym shorts and long socks that thought he could substitute as pants (seriously, his mother has to wonder where she went wrong)? Oh, and thanks to the old foogies at MSU, I will be playing that role until spring of 2012. How lucky am I (And you to read about such lovely fashion ideas I see on campus!).



I had the dreaded meeting with my adviser this past Tuesday. I use the word "dreaded" because it's that meeting where they sit you down and look at your midterm grades. Ouch. Oh, well. I'm still in school and 47 credit hours away from graduation. It's fiiine. It's normal. 53.2% of all college students complete their degree in 5 years and I'm now in the club. Welcome, Chelsea.


(PS I totally did not make up that percentage...ok, maybe I fudged a bit.)


But, today, I have better things on my mind I figured I would share with you....we'll call this segment "Happy Birthday to the Halloween Queen."

We celebrated my birthday last night a few days early and had a bangin bash! Then came the presents.....

My wonderful grandparents and my aunt splurged and bought me the NEW Vera Bradley Laptop Backpack in Call Me Coral. LOVEEE it! I sent them a pic this morning with the text, "Who's the cutest girl at school? That's right, ME!" 

 Then my AMAZING mother searched high and low (and EVEN went to our competitor's store) to get this cute recipe book from Iota filled with a few of our family favorites! I can't wait to use this and fill it with my own :)


She also found Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts, that woman has mad talent and I am so excited to curl up with some hot tea and dive into her creative mind through this book.

Tonight will be my favorite birthday gift: Precious time and a great concert with the boy!! I am sooo pumped to see Jason Aldean with the boy and spend some quality time with my hard working man.

Yes, Happy Birthday to me ;)

I about died when...

....I saw this wall!!! OMG, *MEEP* I'm oozing with jealousy. This is super cute and classy. Simple, but over done. I love ornate frames in ANYTHING.

 

Then I saw this on a photography

site and ooo'd and awwww'd over it too.

I just love photography and the moments it captures.

This & That

1. The first thing you will notice about me whether you get FB posts from me, emails, tweets, etc is that I LOVE a good list. Numbered, lettered, bulleted. I know, I'm a nerd, but an organized nerd :)

2. I move into my NEW HOUSE TODAY!!! EEE! I am so excited to paint, decorate, and nest into my little bungalow home! My family has taken today and tomorrow off to help with the process and I am so grateful to them for that.

3. I officially finished my "harder" summer classes and passed with flying colors! When I walked out of my final, I felt the bricks tumble to the ground leaving me light on my toes. What a wonderful feeling!

4. I should blog more. But who has the time?!

Helllloooo Summer?

School's been out for almost 15 days now, but me? I've still seen the inside of a class room for the last 10 days. Yes, I'm the idiot who thought she wanted to get ahead and take 9 hours of classes this summer. Honestly, it hasn't been that bad...yet. I think this first class is ok due to the fact that 3 of my friends are in it, too! Which was a wonderful surprise that first day of class. Just a little over a month left until I have complete freedom and summer at my finger tips, and paint, too!

Paint? Well, I have recently aquired a house!! Yipppie skippppie, I'm super pumped to have a house to DECORATE and make into my very own!! You have NO idea how excited I am. None. Don't even try to comprehend it. I'll save you the trouble. I'm SUPER excited.

Unfortunately, that means I will be moving home for a month until it's ready to move into. But, while I'm saving money on rent....of course, I'm going to use that money for the house! Let me show you a few things...Oh, but first, did you know? Urban Outfitters has decor?!?! When I stumbled upon that little fact, I about lost it...and then spent the next few hours dreaming about what I would order...

Mmmm, love this! If you've been in my room since I've moved out 3 years ago, you'll remember my cream floral bedspread with pink/brown/green tiny flowers and birds. I think this complements the design of the bed as well as the whimsical look. But no gold. Ew. I'll be using my BF, spray paint. The cure to giving anything a fresh look :)

Ook, so I may have a thing for birds, it's not weird I promise! I love this hook with the heart cut out, so charming. Again, blue is not my color, spray paint will come in handy here. I'm thinking about stacking the birds above my bed and attachng ribbon to these frames I already have and hang the frames from the bird hooks. Same with the curtain tie-backs: spray paint.

Left: Um, if anyone wants to buy this $600 couch, it would look really great in my room. K, thanks!

Let me explain about the fabric above. It's a tapestry. Know what I'm talking about? It's a HUUUUGEEE piece of fabric that you can do ANYTHING your little heart desires with! My heart desires a couch cover. Mmmmhmmm. Just wait.

Well, I think that's all I will divulge now. Maybe another post later with more house details. HOUSE!! Can't wait for you :)

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

  

    I finally finished my cousin's first baby gift, eek! I must say, I am very happy with the outcome. I got the idea from this gal's blog when she was stitching on trees and owls onto simple onsies (sidenote: it's a MUST that you scroll down on her blog and look at the adorable onesie with the owl! SUPER cute!). I loved the idea of various fabrics to create a shirt instead of the norm screens or iron-ons. Since there are no babies in my family, I thought of the next best thing: My newly preggo cousin. She's expecting in November, but we're all praying for an early delivery since big babies run in the family (I'm just secretly hoping she goes into labor on my birthday a few weeks before).
     Anywho, I just drew a stork with a basket on stencil paper that you can find at any craft store and cut my patterns. I mixed cotton, mesh, and satin fabrics to create my "scene" and finished it off with some fancy stitching on the basket. *See those cute little knots in blue? I thought it gave the basket something extra ;)*
     I was kinda stumped on how to add detail to the stork to create his wing. I remembered that I had this mesh material left over from a trip to FM and started to play around with it and came up with his wing! I stitched on an old button to create a landing place for the wing and just to give it that something extra ;).
    I chose to make this gender neutral because she doesn't find out until mid-June whether she is having a boy or girl. I found some cute blue and pink patterned fabrics that I am currently working on to sell in Baglady. **Would also LOVE to custom a shirt for anyone, too!

I know, I know. It's a trend that's fading, but I just couldn't help myself! I saw this tutorial on how to make fabric flowers as you read in this post and just went for it! Then, decided to be a bit more imaginative and crochet the orange flower you see in the far left of the picture. All the headbands are secured with antique buttons from my mom's collection ANNND what's even better is I figured how to allow movement for the flowers on the headband. I don't know about you, but some of those headbands have the most awkward positioning when you place them on your head. These flowers are made to move to fit the individuals head. These are in Baglady right now for $12-$15 and custom orders can be placed.

I got a little creative with this last shot.

 

I love being crafty. It feeds my soul and inspires more and more projects. I think what makes it better for me, is when I can take someone's vision and create something for them that they uniquely laid out for me to create for them. Hmmm, what's next ;)?

It's a fading trend, I know...

So, like I was saying in my last post: CREATIVITY OVERLOAD!!

No worries, I took care of it yesterday.

I know the flower headbands have been around for awhile now. You know the ones, and you either love 'em or hate 'em. Me? Love 'em. Don't judge.

Anyway, I found a pattern and just started playing with my lucious fabric I had purchased the day prior for practically nothing. I ended up with two headbands.....

Love this pasiley fabric...lovee it.

My second attempt turned out quite well, I must say. It's green and pink satin with a vintage button in the center. I was nervous working with the satin, but it did really well considering.

All you need to make these flowers is:
-6 3.5 inch squares of fabric
-needle
-thread

Seriously, it's that easy and super cute how ever you end up using them (picture frames, headbands, t-shirts, etc.).

I started on my second project, but can't post pictures of it because it's a gift for my pregnant cousin due in November. I'm crossing my fingers the little guy comes on Halloween ;)...whoops, I mean little one. They won't know until June what she is having and are revealing it at a party June 18th....sooo excited to have a baby in the family again!

With Easter being this weekend, I was asked to make an Easter treat for Sunday lunch with the family. I will be making the best strawberry puffed cupcakes with all the trimmings! I was so made to be domestic. Why can't that be my major?

Creativity Overload

Have you ever had one of those days where you just have so much you want to do, you don't even know where to start? I'm there, and I've been there all day. I am so creatively inspired today, I can't stand it. I have a mile long to-do list and shopping lists for Hobby Lobby and the best kept secret in the fabric world...well, atleast in Springfield anyway :) It's off Sunshine, but I'm at a loss for the name currently..oh FM, that's it!

This past winter, I convinced my mom to invest in CS4 from Adobe and I'm in HEAVEN with all the programs! I have been designing and designing and designing and....Mostly it's been little things for Baglady, but I've done a few things for some friends. Like this logo for a lawn service:
I was pretty proud of it. Especially the 'w' in 'lawn.' I'm a sucker for type. Anything I can do with type, I love. It's like art in and of itself.

I really wanted to start a collection of fabric headbands, but I'm pretty sure that's been put in the "not-original" pile. There's something about the texture and patterns you find on fabrics and how they are presented. Take this flower for example:

LOVE this. The danity pearl and laying the flower against the old pages of a book just make some fabric into something to feed the soul. Ok, that's corny, but some of you will know what that feels like to look at this and be inspired by it. I'll think of something to do with my stack of fabrics...maybe you'll find them at Baglady soon.

I have a new goal for my blog. It's going to my the start of my freelance work. I want to dabble in everything and I know there are people out there who want that special touch put on their business cards, invites for parties, announcments for graduations/baby showers/ engagments...I know there are places for these very things already, but who says choice is bad? Hopefully, my Easter break will be refreshing for the mind/body/soul and produce some pretty cool things for my porfolio and showcase items I've already done.

Until then...

Brothers&Sister

Tucker and Cooper are my little brothers. They are cool {to me}. Finally.

Tucker is 18 (almost 19) and in his first year of college. He was involved in baseball until his sophomore year of high school and particpated in FFA (Future Farmers of America) all four years. When he was little, the only thing that mattered to him was his blue satin blanket and his cowboy boots. He was adorable. I know most people say their little siblings were adorable because that's what families say about their family. But when I say adorable, Tuck was a-dor-a-ble. He was still losing his baby fat when he entered high school, but baseball and girls quickly changed his workout habits. He is now a studly built 5'10". He was pretty closed up and unemotional all through high school. He did somethings he should not have done, but then again everyone goes through that at one point or another. He's really changed over the last year though. This kid who wouldn't even consider hugging his own mother, now voluntarily give them to all of us girls in the Redfern clan. God has really started to mold him into the Tucker we use to know and love. PTL.

Cooper, ha, oh Cooper. He is 13 (almost 14) .....GEEZ, I am old balls. He is getting into football and wrestling winning his first match in a off-season tourney a few weeks ago. He is thriving in school, life, and sports. He is a gamer 24/7 though. You can find his friends and he cooped up somewhere, eyes locked on their screens. Yet, the thing I admire most about my brother is his faith. He knows God and shows His love daily. I don't know how he turned out that way (well, I do but I don't, ya know?), but it's amazing to see him grow and develop that oh-so-important bond. He is such a smart and determined boy...man..young man? whatever he is, I am so proud to call him my brother in life and in Christ.

But he's already made it plain to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself seriously-- take God seriously. Micah 6:8