Guest Blogger- Megan at Beautiful Bits of Grace

As I announced yesterday, I am excited to introduce you all to my friend Megan at Beautiful Bits of Grace. She is a busy girl: Mom, blogger, crafter, photographer, pintrest addict.  Everytime I check in on her, she is doing something new, and doing it well! If you get a minute, check out her etsy shop. Full of beautiful items she created. I love her flowers. So pretty, and oh, so girly!


Take it away, Megan!



Hi, my name is Megan and I publish a little blog named Beautiful Bits of Grace where you can find me writing about the everyday beautifullness of this life, motherhood, photography and whatever my latest project may be thanks to the oh so addictive Pinterest. 

I "met" Angie in the summer when I was lucky enough to win one of her adorable bags through a giveaway. I was also privileged to work with her on a giveaway together.

She actually invited me to guest post for her a few months ago and I was so flattered and honored! I had every intention of writing a guest post right away for her. The only problem was that I struggle with two things. Procrastination and perfection. I wanted my post to be just right and I didn't want to give Angie anything less. So I procrastinated....for months.Too be honest,  I didn't think any post I would write would be good enough and I was constantly comparing my blog and myself to others. It is something that I definately struggle with and have prayed about.  Comparing myself to others around me. That constant trying to keep up with everyone, everything. Trying to find approval from people instead of being confident in my God given purpose.  

via

Then this morning as I sat down to read my my bible as I had promised God I would so many times {and failed}, I prayed and I asked God to help me, help me to stop trying to live up to the expectations I had placed on myself because of comparison.  I opened my bible to this verse:

The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon has another beauty and the stars have another. And each star is different in it's beauty!

1 Corinthians 14:33 

This verse spoke volumes to me! It reminded me that we are all created differently and each of us has a God given talent or ability. We are all unique and beautiful in that uniqueness. Sometimes we just need a gentle reminder and some loving encouragement. We may think that what we have to offer isn't good enough or right but it may be exactly what someone needed to read. If you decide to stop by and visit my blog be sure and say hi! 

*New Bible Covers

A request was made after seeing my crayon bags for a "big girl" version to cover her bible. Duh! Why didn't I think of that sooner?!?! So I made one today and was so tickled with how it turned out. My own bible feels so...naked now :)

I will be adding these to my website, on a made to order basis. If you  are interested, please email me at  { contact at gathered-sown dot com } Subject: bible covers. Cost for a cover made to fit your  personal bible measurements is $18-$25, depending on the size.

We all need a day off now and then

I've been offline for a few days, taking a much needed breath of literal fresh air in the beauty that is...Door County. Talk about just what the DR ordered! My Dad and his wife have a cottage there, where Ryan, I and the kids have an open invitation. {You can say we're a little spoiled!}

I have some great stories and beautiful pictures of the fall beauty of Northern WI, but will need another day or two to get it all together. I do, however want to show a few pictures I took last week when I was running errands around Sheboygan. I can't say enough how much I love the beauty of fall! In the wise words of my friend Amy as she explained fall to her 8 year old son this weekend: "God could have just made the leaves turn brown and fall off, but instead He wanted to give us a little gift by turning them such beautiful colors first" Oh, Amy, you are so wise!

Angie

New Pics, thanks to Addimae Photography

A dear friend of mine offered to take some pictures for me for my fall collections. How awesome is that??I'd be a fool to say no! I gave her a big ol' bag of bags, and she sent me a message last night. It was 10 pictures that she took, as she was "playing around". 

{swooning}This is why I don't take my own pics. 

My very best pictures don't even look as good as her"playing around" pics! Tomorrow, we have a date to meet at our local historical museum to get some more pictures, which I'll post when I get them.

 She has a great eye for rustic flair, which goes so well with my {modernly-vintage chic-ruffley-pleated- fabulous} style! 

After oohing and ahhing over my pictures, please stop by Addimae's site and check out her work. And I know she'd LOVE to know what you think. Tell her ANGIE sent you ;)

I can't say thank you enough!

Well I jumped off a virtual cliff of sorts on Tuesday, when I posted a very personal journal piece that I had written. What I didn't expect was the overwhelming support and GRATITUDE I received from people. I never knew that sharing my experience would open the door for so many people to share their own. It's funny how when we have all experienced some sort of pain in our lives, it remains one of those things that we work way too  hard to hide. But in reality, a lot of times, our pain can be a comfort to someone else. Someone who feels like they are alone in their experiences.

Through this blog post I heard from acquaintances, who watched me go through this 14 years ago,who wanted to ask how I felt, or how I coped, but they were afraid to ask. It was an incredible experience to hear the genuine, straight from the heart condolences that some of my dear old friends wanted to say for all these years, but were afraid to hurt me even more. Maybe afraid that the mere mention of my pain would make it all the more difficult.

I not only got to enjoy reliving old memories, but got to experience an unexpected, outpouring of feelings. This week I received hugs that on a normal day would be slightly awkward. But I can't tell you how many genuine, totally unawkward hugs I received (and gave!) this week. From people I passed in church, people I see while dropping my kids off at school, as well as many virtual hugs, I feel like people heard my message, and appreciated it.

I was privileged to receive messages of memories people had of my mom, of how proud she would be of me, and even how proud they are of me! I got to read about other peoples heartaches and how they appreciated reading this and knowing that the pain does get more bearable.

One of my biggest fears with posting this page were how my close friends and family would react. From those closest to me, I got overwhelming gratitude. From others I heard nothing :(  But the most important feedback of all was straight from my Dad. After all, he was the one who experienced the greatest loss that day 14 years ago. My life may have changed, but his had to STOP and start over.  He called me while I was out shopping last Tuesday, a few hours after the post went live. He told me he read it. (I started to sweat a little at this point!) I don't even know if I asked what he thought. I was to afraid to know. I was afraid of all the things I said before. That it would be to hard to relive. That it might hurt him more to read it. That he would be mad that I put the side burn picture up for the whole world to see. But his answer. " I loved it. It was hard to get read at times, but I am very proud of you, Ang." {sigh of relief} Those were the only words I needed to hear. That my DAD was proud of me. Then my sister calls me later that evening, and was speechless. Excited and speechless, which said more to me than a million compliments. Then, I even caught Ryan reading it. He didn't say to much, but the hubs doesn't like to read, so I knew what this meant :) And as the commetns, emails and phone calls rolled in I realized that the emotional roller coaster of writing and posting this were so worth it.

The newest addition to my living room. A gift from my Dad :)
He must have known how much I needed to hear it! 

I apologize that I can't respond to every comment I received. I tried to at the beginning, but couldn't keep up! Between comments, facebook messages, emails and shares, the support I felt is something that I can't thank you all enough for. So please know, that even if I couldn't write back to you personally, I read each and every word you wrote, and even read most of them twice :) Your words were kind, funny, emotional and real. Your words were a gift, and I thank each and every one of you.

Sincerely,
Angie

Gathered & Sown has a professional photo shoot {I feel so grown up}

Last night, after I dropped my kids off for VBS, I was privileged enough to have my good friend Krissy Vanderlaan offer to take pictures of my bags. She has a super fancy camera, some mad photog' skills and photo shop. I would be a fool to say no! But when the time came to go, I had no model. As I called Krissy on my cell, I drove by my friend Laura's house. Lo and behold, there she stood, cleaning out her car, like a frantic answer to prayer! And don't gag, but as you look at the pictures, please know this is EXACTLY how she looked when I drove by. No foolin. I wish I looked that good when I was cleaning my car! Krissy was able to convince me that I looked presentable enough to be in a few shots, even though I was only planning on standing BEHIND the lens. Had I known, I would have tried to look at least a little more "laura-like!"

This picture was taken in the cutest little old fashioned soda and ice cream shop in the South Pier district.
If you are ever in Sheboygan, check out South Pier Parlor, owned by the sweetest little thing,
Michelle and her hubby Ryan.
{ I love to support awesome people and their small businesses, wink,wink! }

This was taken on South Pier in Sheboygan.
We are SO BLESSED to live right on the beautiful Lake Michigan.

Krissy thought Spencer felt left out. (he was waiting in the car the WHOLE time!)
SO we decided to get him in a few shots.
{Notice his body language. He was about to SPRINT after another dog.}

Laura and those L-E-G-S!
If I had legs like those, I'd be going around showing them to people, saying
"Hey, have you seen my legs? They rock!" :D

We had so much fun. The weather and natural lighting were perfect and I love what Krissy did with the pictures.

{Thank you Laura and Krissy for your time, talent and friendships!}

That's what I love about my job. I get to do what I love, with the people I enjoy being with and on top of that, get to see something I CREATED bring someone joy. Life is good :)

They say real cheese comes from WHERE????

I am a Wisconsin girl, through and through. And the fun excursion my friends Amy, Cara and I took our kids on today proves one thing: THE BEST CHEESE COMES FROM WISCONSIN!!! Cara even had a friend visiting from Florida, who made the trip PERFECT by walking around with her camera on her neck like a real tourist, Lol!

I had been told by a friend that if you ask, they might let you see the factory. So I did...and while they couldn't take us to the room where they make the cheese (sanitary reasons, which I am GRATEFUL for!) but they had huge windows which allowed us to see the process. But our generous tour guild, Kert showed us and the kids an entire tour of the rest of the facility. It was fascinating! I never knew there was a demand for 1200 pound wheels of cheese, but I saw the picture to prove it. The wheel was ordered from Texas. I guess everything IS bigger in Texas!

Here are the kids, the sun was a little high at the time we wanted to take the picture :)

The huge windows and the view into the cheese making room.
That is the back of Kert(on the right), our wonderful, informative tour guide!

We made Will sit in the pictures and go along to the factory, although he is clearly WAY TOO COOL for such things!
From left:Will, my BFF Amy, Aidan,Sabina (those are her three wonderful babies!) then Chloe and Audrey, my two daughters. Oh how I love them all!

Chloe and Audrey showing off their hair nets for the tour.
The kids loved them, they wore them until we got home. NERDS!

These are wooden boxes filled with cheese wheels.
There was a crazy huge amount of cheese in this place!

That is a vat holding a wheel of cheese that is solidifying. Something about the whey coming out...
Kert explained it better than that. And yes, it is bigger than my daughters.

The kids are demonstrating how CHILLY it was in there. Fah-reezing!

These kids love each other so much, I just love this picture.
Oh,Aidan <3 (on the left)

Time to sample! Yummmmmmm. Those are squeaky fresh cheese curds.
They were still warm!

For information on Hennings cheese, check out their website. I honestly love their cheese over any other WI cheese maker. And we have some great ones THE BEST in our state.

Fun day, great place. Finished it off with local ice cream, scooped while we paid for our cheese:) I highly recommend making the trip if you ever get the chance. And anyone who wants to argue that cows are happier in California, please come check out Wisconsin. No question :)

How I Make My Own Laundry Soap and Fabric Softner

I am a sucker for all things handmade, so when a friend (now I have to plug her FB page...she is too cute!) Rita posted on Facebook that she makes her own detergent, I was intrigued! So I asked her for the recipe, and was shocked at how easy and fun it can be to make your own detergent. The hardest part is going to a couple different stores to get your ingredients...they can be a little tricky to find. And with my kids PILES of laundry, the cost per load savings are Grrrrr-eat!

How do such little bodies make so much laundry?!?!?

Here is Rita's recipe:

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated in a food processor)

1 cup Washing SODA (Arm and Hammer brand)
1 cup Borax
...
Mix in a sealed container (or even an old commercial brand box works).

I have an HE/front loader and use approx 1-2 T of powder per load.

Easy-peasy, right? And I swear by it. It even removes the f-u-n-k-y odors I find lingering in my kids clothes! Amy and I make this together, everything is ALWAYS more fun with a friend :)  We like to go online and get ideas, to experiment and change up the recipe a little.

Me and Amy...

To go along with my new soap, I hated to add chemical laden commercial softener, so I did some research online and figured out how to make my own :) I will show you the recipe further down, but first I needed to show off the cute containers I made...total THRIFT STORE finds! I then took my cricut, and cut out vinyl letters as labels and made my  little glass containers cute enough to store on my laundry room counter.

And now for the fabric softener/deoderizer recipe I promised: Get out your paper and pencil, you will need to make a list.

1. White distilled vinegar

Thats it! I love my bottle of vinegar for many things, such as counter cleaner, carpet freshner, you name it, I'm the vinegar queen! So when I realized that I could use it to soften and deoderize my laundry, I was stoked! So I just removed the ugly Heinz label, slapped some vinyl on my vinegar bottle, and I then pour it directly into my machines softener dispenser.

 And before you ask, your clothes WILL NOT smell like a salad. The smell magically dissipates after vinegar dries,  leaving them simply smelling fresh and clean :)

If anyone has anything to add, or any fun laundry room tips, I'd love to hear them! I am also ALWAYS on the lookout for recipies for making my own cleaning products....hint,hint :)

Vintage US Army Fatigues Repurposed

So a good friend  and neighbor of my Dad called me to ask if I'd be up for taking her husbands army fatigues and recreate them into a purse for her. Duh! Of course :) The project was so much fun, and they turned out better than I had hoped. ( I love it when that happens!) When I finally got to meet her, I talked her into modeling her new/old bags for me, so here it is! Such a sport she was. She just may have a new career in modeling....:)

I was able to remove the cargo pockets and use one on the front. I put the name label she found on the flap,
so she can show off  Her Man :) I made the strap long and adjustable, so she can wear it as a purse, or cross body. To get a long strap, I had to piece together many cuts of the pants legs. The seams just give it cool character.

We came up with the idea to take some of the ties off of the pant legs to make a zipper pull.

This is her bags' mini-me. I used the other cargo pocket to make her a small cross body. Perfect for those scooter rides into town. (They live in a resort community in Egg Harbor WI, in the heart of Door County <3  lucky! )

This is the backside of the bag, I have to point out the stitching on the bottom center...I cut it out on purpose, it was a hole on the knee that he must have mended. I figured there was a story to go with it and HAD to include it in the design. Even if there isn't a story, she could probably make one up! Wink,Wink...

I would love to see things that other people have done with Army Fatigues...any ideas???

Wanna a free wristlet for summer????

I recently started getting to know Kari of "Newlyweds on a Budget" and just adore her! She gushed about my yellow pleated bag, so I decided to thank her for her positive sentiments by sending her a wristlet that matches the bag. I knew she'd love it, but what fun is it if she can't share the joy? So I sent her an extra one to give away to one of her lucky readers.

For details on how to enter to win this fun, summery wristlet, please stop by her blog. And while you are there, check out some of her posts. If you are like me and like to dream about creating things, but don't know how, every Tuesday she posts links to super cute and easy tutorials for DIY projects. I love the weekly inspiration!