Made with love...

Well about two months ago I turned 30.  

Even though I had to celebrate it on the other side of the world, I felt so much love from my family and friends that it was as if they were all here with me.  My sister created a "box of 30" with something for me to open each day the entire month.  Some days I opened little gifts such as C.D.'s or Starbucks Via. Some days I opened a note from a friend - wishing me well as I turned 30.  I also wanted to showcase the quilt my Momma made me - it's really beautiful and so thoughtfully designed.  

The girl is hand-embroidered, and rising from her coffee cup are 30 appliqued hearts.

  

Isn't that lovely?
The back is pretty too!

Thanks to everyone who has made my life so beautiful, including those of you who read Sew Homegrown.  Turning 30 has been wonderful.  

During the past 10 years I have been challenged, stretched, and grown more than I ever thought I would, but as a result I feel comfortable in my own skin - something I thought I may never achieve.  My twenties held some really wonderful times and some really dark times, but the love I am surrounded by has carried me through all of it, and I am so grateful.  I truly hope you too can become comfortable with who you are - we each have so many unique things to offer and we can learn so much from one another.  Thanks for your support and I know we're going to have a great year ahead!

xoxo

jessica

{DIY} "Stained Glass" Heart Garland

 

Feeling the need to catch every winter sunray?

This sweet little heart garland will help you do just that!

It's a simple kid's craft - melted crayon shavings in between wax paper 

- that I then cut into heart shapes!

You can get the full instructions for melting the crayons from Martha here.

Once you melt it, it will look like this:

not too pretty.  

But just use a heart cookie cutter and trace heart shapes onto the wax paper and cut out.

Then sew the hearts together on your sewing machine.  

Take a few stitches between each heart to create some space.

Then hang it wherever you like!

I hung mine on this frame that I put on my front door.

You can get the tutorial for the frame here.

Happy crafting, and I hope your winter days have a ray or two of sunshine!

xoxo

jessica

"Love"ly window garland

Browsing around on One Pretty Thing the other day, I found this window garland over on Noodlehead.  She used solid pom poms for hers, which was super cute, but Charlotte and I thought we would add felt hearts to ours.  This is what we came up with:

I just used light colored thread and slid the hearts and pompoms onto the thread, then taped each strand to the top of the window.
It brightens up the window on a dreary day!

jessica