christmas open house!!

hi friends! If you are in the mood for some crafting and goodies, I am opening my house today from 11-2 for just that!

come visit to make ornaments, do some Christmas shopping or just for free hot chocolate :)

130 W. Main, Zeeland

instead of blogging...

I have been camped out with this guy, doing crafts all over my living room floor for multiple nights in a row.

and trimming our tree, setting up my Nativity in a new location and adding a little Christmas flair to every corner



and who could forget the late night bundled up walks with these guys down Christmas card lane to see all of the lights and decorations going up around the neighborhood?

I promised and here it is

meet Abby, from whom creativity spills over. Abby and I went to Taylor University together (yah Olson Hall) and I have always loved the spirit and energy she has. I found her blog a few years ago and have enjoyed watching her family grow as she is now the happy momma to two little ones.
Isn't she beautiful?!

She will be giving away one of her beautiful handmade cowls that come in so many gorgeous colors and as you know, I am obsessed with scarves (as seen here and here) so I think it is a great option. Wear it with a plain sweater, your favorite printed coat, a long sleeve tee. Possibilities are endless. For your chance to win one of Abby's creation, go to her etsy shop between now and Wednesday and come back to let me know which is your favorite. You may also blog and/or facebook about this giveaway and comment with your link for another entry!

And remember how I mentioned that I would have a partner in this one. Well for those of you who live in the Wheaton/Naperville area, Alicia is going to share with you details on Abby's upcoming local appearances and some special deals just for you!

Have a great weekend! Can't wait to see which is your favorite.

it's beginning to look alot like...

autumn still. But in efforts to get ahead of the game and in reaction to an unexpected night at home...yours truly is pre-Christmas prepping. Like ordering Christmas cards from Shutterfly with some of the new family pictures that we got taken a few weekends ago (promise to post them soon). I am also making a Christmas gift that might take a few creative sessions to complete...is it for you?

and the winner is....

drumroll please...Marcie from Our Days is going to have a chalk bunting all of her own to enjoy with her kiddos and for celebrations! Marcie, you may email me at bekah_wallace@yahoo.com for more details and thank you to everybody who voted, I always love hearing what you would choose.

If you didn't win over here, remember to jump on over to Daisys and Dots until Sunday and enter a giveaway featuring yours truly! Enjoy the weekend friends! I am up early and off to a craft show, my new second life I suppose. I will post pics soon of some of the fun things I have been working on and debating with Ryan about keeping. I guess he is right, that kind of defeats the purpose.

inviting creativity to the party

you may have noticed a new little button on my site here...I am now an
Uppercase Living consultant (wall words and all kinds of fun stuff)! If you have not heard of the company, no worries. I had not either until early April when I was at a home decor boutique in a local beach town and the shop owner showed me a few Uppercase Living ideas. I was hooked and am excited to share it with you. Here is a link to my personal site if you are interested in checking a catalog out.
http://joyfulhomes.uppercaseliving.net

I am also going to be creating original pieces inspired by the whole "shabby chic" look starting with the windows and doors that I got at an awesome barn sale today. Major adrenaline rush as I got there and there were already 20 people scouring the place for deals at 9:10...the doors opened at 9. It's funny because I never dreamed that I would be doing something like this but somehow over the events of the past year, perspective switched a bit and here I am. I promise this blog won't become my business journal. Nope, counting on it and my good friends to keep my creative adrenaline in balance.

but while we are here, check out a few fun things for inspiration! If you are interested, send me an email me and we can chat. And for the rest of y'all (still the lingering effect of the Southern drawl coveted while in Florida with the girls) there may just be a giveaway somewhere down the road as well...

getting crafty

I don't know about everyone else but I think we have started to move from the wedding most weekends phase to the baby shower phase. Which is a happy transition but there are still a few weddings each summer and about a year ago, I started to realize how quickly each time I would run to Bed Bath & Beyond with my 20% coupons in hand and scour the aisles for the perfect potholder or cocktail set.

One wedding it hit me as I recieved a gorgeous invitation that I set on my side table, then moved to my fridge and eventually threw away. So much heart is put into every detail of a wedding, including the invite, and what a shame for that to go to waste. So I started a new wedding gift tradtion. Sorry BBB.

I began by purchaing an 5x7 or 8x10 frame, depending on the invitation's size, and using craft paper or whatever layout worked best, then frame the invite as our gift. We are headed to a wedding on the east side of the state in 2 weeks and here is the one I made yesterday as an example (covered up the date for the sake of the couple's privacy).

I also have found that a bulk size pack of tissue paper and plain gift bags have been a great investment. I don't have to worry about not having the right bag and running into Target between the wedding & reception for wrapping stuff (don't tell me you haven't been there too!).

kneading dough...actually just needing dough

because I need to start thinking about bringing in more of this:

I am seriously contemplating selling this

could be a fun way to earn a little extra money & meet some new friends...I have been thinking about it since that day in Southwest MI...
but right now I need sleep...so more thoughts to come!

my first giveaway!

I am excited to share with you my friend Torie at BeeBoBaby and all of her talent and love for things handmade. Torie and I met about 4 years ago through our church but it wasn't until we planned a co-baby shower earlier this spring that I got the chance to know her better.

And let me tell you, she is such a wonderful mom to her 2 pretty little girls, amazingly sweet & oh so creative. I guess you could kind of say that I hope to be like her when I grow up...here we are at Jamie's shower; Torie is the one on the right in the pic below:

So, in honor of Mother's Day and all of my friends who are entering their own season of motherhood this year as well as those of us who love handmade gifts, Torie is blessing us with an exciting chance to win something new this week!
Head on over to her blog to check out the 3 items you can choose from; vote in her Mother's Day poll & come back here to let me know which of the 3 you would like to win...and why. The entries will end on Friday at midnight.

for such a time as this

I'm a keeper, a collector, but I am selective of the items that I allow to cross over into my pack rat tendencies because I also love the rush of bringing a box of things I will never use to Goodwill. From the ages of 5-12, it was elephants. Elephant stuffed animals, elephant thimbles, porcelain, glass...you get the point. And I would proudly display those animals lined up like my own little elephant zoo.


As I have gotten older, my collections have become more purposeful and whimsical perhaps at times. One of the things that I have been collecting for most of our marriage is wine corks. There is this really cool girl at our church probably 8 years older than me who collects them in jars and containers in her kitchen and I admire her style so much that it rubbed right off.

To give credit where credit is due, Real Simple also played a part as I got the idea for a wine cork shadow box the Spring before we were married.

Until tonight, the little corks stained with juices and memories were stacking themselves up in my Goodwill bottles & pitchers (see the cycle here?). There they were waiting for me; the corks from our annual wine tours, our late night dinners with friends, even those that I have snuck into my purse when we are in public. yup, stealer of cork.
They fit perfectly into my Ball jars which remind me of Ball State, near TU in good ole' Muncie. With the addition of a tea light, my little collection was transformed into something altogether new. For such a time as this, these corks were saved. And the good thing is, I can continue to collect more corks and even better, more memories.

Recession-Proof Resteraunte

As many of you know, I have moved to part-time employee status in recent months. This has brought me many WONDERFUL freedoms which cannot be measured financially but also means that I have to be reminded on a regular basis that even though I feel so happy, my portion of the pocketbook is half as thick as it was before (and I can't say I was ever in it for the dollas in the first place).

Good things going on in the Wallace household as we feel united right now about where we are & the fact that Ryan is and should be taking classes online through Moody. But these things all add up right? Didn't think tuition would be a line item in 2008, or 2009, or 2010.

In order to factor in new expenses, I have started, for the 3rd time, to use a FREE online budgeting tool called "MINT" to manage daily transactions, like $2 at the Peanut Store on Swedish Fish & those little extras that just sneak their way into my heart...I mean cart! The thing that I quickly noticed using Mint is that we spend WAY too much on a regular basis on eating out. Way too much.

So, in my efforts to get creative, this is what I have come up with. I will commit to making meals at home on a more regular basis, give it a real trial for a one month and see what difference it makes in our spending habits and overall lifestyle. And because arts & crafts make everything seem more fun and maybe a tiny bit less grown up, here is what I did:

Step 1:
Grocery shop with a list in hand & meals in mind.

Step 2:
Consult monthly planner to identify dinners at home & plan for fun date nights and dinner out with friends.

Step 3:
Create crafty calendar to disguise the regimented meal plan using groceries as purchased in Step 1.

I will keep you posted on how it goes! Ryan isn't so much as convinced yet, but I figure one month can't kill anybody...As long as I don't try to make a low-fat version of his mom's hamburg pie again. Yikes.

Anybody else have any little helpful savings tips they use on a regular basis?