A VERY special giveaway!!!

Last night I headed over to one of the Elementary Schools where my friend, Allie, works! We met while I was in Grad school, and I haven't seen her in a few years!!!
The elementary school put on the event, Empty Bowls. The students got to design and glaze a bisque fired bowl, and sell them to raise money to help hunger in their area.
There were so many to choose from, and these are the ones I bought!
This is the first one I picked up. It was made by Nate in Kindergarten!!! All the bowls are about 6 in. in diameter.
Each bowl came with a hand-made note thanking the receiver of the bowl for helping them fight hunger!!! *melt!* This one is from Wilson who is in the 3rd grade. The inside of the bowl is jet black with a beautiful green glaze. The 3rd graders glazed their bowls a specific color, then attached some sort of "sticker" and painted black over their color. When they removed their "sticker," their design showed through.
Regan, who is also in the 3rd grade, made this next bowl. The gorgeous blue color caught my eye from a few tables away!!! It's hard to see in the pictures, but she created a cloud design along the lower outside. It's beautiful! She also addressed her letter, "Dear Friend." *melt again!* Once I saw that, I had to get her bowl!!!
And I'm glad I did, because I am giving away Regan's bowl to a special friend!!!! I want Regan's bowl to go somewhere else, somewhere away from here for a bigger purpose. I want her bowl to go far away to remind others of the cause she worked so hard to create for.

In her letter she says, "Thank you for buying my bowl. You are helping to fight hunger in the community. We are trying to help people who are hungry. I hope you like and enjoy my bowl because I worked very hard on it. We had fun painting and making our bowls. I appreciate you buying this bowl and helping the community fight hunger."
My heart melted a million times at this event. 1. I so appreciated the letters that came with each of the bowls. 2. I loved the turn out of families and kids who were showing off their bowls. 3. I was saddened by the number of bowls left on the tables, and didn't want those kids to feel left out. I wanted to buy them all!!!

I plan on writing a thank you letter to each of the classes from which my bowls came from. I want to include where Regan's bowl is when I write to her, so that's where you come in!!!

Here's how you can enter to win this VERY SPECIAL bowl:

1. Leave me a comment telling me why you want to win this bowl. Where would you put it? What will you use it for? I want to share it with Regan!

2. For a second entry, Follow my blog!!!

3. For a third entry, Like my Facebook Page!!!

Please share this with others! I would like as many people as possible to know about this great project that these wonderful kids created to help others!!! I can't wait to send this bowl to one of my amazing blog friends!!!

***Remember, you don't have to have a blog to enter this giveaway!!! Simply choose the Anonymous option, then leave your name and email address with your comments!!!

Little Boy Knee Pad Pants Tutorial

Cute kid, huh?! :) Check out his pants!!!
T-man is sport'n some new pants that I made him!!! It was a super easy project, and they look adorable!!! :D Here's all you need!:

*a pair of pants (I used Carter's little "sweat" pants-the thin kind), but these knee pads would be so cute on a pair of jeans or corduroys!!!
*colored fabric of your choice
*iron on fabric stuff (you iron it to the colored fabric, then iron that piece onto the pants)

Step one:
Cut out your knee pad shape. Trace it onto your iron fabric as well.

Step two:
Iron the iron fabric to the colored fabric.

Step 3:
(optional, I suppose) Sew a cute pattern onto the knee pads. Peel the backing off the iron fabric FIRST to make things easier. I chose a little criss cross diamond pattern, but stripes would be cute too!
Can you see the pattern? I used light blue thread to give it a bit of contrast.

Step 4:
Iron the knee pads to the pants!!! Try them on your child first to make sure they will be covering the knees :D

And, ta-da!!! Fini! :D

I LOVE these pants! I think it's so hard to find cute stuff for boys. Girls get tutus, leg warmers, bows and headbands, so boys need something to make them looks super cute as well!!! Success? I think so!!! :D

Happy Thursday!!!

Meet and Greet!

I am having so much fun with this blog right now, and LOVING all of the new friends and followers I'm making!!! However, if you haven't followed my family blog, you probably don't know much about me. So, let's change that!!! Here we go:

A. Age: Twenty-Seven

B. Bed size: Queen. I want to be able to still be close, but let's face it. He's a King Size man, so sometimes it gets a little crowded :)

C. Chore you dislike: Oh my gosh, ALL of them! J/k...sort of :) If I had to pick, it would be laundry. It's Never Ending!!!! I feel like I just keep folding and putting away, just to do it again!

D. Dogs: Sookie!!! She's a Bichon, and basically part of our family! We've had her for about 3 years now.

E. Essential start to your day: Breakfast, usually Life cereal or Strawberry Pop Tart, and as of a few weeks ago, my cup of coffee!!!!

F. Favorite color: right now, teal!!! I am totally a color person, for sure! So, also included in this list would be orange, pink, and yellow! :D

G. Gold or silver: I think silver. Most of my jewelry is in it, but I do have some gold as well.

H. Height: 5' 5"...shortest in my family...due to the coffee maybe?!

I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano for a little while when I was younger...I have the talent show tapes to prove it!!!

J. Job title: Wife, Mom, Homemaker.

K. Kids: T-Man!!! Oh, my goodness! This little guy is the best thing EVER! He is SO much fun, and I just love him to pieces!

L. Live: Indiana.

M. Mom’s name: Mom, Momomia, Mops, Toodles :)

N. Nicknames: Kel, The Girl in the Blue Glasses (people actually call me this when they see me!), K-Money (one of my favs given to me by a couple 7th grade boys :) Gebbs.

O. Overnight hospital stays: My first time was when B-A was in the ICU for his A-fib. Second time was as a patient for the first time giving birth to T-man!!!

P. Pet peeves: Oh, goodness. Whistling, people who drive slow, people who start a sentence, then tell you that they can't say what they were going to say, flipping through the channels really fast without seeing what's on, people who look in the mirror at themselves while they're talking to you, rude people, babies who don't sleep...:) I kid ;)

Q. Quote from a movie: "The man up and disappeared like a fart in the wind."

S. Siblings: 2 sisters. One older, one younger. We get mistaken for triples and twins when we're together!!!

T. Time you wake up: It depends on when T-man get's up. Usually between 7 and 7:30.

U. Underwear: what about it?!

V. Vegetables you don’t like: broccoli.

W. What makes you run late: Well, besides my existence (I've ALWAYS run late!), T-man!!! There's a lot of stuff to think about when leaving the house with a baby!

X. X-rays you’ve had: On my back. I have scoliosis, so I had a bunch when I was younger. Don't worry, nothing serious, just a slight turn of the spine!

Y. Yummy food you make: Pioneer Woman's pizza!!! I also make delicious chocolate chip cookies and chocolate mint cookies!

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Oh, my. I haven't been to the zoo in forever!!! Maybe the elephants and monkeys?

Well, I hope you feel like you know me a little better!!! If you have any other questions, shoot them my way! :D

Book Shelf tutorial

I had so much fun this weekend with redoing the wall outside of our bedroom!!! One of my favorite projects was this book shelf!!!

I saw it somewhere, and HAD to try it!!! I am a huge fan of old books...think I get that from my mom ;). I will buy a book based completely on the fact that it looks cool, and then never read it :/ I have high hopes, but let's face it, I just don't have time to sit still right now!!!

Ok, so all you need is:
*L shaped brackets (the larger your book is, the larger your brackets should be...for support)
*paint (if you want them to blend into your wall)
*An old book! (fabric covered ones look the best...something to look for at your next garage sale!)

Next, screw 2 brackets into the wall. Make sure they are level so your book is not crocked. Lay your book on top, and mark where your top bracket will go. I pushed my down a little to make sure that it was holding the book really well.
***You are NOT drilling ANY holes into the book. You are only drilling into the wall, therefore saving your beautiful book for later use! :D The brackets will hold the book in place.
Once your book is securely fastened,
You can add something to your shelf!!!
I am really loving this look, and as soon as I find some more good books, there will be more shelves going up in our home!!!

Enjoy!!!! ***If you make your own shelf, email me your pictures so I can share!!! SimplySmithDesigns@comcast.net

*I am also now on Twitter, so if you'd like to follow me, click the little button on the side :D

Winner and a Makeover!!!

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great Easter weekend, celebrating our RISEN Lord!!!

T-man is getting over his RSV, so we didn't get to go to his first Easter Sunday :(, and we didn't even get to visit the Easter bunny!!! Oh, well. Since we were banned from The Resort because of our sickness, Big-A, T-man and I all got to have our own family Easter! :D

Now, onto the good stuff! The winner of Meghan's gorgeous canvas isssssssssssssss......
ERIN!!!! Congratulations!!! Email Meghan your address at meg.simonett@yahoo.com!!!

And now, for a little wall makeover!!! The wall leading into our bedroom as been bare since we moved in. I've had some high hopes for it, but after some Great garage sale finds, I was able to finally transform it from this:
to this!:
(I apologize for the bad pictures. I took it last night, and there was no good light :/) I got all of those brand new picture frames at a garage sale for a great deal!! I filled them with favorite pictures, and wallllaaahhh!!

I've got some super cool tutorials to show you this week from this wall alone, and a few others as well!!! Happy Monday!!!

GIVE AWAY!!!

Happy Friday!!! I am pleased to present you with another fabulous Give Away!!! It's a great way to end your week, right?! :D

Well, meet my friend, Meghan!
I LOVE this girl! I actually met her 3 years ago when she was a counselor at the camp that we took my students to! We met again a few months later at Gallery 116 where she worked, and I taught classes. If you know Meghan, you know that you just instantly fall in love with her!!! For a high school student, she was so mature, articulate, and just FUN!!! We became fast buddies!

Meghan is now a student at IU majoring in art therapy. She has started Outside the Lines which specializes in custom paintings and shoes, as well as jewelry.
Do you see that gorgeous green ring? It's one of my favorites!!! My mom has that ring, and it looks AMAZING!!!

I also own this pendant that she made me. I LOVE the funkiness of the wrapped wire, and I get so many compliments on it! It really spruces up a lot of my bland outfits.

Meghan also makes these amazing dry erase boards!!! I wish I had known her when I was in college because that would have been awesome on my door!!! Need a graduation gift? This would be PERFECT!!! I might even need this for my kitchen!!! Menus, To-Do lists... :D



Now, for what you can win!!!!

This 8x10 twisted wire painting could be YOURS by entering any of these ways:

1) (required) Leave me a comment telling me your favorite item(s) from Meghan's Etsy site.


2) For a second (and separate) entry, become a follower of The Girl in the Blue Glasses, or let me know if you already are.


3) For an extra 2 entries (both separate) post about this giveaway on your blog and facebook, and link back to here!


4) Become a fan of my Facebook Page

*** You do not have to have a blog to enter! Simply choose the Anonymous option when posting, and include your name and email address in your post!!!

*** Winner will be announced Monday morning!

Almost Done!

Remember that little craft I showed you?! It's almost done!!!!
That's right, this little beauty is still not completely finished!!! I love it "as is," but you're going to love where it's going!!! I'll show you on Monday with a tutorial for it as well!!!

The re-decorating is coming along...in theory. My ideas are super fresh, but I'm moving slow because of our little Sickie :/ Poor little guy! In the mean time, though, I'm enjoying tons of cuddles!!!

Now, be sure to stop back by tomorrow for another great GIVEAWAY!!! Don't you just love to win cool stuff?!!! But to hold you over in the mean time, Alison is hosting ME over on her blog for a chance to win one of my aprons!!! PLEASE go enter to win!!! I would love to send one of my faithful readers a happy!!! :D

Well, have a great day!!! See you tomorrow!