link love: 04.27.2013

The stomach virus hit me hard this week...ugh!  I spent a day or two in bed, so I had a lot of time to check out Pinterest.  Here is some "link love" for this week!

Source: justsomethingimade.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

I used this pin yesterday on a pair of my son's jeans that were a couple of inches too long.  The awesome thing is that (if you don't trim the extra cuff) you can let the hem back out when your child hits that inevitable growth spurt!

Source: countryliving.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

File cabinets painted yellow with a plywood top...so fantastic!

Source: thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

I love this IKEA hack into a farmhouse table!

Source: redflycreations.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

This is on my "to bake" list for this weekend - yum!

Did you come across any great pins this week?  Happy weekend!

{MOPS craft}: blessing bags...

Are you part of a MOPS group?  Or have you been in the past?  It stands for "Mothers of Preschoolers" and has been one of my favorite things that I've been a part of since becoming a mom.  We meet every other week for breakfast (without kiddos!), a speaker of some sort, and a craft.  The "craft part" is what I'm responsible for.  We typically make some sort of craft that can be made quickly and on the cheap - since we have over 50 moms in attendance!

This past week we made Blessing Bags.

Blessing Bags are kits that you put in a plastic zip-top bag to keep in your and hand out when you come across someone in need.  Here's what we put in our Blessing Bags:

1. Bottle of water

2. Washcloth

3. Toothbrush

4. Applesauce

5. Cheese and crackers

6. Shampoo

7. Peanut butter crackers

8. Toothpaste

9. Band-aids

10. Granola bar

11. A sweet printable from Joy's Hope.

I bought all of the supplies to make between 40 and 50 bags for a little over $90!  We have also put these together with our college students and asked everyone to bring an item for the bags.  Either way, it doesn't have to cost a lot of money...but it can make a big difference in someone's day!

instagram highlights: march

I know we're halfway through April already, but here are our Instagram highlights for March.   I'm mjsmith723 on instagram if you want to follow along!

hanging out while I cook // PW Cinnamon Rolls = enough said! // wild hair in the morning

be still my heart // a sneak peek of an industrial table // a wood pallet project (more later!)
my little worker bee // doughnuts at a wedding = awesome! // lots of stripes on a little girl

relish the charms...

**I wrote this post last week but it seems especially appropriate after the horrible tragedy in Boston yesterday.  I am thankful for a God who is bigger than all of the evil in the world.**

Do y'all read Kelly's Korner blog?  I was catching up on some blog-reading and came across this picture on her blog.   The quote is from Jen Hatmaker, a church planter's wife who lives in Austin, from her devotional book Out of the Spin Cycle. 

As the momma of 2 sweet little kiddos (Grayson is 5 and Mollie Kate is 4 months), this TOTALLY spoke to me.  There are a lot of days that we make it to the very end of the day, when the house is totally quiet, and I think "Another day of their little lives has passed."  The days with preschoolers sometimes seem SO LONG, but the years go by so quickly.  My husband even reminded me at breakfast this morning that Grayson is 1/4 of the way to 20 years old.  Goodness gracious. 

I love the photo above, but I wanted one that I could put in our house - maybe on the fridge?  Or above the kitchen sink?  So I created this little printable below.  Feel free to download it, Pin it, share it!

I thank God for our sweet little kiddos every day and am going to be making the choice to relish the charms of the present!  Have a wonderful week!

white appliances: yay or nay?

When we remodeled our kitchen 2 years ago, we decided on a black stove to match the black refrigerator (that we already had) and the black dishwasher that was already in the kitchen.  You can see a tiny bit of the dishwasher on the right side of the sink in this photo.

That dishwasher has become my nemesis over the last two years.  I never really felt like the dishes were clean when they came out of the dishwasher.  Scott and I talked about getting a new dishwasher for months, but had a million other things going on (like having a new baby) and kept putting it off.  The whole time I was dreaming of a new dishwasher and started to see white dishwashers in white kitchens popping up on Pinterest.

Source: houzz.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

Even Miss Mustard Seed has a white dishwasher in her FABULOUS kitchen!

Source: missmustardseed.com via Mary Jo on Pinterest

I love how the white dishwashers seem to blend in with the cabinets instead of breaking up the line of white with a black or stainless appliance.

Well, my nemesis finally bit the dust last week!  I was so excited to go appliance shopping.

A little side note, if buying a new dishwasher is the highlight of your work, you might be getting old. ;)

A local appliance store was having a fantastic sale and we walked out with a dishwasher in less than 30 minutes.  If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this peek of our new dishwasher.

I'm working on another post with an updated picture of our kitchen.  Until then, I'll be enjoying the QUIET dishwasher and SUPER CLEAN dishes.

printing instagram photos: printicular

 I was a little late to the Instagram bandwagon but I LOVE it (follow me on Instagram here)!  I am finding that it's a little more "friendly" than Facebook and come on, there are pretty pictures to look at! Ha!

I was looking for a way to print some Instagram photos for a project that I'm working on (to be posted soon!) and came across the Printicular app.  Y'all, this app is fantastic!

It's a free download from the App store that allows you to print Instagram photos directly from your photo to Walgreens...and they're ready in an hour!  Each photo is $0.39 which is just a little higher than your regular print price, but the photos are printed on 4x4 photo paper sheets.

You simply download the app and open it up.  Your screen will look like this.

Choose your Instagram account  and select the photos you'd like printed.

Click "Print to Walgreens" and follow the steps for selecting your store, etc.  That's it! Wait an hour and pick up your awesome Instagram photos.

By the way, Walgreens and Printicular have no idea who I am...I just wanted to share something that works for me!

Do you print your Instagram photos?  What website or app do you use?

My Easter peeps...

A few pictures of my Easter peeps....

and my little Easter bunny....

I hope you had a wonderful Easter celebrating everything the day means!