getting crafty

Things have been tight for us financially lately, mostly due to some unexpected expenses that all hit us at once as well as the expense of selling our house and moving.  So when gift giving (and usually money spending) occasions come up, my new motto is "when money gets tight, I get crafty." ;)  I actually love making gifts for other people.  I think it adds a personal touch and it's lots of fun.  Hopefully, people enjoy receiving my handmade gifts as much as I enjoy making them.  Last night, I made this purse for a friend's birthday: 

You can find the pattern here if you are interested in making your own.  I made a few modifications to the original pattern, including making it bigger.  I'm the type of person who carries pretty much everything in my purse so tiny purses just don't work for me, but the original pattern size does make a cute clutch. 

Does anyone else out there like to make gifts? If so, what are your favorite handmade gift ideas?

Happy crafting!

Update on some of the 29 at 29

Just a brief update on a few of the 29 @ 29 (I won't bore you with the whole list again until the big 3-0).

#5 - grow out my hair
Totally loving this one! My hair is probably the longest it's been since my freshman year of high school.  My favorite part has been playing with styling my hair and finding that it will do things I thought it would never do (think it was mostly styling error on my part in the past).  I even figured out how to "curl" my hair with a straightener so that it looks more wavy and less fro-like than my previous curling attempts (see pic below).

#11 - get back to my crafty roots and spend more time doing creative things
My latest crafting hobby/obsession has been knitting.  My first knitting project kind of turned into a disaster which I ended up unraveling most of, but now I am back on the knitting train and working on a scarf.  You can see my tiny bit of progress below.

#15 - get a Mac
If you can't tell the above picture was taken with photo booth on my brand new Macbook Pro! My parents bought it for me as a graduation gift and I absolutely LOVE it.  I'm so thankful for my parents' generosity and the blessing of having a functional (and awesome) computer.

Last one friends, I promise....
#20- go skiing
I did it! This winter I went skiing for the first time in 10+ years and it was a blast! I went with Jamie and our friends Kent and Sarah.  We had a great time.  Definitely thankful that I got to take advantage of the opportunity this winter since we won't be living nearly as close to snow in the next three years.

Happy Easter

So I'm going to just ignore the fact that I have been a blogging slacker for the past 4-ish months and pick up like I never left off.  I apologize for my long absence...

I will start by saying Happy Easter everyone (and by everyone I mean the probably one person that still might read this).  I have to admit that Easter kind of snuck up on me this year.  Between finishing up school, trying to sell our house and finding a place to live in Charleston (SC for those of you who don't know that I will be doing my residency there), I haven't spend as much time as I would have liked reflecting on Easter and all that we have to celebrate.

But I have to say that it was so refreshing and renewing to my soul just to spend Easter morning worshipping and fellowshipping with our church family.  I am truly thankful for the Christian community that God has allowed us to be a part of in Morgantown.  I couldn't help but think this morning how much I am going to miss it.  I certainly haven't gotten to know everyone in our church as well as I would have liked but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of a group of Christians who show such genuine care and love.  It's amazing how having Jesus in common can bridge so many other differences.

I hope your Easter was blessed and that you were able to spend time reflecting on and rejoicing in our risen Savior!