Random Acts of Kindness

Well hello there friends!
It has been some time since we have posted to our blog, life happens = )

We are going to start off with kindness on our first post back!
Last year we participated in the International Random Acts of Kindness Week.  This year, in February 2014 we missed the actual week to participate in. So, we thought spring break was a great time to catch up with the spirit of giving and kindness. It is never too late to be kind to one another and spread joy.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -Aesop

I started the conversation about giving with my 4 year old, Cash.  Quick and to the point, "It is important to always be kind to everyone, all the time.  We can't expect anything in return.  We do our best to be the best, always."  And do you know what my little man responded with?  "Yes, mommy.  I like to be friendly."  I could gush about how Cash really did understand what adventure we were embarking on for the day, but that would not mean anything to you.  I encourage you to share the spirit of giving and kindness to your four year old (or any age), the feelings that this project conjured in me today are indescribable.  Watching my son do good and feel good for it are my proudest mommy moments.

I addressed my daughter, Casey who is now 2...
This conversation is beyond her 2 years, but I figured that I am planting the seeds that I will water in the years to come.  I knew that this task was monumental for my little princess, but I do believe that it will be a priceless gift to her - at some point in the future.  When I was done speaking she said, "Okay, mommy." From that point forward she just started picking out her favorite items and putting them in our basket, just as her brother was doing.

Cash and Casey both picked 5 items to give away during this week.

I saw this next quote floating around Pinterest and Facebook a while back and it stuck with me, I can't help but feel that it ties in with what we are doing today.

"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about, be kind, always."

So, off we went to our favorite shopping spot - Target!





Here we are picking out goodies.

After we were done at Target we headed straight to our favorite park.  All the goodies were dumped on the blanket and we started putting things in bags.

Then we attached our tags to the toy presents. "#RAOK Kindness is contagious. I picked this toy for you to enjoy. Cash - age 4." The back of the tags say "Random Acts of Kindness."

Here is my sweet girl trying to open the baggie.

We only got to wrap two gifts before meltdowns started (we were close to nap time.)  Two was enough to start the adventure...  Here they are ready to spread joy!

Picking the recipients...

And go!!!

Casey ended up leaving her slinky package on a swing, after some persuasion : )

Cash hand delivered his toy to an unsuspecting boy at the park.  I would have loved to hear the exchange my son had with the little boy but I stayed far from Cash while he delivered his toy.  I wanted to encourage his choice and freedom of spreading kindness.  

It went well, so well.  

Today was a great day, I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

wood pallet to beach flag

So excited to share a new project! Our beach flag turned out so cute, well at least we think so : )
We came across a few free wood pallets, and well, we just could not pass them up!

I pulled the pallets apart - super awesome work out.  

Then I positioned them into the rectangular shape.  

Screwed the pieces together.

I grabbed my fabulous wood filler...

And then plugged the holes, followed by a quick sanding. 

  I wanted the finish to be rough so I did not put to much effort in to the sanding.

Just a quick photo of the underside, I screwed the horizontal pieces to two vertical pieces on the back. 

Then I taped off the flag...

Finished painting...

Peeled the painters tape...

Placed the sea stars...

And then hot glued those puppies on.  

TA DAAA!!!

Thank you for stopping by.
Meghan and Jessica

We are gearing up for Halloween here at Gracie J. and through all the madness I have been reflecting on last years costumes and thinking of what to do this year.  I am totally in love with our new witch costume and I can't wait to post pics of it!!!!!
Here are a couple of pictures from last year!  LOL, my precious spaghetti and meatballs : ) YUM!

And after an hour of trick or treating....

So, for now... what are you all doing for your "littles" for Halloween TWENTY THIRTEEN?!  Any ideas or inspirations? 

Thanks for stopping by!

 Meghan and Jessica

A Small Tribute - 5 generations

A small tribute and a reason to share one of the most beautiful photos I own.

I lived 30 years of my life with a great grandmother, Emma Isabel.  Three and a half years ago, Emma became a great great grandma to my son and year and a half ago, a great great grandma to my daughter.  My daughter, Casey, lived the first 15 months of her life as the fifth generation of "women" in my family.  Emma passed away after a long (nearly 100 years), beautiful life a couple of months ago.  I was smart enough to capture a sweet moment before her health began to deteriorate.

Casey, Jessica, Kathleen, Virginia, and Emma

Treasure your special family moments and for goodness sake, please take photos!

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Stars and Stripes Shimmer Tutu

Here it is!!!!

We are so excited to finally post pictures of our 4th of July Tutu.  It is now available on our Etsy shop!!!

We will be posting more tutus very soon, as well as our patriotic scrap fabric skirt!!! Check out our site!!!!

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Graduation Keepsakes....

So, a while ago I saw that there was a great gift idea to give to your own children that graduate from high school or college.  Someone kept the book, Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess, during their children's lives for teachers to sign.  The teachers were asked to write a little note in the book at the end of each school year to the children.  I thought this was such a great and thoughtful idea.  My son recently started a pre preschool and I wanted to start this tradition with his first "teacher."  I went to Barnes and Noble and was so excited to find this...

It is a Graduation Keepsake edition.  There is room in the back of the book for just the thing I was looking for!  Spaces for teachers and friends to write and a keepsake envelope.  Oh, it is so so cool.

I was so so happy with my finding that I purchased two books.  I wanted to make sure that I had one for each of my babies : ) I can't wait to start getting the book filled out.  It seems so far from now, but I am sure that when the time comes to give each kiddo their book it will seem like a blink of an eye of time from now.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Meghan and Jessica

Water Painting

It is raining in Santa Clarita today. First, I needed to think of something for the kiddos to do (3 1/2 and 17 months) that would keep them occupied for a while. I had an idea to make all the moms, grandmas and great grandmas Mother's Day cards. So I put the 3 1/2 year old to work ;). He started off by painting a large piece of paper with pink, red, purple and white paint. Then my 17 month old wanted to join in, and I did let her for a bit. Well, most of you know that handling two toddlers with paint is not so easy. So, I came up with water painting for the little and, voila!!! Busy for a half of an hour, that is what a call success!

Home Goods Hack

Oye!  I am so excited about these new frame/shadowbox finds from Home Goods.  Who doesn't love that place?
Okay, so I was rummaging through the store like I always do, hitting all of the clearance areas and I came across these beauties : )

They are super cute, right?  I just love the white distressed look and they are not too deep with hooks on the back to hang on the wall.  Oh, you see the red sticker, huh?  Take a closer look:

Yes, that is right people!!!! Three bucks a piece, they had to come home with me.  I knew what I would do with them.  I have been going through an aqua and beach-y decor love affair and these would fit right in.

I put these on my craft table in the garage and ran upstairs to get my burlap scrap bag.  I ripped out the weird bird nest/egg oddity and scraped out the remaining hot glue from both frames.  Like I mentioned above, I have a new accent color in the house which is aqua.  I could not decide whether to go with aqua sea star or white finger sea star.  So I put both in front of me to ponder while I hot glued the burlap to the inside of the frame.  

I just added glue to the corners of the inside of the frame and stretched while it dried for a few seconds.  Super easy, people!!! (See below)

 Here they are while I was deciding what color to use for the sea star

Once I was finished I added them to wall in my entry.  I think they mix well with the photo from our wedding day on the beach and a picture from our Caribbean honeymoon.

 I think they add just the right touch and it was all for under 10 bucks and 10 minutes!!

Thank you for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Anchor Project

So, this was a totally unexpected project!!!  I was testing out a new paint color that I recently purchased.  It is Island Oasis by Behr (Home Depot.)  I purchased it for a few projects that I am doing : )  

Okay, so I put a stick in the container to stir it and did not wipe the stick down because I wanted to stroke out the color on a extra piece of wood I had laying around.  (It happened to be from a ruler growth chart that I can't wait to share.)  So, there happened to be so much paint on the stick that I was able to cover the entire scrap piece of wood.  Onto the project...

I saw this cute anchor sign floating around on Pinterest just a bit ago... Here it is : )  The Etsy shop that sold it doesn't have anymore.  I suppose that I could have messaged her to make another but I had this awesomely painted piece of wood to work with. I got started and wrote out a quote (in the shape of an anchor) that I love that applies to my family.

It says, " Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least."

Then, I started painting the words with a simple white craft paint from from Michael's.

Now, this is a complete departure from my normal craftiness. The reason being that I usually like clean lines and symmetry - this is far from clean lettering.  I have done the same style for so long that I wanted to try something like this, uneven, white, unfinished looking letters. I think it turned out pretty cute : )

My new love is aqua.  A friend of mine has been decorating her beautiful new home in the color and I have simply fallen in love with all things aqua.  She is awesome awesome awesome, check out her blog here.  This is the final project, I love how it turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Meghan and Jessica

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, that is what I am talking about!  These are so yummy that I have to say it again, Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.  These are so fabulous that I am certain they will not let your chocolate needs down.  Okay okay, so now you are eager to try these right?  Do not go out to the store just yet...

You must also buy, Reese's Peanut Butter Chips!! So, now you have the ingredients.  I have only been able to find this cookie mix at Home Goods, it is by XO Baking Co.  I have not checked online, I am sure that you can find this mix rather easily.  I just don't want to know about it because I would have a never ending supply in my pantry - dangerous.  Plus, it is fun to dig around at Home Goods like a ravenous beast searching for my cookie mix : )

**PICTURE REMOVED**

Okay, I removed the picture - temporarily from this post.  Until I go to the store and take my own photo of the Reese's Peanut Butter Chip bag.  I just read a blog post from (I forgot), they were sued from using a photo from google images.  Yipes!

I am so happy that The Hershey Company has these little drops of divinity listed as an evaluated Gluten Free  food.  You can check out the list here.

Okay, so here are the cookies : ) I couldn't wait to share so I just took a picture with my phone and put it up for you to get inspired.  

Enjoy!

**Update**  I felt bad for not including a link so that you could find this mix easily.  So, I looked it up and the Xo Baking Co. website does not sell direct, but you can find thes mix on Amazon.  You're Welcome : )

Meghan and Jessica

Quaker Oats and Annie Sloan Paint

Oh my goodness, the flu has rampaged our homes!  Some projects have fallen way short of being finished, one of which was following through with Random Acts of Kindness week.  We will get that done a few days over the next few weeks.  Currently, Jessica is down with something that we are hoping is NOT the flu.  It is awful being sick with kids!  One thing that we did have time for over the last few days was going to the local antique shop.  The Country Antique Fair Mall in Santa Clarita is a great place to go if you are local and have not yet been.  Jessica has been looking for Quaker Oats memorabilia and scored big time over the weekend.  Take a look at what she found:

Also, at this wonderful place in "Awesometown" she found Annie Sloan paint.  One of the sellers has a whole collection of Chalk Paint and Waxes.  She has painted chips and small sample paint jars of all the paint.  So excited that we have a local retailer.  Check out the Annie Sloan website in the link above and see what great things you can do with a GREAT product.  

As much as we would like to write about our antiquing adventure, we must rest to get better.  Good evening!

Meghan and Jessica - thanks for stopping by!

Remember these?

A lot of road trips started with these :)
Thirsty Two!

random acts of kindness day 3

It appears that we are a day off in the RAOK endeavor.  That is okay, we will just keep plugging along.  I'm a mom, I get confused - it happens, A LOT : )

So today, try reaching out to someone that you haven't talked to in a while and wish them a Happy Valentine's Day.  Or, perhaps bring a treat to your co-workers or neighbor today.  No time to do something crafty, that is okay.  Pick some of those yummy Lofthouse brand cookies that everyone loves!!  And if you do have the time, try to make them yourself.  Here is a recipe that I found on Pinterest that claims to deliver Lofthouse cookie goodness it is from the thenovicechefblog.com.  I would love to try these and create a gluten free version that I can eat.  Yum.  If you do try the recipe please let us know how they turned out.

Also, Michaels craft stores are also participating in Random Acts of Kindness week with a little craft flare.  Check out their ideas at Michaels.com. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

Meghan and Jessica