Craft Ideas

    • Apron Tutorial - Part 2

      • Welcome back!  If you missed the first part of the tutorial, which shows how to make the apron itself, check it out HERE!  (It also includes the info on what size pieces to cut from your fabric for the pocket.) Now, here’s how to add a large, cuffed pocket to your apron! First, place the two main pocket pieces right sides together, and then place the two pocket cuff pieces right sides together: Next, sew around 3 sides ...more

    • Apron Tutorial - Part 1

      • Now that October is here, it’s boutique season again!  This year, we thought it would be fun to upgrade our boutique “uniforms” a bit with a little half apron!  We figured it would be dual purpose - it would look cute and also provide an extra place for us to keep our phones, pens, etc, within easy reach! Since I was making the aprons this month, I thought it would be fun to do a tutorial ...more

    • It's a Girl Thing

      • Last month my sister had a sweet baby girl named Caylah.  As I write this I am on board a flight to Ohio to go meet my niece for the very first time!  Yay!  I cannot wait to hold her!  Isn’t she adorable? My sister also has a 2 year old son named Jayden.  Cole cannot wait to see and play with his cousin this week!  I love living in California, but it is difficult being ...more

    • My Bucket Runneth Over: Our Summer Bucket List In Review

      • Summer is officially OVER (sniff! sniff!)! The countdown calendar has switched from the number of days until school starts to the number of school days left, which is WAY too many! I’m feeling sentimental because we’ve had a FABULOUS summer! Though I’m not ready for this summer, in particular, to end, I am so thankful for the many blessings we’ve enjoyed. My bucket truly runneth over and I thank the Lord for the many, many ways ...more

    • DIY Prayer Boxes

      • School starts tomorrow at the Garibaldi house! Sad to be saying goodbye to summer (I’ll have more on that later this week!)…but also excited for the promise of a new school year. For us, the start of school means a new opportunity to be a blessing to a special teacher. Having been a teacher myself, I know how much it means to get the school year off on the right foot with each family. I know ...more

    • Tag It!

      • Recently when I was wandering through my local Hobby Lobby trying to find supplies for VBS crafts, I found myself in the scrapbook paper aisle and saw this: All specialty paper was 50% off, so this sheet cost a buck.  I didn’t know what I was going to make, but I loved that I could buy a sheet of canvas… so into my cart it went! I have a friend who is a missionary to Spain that ...more

    • Growing Tomatoes

      • My dad is a wonderful gardener.  Every spring, for as long as I can remember, he’s tenderly cared for all kinds of vegetables including lettuce, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes.  All of his veggies are great, but nothing can beat my dad’s tomatoes.  They’re the best tomatoes you’ll ever eat, hands down. This year, my dad me asked if I’d like to grow some tomatoes of my own.  I wasn’t sure at first… Did my yard have ...more

    • Bucket O' Fun: Our Summer Bucket List

      • Happy Summer Everyone! Summer is in full swing for us as we are nearing the end of week 2. (Not that I’m counting down the weeks of vacation because I most certainly am NOT! In fact, that’s the last you will hear of any such numbers. We are taking it a day at a time and trying to soak it all in! :)) Like many of you, I imagine, we’ve made our “bucket” list of activities ...more

    • What I've Learned from Loving Him...

      • It was a special day at the Garibaldi House! The love of my life turned 35 today!!!   So in honor of his birthday, I'm offering bits of Kevin's priceless wisdom...free of charge! I originally wrote this piece as a Valentine’s Day gift to Kevin years and years and years ago. I thought it would be fun to post it here as a good reminder to my heart. Plus, I had to add a few new ones! ...more

    • Mother's Day

      • Today I have some gift ideas to share with you for Mothers Day - it’s not too late to order our Legacy Prayer Journals and Prayer Cards! We all have special women in our life who are mothers that are worth honoring. Perhaps you have a sister or friend who is celebrating her first Mothers’ Day. Share in her excitement by giving her a set of our God’s Word for New Parents cards. I added an ...more
    • Saving Money on Groceries – Part 4: A Few More Tips

      Saving Money on Groceries – Part 4: A Few More Tips

      • If you missed my first 3 posts on couponing last week, please check them out HERE, HERE, and HERE before reading today’s! Ok, so if you’ve made it this far, you’ve now waded through my posts, possibly read a bunch of links and watched some videos, and might be feeling completely overwhelmed!  So, here are a few words of advice: ** Start off small! It’s better to focus on one store as you learn the ropes and ...more

    • Saving Money on Groceries - Part 3: Finding Items on Sale and Couponing

      • If you missed my first 2 posts on couponing last week, please check them out HERE and HERE before reading today’s! Welcome back!  If you’ve never couponed before, but you’re considering trying it for yourself, I highly recommend watching this tutorial video from Southern Savers.  It will give you a lot of great background information to get you started: http://www.southernsavers.com/free-coupon-video-class/ Meanwhile, here’s a little overview from me, as well. 🙂 I figure one of the first things you may ...more

    • Saving Money on Groceries – Part 2: Keeping An Eye On Your Heart While Couponing

      • If you missed yesterday’s post, please check it out HERE before reading today’s post! After I’d been shopping sales and couponing for a few months, I decided to watch a few more episodes of “Extreme Couponing” to see if I could pick up on any more tips.  Unexpectedly, the biggest thing I noticed was how attached everyone was to their stockpile. Stockpiling is the idea that when you’re shopping based on sales, you stock up on items ...more

    • Saving Money on Groceries – Part 1: A Little Background

      • A few months ago, my husband, Kyle, asked me to try to do a better job saving money at the grocery store.  We had just watched a marathon of the show, “Extreme Couponing”, and I suspect that (plus our shrinking budget!) might have inspired him… 😉 I had never made an overly huge effort to save money on groceries before, and I didn’t know where to begin.  Everyone on the show seemed exhilarated by the thrill ...more

    • Hidden Treasure

      • One of my favorite things to do is to go thrift store shopping.  I used to joke with my husband Ray that if something bad happened and he couldn’t find me, I probably had run off to a thrift store.  There is something exhilarating about searching through aisles of other people’s castoffs and finding a hidden treasure.  It is truly the thrill of the hunt. When I lived in Ohio, there were 3 amazing thrift stores ...more
    • One Paper, One Cut, and the Story of One Savior

      One Paper, One Cut, and the Story of One Savior

      • We are in the midst of Holy Week and we’ve got a special treat for you! It’s our first ever video tutorial! I did say, “first ever”, so it’s a little rough! Be kind! 🙂 Easter, like Christmas, is one of those few times a year when we, as Christians have a lot of leeway to share our faith. That is..if we make the most of those opportunities that God gives us! Click on the video ...more

    • Getting my Craft On

      • I love to craft.  I love my friends.  So what better way to enjoy both, than to host a craft day for my friends? A couple years ago I came up with this wipe-off calendar board project (above) to try and help our family better organize our day.  I came up with a format that I thought would work well and then measured and cut paper to design a layout.  I have it hanging up in ...more

    • Blessing Bags Update: Preparing for Packing

      • Blessing Bags Assembly Day is just around the corner and we are so EXCITED!! The last of the items arrived this week and Kevin and I were able to assemble the first Blessing Bag as a sample to make sure everything will fit. As you can see, it fits perfectly with little room to spare! 🙂 One down, 149 to go! If you are wondering what in the world a Blessing Bag is, the short version is Blessing ...more

    • Box It Up

      • Happy New Year!  Now that the holidays are officially over (although we get to enjoy a couple more days off of school!), it’s time to get back to “normal”.  If you are like me, the holiday season brings with it many blessings…and lots of toys!  Okay, so I would like to blame all the mess on my son Cole’s toys, but really it seems like everything gets a bit out of control during the holidays ...more

    • Framed!

      • I am creative and love making things, but when it comes to trying to use the computer to create something, I am totally lost!  Give me paper, scissors and a glue gun, but a keyboard and screen…that’s why God gave me Tami.  I can call up Tami and tell her I need Bible verses printed out for a VBS craft (which I really did) and she is on it.  I can ask her to make ...more

    • Are You Contagious?

      • A couple of weekends ago, our church family headed down to San Diego for our annual Family Camp (camp is a little misleading…we actually stay at a really great hotel, for which I am extremely grateful!).  Our guest speaker for the event was Milton Vincent.  If you haven’t read his book A Gospel Primer, I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy!  He faithfully taught us God’s Word and challenged my heart.  ...more

    • It's a Sign

      • I love to decorate.  I joke that anything that stands still for a moment will get decorated.    Recently I asked my son if we could paint the wood frame on his art easel (it has marker scribbles and half torn stickers on it).  His response:  “Mom, does everything in our house have to be a decoration?”   (Yes, yes it does!) One of my favorite things to decorate our home with is Scripture.  I adore a block ...more

    • Bless Your Teachers - Part 2

      • As promised, I’ve got a few First Day of School gift ideas to share with you today. If  you missed part 1 of this post on how to get the new school year off to a great start with your child’s teacher, start here. If you are looking for some fun, inexpensive, and easy gift ideas to bless a special teacher on the first day of school, look no further!   I have to start with my ...more

    • Happy Campers

      • A couple of weeks ago I helped put together a baby shower for my friend Anne.  Anne and her husband have a little girl and will soon be adding a baby boy to their sweet family.  Their family loves going camping, so when deciding on a theme, camping was the obvious choice!  A good friend graciously allowed us to invade her beautiful home (thanks, Lesily!).  Finding decorations was really simple and most things were just pulled ...more

    • SHAPE Little Hearts

      • Today we wrap up our series on making the most of time around the table. Scroll down if you missed the posts about how to STORE UP fun family memories and SHARE God’s Word. Now that we’ve filled these little hearts with the seeds of God’s Word, the next step is to water the seeds we’ve planted and help shape those hearts to be imitators of Christ. Our focus today is on character development and putting ...more

    • STORE UP Fun Family Memories

      • If you missed our last post, “Got a few extra faces around the meal table?,” scroll down to read that first! We are talking about ways to make the most of time at the table as a family. Statistics tell us how important that time is, yet, as a parent, it is such a challenge to make mealtime meaningful! From the example of Christ, we can see that gathering together for fellowship and to break bread ...more

    • Got a couple extra faces around the meal table?

      • Summer vacation has officially kicked off at the Garibaldi house! For me, the summer months mean MORE! More time in the morning, more time at the pool, lots more laundry (funny how that works…as the temperature goes up and our clothes get “smaller”, somehow the laundry hamper fills up so much faster!), more entertaining, more refereeing among the kiddos, more playdates, more ice cream treats, more movie nights, and more faces around the meal table. One ...more

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