New Year - New Blog

It's officially birthday week!!! We like to celebrate birthdays all week, around here, and sweet Tryus will be no exception. He might even get two weeks for being so cute...scratch that, we are celebrating for two weeks because his party isn't until the end of the month!

Can you guess the theme???

Because there were so many little people in my life turning one, this summer, I did some research to find the perfect homemade gift. God has planted a major SIMPLIFY seed in my heart, hence the birthing of our year's (and longer) motto: Live Simple, Buy Less, Give More. I've gone from enjoying simplicity to hating excess. When I see the work Compassion International is doing and I read about poverty stricken nations; a violent, abuse-strewn, American city; and watch some of our closest/longest friends stare at the remains of their fire ravaged, used-to-be house (yesterday), I know God has given to us so that we can give out.

How can we be an abundant, ever-flowing, outpouring blessing if we're racked with the I-need-more bug and endless debt????

We've always been very disciplined stewards of our money, but God's taken me to new heights this year...and I'm getting crazy thrifty...

All that to say, a new blog has birthed. Thrifty Heart. It's where I'll be writing out all the changes we're making, things I'm crafting, and money we're saving. I wrestled with a name for awhile because although I will be making many homemade things, I didn't want it to be a crafting blog...I want it to be a here's-how-our-life-is-changing-and-we're-able-to-give-more-and-live-on-less blog. When I looked up the definition for thrifty, I was sold. Thriving, prospering, growing. Perfect.

So...I hope you'll follow me as I try to weed through the jungles of "too much" in my life and learn to simplify. This place, of course, is staying and will continue to be the pounding out of my heart cries.

It sure took me a long time to finish my initial point. I came across the genius of bunting banners on my quest to make something special for all the birthday boys. Such a wonderful, classic way of inserting happy into any day! My hope is that each recipient will look forward to getting his special banner out, year-after-year, for his big week.

I just finished Ty's, this week, and it hangs proudly, through the entryway. It's the perfect amount of zig-zagged festive and makes me smile, when walking through. (The banner is several feet long and spells out "Happy Birthday Tyrus").

This tutorial, and so much more, will be coming soon over at Thrifty Heart. I seriously love this banner so much, I just told Ben I'm making more to hang for our birthdays (smile). Nothing says happy day like a crafted-with-love (only about $8 to make) banner. Love it!