Living Fearless

See this little guy?

 fearless 3 years ago...

fearless today...

Tonight at E's piano lessons his teacher mentioned E's God-given

zest for life

Not a rambunctious, uncontrollable zest, rather a

seize the moment, take it all in and live it fully kind of zest

One that makes people take notice, one that keeps his parents in awe.  

Especially his worry-prone, anxious mom {smile}.

A gift, truly, from his Father, but not just for his son E,

for us as well.  To learn to live outloud, live fully,

a dare to see life on the big screen as magnificent as it can get.  

A gift for us as his parents, and a hold on my heart to replace fear with faith. 

I am a work-in-progress, but E well I will pray every day that he keeps this special gift, that he never lets fear hold him back from all the great things God has planned for him.  

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Phillippians 4:6-7

Stop on by...

Holy Craft today for a post about lil' ol' me by Rachel.  She has some dirt on me, you'll have to head over to find out!  Thank you Rachel for introducing me to your blogging world and showing me some {sisterly} love!!

And to all of my visitors today from Rachel's amazing blog, glad to have you!  Have fun looking around and don't forget to enter the superhero cape giveaway {button featured to the right of this post}.  Enjoy!!

Challenge: One-Night Makeover

I challenged myself to a one-night makeover, no written plans, no major purchases, 
simply create a space to love being in that is us.  


Yes it is super late and I completed my makeover, high-fiving myself right now and am excited to share! After a trip to the fabric store to finish gathering my supplies for this project {and another to come!}, I got to work around 10pm.  {After a little stargazing session with the hubs and E}.

This corner of our living room has been driving me crazy!  As with all things though here, I choose to work on projects, for the most part, when my boys are sleeping.  I pull a few late nights a month to get caught up and thankfully have a supportive husband...we both try to work on things as we can and have to lean on each other to get the things done we want to as neither of us wants them to take priority over our boys.

Our projects also have to cost pretty much next to nothing.  Just forces me to be more creative!

So I turned on the first HGTV Design Star of this season for some motivation and got to work!  {I had to play it 3 times to get through it between the sewing, ironing, up-the-stairs, down-the-stairs but who's counting?!}.  Here is a before picture {ghastly!}.  I know all crazy shades of yellow that are not cohesive, etc.  The differences are much more noticeable on camera, but still my beloved curtains needed to go.  Earlier in the day I picked up some curtains.  In the past I have always made them, and you'll see that I made sure to add my touch.

                      {before}                                                                                         {after}

  

My favorite Tarjay find, my special chair, in a knock off of Thomas Paul Aviary fabric.

Would I have loved to reupholster a chair in this fabric{yes}or buy the one I saw at Arhaus? {sign me up!}

Admittedly the Target one was still a major stretch and took lots of planning, and I love it!!!!

Remember my DIY valance post?  

Well my sweet guy made these awhile back and I had just inserted some brown fabric and they never really did the valances justice, but with some new fabric that I adore, I think they look so much better!  I also wanted to highlight the frame wall and will show you the how-to in another post.  My inspiration came from here {it's the sixth frame gallery shown}.  The square frames at the top of my gallery mimic the squares in the valances {nice right?}.  I wanted to point out that feature and thank my awesome husband for taking the valances down and helping me redo the squares, getting them back up again and changing the rod placement inside the valance as the new curtains were shorter than the old, but I still wanted them to look the same!

Next up, I brought a black table back into the room that had been removed to subdue the climbing by some little men {ahem}.  I have an idea of what piece I would like here, but for now the table will do. 

I added in the i love us artwork you can find here, just printed it up and framed it, love it!

Then I added a simple gray ribbon to the window treatments we found earlier.  

I really like how they turned out and the ribbon repeats the striping detail we painted in our room when we first moved in.  

Covering some old books was next, that always adds texture and interest.
Heavy wrapping paper works great, but I found some great paper {would only work for smaller books}and downloaded them{for a small fee} from here.
{Pretty}

Seven is our special number, it has always been my favorite {now I know why!}
So I repeated it a few times in a new pillow I made tonight with some grey linen and black and white stripped seersucker fabric.  It was also repeated in the photo wall {a project I completed this past Spring and will do a separate post on}.  I love adding numbers to decorating not just for visual interest but for their meaning.
I also repeated the pattern from the valance into a frame within the wall gallery to tie everything together.

Steam-A-Seam 2 will always be my friend, I use it for the appliques on my capes and here for the seven applique on this special pillow.  You lightly iron it on and it will hold the fabric in place {one side sticks to the fabric applique, the other side sticks to the fabric you are sewing on to}.  Use a simple zig-zag stitch and you're done!

Hope you enjoyed this overnight makeover!  Once again...

{before}

{after}

 Much lighter, brighter, more cohesive and refreshing, don't you think?!  I love my little nook!  

Now I am off to B-E-D!!!

Our paint colors are Ralph Lauren Mercer (wall) and Ralph Lauren Composed (striping detail).  


{next day}I ended up not finishing a ruffle pillow I had planned, so I made that today, literally 20 minutes tops, you can find the tutorial here.  Then I thought the seven pillow and the ruffle pillow were too matchy-matchy, so I redid the seven pillow in the original yellow striped fabric I had planned.  I love the combination now!

I promise the stripes are straight, it's just the picture taker who is crooked! {smile}.


Phew, I think I am officially done!  {except for a few accessories...hmmmm}  


Well, what do you think?!


I will be linking up to these lovely parties throughout the week!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!! Turn up the HEAT, it's GIVEAWAY time!!!

It's time for another giveaway!  This one is coming from yours truly at Little Marvels Designs.  When I started my new blog, Our Wonderfilled Life, I had this giveaway in mind and it makes me happy to share it with you!!

Your boy and girl wonders are going to LOVE this!!! 

  

{my first-born boy wonder}

I will give away a boy cape and a girl cape, best fit for children ages 2-6 in the awesome color combinations below...pink/brown {girl} and orange/blue {boy} just in case the colors don't come out too well on your screen.  Since the capes will be made custom for your little marvel, I can personalize the cape with an initial. These capes are sewn by me, made out of quality materials, and sure to ignite imagination and they are just so much fun!!   Note, if you do choose to have the cape initialized, then the circle is removed and the initial is placed inside the emblem.  The only cape that cannot have an initial is the lightning bolt design.  

{value $35 per cape}

Emblem:

classic hero

star

heart 

flower

princess crown

lightning bolt

shield

circle

To enter {remember you must be a follower of Our Wonderfilled Life to enter}:

{1} Comment here and list the superhero power you would most like to acquire. 

{Me, Elastigirl for sure, those stretchy arms would come in handy!}

{2} Share this link with your people {on your blog, FB, etc.} and have them become a follower of 

Our Wonderfilled Life.  Have them comment back here on #1 and refer you, 

that will give you another entry along with theirs. 

{3} Like Our Wonderfilled Life on FB here and you'll get another entry {this entry only applies if you become a follower of Our Wonderfilled Life blog}.  

This giveaway will be open until I reach 60 followers, at which point I will choose 2 winners randomly, 

so share this link with your peeps for more chances to win!  

{POW} {ZAM} {BOOM}

It gets better for you my sweet blog followers!  Whomever refers the most new followers to 
Our Wonderfilled Life will also get an awesome cape...your choice of colors, emblem, initial, etc.  

Can't wait for one of you to win!!!

Sweet Dreams for All

If only I had quadruplets to fill these rooms {grin}

Our boys share a room now and will probably be split later on, which shall not be mentioned from here on out because then I have to accept their growing older {sigh}.  In the meantime, let's dream of these really wonderful spaces.  They would be great for kids of any age, sleepovers, cousins, vacations.  

Think of how it would feel to sleep here...

just make sure to put the little ones on top {wink}

very rugby or nautical, very boy

 definitely for our island home {dreaming again}

this just may be my favorite, adore each little individualized space but all together

love how modern and sleek this one is

reminds me a little bit of a dormitory, so functional, the stairs in the middle are fantastic

here you would need to read Swiss Family Robinson!

Telegraph {UK}

If we do split the little boys into 2 rooms, how gorgeous would this space be?

finally, bunk beds for 3, this one I had to add because it reminds me of the movie Despicable Me, 

you know the scene I am talking about {smile}

credits via  {unless otherwise listed}

Whatever we decide to do someday will come sooner than later, cribs will be outgrown, and I would love to create a space like any one of these for my boys to share and enjoy.  Good night friends, sweet dreams!

Summer Spaghetti

Have an upcoming summer gathering?  This dish is requested so often, I am sure I have made it a million times!  It it super easy and the idea came from a salad we ate all summer long as kids, loved it, and when we could no longer find it, I made my own...that tells you how long it's been around!

I love it because it is fresh and can be customized in so many different ways.  For ours, it's my husband who is picky, not my kids when it comes to veggies.  Mine would be loaded with olives for one {grin} but they do to him what squash does to me, so I leave 'em out.  This is a cold dish.

Excuse my "measurements", I am specific when I bake, but not so much when I cook!

You'll need...

* a box of spaghetti

use about 3/4, I haven't tried it yet, but you could experiment with whole-wheat pasta or 

pasta plus with protein

* 2 cans diced tomatoes 

I usually use 1 garlic/olive oil and 1 plain

* Italian dressing, bottle or make your own

my all-time favorite is Newman's Own Light Italian, 

I couldn't find it for this post, but it has barely a hint of lemon, so good!

*chopped veggies (cucumber, green onions, red pepper)

also love radishes, olives, yellow and orange peppers, so many options

*seasoning to taste

here I used garlic salt, mrs. dash salt-free garlic and herb {trying to cancel out the salt?}, 

and a bit of old bay seasoning to add a little kick

I also love a seasoning called SPIKE that works great here too

*parmesan cheese

chop the veggies, add half the bottle of dressing, 2 cans of tomatoes and seasoning
mix well in a bowl large enough to add the spaghetti into

boil the pasta, nothing ruins a salad like soggy pasta so keep it al dente

rinse in cold water

a little trick I learned to keep pasta from sticking, add a teeny-tiny bit of oil to the water

add spaghetti to tomato mixture, season as desired and add more dressing if you'd like
refrigerate for a couple hours

I promise you'll have people asking for this recipe, it is so yummy and healthy and easy to throw together!

No lie, I cut it up super small for my little guys and they all gobble it right up, from dad all the way down to number 5 {now that makes a mom feel good!}

Sweet is What Little Boys are Made of

sweet drippy popsicles that is!

 {liam}

 {aiden}

 {beckham}

{griffin} 

{E, in his own tie-dye creation}