It's been so long, I'm not even going to attempt to catch up! 

I'm now teaching an Awana class at church on Wednesday nights, a class full of middle school girls :)  They have taught me so much this year and I wanted to find a way to show them how much I love them, but also something that would help them remember our class and something that would help them share their faith with others.  A wonderfully crafty friend helped me come up with the idea of a necklace made from a washer....of course I went straight to the source of all things good...Pinterest....and found a number of great ideas!  So here's my first ever "tutorial"  of these sweet necklaces!

Materials needed - Washers (I got a bag of 20...lots of room for error)!  There are a million different sizes of washers out there (who knew) I got ones that I felt were big enough for my word to fit on.

A letter punch kit, I got mine (or my mom - she's my in town shopper) from Hobby Lobby, it was the most expensive part of this project, I'm sure if you had the time to look around you could find one cheaper.

A hammer, I'm pretty sure you know what one of those looks like, all though I think I ended up using a mallet, the little hammer didn't work as well, (that's where those 20 washers come in handy, trial and error)

A spool of leather, you could use any material you'd like, I just really enjoyed the look of the leather.

Some sparkle...they are teenagers after all...

And something to glue your sparkle down, I tried my BFF hot glue, but it didn't work very well, I ended up using a craft glue, and the excess came off with no problem after it had dried.

Take your washers, hammer/mallet, and punch set outside to a hard surface, I ended up using the sidewalk.  I strongly recommend having a tester washer.  It took me a few tries to get the hang of hammering (since that isn't an activity I usually participate it).  It's also helpful to count how many times you hammer one letter, that way they will all look the same.  For example I hit each of my letters 10 times, if you are stronger than me, (which you most likely are) it might not take as many hits for your letters to look right. 

please excuse the poor phone picture :)

I then glued all my little gems on and waited for them to dry.  I then cut the leather and threaded it through each washer.  I played with the idea of adding a bead to the leather, but decided against it. 

To package them up for them up for the girls, I got little tulle wedding favor bags, and added a verse to the outside.

"Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Ta-Dah....they loved them!  What meant even more to them was the fact that they came up with the word for their necklaces, they just didn't know what I was doing with the word!  Our class this year has focused on the Israelites journey out of Egypt.  The girls had to come up with a word that they felt summarized what we had learned all year, and they came up with "Faith".  I hope that these necklaces will open up doors for my girls when they are asked about them, I hope they can share their faith, their testimonies and God's love with those around them.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God"

Ephseians 2:8

Went to therapy today!

Oh and it was good! The reason for the needed therapy started when Richie's car broke on Saturday...don't ask me what's wrong, I don't do cars. Since the car is broken, that leaves us with one car...luckily I have the summer off, so that shouldn't be a big deal...NOT! I was left yesterday at 7 am with Noah and no car for the entire day, not that we are socialites, but I felt so trapped! It was a long day ending in the dinner battle where the dogs eat more of Noah's dinner that he did. So long story short, we leave for vacation on Saturday, we have to trade vehicles with my parents because the ark members don't fit in our Liberty, I still have shopping to do...and of course we can't get Richard's car fixed at a dealership, because that would be simple. So this morning I woke up with anxiety up to my throat...I'm anal and there is no plan...I NEED PLANS! Luckily it was a day care day for Noah today, so we dropped him off and we went to bring Richie to work. The anxiety continued to build, and I'm getting mean and snappy and I'm sure Richard just wanted to get to work to get away from me...I don't blame him. I dropped him off and enjoyed my 5-speed, sometimes that's the best solution to a bad day! As I pulled into my therapy session the glowing red light calmed me immediately. Ahhh Target! I went to find a bathing suit....never exciting...and ended up with a bathing suit...plus so much more! As I slowly went down every aisle I could breath again. No one was crying, pulling on my legs or asking me if I really needed this. It was then decided I was going to redo our hall bathroom...I shouldn't say redo, I should just say do. It's like the hodge podge of leftover bathroom stuff.

This is what had inspired me to decorate Noah's bathroom with a fish theme. He made this at daycare, and I love it. It was just the baggie that said Noah's Ocean on it, I framed it and added the seashell. I plan on changing out the tape with something else. Best part is, these frames have been sitting around here forever...as well as the shells!

More things just sitting around! We took this picture last year and its been sitting in the Walmart envelope ever since. Added the sea shell too.

$1.25 floor mat! Love the dollar section, also got foam bathroom letters!

Instead of buying the expensive kiddie shower curtains, I just got the blue circles...reminds me of bubbles and the cute wall hanging that says "Go Fish".

And then my inner crafty diva came out...I think I've been reading a few too many crafty blogs! This basket sits on the back of our toilet ( I moved this book to the front for the picture, it really just holds sudoku puzzles). I had the ribbon already and added the shells! I am so proud!

Last but not least, the candle...no one ever remembers to burn it, so why not decorate it...after I cleaned all the dust off!

So therapy was very successful for me today. After my Target therapy and Walmart therapy and Petsmart therapy, I returned to my husband and did a little Old Navy therapy. We then happily ate lunch together, and I haven't seen him since (remember we couldn't get the car fixed at a dealership, so he's at his sister's fixing it). Noah ate nicely and I am now okay. Until the next anxiety attack comes on, but I will have my check card prepared for the next time!

**Please note, this may be the only time I ever post crafty things I've done, I will have to return to work in August, and then I don't have time for anything, except a little therapy!