this weekend we visited our college town for our annual tradition of attending the t/f documentary film festival. it was a whirlwind of fun all packed into a little less than three days. we stayed with our dear friends who always open up their doors for us so i knew a little hostess gift was in order.
i keep a small woven bag in our guest room closet full of small gifts i find here & there. i pulled out a mrs. meyers lavender candle (i buy them every time they’re on sale) from my stash & filled up a carton with eggs from our girls.
just a handful of small gifts from the heart wrapped in color. i removed the label from the egg carton & taped a bright yellow card stock on top with washi tape. i used some tags i made not too long ago & placed just so with ribbon made from strips of vintage fabric.
what are some other inexpensive gift ideas that you regularly gift to others?
love,
natalie
p.s. if you’re looking for other gift ideas, visit my homemaking tab for more ideas!
one year ago today my papa passed on.
in this year, my brother has had papa’s first great grandchild, oliver. oliver is named after his papa. oh, the light oliver has brought this year. little oliver has brightened my nanny’s days more than he will ever know.
in this year, we also bought our farm. papa & nanny used to grow a large garden in their backyard. they would bring us plastic bags full of the biggest tomatoes i have ever seen. i remember when luke & i showed papa & nanny our home garden. i’ve never seen him more proud of us & our accomplishments. i know he would love our farm.
i still mourn the loss of my papa & his presence in our lives. a loving man who knew how to paint & make furniture from scratch. he was such a stubborn man (i get that from him) & i loved how he called me “sweetie.”
i sometimes feel his presence in the backseat of my car when i am driving alone on our dirt road toward home. i am confident he is still with us sharing in the daily gain & loss of life.
papa, you are loved. we miss you today & always.
love,
natalie
have you noticed the blog changes? i’m absolutely giddy about it. really, i get all teary-eyed just looking at my blog.
you see, i’ve been writing in this space for over six years. this blog is a piece of me. it holds a big ol’ place in my heart. this blog has stretched me in my writing skills & photography, captured a bunch of amazing moments, recorded our life story & has allowed me to make a ton of amazing friends along the way. this blog is basically my baby. & now it reflects who. i. am.
for so long i’ve just made do with the design believing it wasn’t so much about the design as much as it was about the content presented. well, i still believe that’s absolutely true, but there’s something so good about signing onto my blog & feeling good about all of it.
i can take absolutely no credit for my blog design. heather of life made lovely designed this glorious page & held my hand through the decision making process. she’s like a blog angel in my book.
i think i wrote something along the lines of, “i am looking for a space that is clean & fresh with pops of color. i want it to express my passions: my love for making a home, growing our farm, living a thrifty life & creating. vintage linens, mason jars with home canned preserves, paintbrushes & sewing machines. i’m a simplistic farm girl who likes rust. is that too much to ask?!!“
basically, she took my hot mess of an answer & created magic. clean, crafty, farm goodness magic. i love that girl.
& did you see the tabs?! you can now learn about my six years of blogging with the “about” tab & quickly get to our shop with just a click of a button. there’s also a page dedicated to our farm adventures with a link to our Facebook page, too. finally, i have a place to catalog our home improvement projects & house tours under the “our nest” tab. of course, i know y’all are all here for my homemaking tips. you can find those under the “homemaking” tab- tons of recipes, how to’s & the nitty gritty details of budgeting. dreams really do come true!
if you’ve been around for long enough, you know luke & i live within a very tight budget. for the past six years, i have been writing & blogging for absolutely free. i’ve made zero income from this endeavor. it has come from the heart & it will continue to do so.
to be completely honest, often the expenses of projects i complete & share on this blog come from our pockets. i’d love to supplement those expenses with income generated from my blog through six monthly sponsors. these sponsors will be small businesses, artists & companies i love & know you will, too. it’s just $10 for a small ad space & $20 for a large ad space. this is no get rich scheme! if you’re interested in my blogging adventures & would like to support what i do, click here & purchase an ad space today. yay!
seriously, friends. thanks for being a reader. i am humbled to my toes that you join me in this space, read about our lives, care about our stories, comment on posts, email me with encouraging words & cheer me along the way. you make life so good & i am thankful for you.
thank you! thank you! thank you!
look around, have fun & i cannot wait for what’s to come!
love,
natalie