Christmas Advent

Hi Everyone!  I  finished my Christmas Advent calendar. I was so excited! Its been a two years in the making. I started it last season and then got sick and never got to finish it. I got it out a couple weeks ago and finally got it done. Have you seen the beautiful Christmas Tree advent calender at Pottery Barn Kids. Just like the one I liked at Thanksgiving I have been eyeing it for awhile. But once again I just cant fork out that money. So I decided to make one:)). I don't have pictures on how to like I did with the Thanksgiving one just a picture. I can tell you I used a whole lot of felt and a glue gun. The kids were so excited when it was done!! I told them its not the one from Pottery Barn and my daughter and son looked at me and said at the same time, "Mommy this one is much more special because you made it and we helped you." My heart melted!

Hope everyone has a great week. Only a couple more weeks till Christmas!

Link your craft to the link party at: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/

Bringing winter to Maui

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season! We sure are. Did I mention that this is my favorite time of the year! I LOVE IT! This Colorado girl loves the warm fuzzys you get and all that Christmas brings. Living in Maui like I said in other post isn't really holiday..ish..So I usually get really homesick around this time. This year is no different. Every time I get homesick and mope around the house I can hear my Grandmas voice in my head "Jilly if you mope around your house cause your homesick all day your kids are going to pick up on that. They don't know the difference because YOU are their home." Aww that just melts my heart and brings me back to reality.  I am my kids home. This is OUR home. I love my Grandma. Here are some pictures of are Christmas decor. They are not the best pictures but hey it works. I really need to invest in a good camera one day. Thanks for visiting! Have a great week!

As you can see I left the beans from my fall decorations. I thought they worked for both holidays:)

This is my front entry table. Those are capiz shells for an umbrella on the trees. Multi purpose:))

Winter Mantel

I finally finished our holiday mantel...well not exactly a mantel but the closet thing to it in our home! I am very happy with the way it turned out. I have to tell you this one was a hard one for me this year. I really didn't know what direction I wanted to go. This picture isn't the greatest but here it is:

 Made these out of paper cones and them wrapped them in rope. My kids thought they looked like teepees! Too cute.. I might say somewhat true:)

 Here is a closer look at the wreath. I orginally started making a whole another wreath but it didn't work out to well:). So I started over and went back to the good old tie knot wreath! I switched white burplap, brown burlap, beige canvas and then red canvas. Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the season!


If you want to link your holiday mantel to the link party head on over to:
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Burlap Lamp Shade

I had fun making these these burlap lamp shadess a couple weeks ago. They are super easy and fun. I would love to show you how to do them but the only thing is the photos got deleted from my phone due to my four year old:).

First of the lamp base I found at Lowes about a year and half ago. They were a shinny goldish color more  on the clearence shelf for $3!! The lamp shades were also on clearance but they were covered in black and gold fabric. I think they were also $3 each. I looked pretty funny going to the check with my black and gold  combinations. A can of spray paint, a glue gun and a yard of burlap later...whala! I am happy with the way it turned out. All in all the whole project cost be about 15 for two lamps.

Goodbye Fall!

Well fall has come and gone once again. Well not technically but the fall decor will be coming down and the Christmas decorating will begin! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. We celebrated with are friends and we had a great time. Loved it! I am still full:). We have so much to be thankful for and I am forever grateful for all that God has done this year. Also thankful for all the things he has taught me. Its been a hard year but he remained faithful through it all.
I  for one am sad to that fall is already over but looking forward to get my Christmas on. We always put are tree up the day after Thanksgiving and this year was no different. The tree is up and ready to be decorated:). I of course put my fix on it before the kids go at it tomorrow night. Believe it or not the kids were so tired today they did not want to put the ornaments up. CRAZY! I know! So tomorrow it is. Here are some sneak  peaks of our Christmas decorations. More pictures to come!

Two last things. One, I have not forgotten about my daughters room pictures. They will be up soon! Two, I put the Follow this blog button at the top now. So if you come on here often I would LOVE to hear from you. So please follow this blog and leave comments when you want to of course! Thank you for visiting my little old blog:) Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Love, Jill

The Boys Room

This past weekend we finally got to the boys room. Don't worry I didn't forget about my daughters room. Pictures will be up soon. She just has a couple of last min things to put up. The boys were so happy to have a room again. They have been with out a room for a week and were looking forward to having a place to call their own. Their room was much easier to put together because they had all the same things. We bought nothing to make it happen. All we did was change the paint color. Here it is:

This is not the best picture. The room is so small I couldn't get a better picture then this. The boys chose to paint their room blue. Of course:). We found this Pottery Barn boat bed on Craigslist a year ago for about 1/4th the price. I sold are entertainment center that was just to big for are home and bought the bed for the boys. I have done that a lot. Sold something on Craigslist that was just not practical and buy something more practical with that money. Craigslist in Maui is a must! As you can see I took the trundle part of the bed and put it diagonal. Then every night we don't have to keep taking it out. It can get a pain believe me. Also my youngest son feels special because he has his own bed. I put baskets in the open space.  The bed spreads I got on clearance one year for an amazing price. They are the Island Surf collection from PBkids.

This is the book shelf I made years back. I love the one that PBkids sells but just could not afford it at the time. So I made one. I had scrap wood laying around from an old bed. I used 5 pieces and cut them to the length I wanted. I layed it the way I wanted it to look making sure books could fit on each shelf..ect. I used a two inch drill bit and drilled three holes in the side of two of the pieces of wood  at the same measurements. Then I screwed the other three pieces to those two pieces, those being on either side. I spray painted it blue and  I attached it to the wall using long wood screws. I had bamboo on hand and put those threw the holes I drilled. That was it. I put the books in and it was all done! I was so happy with the way it turned out. You could always attach beadboard to the back too. That would look cute! My youngest son wanted it by his bed in this room. He was SO happy. When he came in and saw it the first thing he did was lay down and he grabbed a book:) This project pretty much cost nothing. I had everything on hand. Now that is one happy mom!

Now these are my favoriate things in their room. I found these life perserves at are local discount store for $3. I bought transfer lettering for $3 and put the boys names on them. The bamboo hooks I orginally bought for my husbands surf boards years back at a local bamboo dealer but they didn't work. So instead I used them for the boys rooms. I belive they were $10 each. Pricey but well worth it. I love the look.

All in all the boys were so excited to sleep in their new room last night. They had more space to play today which made it all well worth changing rooms:)

Pancakes and Corn Husks

I made yummy pumpkin pancakes this morning. My youngest son ate 7 of them! I guess they were good. They were just the right mix of everything and I think they turned out pretty yummy. I left out the ginger and the cloves though cause I didn't have them on hand. This is the Martha Stewart recipe I used:

1 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar;
2 teaspoons baking powder;
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt;
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg; and a pinch of ground cloves.
1 cup milk,
6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree,
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger and salt. In a separate bowl blend milk,pumpkin puree, butter and egg. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat; pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side; serve with butter and syrup. Makes 8 to 10.

I found the prettiest fall wreath made out of corn husks online a couple months back. Me and my friend fell in love and  we wanted to have a wreath party and make them but it just hasn't happened so I decided to make one this week. Here it is what you need: A hay wreath and a pack of corn husks. I got the wreath at a thrift stores for a $1. Its a small but it was only a buck so who cares:) I got the corn husk at a local grocery store for $3. No tamale making here just wreath making:).

I cut the corn husks in half length wise and soaked them for about 5 mins. This step makes it much easier to deal with. Then I got started pinning them to the wreath. The tutorial I found said fold in half and pin. So that is what I did. I did not have flower pins so I just used sewing pins:) Probably didn't work as well as the others but it did its job. Fold in half pin and then fold another and lap over the existing one till you go all around the wreath. You could also do a couple rows of corn husk then pin and overlap. I just did one cause it was such a small wreath but looking back now I wish I would have done a couple rows of smaller pieces pin then overlap. Next year:).

Here is how it turned out. I thought mine looked a little plain compared to the tutorial I followed so I put my own twist with adding some berries and hanging it from a piece of twisted burlap fabric.

I know it will only be up for a couple weeks but hey who cares right?? It was fun making it and I can save it for next year.

Rakes are not just for leaves

I know I said I would post pictures of my daughters room when it was done but I felt a little under the weather on Sunday and did not get to finish it. We will finish it this weekend and then I will post some pictures:). 

Have you been on pinterst.com yet? If you haven't check it out you must! Warning it can be very addicting, almost as addicting as chalkboard paint. About a month back I was browsing pinterst and I found the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. One of my friends pinned a picture of a garden rake turned necklace hanger. Who knew! I fell in love! I have been wondering what to do with all my necklaces for awhile. My lamp shade was getting heavy. So a few weeks back I decided to hunt down an old rake. I didn't know it would be that hard to find an old rake on this island! I went to garage sales, the restore, the metal junk yard and even asked my neighbors. I came up with nothing. I did not want to buy a new one but when I was at Walmart I decided to check how much they were selling for. Walmart had one for $5! I was ok with spending 5 bucks so I bought it. I was so excited to come home and transform it into my new necklace holder.

First I cut the wood pole off with my hand saw and then spray painted it. I had grey spray paint on hand so I decided to use that. After it had dried I wasn't fond of the grey. I wish I would have used a brighter, funkier color. But I ended up wrapping some rope around the handle to add something to it and then I loved it!

Here it is done! I was so happy with the way it turned out.  I think my necklaces are happy and so is my lamp shade:)

My baby girl is a Tween

The only thing my daughter wanted for her 11th birthday this year was an owl hat from Clairs and a bedroom makeover. So I my husband, all the grandparents, aunty's and uncles all chipped in to make it happen. I have always adored her room. I guess because I pretty much picked everything out:). She has had the same room since she was 6. I bought the Pink Island Surf Bedding from PB on clearence many years back. It goes with are beach cottage theme house and she loved at the time but I could tell about a year ago she started changing.



Not the best picture but its the only one I have. This was taking a couple years ago. It looks nothing like this now. I wish I had pictures of how it looks now with my daughters twist on things but totally forgot to take a picture.

 One day she asked to use are old blue comforter on her bed. From that moment she started changing things in her room. From rearranging her room to putting things on the wall that she loved. Like a cute poster of an animal or a saying she found in her American Girl magazine. She started finding herself.  She always ask me first before doing something to her space. I could have been THAT mom and boy did I want to be but I let her find voice and let her create what made her happy. Even though her room this past year wasn't all matchy ,matchy and what I would call cute didn't me she didn't love it. She LOVED it and that made me happy. When she said she wanted a room makeover I was so excited! But I needed to hold it back a bit and remind myself that this is her room. She should be able to pick out what she likes and I should not sway her in anyway.
I am proud to announce I did just that! I was there if she ask my opinion but for the most part she picked everything out by herself. From paint color to duvet to accent colors. I was really proud of her. I think she did an amazing job. Everything she picked out was so her.
This weekend we decided to get started. The boys and her are going to switch rooms. The room are the exactly the same size but different layouts. My daughters room has a better layout for two people and the boys room will is better for one person. They are both very small rooms 10x10. So the boys need all the space they can get.
We got a lot done today. Her room is actually almost done. Paint on the walls, furniture is moved, new base boards cut ready to be painted and nailed and lots of accessories are spray painted. Tomorrow we will just put it all together and I will post a picture:). Very excited for the final outcome. I LOVE makeovers.
Lesson learned from this whole experience is that are kids are growing up. They are forming their own likes and dislikes. They are going to have their own opinions and things that make them them. We must embrace those things and let them run with it. We must not remake their bed after they already made it, decorate their room how we want it, buy clothes for them that aren't necessarily them. I am loving that my daughter has her own style and opinions. I love seeing her become the girl God created her to be. In that I am thankful and thanking God for what he is teaching me as a Mom and women.

More Fall to Maui

I decorated for fall way before Halloween but never found the time to get the rest of these photos up. Here are more photos of my "Bringing Fall to Maui" in our home.

Front Entry Table

I found these cute yellow flowers and orange pumpkins at Safeway one day while shopping. I fell in love with them! I had passed them a few times on numerous occasions but never bought them cause I didn't want to spend the money. I am a coupon shopper and deal hunter. I spend about an hour going over my coupons and ads before hitting the store. Don't get me mixed up with the extreme couponers. I am defiantly not there. And on Maui you can't. No store here will double and are prices are just to high. Anyway I did so good on my shopping budget that day that I went back into the store and bought these lovely things with my leftover grocery money. I was so happy!! May sound funny to use your leftover grocery money to buy decorations for the home but to me I thought it was a brilliant idea!! I made two arrangements one for the front entry and the other for my kitchen island.

Kitchen Island

I thought the arrangements look a little scarce so I put some tree branches that I got from the side of the road and connected cut out book leafs I had already been making for a wreath. I will post on how to make those on a later date. They are so easy.  I used wire to connect them to the branch and they turned out beautiful.

A couple more pictures. I left my shells out and put one black pumpkin. Remember the ones I painted for the pallet shelf. I had one left over so I put it in with the shells. I thought it looked pretty cool. I also had one more chalkboard frame that I put the kids picture in. Then I filled my lantern with white beans and added a berry garland around it.

Usually my candle sticks are filled with shells but for fall I fill them with white beans and this year I added some wood pieces. I wrapped a shear ribbon around the candle and used my leafs I already had on hand with rope. I am pleased with the way it turned out. I love my shells but love fall more!

Its actually cold this week. I had to close the windows one day and bundle up. I loved it! Me and the kids have been drinking lots of hot chocolate with home made whip cream. Oh so good...

Thanksgiving Advent Calander Part 2

My sweet friend told me she made her own Thanksgiving advent calender too. So I stopped by the other the day to take a look. It turned out beautiful!! She used a piece of wood she had lying around the house painted it brown and nailed nails in it. Then she decorated mailing tags with sticker she had bought and hung them from the nails. It came out so lovely! I wish you could see it in person .






Transforming home and soul

Are little house is located on a hill side over looking the ocean.  The view is breath taking and you can hear the waves constantly crashing from every room in the house. Many people from the mainland think that living on Maui means you are rich. Speaking for my family..we are by no means rich. Are mortgage might be extremely higher then a average person in the states but we also don't have all the other expenses. We don't have a car payment, we don't keep up with the Jones, etc. and we definitely don't have to buy three seasons worth of clothes:)  I love life on Maui and I love my little house by the ocean. Even thought it has taken a lot of work to get it were we have wanted it, it was well worth it. We learned many lessons along the way.

When we had are third child we decided we were out growing are condo. So we decided it was time to go house hunting. After many months of hunting we decided to a buy a brand new house in a brand new development. We would get to pick everything out and watch it build before our eyes. It was very exciting. I loved that home! It was just beautiful. The staircase opened to the whole house, vaulted ceilings, brand new everything and a study! Who has a study? :) As building started I went to take a trip back all by myself to see my family and when I came back my Husband said he wanted to show me something. He had found another home. I looked at him and said , "WHAT"? I could not believe that he was house hunting after we were already in the process of building are beautiful home. He told me to hear him out. So after he picked me up from the airport he drives me to are good friends neighborhood. I have always loved this neighborhood and most importantly loved the ocean view. He turns down the same street that are friends lived on and pulls up two doors away to a one story little house. He said " This is it". All I had in my mind was my brand new beautiful home getting built as we speak. The seller welcomed us with open arms and lets us come in and take a look around. It was apparent him and my husband had already talked many times. The seller were an older couple.  So sweet and loved are kids. They had built this house from the ground up. The home needed some TLC and was only a little bigger then are condo. I looked around with a smile on my face and was very gracious. My husband took my hand and guided me out to the back porch and said "This is why I love this home" I looked up at the beautiful open ocean and knew from that moment that this was are home. I am not saying that I moved in without kicking and screaming.
My heart was so attached to the big beautiful home that I had picked everything out in. The day I moved in this new home I cried. Not tears of happiness, tears of sadness. You might be thinking how spoiled I was or how ungrateful. I was!! I completely was. Even though this home was not brand new and it needed some work I did not know what God had for me in the end. I just saw what I wanted to see. We had no money to put into are home except money for new floors. Months went by and has I crossed one more thing of my list my heart started changing. I was the one working on my home making it what it was. Painting and being resourceful. God was turning ashes to beauty. He knew what this place could be and he knew what we needed. This home is a way better investment then the other home  and cost much less believe it or not and two this view has carried me threw many bad days. I was in bed for many months and stared out to the ocean and saw God, who he is, what he has done for us and whats to come.
There are still so many projects I would love to tackle around here. My yard could be on HGTVs worst yard episode but hey its all mine. This house has taught me so many heart issues that I needed to work out. The Lord is constantly working in me and working out all those places I have to fully give him. God doesn't always use a house but with this women he did and this house is a representation of that.  He knows what we need more then we know. God makes all things beautiful in his time.

Thanksgiving Advent Calendar

When every holiday season rolls around I get so excited to get my Pottery Barn catalog in the mail. I can't wait to see all the new things they have. Very rarely do I buy anything full price from it. Everything I have from there I wait till it goes on clearance.  I always like looking to see what I can recreate or find for a much lesser price. I have been eyeing this Thanksgiving Advent calender for years. I love it. The only problem is it cost $69 and it never goes on clearance.

This year I decided I would make one. At first I was thinking I would make this exact one but I really didn't want to spend any extra money on the large pieces of felt. So I decided to use the fabric I had at home. I am not an expert sewer but can still hold my own with a sewing machine. I am an intermediate sewer.  The lines might not be super straight but hey when you look far away you can't even tell :).

I had the blues one day last week. One of the things that make me so happy when I am down is doing crafts. Any kind will do. There is always a end master piece and that makes me feel good.  So I decided to get started. I usually see what I already have around my house to use so it keeps the cost down. I knew that I was going to do a much more simple advent calender then the one in the catalog.  I had a scrap piece of this canvas fabric left over from a bag I sewed last week. So I decided to use that.

I folded the big pieces in half and measured it to cut it into a rectangle. I had two pieces one would be used for the front and the other for the back to hide all the not so pretty stuff :). Also not shown I cut a piece of burlap I had the same size to be place on the front canvas. Burlap on its own is very flimsy so the canvas gives it a more sturdy hold.

With the left over fabric I made 5 rows of  fabric. Measuring and making sure they would all fit on the big piece of fabric.

After that was done I ironed them to get all the wrinkles out. And started to put numbers on the rows for the days. I used my scrap booking stencils and permanent black marker. To get the kids involved I had them glue on felt pumpkins, scarecrows, leaves and orange buttons that I got at a local craft store. The felt already had sticky stuff on the back but you can reinforce with a glue gun.  They loved being able to join in and help and then when they look at it they know they helped create it too!

After that was all done it was time to sew the burlap and the canvas together. Then I sewed the rows on them. When the rows were all sewed on I had to make pockets so I sewed a vertical stitch all the way down between each number. I used a messy stitch so it looked more home aid.  After that was all done I needed to sew my other piece of canvas to the back so I layed the canvas face down on the front and sewed. When it was all done I turned it inside out and stitched the top and whoola it was done.

The only things I am bummed about is one I made my pockets so big you couldn't even see the burlap and two there was no room to write a greeting up at the top. I was really bummed at first the way it came out but then I started to like it. That's what home aid things are about. You mess up sometimes it doesn't come out the way you want it to or sometimes it comes out better then you thought it would. Its not perfect but the fact that my kids helped me and we had a fun couple hours doing this project made it all worth it.

There is a couple ideas on how to use it. My husband and I could put discussion questions in each pocket referring to thankfulness ect for our family to discuss each night around the dinner table. Or a friend had a good idea of each family member putting in what they were thankful for that particular day and on Thanksgiving Day you read all of them. I really love that idea! Thanksgiving is such a hug opportunity to teach and guide are children's hearts. I pray this year this little home aid calender blesses are family more then we could imagine. 

Chalkboard Craziness

One of my dear friends stopped by today. We haven't seen eachother for a few weeks so its always so nice to catch up, laugh and talk story. She is a fellow blogger. Love her blog. If you ever get a chance or need a good laugh visit her blog http://timeforb.blogspot.com/. I was telling her about my new adventure into the blog world. She had some great ideas and recommendations. Her first one was I should write a post about all the chalkboard in my house. Loved that idea! So here it is:)

Chalkboard paint is the new big thing! It seems like all my friends are chalkboard paint happy. My obsession with chalkboard paint started years ago after a friend of mine painted a chalkboard wall in her sons room. I fell in love! I wanted to chalkboard everything! When we moved into are home four years ago we had to redo everything. We didn't have much money so everything we did had to be budget friendly. I wanted to get new doors for my kids rooms but couldn't afford to get brand new ones so I went to Maui's restore and picked up two doors for $20. We remolded a lot of are house from things from are Maui restore. Check your local one out. You will be suprised to what you find there. With a little elbow grease and an imagination you can have what you want but for a much lesser price. The doors I found were in rough shape.They needed some help so I decided to paint them a fresh coat of white. Then I painted the raised part chalkboard. I went back and forth not knowing if I wanted black doors facing are living area but once I did the first one, I knew they were perfect. They have been such a blessing. We write messages, decorate them with chalk drawings ect. I adore them. The kids love them too! I had a friend recreate these in her own home but put magnetic paint underneath. Brilliant idea. You need like 20 thousand coats though.

When are kitchen was being remolded after a water leak. I really wanted to incorporate a chalkboard wall somewhere. We were enclosing are laundry nook. So with the help of my friend and contractor we decided the wall and pocket door to the laundry room would be the best place. The door we chose for the laundry room was just a plain slab door which was great. To make sure the chalkboard wall was smooth and not textured, my contractor used a smooth pressed board. I primed it all and then painted it with the chalkboard paint. It took three coats. I think it turned out pretty well. We are such a visual family so its great to put verses we are memorizing, shopping list or schedule that week.

I found these jars from Pier One about three years ago. I LOVE them. They are great for everything. My friend made her own out of chalkboard paint and jars she already owned. They turned out beautiful.

I found two of these pictures frames at Ross one day for only $2 each. The only thing was they were pink and blue and were meant for baby pictures. I thought it would be a cute idea to paint them with the chalkboard paint.  I had them put away in a box for awhile and forgot I even had them. I brought them out for the fall:)

I could post many more pictures but these are my favorite. Chalkboard paint is so fun to work with! You can practically use it anywhere on anything. Go for it! See what you can paint. Warning: You might get a very addicted :) My husband has to tell me from time to time "Put down the chalkboard paint!"

Bringing Fall to Maui

I love living on Maui but when October rolls around I get very homesick. This Colorado girls misses the change of seasons, leaves falling to the ground and crisp air hitting my face. I love it all. Have you ever seen that movie Ground Hog Day? The one with Bill Murray. He gets stuck in a town and wakes up to the same thing everyday. Well that sums up the weather in Maui. Its pretty much the same weather everyday. Beautiful! I am not complaining. I love it. I just get homesick this time of year. So since the outside really isn't fall I bring "fall" inside. Its always a challenge in the fall and winter to decorate my home cause I have more of a beach cottage feel in my house. Pine cones and corn husk really don't mesh well with my beach theme if you know what I mean. But I love to take risk and love a challenge. This year I had a lot of fun! I brought alot of bright orange in. It really goes good with all the blue in my home and its a nice combo.

This is a pallet shelf my husband and sweet kids made me for mothers day. One night laying in bed I showed my husband a picture I found at amandacarverdesigns.com . Amanda made a shelf out of a pallet. I loved it! Such a brilliant idea. She kept hers the original color but my family painted mine white to match are house. They are already little designers. I stumbled upon the wreath at the36thavenue.com and FELL IN LOVE! So I tried to recreate it. I was pleased with the way it turned out. I found 99 cent florescent colored pumpkins at walmart and spray painted them with chalk board paint. My daughter made the orange button Y this past weekend ( burlap, old frame, glue gun, buttons and a staple gun). I though she did a fantastic job. The hay looking things are actually dried up sugar cane. I was driving down the road by my house the other day and thought it looked like hay. So I stopped and cut some down. I couldn't find any hay looking things for a reasonable price so had to improvise. I was so happy the way it turned out. I just love it.

Here's an up close picture of the wreath. A whole tutorial on how to make it is on their website. These are the very first fabric rosettes I have ever made. They are not the best and don't look to close or you will see lots of glue residue:). They were really fun and easy once you get the hang of it. I don't think I am there yet but with some practice one day.

Hello Blog World

Hello Blog World! I am a wife and mother of three beautiful children. Living on the island of Maui enjoying the surf, sand and sun. After many friends and family telling me I should start a blog about our home, I finally gave in to the idea. I am a DIYer, crafter and I love it. I am very passionate about making a home a place of refuge and surrounding it with things that inspire, and bring a smile to a face.

By no means am I a professional carpenter, painter or interior designer. On this blog you will see me mess up a lot, laugh at myself and journey with me through my projects. Oh and I am not the best writer. My grammar can be very incorrect at times so bare with me. Thanks for welcoming me and visiting my site.

With much Love and Aloha, Jill