Journals for my 3 Sons...

Its no lie. I love to Journal. I love my Agenda and I am even thinking of crossing them both somehow. Its so crazy it should be illegal but that's my life.. crazy. 
All my life I have loved to write. I do not know if I'm just getting old or more creative. Could be both right?
I have stacks of empty journals on my shelves because no matter how much I love to journal, I just cant find the time to write everyday. Between school, mine and my boys both, the house, volunteer work, church, family time, its just impossible. 
But I love to write and I love to journal. Since this past mother's day (May 2014) I have started a journal for each of my boys. My oldest son who is 11 now struggles with attention deficit disorder. School is a very hard struggle for him. If your a parent of a child with A.D.D you know the pain and struggle we go through. 
I was having a moment one day, last May, and I was praying to the Lord, "Lord, help.." that's all we can do sometimes but that's what he wants us to do. He wants us to rely on him when we can't carry our self. He loves us that much. Somethings I just did not want to speak out loud in my prayer. So I got a pen and an empty journal (just bought it at Michael's for 2.50!) and started writing down my feelings. These are feelings I would never say to my child because he is a child and somethings he does not need to hear. Like my worries about his future. 
I felt better after writing it down. The next time I was in Michael's I bought two more journals. I started writing down my thoughts for my other two sons. 

I have started to cover the outside of each with washi tape.. I think the original covers look a little girlie. 

Here are my supplies. Of course you can use whatever you like to on yours. Most of this came from the dollar tree (I'm super frugal) 

I love the idea of reward stickers. 

This one is to let my son know he is perfect just the way he is!

I plan on filling these journals up and starting more. On each of their wedding days (or graduation, hadn't decided yet) I'm going to gift their journals to them. Its something they can always have of their mother and know that she did the best she could and she loves them very much!

I would love to hear comments and see journals or even better testimonies on how writing has helped you! 

Comment below or email me at meaganhughes225@outlook.com

Sea Shell Wind Chime

During the month of July, my husband and I took our three boys to St. Augustine Beach, Florida.

It was our second time visiting there (we are beach goers) and we just love the city so much.

For those who may not know, St. Augustine is the oldest city in North America. If you are history lover like I am then you cannot pass up a chance to go to this unique part of our country.

Here we are on the beach.

The whole time we were there on the beach I became obsessed with picking up seashells. My husband thought I was crazy because its something I have never took much interested in, even though I've been to the beach more times to count. 

I took 3 sand buckets full of seashells home to north Georgia with us. Not knowing what I was going to do with them when I got home, I scoured pinterest for help. 

At the moment we are adding some "curb appeal" to our front porch and when I saw a picture of a sea shell wind chime, I knew it was the project I wanted to do. 

This is how I did it. I am sorry for not having any step by step photos but it is pretty simple and straight forward. 

1. You have to find an anchor. I used an old branch/stick that I've had laying around in my photography studio. I was going to use to to hang snowflakes on but alas, never got around to it. 

2. You will need in addition to your anchor, a type of string. I used twine and fishing line. Twine is good because its pretty, fishing line is good because it makes the shells look as if they are floating. 

3. In addition to the above two steps, you can find embellishments to go with the shells. This is totally optional. I used the blue/clear jar filler stones. 

4. Dont forget your sea shells. If you do not have sea shells on hand, you can find them at craft stores, eBay and etsy. 

5. Measure out your sting. Here is when you decide how you want your wind chime to flow. Does it go diagonal? In a zigzag? Or uneven levels? It is totally up to you. I did mine unevenly and it turned out really pretty. Just make sure that your strings are not too close together, where they can tangle and not too far apart, where they can't chime.

6. Tie the strings to the anchor. If your using fishing line, make sure to tie them real tight. Fishing line likes to come undone sometimes. 

7. When you look for your sea shells, pick up all the ones with the little holes in the top. This is where you are going to thread the string through and tie. If you have sea shells without holes, you can glue them on also with the embellishments. 

There are MANY things to make sea shells out of. I've made ornaments for my Christmas tree and I have saw refrigerator magnets. If you need any ideas just look up pinterest. 

If you have any ideas leave me a comment, I have plenty of sea shells left!

The start of it...

Ta-Da!

I'm just sitting here working on my next masterpiece, the sea shell wind chime, and I thought.. this is the start of something beautiful. That would be an awesome blog name! And since I've been is such a crafty/do it yourself mood lately, I should start a blog on crafting!

My short lived dream was crushed when I realized, the blog name "the start of something beautiful" was already taken =/ Then I thought... what about "Beautifully Made"? Well.. no.. that was taken also.

So I looked at my wind chime (which is still in progress by the way, taking a glue drying break) and thought, what else besides beautiful is it?

Pretty.

I am more of a pretty type girl anyways. So this is the start of something PRETTY.

I hope you guys stick around and continue to follow me.

My first post on my sea shell wind chime will be soon!
Now.. back to working on it =)

God Bless,
Meagan