This year was the first that I decide to embark on making Christmas sugar cookies. I tend to stick to pain free, simple Christmas baking. I not overly skilled in the kitchen.. as most of you probably know, so I waited till my wonderful hubby was home so he could help me NOT screw up the recipe. I used Sally's recipe, and they taste delicious. For icing we just made a very simple icing sugar icing in three colours: blue, green and white, and then I had a gel red icing tube left over from other baking quests I guess.

(note: I wouldn't use the gel in the future, as I didn't realize that the gel doesn't harden making it impossible to stack your cookies without ruining the design... yes these things occur to me always after the fact... sigh.)








As you can cookies came out well and it was really fun for me to sit down and ice them. I am a nerd for creative artsy crafts and projects. I even printed off some inspirational cookie designs from Pinterest to help me out. Now... to stop myself and Andrew from eating them all before we have our little party this weekend... hmm.

My sister in law was creating a box of encouragements for a friend the other day and asked if I have ever designed "promise cards". I had never heard of such cards, so I quickly did some research and figured out what she was talking about.

A few posts ago I mentioned the memory verse cards that I was creating for myself, to help me memorize scripture, well these are a lot like that. They are cards of encouragement with verses specific to the promises of God, which he has given to his children in his Word.

I am going to challenge myself and try and memorize these 6 verses I've designed. I hope they can bring some encouragement to you as well. If you'd like to purchase them for yourself (to use as a bookmark in your bible, or maybe to encourage a friend) you can find them as an easy digital download in my etsy store. Just print them out yourself :)

I am super excited for my sister in law, Cheryl & her mom, Ruth over at Peck Cloths. They will be having an open house on December 6th (which Kelsi and I will be attending of course!). Check out this fun little announcement I was able to make up for them to advertise the date :)

If you'd like to see more of their selection of cloths and others goods, make sure to check out peckcloths.com and definitely come check out the open house on December 6th.

My friend Nicole came over the other day and was sharing with me an idea of felt books made for children (find examples here), they are SO NEAT!

Nicole inspired me to make a board book for Emma, one which I was going to buy here. But WHY NOT create it myself. Its no gorgeous felt book, but its really great for her age right now. I'll work on the felt when she might appreciate it more (2 years old maybe?)

I used this post that I found via pinterest as my guide. She takes a real board book that she got for free from a Wendy's and simply covers it with her own design on card stock, so simple. So that is what I've done.

I've been thinking about what to do with my Christmas greeting this year. Since we are on a new budget (as I recently resigned from Compassion to stay home full time with Emma - yay!) I decided that getting cards printed, even though I design them, is a bit more then I would like to spend this year, so I am trying to get resourceful.

I decided to do a fun little "year in review" page that I can send out to far away family in a simple letter envelope on 8.5 x 11 printer paper. I was still able to have a little fun, especially with all the hand drawn titles and little vector graphics. I can't wait to send it out to our loved ones!

Here is a little sneak preview of my design:

Emma has ben busy getting her eye teeth in all week...
so if you're a mom I am sure you can imagine what my week has been like.


Here are some wonderful links I'd love to share this week.

I really enjoyed reading Kristi's post Reading the Bible vs. Studying the Bible: What’s the Difference?
over on And Babies Don't Keep (off topic: her blog title comes from a poem that pulls at my heart strings) Anyways, I loved her reminder of just simply taking time to read and relish in God's word as well as study it. Thanks Kristi.

My sister-in-law (@ peck cloths) makes these cute washcloths for babes, I have about a million that I use everyday for Emma after mealtimes and bath. They are so soft and durable, you can wash them over and over, but my favourite part is that the patterns are actually cute (that can be hard to find) check them out.

Ouch, Narcissistic By Nature written by Jen over on her blog Adorned hit me hard and really convicted me.

"Christian narcissism is when we believe, talk, and act as though the Christian life is all about one’s self: it’s about my progress, my failures, my growth in holiness, my sins, my quiet time, my walk with Jesus."

Such a good read for all of us.

This is a new site created to supplying great resources for discipling women with the gospel as a central focus. 




When reading Wendy Alsup's post about the site coming out she mentions the site authors being "burdened that each of us understand the depth and breadth of what Jesus' has done for us. And, like me, they are particularly burdened for women to understand these things." What a blessing!! To have sisters and brothers in Christ who see the importance of women knowing biblical truth.

Check out the site if you haven't already. I am particularly excited about the series - The Gospel and the Old Testament. Here's a little exert from the opening post... this series sounds so great!

"However, many well meaning Christians in our churches have a file cabinet view of the stories of the Old Testament. In that paradigm, the Psalms contain files of reassuring words for hard moments. Genesis’ file folder is full of interesting moral lessons. The Proverbs file is useful when one needs good advice. The Law and Minor Prophets? Many aren’t sure of their purpose, and the file folders containing those stories often gather dust. The separate file folder approach to the Old Testament misses the connections between those stories and the gospel that Jesus explained on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. When we look for the gospel in the Old Testament, the separate file folders open up, and the characters stumble out of our filing cabinet, joining hands from Genesis until Jesus appears in person in Matthew. Each story feeds the next, teaching us of God’s good plan before time began to redeem His people."

I took this picture at sunset on a fall day in Port Elgin.  Andrew and I were sharing a few days at a cute little cottage with my parents. We were celebrating my Moms victory in surviving breast cancer that year. It felt so sweet to walk with her and Dad through the harbour, savouring God's goodness and beautiful creation. I will always cherish this time, full of beach walks with Mom, warm hot chocolate and just relishing in her company and wonderful wisdom.

This design will soon be available in my etsy shop as an art print for download.

These 9 Festive Fall Drinks from Craftberry Bush, especially the Nutella Hazelnut Hot Chocolate - umm, yum.

This is an easy pumpkin Krispies treat recipe.. its so simple even I can make them.

Oh my, this "citron" chunky knit scarf by Peony Knits, gorgeous. I bought a scarf from Josie last fall, all of her scarves are handmade and beautiful.

ANDDD.. it was fun learning even more about our Canadian Thanksgiving from Mrs. Oatmeal.

My mom recently got me into this book after borrowing it from a friend.

Its been such an intense and interesting read. I was able to find the book at my local library and couldn't put it down. The book has some great insight into the FLDS community and why it's so hard for women to leave it. I will be praying for those that are still involved in this lifestyle and religion (especially those located in western Canada).

Back cover: In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of this closed community and the lengths that Jeffs went to in order to control the women in it. Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells her incredible and inspirational story of her time in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), detailing how she emerged from its confines to help bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice.
Read more reviews of Stolen Innocence here.


Read the beautiful testimony of a woman that grew up in the FLDS and later escaped, and received Jesus as her Savior here (on Christianity Today).

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1 vs 12-17

Lisa-Jo Bakers wrote an amazing post 10 Things To Do Differently *Before* You Lose Your Temper on her blog Surprised by Motherhood. This is a great resource for a mom with one or many children running around her home.

Jen Wilkins wrote a wonderful post about cherishing all of the personalities and gifts that God blesses a child with in her post when your child's personality annoys you.

This adorable wrap is a MUST BUY for whenever we might be having baby #2... no I'm not pregnant. Settle down. I personally LOVE the Natural & Grey Stripe option.

We are so so happy with our latest scarf purchase (ok, our only scarf purchase) for Emma from Coral and Poppy. She loves wearing it, it keeps her cozy and its adorable. This plaid one is calling my name.. now if only I could fit it in the budget..

Here are some fun Memory Verse Cards I designed to keep on my nightstand and in my bible.

His birthday was at the end of September, but I think he might have this card hanging around for quite some time on his desk ;)



Photo cred: Sarah-Bear Van Kruistum (snapped up North on Labour Day holidays)

This year I decided to create my autumn door wreath myself (mostly because there was a huge sale on at Michael's and I didn't want to pay 40+ for a door wreath). 

Here are the supplies I started with:





And here is the result:





I was quite happy with how it turned out.. but of course, being the silly women that I am, I decided to take a look at what I pinned as wreath inspiration last year. Right away felt like my wreath didn't measure up to some of the beautiful pinned examples. Either way, these wreaths give me a goal that I can aim for next year... but we shall see.








AND.. just for the LOVE OF FALL... here are some pretty pins that make me want to wrap myself in a warm scarf or blanket, with a candle lit, a great book and some hot coffee. Happy Fall Y'all.

As autumn and thanksgiving are my favourite time of year, of course I have designed some pieces for fall in my etsy shop. Check the left sidebar to see more or if you are interested in purchasing the digital files to these fun new pieces.

Since we moved Emma into a new bigger room I've been trying to fill up the space and make it cozy.

I've finally opened up a little Etsy shop to start selling digital copies of various designs that I have created in the present and over the years.


I was struggling with opening up a shop for quite some time because I work full time as a designer and couldn't see how I would be able to fit in the grunt work of orders into my current schedule. But then I realized that Etsy was offering a great new feature of letting artists or creators simply upload a digital file (usually pdf or jpeg) of their work to make it available for simple download. This way I could charge less for my designs and my customers could use the print however they wanted.. and on whatever card-stock or paper choice they preferred. It makes the process so simple - Buy - Download & Print.
In the future, if I ever have more time, I might start making physical prints and possibly venture into mug designs or textiles (and we all know I also enjoy embroidery). But for now, I am just happy and excited to be able to share my art with others :)

I've been working on some thanksgiving designs that I'm pretty excited about. Autumn is my favourite season. So stay tuned for those designs coming up in the shop, and I'll blog about them here.

Please go and check out my etsy shop at lovelyinkdesign.etsy.com or you can find links to my shop in the left sidebar right here on the blog. Hope you have a lovely weekend!!

I will admit, with Emma being 14 months, I am more busy running after her than reading books. But occasionally when I get to sit down and absorb a few pages these are the two books I've been able to enjoy - Jen Wilkins Book Women of The Word, and Aimee Bryds Book Housewife Theologian.

Lately, more then ever, I've felt called to sincerely be in God's Word, studying it and really getting to KNOW it. Both books are great encouragers on that front and both ladies are sure to keep their focus on God throughout while encouraging me to dive in and become a theologian myself.

Everything is growing so well in the garden this year. Here are some update photos:  

While it's really hard to maintain the large gardens around our home (the weeds are my official summer enemy). I have to admit that seeing all of the flowers blooming this year makes all of the hard work and maintenance worth it!! Here's a preview of the goods in our flower gardens this year.

Andrew loves a good, hearty vegetable garden. This year we has two garden boxes that will be full of a great variety of fresh veggies for us to eat! Andrew build a really neat fence system around our main garden (the fence lifts right off and on to allow easy access to all sides) to keep out bunnies or unwanted critters from digging up seeds etc. He also made some fancy potato boxes.