Simple. Organized. Warm. Pretty

I'm not crafty. One of my blogging buddies asked me a few years ago if I'd like to make jewelry with her. I felt a wave of girly-aversive nausea coming on and replied, "Or... we could grade essays?" Sure, I was in the teaching/studying zone, but how lame was I?! I've regretted that interaction ever since it occurred. Heather, I'm sorry. If you asked me today whether or not I'd like to make jewelry with you, I'd say, "Absolutely! I can last for maybe an hour!" And so it is.

But I like the idea of having my home simple, organized, warm, and pretty. I LOVE Parade of Homes and I love the idea of stretching myself in an area that's complete foreign to me.

So I've done a few crafty things since my move to Pocatello. I put wood glue on a kitchen chair, trying to save the poor chair's life. I put up some pictures. I picked out my favorite rugs for the kitchen and pillows for the upstairs family room. I got cute baskets for the kids' toys, and I'm plotting cute ideas for the kids' rooms.

The one thing I've really wanted to put somewhere in our home is a tribute to love, laughter, and light. I know the saying right now is 'Live, laugh, love." But in my family we need a slight amendment. Here's why:

Laughter: Isaac's name means, according to the bible dictionary, "He laugheth."

Light: Lucy's name means 'light."

Love: Doug and I are in it.

So, with these phrases in mind, I hunted through craft stores, or stores with crafts in them. I visited Bed, Bath and Beyond, a local place called Sierra's, and TJ Maxx. After fruitless searching, which included even putting some vinyl lettering in my cart, only to discard it close to the check-out isle, I was stumped. I'd gotten a huge photo frame a few days earlier and I had some pictures of the family I wanted to display... so I just started sorting through pictures and playing with fonts. This is the result of my searching and pondering:

I like how the light column is dedicated to Lucy, the love column is dedicated to Doug and I and the laughter column is dedicated to Isaac. I also like what I consider to be a golden triangle that connects Doug and my hands to our sweet children.

The kind of sad "end" to this story is that I discovered the glass was broken on one of the corners of the frames so I had to go back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond today with the kids to replace it. Now the pictures are mounted and the whole thing's ready to be put up after the kids wake up from their naps.