Encouragement and Provision

We are "cat tending" for some vacationing friends this week. Isn't their porch awesome? They live outside of town on a few acres and it is quiet and beautiful up at their place. I wish I could sit on their porch. Alone. For a long time : )

 I couldn't resist sharing a couple of photos from outside their home.





There are rustic and charming things to take in everywhere you look.

This is the view from the back of their house! Just incredible. 
  
So it's been a busy week over here with projects, birthdays and just being a mom. I wish I would have documented my sweet boy's 6th birthday better, but I know he enjoyed his day from beginning to end, and that's more important than a pretty blog post to this mama today. Do you ever think about the "endings" that come with birthdays? Two nights ago I was struck by the bittersweet realization that I will never again be the mom of a 5 year old boy! It's ok, really, it just caused me to pause and reflect for a time.

His day included double chocolate brownies, (his choice instead of cake)
 

playin' crazy at our friend's house,
 

and a pre-haircut chocolate-y dessert face photo!

From ragamuffin to stylin' overnight : )

He had asked for an afternoon of fishing at the lake on his birthday, but I had some car issues I couldn't make that happen. He was very sweet about it and said it was no big deal. 

I was able to take him and one of the girls fishing at the pond in our neighborhood this evening, so he did get to try out his new birthday fishing pole. It was a gorgeous evening, and he and his sister had a ball!

 

 As a blogger I hope to be real with you about my family's circumstances without constantly having a "sob story" about how difficult things are for me. I do have times of feeling very tired and discouraged, but I must tell you that God continues to bring hope and provision into our lives on so many levels. 
Sometimes, like today, it can come in the form of something as simple as a needed tool at a yard sale. I have projects that have been put on hold because my power tools aren't in working order and I simply don't have the money to buy new ones. This morning when I headed out to tend to my friend's cats, I came across a yard sale (I usually don't even stop these days) and found a saw I've had on my "list" for just $2.00! I thought it was a mistake, or that there must be something wrong with it, but nope. It's in great working order. An answer to prayer. I've referred to God leading me across troubled waters on stepping stones of grace, and this week was no exception. Sometimes his care for us looks just like a jigsaw :)

One more bit of encouragement I received this morning was finding out my DIY mason jar chandelier was included in an online slideshow at Good Housekeeping! I know in the scheme of things, it's not a "big" thing, but to this little nobody blogger it was pretty darn exciting! 

 

You can see the Good Housekeeping article over here,

which includes some other mason jar projects I think you'll love!

Thanks again for walking this road with me, my friends. It means more than you know.

Have a blessed weekend!

Jeanette

 

The Mason Jar Chandelier

Happy Friday everyone! I realized when I did the post about my daughter's wedding a few days ago I left out a fun project that you DIY-ers might like to see and maybe even try. It was intended to be used for the original wedding plan, but when that changed we no longer had a use for it.

We loved the idea of incorporating mason jars into the wedding decor, and as we scoured the internet for inspiration we came across some images like these:

Source: www.bethhelmstetterblog.com

 I knew right away that this was the project I wanted to try. I had a cool old piece of wood that was just waiting to be used for the right thing, and this was it!

Ok, things might get a little sketchy here. I did get a few snapshots of the process, but I wasn't blogging back then so I didn't really document the steps very well. I think you'll get the idea.

                                                 That's one of my cute helpers!

The board is 5' long x 11" x 3/4" thick. I decided on 8 jars, and layed them out approximately 10" apart lengthwise and 5" apart width wise. I really don't think I measured at the time, I just eyeballed it until it looked even. I traced around each jar with a pencil and then came the fun part!

Don't freak out, I didn't cut it on the kitchen countertop : ) 
I should mention here that I didn't own a hole saw bit or the electric drill needed for the power to do the job (my cordless is wimpy), I borrowed them from a friend's husband. These things are definitely on my wish-list to own! 

Ideally the plan would be to have the hole be the exact size of metal jar ring. The ring would be glued snugly into the hole. I had seen some plans where the jar itself was glued into the hole and  string lights were used. But I wanted to use candles and I wanted the jars to be removable to make it easy to clean and change the candles, etc.

Because the only hole saw bits that were available for me to borrow were a little larger than the jar rings, I ended up having to improvise by gluing the ring snugly to one side of the hole using construction adhesive, and filling the gap with a couple of applications of the same glue, allowing to dry for a full day between applications.

I don't have a photo of what it looks like from the top. It's not pretty, but it hangs high enough that no one can see that.

I drilled two holes on each end of the board and knotted some rough rope through it to hang it from. This is really my favorite sort of project-just wing it and see what happens! 

This was a very inexpensive project! I already had the board, the mason jars and the lid rings. I think I spent a couple of dollars on the piece of rope and votive candles and of course I borrowed the hole saw.

About a month ago I decided to paint the board white and change the rope to one a little less rough. It's hard to get a good photo of this thing on my small back porch!
 

I hate to say it, but I think I liked the rustic board and rope a little better.
Sometimes you just don't know until you try something, right? I would love to make another one of these sometime! Different size? Different configuration? Chain instead of rope? We'll see : ) 

 {Updated photo from May 2013}

Blessings-

Jeanette 

Sharing over at:


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