Beach Bum

 Top: Vender in NYC

Shorts: Target

Shoes: Cato

Shoulder bag: Vera Bradley

Hat: Target

I've been a real beach bum lately. I went to New York and went to the beach and then I've went to relax in Galveston, Texas at the beach. I can tell you that my fedora has been getting its full use at all the beaches and lakes that I've been to this summer. 

This is one of my favorite beach bum outfits that I wore to the fourth of July while I was in Galveston. I spent my fourth of July chilling at the Rainforest Cafe, watching fire works with my family and this was the perfect outfit for all my activities for the day. It was literally a 100 degrees in Texas and it was an easy decisions to wear shorts and a light weight top for the day. I just got the NYC shirt from my trip to New York and since it sported red and white, I thought it was the perfect time to wear it. 

~Twitter~Pinterest~Instagram~Bloglovin~Facebook~ 

Don't forget to check out this giveaway!

H54F: Kingdom

Happy Friday! I'm out of town right now at camp but here are five highs from last week.

1. I was asked to be a Bible study leader for camp and I have had so much fun studying for my lessons and learning more about God's goodness.

2. Fixed my hair by doing a french twist. It turned out super cute!

3. Just taking pictures of my neighbors horses. They are adorable and I wish I had one!

4. Me and my two youngest sibling doing funny pictures on the way home from church.

5. I read Dee Henderson's book An O'Malley Love Story: Jenifer. If you haven't read this series I highly recommend it! I really enjoyed all the books.

Hope you have a great weekend!

~Twitter~Pinterest~Instagram~Bloglovin~Facebook~

Don't forget to check out this giveaway!

Long Island, New York Recap Part 2

Here is part two of my awesome trip to New York! If you haven't seen part 1, go Here.

Day 4: Tuesday, June 25

Just hanging out with the kids as we bag bookmarks. That was one of my favorite crafts.

 After a long day of hanging with kids we had a little chill time and headed to the beach to relax. It was way to cold to swim but I still had fun.

Just getting buried alive, no big deal.

Day 5: Wednesday, June 26

We got our group picture on Wednesday. These kids are so cute!

Later in the evening we headed for the Tanger Outlet Malls and did a little shopping. I had to take a picture of this in the bathroom. I don't think I ever want to try a chewable toothbrush.

I will never understand why they had a machine to get sour drps from or crazy lip balms. This stuff must only be sold in New York.

Day 6: Thursday, June 27

This was by far my favorite day. I got to pray with a little girl name Erin to accept Jesus into her heart and I swear I was giddy for the rest of the day.

 Just a little sidewalk art.

 They drew all of their friends. My favorite drawing was of course, me.

 Everyday we had two recs and still these kids had energy to spare. We played some fun games of tag, basketball, volleyball and swung on the swing.

You know, just a little freeze tag. These kids were really good at this game.

The theme verse of the week, 2 Timothy 1:7. I'm still reciting this verse whenever I'm scared or feel need a reminder of God's love for me.

Our schedule for the day. I was a part of music, but I love rec time and craft time.

The basketball goal was a favorite place of the guys and some of the girls all week. We had some up and coming basketball stars.

The two trusty 15 passenger vans that took us to Discover Church. Our church was about 30-45 mins from Crossroads church which was our base church where another group from my church led VBS there.

So many good memories were made at Discover Church that I'm not going to forget. After cleaning up for VBS we headed out back to Crossroads for the last time.

Don't forget to check out this giveaway!

Bow Tie Tutorial

Hello Everyone! My name is Maria and I blog over at Sewn by Maria! I write about my sewing adventures and about my life adventures, I usually have more sewing adventures than life adventures. But that’s okay! Haha I have been sewing for three years now and I really love it. I am constantly looking for new ways to improve my craft, and my blog is my little corner to showcase my creations and show you how to make some of them yourself.

Caroline was kind enough to ask me to guest post while she is away, I’ve never written a guest post but I don’t imagine it’s too hard!

Today I am going to show you how to make a clip on bow tie. I am very big on making neckties, if you go by my blog you will see that I make my boyfriend and brothers’ neckties all the time. But I have a special love for bowties; unfortunately the boys in my life don’t know how to tie a bowtie so I figured I should make them a few bowties that they don’t need to tie. It’s pretty easy and straightforward; hopefully you can make the men in yourlife many of these cute bow ties. 

Materials:

Fabric of your choice

Lightweight interfacing

Bow Tie clip – I am using earring clips (the bigger the better), they work too.

Pins

Fabric scissors

A sewing machine or needle and thread

Ruler

First, you cut

2 pieces of 2” x 8” for the body of the bowtie

1 smaller piece of 3”x 4” for the center band

1 piece of interfacing of 2” x 8”

** Leave about ¼” – ½” seam allowance. You will end up with 4 pieces, 2 long fabric pieces, 1 long interface piece, and 1 small fabric piece.

Grab one of the long fabric pieces and the interfacing. Iron or pin the interface to the wrong side of the fabric. This piece will become the under leaf.

Fold the leaf ends towards the center of the leaf and pin. Do this with both leaves.

Sew the top and bottom sides of the folded and pinned bow tie leaves. You can do this by hand or you can use a sewing machine.

Trim the corner seam allowances.

Turn the leaves right side out through the center slits. You can use your scissor point or a pencil to push out the corner. Iron carefully.

Now grab the small piece of fabric for the middle of the bow tie – fold in half (right side together), pin and sew and turn it right side out.

Now, time to assemble your bow tie- stack both leaves together (make sure the leaf with the interfacing is on the bottom. Wrap the center band around the bow tie and fold the ends and hand sew together.

Finally, with a pair of scissors make a small hole in the back of the middle band to insert the clip, you can secure it with hot glue.

And you’ve got a clip on bow tie! Here’s a picture of my little brother rocking the chevron bow tie :)

I hope you enjoy this tutorial!

Maria

Ponybow Tutorial

It's been so hot and humid in Mississippi that I've been trying every

way possibly to get my hair off my neck. It just feels like I'm wearing a

scarf in 90+ degree weather when I have my hair down. Yuck! So I recently

figured out an adorable alternative to the regular side pony... I call it the PONYBOW!

I'm sure there are versions of this hairstyle out there, but this is my take on it. As

always, I like my hairstyles on the messy side.

Here's what you will need...

Bobby pins, tiny elastics (clear if you have blonde hair), and either a smoothing

product (for a clean look) or a texturizing product (for a messy look).

1.) Secure a side ponytail with an elastic.

 2.) Separate about a 1" section from the ponytail. Smooth your hair product

on it to create more manageability. (I used Kevin.Murphy Hair.Resort)

 3.) Create a loop with the small section you just gathered.

 4.) Grab another elastic and place it around the loop. Twist the elastic like you're 

securing a ponytail, but don't wrap it around the loop again...Just hold it for a second.

 5.) Take the tail of the loop you just made and create a second loop. Now wrap the 

elastic you've been holding around that second loop.

 6.) It should look something like this. You can pull on each loop to situate them

and make them bigger if you want. The very end of your 1" section should still 

be hanging out a little bit.

 7.) Grab the tail end of your 1" section.

 8.) Wrap it around the center (hiding the elastic) and pin it either underneath

or behind the bow. If the bow is sticking out just pin the back of it closer to

your head.

 9.) Gently pull on the bow some more to get your desired size and placement. 

That's it!! Have fun :)

You can check out more of Amy's cute posts at her blog Art of the Heart!

 twitter facebook pinterest instagram poshmark bloglovin'