Just wanted to share...

This is from one of our fabulous new retailers that manufactures baby crib bedding and we have partnered with them to create custom rugs to go with their bedding.

Thanks for stopping by!

Darlene

A Rustic Summer Lakeside Wedding

Ok there's not a wedding coming up, but my daughter who is 21 has been planning her wedding. No, she is not engaged...but hopes her boyfriend will pop the question soon. So what does a girl do in the meantime......plan the wedding, of course! LOL

You know me I LOVE to design, decorate, plan so I was all over this!! My daughter actually loved what I came up with after hearing what she wanted, so now let me show you my version of a Rustic Summer Lakeside Wedding........

The idea is to have a evening wedding in August 2011 (maybe) around 7pm at the lake. Now I'll explain the pics on the inspiration board.

Hubby is into hot rods and is building a 1946 Chevy Truck so think it would be cool to have the bride & groom take photos by (like in photo 1). The reception will most likely be indoors but plan to decorate the tables with wild flowers, lanterns (photo 2). Galvanized tubs/buckets would be used to hold the hor'derves (photo 3) Flower girl will wear a similar dress with green sash (photo 4) Cake will have wild flowers on top accented with green (photo 5) Guests will take home either a personalized lemonade mix or a wild flower bulb with a tag that says "plant one on us" (idea taken from This Young House blog) (photo 6&7). Guests will sign 2 wooden oars instead of a guest book (photo 8) Hope to find an old wooden canoe where guests can put the wedding gifts in (photo 9) Sparklers for guests to hold up as couple leaves for honeymoon (photo 10). Bring Thank You sign for bride & groom to hold up on wedding day during photos to use as their thank you cards (photo 11). More wild flower displays (photo 12). This is the actual lake location (photo 13 & 14) Wood signs on the way to the wedding (photo 15) Rose petal aisle (photo 16).

What do you think?? Do you have any other ideas for us?

Darlene

Our Garage Sale Treasure

Hubby & I enjoy our saturday morning outing to garage sales. It is "our time" and feel like we are on a treasure hunt every saturday morning. Last weekend was our first day out to garage sale this year. We didn't find alot this time, but did score this antique wood carved beveled mirror for a whole $2 dollars!




I didn't need another mirror, but hey I couldn't pass it up for $2 now could I?! So I found the perfect place for it. Guess where it is??

Any guesses??

Ok, I'll tell ya...................................................

...it's on ebay. I figure I might as well let someone else have this great mirror since I didn't have a place for it and make some money for more garage saleing!

To check out what other bloggers found out garage saleing head on over to Rhoda's Southern Hospitality blog.

God Broke My Heart

My husband and I were driving home from the bookstore last night and we drove past a man holding a sign that said "any help" so we circled back around and gave him all the change we had. As soon as we gave it to the man he said God Bless You and we said the same to him. Then immediatly upon seeing his face I started crying. I was overcome with sadness and was so heart broken for him that I cried & worried for this stranger. He was a clean cut looking man and I keep wondering why he is out there. I don't know his story but my heart wanted to rescue him, get him a job, a place to live, food to eat, a car. My husband said that he would go back if I wanted him to and give him more money. We felt guilty for just giving him our spare change when we could have given him so much more. I just said I don't know what to do and don't know why god is making me cry and giving me so much compassion for people in these situations. This is the 2nd time I've cried when I see people holding signs needing help. I have never been affected like this prior to this past year. I told hubby it's good we don't have alot of people holding "Need Help" signs or I would be crying and giving all the money away.


(this is not the actual man just a photo I found to give you an idea of the man holding the sign)

Then I told hubby that he should go back and give him some of our emergency food. But then I thought he might not even have a pan to cook it in. UGH! Then I thought maybe we should have told him about Jesus. Then hubby reminded me that he said God Bless You to us first so that he was probably a Christian. I feel like I need to know his story. Hubby said the only way we could is to take him to lunch and talk with him maybe if he out there tomorrow. Then the other part of me is scared to get that close to him...he could be a bad guy after all. Oh all these emotions. My friend told me that she often is overcome with emotion for people like I was and that it was the Holy Spirit inside of us wanting us to intercede for the person. That makes perfect sence! I cannot supply all of this man's needs nor do I know his story but I know a God that does and can supply all his needs!! I prayed for this man & immediatly I felt a release. The crying stopped and the worry for this stranger because I know that God is in Control and I did what he wanted me to do. I also said in my prayer that if God wanted me to give the man or do anything for the man that I was willing and to just let me know.

I just wanted to share this experience with you all in case God ever Breaks your Heart for a Stranger you'll understand why.

Matthew 25:40 (the Message) Then Jesus will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

God Bless You!

Darlene

Don't Miss The Blessing!!

At church today our pastor told of a great true story of an experience that happened in 2005 to Beth Moore. For those of you who don't know Beth Moore, she is an outstanding Bible teacher, writer of Bible Studies,and a married mother of 2 daughters.

On April 20, 2005 at the Knoxville Airport -Waiting to board the plane: I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say that because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you.You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego...I tried to keep from staring but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones. The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long. Clean, but strangely out of place on an old man.I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport...an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere?....There I sat trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man. I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing. I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. "Oh no, God please no." I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, "Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!"...There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, "Please don't make me witness to ! this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane." Then I heard it..."I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair." The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No brainer. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, "God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm you're girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am on him. I am going to witness to this man."Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. "That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair."I looked up at God and quipped, "I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane, How am I supposed to brush his hair withouta hairbrush?"...God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: "I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works." (2 Tim 3:17) I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man, and asked as demurely as possible, "Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?" He looked back at me and said, "What did you say?" "May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?" To which he responded in volume ten, "Little lady, if you expect me to hear you,you're going to have to talk louder than that. At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, "SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?" At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Longlocks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, "If you really want to." Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, "Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush." "I have one in my bag," he responded. I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but I must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull. A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I for that few minutes felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while. The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's. I slipped the brush back in the bag, went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees, and said,"Sir, do you know my Jesus?" He said, "Yes, I do." Well, that figures, I thought. He explained, "I've known Him since I married my bride." "She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior." He said,"You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself. What a mess I must be for my bride."Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft. I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things toboard, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, "That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?" I said, "Do you know Jesus? ! He can be the bossiest thing!" And we got to share.I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted because you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way...all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

I hope you were as blessed by this true story as I was and hope that you and I will never miss the blessing!!

Darlene

Lime Green & Brown Baby Nursery

Just wanted to share a photo of a lime green and dark brown baby nursery with our initial inlay rug. So cute! I've noticed alot of trees being used in baby nursery's. That's one way to bring the outdoors inside! I think this would be great for a girl or a boy.

If you would like a custom rug just contact us www.creativecarpetdesign.com

Happy Easter!

Easter is not about the Easter Bunny!

Easter is not about decorating with spring branches, nests, and eggs

Easter is All About this Man! His name is Jesus, do you know him?

This is what he did for you and why we celebrate Easter!

God Bless You!
Darlene

A Gift in more ways than one!

Have you all heard of David Garibaldi?

He has an amazing gift!

Take a look and be blessed!

Happy Good Friday & Happy Easter (redemption day)

Darlene