~Welcome to my "Pumpkin patch" =) ~

THANK YOU for joining me (and my caring husband has joined me too =) in praying that my magazines would arrive safely!!!
Because you prayed...Jesus sent me in my Aug. Better Homes and Gardens magazine last week!!! YEA!  (That was the first BHG magazine that I've received here in Colombia since April 2011!!!)
Today, I was talking to my Best Friend Jesus and I asked Him if He could PLEASE send me 2 more magazines this weekend while my sweetheart (my earthly Best Friend) is away.
(Phillip is in Medellin helping preach a revival at our church there. Please pray for this effort!)
 An hour later...I went through the office where we get our mail...and the guard said,
"You have 2 magazines, do you want them now?"
I SQUEALED with delight (much to the embarrassment of my older children, I'm sure =) and said, "YES!!"
~So, in just 2 weeks Jesus has sent me in the Aug., Sept., and Oct. issues of Better Homes and Gardens. YEA!!  God is GOOD...ALL THE TIME!!~

Last time I was in the USA, I learned about making pumpkins out of  a T.P. {Toilet Paper} roll.
Living in South America...I cannot just go to a Pumpkin farm, or a grocery store, to get pumpkins, and I can't run to Hobby Lobby to get Fall decor to use to decorate...so I LOVE the T.P. pumpkins! =D
~I used a half-empty roll to make this pumpkin smaller.~

 ~Now, I'm sure many of you know how to do this, but I thought I'd share how I make mine, in case there is someone out there who doesn't know. =)   In just 4 or 5 easy FAST steps, you can have a cute pumpkin.
1. I just use a piece of material that is about 18 x 22.  (This piece was a long and skinny piece, so I cut it off and sewed it together, to make it about that size. =)
2. One lady I read after lays a piece of newspaper on top of her material to make a more "puffy" pumpkin.  She tucks in the newspaper first, then follows with the material.
I don't have newspaper, so I wrap 2 plastic bags around the outside of the T.P. roll to make it look more round and not the shape of the T.P. roll.

3. Then I tuck in my shorter edges and follow by tucking in the corners.  Every pumpkin will turn out different, so you can just mess with it, until you get the "pumpkin-y shape" you want. Please don't worry about it not being perfect.  Have you ever seen the variety of shapes and sizes of pumpkins in a field?  =)
4. For a stem you can use a smaller stick, a thick stick, a brown paper bag twisted to make a stem, or roll material to make a stem.
5. If you want to tie a bow, you'll need about 12"-15" of ribbon.~


~I love it that you can be creative and use scraps of material (no matter the color), and any type of stem and you get some FUN pumpkins!~

 ~My 3 fun pumpkins in my dinning room. ~

 ~Then I decided that I wanted one in our bedroom.  So I used the aqua and brown material that I pieced together (to match our bedroom colors), and made this fun pumpkin.  I love the knarly stem. =) ~

~My Phillip (who is an artist, so notices details in our home) thinks it's cute too; However, I think he's getting worried that if I keep making them, we'll run out of T.P. =) ~

I hope you feel inspired to go to your scrap box, and choose some material, and make you up a T.P. pumpkin.  I'd LOVE to hear about it if you do.  =)
  

~Some "Eye Candy" for me to enjoy =)~

~Sometime ago my sweet sister Laura sent me 2 wall stickers.  One I hung in our living room, and the other one I was going to take to Argentina.  Then, before we went to Argentina...we realized we'd be renting a furnished house and for not very many months, so I left the other sticker here.  When we came back to Colombia I decided that I wanted to enjoy that sticker and so we hung it up below our family picture in our room.  Our family picture was a tad old...for it was this family picture with my "Baby bump" when I was expecting Mary Grace...so it was time to change pics. ~
~When Moma was here she took this new one of us dressed in aquas and browns to match our bedroom colors.
I'm happy every time I look above our bed and see my ENCOURAGING wall sticker from Laura which says:

“With God all things are Possible”

and our new family picture!~

Like you know, I REALLY enjoy receiving my Better Homes and Gardens magazine!!! The girls or I always look through each new magazine first and rip out or draw "clothes" using a permanent marker...on some of the advertisements that lack clothing (so the men in our family can enjoy the magazine too! =).
Our BHG magazines get looked at L.O.T.S. until they are dog-eared. =) For it's something from back home, it's in English, and it's fun to see what ideas one can use out of that magazine with what you already have in your home. =)  So saying, I told my family that I wished my bookshelves in our master bedroom could look like some in BHG...but they commented, "Yea, but those only have 2 books and 3 vases on them!"  =)
You have to understand that our "Master Bedroom" also serves as: Mary's nursery, family room, the main bookshelves in our home holding the kid's keepsake books, Phillip's office (although most of his books are still packed in boxes from the moldy apt.), my scrapbooking/sewing area/craft, Noah's school room, our computer room, etc.
So, I decided that though I don't have only "2 books and 3 vases" I could arrange our shelves to be more pleasing to my eye.  =)
~So saying...Here's a picture of my scrapbook shelf.  On the right I used 2 pieces of heavy cardboard and some scrapbook paper to make some "books" in which to hide one of my many stacks of scrapbooking paper, and my extra Creative Memory S.Book pages. =) ~

 ~And I had fun making little tags for the mason jar holding my S. booking scissors, and the container holding my scrapbooking pens. =)~

 ~Here's the top 3 shelves of that particular book shelf.~

I organized the other bookshelves in our room too and I'm happy!
~I really like Phillip's Argentina MATE cup and straw beside his 2 antique "John Wesley's sermons" books (in Spanish) on this bookshelf. =) ~

 Organizing is FUN and very rewarding!  =)  What have you been organizing?