bella vita jewelry giveaway!

i am over the moon with excitement for today's giveaway! brandy of bella vita jewelry is a dear friend of mine & one talented lady. we have known each other for several years. i met her when i was co-directing the little craft show. brandy is one of the most driven people i have ever met. simply put, she inspires me. 

her jewelry is amazing. i have a collection of brandy's pieces, including the sweetest custom necklace she made for my 3rd anniversary. her jewelry is unique with a sweet bohemian feel. it's easy to wear on date night or dress up a t-shirt & jeans. when brandy graciously offered to do a giveaway on my blog, i was giddy. y'all, she's the real deal. i cannot wait for one lucky reader to receive a pair of her earrings.

to enter, simply...

1. visit her shop.

 2. "like" brandy on facebook or follow her on instagram

3. leave a comment! please include your email address & what/who inspires you.

i'll choose a random winner next wednesday, 5/14! happy winning!

love,

natalie

p.s. can't wait to win? brandy is offering a discount of 20% to any natalie creates reader. simply include the code "chirp" at checkout. xo.

++giveaway closed! jennifer, you are the winner! brandy will email you shortly.++

on the farm

on the farm, we are:

- welcoming the last spring babe. hello, chip! you are just the sweetest. both mama & kid are doing quite well & cozy in their little barn.

- filling baskets with bright blue, green, pink, white, cream & brown eggs. it's always a surprise as to what we'll find in the nest box.

- a barrel full of scraps from the local juicery for our sweet herd.

- sharing our love of farming with the littles in our community.

- borrowed electric fencing (we love our farming friends) to protect the girls from that pesky fox!

- chippy & rusty porch accessories are the very best if i do say so myself.

- goats grazing pastures in search of the best green treats.

- planting, planting, planting. every evening until dark.

- still pinching myself that we get to call this place "our farm." 

tell me. what are you doing in your parts?

love,

natalie

weekend with my grandparents

this weekend my grandparents visited our farm & stayed the night with us. there's nothing quite like sharing your little farm with the farming generation. my grandpa is a retired farmer & i love hearing his stories. during those times, his family farmed to eat. 

my grandparents are amazing people. my grandpa grew up very poor & learned to "keep on, keepin' on," which led him to farming successfully. my grandma is a homemaker, writer & poet. she's deeply spiritual & was crunchy before it was cool. they're lively & fun with so much to share. 

during their short stay, we sat around many tables, breaking bread & sharing stories of their past & dreams for the future. we talked about farming, raising children, books, marriage, faith & so much more. i want to bottle up these moments with these two.

love you, grandma & grandpa!

love,

natalie

tend: favorite perennial plants

i am the weird plant lady. my favorite date nights consist of good food & a trip to the hardware store for diy supplies & plants. can i get an amen?

today i am over at tend raving about our flower bed & my favorite perennial plants. stop on by & share in the plant love, friends. 

love,
natalie

p.s. pssst! don't forget to enter the giveaway for a fun card kit!

studio calico camelot kit giveaway!

i have this girlfriend who's the most giving person i know. every time i am in her town & we share coffee together, she always has a little something for me. last week was her birthday & she's expecting a little one soon. when studio calico contacted me about creating some pretties with their newest card kit, i was just plain giddy. i knew exactly who i wanted to make something for.

when the package arrived with the camelot card kit, my mind began spinning with creative ideas. it was such a surprise to open up this package filled to the brim with papers & accessories in citrus, peaches, yellows & robin's egg blue. 

i am a total newbie to card making & paper stuff in general so i stuck with what i know best - gifts & packaging. i sewed some of my scrap fabric to the bottom of little kraft shipping tags. i then began adding on little pretties from the card kit. those stamps are amazing. with the clear acrylic block, you can create unique stamps. once you're finished, you just place them back on the adhesive sheet. it's easy peasy & fun. why have i not ever used these stamps before?! mind blown. 

above are the tags i made using card stock, buttons & blue bubbles from the kit. now i have plenty of tags (& tons of supplies leftover!) to decorate little handmade gifts to friends & family. 

studio calico was generous enough to offer a card kit to one lucky natalie creates reader! 

all you have to do is leave a comment with your email address & how you would use your kit. i will choose a winner this friday, may 2nd. 

happy making!

love,

natalie

--- giveaway closed! congrats to audra for winning the studio calico giveaway! hooray!

first week of whole30 update

if you don't follow me on instagram (@nataliecreates), haven't read my statuses on facebook & haven't heard me whining in person, you probably have no idea that i'm on whole30! what's whole30 you ask? well, i'm no expert & i've messed up quite a bit (hello, um YES you CAN have sweet potatoes), but this is an amazing resource to give you the basics. some are following my foodie adventures for thirty days while i cleanse my system, rid myself of some pesky weight i've been holding onto despite my very best efforts & jump start my metabolism. i've got a hashtag #whole30crew where you can share your recipe ideas, words of encouragement or elaborate dreams about cake (i've had two pastry dreams so far. i kid you not!) on instagram. 

i'm on day 9 of whole 30 (almost 1/3 done!) so i thought i'd share some recipes i've loved & tips for surviving your first days: 

- we made this pulled pork (minus the cocoa powder & included a bit of liquid smoke) & it really helped to keep the hunger at bay. during lunch, we have been adding scoops of pulled pork to salads for a bit of protein.

- this paleo pad thai was fantastic. the sunshine sauce is amazing. make it right now.

- this recipe for baked salmon with coconut broth was delicious. it was full of flavor & a nice change from our heavier meat entrees. 

- this is an incredible resource featuring tons of whole30-approved crockpot recipes (with some ingredient substitutions) that make cooking dinner easy.

- i've enjoyed eating a sweet potato with dinner. it helps keep me full longer.

- some larabars are whole30 approved if you can't handle your sweet tooth any longer. 

- always make more than you will eat for dinner. those leftovers can be added to tomorrow's salad during lunchtime. the power of leftovers is huge. 

and don't forget to head on over to tend for a delicious whole30 creamy lemon, chicken & kale soup recipe. with homegrown kale! yay!

love,

natalie

exterior house renovation progress: painted brick

i asked for one thing for my birthday- to paint our house. when we originally looked at this house, i told luke that i loved the land, but we had to paint the brick.

the brick was dated & it looked as though the builder used all of the leftovers from previous projects on our house. even our friends & family weren't fans. it was awful. thankfully, my hubby agreed to my request. on my birthday, all of my family came out to our house & helped us paint. it was a terrifying project. paint colors were the single most important topic in my world for weeks. i painted swatches on the back of our house & stared at them for hours. i talked with friends & even did a facebook poll. choosing the wrong color or messing up could really hurt the value of our home.

thankfully, nothing went wrong & we love the color! 

it was a laborious project, but the difference is huge! 

(we are still trying to get that pesky rust-colored residue from the chimney off the roof. home DIYers... anyone have any ideas? we've scrubbed & power-washed.)

we still have several more projects up our sleeve including a new porch, new columns, window shutters, a new orange door, a new screen door & new raised beds. it's just the beginning of our home renovations, but having the biggest project behind us feels so good.

the house was also in need of some landscaping so we removed the dead plants & purchased perennials from our local nursery. 

a couple of hanging ferns & a pretty pot of flowers & we're calling it good... until we save up enough for that porch! 

here are the basics for how we painted our brick:

- two days before painting, we power-washed our house. the exterior needs to be thoroughly cleaned before painting.

- the day before painting, we taped off all of the windows, doors & anything else that didn't need to be painted.

- we used behr exterior latex paint from home depot.

- we borrowed a paint sprayer to do the job. trust me, get a paint sprayer. it's impossible with brushes.

- it took 9 gallons to paint our house. i overbought by six gallons, which was a little frustrating, but my parents plan to paint their house the same color so they're purchasing the leftovers from us. thanks, mom & dad!

- we applied two coats.

- it took us about 8.5 hours total to paint. 

- the paint needs at least 24 hours to completely dry.

thanks so much & i can't wait to show you more progress!

love,

natalie