August Fields

december 2012 giveaway: mama’s artsy treasures

i am so excited to be hosting a giveaway!  

the artist is my cousin amy jo.  she is an amazingly talented mother of five! and i can personally say her work is as amazing and beautiful and she is. i have one of her robot prints in my boy’s bunk room and love it!

her etsy shop, Mama’s Artsy Treasures, is full of adorable, beautiful original artwork.  how cute are these??!!!

i love them alone but i also think that they would be an awesome addition to a gallery wall of pictures! believe me, they are so unique and cute, its hard to choose a favorite.

Amy Jo is giving away this beautiful birdie canvas to one of my readers!!!!
“my sweet birdies. i love fat little birdies. these are such happy works of mine that i loved creating.
these are special because of all the words i placed on here. it is art for a girl of any age. the words in it can remind you to do all the things that are on here. remember to love-to believe-to have fun-to be silly-to treasure. we are all a treasure.”

  
“The 8×10 print is made from my original mixed media canvas art piece. I start with a blank canvas then layer with old book paper, paint, stamps, patterned paper, rubons, and anything with texture to add fun techniques. I freehand cut all my designs and they are my original designs.”

my beautiful cousin and artist amy jo.  
 TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
***must first do #1***
1.  “Like” Mama’s Artsy Treasures   on Facebook and leave a comment here saying so.
then……
BONUS ENTRIES:
(leave a separate comment for each)
2.  Go visit Mama’s Artsy Treasures Etsy Shop.  Let us know here what you love!
3.  Follow AmyJo’s Blog (if you already follow just leave a comment here saying so)
4.  Follow me here at August Fields. (if you already follow just leave a comment here saying so)
This giveaway will end at midnight on December 13, 2012.  I will announce the winner on Friday, December 14, 2012.  Giveaway is open to US and Canada.
If you do not win the giveaway and would like to purchase something from AmyJo’s shop she is offering a 10% discount through the month of December with the code AUGUSTFIELDS.  

christmas cheer.

merry christmas august field readers!  we’ve been busy decking the halls, celebrating, and preparing our hearts during this advent season.
it’s december and we still don’t have any snow.  this mild weather did give me plenty of time to put up our outdoor decorations.  and we actually put two whole strands of lights up outside!  i will admit, it is pretty at night, but really, the only way that will happen again is if we have mild weather.
so welcome……come on in! 
do you follow me on instagram??? (see sidebar for link) ————–>  i posted about by dumpster diving at lowes to turn out these front urns!  
i post almost daily on instagram so come join me 🙂
and my mom let me use some of her ginormous ornaments to give it some color.  
the sunroom received cheery and bright colors this year!  this is where we have Bible time in the mornings and the kids have their cute little tree up in here.
for a fun daily countdown to christmas i purchased the lego calendar for the first time.  i scored it on amazon earlier in the year when it was one of their daily lightning deals.
dubs got to open the first day.  its so fun! 🙂

for our advent calendar we’re doing the jesse tree for the third year.  usually as family devotions before bed.  the branches hold each day’s picture.

the music room is FILLED with christmas MUSIC this time of year and i LOVE it!  the three big kids are continuing on in lessons and let me tell you that the years of simple chords and single-note-plunking is soooooo worth it.

i’ve got gorgeous melodies and anthems filling our home.

 and finally…..the family room!  i’ve waited a whole year to put this sign up!!

its from tara at between you and me  and i LOVE it!  actually there are about 5 other ones i really love too.

shimmery tree trio.  i’ve always loved all things ‘sparkly’.  so these cute little trees from target (last year) fit the bill.

i’ll leave you with a few night time pictures.  i really like the house at night with all the trees lit up and yummy candles going.  its definitely a most wonderful time of the year!!

3 months.

little A. is almost 4 months so i needed to hustle up and get his cute little 3 month picture up here!
3 months was the golden ticket.  he totally turned the corner in regards to his overall fussiness.  a total answer to prayer!  none of my other babies were as fussy as this little charmer.  
he is soooo much calmer now.  he does still get up to eat 2 times during the night….but, i’m not gonna lie, i totally cave and get his cute little cheeks out of bed when he starts fussing.  
and no, i’m not going to cut his hair yet.  and yes, i know its growing over his ears.  daddy keeps asking and i keep putting it off…..i just want this tiny baby stage to linger…….

star wars birthday party.



jedis, lightsabers and costumes oh my!
we recently had a star wars birthday party for the three oldest boys and we had FUN!
i found some fun ideas from pinterest (check out my parties board)

here they are.  the birthday boys.  i downloaded star wars music and had that playing during the party.

i was princess leia and mr. daddy was darth vader.

apparently i don’t know anything about anything relationshipwise in star wars….i just wanted to kiss darth 🙂  the boys yelled… “NO MOM!  He’s BAD!”

Oh…okay…

some of the gifts they received:  new toolboxes!  these are from sears and are around $25.00.  the real deal.  the goal is to fill them up with “real” tools.

lightsabers and legos for sure.  always legos.

the party was also open to any costume other than star wars.  so our family had a pirate and a crazy disco dancer.  little A did not dress up… 🙂

death star cake and light saber cake pops that i did NOT make.  it turned out AWESOME!

these cookies i did make though.  i found super cute cookie cutters at williams sonoma and just colored my dough instead of icing the cookies.

i love love celebrating my children and the gift that they are!  i like making a big deal out of their birthdays and creating memories that hopefully will be remembered.

operation christmas child. time to fill a shoebox (or plastic container).

it’s that time of year again!  we get to fill up shoeboxes (well actually we use plastic containers now) and send them off through

the goal this year is to reach the 100 MILLIONTH box since 1993.

please check out our informative posts from last year on

NOVEMBER 12-19,  2012  
are the drop off dates.  so make sure you have your boxes filled by then.

this is a great time of year to really focus on others.  i like that this happens quite a bit before the “hustle and bustle” of the Christmas season.  the kids and i love to shop for all the fun items that will go into the containers!

here we are at target just today.  the sterelite containers are on sale for .92 each!

dancy found a package of combs that we can split up and pack into each box.

we also found these plastic, zip bags with a toothbrush and toothpaste inside.  they were by the travel size items.

we also picked up a multi pack of washcloths and deodorant from target…the rest we’ll head to the dollar store for.

for items like:  stickers, pad of paper, soap, small cars, balls, jump ropes, crayons etc.

i recommend using a plastic container so that the child who receives it can use the container for something useful (storage, transporting water etc.).

how does this work?  EASY!!

1.  Pack a Box

2.  Drop off your Box and a designated location.

they even have a pinterest board full of shoebox ideas.  for all you crafty mamas and kiddos.

have FUN with this.  show your children what JOY is to be had by giving to OTHERS!!

TWEETERS:  use the hashtag #OCC100M  to follow the excitement of reaching 100 million boxes.