
Happy September my friends and comrades! I have so many things to share with you in this first post for September. Two books, two journaling Bibles, two new flexis and the coming Gracie flexi for September, keychains and enamel pins from Gracelaced, a current board book giveaway, my felt hats project, new stickers from The Meadowlarke plus fun news about them, and a happy mail encouragement challenge from Dayspring.
It feels good to me to chat about the simple and lovely in contrast to the hard and heaviness everyone is carrying to some degree these days. I’m grateful for the delight simple girlish chit-chat adds to my days as I type away at my keyboard to share this all with you. I’m also grateful for the bright spots of happiness fun things bring to our lives. I’d love to hear…..if you have time…..what little things have been brightening your days as summer creeps into fall?
Ok. First up…….let’s chat Lilla Rose!
These two pictures right here showcase a BRAND-NEW design at Lilla Rose. I’m excited about the ingenuitive innovativeness of it! 🙂
It’s called a flexi flip. It can be worn either way!!! This gives you up to three sizes within one clip. Wear the clip one way and it offers a smaller fit. Flip the pin around and your flexi is now bigger! Ta-da! Head over here to read more about it and see all the styles.
{Pssst…Lilla Rose is offering $2 shipping all September long.}
Meet Suzuzu!!! I think this flexi is so adorable. Cheerful and colorful! Coming September 7, there will be a Suzuzu style with colorful beads to compliment the toucan’s colors. {It’s fantastic!!!}
Here’s a sneak peek at the September flexi!!!! Gracie debuts September 7th.

Would you choose the flexi or the Beaded 8 with stick?!
I find my preference leaning towards the beads and stick. I posted a poll in my IG stories and the Beaded 8 carried the day! 🙂 It will be interesting to see how sales go when they are live.

Gracelaced released enamel pins and keychains in August and they are lovely and inspiring. Small reminders in our day-to-day to behold our Jesus and abide in Him. Hallelujah!

Dayspring is doing a countdown to September 12, which is the National Day of Encouragement. If you hop over here, you can download a list of mailing prompts. You can also submit the cards you send on their website form and they will donate cards to match it.
This is right up my alley. I like sending happy mail as a fun surprise in the middle of the every day. I’ve always loved cards. I sent cards and letters a lot as a teenager. I wrote to my friends on the west coast and to my boyfriend in Kansas. I sent cards to my aunts and gave them to my nearby friends.
For a while, there were machines at K-Mart where you could choose a design and pay your cash money and watch it inkjet print your card right then and there. It was a popular part of the 90’s era and I’m sure the PC and in-home printers spelled out the demise of these card machines. I loved choosing a style and watching the card come to life under my very eyes!

When my babies came along, and then school-age children and all the demands of farm and home and laundry and dishes and food and meals and snacks, my card sending diminished quite immensely. I’d send cards to my sister and my mother across all the miles separating us, but the hobby of happy mail was traded in for a time. 🙂
When I saw on Instagram what Dayspring was doing, I knew I wanted to join in on the fun and encouragement! Sending cards isn’t everyone’s happy thing, but it is one of mine. Oh, and I’m buoyant and exuberant about all the pretty designs of stamps the Post Office has been carrying. Stamps themselves add a bright spot to happy mail!
Another happy, happy, happy thing I wanted to share with you are these new original art stickers drawn by my niece, Larke. You can shop her Etsy shop here.
She added the cactus and the monstera stickers last week. Aren’t they dear? Super fun to use on happy mail or stick inside a card as a fun surprise for the recipient.
In other fun news surrounding her stickers, a boutique greenhouse local to me, is carrying her stickers in their shops and I couldn’t be more excited and delighted!

Two Things
Before I show you the illustrating Bibles……….. 🙂
Hop over here to enter a giveaway for the board book, Grandma Snuggles. {It’s adorable and dear too.}
Writer friends, I want to give a quick shout-out that one of the three times hope*writers opens their doors to new members each year, is happening next week! If you have questions or want a reminder shoot me an email or comment below.

Dayspring released this new illustrating Bible recently. It’s the whole Bible and it is a hefty size! 🙂 The reason I mention it being the whole Bible is because Dayspring also offers the Book Of Luke in a spiral illustrating form and the Psalms and Proverbs.
If you remember, I used and loved the Luke one during Advent last year. I’m going to show the Psalms & Proverbs one in this post and there’s a link below to go peek at Luke.
I love the spiral format. It means you can lay the book open flat or flip the cover around behind. Also, a very important detail is the gorgeous colors these covers come in. 🙂

Hop over to this post to see the Book of Luke journaling Bible I used during Advent last year.

See??? This photo gives you an idea of how thick the Bible is.

I’m not super great at drawing and art, {like my niece 🙂 } but I really enjoy interacting with the text by handlettering in the margin space. I write verses or thoughts, prayers and points that stand out to me.

Here are the two together. This gives you a visual for the difference in the sizes.


Love this detail! Psalms and Proverbs etched along the bottom cover edge.


~ Inside the Psalms and Proverbs ~


A couple more photos because the Bibles look so pretty together.


Let’s talk The Lazy Genius Way! A new release in August………AND congrats to Kendra Adachi, it hit The New York Times Best Seller List. Incredible!
Are you familiar with the Lazy Genius blog or podcast? I have a friend who listens to the podcast pretty often. I listen to it occasionally and pop in and out of Kendra’s Instagram and blog now-and-again.
I really love the book. I’ve always appreciated Kendra’s take on life and her emphasis on figuring out what matters to you and the life you want to create and live. As her byline famously says, “Be genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t.” The golden ticket to this IS….our genius and lazy is unique to us and won’t look like everyone else or exactly like anyone else. Genius, right there. So very true!!! I’ve long believed it takes each of us filling our specific role to create a well-working whole.
I love having my bed made. Perhaps you could care less about pulling all the sheets and blankets in place.
My kitchen and house are rarely as neat and tidy and clean as I would really desire them to be. The reason? I want to read books and tap out blog posts and snap pictures and be a member of hope*writers and ride along beside my farmer man on occasion and meet friends for coffee and make felt hats and handletter in my Bible and so on! Yes, there are days I feel like I’m not doing one single thing well, but then there are my better moments when I remind myself I’m choosing to give up ideals allowing me to choose inspiration.
What are some ways you apply the Lazy Genius method? Have you read the book?

Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson
Another new release I’ve been eagerly awaiting. I’ve long loved The Life-Giving Home and The Life-Giving Table by Sally Clarkson. She puts into words ideas and ideals I’ve always loved. I resonate with both these books and I think they make great gifts for newlyweds.
I listened to this recent podcast of Sally’s and related to much of it. I’ve spent more time feeling like a misfit in my life than feeling that I found the perfect fit. I don’t say this in a “poor me” way, but as a statement of truth and a way of wrestling with myself and the way I move through the world.
All this to say, I truly wish I would have had this new book, Awaking Wonder when my kiddos were young. But that’s ok! I’m still loving reading it right where I am in my life now.
Finally!!! My felt hats project. Come check them out.



A bit of updated progress on the felt party hats I showed you last month. Yay! I’ve been slooooowly working on them. A bit here. A bit there.
It’s fun to watch them take shape. I need to make four more felt flowers and then begin attaching the flowers to the hats. I hope to have them finished in a couple of weeks for a tea party I’m hosting for my little nieces. This gives me the incentive to dig in and finish instead of procrastinating! 😉



What have you been working on? 2020 has had me musing once again about my belief in the importance of a few components and the value they add to life. I typed a list into my blog header recently. I was able to list them in an alphabetical way and this made me smile.
Anticipate * Beauty * Create * Delight * Encourage * Faith * Gratitude *
I’m not a fast processor. I’ve known this, but the events of the year have underscored this truth about myself to myself once again.
I’m slowly nudging the ideas around each of these words in my header and pondering where they could lead.

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