Weekend Craft Soiree & Blog Hop {37}

  Happy Weekend everyone!!! Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have wonderful plans for this President's Day Weekend!! I am always so happy to have you here and I'm also excited to be getting back on track with the Weekend Craft Soiree & Blog Hop! :)

Here are the fantastic features from the last party! Be sure to stop by and show these sweet, talented ladies some love! 

 These Valentines Apothecary Jars from Lindsay at artsy-fartsy mama are absolutely adorable! Such a pretty and easy way to add some Valentine's Decor  without spending a lot on money doing so! 

You have to check out how EASY these fabulous Zebra Cupcakes from Kim at the Sasse life are! Are these fabulous or what?!



Want to make an Etched Glass project, but don't have a silhouette, cricut, etc? No worries! Darby at Life With the Hawleys shared and amazingly easy Etched Glass Tutorial! 



I am absolutely LOVING this adorable Argyle Valentine Wreath from Cassity at Remodelaholic!!! SO very pretty!!! 
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Kim at too much time on my hands did such a lovely job on her beautiful Rustic Window Treatment with Stenciled Curtains! 



Katie at Creatively Living shared a great tutorial for making this gorgeous Master Bath Wall Art! 

Thank you all for sharing your fabulous projects!
I hope you make a few new friends while you were here!
If you were featured this week, feel free to grab a "featured" button.

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Party Rules:

• Become a follower of Homemaker in Heels. Let me know, so I can follow you back! 
• Link up your favorite craft, DIY project, recipe, tip, post... you get the idea. Please link to the actual post URL, **NOT YOUR MAIN URL**
• Do NOT link up items in your Etsy Shop, unless you have a tutorial
• PLEASE mingle a little while and leave a comment on at least the 2 projects posted before yours. This is a blog hop, so follow a couple others and if someone follows you, be sure to return the favor and follow that person back.
• Grab a button or link back to Homemaker in Heels somewhere on your blog.

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{Easy} Italian Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts

  I am so excited to share this super-duper EASY and amazingly delicious recipe with y'all today! I adapted this recipe from one I found on the back of the Ziegler bacon package and just halved it since the original recipe called for much more than we would need. You can easily just double this recipe to suit your needs :)


Ingredients:
3-4 slices bacon
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup Italian dressing
1 and 1/2 T. Season Salt 
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

I actually made my own Italian dressing using Italian dressing powdered mix and healthier cooking oil.

Wrap one slice of bacon around each chicken breast and place into large casserole dish. 

Mix dressing, season salt, and garlic salt together and pour over chicken breast. Marinate several hours or overnight. I just let mine marinate in the refrigerator overnight. 

When ready to bake, pour off excess dressing mixture and bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is hands-down one of the best chicken dishes I have ever tried before in my life! Seriously, though, how can you go wrong with chicken AND bacon? :) Hope you enjoy! 

The Greatest Love of All - Inspirational Sunday

Hey there, sweet friends! With all of the love in the air and Valentine's Day just a couple of days away, I want to take a moment today and share with you the greatest love of all! 

"We love him, because He first loved us."

1 John 4:19

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 3:16

It is so wonderful knowing that God loves us SO much that He sent His ONLY son Jesus to die for a sinner like ME! And YOU! 

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  

Romans 5:8

No matter how alone you may feel or what battle you may be fighting in your life, you can always count on the love of Jesus! I promise you that His love will never fail you! I find such joy in knowing this! 

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"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9. not by works, so that no one can boast. 10. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." 

Ephesians 2:8-10

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:9,10,13

 My sweet friend, Do you want know Jesus? 

If you have never put your faith in Him for your eternal salvation, why not believe what God's word says and call on Jesus Christ to save you right now? All you have to do say this simple prayer:

“Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I know I deserve hell. I believe that you died for me to pay the penalty I owe. Right now, the best I know how, I trust you as my Savior. Please save my soul and forgive me of all my sins. Thank you for saving me. Amen.”

If you prayed this prayer, I would love to know and hear your story! I want to celebrate with you the new life you have in Christ! 

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This Valentine's Day, remember that I love each and every one of you and appreciate you stopping by! If you ever need a friend or need prayer, don't hesitate to contact me. I hope you all have a blessed day! 

Rest & Gluten-free ~Will Hopefully Mean a Better Me! :)

Hey everyone! This will be my first time to do a blog post from my iPhone, so hopefully this will post will show up ok. ;) My computer is acting up at the moment and I just wanted to let you all know that I am not totally MIA! I have been trying to rest a little more, which is so much easier said than done! I have several projects I want to share, I just have to find a moment when my crazy computer will cooperate at the same time that I have the energy!
I have recently discovered (well there isn't a very accurate test so right now I am actually about 95% sure) that I am allergic to gluten. This is also known as Celiac Disease. Most of you know that we went gluten-free a little while back due to Jeff's Lyme disease. I did great for a little while, but would often cheat and eat some things that contained gluten, mainly due to convenience. In this little Alabama town there isn't one restaurant or grocery store that caters to those who cannot eat gluten. We did receive a weekly delivery of organic veggies, but cold temps killed the crops and the deliveries won't begin again until April.
My entire teenage and adult life I have suffered from fatigue due to anemia. For years, I relied on caffeine and energy drinks to make it through each day. It was only after beginning the GF lifestyle that I came to realize how much better I could actually feel! My energy level soared! It was amazing! Amazing, that is, until I ate gluten-containing food. I now realize why I was so exhausted during the holiday season!
On Thanksgiving I ate pies, dressing, you name it! I thought of it as sort of a "cheat" day since we had been doing so well! As I think back, that is when my energy level dropped bottom and I just started feeling bad all the time. I has so many good intentions and projects I wanted to work on, I just felt like I could never get ahead. I stayed exhausted. I tried getting back on track , but never ate 100% GF. Then I happened to see a special on Dr Oz about Celiac Disease. I remembered that my friend Robin at All Things Heart and Home had recently been diagnosed and then it was like everything just fell into place. It all began to make sense. This is very commonly hereditary. My mother has had stomach problems and very bad anemia her entire life. It has caused Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and she has even had blood transfusions because of it. Now she has to go get iron infusions by iv because her body won't produce or absorb nutrients. That is a textbook description of Celiac disease! I have finally convinced her to go GF and I am doing the same. Only this time, I am doing it right. I just have to know that soon my energy will return and the sickness will go away. My mother has to go have tests run on her colon and intestines, so I pray this disease hasn't done any serious damage to her. I am hoping and praying that this new lifestyle and way of eating will be the answer. I am ready to feel normal again!
If you have left me comments or emailed me and I haven't responded, I do apologize! I promise it isn't at all personal and I will do better! Hopefully I will be back on track soon, right now I am just trying to focus on getting better and researching this new diet, etc. I will go into more detail about this when I post from my computer. There is so much info I want to share with you all! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Thrifty Decorative Desk Organizer

  

  I don't know about you all, but one of my main goals for 2012 is to become more organized. Today I am sharing with you a super easy and inexpensive way to add a little organization to your desk, command center, vanity, etc. These little cans are perfect for storing anything from pencils to loose change to hair clips. They would also be perfect teacher gifts! You could even use V-day scrapbooking paper, add some candy and make some fun gifts for Valentine's Day! :)


Materials Needed:
Canned goods can, I used some old green bean cans and just washed and dried them well


Mod Podge (You can also mix Elmer's Glue and water for this project if you don't have Mod Podge)


Scrapbook Paper... you can also use fabric scraps or even pretty gift wrap paper


Paintbrush


Any trim or embellishments you want to add. I used sequin trim. You may also want to add ric rac, buttons, glitter, ribbon... use your imagination. This would be a fun project to do with the kiddos and let them help you decorate! 

How to:


Remove label, wash and dry the can. 

Cut your scrapbook paper to the appropriate size to wrap all the way around the can. 


Using the paint brush, begin "painting" the Mod Podge onto the can. Wrap the paper around as you go. Rub any bubbles out and make sure it is smooth. After I got mine started, I found that it worked out a little better to apply the Mod Podge to the actual paper instead of the can. If the can doesn't have ridges like the ones I used, I don't think this should matter. 

You can seal it by adding a coat of Mod Podge over the top of the paper. 

                                Don't worry, this will dry clear. :) 

  After all of your Mod Podge is completely dry (I let mine dry overnight), add any other embellishments you want to add. I used my hot glue gun and added sequin trim around the top. 

Isn't is amazing the difference a little Mod Podge and creativity can make? Unfortunately, I am not am organized person by mature. If you are creative, there is a pretty good chance you can relate! :) There is just way too much going on inside my head sometime to focus on organizing! ;) I fully intend to use my creativity to help me become organized this year! Lots more fun & creative organization projects to come! ;)