Shop Update: "Emperor's Garden" tablet/eReader sleeves!!

There are new tablet/eReader sleeves in my shop! I'm so excited about the pretty colors.

These sleeves are available to fit any size tablet or eReader. So there is no excuse to not have one for your very own! {wink!}

There are two colors available, but one basic style. Request "salmon" or "mustard" during checkout!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to So Sew Organized to own one today!

Newsletter Info - Have you signed up yet?

Today I sent out A Living Sacrifice's newsletter. Did you receive it? I shared some of the fun that was had at our last Home Improvement blog party, and shared the details for the next one, which will be Tuesday, July 2nd.

I also shared a sneak peek at a shop update that will be coming very soon! All of this is very good reason to sign up for our newsletter, if you haven't already. You'll receive {somewhat regular} weekly content that is different than what is on the blog. You will also be the first to know about shop updates, receive free products, and get exclusive coupon codes. So what are you waiting for? Enter your email in this field in the right sidebar...

This is just a picture, not the real thing! Look to the right to find the field and enter your email addy!

I can't wait to send free stuff to your inbox!! :)

Homemade Blueberry Iced Coffee

Any long-time readers know that I love my coffee, and am often looking for ways to make fun coffee drinks on the cheap. I’ve tried some homemade flavoured creamers in the past, and in the summer a staple is homemade iced coffee. There are lots of different ways to go about this, but I always come back to this method - I find it is the tastiest!

Lately we’ve finally had some great summer weather, and I felt myself getting that familiar itch for some iced goodness to enjoy on these hot days. But, I didn’t have any flavoured creamer in the house...and my typical method depends on that stuff. I decided to try something new - with flavoured coffee instead!

I had picked up some New England coffee while I was in the States, because their Blueberry coffee is a huge treat for me! (Here is an Amazon link for the blueberry stuff if you don't know what I"m talking about!) I also normally order blueberry coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts when I’m in the states - we don’t have that here either. So I was super pumped to try my hand at my own Blueberry Iced Coffee!

I did things pretty much the same as normal - brewed double-strength coffee, chilled it, added milk and cream - but I wondered what to do about sweetening it. Normally the flavoured creamer is all the sweetness I need, but this time I would have to add my own sweet.

Since I wondered how well it would work to add sugar to cold coffee {would it dissolve?} I decided instead to add the sugar to the coffee while it was still hot.

I had enough extra-strong coffee for 3 or 4 helpings, so I added 2 Tablespoons of sugar to the bottom of a glass jar, then poured the coffee in. I put a lid on it and chilled it for a few hours.

When I got ready to make the coffee, I just poured enough of my coffee base over ice, added milk and a dash of cream, and...it was perfect.

Pure blueberry bliss.

I always use a disposable straw in these things, because last summer I was using a reuseable straw and I sucked up an earwig that was hiding inside. Nastiest.thing.ever. Since then I haven’t been able to make myself use a reuseable straw!

I tried just drinking it with no straw at all, but I found I was getting a lot of melting ice and not a whole lot of coffee. The straw is a necessary part of this drink.

This has now become a staple in my summer survival kit. Seriously, if I’m ever stranded on a deserted island, please life-flight me some blueberry coffee. And ice.

There are lots of other great ideas out there for making iced coffee at home. For instance…

...if you need to satisfy an immediate craving, try this method with instant coffee.
...here is a steep-overnight method I tried, if that is more your thing.
...If you have leftover coffee in the bottom of your daily pot, freeze it in ice cube trays. Then use this to chill your iced coffee instead! You won’t lose out on flavour as the ice melts!
...here is my Pinterest board dedicated to beverages. Most of the pins are either about coffee or the benefits of drinking water. One of those was a lie. :)


What iced drinks do you enjoy during the summer? Anyone else enjoy experimenting with homemade concoctions and pulling off more frugal drinks?


Linking up with: Diana Rambles, Sundae Scoop, Classy Clutter, From Dream to Reality 

How Does Your {2013} Garden Grow?

 I shared all of our garden planning, planting, and harvesting last year, pretty much from start to finish. {Click those links to see the pictures of last year's garden!} We were blessed with huge bumper crops of everything last year...almost to the point of having no place to put it all! Picture us begging people to take beans off our hands - yup, that really happened. Even our church people were sick of beans!

I'm not going to rehash our entire gardening process this year, since you can just go read about it in the archives, but I thought I'd share a bit of how our garden is doing this year and what is and isn't working in this part of the country. Any other Nova Scotians out there that can relate?

Oh and I should mention that my mom is the main gardener in these parts, so all the beauty of these pictures goes to her. We do help with the planting, weeding, harvesting, and definitely the eating...but she is the mastermind behind the whole shebang.

The first area to show you is our peas....look at those beautiful fences of vines!

If you look up close, the view is even more exciting...

Yep, they are nearly ready! The pods are all grown, and just need to fill out. Just like last year, we use mostly Veseys Seeds in our garden, because we find them to be great quality and work well in this climate! What you see in these pea rows are Dakota, Knight and Sabre.

Here is a shot of some rows of beans, carrots, and weeds...we didn't plant those last ones....

We alternate between a row of beans, and a row of carrots, row of beans, row of carrots, etc. Honestly I'm not sure why...ask my mom. :) Oh, and you may notice if you look at last year's picts...we swap ends of the garden. This year the corn end is where the peas were last year, and visa versa. That is so one area of the garden doesn't get sapped of any one nutrient by planting the same thing there year after year. It seems to work!

Here are beets, radishes, and in the bottom right corner some spinach that has already been cut once.

Here is a shot of the corn...coming along nicely!

We planted three rows of Quickie Corn, three rows of Montauk, and about 8 rows of Bon Appetit. By planting three different kinds, they are not all ready at the same time, so we can enjoy fresh corn on the cob longer!

We also have cukes, squash, pumpkins, and other vine-y things planted, but I'll wait to show you more of those when they are up more. Vine-y things did not do well all over this area this year (too much rain?) and a lot of people had to replant, including us. They seem to be doing well now, however!

Here is a shot of the whole garden:

That is a lot of on-your-knees time, right there!

So let's chat gardens...what have you planted this year? How are things doing in your region? We had so much rain in May and June that a lot of produce that is normally prevalent in our area - like strawberries - aren't doing too well. Do you plant a large garden, or just a small bed? Share below!


Just FYI - Veseys Seeds has no clue who I am, or that I'm writing this post. We use Veseys because us and others have had great results with their seeds for years! Check them out and see if they are available in your area!

Goals for the Week, June 24, 2013

Here we are at the last week of June...already! I made some progress on my goals for last week, how about you?


Work on lots of new shop items.

Review Philippians 1

Get up at 8 each day

Organize room - put away birthday gifts {*she says as she  hangs her head in shame.} This led to a whole organizing project!

Practice piano two days

Continue reading A Man Called Peter

Write 2 emails to friends

Cut out play clothes for the girls


This week, I'm working on these goals:

Continue to work on new shop items

Finish mending pile

Cut out girl's culottes

Begin planning for VBS

Review Philippians 2

Rearrange bookshelves

Finish A Man Called Peter

Write two letters/emails

Practice piano 2 days


What goals are you working on this week? Share them with me below!

An Organized Washroom Cabinet

It has been a very full week of ministry for us. Not exactly a fun week - a week with 3 deaths, 2 hospitalizations, and a wrecked vehicle isn't my idea of a good time! Despite our crazy week, I did manage to sneak in this quick organizing project...somewhat out of necessity!

You may remember how blessed I was with BOATLOADS of personal care items for my birthday. I still needed a place to store all of those items, so I emptied and re-organized this cabinet in our washroom to make room for it all!

Here are the befores: the bottom cabinet...

And the top...they are in a narrow space, so pardon the poor pictures!

While they look like they were already full, there was actually lots of unused space in the back. Things were hard to get to back there, because of all the clutter in the front!

And if you think you see food in that bottom cabinet...you are right! We are very limited on cabinet space in the kitchen, so some bulk items get stashed in here. These are mostly things we stock up on when we go to the States, that we can't get in Canada.

I emptied everything out, wiped down the shelves, threw away empty boxes and packages, and grouped like items together. Behold the "after:"

Bottom cabinet after

Top cabinet after!

It still looks very full, but there is a lot more stored in that cabinet now than before! Plus there is still space if we stock up on some other items in the future.

I made sure to utilize containers to store like things together. This not only helps keep things orderly, but it also helps access the items in the back of the cabinet. Now all you have to do is pull out a basket to reach to the back!

The little girls each got their own heart-shaped basket to store their own personal care items in. One of them especially is keen on having her own beauty items...this helps them to know whose is whose!

I had a few of these baskets on hand, and picked up a couple more at our dollar store. The whole project cost me $4!

So there is my quickie organizing project for this week...I'm loving the difference it has made! Now that my personal care items are stored in here, I have a big empty space in my bedroom to work with...fun fun! :)

Have you been working on any organizing lately? What projects have made a difference in your space?


Linking up with: Classy Clutter 

On Bloglovin' and Lovin' Blogs

Some of you may have heard that the ever-so-popular Google Reader is being retired on July 1st.
In case you aren't a google user, Google reader is just an easy way to organize the blogs you read by keeping the feeds all in one place. You can scroll down through the newest posts on all your favourite blogs, saving you time instead of bringing up each blog individually.

But, it is going to be ineffective as of July 1st. With it, I suppose we'll have no need of Google Friend Connect, either, so those of us with Blogger are out of luck all the way around. I am sure the idea is for all of us to use Google+ instead....though I'm not up on how all that works.

Instead, I found another alternative that has fit the bill for me: Bloglovin.'

Bloglovin' works much the same way as Google Reader, making it easy to find and follow blogs, and showing the most recent posts. It has other options as well, like marking your favorite posts so it is easy to go back and re-read later. I have grouped the blogs I read into different categories. For instance, I have one group of just blogs where I link up to their linky parties, so when I am ready to link up those posts are easy to find. You also have the option of following privately if your prefer.

Bloglovin' also makes it easy to link up and "claim" my own blog, so if you are a blogger, I highly recommend this! I know how many people are following my blog with bloglovin' this way, plus I can link my blog with Facebook and my posts will automatically get posted there. What a time saver! All of this is easily done without a lot of "high-falluting mumbo-jumbo" which makes me happy. :)

A screen shot of my Bloglovin' dashboard - I love the simple white interface!

Thankfully you can also import all the blogs you read from Google Reader, so there is no reason you can't get that done by July 1st.

You can sign up and follow my blog on Bloglovin' by clicking here. I hope you will! This is a great way to make sure you don't miss out on the posts from all of your favourite blogs.


I'd love to know: how do you organize your blog reading? Have you used Google Reader in the past? What alternatives are you using these days?

Goals for the Week, June 18, 2013

Well, we've had a very interesting start to the week in our house, but I guess the show must go on regardless. :) I say this every time I take a vacation, but it is always so nice to get back into a routine and get cracking on those goals once again!

One of my favorite picts from my trip!

We had a funeral service today for a man who graduated to heaven this week. He had a hard-fought battle with cancer over the last years, but praise the Lord that suffering is over! Now that the funeral is past it feels like the week can actually begin, so here are the goals I am working towards this week:


Work on lots of new shop items. Can't wait to show them to you!

Review Philippians 1

Get up at 8 each day

Organize room - put away birthday gifts {*she says as she  hangs her head in shame.}

Practice piano two days

Continue reading A Man Called Peter

Write 2 emails to friends

Cut out culottes for the girls


I feel like I need to "catch up" with all of you...what have you been up to while I've been gone? What goals are you currently working towards? Any big projects planned now that summer weather is here?

Oregon Shopping - Fun Finds!

I had the opportunity to see several different shopping places while I was in Oregon...I even had my first experience with Costco! I snapped a few pictures to share some of window-shopping with you all. We went to some fun places...wish I could have just taken you all with me!

One day we stopped at this beautiful outlet mall. There were so many nice stores, and this beautiful center court:

While there I went to my first ever Apple store, a few clothing stores, and Z Gallerie. Oh my. I'm moving into Z Gallerie. Uh-mazing. I could have snapped pictures of everything in the entire store, but I refrained and just captured these colours that I love:

I also couldn't resist sharing this one-of-a-kind piece. It is a Seqoia-inspired console table, and while I'm not sure I'd like to own it, I thought the unique-ness of it made it a neat piece!

One place I have to share with you is this absolutely amazing Antique Mall. With 2 stories packed full of vintage, re-claimed or re-purposed items, it was right up my alley! We spent at least an hour in here and didn't even come close to seeing everything.

Here are a few pictures of the things that caught my eye. Some things need no explanation, like this Pepsi crate...

...a fun phone...

...this ship's wheel...

...and a cute winking teacup. How would you like to drink your morning brew in this cute guy?

I love perusing places like this to get inspiration for my own DIY's or decor. Here was a cute idea, an apothecary jar full of corks. I like the texture of the cork showing through!

This sign almost came home with us, until we discovered the lettering was only stickers {and not stuck on very well, I might add.} So easy to do yourself!

While this lampshade may have been vintage, the base was not...it is a big thermos!

Blast you, suitcase weight limit...some of these certainly could have found their way home with me:

This was called a "metal bowl," but I'm not too sure what it would be used for besides wall decor. I loved the finish and the funky geometric pattern!

These spices and flavorings caught my eye...namely the one that says "Imitation Pineapple." I'd never heard of such a thing!

Honestly, I wouldn't use this floor lamp in any space of my own. But if you are looking for a bright, colorful addition to your decor, this is your piece! It is so....bright!

We loved this. It holds a couple of pillar candles, but the delicate look to the leaves was what grabbed my eye. Don't be deceived...this baby was heavy. It wasn't nearly as delicate as it looked!

Random fact: my mom has {and still uses} this exact canister set. Go figure.

Of course, there was plenty of colored dishes for my colorful-dish-loving self...

As well as a whole display of fiesta ware. This was only one side...there was tons and tons of it. And I wanted one of everything in every color. Mainly because I just loved how all the colors looked on display!

We finished out our visit by trying on some quirky vintage hats. Although our Grammie used to have and wear some of these, so I'll be careful how I use the word "vintage." =)

That is just a taste of our fun Oregon shopping experience. What items catch your eye? Can you think of some fun ways these items could be re-purposed or DIYed? I'm all ears!