New Prints, Papers, & Clip Art

I've been super busy designing lately. My custom orders are still like a month and a half out. That's a good thing right? I even threw in some of the items I want for myself onto my list. :) The prints at the bottom are some I designed for my own house--its just hard which ones to pick. :)

xo,
Dedra

Chore Badges

I'm adding these to my shops tomorrow. My girls have been anxiously waiting for me to get them done because they want to earn their "Chore Badges"

Did I mention I'm having a Sale?

I often fail advertising because I would rather be designing. :) Everything in my shop is marked down 20% AND you can use it with my new specials:

Buy 3 Get 1 additional item FREE
Buy 4 Get 2 additional items FREE
Buy 5 Get 3 additional items FREE
Buy 10 Get 10 additional items FREE
Buy 20 Get 21 additional items FREE
FREE items must be of equal or lesser value to the lowest priced item purchased. To get your free items, Copy and Paste ENTIRE TITLE of free product(s) (not link) in notes to seller to get your free item(s). Do NOT put free items in cart. For an example of how to get free items, go here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/127268773 

Here are some of the new items in my shop:

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And a new banner in my printables shop:

Easter Subway Print

Easter Subway Print now available in my Printable etsy shop:

I made this last year but there was a problem with the link yada yada yada so here it is. I don't know if I even printed it last year. I need to print it for myself! :) 

P90X

My hubby is a pretty techy guy and we've kind of grown accustomed to doing techy things at night, which leads to us growing pretty lazy. He was talking to someone the other day about their results with P90X over 2 weeks and my  hubby got pretty excited. I got the dvds the next day and we started. I honestly love it. The first 2 days were great. Tonight we skipped some dvds to try something that was targeting muscles that were not already sore and I was laughing hysterically at how we totally couldn't do it. I'm going to be so ridiculously sore tomorrow.

I'm not really looking for results--just getting healthy and active alongside my hubby. So I guess I'm finally working on my January goal of rejuvenating and getting energy. I'm so far behind on my happiness project. I have so much I want to share I'm just having a hard time making time for it. Not that I don't love ya'll. I just love my kiddos more.
xo,
Dedra

ALL Eggs in One Basket

I have never believed in putting all my eggs in one basket when it comes to financial decisions but that is what we are doing. Regardless of others opinions and lack of support we continue to hold out for the house we have been trying to get for FOREVER (we first saw it in June of 2011!). It may not seem wise to anyone and frankly I don't care. We are doing what we feel is right for our family in the long run. I would love nothing more than to move right now but we are going to wait until we get that house I guess no matter how long it takes. I hope it is sooner than later. I've finally put it completely in the Lord's hands, allowing His mercy to take care of what I can't and His atonement to carry me through my emotional/mental/and physical hurdles. 

Prayers in our favor are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Someday that house will be ours--unless the journey and a crushing defeat is the lesson to be learned. I think the former is the case and we sure hope for it. We will make that house beautiful and we are so excited to be able to have room and ability to do so much good. I will have room to hold regular Crafting for Charity nights and we will have room to have others stay/live when emergencies arise. We will have room to store supplies when emergencies arise--enough for us AND others and I can't wait to shop all year long and have a store of items to give to those who need it.  We have done everything in our power to make this happen and we are now turning it over to Him who can move mountains and make more than our wildest dreams come true. Here is to more faith and hope and a lot less worrying.

xo,

Dedra

And the winner is....

Kirra L. Congratulations on winning the $50 gift card!

Did you miss me?

Sorry I disappeared without saying goodbye. The last few weeks have just been pretty hard for me to handle. My faith has been strained. My resolve to keep going has certainly been tested. I'm not out of the clearing yet so I'm not really up to talking about it--which makes me a horrible blogger I know.

I have been reading an amazing book lately though. I'm only halfway through and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It is:

Cleaning House: A Mom's Twelve-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Wills Wyma

which has nothing to do with my issues right now but I have been implementing some of her ideas with my 5, 3, and 1 year old and it is kind of changing our life for the better.

I think anyone who has kids of any age in the home can benefit from reading this. 

New Boutique

I am now designing/selling at Aimee Asher Boutique. Woohoo. Just added these there today:

Soon I hope to be selling at a few more places. :)
Hope your week is going good.
xo,
Dedra

New Giveaway AND...

New $50 gift code giveaway on the right side of my blog.

AND...

NEW Super cool buying options in my etsy shop

Buy 3 Get 1 additional item FREE
Buy 4 Get 2 additional items FREE
Buy 5 Get 3 additional items FREE
Buy 10 Get 10 additional items FREE
Buy 20 Get 21 additional items FREE
FREE items must be of equal or lesser value. To get your free items, Copy and Paste ENTIRE TITLE of free product(s) (not link) in notes to seller to get your free item(s). Do NOT put free items in cart. 

AND

Paper Packs are on sale right now for 50% off!!!! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrettifulDesigns

xo,
Dedra

Joy Moments

As part of my Happiness Project goal for February to "Be Positive" I'm going to start writing down a JOY moment each day. Every day I'm going to write down something that brought me joy during the day. Some days it may be something huge but for the most part it will be things like: giggles from the girls, eating something I really like for dinner, not having to wait in line, or the repair costing $30 not $130!

I think I will find more things during the day that bring me joy as I will have to find something to write down. Join me in recording your own Joy Moments and focusing on the positive.

xo,
Dedra

Prime Real Estate

Prime Real Estate Available...on my blog that is. Have you noticed how many followers I have and how many page hits I've gotten since July? It's pretty crazy how fast this blog has grown. I do have some pretty sweet ads available. Check out the info at the advertising tab at the top or click here: http://prettifuldesigns.blogspot.com/p/advertising.html

Be Positive February

My happiness goal for February is to be positive--to think positive, to act positive, and to always speak positive. To kick off the month I made a list of 28 things that make me happy and I'm going to try and do one every day. These won't MAKE me positive but I think spending a little time each day doing something for me will make me feel happier and when Momma is happy, everyone else will be too and it will be easier to think positively.

It took me a really long time to come up with my list. I'm great at coming up with lists for Christmas and birthday presents, preschool ideas, date ideas, holiday activities, menus, and endless other lists. Making one for things I like to do was so different. How often as a mom do I think about myself? Sometimes the best thing you can do for your children is learning to take care of yourself and showing them by example how to be happy.

Here's mine. Laugh all you want at what makes me happy. :)

1. Take a bath
2. Read for at least 15 minutes
3. Check out pinterest (I hardly ever get on anymore.)
4. Post pictures of the kids for Grandmas to see.
5. Make a holiday craft.
6. Go swimming or play basketball
7. Play the ukulele and sing
8. Sit and watch the birds
9. Play Rome Total War
10. Do a REAL yoga workout i.e. without children crawling under my downward dog
11. Declutter something
12. Scrapbook some pictures
13. Play golf (the card game)
14. Read lots of stories to the girls
15. Do a crossword puzzle
16. Watch HGTV
17. Design a room remodel
18. Draw/paint a picture
19. Bake something
20. Go to the library
21. Surprise the kids with something
22. Eat out
23. Text something nice to all my friends
24. Plan something super "romantical" for the hubby
25. Doodle
26. Shop or at least browse online
27. Take a nap
28. Go for a walk

Think of your own list and put it into action today. It is a great way to break up the winter boredom too. :)

Happy February!
xo,
Dedra

New Valentine Banners

This week I have been working on banners. I can't figure out which is my favorite though to hang up. I might just have to print them all. They are now in my Printables shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pdprintables

Speechless

Today was a big day. We did something we've been waiting over a year and a half to do...but yet, I'm speechless. I'm still processing it all in my head so I will just have to let you know all about it later...hopefully soon. :)

In other news....CONGRATS to Manuela Kasch for winning this months giveaway!!! Check your email for your $50 gift code to my shop.