Blog Tour at Adorned From Above and Some of My Favorite Blogs and Bloggers

Welcome!!! I am so happy to be included in the Behind The Scenes Blog Tour that so many wonderful blogs are participating in.  It is really nice to have you joining the tour here today.

My sweet friend, Kim from Curtain Queen Creates, invited me to join the Blogland tour, and I was really honored to be asked to participate.  Kim and I became friends last spring, and she is one of my biggest cheerleaders and a fellow believer.  We have bonded over books and prayers and I really appreciate her support.

The other blogs that have been participating in the DIY Blog Tour are some of my favorite blogs.  I hope that you will take a look at some their tours also.  There is Diana at An Extraordinary Day and Mary Beth from Cupcakes and  Crinoline.

Here's how the DIY Blog Tour works:  I will answer four questions about myself and Adorned From Above, and then I will introduce some of my favorite bloggers.

What am I working on?

I normally have so many things in the works, that I have a hard time keeping up with it all.  I am probably a little ADD, since I normally have about 5 or 6 projects going at once.

I've recently been working on a new cross bracelet tutorial, which will appear as next Tuesday's post.  I love making jewelry, and this one is really pretty.  I have made one already and given it to a friend as a birthday gift, but I want one too. I am trying to decorate our new house in Florida, which is difficult, since I'm only there for about 4 days every other month.  I bought a chair for the living room when I was there in August, and I love the chair, but I need to change it a little.  It is a dark blue, not quite a navy, but in that color range.  It's legs are dark though and all of our furniture has a light and airy feel, so I am going to white wash the legs when I go back in October.  That of course will be turned into a post once it's done.

I am constantly working on new recipes, crafts, and decorating ideas.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I think all blogs are unique.  I see so many different ones at my party every week and love reading each one of them.  I think mine differs from others, because there is a huge evolving variety of content.  I don't fit into any one category.  When I started the blog, it was to share my beauty product recipes with my friends.  I also really wanted to share my faith with Bible Studies and Bible Verses.  It has evolved over the last few years to a little bit of everything that I enjoy doing.  I share craft ideas (such as my knitting and crochet patterns), party ideas (Charly's baby shower), recipes for food and drinks, jewelry, and most importantly Bible Studies, Bible verses, and my Dear God Notes.

Why do I write / create what I do?
One of the reasons that I write, is because I believe that we can do anything.  I don't believe in limits.  When someone says, "I can't do that, it would be too hard", my response is, "Yes you can!"  One of my friends wanted to landscape her backyard and said she couldn't afford to pay someone to do it.  My response was then let's do it ourselves, and we did.  Her husband was shocked.  I wanted my couch re upholstered a few years ago, so I did it for the blog.  It's not something I would want to do again, but I know I can if I need to.  I read other blogs, pinterest, and google anything that needs to be done in my house.  I figure I can do anything, and I want to encourage everyone out there to know that they can also.  The possibilities are unlimited, and there is so much information online anymore, that the sky is the limit.

How does my writing / creating process work?
I really read a lot.  Like I said above, I read books, look at Pinterest, read other blogs, look things up on google, and have tons of ideas in my head.   I will write a lot of them out in an idea book.

A lot of times, a project will stem from a need in our own home, or with something one of the kids need.  One such project, homemade non toxic toilet bowl cleaner came to life because of a concern my daughter-in-law had.  She has the girls help her with cleaning the toilets, but she puts the toilet bowl cleaner in the toilet, because she did not want them touching the chemicals.  I realized that I could make a cleaner that the girls could use themselves.  I then looked up different ideas online and came up with something that would be easy for kids to use and also non toxic.

I love cooking, so I always have different recipes in the works.  I like the idea of creating a meal that we have not had before, and then seeing it come to fruition.  I think my favorite meal right now was just this last week when I made my new recipe for Rigatoni Bolognese Stoup.

I think the creative process is different for each person.  I make lists and notes, and go from there.  I also have tons of stuff sitting around my house, so sometimes I just see something and run with it.  That can happen with a ball of yarn, a food item, or a picture on my computer.  I do schedule my blog posts ahead of time and I use that as a way to keep me focused.  Otherwise I would never get antyhing finished.  I don't necessarily stick with the schedule, they are kind of a guideline and very fluid, but right now I have about 25 to 30 blog posts sitting ready to be finished.

I am so happy to have shown you around Adorned From above today.  I can not thank you enough for stopping by and learning more about me.

Now it time to introduce you to some of my blogger friends.

-----Jessica from Plucky's Second Thoughts-----

At Plucky’s Second Thought Jess tries to post easy craft projects and recipes that anyone could accomplish. Yep, you don’t have to be Martha Stewart or Rachael Ray to attempt anything on her blog!  She has a great party every week also, and takes the time to comment on each and every post shared.

Here favorite post is her Christmas Mason Jars Tutorial

Next up, I would like to introduce you to:

Linda from Crafts A La Mode

That about sums it up, too. Crafts and ice cream, her two favorites. She has been sewing and crafting since she was 9 years old and she made her first apron on her mother's sewing machine at 10 years old. Her mother is an exceptional lady who, at 105 years old, is still keeping her own house and cooking. She had a sewing business up until last year and then she decided to retire. She cooks plenty for her family, though. Anyway, to get back to Linda. 

Her mom baking cookies

When Linda first started blogging, she and her sister shared a blog together called Two Succulent Sisters, inspired by the book by SARK "Succulent Wild Woman". They thought that many people didn't "get" the name so they ended up changing it to Crafts a la Mode... The idea is "handmade" which they have always done. In fact, if Linda can make it, she would rather do that than buy something.. obviously it all can't be made by hand or we'd be back in pioneer days.  Her sister lost interest in the blog but Linda didn't. She's still passionate about sharing what they make and do and that includes fun foods, crafts of all kinds including sewing, and DIY home, and some garden fun also. She tries to keep it fun and light. There are enough other things in life that are a struggle. Let's have fun together!! Visit and follow on her Facebook page, too. There is lots of action over there, too. Oh, that's still under the name Two Succulent Sisters.

Her favorite post is 10 Ways to Make Your Home Smell Good

I may have one more blogger for you tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed seeing behind the scenes at Adorned From Above.  We loved having you.
Have a great week.
Debi