ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

my to-do list looks like most of yours: laundry [fold & actually put away] groceries pick up living room print orders dance class write? make dinner pick up dry cleaning design? bathtime hang out with husband lots of chores and errands and little tasks, with the occasional is-there-time-to-create? thrown in there. i'm a wife and a mom and a home-keeper-together-er and i have a couple part-time-from-home jobs for income, too. i mean, it's pretty much a crap-shoot whether there will be time to create. and lately i've been discouraged over that. i like to design. i like to write. i like to take in beauty and give out my interpretation of it. i want to write music. i want to practice my non-existent keyboard because the piano still isn't tuned. i want to have a life full of margin and free-time to just do what my brain feels most at-home and my heart feels most at-peace doing. but that's just not reality. i don't think it's reality for any...

NAT // NICOLE // GINNY // BETH // HANNA // ALY // MEGAN // LINDSY // ALISSA What about kicking off St. Patricks's day with a good ole' Irish Blessing? That is, by blessing one of you with a $100 Visa Gift Card That's right, $100 to spend on whatever your little heart desires! Need new clothes, now you can go get some. How about some new dishes or linens? Done and done! Don't want to spend your own money on a new vacuum for your Spring cleaning, well then here you go!  There is only one mandatory entry. We just want you to let us know what you would spend your hundred bucks on ! And the other entries are bonus entries to up your chances of winning! (but seriously why wouldn't you want extra entries?) The giveaway ends on March 23rd. Good Luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway for some reason it's not displaying on the page for everyone. go ahead and click the link and it will take you to rafflecopter to enter.

These past two months have been killer for me. I couldn't figure it out until one day it just smacked me in the face: somehow I lost my joy . Being in the Word, listening to worship music all day long, reading and writing about His goodness. Even all of that didn't snap me out of it. I have this tendency to allow burdens to pile up unnecessarily. My kids are driving me crazy, my husband has been working a lot, I have deadlines and due dates and to-do lists a mile long. I let that stuff swirl in my head non-stop. I think about it, mull over it, rehearse it, problem-solve it , and even make up scenarios in my mind.  As if I need one more thing to think about?  My brain is constantly full, taking up all the room I usually like to save for rational or creative or happy thoughts. It's just a jumbled mess in there sometimes. I''m a melancholy girl, and I can get pretty down when I allow myself to. I can feel down about my own life just as easily as I can about the s...

well today i wanted to tell you about something super exciting! i wanted to give you the heads up before it happens, so you can get first dibs: tonight at midnight, six of my prints will be featured on Brickyard Buffalo at an amazing discount. there are limited quantities available, so you do not want to wait. that's why i'm telling you now :) these are the prints you'll be able to snag for just $9 each i hope you're able to grab few at this great price! this is lower than you'll ever find in my shop, most likely. happy shopping!

this print has a funny story behind it. i originally designed it knowing that it was an important verse for a lot of you, and i thought you might like a cute way to display your mission of parenthood. as i was designing it, i thought, of course, about how i have two little ones at home. and how it's my responsibility to teach them Love, show them Grace, point them to a Savior. to sharpen and mold and ultimately spur on in the direction that God has ordained for them, since before they were born. it's not my choice what they do, but it's my job to help them do it well, whatever it is.  as i was thinking about my two girls, i wondered why i'm so set on having no more kids. if i'm honest, it's because i don't think i'm a good mom [whatever that means], i know i'm failing miserably in a lot of areas, and i'm just pretty sure i shouldn't add any more children to the mix. but this verse caught hold of me as i remembered the incredible bles...

this print is not new. it's been around for quite some time, back when i was dabbling in the hand-drawn world. i sorta gave up on that, but i still loved this print with all its perfect imperfections, so i kept it in the new shop ... [ buy it here for just $11 . sale goes through sunday] the verse comes from Matthew, the sermon on the mount, also known as "the beatitudes". this one in particular is one of my favorites because i know it to be true. genuine hungering and thirsting for God always fills us like nothing else. like Jeremiah 29:13 that says "you will seek me and find me , when you seek me with your whole heart". what a special promise. He can be found, He wants to be known, and He will fill our deepest longings. i'm not sure if there's anything in all the human existence better than that. a God who loves us, who died for us, and who still wants an intimate relationship with us after all that we've done to mess it up. just recen...

I'm not sure what else would make your day today besides this:  14 of us  have gotten together to bless one of you with a special treat! We're giving away a $200 Gift Card to Anthropologie!!! There is only one mandatory entry. We just want you to let us know what you would spend the gift card on! All the other entries are bonus entries to increase your chances of winning! The giveaway ends on March 15th. -Ashley@The Vanilla Tulip- -Laura@Bits of Splendor-              -Kaylee@Life Chasers-   -Nat@Take the Cannoli-   -Annie@The Farrar Four-      -Aly@Blossom and Vine-   -Kristen&Allison@Lullaby Lubbock-   -Jenna@Day of Knight-  -Wynne@Gloriously Ruined- -Robyn@The Farmers Nest- -Alex@Peppermint Plum-              -Carina@Lovely Little Whimsy- -Danielle@Take Heart- -Natalie@ NS Pottery- a Raf...

today i wanted to tell you about something really super special and exciting... just in case you haven't heard of it before today or seen it floating around social media for the last week. it's called Hope Spoken , and it's a conference, for all women, being held in Dallas in March of 2014. this is not a blogging conference, a business conference, a mom conference, or anything else of the sort. it's just plain a place for women to learn and grow and be lifted up in their walk with the Lord. that's my kind of conference, you guys. there will be times throughout the weekend where we split up into small groups to go through a devotional that parallels what the speakers are sharing, so we can really dive deeper into what the Lord is teaching us... so, the really wonderful and humbling and crazy part? they've asked me to lead a small group. i am so thankful for the opportunity to be a small part of sheperding some ladies' hearts and i hope you'll come an...