the newest addition to simplejoys

Last week I got to have lunch with a very dear friend of mine Katie Hahn. It was so great to get to catch up with her, hear about her life and the upcoming wedding (which I am beyond excited for). Somehow simplejoys came up and she suggested that I try making hair clips. She's done it with fabric and I love them so I thought it might be a fun experiment with yarn and buttons.

A trip to target for clips and my mom's laundry room for a hot glue gun later and here we go!

I was so excited about it that I wore it out for the birthday dinner. The waitress told me it was "different" - Im still deciding what that means, but I like them! Hope you all are having a wonderful week thus far.

simplejoys of the day: family and our shared faith in a wonderful, sovereign Lord who has a perfect plan and timing for our lives.

ten percent

I've grown up learning about tithing and while I know it's good and right, it hasn't really been a priority. Until lately, that is.  Recently I decided that I need to tithe. It's not mine to start with and I really do want to give joyfully back to the Lord. Even if it's just five dollars from babysitting.

I don't want simplejoys to be an exception so I've decided that 10% of the profit from every item is going to somehow be given back. There is purposefully some freedom in this, but I want it to go to simple necessities of life. A cow from World Vision so a family can eat,  a well so a town has clean water, donations to help build schools so children around the world have a chance to receive an education, medical supplies so treatable diseases don't turn into deadly diseases...

The list goes on and on of hurts and needs in the world that yank at my heart and get me stoked to give.

So here's my (rather public) promise to giving the first 10% away so that people around the world can have the simple necessities of life that everyone should enjoy!

simplejoys of the day: clean water, a full stomach, access to medical care, and the opportunity to get an education (and learn about things that I love)

Happy Birthday to my three favorite ladies!!!

April has been dubbed "birthday month" in the Hill household and for a good reason. Today is my Mom's birthday followed by both of my sisters' birthdays tomorrow and my cousin and grandma on Wednesday. It's a little bit of madness, but mostly super fun!

This year Tarah (not so discretely) hinted that she wanted wine charms and Tay hinted in a similar way that she wanted something made with my "mustard" colored yarn.

So here we have it: Wine and Mustard!

I ended up getting all of the different little pieces and making the wine charms. It was way more fun than buying them and they got to be a little more personalized. Tay and I got some plastic wine glasses and margarita glasses for Tarah's backyard parties :) The mustard request turned into an "infinity" scarf. It is basically just a long loop of yarn that you wrap around a few times. I love it and wish it was mine...

Anyways, a very happy birthday to all of my April birthday loved ones. You are all wonderful, beautiful people and I am so incredibly grateful for you in my life!

simplejoys of the day: wrapping presents, celebrating family, chocolate volcano cake and good food :)

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter everyone!! Today was a wonderful day filled with worshiping the Lord, spending time with the family and reflecting on what Easter is all about. It's been a long day, but here are a few pictures from our family get-together. 

the beautiful view 

 my sister and my san sai

 love them both so much

the kids during the easter egg hunt

micah and his big egg from aunt kerry

my mom's lemon coconut cake (it was bomb)

Easter seems to be the most joyful day of the year-and for a good reason- but here are a few of the smaller simpler joys of the day: scotch mallows from see's, singing in the sunshine, watching the kids do the easter egg hunt, catching up with family, the peace and joy the cross brings and getting to celebrate it all day long (ok that last one isn't small or simple but needed to be said!)

love love love

ms ellison kate

This week I had the privilege of making a hat and some booties for my cousin's little girl. Elli has been my little model who I base some of my sizes off of. The first hat was about half this size (i'm still working out the details) and she looked like she had a little yamaka on. I wish I had a picture, it was ridiculous.... But honestly, how adorable is this little one?

It's been an interesting week filled with a lot of contradicting emotions, but overall life is good. Looking forward to celebrating the Cross and the freedom that comes with that this weekend with my wonderful family. The fact that the Lord of the universe would send His Son to come, be killed and defeat death all for my sake has been blowing my mind. May you all see how much you are loved by God this weekend and appreciate the power He has to cover all of our sin, inadequacies, doubts and fears. Happy Easter!!

Coming up next week: my sisters' birthday presents and some new fun hair pieces :) 

simplejoys of the day: cranberry orange scones and a homemade latte, catching up with new and old friends, summer plans in the making.....

funny farm

The other day in Michael's I got sucked into the button aisle where I found the cutest little animal buttons labeled "the funny farm".  It struck me as funny because sometimes my gram refers to her and my gpa as the funny farm! She's such a cute, funny lady and these were so cute and funny- I just couldn't resist.

So here we have it- the funny farm!

simplejoys of the day: polar bears on the discovery channel (who knew they were such smart fascinating animals?)

spring is....springing!

Here's some cheery new baby hats I've been working on. I've been loving the bright colors and fun flowers :)

simplejoys of the day: seeing friends from seattle, country music, sunshine and clean sheets!

today i made....

A lot of grey things!! I just got this awesome grey yarn off eBay for $1 (I do love a bargain) and have been making all sorts of fun items with it. Here's a few :)

Headband with cream flowers and blue button

baby hat with purple and pink hearts :)

and a striped baby hat!

simplejoys of the day: eBay bargains, feeling a little better, sunshine and one day until the weekend!!

They're here!!

Last week I (skeptically) typed into Google "free business cards" and surprise surprise turns out Google does have everything! I picked a format, typed all my contact info in and hello business cards!

Here's the front:

And the back:

pink & cream. flowers & hearts.

I was commissioned by Yolanda a few weeks ago to create a few hats and booties for her new granddaughter. Yolanda is my grandpa's caretaker and has become such a sweet part of the family. She knows my grandpa and gram so well, takes care of them with everything she has in her, and is such a amazing gifted woman. We are all so grateful for her and count her as a huge blessing to the Ellison clan.

I was a little nervous to make my first, actual commissioned piece, but I think they turned out well :) 

I learned how to make hearts too! 

little boys and their trucks

Growing up with two sisters, I didn't think about little boys clothing or accessories very much until all of my cousins started having little boys of their own. Each one of them has been an absolute blessing in our lives, and it has been so fun to see them grow. I can't help but notice how different they are from little girls-trucks, wrestling, star wars, and hitting things seem to outweigh puppies, bows, flowers and stuffed animals. I've found some great little boy details online lately, so thought I'd share them. Don't you just love the trucks?! :)

Well Tarah is gone, which means my desk is cleared off, my hand gets a little break and it's time to put this all to the test :) We'll know soon enough what people think! 

Happy Sunday!

Load em up, Ship em out...

It's been a madhouse this past week trying to meet the Sunday deadline of Tarah's departure. After a week of sitting on the couch, sifting through tons of buttons, daily trips to the yarn store and a sore wrist- we are so close and I am so excited!

Cutest model ever :)

My little niece/cousin has been helping me size some hats this week. After a few tries I think we finally nailed it. Look how precious she is :)

Thanks Britt and Elli! I really appreciate it. 

Yeee-Hawww

Yesterday I got some new buttons in the mail (thank you ebay!) and was so excited about them that I pounded out three hats in one sitting. Here's my personal favorite- the button come from a rodeo themed pack and are just too cute :)

)