Nikon Wins

When i was in high school, my friend an i jokingly had "Nikon vs Canon" wars. Although it was a rather non competitive sport, we were very into it. ;] I was on the Nikon side of course, whilst she was on the Canon side. We would try to find things that made our brand more impressive, thus winning. Anyways, that came to mind after seeing the photo above. And all that is to say, HOW COOL is this cake? If it could be my wedding cake (which is another matter all in itself)  i totally would do it! It is a red velvet cake, which seems to very popular right now, with a black fondant coating.

This was given to a flickr user by her husband on her birthday, as well as the real deal, the Nikon D700.Which is an AMAZING camera might I add. I plan for it to be my next upgrade. This fantastic cake was created by a bakery in Pennsylvania called Granny Schmidt's.

Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic day:]

Personal: Back for a good blogging!

 Since every post is made slightly more interesting by a picture,
please enjoy this picture of baby Bella!

Its definitely time I update my blog! Unfortunately I’ve had to take a small break from etsy. Well its not that unfortunate, because the reason I’m taking a break is because of the recent explosion of my photography business.  I knew it would pick up in the spring, but man oh man! :] God has been super good to me. And you know the cool part is, is that God isn’t just good to me! That goes for everyone who will let Him, and put Him first (not that I‘m that great at putting Him first yet.) In fact, I have a friend who I know just loves God, and its made even clearer through her recent success as well! Her name is Amanda Howard and she does photography as well. I even heard she was booked up the last couple weeks! So awesome! Yay, God! He wants that for us all!

You know I posted a status a while ago that said “When God's favor is shown through my life, its not so that i can say, "look how successful I am, look how much God loves ME." Its so that I can then show others how to receive God's favor as well. He pours out on me, so that i can pour out on others. He wants us ALL to be successful for His glory.” And that’s the whole point! I was listening to Bill Johnson and he said something a long the lines of, “If you are a farmer and your crops, as a child of God, flourish during a horrible drought, but your neighbors die off, that’s not so that you can appear better than your neighbor. It’s so that your neighbor will ask, ‘what did you do different than I did?” and guess what you get to tell them and show them!” :]

People have such a negative view of the “prosperity gospel” and I get that. Sometimes there are wrong motives involved. However, God wants us to succeed, all of us. SO when we do well, our job is to help others do well, so that they can help others do well also. And everyone benefits! Especially God because he gets all the glory!

So start today! Pray and pray for favor and success and know that its okay! Then do your part and help someone else out. Whether its giving money to someone in need, praying for someone, or just being a great friend! God rewards obedience, so listen to the holy spirit and his leadings!

God loves you so much!

Personal: They knew what they were doing back in the day!

So, I thought last week was crazy… Oh … My…. Goodness… To… Graces… Alive (As Jordyn would say.) This week was CRAZY. I had 3 tests. BIG tests. One Midterm. Photo shoots to take and edit. Work. AND My mom decided I wasn’t doing enough around the house. Shoes to make. Save the date cards to create. An Easter video to edit. And a tattoo to design. And this was only up to Tuesday! But I made it :] 

Somehow in the midst of this I got to read In my book, “When Heaven Invades Earth.” And something really stuck out to me. The first paragraph of the section says, “A Very profound part of Jewish Culture was shaped by the command to keep the testimonies of the Lord.” Basically he is saying that back in the bible days, family life was driven by ongoing revelation of God. They didn't try to live off the revelation they had had a year ago, or even ten years ago. They looked for new revelation from Him on a daily basis. Which was in His commandments and testimonies. They talked about God and what he had done for them at night, in the morning, basically any moment they had they were talking about the testimonies of God and how wondrous His works were. 

That’s REDICULOUS. I don’t do that…. Do you? That’s something I’m going to strive for in my marriage and future family life.... and probably striving for it right now would be good too. Morning, Night, whenever we have time we are going to talk about what God has done for us that day. Testimonies are so so so important. Hearing about what God has done for someone else, creates an appetite for God. A month or so ago I got food poisoning or something. Anyways I felt awful. I didn’t eat for two days and if I tried I threw it up. The latter part of the second day my brother, Andy, another friend, and I were just sitting around talking about some awesome stuff God had been doing lately. I started to notice myself feeling immensely better, but didn’t think much of it. Once we had departed I got up (which I hadn’t done practically the whole time I was sick) and I felt great! Like really great! Something Kenyon said later was, “hearing the truth is healing.” And its just so true. We need to do this kind of stuff more often! Sharing what God has done for us needs to be a staple of our daily lives. I feel it would bring more Joy to our lives. 

Anyways!:] that’s all for this week.

God love you so much

Natalie

Featured Shop of the Week - Jennasaurusfun!

Upon browsing and posting throughout one of the Etsy teams I’m apart of, I happen to meet the shop owner of Jennasaurusfun. This is a super cute little shop full of crocheted hats, beanies, and headbands. Each one has a creative animal or design on them. As she says below her shop title, not only are these cute and fun, but they will also keep you warm and are great gifts!

One of her favorite items in her shop is the “Beaver Beanie.” This was made after Jenna was inspired while coloring with her preschool kids. The next day a 4-year old in her class told her she should call the hat “Justin Beaver.”  :] Which I love! If you know me well at all, you know I’m a fan of Mr. Bieber.

I have a few favorites in this shop myself! The first two pictures featured on this page are two of my favorites. You cant go wrong with Octopus’ and owls:] And there are many more where that came from! Another hilarious hat is the one shown below. The ski mask with mustache:] There is just something for everyone in this shop!

Jenna says. "my philosophy is: Why should kids get all of the fun? I constantly see darling items that only come in kid sizes. I am trying to provide options for other "big kids" like me." :]

To see more check out these links:

Jennasaurusfun's Shop

Jennasaurusfun's Blog

Thanks for viewing!
Natalie

Photography: The Ring

Okay, so the other day it was very warm outside and i decided it would be a fun time to take some pictures of the ring. Ive had a few people ask about putting up pictures and one who, jokingly, stated he wouldn't believe i was engaged until he saw the pictures of the ring. So here there are! and no, it isn't on my finger in any of these. For that, you will just have to see me in person... Or wait for engagement pics:] I'm only putting four up here, and there are four more on my facebook. So if you want to see more go here: My Facebook

Here we go!

Picture 1: This is not an original idea, but it is an original pic.
I just thought it was a neat idea.

So this is my ring:] Its actually an antique from the 1940s. A great way to start off my vintage wedding.

Picture 2: Teacup

The cool part was, since it was an antique there was no way to tell if it would fit or what size it was until i put it on. And when i did, it fit perfect :]

Picture 3: Close up

So finally, here is a close up. Im just in love with this little ring. Its very "me" as everyone keeps saying. As it turns out, my aunt told me that this ring looks exactly like my grandmothers engagement ring, except hers was yellow gold instead of white gold. 

Picture 4: Surprise:]

And thus is born a new and exciting season of my life. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures and such:] For a few more, check out my facebook page here: My Facebook

God loves you so much.

Natalie

Personal: My Life Lately

Things… how are things? Things are great! A little overwhelming. I have school, work, etsy, photography, an engagement, AND growing in God. Which should come first, but I admit that it doesn’t. Sure… I pray first thing in the morning… it’s the last thing I do at night. I study when I have the time and I’m reading “when heaven invades earth.” But does that mean that I put Him first. No, unfortunately it doesn’t. My one desire should be to know Him more. How does that happen? Spending time with Him. When? ALL THE TIME. We are called to be in a constant state of prayer.  Those who have grown up in church know this concept well. But many of us don’t function that way. That’s something I’ve been trying to work on. But how do you get to that constant state of prayer?

Photo Credit to Bluwi

The book I’m reading right now is talking about power. The power we have been given through Jesus. I’ve been struggling with the realization of the fact that we, those who follow Christ, have POWER in the name of Jesus. Its not just a song we sing, it’s a reality. When I say I power, I mean the same power that conquered the grave! Again, its not just a silly song, we have that! The book is talking about the fact that many Christians these days, that would include me, have put more of an emphasis on character than on power, when those things should go hand in hand. Bill Johnson tells a story in the book about a student he once had. The student said, “Ill pursue the power of God (spreading the gospel, miracles, etc) when I have more of the character of Christ in me.” Johnson then flipped to Mathew and read, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… Teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” He then said to the student, “Who gave you the right to determine when you are ready to obey His commands?” The disciples probably didn’t think they were “ready” either. It all boils down to obedience. Are we being obedient to God? Our character is shaped by OBEDIENCE. We can say all day long, “Well, ill pursue the power God has given me when I have more character.” (Which I have said before!)  BUT will we ever get there without obeying what the Holy Spirit would have us do? No, unfortunately we won’t. I have a great desire to go around and spread Jesus around! But unfortunately, as a somewhat shy person, I also have a fear. A fear of what people would think of me. But that’s a lack of character, and something that will only be overcome by obedience.

Those have been my thoughts this week.

God loves you so much.

Natalie

Featured Shop of the Week - Pebble

I’m really excited to do my first feature here on my blog. There are so many unique and wonderful items out there, they just need to be seen! The shop I’m featuring today is Pebble. Pebble is owned and run by N. Pinar Kamaci and her husband. The items in their shop are absolutely beautiful and made with many different styles in mind. Kamaci is a graphic designer and her husband is a photographer. The two resigned 8 months ago to start Pebble! In an online interview Kamaci said, “We are traveling and searching all Turkish Cultural Treasures and taking inspiration from them to make unique designs.” Amazing! Talk about a cool job!

 These jewelry pieces are made from all different kinds of materials including needle lace, semiprecious stones, seed bead lace and stylized ancient motif. They also do screen printing on tote bags and t shirts.

Although they only have a few items on their etsy shop currently, you can find all of their work on their website  www.pebble-tr.com

Love their stuff? Also check out…

Facebook Page

Etsy Shop

Here We Go!

Blogs have been around for a while. My first blogging experience was, can anyone guess?? Xanga! Baha. That’s seems like forever ago now. Well as the years went on, we all (people in my age group) began to stray away from blogging,  moving more towards status updates and tweets. Recently, however, ive noticed more blogging going on; specifically tumblr.  I really had little interest in it. Now as some of you know, I’ve taken up a new business venture on Etsy! Instead of making this and that for myself, why not share it with the world, right? I began realize pretty fast that I’m going to have to do a little more promoting than I might be comfortable with. AND ALAS, here we are! A blog.

I figure this way, I can  (1) share my thoughts and the things that God has been revealing to me, as well as some of the awesome stuff I’ve discovered on this wonderful internet of ours. (2) promote my Etsy page and my Etsy Friends’ pages. There’s some ridiculously creative stuff out there! (3) Promote my photography and share what’s going on with all that. :]

When I post something, it will go under 1 of 3 categories: Personal, Business, or Photography. That way it may make it easier for people to navigate through this blog.

**warning** My personal blogs will almost always be about my faith, God etc. If that bothers you, then navigate past the Personal posts. That’s why I am labeling them. God is my life, but I would never force my ideas on anyone. I’m just happy I get to share them period:]

Thank you all who visit! It is greatly appreciated!

God loves you so much.

Natalie