very merry

For even more Christmas-y goodness from Favoring Brave, check out our holiday giveaway!

It ends Dec 27th and I will come out of vacation mode just to let you know who won!

interlude

Favor the Brave is taking some time off until real life resumes on January 5th. There will be a scheduled post or two, but that's about it. It's my Christmas vacation.

In the meantime, 

Enter my giveaway to win free ad space and 

Favoring Brave jewelry goodies!

It ends Dec 27th and I will come out of vacation mode just to let you know who won!

Eat, drink, and have a merry, merry Christmas.

Thank you for reading and thank you for making Favor the Brave part of your day.

peace&love,

Jill

mini wreath ornament *tutorial*

Christmas is just 2 days away and I know some people are probably still scrambling for some last minute gifts and decorations. Here's a fun and easy tutorial for an ornament that would make a great gift, package topper or hostess present!

As you can see, here I am using the awesome photo filter known as "late night artificial light," which goes great with the side of "shaky hands from tired-ness." Please forgive me.

Supplies:

green beads (or whatever color you want your wreath to be)
accent beads (I used glass pearls)
head pins (little bits of wire with a head on one end to keep beads from sliding off)
wire
pliers
wire cutters
bells (optional)
bow (optional)

Start by putting a bead on a headpin and make a loop at the top.

Do this many more times. I used about 100 beaded headpins and about 11 of them were the pearls.

Cut a piece of wire 8-10 inches long. String one bead directly onto the wire and then follow it with several beaded headpins. I strung one bead directly on to the wire after every 8 headpins. Continue this pattern, or whatever pattern creates your desired fullness. It make take some trial and error to see what works best with your beads.

Keep going!

Once your wreath has the desired circumference, bring the two ends of the wire together...

And twist them together like a twisty tie.Wrap one wire around the base of the twist to make it good and secure and cut off just that one wire.

Like so.

Make the remaining wire into a loop for you to string ribbon through or hang it from.

And there you go! I added some bells to embellish it but you can add a ribbon, bow, or whatever fits your decor! Happy Holidays!

peace&love,

Jill

Have you entered my giveaway? Well why the heck not!?

Enter here to win ad space and Favoring Brave jewelry!

50 states of brave introduces: ms. illinois!

*Just a reminder to go enter my giveaway here!*

Katie of Beautifully Pure!

If you're just joining us, 50 States of Brave is a blogging project that celebrates the little opportunities we have to be brave everyday and the women who make these habits a way of life. As part of the project, everyone blogger is sending in a story of the bravest thing they've ever done for all of us to get to read, which makes us pretty excited. 

The whole project is sponsored by Favoring Brave, my Etsy store. Each lady gets to pick an item from the store to model in her post and keep as a souvenir of her bravery!

Wanna see all of the brave ladies already featured? Visit our lovely archives or Pinterest page of bloggers and their Favoring Brave picks!

Wanna join in the fun and represent your state? There's more info about that at the bottom of this post.

Alright here's the good stuff:

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When Jill emailed me about the 50 States of Brave project I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Bravery is something that’s really, really important to me and something that I really strive for in my life. But when she asked me to write about the bravest thing I’ve ever done, I have to admit that at first I was a loss as to what to pick. 

I don’t know what the bravest thing I’ve ever done is - or maybe I do and I just don’t want to talk about about it. For me bravery isn’t so much an action as a decision to not let cowardice be an option. I don’t give into fear.

I realized a long time ago that we are all faced with a decision every single day of our lives: how are we going to react to life? We can be “glass-half-empty” people, or “glass-half-full.” We can let fear paralyze us, or we can fight back. I, personally, like to be a “glass-half-full” kins of gal, who kicks fear in the butt like the Black Widow.

Simply put, the bravest thing I ever did was decide to take control of my own life and stop playing victim. It hasn’t always been easy, and it’s often led me to do very frightening things, but stories aren’t written about people who stayed quietly at home and never did anything exciting or scary.

“The road is a dangerous place,” Bilbo Baggins once said. “You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.”

I want to be swept off to wonderful places. I want wonderful things to happen to me - and I have been to wonderful places, and wonderful things have happened, but that all started with me letting go of my fear and learning to trust that things can change. That with God anything can happen.

Sometimes bravery isn’t something you do, but something you believe.


Be sure the check out Katie's blog, Beautifully Pure, for more awesomeness.

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Think you have what it takes to represent your state? Awesome! Here's what you have to do to apply:
1. Follow Favor the Brave through GFC or Bloglovin.
2. Send me an email at favoringbrave@gmail.com with your name, you blog address, what state you're from, and why you should get to represent your state as it's resident brave lady!
Some states are filled already, but there are lots of openings left!
peace&love,
Jill

it's a holiday *giveaway*

Good morning! I'm pleased to announce a little giveaway to celebrate my new blog design, my new Etsy store design, and the general joyfulness of the holiday season. One winner will receive both a $25 gift certificate to Favoring Brave on Etsy and one large ad space here on my blog!

Instructions to enter are below!

May the odds be ever in your favor.

(I couldn't resist!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

linking up with:

Almost Friday Thursday Blog Hop

blue fog

I am sick. Even in these pictures, the first hints of congestion and general ache-iness were apparent to me, but for the last two days it has been full blown under-the-weather-ness. Therefore this post is going to be short. I'm not interested in letting anything get in the way of my orange juice drinking, Scooby Doo watching, lazy being day.

50 states of brave introduces: ms. south dakota!

If you're just joining us, 50 States of Brave is a blogging project that celebrates the little opportunities we have to be brave everyday and the women who make these habits a way of life. As part of the project, everyone blogger is sending in a story of the bravest thing they've ever done for all of us to get to read, which makes us pretty excited. 

The whole project is sponsored by Favoring Brave, my Etsy store. Each lady gets to pick an item from the store to model in her post and keep as a souvenir of her bravery!

Wanna see all of the brave ladies already featured? Visit our lovely archives or Pinterest page of bloggers and their Favoring Brave picks!

Wanna join in the fun and represent your state? There's more info about that at the bottom of this post.

Alright here's the good stuff:

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Big round of applause for Ms. South Dakota...

Katie of Butterfly Loves Snapdragons!

Here's what Katie has to say about bravery...

I'm not a  brave girl. I am that girl that tells everyone to take the safe route. When I was in school I was known as the 'swear police' and 'Mrs. Goodie two-shoes'.  So when I was asked to write a post on the bravest thing I've ever done, I have to admit it was a challenge.  I am safe when it comes to driving, safe when it comes to my social life, and even safe when it comes to what I eat. I am a modest-dressing, easy going gal who teaches elementary students. But you know what? In today's world I think all of those things are pretty brave.

 

 

We grow up in a society which is so focused on gaining attention of some kind. People use their bodies, their talents, even their children to gain the adoration and recognition of total strangers. I pride myself on having the courage to simply be content with the simple things in life. I don't require much to make me happy. All I need is a bit of family, a few gorgeous sunsets, and an evening walk to make me appreciate all of God's splendor around us.  I think it takes courage to admit that I don't want to gain worldly attention the way in which so many seek to. I want to gain the attention of my Father in Heaven. I want to make Him proud with my inner beauty, not some arbitrary outer beauty that this world so expertly tries to deem desirable. I don't need to please anyone with the way that I dress or the words that I say. I am holding myself to a higher standard. My main goal in this life is to love others. To spend each day consciously thinking of ways to be an example of Christ's love-not always through my words but through my actions. 

I know that God has made me bold in my faith in order to bring people to Him. People who are in need of His incredible, unconditional love. I am not timid about sharing that part of my life, and I hope never to be so. I want to be remembered for how God was able to use my life for His glory, because His plan is so much better than what I could ever plan for myself.  And that makes me brave :)

2 Timothy 1:7- For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

  Wearing: In The Green Necklace from FavoringBrave

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Think you have what it takes to represent your state? Awesome! Here's what you have to do to apply:

1. Follow Favor the Brave through GFC or Bloglovin.

2. Send me an email at favoringbrave@gmail.com with your name, you blog address, what state you're from, and why you should get to represent your state as it's resident brave lady!
3. For more information on the project and what is required, read this.

Some states are filled already, but there are lots of openings left!

peace&love,

Jill

as seen on TV - holly sprig *tutorial*

Yesterday morning I was on KTUL Tulsa to do a quick tutorial on making holly sprigs for holiday ornaments and gift toppers! Here's a link to the video! (The picture's a fake-out - click this link instead!)

peace&love,

Jill

color beats

Sometimes, all it takes to make you happy is something simple.

Something incredible,

but simple.

Simple and happy.

Like mint green headphones.

Happy Thursday everyone!

peace&love,

Jill

it's that time

It is reaching that lovely point in December that all busy people reach where not everything is getting done. For me, that usually means I'm not getting dressed in outfits fit for public consumption. So here is a peek at what I have been doing to attempt to distract you from what I haven't been doing.

I blame the cold.

Some of these flowers, as well as others and all kinds of Favoring Brave goodies will be available at Alliday Everyday, Dec. 15th (Saturday!) at the Fairgrounds, Tulsa, OK.

peace&love,

Jill

deluxe recap

I had a blast at Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar this last weekend in Oklahoma City. There were some awesome booths there, great shoppers, and even a break-dancing competition! Love it! Here are some quick snaps of my booth, which has been taking up every last moment of my time for the last couple weeks. I'm happy with how it turned out! I'll be talking about making some pieces I used in this display on upcoming Craft Fair-ology posts.

peace&love,

Jill