The End.

Dear Friends,

 Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.". There is a time for everything, and my time for blogging has come to an end.  I am closing up karina, ink. forever.  I haven't come to this decision lightly, and  it has taken me over a year to actually do it. However, after over three years and 500 posts, I am moving on. There are other things that need to be of more importance to me than my blog and shop.

Thank you so so much to all of you who have ever read, visited, subscribed, followed, or just popped in for a few minutes.  You have no idea how much you have meant to me.  To all of you that I can now call friends, thank you so much for making me a part of your lives. I look forward to continuing to read what you're doing and being truly inspired by you.

This little space of mine has been a happy refuge for me, but there are other things to do now. I am turning my blog into a book and as soon as it arrives this blog will be deleted. I am also deleting Little Men and I am so thankful for the support I got for that new idea too. I realize it was very short lived, but I want you to know how much I love anyone and everyone who encouraged me to do something that was difficult for me.

I'll see you around on twitter, facebook, and pinterest and my e-mail karinaink@msn.com will remain the same if you need to get in touch with me.

I took all these pictures after I got done decorating for Christmas this year, and I thought I'd post them as an early way to say Merry Christmas!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a very very Happy New Year!

Best Wishes,

karen~xox

p.s. I LOVE YOU!

scrabble game pieces for ornaments.

I'm thinking that you should probably run out to your local antiques store RIGHT NOW & pick up some vintage scrabble letters.

You'll probably want to turn them into decorations for your tree with some

glue

&

thread.

You will probably be able to cut the thread with your teeth, although I would recommend scissors.

Easiest homemade ornaments ever.

Eh. Ver.

for the sake of the children.

 *as a heads up of sorts...

i might give away the ending of breaking dawn, so if you haven't read it you should walk away right now.

this week i've been a terrible mother.

i have problems with reading.  i love it too much.  i get way too involved in whatever book it is, & i lose all ability to pay attention to what's going on around me; so much so, that i try really hard not to read.

this week, starting monday morning, i finally got around to reading the twilight series.

i know, i know. 

i'm very late.

perhaps the last person to read the vampire phenomenon?

i have a great excuse though.

i really really didn't want to.

however, when out to dinner with a group of friends, i was the center of attention (i.e. butt of the joke) when it was discovered that i was the last person ON THE EARTH to not have read any of the popular series.

hell might have frozen over if i hadn't jumped on the bandwagon.

and you all know how we wouldn't want hell freezing over.

i gave into massive amounts of peer pressure temptation.

(trust me.  the shame is already running deep.)

i finished the fourth book this morning around 1:30 a.m.

four  books.  three days.

(reading fast.  it's my only gift.  i have a massive headache.)

i have to admit, i liked it....but....

after the last page i felt kind of let down.

i kept waiting for the massive fight!  for bella to be able to use her newborn skill to rip out the throats of her enemies!

but.

NOTHING!  NO FIGHT!  NO RAVENOUS END TO THE VOLTURI!!!

nothing.

but, i'm done. 

now my kids can stop watching non-stop tv & eating caramel corn in my bed.

i might even make them take a shower & brush their teeth.

i probably won't start another book for a few weeks   months years.

i've been lucky with this series, & my last, that my house didn't burn down.

and that my children are still alive & speaking to me.

i'd ask you what you've been reading lately, but that would just start me on a downward spiral again.

and heaven knows, for the sake of the children, we wouldn't want me going there again.

our thankful bowl.

 We decided to go easy on our Thanksgiving decorations this year.  Just a few yummy smelling pinecones, some tags, and some help from the boys later, we had ourselves a thankful bowl.

This one is my favorite...

 Can you see the Ryan Gosling "smolder" in the bunch?  My sister is here visiting & she was excited to add a little bit of herself to the holiday.  I love Jared's "faith" tag & Adam's "being smart" tag.  Ooohhhh, I love those boys!

 Happy Thankful Bowl (sounds like a football game??) to all of you!

how to make $5 drugstore flowers last longer.

ruffled sunshine.

i've been doing a little guest posting over at

Ruffled Sunshine!

have you seen her pretty blog?

her photographs blow me away.

right now she is in the middle of another thank you week.

(month!)

jump over there & check out my post as well as her whole blog.

oh...& p.s...there's a little giveaway from me involved.

there's barely any competition right now so scoot on over & get yourself entered!

trust me.

the bag of goodies i'm sending the winner's way will be well worth the few seconds it takes to enter!

bridesmaids.

imagine opening your mailbox and finding this inside...

a friend of mine asked me to make these for her as a way to surprise her bridesmaids.

isn't that the sweetest way to ask someone to be in your wedding?

wouldn't you love to have one of these little ladies show up in your mailbox?

cubby holes...

when i was little, these bunk beds belonged to my sisters and i.

the cubby holes were filled with pictures of jason priestly and ralph machio....and maybe a new kids poster or two.

now that they belong to my two oldest, they were in sore need of a makeover....not involving teen heartthrobs.



the boys helped choose a manly color scheme.

(those orange stripes are my favorite!!)



3 cubbies at the foot of each bed.



and three cubbies at the head of each bed.



the rock em' sock em' robots got the lucky spots, right next to that stripey orange paper!

lucky robots.

they still look pretty grouchy though.

maybe they're waiting for a picture of jason priestly.

(i know that always used to make me happy!)



good things...

mounds of snow in the backyard.

little red cheeks.

hot tomato soup with melted cheese.

lots of crackers.

baby's breath for a dollar a bunch.

full tummies.

happy boys.

commitment.

this little man is the epitome of commitment.

when he decides that he's going to go for something, he doesn't quit until he has done that thing to 150% of his ability.

he's been planning this costume since last October.....the day we Bic'd his head (& painted blue arrows on his head & arms) to be Aing, he already knew that he wanted to grow out his hair so that he could look just like Birdman for Halloween this year.

the tattoos. the jersey. the mohawk.

all his ideas.

and executed to complete perfection.

i could definitely learn a thing or two about commitment from him.



p.s. i am well aware that tattoo artist is not my calling....i will be keeping my day job.

hard things.

this is one of my absolute, most favorite things to say to my boys.

when they tell me they can't do something, when they whine that something is way too hard for them, this is the first thing that pops out of my mouth every time.

so, i wrote it on one of our chalkboards.

now they can see it all the time and remember that there will be no excuses because we do hard things at our house.

last week, for example, my boys had to memorize some parts for the primary program.

they told me the parts were too long.

they told me they were too nervous.

they told me they would never remember them.

they told me there would be too many people watching.

but they practiced, & practiced, & practiced.

& practiced.

and the three of them that were in the program sailed through their parts with flying colors.

so although i sat on our bench gripping seth's hand so tightly you could barely see any color in his fingertips,

(poor poor husband)

those boys helped prove to me what i preach every day.

we can do hard things.

hmmmmmmm.......

what will they prove that they can do this week?

diy wall art.

sometimes, when i get bored, i change things.

i've changed my living room over 47 times since moving into our home three years ago.

(that might be a bit of an exaggeration....but not by much.)

a few weeks ago i changed my living room all around again,

& this particular change left a massive blank space on the wall above the sofa.

so, i put up the "you are my sunshine" canvas that i made,

my distressed star,

& a teeny tiny little book page star banner.



but, i still had room left.

so with a few extra blank canvases, a star punch, an old book, some twine, some vintage milk bottle tops, a little white burlap, & a stencil brush full of ink,

i swirled, & stapled, & wrapped, & glued

until all of those canvases were covered.



& i had a 30 minute wall of diy art.



hopefully i won't get bored again too soon,

cuz i kind of like it.

perfect heart.

there is a little eight year old boy i've been so worried about lately.

  his specialists and therapists are concerned that he is showing significant signs of regression.

so many things are suffering.

comprehension, reading, writing, math, common sense, social, speech.

teachers asking,

"what can i do to make him focus?"

the only answer to that question is

*

un-ring the autism bell. 

 *

i've been scared and stressed and sad and the rock in the pit of my stomach just keeps getting heavier and heavier,

*

but,

when i see that little eight year old boy write me a note,

my soul is still and my mind is quiet.



there will be no un-ringing of any bells.

it's just not possible.

*

this little boy will be just fine, and so many things will be possible because he has

 the perfect heart.

crib slats.

the crib we've used for all four of our children has sadly (or happily, depending on the day) reached the end of it's baby holding days.

crib parts are being used all over the house as different things.

a blanket holder, a message station, & a bulletin board.

i've still got a few pieces in storage that i intend to put to magnificent use.

today, it's one of the crib sides.

the accent color in Jared & Adam's room is orange, so i gave it a coat of shiny spray paint,

hung it up,

& turned it into book storage.....which also doubles as wall art!

pretty cute!
their room is a work in progress.....
more to come later!