This past Thanksgiving was only my third one and it’s becoming one of my favorite holidays, I love the fact that allows us a time to meditate and remember people, events and things that we are grateful for. I might not know all of the details besides the story behind this celebration, but if you get to be Thankful and eat awesome turkey dinners, it ‘s good enough for me =]

We spent the last two Thanksgivings at Kens grandparents’ Ranch with all of his family, they are always such a nice get togethers, and I love that Mimi (Ken’s grandma) has placemats where we all write what we are thankful for every year, and the best part is to read all of the previous years and remember what marked those years. My placemat is one of the emptiest ones but I’s still fun to read. Ken’s family packed and spent the week at the beach. We were’t as lucky because we had to work but we got to spend Thanksgiving day there with all of them and Curly =] I was so happy he got to spend the day playing at the beach, running around and digging in the sand.

This was such an awesome day, there was a lot of paddle games, walks on the beach for me and Curly and the Ventura turkey trot for most of the rest. We all got to eat Deep friend turkey right next to the beach with pie dessert! I call that Thanksgiving mission accomplished!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of family, food and laughs =]
XO

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Hello everyone!  I am so excited that Joy has allowed me to guest blog over here  :)  My name is Liz and I blog at e.louise.  (If you followed Joy over from Weddingbee, you may also recognize me as Mrs. Beagle).  Anyways, over the last year or so, my blog has become a hodgepodge of home improvements, decorating, DIY projects, crafting, sewing; with tidbits of my life as a semi-newlywed and mama to my fur-babies, all while living in the best city in the world- Austin

Today I thought I would share with you some handmade (easy! cost effective!) art that I’ve finally been able to hang up around my home.
Yarn Wreath:
I made this  my wedding almost two years ago, and I’m really happy with how it’s held up!

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I actually had this post in my draft list for a very long time, and since hopefully I’ll finish the tutorial section for this pattern soon, I wanted to show you all one of the patterns I worked on while in vacations.

I made them using some leftover fleece and stuffed them with my old t-shirts scraps. I designed the pattern so with just a few adjustments the little duck can be sitted or laying down, and also an optional bow clip or tie =] I had so much fun making them, I think they could be great Christmast presents!

So let me introduce you Mr. & Mrs. Joyful duck, they are a very soft couple that love kids and pets =] and if you want to go the extra mile, you can leave the bottom with a button to have a little bag filled with rise and cinnamon so you can microwave them and heat it up for cold nights, Curly has one now!

I am hoping to list the pattern next week, it has 2 variations (standing or laying down) and it will be a downloable multipage PDF file so you can enlarge it in case you want =] I hand sewed mine, one on the inside and one on teh outside so I can show how cute they look both ways!

I hope you guys like them =]
XO

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While I was on vacation I worked on several projects – I know it sounds weird but vacations are my time to work on personal projects hehe. I’ve been planning on a change for the look of HowJoyful for quite some time. If you remember, the last blog-face-lift was for my HowJoyful’s first blogoversary (Too long ago, right?) And even tho there is still a good 6 months before the second blogoversary comes around, I just can’t wait that long to give a facelift to my little blog =]

Of all the previous changes I’ve made, this is definitely the most radical. I decided to start from scratch and even change my logo/header completely (even tho I still like the old one) I hand-drafted the words and played with them for a long, long time – because you know I am my WORST client! It’s so hard to design for myself =[ - I also decided to change the colors because lately I've been really into turquoise, I just love how vibrant and playful it feels. So here's a little reminder of what this blog used to look like:

I am SO EXCITED to finally reveal the new logo and blog! I added a few new features, like the tab box in the top to make it easier to subscribe and browse the contents. I also left a widget with the featured categories and added pages to the sidebar as well as the menu. So now let me show you the new color palette:

Like in any web design update, there will be some tweaks in the next few days so don't worry if some things don't look right, I am working really hard to make everything as perfect as possible, as soon as possible =] And if you see a mix of the old and new design, just refresh the page and clear your cache, that should fix everything! Let’s get rid of that old red blog, ok?

So if you are reading this in your reader, come on over to check it out and share what you think about it =] I am always open to suggestions!

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Hello new friends! I’m so excited to be blogging over here on How Joyful. Thanks so much for having me! My name is Brooke, and I’m the one-woman show behind the blog Killer B. Designs. You may also recognize me as Mrs. Sand Dollar from Weddingbee, if any of you followed Mrs. Poodle over here. I’m also the proud new mama of a beautiful baby girl, who we like to call Charlie. Today I’m chatting about how I was bitten by the carpentry bug, and why you should get infected too.

It all started just over a year ago. Well, that’s not entirely true. I dabbled in it back in ’08, when I needed to furnish my brand-spankin’ new bachelorette pad in Dallas. I hit up the typical cheap-o furniture stores, looking for style on a dime. And though I absolutely adored that place, I can tell you one thing: all I have left furniture-wise are the two bookcases I built myself. And you know why? Because I made them! Duh! Just kidding. The real reason is because when you build for yourself, you have the option to use 100% real wood, and build it so sturdy that you know it will stand the test of time. It’s true. A friend joked that I could probably store car engines on those bookcases, and trust me, they weigh enough that I think he’s right! Want to see them?

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