Getting one thing clear!!!

[GraceReclaimed Full Blog Here, Promise it's worth the click]

For those of you who've asked....GraceReclaimed is NOT going anywhere!

I am still here doing my decorating and design, reclaimed stuff, trunk shows, etc. after 20+years!  Just so hard to believe!!  And rambling about my own shenanigans will continue as long as someone is willing to read!  Which is what this little blog thing has always been about...

You see, the blogging only started after a suggestion from a dear friend who set up the first website related to 7thJoy.  7thJoy was a sidelineshortlivedendeavor with another dear friend and my last post was a simple birthday wish to her and a final nod to that fun while it lasted creative partnership!

During the last seven or so years, I've come to enjoy the writing and sharing of creative things, life happenings, along with a bit of my faith strengths and struggles on this blog.  I am blessed when I know someone takes the time to read and especially when someone posts a comment.  But most of all, I am blessed and grateful that it has become a sort of personal journal of the things I love for those I love!   So I'm still here, doing my thing...

 

Now on to the good stuff...a weekend snag (almost!) 

If fighting the Friday afternoon traffic with the rest of Houston rushing home to enjoy it counts...

Yes we did! Drove all the way to Bellaire just before rush hour, to pick up this Craig's List guy and his twin!

 Aren't they handsome?  Contemplating the makeover!

 

 Just know for sure, I'm not laying a hand on their gorgeous green cowhide seats...not a chance!

 

 I'll share the progress, just might have to ponder these for a bit...

So hope to see you here again.

I'm here for a now anyway!

Stay faithful, blessed and close!!

In His gracious care,

Belinda Abbott-Shaw

of GraceReclaimed

 

 

The birth and passing of 7thJoy!

 

Several years ago, as I was puttering along with my “little” design business, a friend and I decided that it would be fun to create together. 

Exactly what, we weren’t sure…

but determined we began 7thJoy. 

The name, just a little reference to our July births and the joy that creating with your hands can bring!!!

I first met Robin McCarty McKay when St. Philip and I moved to Timbergreen near Tomball and had the pleasure of hosting part of the neighborhood Christmas progressive dinner.  Robin showed up in her MoveOverMartha fashion, with a thoughtful hostess gift of homemade Fireside Coffee in of course, the sweetest little gift tin...

and I’ve been impressed by her talents ever since!

 

This wasn’t the Christmas Party…but an example of the fun she can be with friends in tow…Bunco night joke played on me by her & cohort Alisa!

It wasn’t until much later though...a move away from Texas and back to Tomball (me not her), boys growing up (mine and hers), my oldest getting married (her by my side, God bless her!); that we realized we had much more in common than living outnumbered in our male dominated homes and our love for creating beautiful things.   

And as we’ve weathered through these past 12+ years, getting to truly know each other, realizing our common obsessions, our shared interests, our strengths and weaknesses…much more has happened than creating together!  

And I am forever grateful!

  

 

Many Madonna pillows, corporate gift baskets, paper wreaths, sweater scarfs, Christmas ornaments, crosses and infamous peasant bags later, we are bonded by a triple stitch strong sisterhood!

 

 

 

 

7thJoy shenanigans in our past, she weary and off to new adventures, myself busy with sweet clients and GraceReclaimed, I reluctantly let our 7thJoy website/domain go this past month.  Bittersweet of course!   But nonetheless graced by its part in an everlasting kinship!

 

So Happy Birthday Robin, my talented, BetterthanMartha Friend!  It’s been a ride!  Thanks for sticking with me through the creative bliss, the calamity of guy raising (all of them!) and this thing we call mid-life!  And thanks for teaching me that rule following isn’t always necessary!  You are a beautiful blessing!  Love, b