mama's brush

To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate: St. Patrick’s Day

I’ve been very careful about what I teach our children from the beginning. In some things I’ve altered course as they have grown and I have matured as a mother. Spoiler alert: I’m still new at this mother thing… this stage of it that is. I’ve never before had 6 children in these specific stages and I’m making this up as I go. It may seem silly to you, but St. Patrick’s Day is something I have in limbo right now.

Christian St. Patrick's Day Cards bundle.

bookmarks, cards, stickers, clipart, cross, Jesus, four leaf clover, shamrock, luck

My kids have never been exposed to St. Patrick’s Day like I was growing up. As a homeschool family the only way they would have been is if I introduced it… and I didn’t. Just kinda skipped it. I have always taught the kids that there is no luck. So why would I focus on a holiday that highlights it.

Then when my forth was born March 18th, I figured it was perfect… why try to squeeze another “holiday” in such close quarters. Therefore, we’ve never done the whole green thing. I don’t decorate for it, we don’t wear special shirts or pinch if there isn’t green. As I mentioned, we strongly discourage the idea of luck!

Now I must admit to you that we have discussed the day over the years. I don’t think there is anything wrong with St. Patrick’s Day in general. And nothing wrong for those who choose to enjoy the fun of celebrating it. We’ve done our share of reading about who the actual man was (it comes up on world history after all). We learned about Ireland and even some about what leprechauns are.

In recent years I’ve started reconsidering St. Patrick’s Day and have been less of a stickler about luck in general. Don’t get me wrong, the children have all heard me ask them, “Is luck real?” They know that the idea of luck started with people who didn’t know God. Now that my youngest is 7 and can answer all the questions, I didn’t worry so much about showing them the movie Luck (super cute by the way! We used the free trial on AppleTV to see it.) So as Valentine’s Day was getting near, I started looking forward to what was next and I couldn’t help myself. I designed some cute cards for handing out on St. Patrick’s Day.

We still won’t do much, but how can I resist printing out these cute bookmarks and setting a cute green themed table for their breakfast??? I can’t!

My message hasn’t changed (much)… I’m just taking this opportunity to spread it even further! 🙂 And to bless my kids with bookmarks… something they are way into right now by the way! Now the only question I have to ask myself is what color background am I going to use??? I like them both!

Pop over to my shop for 30% off in the next 7 days if you want some! Use coupon code STPATTYS or click here.

Thank you for 100 Sales!

An alert showed up on my Etsy dashboard this afternoon just after the cha-ching sounded on my phone.

I opened my Etsy shop just under a year ago and after a somewhat slow beginning, I made my 100th sale today. I’m super excited!

Thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you! I’m celebrating with a one day whole shop sale!

Chicken Clipart – New in the Shop

Chicken Clipart Set in color or black and white | mamasbrush

chickens, roosters, chicken coop, chicken signs, transparent background, old truck, flowers, chicken eggs

I’m super excited about my latest addition to my Etsy shop. I’ve been toying with the idea of designing some clipart for a while now, but something else keeps taking it’s place in line. Finally, I pulled together some of my favorite designs from the chicken egg counting sheets and other designs I had on hand. To those I added this brand new chicken coop design and wala! Chicken clipart for you to use in your diy projects.

Do you want to create a sign? Perfect!

Do you want to make your own forms or recording sheets? These are for you!

School worksheets or your class or homeschool? Yes!

Bullet Journals, coloring books and more? Of course! Available in color and black and white!

These have a personal license, but you can use them for anything you want (distribution of papers created for your classroom or church is fine, but please don’t take credit for yourself and don’t share files with others.)

Best of all, if you already have my Egg Counting Sheets and you want to add other forms to use in your homestead binder, this clipart pack matches!

Discount alert!
I’m giving you all a coupon code to use for the next week (just for my readers!) For 30% off through February 9th (2023), click here or go to my shop and enter coupon code CLUCK at checkout.

Winter Wonderland Baby Shower

This week I hosted a Winter Wonderland baby shower for a lady at our church. I specifically picked a January date because I really wanted to do this theme.

I placed my chalkboard sign at the entrance to the room with one of my family’s favorite winter decorations. At home we call him, “Mr. Man… Mr. Snow Man.” At any rate, I’m not sure what happened to his jacket. It seems he was messed with after I set him up (kid helpers!) and I didn’t notice for the picture. Oh well. (See, parties don’t have to be perfect to be a blessing!)

I’ve been waiting for a chance to set up a hot cocoa bar for something and this was it. Can you see that sign on the wall? Wait…

Here it is closer. This is a chalkboard placemat that the kids got for Christmas. The link will take you to the product on Amazon (not an affiliate link, I get nothing for this). When the kids opened it Christmas day, I told my aunt (who sent them) that I was stealing the extras for me! 🙂 I wasn’t kidding. I love these! She sent them with these great chalk crayons too, which I cannot find on amazon yet. I’ll have to look for them some more because we’ll want to be able to get them again. (I may have to review these in a separate post… super cool!)

Anyway, back to the party. I used my chalk marker for this and was super happy with the way it turned out. Rolled up some scotch tape and taped it to the wall.

The shower was for a baby boy, so it was super easy to use blues in our decor. I love the way sprinkles, candies and Hershey kisses in blue really make the table pop!

I didn’t go out of control crazy on the food since cocoa is filling and sweet in itself. Instead I focused on cookies. This mama was dairy free, so I switched up some ingredients in my go to sugar cookies and added some meringue cookies to the mix. I also whipped up some dairy free dark chocolate for dipping the pretzels in. To add some gluten free options (in addition to the meringues, which are naturally gluten free) I also dipped some gluten free pretzels in the dark chocolate (I’m so glad I did as another mama and her little girl in attendance needed gluten free and dairy free treats!)

Mix up some dairy free cocoa with almond milk and you are all set!

I love these cups I picked up second hand (leftovers from a friend’s wedding). They were originally from Amazon (again, I get nothing from this link, just passing it on). The circle sticker was something I designed with my fun little snowflakes. Adding these little details to your parties makes them even more special! I’m planning to have those stickers in my Etsy shop for next winter!

I didn’t remember to get a picture of these big hanging snowflakes until after guests had begun arriving, so this is only half the room, but aren’t they fun?!? I found them here on Pinterest. I can’t tell you exactly how the process went because I asked a co-host to make them for me, but she said they were fun and easy. We also used the cheap white lunch bags from Walmart, so the whole things was just a couple dollars for big impact! We had 5 of them in the room.

Those little snowmen on the right were Hallmark singing snowmen from 20 years ago. When I started having kids I took the batteries out (sanity preservation!) and changed them from red to blue for our January decor at home.

The jar is full of cotton balls and has a sign that says “Snowballs 5 cents”. I had it in my kitchen with black and white ribbon but switched it to blue for the baby shower.

The framed print is something I designed.

Snowman baby shower gift art | mamasbrush designs

James 1:17, snow mama, snow baby, snowflakes, winter art, winter verse art, winter wonderland baby shower

I’m planning to have this in my Etsy store for next winter as well. (Contact me if you need it sooner!)

I originally created it with pen and paper 5 years ago (5??? Crazy!) for a baby girl Sprinkling I did that January. I like to call this “Where snow babies come from.”

Finally…

I made this cute little snowman diaper cake for the gift table. You can see a super short video clip of it here if you want more angles. I used 72 size 2 diapers, white dot fabric to cover the rubber bands, 2 black buttons for eyes, felt to shape the nose and a cheap pacifier (cut off the mouth part) and hot glue it all on the fabric. The receiving blanket adds to the gift and makes it look more like a snow baby. I used 6, 8, and 10 inch cake pans to hold the diapers until I get them banded together.

And that’s it! I hope you found some little thing you can use in your own celebration or decorating and enjoy these last days of January!

Check out my Winter Wonderland Baby Shower Pin Board on Pinterest if you are looking for more ideas!

New Chicken Coop Signs

I know I have a wide range of people who are readers here. Raise your hand if you are a chicken person (okay… leave a comment?). If you aren’t sure, you probably aren’t. A chicken person doesn’t necessarily have chickens themselves, but they want to. And not all people who have chickens are chicken people. (Am I right?)

Chicken coop signs | mamasbrush designs

chicken signs, farmhouse signs, chicken decor

And of course, among chicken people there is a wide variety as well. Some just love the birds and others make fancy coops and decorate them seasonally. (Someday I want that to be me.)

We have chickens in a quarter of our garden with a somewhat ugly but functional coop. I made it myself with the help of 3-12 year olds (6 of them). I guess you could say that I’m a kid person at this phase of my life. 🙂 Anyway, I digress.

While I dream of what I would do if homeschooling and gardening, laundry and occasional house cleaning didn’t take up all my time, I made some really cute (sorry, I’m biased) chicken coop signs for you to decorate your chicken spaces with!

They are in my Etsy shop now. Head over to grab the bundle for yourself for 30% off this week. Coupon code COOPSIGNS30 or click here.

Frame them and and hang them under shelter if you have it. I think they would be cute mounted to wood and sealed from the elements and hung on the outside. Your call. What would you do with them? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

Happy New Year!

2023 Mini Old Truck Calendar | mamasbrush designs

2023 Mini Chicken Calendar | mamasbrush designs

Happy New Year friends! Yes, I’m a little late. The year started without me it seems. 🙂

I wanted to let you know that there is a sale on my mini calendars this week! (Chicken and Old Trucks) Come over for 50% off!

Clue Themed T-Shirt Design

Clue game t-shirt with candlestick and billiard room | mamasbrush design

cricut easy press, Clue SVG, Clue Cut file, DIY t-shirt

This is a quick one. I designed this shirt for a friend of ours for her 16th birthday. She loves the game Clue and we’re planning a little “Clue” themed party for her soon. A party theme isn’t complete without a matching shirt (at least I’ve gotten in the habit of creating one for most themes these days.)

I sourced the chalk outline from, I’m so sorry, I can’t remember where! It doesn’t always occur to me in the moment that I’m going to want to blog the things I’m doing. I’m trying to be better, but failed again.

The candlestick was something I created. I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I tried it out and am pleased with the way it turned out. I asked our friend’s mom what her favorite weapon and room are in the game, so that is why I picked candlestick and billiard room.

I love my Cricut Easy Press. It’s so much easier (huh!) than using my iron. I kept putting off the project, but it’s silly because it was so fast!

Have you created anything lately?

2023 Mini Illustrated Old Truck Calendar

Did you see my Mini Chicken Calendar and love it, but not care so much about the chickens? I hear you. Chickens aren’t for everybody. And while trucks aren’t for everybody, I know that a bunch of you do love old trucks! I hope you love this little calendar with all their whimsical illustrations just as much!

I love to tie these little cuties (mini size) onto a package or plate of cookies for a Christmas gift. It’s what I’m doing for our pastors’ wives again this year. The first year I included a mini easel from Hobby Lobby. They make a great stocking stuffer too and fit perfectly. If you prefer the larger sizes, place them in a frame and switch them out, clip them to the fridge, or slide them in the front of your school binder! So many options!

Whether they are for you or for gift giving (both?), you can find them in my Etsy shop right now and at 30% through December 9th for my readers with coupon code TRUCKSCAL30. Click here to have the discount automatically applied!

What do you think? Do you like them? Which month is your favorite. Tell me in the comments!

You can find me gathering here.

Welcome to our Little Lot – Custom Christmas Sign

This is one of my favorite designs to date! (And with 2 colorways!)

Whimsical Christmas trees with hearts and snowflakes. Wording reads, "Welcome to our little lot". Great Christmas decor for your large, small or growing family! | mamasbrush designs

Happy Advent Season, and Merry Christmas to you all! Things have been busy at my house of late, which means they’ve been slow here! I have some posts I hope to get up in the next couple weeks, so we’ll see what happens! 🙂

This is the latest version of my custom tree lots. I love my old version (one like it here), and it’s ironic claim that my family of 8 is a “little” tree lot. Sorry… I find those sorts of things fun. 🙂

This latest version was originally designed for my pastor’s wife to replace the one I hand painted for her several years ago. Almost right after I gifted it, their family decided to adopt again… a set of 4 siblings! Then their oldest married! And a baby! It was clear that I needed something that would be easy to adapt for a growing family! This is what I came up with.

These are great for large families, but you can also get them for small families. You can see several other family groupings and the second colorway at my Etsy shop.

While you are there, use coupon code TREELOT30, to get it at 30% off through Decmeber 8, 2022. I like to give my readers this exclusive discount whenever I list something new. (In fact, if you ever see something new that I haven’t talked about here yet, message me about it and I’ll give you a special discount code to save you even more! –Hint Hint). You can also click here to have the discount automatically added.

You can find me gathering here.

God Honoring Pumpkin Wreath Printable

I know it’s already the end of October, but I just have to sneak this fall printable in before it’s too late. This is an updated version of something I painted with watercolor years ago (if you look close, you can see it in this post). I’ve always loved it and wanted a way to share it, so here it is!]

Thanksgiving and Fall Decor | mamasbrush

Pumpkin Wreath with phrases: gather together, give thanks, and glorify God.

I have plans to print this at various sizes and mount it to a block of wood or a little wood house for the Christmas Market coming up (I often sell a handful of fall decor items since it’s right before Thanksgiving!). I may also do some larger scale on plywood and add a frame myself. It will take a bit of time, but keep my costs low for resale since I’m able to use scrap.

I just love love love it framed up simple. Download, print, and place it in a frame. It’s quick decor or a great last minute gift (as many gifts as you want for one price!) Offered in vertical, horizontal or square formats.

Want to add this to your fall decor this year? I’ve set up a coupon code for my blog readers. Enter PUMPKINS30 or click here for 30% off this item through November 1st!

You can find me gathering here.