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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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{Magic} Water Marbles

If you’ve spent any length of time looking online for creative ways to have fun with your kids, you’ve no doubt stumbled upon the sneaky little video that informs you that you can magically turn “water” into marbles with a few household ingredients. Just like that.  It’s magic!  It’s marvelous! It’s malarkey. Really.  It’s simply an outrageous, ingredient-wasting, kitchen-messing hoax. … Read More

Crafts and Activities, Cute Stuff, The Kiddos

Teacher Gift Ideas

I. am. a. cleaning. machine. 31 Bags in 31 Days is going full force in our home, and I’m discovering a thing or two in the process.  Some drawers/closets/spaces are going much faster than I anticipated (I have 5 ‘bags’ completed in 3 ‘days’), while other areas that I only allotted 1 bag/day to are going to require considerably more… Read More

Crafts and Activities, Cute Stuff, The Kiddos, Tutorial

All in a Week’s Whirl

It’s been delicious madness around here lately.  Between fun and food and friends and farting children and family {please notice the pause between children and family} and…fesign fork…I haven’t had a moment to sit down and tell you all about it in mind-numbing detail, as I am accustomed to doing.  {Clearly there’s no way to get ‘design work’ to start… Read More

Complete nonsense, Crafts and Activities, Daily Life, Designs, Family, Frugal Living, Keepin' it Real, The Kiddos

Oh, Holy Mother of Pearl…it’s SWEET!

You’d never know I gave up sugar for New Year’s…for here, my friends, is a whole heck of a lot of sugar-infused goodness. I teased this baby on facebook a while back {you know, way back in 2011} and totally forgot to share the recipe as promised.  Forgive me.  Sugar coma, what? Here’s the basic cheesecake recipe I follow –… Read More

Crafts and Activities, Cute Stuff, Family, Food

Blog Hopping {Hostess Gift Edition}

  Miranda Walker {from Narrating Life} invited me to participate in her blog hop.  It’s my first.  So I hopped right in. And here we go! The theme is…drum roll, please…hostess gift ideas! Due to my love affair with fresh herbs, I chose a potted fennel plant as my gift {partly because it’s what my big sister just gave me… Read More

Crafts and Activities, Friendship, Garden

{No Sew} Tutu Tutorial

{No Sew} Tutu Tutorial

What you’ll need: * 4-5 yards of tulle (depending on waist size) in whatever colors your heart desires! * thick elastic head band (adult size) * 1 yard of satin ribbon (or 3 yards, if not using elastic for band) * ruler or measuring tape * scissors * delightful friends for delicious company (not necessary, but highly recommended) This DIY… Read More

Crafts and Activities, The Kiddos, Tutorial

Hormones, Crafts & Snow {this week, in no particular order)

Firstly, the blah: I’ve been having hot flashes lately {ugh!}.  And then I left the house in my slippers {yikes}.  For 6 hours {gasp}.  I think I’m getting old. I haven’t written anything of substance for the past few weeks.  There only seems time and mental energy for drivel.  Forgive me.  Contemplative and encouraging text will return soon, I promise…. Read More

Complete nonsense, Crafts and Activities, Daily Life, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood, The Kiddos

Squeee! Tip Junkie! And Me!

I just got a email last night from Laurie {yes, THE Laurie…from Tip Junkie} saying she wanted to feature my “No-Mess Make-Up for Little Ladies”…today. {{ Squueeeeel!! }} It’s #10 on her list of 38 Kid Crafts and Boredom Busters for Spring Break… What are you waiting for…?  Go check it out!!

Crafts and Activities

The Fabulously Easy Christmas Centerpiece

I love an eye-catching, colorful centerpiece on my table.  I especially love one that is fun and easy to throw together! Enter: the jazzed up poinsettia! All you need is: A poinsettia plant {or really any plant with large blossoms will do; think hydrangea, peonies or azalea for garden party arrangements} Floral Wire, or several large paperclips Florists tape, or… Read More

Christmas, Crafts and Activities, Tutorial

The {Big Kahuna} Birthday Book of Love

I knew her birthday was coming up.  Her 70th birthday, none the less. We’re not talking 30.  40.  Or even the celebratory awe of the big “5-0”. 70.  It’s huge. And I was gripped with fear and trepidation. What in the name of all that is good and holy do you give a 70 year old woman who owns everything… Read More

Crafts and Activities

Get Your {Ribbon} Groove On

My kids love to dance.  And we love to watch them. They also happen to enjoy adding a little spinning, prancing and poking during their elaborate dance routines with the these colorful babies in hand: {No, I didn’t say my children dance in the most safe and well-behaved way possible.  But hey.  This is real life, and if they don’t… Read More

Crafts and Activities, Tutorial

And She’s Done it Again

Alternately entitled: “Monsters: A Photo Documentary About {re}Love” or something.   Once upon a time, there lived a little green monster.  A lonely, little green monster. This little dude was lovingly created in August 2009 by a most brilliant girl – a {re}lover of all things junk, a re-purposer of worn-out t-shirts destined for landfills, a jewelry-making guru with the… Read More

Crafts and Activities, Family

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 photo Joy.jpg

Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

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May you remember that God is not only the God of d May you remember that God is not only
the God of destinations, but of detours.

When life takes you somewhere you never intended to go,
may you recognize that you have not been forgotten.

May you have eyes to see the people in front of you,
hands willing to gather the sticks,
courage to shake off the snakes,
a heart willing to welcome and be welcomed,
and faith to believe that even here,
especially here, God is at work.
What if the place you keep calling a detour is act What if the place you keep calling a detour is actually part of the story?

Paul was headed to Rome. Instead, he ended up shipwrecked on Malta.
It wasn't the destination. But it mattered.

A reminder for all of us: don't waste the waiting,
the detour, or the place you didn't choose.

🎙️ 042 | Make Malta Matter | Finding Purpose in Divine Detours
  The latest Oh, Good Grief Podcast episode is out now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #MakeMaltaMatter #SimplyBloomCo
Instagram post 17924817765424628 Instagram post 17924817765424628
What if the years you thought were wasted… weren't What if the years you thought were wasted…
weren't wasted at all?

In Part 2 of my conversation with Leah Harvey,
we go deeper into what it means to trust
God when the outcome is still unknown.

Leah has spent years carrying the ache of infertility,
and she doesn't offer a tidy answer or a spiritual shortcut.

Instead, she talks about restoration.
About eternity.
About choosing Jesus over her preference.
About looking for treasure in the middle of the story.

And about the surprising realization that there
may not have been wasted years after all,
because God was present in every one of them.

He is.
Even here.
Even now.

🎧 Part Two with Leah Harvey is live now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
Instagram post 18091972097640684 Instagram post 18091972097640684
What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean bel What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean
believing He will give us everything we ask for?

That's one of the questions my friend Leah Harvey
and I wrestle with in this week's episode.

Leah and her hubby, Jake, have walked through years
of infertility and the kind of unanswered prayer that
doesn't just hurt once—it asks you to keep
trusting God over and over again.

We talk about grief, surrender, the questions we sometimes feel afraid to ask, and what happens when we stop trying to put tidy answers over messy pain.

This is a tender conversation about choosing Jesus over our preferences, embracing the mystery of God, and learning to believe that His goodness doesn't depend on whether He gives us the thing we're asking for.

Part One of my conversation with Leah Harvey is live now
🎧  040 | The Goodness of God in the Waiting

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
Before the world told you who you needed to become Before the world told you who you needed to become...
Before fear taught you how to survive...
Before shame convinced you to hide...
God looked at you and called you His own.

Not because you had healed.
Not because you had figured yourself out.
Not because you had become your best self.
Simply because you were His.

You are still becoming.
And you are already loved.

Keep coming home.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
What if the goal isn't to become a different type, What if the goal isn't to become a different type,
but to become more fully yourself?

We've spent the last several weeks exploring the Enneagram:
our gifts, wounds, coping strategies, and the stories we
learned to believe in order to survive.

Now it's time to come home.

Episode 039 closes this Summer Series by asking
what happens when self-awareness becomes surrender.

The Enneagram can help us understand our patterns.
But it was never meant to become our identity.

You are not your number.
You are not your trauma.
You are not your coping strategy.

You are a beloved child of God.

🎧 Oh, Good Grief — Episode 039 is available now.
Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, m Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, my Bible and a book of maps in my lap, and the sun on my face, has me thinking about how strange and beautiful life can be.

It’s no small honor to be given the opportunity to preach at our church from time to time. Had you told the broken, shoplifting, lying, giving-her-body-away-for-free teenage girl I once was that one day she’d stand in a pulpit and talk to people about God’s goodness and grace, I would have laughed at you.

But maybe that’s exactly why God delights in using the messy, the unlikely, the misfits. Because these are the stories that make His redemption impossible to miss.

One of my favorite lines from The Chosen, spoken by Mary Magdalene, sums it up perfectly: “I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.”

That’s my story, too.
And if I were to hazard a guess, it's yours as well.

It’s one of my greatest joys to dig into God’s Word, share what He’s laid on my heart, offer some encouragement and conviction, confess the uncomfortable things, and ultimately point people back to Jesus.

Because there’s no denying the extraordinary power of redemption when you’ve lived it yourself.
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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