Miranda's Homecoming Story

John is coming home from his year-long deployment to Afghanistan! It's really, really happening! In fact, by the time you read this, he may already be home! This week, I've got some of my wonderful blogging friends who are sharing their variations on the theme: homecoming.

I'll be back sometime during the week (or early next week) with pictures and at least one post about John's homecoming. Until then, I'll be off the grid, enjoying some much overdue time with my fiance.  

Enjoy my guest bloggers' stories! To see other posts in this series, click here.

Today's post is written by Miranda, a Marine wife who writes for her blog, Hurry Up & Wait. 

Military homecomings tend to carry with them a sort of stereotype. Girlfriend/Fiance’/wife/boyfriend/husband/children waiting outside or inside a building, watching service members walk off a bus, running up to them as soon as they see them, hugging them, kissing them, jumping into their arms crying. This is how I would have liked my husband’s homecoming to be but it wasn't like that at all. At the time, my Marine was just my fiancé and he was stationed 1,500 miles away. While I would have loved to be able to fly down to California to be there when he got back, I had school and I didn't have any money to afford the trip. Not being able to be there for him with a big sign and welcoming arms tore me apart. I think it hurt him a little too whether or not he wants to admit it! 

This was his first deployment and it was very hard on our relationship. There were times where I didn't think I could keep doing it. I was afraid that he would come back a completely different person. We fought about stupid things, and I became selfish because I just wanted him home so we could get married and start a life together. By the time it was over I was even more afraid of seeing him again after 7 months, afraid of what it would be like, and afraid that the spark and chemistry would no longer be there. Jake returned home on February 18th, 2013, and I didn't get to see him until February 25th, 2013. Each day leading up to that I was checking my countdown app every day. I loved watching that number go down!

Those seven days were the absolute worst! I wanting nothing more than to hold him, hug him, and be there for him. On the 25th I picked him up from the airport and I remember being so nervous and antsy but excited to see him. When I saw him walking down the hallway to baggage claim I got butterflies and I feared my heart would beat right out of my chest. I scurried over to him, and the moment I felt his arms wrap around me I knew everything was going to be ok. Suddenly all the stupid arguments and time apart no longer mattered. He was home and he was safe. 

Not all homecomings happen in the way TV portrays them. Each one is unique and special in their own way. Mine wasn't how I would have liked it, but the feeling I had when I got to see my fiancé again was an indescribable emotion. What mattered the most to me was knowing that he was safe and that we would now have the opportunity to be together and be happy. Five days later, we got married, he left for California again while I finished school, and we are currently on our first week of living together.

For those who are new to deployments, just remember to stay strong. It's going to be hard for both of you but you have to hold it together for your service member as well as for yourself. Trust me, it will all be worth it in the end! My husband's deployment has been a great learning experience for us as a couple, and it showed us just how much we can go through together. Also, not every homecoming story is the same. Make it yours and make it as special as you can for it is a experience you will remember for the rest of your life and you will experience an emotion you don't get to experience very often! Make the most of your homecoming and enjoy it!

Moo's Red Friday Tanks

John is coming home from his year-long deployment to Afghanistan! It's really, really happening! In fact, by the time you read this, he may already be home! This week, I've got some of my wonderful blogging friends who are sharing their variations on the theme: homecoming.

I'll be back sometime during the week (or early next week) with pictures and at least one post about John's homecoming. Until then, I'll be off the grid, enjoying some much overdue time with my fiance.  

Enjoy my guest bloggers' stories! To see other posts in this series, click here.

Hey y'all! I'm Moo. I blog (when I have the time) over at Sassbritches.com! I also run a twitter account @deploymentprbs which I started over a year ago when my husband left on his first deployment!

Over time, my account has gone from a place to vent, get and give support, and talk with other military SOs to a small business for me!

 It all started one day back in December. I was searching for some cute military support clothing, and just could NOT find anything that I liked. I wanted something that I could wear in support of not only my husband in the Army, but also my brother who serves in the Navy! I wanted something I could wear to show my support of everyone! There were tons of companies who made cute things, but I had trouble finding a cute, stylish, all branch inclusive shirt! It seemed like almost all the stylish ones were either branch specific, or the ones that weren't so stylish were cheesy or way too "HEY I'M AN ARMY WIFE-GLITTER-JINGLING DOG TAGS-BLAH BLAH" And, that just is not my style.

 So, I set out to design myself a simple, all inclusive shirt for Red Friday that I could wear to support ALL our Armed Forces! I played around for about a day with some different computer programs, and finally landed on the design I now print on my Red Friday Tanks! I posted it to my Twitter account, to see if a couple girls might want one, since it would make more sense to order a couple from the screen printer for cost purposes! I. WAS. BLOWN. AWAY. by the response. Twitter went crazy over my simple little design I had put together while playing around! I quickly got together 25 girls who wanted one, and I kept adding emails to a list of more girls that would want to purchase one if I made another order!

By January, I had a list of over 300 girls who wanted one! What happened next, now looking back, was one of those situations that proves why I believe everything happens for a reason! I made an order with a local screen printer, who gave me a time frame, which quickly went by with no shirts. Once I finally made contact with them again, they told me the tank tops I wanted were out of stock, and I needed to choose another. I did some digging myself, found out the tank tops I wanted were not on back order and most likely they were just stalling. So I cancelled my order! I was SO upset.

After a week or two of being upset and looking for other options, I thought, "You know what, I'm gonna do this my damn self." And that it exactly what I did. I made quite an investment and purchased my own screen printing press, ordered the shirts, all the ink and supplies, and got to work. I will be totally honest with y'all, I had never screen printed before in my life. I didn't really know what I was getting into, and I had multiple freak outs and breakdowns over the process of learning. There was so much more to it than I realized!

I could go on FOREVER about how long it really takes to get up and running on one design while you're also learning everything new. Just trust me, it's possible, but no walk in the park.

Long story short, I was very worried about investing ALL this time and money and effort into something that I thought might sell, but I really had no idea. After my first sale sold completely out in five minutes, I knew I made the right decision to do these myself! It felt great that I did all of this, taught myself, printed, marketed, sold, packaged, and shipped all of these, and that girls really loved them!

  I just had my second sale recently on Monday May 20th with around 80 pieces and I sold my whole store out in 20 minutes!! It's taken me hours and hours and hours of work to get them all printed, cured, and shipped out, but it is ALL worth it! It is a very cool feeling to know that people enjoy your work!

   

I plan on keeping this up as long as people will buy them! I have a lot of really fun design ideas for the future, and I would really like to get my design printed on more pieces, but that also takes some learning on my part! I'd say my biggest problem right now is that I just can't keep up with the demand! But that's a great problem to have! I hope to have my next sale as soon as I can get some more pieces done! If you want to know about future sales, you can always follow my Twitter (@deploymentprbs) where I announce all the sale dates and times, or follow along on my blog sassbritches.com or check out my shop on Etsy,  "DeploymentProblems" And remember, "On Fridays We Wear Red." Until they ALL come home!

Diane's Patriotic Wooden Door Sign

This week, we're having a red, white, and blue spangled celebration! I'm feeling particularly joyful and rah-rah-go-America since John will be home soon. But, because he'll be home soon, I've got tons of things that need to be done-- including quite a few trips across four states over the next two weeks.

Of course, I didn't want to leave my wonderful readers and friends high and dry  I've got some amazing bloggers for you to meet! They're all awesome at what they do-- whether it's crafting, baking, cooking, creating-- and I'm positive you're going to love them!

Check out all of the Made in America Week posts here.

Hello Jo, My Gosh! readers! I'm super excited to be here today! I'm Diane and I blog over at DD Kimball Road! I was so excited when Jo asked me to guest post for her so she and her beau can spend some quality time together! The wheels were spinning for something patriotic to do! First off, a little about me. I am a twenty something interior designer who lives in the greater Los Angeles area of California. I am married to the most wonderful man a girl could ask for and tied the knot in 2007. In 2008 we adopted our shelter pup Miss Shelby, a Labrador Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. My blogs are just an online diary of my life, my design style, all my crafts and some recipes and miscellaneous thrown in! 

So, now that all the formalities are out of the way....lets get down to the nitty gritty. Seriously, I have no patriotic decor in my house! Such blasphemy since I come from a military background. So I decided to remedy that and make myself a little patriotic sign! I'll tell you right now that I had big plans for this, plans that had to be scaled back due to time.....I tend to over think a project trying to figure out all the ways I can do it.

Supplies:

• Scrap piece of wood (mine is about 6"x14")
• Sand Paper
• Contact paper (you know for lining your kitchen drawers, Dollar Tree!)
• Xacto Knife
• Paint (Several colors; red, white and blue)
• Paint Brushes (Or sponges)
• Glitter (optional)
• (3) fabrics (for rosettes)
• Glue gun and glue
• Steel Wire
• Eye Hook Screw
• Drill and Bits
• Pliers with Wire Cutter

1. As you can see, I had planned for it to be a MUCH larger piece. Oh well. Anyway, take your wood and sandpaper and sand the surface down a little to be able to let the paint stick.

2. Paint 2-3 coats of white paint onto the wood, I did fairly light coats and made sure to make my brush strokes seen for that rustic look. I also tried to make it look a little like white wash. How you want it to look is totally up to you!

3. Once your paint has dried (over-nightish) take your sandpaper and sand around the edges and on the surface a little to give that aged effect. I did a little in the corners and some in the middle as well.

4. Ok, here's where it may get tricky.....well at least it did for me. First time experience with using contact paper in my printer.....didn't go too well. Ideally this is what you should do. Cut your contact paper 8-1/2"x11" to fit into your printer. Print out your image onto the top of the contact paper, not the paper back. Using your Xacto knife carefully cut out your stencil, and place it centered on your board. Press the edges of the contact paper down so it sticks nicely and the paint will not seep under. Here's what I did....I printed out my image on regular paper until I figured out a good size. Then I placed my contact paper in my laser printer, mistake 1, upside down, mistake 2. Realized that I did this, I put the *ahem* 'warm' contact paper, mistake 3, back in the machine and re-printed it. It came out of my printer a melted ball of mess. So I took my regular printed paper and did the old scribble on the back with a pencil and then trace onto the contact paper trick. The font that I used was a little tricky to cut out as I had to cut out all the small pieces and then re-position them onto the board, but it made for a really great look! Take the extra time and just do it!

5. Paint over your stencil with a paint sponge or just a brush....I of course found my sponges AFTER the project, so I just used a regular paint brush. I also put glitter on it once my last coat of paint was a little tacky. It looks super fun! Let dry and carefully peel away your stencil. To get the smaller pieces off I used the tip of my Xacto knife.

6. Make your rosettes. I used three different fabrics, two were patriotic and one was blue with a Scottish Terriers on it, but hey rolled up you can't tell! I used this technique to make my rosettes....again first time trying this skill! I cut my fabric 1" wide by about 14" long. For the red and light blue rosette I used two strips and for the navy rosette I used 3.

7. Flip your board over and attach your eye hooks and wire. I would pre-drill the holes to get you started. You can use these instructions to help you out! Once your hanger is attached flip your board back to the front. Take your glue gun and attach your rosettes to the front.

8. If you like you can take a strip of burlap and tie a little bow on the wire. Hang and admire your work! :-)

I'm so excited to have this in my home! I need to get a hanger for my front door. but for now it looks nice hanging under our little family portrait. I hope you enjoyed this post and if your looking for any other crafting projects, or just wish to stop by and look around please head on over to my blog, DD Kimball Road. Thanks for reading!

Diane

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