This shirt was chosen by my granddaughter.  She went with the popular Cherished Girl shirt featuring a mason jar theme, with the phrases "how sweet the sound", and "I once was lost but now I'm found".

$16.99 at Because Boutique

Each guitar pick boldly presents Jesus with the promise of Romans 10:13 that says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

$99.99 at Arnold Music

$19.99 at Arnold Music

Ukuleles have become increasingly more popular in the last few years.  After 12 year old singer/songwriter/Ukulele player, Grace VanderWaal won America's Got Talent in 2016, I began to hear more and more people, both young and old, express more interest in learning to play Ukulele, and the trend continues.


If you don't know a local instructor, ukulele tutorials are easy to find on YouTube.  The instrument is easy to learn, making it a great starter instrument, even for younger children.  Once you know how to play, it is fairly easy to transfer the concepts to learning guitar, with a few minor adjustments.

I found these cute Heart ukuleles by Mahalo, and they're perfect for Valentine's Day!

I also have pink available in the Mahalo's rainbow series (sorry, red is currently sold out).....




and both pink and red in the U-Smile series.





So if you're looking for just the right gift for your Sweetheart, friend or grandchild, consider giving the gift of music with a cute Valentine-themed Ukulele.  I've got you covered :)





I'll leave you with my favorite Ukulele video.  It makes me laugh every time!  From what I understand, this dad was trying to distract his daughter because she was afraid of the fireworks noise and couldn't sleep.  It's so heartwarming, cute and sweet.  Enjoy!

♫😍♫
Deanna

Smile Ukuleles help provide corrective surgery for children with severe cleft palate defects... 

My husband had a life-saving liver transplant a few years ago.  During the time that he was so critically ill, we gave a lot of thought the things we'd like to do with our lives...what we wished we had accomplished that we might not be able to if he were not to make it through this illness.

One of those things was "fixing a smile" for a child who was born with a cleft palate.  James made me promise that if he didn't survive, that I would accomplish that goal for him.  Well we praise the Lord that he did survive, and now we have begun the work of accomplishing some of the things on our list.  Because Boutique is my little dream business where each purchase benefits a cause close to my heart.

I was so excited to come across these smile ukuleles because they represent to me the goal of fixing that smile.  A portion of the proceeds from each of these instruments will be donated to the Christmas Smiles program of Life Outreach International.




This program provides corrective surgery for severe cleft palate defects, providing lifelong health benefits to children struggling to eat and breathe properly.

I thank God for the blessing of having had healthy children and grandchildren, like Jackson.






It warms my heart each time I see one of their smiles.  But I know there are many people who aren't as fortunate, and I want to help.  

When the child in your life opens their Smile Ukulele, it will put a smile on his or her face, which will warm your heart.  And I hope that each time you watch them play their ukulele, your heart will be warmed again as you remember that you helped me to help Life Outreach to fix a smile for a child in need.

Merry Christmas!

Deanna

Smile Ukulele in Yellow

Smile Ukulele in Green

Smile Ukulele in Pink

Smile Ukulele in Blue

Smile Ukulele in Red

Smile Ukulele in Purple

Jesus Loves Me Beary Much Shirt

“My faith, trust in God and my children. I watch my parents struggle with health problems. I need to be strong and healthy for my kids.”

“I have a hard time verbally expressing my commitment to God and his commitment to me,” Katy shared. “The tattoo starts the conversation for me”.    

Whatever that means to you…

• a self-exam? 

• a clinical breast screening? 

• or mammogram?

Do it to stay strong 😊

Motorcycles and Guitars…

… Sometimes, they just go together!



And when I knew I wanted to feature this guitar, I knew just the guy to help me out.

Brandon Beasley.



Brandon is a member, and currently serves as president, of Sovereign Disciples Motorcycle Club, whose mission, in part, is “To reach out into the…communities at large with the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

One way they are doing that is to sponsor a toy run event on Saturday, October 7, 2017.



Brandon says that his personal experiences, both as a child whose family found Christmas to be a “huge stretch” and later, as a single dad “struggling through Christmas, wondering how to make it all work”, contributed to why the toy run is important to him. These experiences “made the season miserable,” he said.

Brandon continued, “There are a lot of families going through that same situation every year. We have the ability to help people. We have a community with people in need, so we've decided to do a toy run this year to help out as much as we can”.

The toy run benefits families in Brandon’s hometown of Centralia, Missouri, where the club also plans to provide food for a Christmas meal to at least one family in the community. If you’d like to help support their efforts, you can do so by:

1) donating money or toys

2) sharing the Sovereign Disciples Toy Run facebook event

OR

3) purchasing a shirt, like this one



(Or many other Christian designs for men, women and children) Proceeds of shirts purchased by October 9th, your choice of design, will benefit the toy run. View designs and buy your shirt here.

Now…let me tell you about this awesome guitar!

This one-of-a-kind 1996 JS20-MIT Jackson guitar has a marbled black/silver custom paint job by the fabulous Mike Arnold! It has also been upgraded from the stock pickups to dual Duncan Designed humbuckers.

For more information on this guitar or how to purchase it, visit Arnold Music’s facebook page.



Thanks to Brandon Beasley. This motorcycle drivin’, Christ-sharin’, for-kids carin’ man’s got style!



Thanks also to Sovereign Disciples Motorcycle Club for helping kids this Christmas,



and to those of you who took the time to visit my blog…

You Rock!

I think it’s because this photo encapsulates much of what I know about Mary.   Her school years were filled with dancing, cheerleading and playing violin.  When I saw it, I thought to myself, “That photo really describes who Mary is”.  That’s a great photo, Tim Motley!

I’ve watched Mary grow up.  I think her family may have rented her first violin from my music store back when Mary was in the 5th grade J
. 

This dancing, cheering, music-playing, college-going, beautiful girl’s got Rockin’ Style!

Ahoy, Matey! (because it IS "Talk Like a Pirate Day", ya know!) Welcome to my new blog!  Shiver Me Timbers, the Sparkly Pig sure has a lot of great fashion finds!  Head on over and give 'em a look...you'll want to FILL your treasure chest with their clothing and accessories!  Aaargh!




This girl, though.....


...and yes, I know she's a beautiful young woman now, but she'll always be my "girl" :)  

If there's anyone I know that has "style", it's Taylor Warbritton. She's always, "cute as a button", but her style goes much further than outward appearance.  Anyone who knows her will know what I'm talking about.  Taylor exudes love, warmth and fun everywhere she goes.  When I called her about being the model for my premier Rockin' Style blog post, she said "You had me at Pig"!  Sparkly Pig, that is. Taylor is a long-time friend of April Baker, owner of The Sparkly Pig in Mexico, MO, from back when they used to show pigs together.  She's also my long-time friend, ever since she used to come into my music store every week to sing for me.  She started entertaining people at a young age, both acting and singing, and she now entertains on a regular basis, traveling with her Modern Rock/Pop/Country Cover Band, Funhouse Riot.  




We had fun playin' pirate for the morning at The Sparkly Pig.  But of course, our glam eye patch is actually a beautiful headband.



This photo contains my favorite items in April's store.  I love the teastained color...cuff bracelets... and vintage-inspired look of these items. 



Taylor took the opportunity to do some personal shopping as well. When she tried this outfit on, she decided she needed it to wear on-stage.



This violin represents something near to my heart.  



It was a donation to the Gabriel's Song Project.  This project was started as a way of providing music instruments to children in foster care and at-risk kids.  When the former owner of this violin brought it to me, he said "God told me to give it to a child that couldn't afford an instrument".  We've been doing needed repairs, and it will soon be ready to head to it's new owner.  If you'd like to donate an instrument or if you know of a child in need, please contact me.

Thanks to April for hosting Rockin' Style at The Sparkly Pig this week.  Also to my singin', pig-showin', joy sharin' friend, Taylor, for modeling.  And to each of you for stopping by to check out my blog!




Great news!  Anyone who: a) fills out the contact form at the bottom of this blog, AND b) follows my blog this week (follow by email at top right of page), will be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to The Sparkly Pig!!  If you can't visit in person, April will be glad to ship your order!