Something to think about

Here's a little quote I had saved many years ago. This one will make you stop and think!

"A famous publisher declares, 'If you are an articulate person, you utter some thirty thousand words each day.' If these words were put in print, they would amount to a fair-sized book every day. These books would, in a lifetime, fill a college library. All these books are from the same author, all reflecting your life in your own words. And not a book can be withdrawn from circulation. The thought is a bit frightening. It emphasizes the fearful responsibility that goes with the gift of speech, and also the glorious privilege that is inherent in speech seasoned with grace."

"Let your speech be always with grace." (Colossians 4:6)

Creativity from a good friend

Just had to show you all what a dear friend did with a vintage Valentine she found on my blog. This Valentine is a favorite in my small collection. My friend borrowed the image I had posted

The original Valentine image

and made an Artist Trading Card out of it. I'll let her tell you how she did this in her own words:
"I saved, printed and cut out the Valentine card on your blog and glued it to a piece of cardboard that I had crackle painted. ... It looks a little faded on the scan but that is because the cardboard curved slightly as the paint dried so it didn't rest flat on the scanner bed. Anyway, you get the idea. I used red flocking on the bow, Stickles gold glitter around the heart and I accented the flowers with gel pens."

The finished Artist Trading Card

"I also took fine sandpaper and went over the edges and corners of the cardboard after the paint had dried to make it look more worn and old."

Didn't she do an amazing job?

Back-on-track challenge update

As I mentioned last week, I decided not to update my blog regarding this challenge every day. I thought it might be better to post a weekly update as to how things went. So again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with.

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I did really well with exercising. I did my simple exercise routine 4 days out of the 5 that I aim for, and went for a walk 6 days out of 7. On a couple of those days I went out walking twice. I did pretty well with eating healthy through the week, only eating dessert on Sunday. I got plenty of sleep. Drinking enough water still needs work, but I did drink much more water (and green tea) this week.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

This week I memorized 1 Corinthians 13:6-7 and spent quite a bit of time meditating on Philippians 4:8

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money

This week I did some extra work in the weekly zone, which was the bathroom and home office. I scrubbed the tub/shower and washed the shower curtain and tub mat. I did quite a bit of decluttering and filing in the computer room. I also added some items to my bag for the thrift store. Also, FlyLady has been sending out some special "Olympic" events and I've been enjoying doing some of those. My plan is to do them all.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote some long overdue notes to friends again this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lessons for this week and next. Began planning and preliminary research for the kids' summer devotional I write each spring. Had a lovely long phone conversation with a faraway friend.

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

This week I was able to post on my blog several times. I also did some work on cross-stitch and embroidery projects. I also downloaded some patterns for future sewing projects.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! All in all, it felt like a pretty on-track week, but there's always room for improvement.

Winter decorating

Look at this cheery little house in the wintry woods! I wonder what it's like inside?

I have been wanting to post some photos of my winter decorating. When the Christmas decorations come down, I leave out most of my "snow" decor like snowmen, snowflakes, icicles, etc. and then will often add other things to complete the winter decorating. Once Valentine's Day is over, spring is still a long, long way off up here. So glittery snowflakes and iridescent icicles fill the need for light and sparkle!

This was my back door in January. A dear friend made the "January" garland for me. I think it looks just perfect with the snowman sign beneath it.

This is a mitten-themed card made for me by the same friend.

This cute little cake dome was $5 on clearance at Marshalls. I have been wanting something like this for a long time, but was waiting for an affordable price. I will enjoy using it to display all manner of seasonal things. (I thought of this too late for Valentine's Day, but wouldn't it have been cute to display some felt Valentine sugar cookies, on a paper doily of course?)

For now, I have a cute little glittery house and a bottle brush tree, all from Gooseberry Patch, in here.

This shows the entire hutch decorated for winter.

The red "mittens" on the middle shelf are actually floating candles which my daughter gave me for my birthday.

The top shelf has just my favorite Proverbs 31 cross-stitch and 2 Thomas Kinkade candleholders.

Next is the glittery snowy stuff.

The tag on the left was made by me and the little kids in the picture are me, my brother and cousin. The "Snow" card was made by the same talented friend who made the January garland.

A closer look at the snowman-themed shelf.

Love those little papier-mache snowman containers with their wire handles and felt noses! Can you believe the 2 snowmen on the right came from a dollar store?

Hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the winter decorating around here!

A spot (almost literally) of Valentine decorating

I literally did just a spot (well, maybe two) of Valentine decorating this year. The holiday really sneaked up on me. Something about it being on a Sunday, I guess.

I put up my Valentine ribbon board (with a couple of new additions, one being the felt skate ornament which I made from a vintage pattern).
The skate had been on the Christmas tree, but I decided it went well with the Valentine theme, being red & white.
Later, I also hung this Valentine garland which I made from scrapbooking paper a couple of years ago. I didn't take a photo this year, so here is an older photo of the garland. It doesn't show up too well, but ivory letters near the tip of the triangle spell out the word "L-O-V-E".

This year I hung it above the back door rather than the corner cupboard, but otherwise it's exactly the same.

And that's it for my Valentine decorating. In a day or two maybe I can post some photos of my winter decorating... that's a little bit more inspired!

Back-on-track challenge update

With this challenge, I decided not to update my blog every day. I thought it might be better to post a weekly update as to how things went. So again, here are the areas I'm trying to get back on track with.

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

This week I did really well with exercising. I did my simple exercise routine 5 days out of 7 (which is what I usually aim to do) and went for a walk 4 days out of 7. I did pretty well with eating healthy through the week, though the weekend wasn't so good. My ideal eating plan is to eat healthfully as much as possible but I do allow myself dessert on the weekend. I got plenty of sleep. Drinking enough water still needs work, as I don't enjoy drinking water when I feel chilly.

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

I found a Scripture memory plan and started on it. This week I memorized 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 and meditated a bit on Philippians 4:8

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money

This week I did some extra work in the weekly zone, which was the kitchen. One big thing was to have my hubby help me pull the fridge away from the wall so we could clean behind and under it and also clean the side, and the side of the stove which is right next to it. It didn't take us more than 15 minutes, but what a great feeling to have that done. I also bagged up a few things to take to the thrift store. Also, FlyLady has been sending out some special "Olympic" events and I've been enjoying doing some of those. My plan is to do them all.

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

I wrote some long overdue notes to friends this week. Also spent lots of time on my Sunday School lessons for this week and next. Began doing some thinking about the children's devotional book I write each spring.

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

This week I was able to post on my blog several times. I also did some work on cross-stitch and embroidery projects and did some scrapbook journaling. I also did some creative kitchen things -- made cinnamon rolls and glazed brownie hearts with my granddaughters.

So that's how this week has gone for the back-on-track challenge! All in all, I'm pleased with how the week went, but there's always room for improvement.

Living in the light of creativity...

Today I want to share some thoughts about nurturing creativity in our homemaking and in every aspect of life.  I need to be exercising my God-given gift of creativity in my homemaking (as well as in other areas) each and every day.

Quite a few years ago I happened upon some unique Thomas Kinkade calendars at the dollar store. They were unusual because each month emphasized living our lives in light of a particular quality. One that stood out to me was "Living in the Light of Creativity." I like to feel that I live my life in this way. I was thinking about this concept one afternoon as I worked in my simple scrapbook journal. I had cut out the little picture of this particular calendar page from the back of the calendar, and was preparing to paste it into my journal. I mused for a few minutes on what it means to live one's life in the light of creativity.

The artist, Thomas Kinkade, has written his thoughts on this calendar page. He wrote, "When I create, God lights a fresh candle of joy for the world." I thought, That's undoubtedly true for Thomas Kinkade. Each of his paintings will "light a candle of joy" for countless people all over the world.

But what about me? What does it look like when I live my life in the light of creativity?

When I personally create, I know it "lights a candle of joy" for me. I seem to need creativity in my life to feel truly complete. A little creativity each day -- be it in the craft room, at the computer, or in the kitchen -- seems necessary for me.

And just maybe, those on the receiving end of the creativity... a poem, a blog post, a devotional thought, a magnificent dessert, a homey meal, a cozy room, some homemade fudge, a hand-crafted gift... will have a "candle of joy" lit for them as well. Because when all is said and done, creativity is not just a God-given gift for our own enjoyment; it's meant to be shared.

Another pillowcase project

Today for Building Our Homes Together, I thought I would share some homemade grocery bags that are truly frugal to make. It seems that in some parts of our country, it is now pretty much mandatory to use reusable grocery bags. These are especially frugal because you may already have the makings right in your linen closet! Have fun with this idea!

Here's the post, which again, is an older one:

I mentioned how I seemed to be in a real pillowcase mode with my Christmas gifts this year... I made vintage style ones and also embroidered and cross-stitched ones. But it went beyond that. I saw a tutorial for making pillowcase grocery totes from existing pillowcases. You can find it here:

pillowcase grocery totes

I had so much fun making these. I wanted to make a set for each of my daughters for Christmas. I think I ended up with a set of eight for each girl, plus I made a few for myself. Mostly, I just used pillowcases I had on hand. We love flannel sheets, but we don't love flannel pillowcases (not to sleep on, anyway; I've occasionally used some as sort of slipcovers for pillows). And every set of flannel sheets comes with two of them. They turned out to make gorgeous, sturdy grocery totes. I also purchased several pillowcases at the thrift store for 50¢ each to use for this project. Each tote took an hour or less to make. It was so much fun to see how the different prints turned out!

A snowflake tote.

This was a king-size pillowcase from the thrift store.

A blue toile in flannel

This flannel sheep pillowcase made a smaller tote, so I kept it for myself.

More snowflakes.

A western design.

Most importantly, I managed to devise a way to present the pillowcase grocery totes as a gift! That had been on my mind for some time. Of course I could have just stuffed them in a gift bag or a large box, but then the recipients would have to think of a way to store them. My idea was to make the gift packaging something that would be usable for storing the bags.

As I observed shoppers at my local supermarket, I noticed that most of them who use fabric bags just bring them all stuffed into one bag, and then just send that bag along on the conveyor ahead of their groceries. I also envisioned that they probably store the fabric bags in just the same way -- stuffed into one bag and hung on a peg or nail or whatever.

So it made sense to package the bags within one of the totes. But I wanted/needed some sort of label -- something to make it look a bit gift-y and to identify it. So I came up with the idea to make a clear plastic pocket for the container tote and to attach it with bias tape. I then made up a label to slip into the clear pocket.
For the plastic pocket, I utilized a clear plastic pocket that had come on a package of pillowcases -- a set that I had bought to embroider. I cut the pocket off, then edged it with bias tape and sewed it to the tote, then slipped the label in.

The pocket without the label in place.

I designed the label to be the right size to fit the pocket and printed it out on card stock. I figured that when the recipient starts using the bags, she can put anything she'd like in the clear pocket -- coupons, shopping list, a picture of the kids, whatever. I am quite pleased with how this idea worked out.

The pocket with label in place

So there you have it. I couldn't share all this before, much as I wanted to, because then two Christmas gifts would no longer have been a secret! Hope someone else can use this idea!

If you would like to see more Building Our Homes together, click the links below!

Starting anew...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been somewhat off track ever since Christmas. Throughout December I raced to finish up projects I was making for Christmas gifts. On New Year's night, we had our final gift exchange. I paused to make a list of New Year goals, but there was no time to begin implementing them. We received exciting news that our faraway daughter, husband and three little ones would come to visit in mid-January. Immediately I plunged into the enjoyable task of planning for their visit. Before we knew it, they were here! Four days after their arrival, my mother passed away. It was not completely unexpected, but we honestly had not thought it would be so soon. The rest of January was filled with fun family times along with more sobering moments as I tried to help my dad begin adjusting to life without my mother, along with plenty of required paperwork. Until today there hasn't been much time to draw a breath, never mind think about my goals. I am going to start today on another back-on-track challenge. Here are the areas I'll be working on:

* health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

* spiritual life -- especially Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

* homemaking -- getting back into my FlyLady routines with an eye to decluttering the entire house in 2010; spending less money

* ministry -- taking time to connect with people on a regular basis; using my God-given talents and gifts for His glory

* creativity -- trying to do something creative, no matter how small, every day

Perhaps some of you have been feeling the same way. It's not too late to get back on track, so feel free to join me in this challenge!

A fun kitchen gift to make

Here is a fun gift idea for a friend or relative who likes to bake. I had purchased a lovely spatterware pie plate as a birthday gift for my daughter, but wanted to dress it up in some way.

I decided to add bags of homemade pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice. I stirred up these spice mixtures, then packaged them in sandwich size zip-top plastic bags. Then I made a fabric bag for each one and designed a tag on the computer. I strung the tags on jute and tied them around the bag tops which were first secured with rubber bands.

The gift still needed something more, so I made up a little cookbook of favorite pie recipes.

I got the idea from a Gooseberry Patch book -- Holiday Open House. It was intended to be a little booklet of cookie recipes to share at a cookie swap. I thought it would adapt well to a cookbook for any category of recipes. I found some very cute recipe cards online to print out and use for it. I was able to type the recipes right onto the cards before printing them out.

This was a real lifesaver because I just didn't have time to design my own right then. You can find the cards I used at Graphics Garden.

I put everything into the pie plate and set it all into a pretty snowflake print plastic "cookie plate bag" from the dollar store. The gift even smelled nice because of the spice mixes! My daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift!

This idea could be adapted for almost any category of recipes -- a colander with Italian spices and a book of pasta recipes, for example, or a cookie sheet with cookie spices and cookie recipes. Have fun with this idea!