Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Our tree is little this year but it is real. We put the village underneath as well.

I made finger puppets for our nursery (at church) this year. I got the idea from Etsy here. I didn't spend alot of time getting every cut correct because of time. My pattern for Jospeph and Mary was a stick of deodorant. I did this because I'd like to make more in the future for other lessons we do with the toddlers. A pattern I'll surly lose but not the stick :)

Happy Valentines Day

For Valentines Day this year my daughter and I made mini buntings out of scrapbook paper and cotton yarn.  We nipped the corners off after we folded them. I glued them with a hot glue gun for a fast assembly.

Our cut triangles are about 3" from top to bottom.

Lizzy made a 8" X 10" of this kitty and wanted to scan it and make it into a Valentine wish this year. She is becoming quite creative on her own :)

Honey It Was Cold Outside

 

The day we went to get a tree it was in the teens, we were all freezing but I should have asked for my oldest daughters camera so I can take a picture of her that day. It was fun experience except it was freezing. All of the trees look perfect when you are cold :o)

 

The hymn we chose for our garland is called A Baby is Born in Bethlehem. At hymns.me.uk you can find many hymns. BTW I couldn't fit the whole hymn on the tree. I am wondering your ideas about your trees this year. Do you go with a different theme every year? Do you add something new? Please let me know :)

A Babe is born in Bethlehem
Christmas Hymn & Carol Lyrics

A Babe is born in Bethlehem, Bethlehem,
Therefore rejoice Jerusalem,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Within a manger He doth lie, He doth lie,
Whose throne is set above the sky.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Stillness was all the manger round, manger round,
The creature its Creator found.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The wise men came, led by the star, by the star,
Gold, myrrh, and incense brought from far.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

His mother is the virgin mild, virgin mild,
And He the Father’s only Child.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The serpent’s wound He beareth not, beareth not,
Yet takes our blood, and shares our lot,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Our human flesh He enters in, enters in,
But bears no single taint of sin.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

To fallen man Himself He bowed, self He bowed,
That He might lift us up to God.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

On this most blessèd Jubilee, Jubilee,
All glory be, O God, to Thee.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

O Holy Three, we Thee adore, Thee adore,
This day, henceforth, forevermore.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Our 2010 Tree

 We got a real tree this year which is a first in a long time. The last real tree was a hatchery for spiders, thousands of them. My girls are terrified of spiders so we went the artificial route for a many year.

A few days ago I was visiting a craft blog, I thought it was Living with Lindsay but can't find the post,  and was inspired by her inspiration of Pottery Barn's garland. I really liked the idea, so I decided to find a beautiful Christmas Hymn to use for our tree. I'll get another picture soon of the whole tree but wanted to share the idea. I used 8.5 X 11 paper that was antique looking. I printed the hymn on to the paper, 3 lines per sheet in landscape, thanks to Publisher and then cut them out using Pfisher scrolly scissors. Taped them together in the back and place the garland on the tree. :)

Our Tree with Christmas Hymn Garland

Where are your Christmas Cards This Year?

Are your cards:
on the table,
in the car,
on your desk,
in the mail,
or
delivered?

This year was sweet, I added senior pictures of my oldest daughter. I'm glad to have about 8 years before senior pictures are added with the Christmas cards  again :)

Happy Easter

Today is Good Friday for Christians. I've been trying to write something here, but now I keep erasing what I wrote, I'm just not capturing what I want to say. So I hope you don't mind that I borrowed these thoughts on the Resurrection.

What do you think was the most significant event in human history? Unquestionably, the greatest event was the faint sound of a heartbeat in a cold and lifeless body in a tomb, two thousand years ago. The sound of blood rushing through the heart of Jesus of Nazareth was a sound that will thunder throughout eternity, because of its incredible implications.

The fact that God raised someone from the dead is not really significant. He raised the dead a number of times both in the Old and New Testaments. But this resurrection had enormous lawful repercussions. It was evidence that the Judge of the universe had acknowledged that the payment for our sins was acceptable. It was the key that unlocked the door to immortality for humanity.

Here's another question for you. What is the most precious substance in the universe? It was unquestionably the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing else could redeem us from the just curse of God's Law. When eternal justice called for our blood, and Jesus gave His blood to atone for our crimes. We were not redeemed with silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ.

Many Jews had been crucified as criminals by the Roman cross. All suffered unspeakable pain. But this Jew's suffering was different because He was the Lamb of God, whose blood did not contain the taint of sin carried by the lineage of Adam. He was truly the Lamb of God.

These are wonderful biblical truths that Christians know and rejoice in. But, this Easter, millions of both Jews and Gentiles will celebrate biblical events that they don't fully understand. For one or two holy days they will give God thanks for His mercy and for the Passover lamb. Christians celebrate Easter and the resurrection of the Passover Lamb every day of the year.

May you have a blessed Easter.

Easy Blown Easter Eggs

Klazane explains how she hung these little treasures here. The Adventures of Mub posted about an adorable project she is working on for Easter. This has inspired me to begin working on gifts for Easter this year. Last year was our first year to make blown eggs. I have not ever tried it before because it looked too hard.
With a little coaxing begging from my kids we gave it a try. We were all thrilled that it worked and we had made alot of them.
This is how easy it is:
1. Wash all eggs with cool or warm water. You will have your mouth on the egg shell.
2. Dry
3. Poke both ends of an egg several times with a sharp sewing needle. One hole needs to be larger than the other. The smaller hole size only needs to be big enough to blow in. The bottom hole should be about 1/8" to 3/16" big because it needs to be big enough to allow the yolk out without cracking your egg. (Hint: It worked easier if we poked a circle of holes less than 1/8" apart). If you break the yolk it should come out easier :)
4. Blow your eggs into containers (like Gladware) so that you can use them. If they sit for a while egg shell pieces usually will settle to the bottom of the container.
5. Now you can wash your eggs with a little soapy water, but I think we just rinsed them off and let them air dry.
6. Decorate as usual. You may have to shake out dye that gets into your eggs.
7. When your creations are finished add ribbon for hanging.

Well, I'll be making everyone eggs for breakfast for a few weeks so that we have enough to make plenty of gifts.

Note:If you search tutorials for this you may see that they recommend you blow out the eggs after you decorate them. I think they recommend this because an empty egg does not sit in the dyed water, it floats. I didn't want to risk blowing out a masterpiece only to have it break in the process, so we blew out our eggs before hand. Hollow eggs are alot more fragile than hard boiled.


We used a white crayon and dye you get from the store to create most of these.

Lizzy at 2

This dear sweet picture was taken 5 years ago. Weekly, Lizzy would wear this little costume when she was 2. It came with red/white stiped knee socks and white bloomers.

Treat Bag

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had to quickly create a few treat bags and got this idea from Zakka Life. I only had about 2 hours to make something. We didn't have lunch bags, only cellophane treat bags and I couldn't find a cute color for the "awning". So I recruited the girls to help me in using markers. If you take a look at Zakka Life you will see tons of ideas for everything. Jessica knows how to make anything cute.

Valentine Box

When my oldest was in Elementary School she had to make a box for her Valentine cards. I think I may have gotten this idea from a magazine.
We used a shoe box and cut a little hole at the top for her cards. We then covered it with yellow paper. The front is foamie decorated with markers. We added a grossgrain bow which was topped with a red foamie heart with my daughters name on it. For the back we cut out the shape of the tail and the legs, which cannot be seen, but this added a really cute touch to the project.