Cut and Fold

Rather than slipping the gift card into a greeting card,

I recycled a greeting card to make a box to fit the gift card.

(I've seen one before, but I'm not sure I've tried my hand at one until now.)

I googled to find a pattern and found it delightfully easy to construct!
***
I was doubly pleased when I turned the box top over
and found the Christ Child in its center--
as though I'd made an effort to place Him there...
I hadn't.
But I AM determined to keep Him as the focus
in my personal life and celebrations this season.
I am well aware that it doesn't just "happen"
as easily as it did with the box top!
 

A Different Spin on Easter Eggs

Last night, our Home Connection walked through a very abbreviated Seder Meal (the traditional experience would last anywhere from 2 to 4 hours).  The Seder Meal was the last meal Jesus participated in with His disciples before His crucifixion.  I have not studied the origin and significance of this meal as many have...but I DID learn that Seder means "order".  There is a specific order in which the meal unfolds.  There is significance in all the items on the Seder menu.  Each is a teaching tool to celebrate and pass on the story of God's deliverance of His people from bondage.

I was a little surprised to find that one of the items on a Seder plate was a roasted egg.   One explanation describes it as being a symbol of the suffering and oppression of God's people in Egypt.  Everything else in boiling water becomes soft or disintegrates. But an egg becomes hard, like the Israelites. The more it is boiled, the harder it becomes. Another source said the egg also symbolizes new life while yet another said it represented the Temple sacrifice.

This morning, I got out the last remnants of fabric that had been included in a wallpaper sample book that I have almost exhausted from various uses (lining drawers, wrapping small gifts, other crafts).   I cut out egg shapes, stuffed them with cut out pieces of an old athletic sock (I didn't have any proper stuffing), and stitched them up.  I think they'll fit in flat envelopes nicely.  I'll date them and sign them and stick them in the mail to our grandchildren who won't be able to spend Easter with us. 

I saw something similar while blog-hopping the other day.  

Unfortunately I didn't write down where I was hopping!  

I'll give credit if anyone can help me out!

HOW TO TELL IF AN EGG IS HARD-BOILED OR NOT
Gently place the egg on its side on a countertop.
Spin it. If it spins freely, it's hard-boiled.
If it wobbles and stops spinning, it's NOT!

Sincere Art/Sincere Action

 Before leaving for our Study Group this morning,

I decided to make heart hang-ups for each lady. 

I pulled out my almost-depleted wallpaper sample book,

cut out heart shapes, cut backgrounds on which I glued the hearts,

printed out favorite quotes from the chapter we're studying today (Celebration of Discipline),

glued on a button or two, modpodged & punched a hole for a ribbon hanger.

Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words.  

I John 3:18

I am challenged to add sincere action to my sincere "art", as well.

How will YOU be showing YOUR love in the next few days?

Crafty, I'm Not!

Crafty, I'm not!  But I recognize a good thing when I see it!  I hope someone who reads this will tell me where I saw the idea  so I can give proper credit.  (I'm admitting that I do a lot of blog browsing and don't always remember where I've been!)

When I showed the picture of a Christmas wreath fashioned from bed springs to a gentleman in our church who could weld them together, ANOTHER man said he had bed springs and would deliver them to our house promptly.  (He seemed STRANGELY eager to do this!)  And sure enough, the springs showed up in front of our shed the next morning.

This is my husband holding the frame out of which he has patiently cut the individual springs!

It took 14 of them to make a wreath.  Below is one I eventually finished.  We fastened them together temporarily with fine wire, but will take them to be welded together soon.

 

 Once welded and shaped better, I will spray paint them--either green or white, I think. We have enough springs cut for 4 wreaths (and a whole other set of springs left)!
Hey, the price was right!

Do you have any suggestions for alternative ways to decorate them? 

Or do you think I'm just as crazy as the welder-to-be thinks I am?!?

Models: Find One and Be One

For some of you, this might be an old story (our dollhouses, etc.).  But there's a new twist here!  My husband had just started refurbishing this dollhouse that I purchased in a Chicago thrift store for $1.50.  It had a sloppy paint job and was a blotchy pink color all over.  I asked him to paint the roof brown. the window frames white, and the doors green.  He got this far and asked if this was what I had in mind.


About that time, I received communication from a friend touring France.  She included this picture...of Claude Monet's home.  "It's OUR dollhouse!" I exclaimed.

This is the newly painted exterior.  We left the pink rustic.

Then I took the plunge and decided to add Monet's vines--at least to the chimney...

Though we had started the project, it was helpful to have a good model to follow.  It's not so different in life.  The Apostle Paul knew this when he told the Corinthian Christians, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1).

I realize that I look for examples in both "real life" and the blog world.  I ALSO realize that it is important to evaluate and be selective about the models we follow as well as the models we display to others.  

I'm not sure the chapter division a good one in this case.  Right before it (at the end of chapter 10) Paul writes:  So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I try to please everybody in every way.  For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

This is a model I can trust.  This is the kind of model I want to be.

Working Wonders!

See the wall-papered rooms up close here!
My Man, His Projects, My Pleasure.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." (Ephesians 5:25 and following)
Every day, in big ways and small, my husband loves me and gives himself up for me.

Faith to Sight

Here is the completed Christmas tree - fired and equipped with white lights.  Not all "faith" results in "sight" so soon!  If you were with me over a week ago, you saw this tree BEFORE its firing.  Hard to believe it would look like this! 

This transformation reminds me of what I look forward to by faith. I John 3:2-3 says, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we WILL be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."

Don't you LOVE it?  No eye has seen, ear heard, or mind comprehended what we who have put our trust in Jesus Christ will become when we see Jesus!  And this hope, this faith motivates me toward purity of life, heart and mind.....until faith turns to sight!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

(From It Is Well With My Soul)

Eating Crow

Wikipedia explains it this way: 

Eating crow (archaically, eating boiled crow) is an English-language idiom meaning humiliation by admitting wrongness or having been proven wrong after taking a strong position. Eating crow is presumably foul-tasting in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow. Eating crow is of a family of idioms having to do with eating and being proven incorrect, such as to "eat dirt", to "eat your words", and to "eat your hat" (or shoe).

Saturday we discovered a new (to us) shop.  The Crows Corner in Edgerton, OH was a delight--I'm standing outside it at this link.  It's family-owned and many of the items are rustic crafts made by the owners and their young daughters.  I purchased this crow (Shhhhhhh!  Mostly for the pattern for my "wonder working" husband--who by the way is making progress on the doll house!).  I'm still trying to figure out why I am attracted to crows.  Maybe it's their black "attire".  I like to wear black and feel most elegant when I'm wearing a black dress.

While I like their color and profile, I do NOT enjoy "eating crow"!