Thursday, December 22, 2011

Daily Devotionals via Email!

Today, in the midst of all our holiday preparations, I thought I'd share a wonderful devotional that I have been subscribed to for several years now.  It is published by Crosswalk .com, which in itself is a wealth of resources.  The devotional I have been enjoying each morning is called Girlfriends in God.  Each is written by one of 3 women...Mary Southerland, Sharon Jaynes and Gwen Smith.  I have been fed daily by their stories and the relating scripture...I have laughed and cried as I've been touched by God as He uses this tool to speak to me personally.
If you are a busy mom, like me, and find it hard to make time for a devotional each day, then I highly recommend you check out this wonderful service.  I have mine delivered each day via my email.  How many of us check our email several times each day?  I know I do.  So, if I can make time for that, why not the few minutes it takes to read my GIG devotional?  It has had a profound impact on my life and I just can't say enough good things about it!  I hope you'll go and check it out and find out for yourself!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Simple Kitchen Candle Holder!

As I was putting away some baking pans this morning, I had a moment of inspiration!  My mini muffin/tart pans would be perfect candle holders for my extra votive candles!
 I'm hoping to find some pretty ribbon to lay around it and tie into a bow, but at the moment, my ribbon collection is MIA!!
Instead of filling it completely with candles, I added some round red candies left over from the gingerbread house. The tins were found at a 2nd hand store, and are the older, non-teflon variety.
Now my kitchen counter is decked out for the holidays too!

Monday, December 19, 2011

From Cards to Boxes! -Little Box Tutorial

We all have them....cards friends and family have sent to us in previous years...or leftover cards from the ones we sent out last year. ( If you're like me there may even be many years of leftover cards in a tote!) Here's a great way to re-use those cards! Little boxes to tuck little gifts into!

My wonderful Dad came home from work one night and shared this with our family.  Some one at the office had showed him how to make these.  My Dad is now in a care facility with Alzheimer Disease.  This post is dedicated to him and is in memory of all the wonderful Christmases we had as a family.
I hope this tutorial will be easy to follow and not leave your scratching your head going "huh??"  
Here it goes!


Any size card will do...just don't use those ones with shaped edges.

Here are the tools you'll need to make them. A pen, ruler, scissors and clear tape.

The first step is to cut the card in half at the fold.  The front will be the top of the box, while the back is the bottom.

This step determines how big your box is going to be.  Generally,  a 1 inch high side will be the best, but you can make them smaller or bigger depending on the measurements you use.
I used a 1 inch measurement in this example.
Take the back of the card first and measure in from each side exactly 1 inch and mark with a dot. Next join the dots so that along each side you have drawn a line 1 inch from the edges.
Now for the top of the card, which will be the top of the box, you will need to make it slightly bigger so it will fit over the bottom.  To do this, measure the same as for the bottom, but make your 'dot mark' a little closer to the edge. To rephrase that, instead of marking at exactly the 1 inch mark on the ruler, mark the 9/10ths mark. I find that is usually enough.

Next step is to cut from the top and bottom edges to the point where the lines cross.  Only from the top and bottom!
This is how your top and bottom should look once you have cut from the edges to the intersecting points.  Now you can fold along all of the lines.  Make the fold nice and sharp!
Using the clear tape, fasten the corner flaps to the inside of the box, now forming the box shape. Repeat this for the top and the bottom.  You can use as little or as much tape as needed.  To make them a little more 'skookum' you can fold tape over the edge of the ends, or just tape on the insides as I have done here.
Now put your two 1/2s together and there you have a sweet little box!
The one on the left in this picture is the one demonstrated with a 1 inch side. The one on the right is one I used a 1 1/2 inch measurement, which makes the sides 1 1/2 inches high.  You can try 1/2 inch sides as well, which would give you a flatter box.
I hope you've been able to understand these directions.  If you have any questions, please comment and I will try to clarify anything 'fuzzy'!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

It's up!!

Here is our tree last night...it had to drip dry before we could put on the lights and get it decorated.   We also discovered this morning that our very sturdy tree stand must have gotten a crack in it somehow.  As we were pulling the towels out from underneath, we realized that the water on the floor was coming from under the stand!  Oh no!!  We are hoping that by putting the entire stand into a heavy duty garbage bag it will not leak and we can still give the poor tree enough water each day to keep it green til after New Years Eve.  Guess what I'll be shopping the after Christmas sales for.  That, and another string of lights.  A nasty  pack rat chewed through all my tree lights this fall and I had to buy new ones.  I bought 3 boxes of 100 lights, but I think another 100 would be nice.

 It took all day to get it done and get the remnants cleaned up and put away til the season is over.  It is 11 feet tall and I was up and down the ladder many, many times!  It looks so pretty, and the house smells like Christmas now!  I think we are just about ready!