Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to each of you.

I was listening to some Christmas music yesterday which led me to dwell on the baby Jesus. I wondered if he was a fussy baby, if he had croup, if he gave his parent's trouble with sleeping. Did he fall asleep easily, take naps, spit out his veggies. Then I realized how awesome it is that our Lord, our savior, our redeemer was a baby, cried and was cared for by Mary. How awesome is this that I can today ponder these questions that he was fully human and needy of a Mother's affections.

I hope that each of you are able to spend a moment reflecting this. That you are known by him and are loved abundantly. May you realize you were loved so much that God give Jesus to all that will believe in him.

Merry Christmas and may you fully realize the Lord's blessings in your life!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all that celebrate it!

I love making my own Christmas Cards and the Creative Memories Storybook software helps me so much in creating these. Last year I purchased a few vintage postcards and used those to create my cards using the Storybook software. I was in one of my favorite shops around Easter last year and discovered a few vintage Christmas postcards and purchased them. I have so much fun scanning these in and creating my own cards using bits and pieces of each vintage postcard. Above is actually an Easter postcard that I found of Mary. I love this picture of her and cropped her to convert her to a Christmas Card. I think it captures the true meaning of Christmas so wonderfully.

Below are the other three cards I created using the software, our own family pictures and bits and pieces of the vintage post cards. I love the modern card of just the two kids, very different from the traditional feel of the other two. I used some of the tools in the Storybook software and I think this took me literally 2 minutes to create. Sometimes simple is better!

Enjoy!!!

New Craft Venture . .this is why I have been absent.

I found the idea for this craft in a holiday craft magazine. I will have to scan the picture in to share. The craft used instant paper mache which I have never worked with before. Well at least since grade school!

I called them snowmen tassels and they came out very unique and very eccentric. They each had a their own personality and should have each had their own name. I would have named each individually if I had time more time! These were a labor of love to say the least. I enjoyed working with the paper mache and the more I made the better I became at working with the medium. I found the fast dry paper mache is better to work with and only takes a couple of days to dry! :-)

I would have taken some action shots but your hands get really messy and honestly no one else was around! I had to make these during naps or bed times as this was not a 3 year old friendly project. Or I should say not a project for a 3 year old while you are trying to sell your house at the same time! :-)

So here is the before picture:

And here are their pictures from their photos shoots. I made about 14 in all. This is just a sampling! I may try and perfect this as the medium was very fun to work with.

Gingersnaps!

I love a good Gingersnap, it has to be crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. My father-n-law also loves Gingersnap. We had my mother-n-law and father-n-law over for dinner Sunday night and to decorate the tree. I re-discovered the recipe when looking for a cooking recipe other than chocolate chip cookies. This is a great easy recipe and one of my tried and true. Thought I would share this recipe since it is that time of year when you are invited to cookie swaps! Enjoy!!!!

I should note that this recipe was in a publication called The Dinner Bells which was a collection of recipes benefiting St. Jame's church here in Richmond.

The Inn At Little Washington's Gingersnaps

3c flour

1 1/2 T. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ginger

1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 T. unsalted butter, softened & cut into pieces

1/2 cup dark molasses

2 eggs

Extra sugar for dipping dough

Mix all ingredients together. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Loosen cookies with spatula. Cookies will be soft but firm up as they cool. Cool for 30 minutes then transfer to paper towels. Freezes well.

Yields 3 dozen.

Days Til Christmas & Give away

I loved viewing some great advent/Christmas countdown calenders recently on a few blogs. I had one that was victim to a stomach bug last year (you don't want to know, trust me) so I needed to replace it!

Always up for a challenge, I wanted to create one too. I decided to restrict myself to using only items I had on hand. I used some leftover fabric, my Cricut Expression machine with scrap paper, paint, ribbon, glue gun and magnets. The only challenge now is to find items small enough to fit in the 1/2" "bag"! I am hoping stickers, and mini candy canes will work. I also used a secret craft item to get the bags to be removeable from the countdown! One hint, I used them in another craft project I worked on.

Since I haven't done a give-away recently whomever can guess how the magnets on the back of the bags stick to the canvas, I will send them some handmade Christmas tags found in my July post




Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! I was so thankful for jeans with stretch afterwards! :-) I had visions of Joey on Friends when he borrowed some maternity pants!

A little rock and a LONG story!

I love giving gifts, actually I love creating gifts to give. When my daughter was less than 6 months old God decided to bless me with an encounter with a new Mom. Lori had just formed a playgroup and invited me. These girls have been my most cherished friends ever since. Lori also invited me to her church and had a large part with me re-discovering my Christian faith. I have been creating different gifts for Christmas for them for a few years now. Last year I made aprons out of vintage handkerchiefs. These turned out great and were a very fun project.
So this year I am a little hesitant or lacking confidence I should say and would love your feedback.

A little background first . . . We vacationed in Topsail, NC this year. It was a particular hard week for me as Mr. Jackpot had to work (the wonderful side effect of being your own boss) so I was on my own with my two kids for most of the week. I discovered that Topsail beaches have some wonderful polished rocks. These are thin and smooth and each has their own shape. Being that I was in a particular contemplative mood, I began thinking how God shapes each of us just like these rocks. He works constantly and lovingly to shape us into his image. Sometimes there are rough times just like the sand but it works for His glory to smooth us. Each individual rock gets his attention being placed in the right area of the vast ocean to be shaped, and made in the image he has of us.
I got to thinking that each of my precious girlfriends have been shaped just like each rock. We each carry our own story of how the Lord has worked in us. God is in control of each little tiny grain of sand and controls the vast expanse of oceans. I wanted to create a reminder for my girlfriends of how God’s hand is in everything and working for our good. I decided to pick a rock out for each of them. I took them home and painted a cross with a pink cloth on it. My thought is they could put it in there purse, nightstand, drawer and hopefully each time they see it / feel it they would think of this. I found myself holding a rock in my hand while on the beach and roll it, rubbing it and praying.

Here is the story I am going to place in a handmade pouch along with the painted rock:

I found this rock for you on the beach. It has been touched and created by God! He created this rock, placed it in the ocean and let the sand smooth it. He let the ocean turn it over to smooth and shape each edge against the sand. He let the ocean current carry it from place to place. He then delivered this rock on the beach, where I found it. When you hold this rock remember that God is in the details. He is in control of each grain of sand, each rock, each ocean, and each beach. He does all this for His glory and out of love.
During this Christmas time I am so thankful that His gift, given out of Love has made me holy in His sight, free of accusation. That His Love works on me every day to shape me. Remember that He is in all things both visible and invisible and that even the rough times are meant to shape us in His image just like this rock.
Your sister eternally in Christ.
Please give me your feedback. I am not sure if my “deep thoughts” and the rocks should be kept to me left plain or trust that God is in control and has given me this idea so I should follow through.

Thank you also for allowing me to post this without worrying about being judged or ridiculed!

Fibromyalgia . . .some random ramblings

At my first post for October after being "absent" from the blogging world for a while I commented on some on and off health issues. I am not sure why I haven't shared that I have Fibromyalgia before but I am now. I have had a couple months of some severe "flares" as they are called. For those of you not familiar with the condition, the only way I can find to describe what it feels like is to wake up one morning feeling like you have the flu, & not the 24 hour kind! The run over by a mac truck, hurt from your head to your feet and feel like you are walking through quick sand type of flu.

It took me 2 years to be diagnosed and am still struggling. These last couple of weeks have been extremely rough. I know all those crafters out there can relate when you can't craft it actually adds to your stress. I also know that stress is a trigger for this condition but sometimes life stresses can't be avoided. So anyone else out there suffer from this? I am struggling with trying to find a treatment that provides me more "normal" weeks that not. It is truly a journey especially being used to a very active lifestyle and only requiring usually about 6 hrs of sleep. I now require at minimum 8 sometimes more and with a 3 & 7 year old home it is hard to get more than that. My hubby (I love how everyone has nicknames for their hubbys) so to quote someone in my bible study I will forever more call him my "jackpot"! As I was rambling . .Jackpot has been so supportive but also at the same time feels so helpless.

Anyway I wanted to post this out there as I know we all struggle with issues in our daily lives. If you are struggling too I am right along there with you. Funny since I have barely had the energy lately to lift my butt off the recliner your bloggers have been a creative life-line for me. So I guess this is a thank you and a motivation! Please keep crafting and posting because you really are providing a blessing to everyone out there!

I have plans on posting again soon but hey . . .as we all know the best laid plans . . . . .