Handcrafted Christmas: Homespun Advent Wreath

You all know by now that when I say my friend Grace and I got together there was some crafting taking place, right?! This weekend was no exception! We both had sewing projects to work on - but managed to come up with and squeeze this project in as well.

I've been wanting to add the tradition of the advent wreath to our home. Last year we sort of did it and maybe one other year. But, this year I wanted to really do it right. One day I was talking with Carrie about advent wreaths and have done a lot of searching for something I liked and wanted to use in our home.

However, apparently - what I was looking for did not exist. Everything I saw just wasn't right for some reason or another. Coming up with a new idea seemed like a good option. I did struggle with wondering if doing something was a little bit irreverent, but realized that God is the one who gives us our creativity and it does not say anywhere in the Bible that we should have an advent wreath or exactly how it should look. The heart behind it is what is important!

So, here is what we started with: (the completed project was right around $10 not including candles)

* an advent wreath base (found on sale at Jo Ann's for $4.99) includes the metal wreath form and four candle holders plus a basic greenery wreath
* four cuts of Christmas fabric (we bought 1/4 yard of each and only used about half of this to make two wreaths)
* Christmas paper that coordinates

Next, we cut strips of fabric with pinking shears and tied them on to branches of wreath. We just kept adding fabric until it looked the way we liked it.

After that, we made little tags with the fun paper and wrote meaningful Christmas words on them - the words we used were:

* Noel
* peace
* joy
* come (what advent means)
* King
* lamb
* behold
* Jesus
* Emmanuel
* hope
* glory
* light

These little tags were tied on with red and white string around the wreath. We finished this the fabric and tags while watching Flywheel ~ a relaxing evening!

Add your candles and you are finished! We had a hard time finding taper candles! I am not really crazy about these candles - but they are what we could find and I chose not to do the traditional purple/pink candles.

Now I am anxious to get the Christmas books out of the attic and brush up on how to implement this. Do you have a great online resource for celebrating advent? Please share!

I'd love to get this book ~ and I know it's a long shot, but before I order it does anyone have a copy they'd like to sell?

A magical birthday!

Warning: very long post ahead with lots of pictures. Ok, now you've been warned! Wow, what a birthday! We had a great time surprising our little Emily and she had a very special birthday!

This whole idea started months ago when David was wanting to take our littles to Disney World. I kept coming back to how hard it would be to take all three of them and especially Samuel being so young. So, we came up with the idea that we would take each of them separately with us when they turn five!

All we told Emily was that we had something special planned for her birthday. She would not be having a party this year because of this special thing. She had NO idea! Prior to Monday, she had heard of Disney World from her friends, but she did not know what it was. But, oh how she knows now!

It was so fun to drive up and she started seeing all the signs with Mickey on them and seeing her get excited. At this point, she still didn't know why it was worth getting excited over!

Now, I know some of you are thinking - I thought she liked being thrifty? Yes, this was an extravagant gift and it gave me so much pleasure to be able to do this for our sweet Emily. I got teary multiple times during the day just seeing the joy and delight on her face and thanking God we could bless her this way.

But, we spent as little as possible - here's how:

* Birthday guests get in free to Disney World - at least for now! We took Emily's birth certificate and saved $68 right off the bat by going on her actual birthday. (take your photo id and birthday person's birth certificate!)

* Of course, David and I had to pay to get in! We had wanted to go to Disney World on our honeymoon but it rained every day. So, I had stashed the money aside and saved it for this trip. It was great to be able to pull it out now and just go! We also bought the most basic ticket you can get - one day, no extras.

* We stayed with family! A free place to stay always makes a more affordable trip.

* We did not spend a penny on food inside the park. We took all of our own food, drinks and snacks in an insulated freezer bag and rented a locker to put it in. The locker cost us $10 in the morning but when you bring your key back you get $5 back. So, $5 for the convenience of bringing in all our own food and drinks was very worth it.

* Parking: there is no way around this one that I know of. We had to pay the parking fee of $14!

* Souvenirs: Emily had some birthday money and we told her right up front that she could get ONE thing all day. We encouraged her to look around and think about it instead of just getting the first thing. She did great and picked out her gift in the evening just before we saw the parade - she chose this and has loved playing with it ever since! She named the horse Hosanna!

* We also allowed Emily to pick out one small thing to bring to Rachel since she did not go with us. Rachel and Samuel stayed with David's aunt and uncle who graciously offered to watch them for the day for us. They took them to the zoo, the park and out for lunch! So, they had a special and fun day too!

That's it - we kept it as basic as possible and enjoyed as much as we could what was included in our park admission. Rather than spending our time in a shop or restaurant, we were able to do more rides and meet more characters - we made memories rather than accumulating a big bill!

Carrie sent a cute Tinkerbell disposable camera (free rebate offer!) and we gave that to Emily on the ferry ride over to the Magic Kingdom for her to take pictures throughout the day. This was a big hit and Daddy helped her to space her pictures out through the day.

When we bought our tickets, they gave Emily a cute button that said Happy Birthday. They wrote her name on it and their employees were wishing Emily a Happy Birthday all day! It was really fun for her!

Look! Cinderella's Castle! This was the first stop she wanted to make!

Of course, we had to take a picture of this cute elephant, for Rachel!

Waiting to meet Tigger and Pooh! I love how her hand is resting on her Daddy's hand!
A huge thank you to Carrie's sister-in-law, Kristin, who told me before hand about having a little book for Emily to get the characters to sign their names in. I found a cute little notebook on clearance for 0.50 and brought that in my backpack so we didn't feel tempted to buy her one there! This worked great, but make sure to bring your own pen too! A gracious guest in front of us let her have a pen for the day which was so sweet.

A high-five for Tigger:
And, a hug - I missed the hug with Winnie the Pooh:
A happy Birthday Girl!
Can you guess which one in our family is like Tigger?

Oh, the princesses - this was a definite highlight of the day! You can just see from the way Emily is looking at Cinderella and glowing that she is just eating this up. I have to tell you how impressed I was with how gracious these ladies were. I appreciated how ladylike they were and how they modeled what a princess should truly be. They took their time with Emily and did not rush her through - I felt like they made her feel like she was the only little girl there while it was her turn.

Next up was a visit with Minnie and Mickey!

After a parade and a couple of other rides, Emily wanted to go and see the princesses again! We were very impressed that hours later, Cinderella remembered her!

After all this we were ready for a birthday treat! I had brought cupcakes and kept them in our locker. It was fun to be able to pull them out and sing Happy Birthday to Emily!

Our last ride of the night - Cinderella's Carousel!

Enjoying the beautiful castle all lit up at night - and our birthday girl! What a special day together!

Our day ended with the ferry ride back to the parking lot and watching the fireworks from there! We had a great day!

Fruit of the Spirit for Preschoolers: Peace

Moving on to peace, here is the next month of study for sharing with your children. We've just finished joy and I am looking forward to this month of peace!

Week Nine: Peace

Day One:
* Pray
* Review Fruit of the Spirit
* We've talked about love and joy - what's next?
* Learn sign for peace
* Sing
* Pray

Day Two:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 9:6
* What is the name of the baby that God sent to be born? (Jesus!)
* The government will be on His shoulders means that He is in charge and only God tells Him what to do!
* Briefly mention: It says He will be called Wonderful Counselor: He will guide us and helps us understand what the right thing is; Mighty God: He is very strong and you know how you have obey Mama and Daddy? Well, we all obey God!; Everlasting Father: He will never die, He will always live in Heaven as our Father (He loves us!); Prince of Peace: we'll talk about this one tomorrow!
* Sing
* Pray

Day Three:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 9:6
* A princess is the little girl of the king and queen, right? Well, a prince is the son of the king.
* So, Jesus is the prince because He is God's Son.
* Here is says He is the Prince of Peace
* Peace is having a quiet heart that believes God's Word and trusts His promises.
* Sing
* Pray

Day Four:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 9:6
* Which child shows peace?
- Once upon a time there was a little girl who was afraid to go to church because she didn't like going to Sunday School without her mama. She didn't play or sing or make friends because she sat in the corner and felt scared and wished for her Mama back.
- Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved going to Sunday School! She missed her Mama while she was gone - but she remembered that God's Word says He will be with us wherever we go. So, she trusted that God was with her and had a peaceful heart! She had fun learning Bible stories, singing songs and making new friends.
* Which one showed peace?
* Sing
* Pray

Day 5:
* Pray
* Journal (decorate with sequins)
* Sing
* Pray

Week 10: Peace

Day One:
* Pray
* Review
* Sing
* Pray

Day Two:
* Pray
* Read 1 Peter 5:7
* Learn song "Cast all my Cares"
* Pray

Day Three:
* Pray
* Read 1 Peter 5:7
* Our Prince of Peace is who?
* Is He strong enough to take care of anything?
* So, if we hear lightning and thunder at night and we don't like it - can He give us peace?
* If we see a dog we don't like can He give us peace?
* If our car makes a funny sound and we think we're going to be in an accident - will He take care of us and give us peace?
* All of these things are kinds of "cares" or burdens mentioned in our verse and song. We can give all the things we're concerned about and He'll replace them with His peace!
* Sing
* Pray

Day Four:
* Pray
* Read 1 Peter 5:7
* Journal
* Sing
* Pray

Day Five:
* Pray
* Read 1 Peter 5:7
* Act out passage: have two boxes, one labeled "care" and a prettier one that is labeled " peace". Bring box of cares (put magazines or something inside to make it heavy) and bring it to Jesus - trade for light box of peace!
* Sing
* Pray

Week Eleven: Peace

Day One:
* Pray
* Review
* Sing
* Pray

Day Two:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 26:3
* God will keep us in perfect peace! Perfect means that nothing is wrong with it, it never disobeys or makes a wrong choice - it is always right.
* For a visual of trusting in Him: get a long towel and put it around yourself holding the ends in your hands - invite your child in and explain that when they trust God - He surrounds them with peace.
* It feels safe, comfortable and inviting!
* Sing
* Pray

Day Three:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 26:3
* God says when we trust Him, He will keep us in perfect peace, but we have a job too - our job is to keep our mind and our eyes fixed on Him!
* How can we do that? One way is through prayer.
* Remember our story (see week 9, day 4) The little girl could've prayed and asked God to help her not be afraid to go to Sunday School without her Mama. With God's strength, she could say, I will trust in You! God will give her peace.
* Sing
* Pray

Day Four:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 26:3
* Another way we can keep our mind steadfast is through God's Word.
* We can read God's Word, we can study it and learn more about Him and memorize it!
* When we are afraid or have lost our peace - we can remember the promises in God's Word! And, we can trust Him because god always tells the truth!
* What are some verses you have memorized?
* Sing
* Pray

Day Five:
* Pray
* Read Isaiah 26:3
* Journal/Review
* Sing
* Pray

Week Twelve: Peace

Day One:
* Pray
* Review
* Sing
* Pray

Day Two:
* Pray
* Romans 12:18
* We have talked a lot about having peace with God, but now we need to remember to have peace with each other.
* Talk through verse:
- if it is possible: sometimes it might not work to be at peace with someone else, because they might be rude or unkind.
- God says as much as it depends on you: that means that I should do everything I can to be at peace with those around me.
- we can only be responsible for how we act - so we must make sure that we choose to do the right things. We can't choose for other people - but we can choose to make a good choice.
* Sing
* Pray

Day Three:
* Pray
* Read Romans 12:18
* How can we be at peace with those around us?
* What if your brother or sister takes a toy you are playing with?
* What if your mom or dad says no to something you asked for?
* What is someone pushes you or says something unkind?
* Talk through the above situations.
* Sing
* Pray

Day Four:
* Pray
* Read Romans 12:18
* Practice peace and/or journal
* Sing
* Pray

Day Five:
* Pray
* Read Romans 12:18
* Review
* Sing
* Pray

Two princesses!

My friend Grace is here for the weekend! And, I simply ran out of time to get my posts done ahead of time - so I'll be back next week some time! Have a great weekend!

A Handcrafted Christmas: Gratitude Wrap

This week, I'm sharing what I'll be giving our nursery helpers at church as a thank you gift right around Christmas!

I've had this (click this link for all instruction details) idea bookmarked for ages and, my friend Grace and I each made one of these last spring at her house. But, I've since made a few more and discovered a simpler way of finishing the edges!

You'll see the wrap in the middle has very skinny binding on it - not a good idea. Next, I made the one on the left with homemade binding - much better, but still a lot of effort.

Finally, I tried the Christmas one. I sewed the pieces together with the right sides facing leaving an opening for turning it right side out. After turning it and pressing, it was easy to sew up the opening and top stitch. Much easier!

In the next few days, I will show what I did to the little mini composition book to make it look cute! I think these are great gifts! And, you can practically make them from fabric scraps you already have!

Homemade notecards fill the middle pocket and cute holiday labels fill the third one. The possibilities for personalizing these are endless! And, Emily has already had her eye on it! I'll have to make one for her when she learns the art of writing notes and thank you's!

The Christmas one has a snowflake ornament and Let it Snow tag tied on for fun and as a special treat for its recipient!

This & That

Winner of the Print Master program was chosen by random number generator: congratulations, Shelly!

Somewhere in a comment, someone asked for the Names of Jesus Garland link - here it is!

Coming soon ...

Remember this series from last year on Money Saving Mom? Well, it is happening again this year with a fun new twist. Make sure to check Crystal's blog on Monday, November 16th for a Thanksgiving Progressive Dinner! Here is a sneak peek at my part of dinner ~

Also, today is your last chance to enter for the latest giveaway! Birthday pictures to come soon!

Giveaway!

While we are driving home from our magical adventure - I have a giveaway for you!


You can read all about the program here - and to enter simply leave a comment on this post. Comments will be accepted until Wednesday (tomorrow, November 4th) at 10pm Eastern Time and a winner will be announced on Thursday.