Holiday Wrapping

I absolutely love wrapping gifts. It may be a sickness; I'm not quite sure. My oldest daughter noted that there aren't many folks in my camp of loving to wrap gifts. It's such a beautiful precise thing, measuring, cutting, folding, taping...ahhh...just talking about it makes me all giddy.

To go along with the love of wrapping is my love for printable gift tags and box top embellishments. Some wonderfully creative bloggers are giving away printables for gift tags. Go visit Creature Comforts for a LONG list of free printables.
The Handmade Home has some here.
And Fresh Picked Whimsy has a cute set here.

This year I printed tags from the last two resources listed above, mainly because I just found Creature Comforts list today.

I hole punched the tags and used all kinds of fun, different sized ribbons to tie up my packages.
Hope you enjoyed this holiday wrap-up of my wrapping! :)

December is under way

I've been thinking:   if I can post a status update on Facebook every day of November, then I can make time to post something on my blog everyday of December. :) My goal is to include a picture from that day and some thoughts about our happenings.

So, it's December 3rd and I've already missed yesterday...I know. Tiredness overtook me and I slept for a long time last night! I took a picture though. Here is a picture of one of the crafts we are taking for our local homeschool's annual Kid's Christmas Craft Sale. I got the idea from a friend and then I did some research online. I found this cute example:
Everyday Art--alphabet glass stone magnets
 
I know originally I looked at lots of other sites, but I can't seem to find them now.  We used scrapbook paper, regular stick glue, glass stones (flat on one side, bubble on the other) and round magnets glued on with E-6000 glue. We glued the stone to the paper, cut it out, glued the magnet on and walaa! Cute!

The other pictures are of my younger two with their Truth in the Tinsel craft. We are enjoying this Advent devotional.

Father's Day Ideas

June means Father's Day and I want to help my kids make something for their Daddy. He is a wonderful Dad and a great Husband. I'm thankful for him and I want to make Sunday a day to celebrate him!

Here is a cute idea from Mama Jenn's blog. I think I'm going to make this with the kids tomorrow. :)

Do you have any ideas for Father's Day? Please share!

CUTE little Valentine craft

I love owls. I'm not sure when I realized this, but there it is...I love owls.

Today I found this Valentine craft and I want to make it!! Now I'm going to have to felt some wool sweaters from Good Will....one thing leads to another that leads another....can't wait...so cute!

Lots of snow and ice here...power outages some too. Made time for lots of giggles this morning with Daddy before he left for work. :)

Serve a cup of kindness

As I prepare to teach a mini lesson (for the T & T AWANA class) on kindness tonight, I wanted to share the visual that I'm using. I used a template that I've used before for a different focus. Before it said, "Warm up to a good book." It had a packet of hot chocolate mix and a note card tucked inside. Once they finished the book, they would write a short summary on the note card.

This time it says, "Serve a Cup of Kindness". I am going to talk about the song "I'm a little teapot" and how what we are filled up with will come out when we are 'bumped'. Then I am going to have them give some ways that they can show kindness intertwined with Scriptures that speak about kindness.

Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."

I'm looking forward to it although I'm a little nervous too!

Note: I used two Stampin' Up stamps (borrowed from a friend) for the teapot and cup.

The Happenings of Christmas Week

We had a wonderful merry Christmas.


Christmas morning the atmosphere was relaxed and joyful as we opened gifts. My favorite gifts were the ones my children made for me....a coupon book from my oldest daughter, a homemade card from my middle daughter and lots of hugs from my little guy. The picture below shows a gift I made for our Bethany girl. We realized that the other two kids had something with their names on it hanging on their walls. She did not. I took care of that. I love the way it turned out. It was fun to make and she was thrilled with it.


Our little guy has had hours of fun already with this Fisher Price castle complete with knights (and a dragon). A fellow homeschool mom passed this goodie along to us as her son was finished with it. I'm so thankful because it has been T's favorite toy.



The last couple days I've been working on a rag rug. A friend and I were talking about making them and she said she thought there was a way to make them without sewing or crocheting them. So, after some searching we found this set of youtube videos. It uses a tool that my friend's husband made out of a coat hanger. I'm using some shirts and some material I had in my stash just for this purpose. I'll take a picture of it soon. It is turning out so pretty!

My other big job this week is doing lesson plans for January through March. I'm almost half way through Bethany's and hope to finish up tomorrow; then on to Marissa's.

What's keeping you occupied this week?

Crafting Fun and Christmas Traditions

I've been busy:

I made this bag for the little girl we watch. {You'll remember I made her this baby doll for her birthday.} I found the instructions here. The bag was not hard to make--all single crochet stitches. I had to make it twice because the first time it was H.U.G.E. Just about as big as a 2 year old. So, I started over and this time reduced the base by at least half. The lining gave me a little trouble, but I persevered and it turned out okay.

I made these monogrammed ornaments for my niece and nephew. I filled the inside with tinsel.


The tree ornament is for some friends of ours. Their last name will be on the other side--written in "puffy" paint.

And the kids and I started the Christmas Story Ornaments from this website. Really cute.


The Christmas letter is written and printed, the envelopes are addressed, the pictures are taken and printed and all I need to finish is wrapping the gifts. I love wrapping gifts. I use the brown Kraft paper and tie the packages up with ribbons and strips of fabric. I love the way the gifts look under the tree! (Of course, I keep the ribbons for other uses and we recycle the paper.)

We have more making and baking to do. In addition we are reading Bartholomew's Passage for Advent. And reading and putting up the "Adorenaments" each evening. Each ornament celebrates a specific name of Christ. A book and CD accompany the ornaments. We've done them for years and enjoy them immensely. Such a wonderful time of making cherished memories.

Busy Summer Days

I've been absent from blogging--mostly having busy summer days, but also little bit of 'writer's block'. I have things I want to say but can't quite get the words formed and typed.

Here's a brief run-down of our summer since I last posted:

Marissa had a friend here for a week from Michigan--it was a great week of reconnecting between long time friends. I loved to hear their giggling and chatting. I made this welcome basket for Sarah. I'd talked about this basket here in this post...and I love the outcome.


My cousin and his wife visited for a few days. Before they came, we prayed that we would be good hosts and that we would have good conversation. God answered our prayers and our visit was delightful.

We celebrated two birthdays~mine and Trenton's. Good family times.

I've been reading some books from our church library:
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancy
Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments by Kara Durbin

And one I purchased:
That's My Son: How Moms can Influence Boys to Become Men of Character by Rick Johnson

All three good books that I hope to comment on in upcoming posts.

I'm also trying to prepare for this upcoming school year for the girls and trying to come up with creative ideas for the 4 year old boy. :)

I mentioned my friend Kristin in a previous post, please pray for her and her family as they go through the loss of sweet Joanna Claire.

Lastly, I've had something for the last 3 days that I think might have been food poisoning. I'm not for sure, but I've been in pain and haven't felt well. I hope I'm getting over it and just slowly recovering.

Projects, projects, projects

**NOTE: updates in blue**
I've started several projects and I'm having a great time. Here are links to where I got some of my ideas...

• Baby Burp Cloth--we are making these today for two baby showers. The cloths are washed, dried and waiting to be ironed...then the sewing will begin. Here is one finished gift. The burp cloths were not too hard, even for a struggling sew-er as myself. I'm still working on the other ones. Some of those will be pink. These were made for a baby shower where the parents are waiting to find out the gender. I love the brown, blue, green dots.
  

• Ribbon Wrapped Container--containers for the gifts to go in. I have to make a quick run to the Dollar Tree to see if I can find containers like this. Okay, so I didn't find a container with holes all the way around it. However I found the above container and it worked.
  

• Strawberry Fruit Leather--from our abundance of strawberries. The fruit leather is outside drying (from the comments I figured out that I could buy a new window screen and keep it for this purpose.) It's very humid out today; I sure hope it will dry. Fruit leather---uh, um---didn't work out so well. I think it didn't have enough ventilation because the stuff fermented!! In less than 24 hours...no joke. And the smell was STRONG. Anyway, it's now in the trash. If I was going to make a hobby out of making fruit leather (which I'm not) I'd have to find or make some sort of drying rack so the leather could breath through the top and bottom. Mine was on a cookie sheet with a screen over top to protect from bugs and dirt. I suppose I could also try drying in the oven...but I was trying to be green and all. Oh, well, you win some, you lose some and some are rained out (like my shutter painting...read on).
  

• Painting the vinyl shutters--I've wanted to do this since we first moved into our home SIX years ago. Nothing like jumping right on a project. I washed them, scrubbed them, primed them and painted them once. Today, they will receive their second coat and hopefully my Hunny will hang them up this evening. I will post pictures later on today--hopefully. No pictures of the finished shutters today because I didn't get the second coat on. It was SO humid and threatening rain, so I stayed inside today sewing burp cloths and eating strawberry fruit leather---JUST KIDDING-- that stuff smelled nasty. All of that was my eventful day! Wonder what tomorrow holds??
  

If you've clicked on any of the links above, you will realize that I have a new blog love...Make and Takes. The step by step instructions and photos are fabulous. The low-cost projects are fun and functional. I have found a few other blogs that I'm enjoying; I'll save those for another day. What?? I've got to keep you coming back somehow! :)

Feathered Friend of a Different Sort

I love this little birdie. She even has a tail in back. I found the pattern here on Bitter Sweet's blog. It wasn't too difficult to crochet. I'm hoping to make a whole flock.

Baby Kate a.k.a. crocheted doll

I've been working on "Baby Kate" for two months. This is my first project like this, always before I've done blankets, dish cloths and the like. I felt a little bit like Gepetto as I watched her 'come to life'. I found the pattern in The Big Book of Weekend Crochet by Hilary Mackin and Sue Whiting. I'm not sure where the "weekend" part comes in, maybe I'm just slow. It was a very rewarding project though.

She kind of looks like a football player here...sorry, but I wanted you to see the cute little button.

The name "Kate" comes from our sweet friend, Sarah Katharine, who died two weeks ago today. Baby Kate will soon belong to our neighbor's little girl, Alea. I babysit her a couple days a month and have done so since she was about 10 weeks old. Alea loves all items crochet. She loves to put her little fingers in the holes and she sleeps with two such items, lovingly called "binks". She turned two the first week of March, however Baby Kate didn't have a dress yet. After a day and a half of sitting on the couch with my sick little girl, Kate's dress is finished. Alea is going to love her. :)

A Baby Gift: Crocheted Edge Blanket

The baby gift is finished, just in the nick of time. The shower is this morning.
I got my inspiration here and here. My friend, Jackie, who is a wonderful seamstress and fiber artist, helped me sew the edge. She serged all the way around and then we made a small hem which we sewed around. I used a piece of flannel I already had; next time I'd love to peruse the baby flannel at the local fabric shop! Then I crocheted around using a pattern I found here at Crafty Chic.

The most time consuming part was the first row of crocheted edging. The second row went very fast--good thing because it was getting late and I was starting to see double. :~)

Okay, so now I'm off to the shower!

Want to learn: Sewing

I wish I was a better seamstress. Did I say better? I should have said "I wish I was a seamstress!" When a person can sew, the sky is the limit. I have a baby shower to go to this Saturday and I would so love to take something crafty and homemade. Like one of these items for example:

A burp cloth tutorial from Sew Take a Hike or this diaper changing pad
Embroidered onesies from Pleasant View Schoolhouse.
Crocheted-Edge Blanket from SewChic (I could do this with a store bought blanket--which might be what I end up doing.)

There are so many cute baby gift ideas out there. I'd better stop looking before I border on envy. I'll try to post a picture of what I come up with. The shower is in 4 days, so I better get moving!

I'm Back

We finally have high speed internet. We've had a multitude of computer and printer problems, but I think they are all getting worked out. So thought I'd update the blog...the poor neglected blog. Some photos that loaded in less than 1 minute (yippee!!)

These are the crocheted coasters that I gave away in my 300th post bloggerversary give away! No, I haven't mailed them yet, but they are in the envelopes and ready to go to the post office.



I made this for my sister's birthday. I sent it to her and she framed it. It's now hanging in her kitchen.

My hunny found this helmet for little guy. He is enjoying it--and using it for everything from football to firefighting! Here, he is playing firefighter with Bethany.


Well, I'd better get off here. I've got more to talk about; so thanks for coming back and visiting!

Give-Away Winners!

Well, I was hoping that having a give-away would draw out the sweet folks who read my blog, but don't ever post a comment...hmm...didn't work. That aside, we have TWO winners, yes, folks the two of you that posted on my blog give-away will be receiving a handmade set of crocheted coasters! I still don't have the picture posted, but will do that before I package them up.

Congratulations Deb and Birdie! Thanks for reading Lily of the Field. And for everyone else out there, thanks for reading and be sure to post a comment!

Easy Homemade Card

I found this link for a cute button card at Randi's "I have to Say". You have to go check it out! It has a free download pdf--can't get any better than that.

I'm making one of these cards as a birthday card. I've got to go get busy.

Embroidery Finished!

Last year I started an embroidery project. I had just learned some of the embroidery stitches and I chose a set of tulips from Anna's blog--Pleasant View Schoolhouse. With Anna's permission I printed off her picture traced in on my material and was off and running.

Then I stopped. I don't know why or what stopped me, but I did.

I picked it up again last week and determined to finish it.

Now it will go on a tote bag--that I have to make. Hmm, hope it won't be another year before I finish it.

The Rag Rug

I finished the rag rug last night. It turned out good for my first one. I think I'd like to make an oval one next. It takes a lot of material, but if you have a good source then you'd be fine.
I'd posted about the rag rug in an earlier post (linked to in the first sentence). You may remember that I used the book Quick Crochet Huge Hooks by Sally Harding. Her completed rug was 36 inches in diameter. I stopped mine when I ran out of material which was at 31 inches. Oh, I also used 1 inch strips of material. All the material is 100% cotton which should make it hold up nicely and wash well.

I'm giving this one away as a wedding gift.

I found instructions for an oval rag rug in a couple different places.
Making Oval Shaped Items and Rag Rugs

DIY Make a Crocheted Rag Rug

And I'm sure there are other places too. These rugs are simple as they only call for the single crochet stitch.

Catch all post

I have a couple things to post about and thought I'd do it all in one big post. ;)

I'm learning to knit and am hosting a group of sweet girls at my home once a week to learn knitting. No, no, I'm not teaching them...a good friend of mine is. She is doing a great job with all of us. My baby boy loves it because he thinks the knitting needles are drum sticks! He has successfully taken out all my work and Marissa's work so far. We are learning to hide our knitting when we are not working on it.

I borrowed a book from the library called Quick Crochet Huge Hooks. This book has some great projects in it. Currently I'm working on a rag rug using strips of fabric, crocheting them together. Hopefully it will be a wedding present for a friend of ours. I'll post a picture of it when I'm closer to being done. Oh, that reminds me, I'd better renew the book at the library!

I'm reading a couple books right now--why can't I just read one at a time?? I'm still working my way through The Holiness of God by RC Sproul. I recently started Sacred Marriage by Gary L. Thomas. It has been thought provoking. I'll try to share some notes from the book as I go.

The Lord provided a way for me to join a small group Bible study at church. It starts this Wednesday and we are going through the book Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I haven't had an opportunity to look through this book/workbook. But I'm looking forward to the study.

The other day I pulled a book off the shelf called A Woman's High Calling by Elizabeth George. I turned to the chapter on marriage and took these notes:

*Side note: she acknowledges that some husbands are difficult to love, however that doesn't excuse us from obeying God's Word and seeking to love our husbands.

1. Make the choice to love your husband. A choice to love your husban is most definitely a choice that will benefit both him and you. A choice to love your husband is also a choice to love God by obeying His high calling of Titus 2:4. It is a choice that honors the Lord and is a testimony to His glory.

2. Make a choice to love your husband before or ahead of your children. (Not a choice to love your husband and NOT love your children...just setting priorities.) Make sure with all the busyness and activity that children generate that loving your husband doesn't get crowded out.

3. Submit yourself to be "taught" to love your husband. The role of the older women in the body of Christ is to teach the young women the necessity of loving their husbands and the "how-to's" of such love.

4. Set up a prayer book or prayer page for your husband. Then commit yourself to pray daily for him. Prayer for your husband releases the power of God, for prayer is asking God to do what you cannot do.

5. Write a letter to God--expressing your desire to be a wife who majors on loving her husband.

6. Cultivate willful love--listen to God's Word and not our feelings

7. Listen to God's Word, not the world

8. Read daily on marriage

9. Do the works of love heartily (Colossians 3:23)

10. Do all to the glory of God

11. Confess any bitterness of heart (Hebrews 12:15)

12. Learn to ask your husband--little things can say a lot. Asking your husband before you commit yourself to something (whatever it may be) shows consideration for your husband. It shows a willingness to cultivate and defer to our husband's leadership.

13. Put your husband first, even ahead of yourself. Philippians 2:3-4

This list will never be complete--our works of love are unending.

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On to the regular scheduled blog....

I read a great little article about some Valentine's ideas to do with your family. The article can be found here. Family Life Today's Family Room has good articles and ideas; check them out.

This evening I'm going scrapbooking. It's been a looonnnggg time since I went. Maybe even since the girl gave me the gum with the chewable wrapper. I don't anticipate anything that exciting happening tonight. Although my friend, Deb (yes, the same one who dared me to eat the gum wrapper), got a new tool (toy) for Christmas. I'm not sure what it can do, but I've been assured that it is cool.

My kids were the recipients of several great Christmas gifts. One in particular was this CD...called Seeds Family Worship--Courage. The actual Scriptures are put to music--upbeat and uplifting. My kids love this CD and I like it too.

Well, my last bit of "catch up" was to post a couple pictures. But I've tried a couple times and the connection has timed out. With dial-up posting pictures is a hassle. However the good part is, I've posted on just about everything I wanted to!

Happy Friday!

Making Gingerbread Houses

Icing, candy, and graham crackers...what's not to enjoy?

Here's a recipe for the icing:
3 Tablespoons of powdered meringue
6 Tablespoons warm water
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat for 7-12 minutes with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
Keep icing covered with a damp cloth when not using to avoid it getting hard. If the icing does get too stiff, just add a little water.

We used graham crackers to make our houses. Using a small ziploc bag as an icing bag, I cut a small hole in the corner and away they went. We let them set up for 30 minutes of so before adding the roof tops. Then we took our creations to a homeschool event where each family brought a bag of decorating candies. The girls decorated their houses showing a lot of creativity and personality.