Here are some great project ideas when it comes to paper.
Miss Emily Rose from Simple Vintage Girl whipped up these whimsical, yet oh-so-sweet flowers made from antique dictionaries and with a bit of lace...voila'...a bit of happiness!:)
YAY! More tutorials! This is SO much fun! Notice, that I organized these tutorials according to wrapping and packaging, gifts for friends and/or neighbors, stocking stuffers, and home decor.
~~~~Wrapping It up Cont.~~~~
Mini Envelopes
Have a little note to send to a friend, and a big envelope will not work? Make this cute little mini envelope!!!
Is it not sweet? Would be so lovely to punch a whole at the top, and tie it to a package with ribbon! So clever, and easy too! Here's the link:
(Again, note, I do not follow these blogs, but just am sharing the tutorials. I have not thoroughly checked their complete blog, therefore do not know if any bad content is displayed in other posts).
Mini Chinese Take Out Box
A bit more challenging, but so sweet and clever; make a lovely and cute package for a small item (does not have to be for teachers!:).
This is such a clever idea!!! Not only can it be made for gift cards, but for regular cards as well. I think I will make this for some of my special card for family and friends.
~~~~~Stocking Stuffers~~~~~
Stocking stuffers make me wish I had a little girl of my own to make little goodies for. Perhaps, this year, I will have to persuade my Mother to start a stocking of her own.
This cute little book (made from one page of paper alone) is so darling!!! Something about miniature items appeal to me so. I hope to make one soon. Find here:
I HEART this little hot-chocolate pouch. Too cute! I will have to make this someday, but I do not have the supplies this year.
~~~~Home Decor.~~~~
A Victorian Tradition: Paper Snowflakes
I have always wondered how these are made. I knew you cut them on the folds of paper, but never knew how to make them actually look like snowflakes. Now my windows for the holidays will never be dull, and we will actually have a snow-filled Christmas without the hassle of shoveling my garden walk!:)
For those who want to join MORE Christmas activities on my blogging block, go check out these:
My dear friend and sister in Christ, the lovely Bess from Bess' Bag, is hosting a Crafty Christmas event. We sort of have our events going hand-in-hand together, since the go on at the same time. So be sure to check out some of her great tutorials she has invented!
Much love, dearest friend!
(Just click on the button above to see her blog)
Also, Samantha from Simple Delights, is hosting a Handmade Christmas event soon. So go check it out on December 1st, and do not miss out on the fun at her lovely and festive blog!!!
Oh, and one more event. Miss Sereina, with here lovely photography, is hosting a photography Christmas event. I am not sure whether or not I am going to join, though it sounds really fun, but then again, I just got a good camera...hmmm.
Christmas decorations shall not be up until next week (I know late right, but I haven't noticed until many girls say that their decor is up already!:D), therefore; I probably will be joining a bit late.
Go, check it out though by clicking the button above!:)
I hope that all your crafts work out! If you decide to follow on of these tutorials, I would love to see pictures of your results, and you could link the posts up with my blog party!
I have been doing A LOT of browsing through some great tutorials! (Yes, I have a great site that I will be sharing with you soon!*wink*) Special thanks to Miriam, Bess, Darby, and Johanna for linking up your posts! For those who are joining, again, you may link up as many tutorials as you like, but do it during this week.
Okay, on to the other tutorials:
~~~~Wrapping it up~~~~
Wrapping is of the essence during Christmastime; it's what makes gifts...well, gifts!!!:D
When it comes to wrapping, I really like the Eco-friendly recyclable materials (not because I am a radical environmentalist, and do not assume that I seek to destroy the world with litter either, but) but because, materials such as these can easily be found among common household items: cardboard boxes from the garage, brown paper bags from the grocer, newspaper, magazines...it can either have a modern appeal or old-fashion flare depending on the way you dress it up with ribbons and such. You can go traditional, modern, or do something really creative!
(It really is amazing how many paper ideas are out there! Before the event, my mind was inside the box when it came to paper projects and wrapping, but tutorials proved me wrong!!!)
Here's a great video tutorial filled with tips for wrapping gifts of all sizes~
This is a bit more challenging then the average wrapping, but very clever all the same~
Here is a great tutorial for making paper tags. So clever!~
Good afternoon, dear readers! Thank you so much for stopping by my garden walk on this lovely autumn day. Can you not feel that winter is steadily approaching us? *Sigh* I do so love the holidays, and am so excited to be hosting this Christmas event. One more thing about the tutorials for this week...YOU CAN LINK UP AS MANY TUTORIALS AS YOU LIKE!!! Please link up your tutorials, whether it be your original tutorial, or a link you like, just post it on your blog, and link it up!!! Since this week is Paper, I would really like to see some paper projects out there as well! Thank you, Johanna, for being the first person to link up!
This week's inspiration is paper, so I found some tutorials including paper. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of paper during Christmastime is wrapping. Wrapping really is a main component during Christmastime, but let's not just have the original tape and paper this year. Last year, instead of ribbon, I tied my packages lace!!! So sweet and old-fashion, but this year, I am going beyond just an old-fashion touch!:)
Here are a few tips when it comes to wrapping a project:
Be neat~Sometimes packages are not neatly wrapped which can give a bad image to the receiver. I know, I would like nicely wrapped (including neat) presents under the tree.
Be green! *wink*~Let's not waste too much tape
Be Unique~My aunt from back East sends the most lovely gifts! I do not know if she wraps them herself, or takes them to the store to be wrapped, but I know that her presents are showcased under the tree!:D She has tied ribbons, and ornaments, and so many pretty t
hings.
~~~~The Tutorials~~~~
Since I am a day behind on my links I will be posting two to-day. Here are some lovely tutorials when it comes to wrapping (Note: These blogs I do not follow, and have not looked over them thoroughly; therefore, do not know the content that they may post on their blogs)~
I absolutely LOVE brown paper 'brown paper packages tied up with strings,' are so sweetly old-fashion. Mother says that we are going to buy a huge spool of brown paper, so that I may wrap my presents in such sweetness! Something so simple can be so sweet and special!
Handmade envelopes! They appear much more challenging to make then they really are. I can whip some up within a few minutes! Instead of adding another piece of paper on the inside of the envelope, I just used my nifty, two-sided scrap-booking paper instead.
Since I cannot send my handmade cards internationally, I thought I should balance it out for my dear readers who follow from across seas!
I am VERY excited to announce that this Grand Prize winner shall receive...
*drum roll please....*
A BRAND NEW COPY of Sarah Malley's book Before You Meet Prince Charming!!! This is an AMAZING read, a book that all Christian young-ladies should read, and is one of my absolute favourite books. If you already, own a copy, this would be a lovely Christmas gift for a friend.
Special thanks to Nickie Biegler from Tomorrow's Forefathers Inc. for graciously donating (and being so helpful), this copy, and making this giveaway possible.
~How To Enter~
(Please read carefully)
Leave a sweet comment on THIS post telling me you would like to enter, and if you have ever read this book~MANDATORY ENTRY
FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A BLOG
Leave a comment on THIS post with your NAME and be sure to check back here when winners are announced. You do not have to leave your emailing address, but you will (if you win) have to leave it here at my blog.~This counts for two entries in one comment.
~For Extra Entries Only~
Join my Old-Fashion Christmas Event I am currently post finding the original post at the top of the screen AND posting one of my special buttons (found HERE) on your blog's sidebar, including your blog's link in your comment~2 extra entries
Follow this blog (Please make sure you will keep following this blog even if you do not win this giveaway)~2 extra entries
Already a follower? (Does not count if you have followed my blog, then stopped, then followed my blog just for this giveaway)~3 extra entries
Purchase something at Tomorrow's Forefathers Inc., coming back here to let me know what your purchased~5 extra entries
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS LIKE THIS ON THIS POST
(or entries DO NOT count)
Hello, Grace! I would love to enter this giveaway!
I have seen this book, but have never read it. I have always wanted to read it, though.~mandatory entry
I am joining your Old-fashion Christmas event, and posted one of your specially made buttons on my blog's sidebar. Here is the link: (example) http://gracesgardenwalk.blogspot.com
~2 extra entries
I am already a follower~3 extra entries
Thanks for hosting!
This giveaway is open to young ladies internationally (anywhere in the world whether the U.S. or across seas)!!!
Giveaway closes at 12:00 Noon, December 2nd, and winners shall hopefully be announced later that afternoon/early evening along with my other giveaway winners.
Good afternoon, dear readers!!! I hope where you are living it is much sun
nier, for it has been rainy and cloudy all day!
I have not been blogging of late because I have been gone with my family for Thanksgiving. I FORGOT TO POST MY GIVEAWAY AND THE LINKY TOOL!!! I am sorry for that. The giveaway is coming soon, and the linky tool is now posted at the bottom of my Christmas event post.
I am afraid I captured no pictures on my trip, but there is one thing I would like to announce.
With great excitement, I would like to announce that my blog will no longer be picture-less nor dull with my brand new, not to mention really smart....
Nikon D3100 camera!!! I am SO excited; we purchased it at Best Buy yesterday on Black Friday for a wonderful deal! It came in a wonderful, couldn't-pass up bundle which included, the case, tripod, telephoto lens, and memory card!!! I have been wanting a SLR for awhile now, and was so nervous when we bought it because it is one of the biggest buys of my life (I am paying for most of it; I saved my money for two years with my birthday money from last year, this year, and am going to give Mother any Christmas money I receive this year). I am so thankful to the Lord that He opened such an opportunity.
Since, I know a lot of you girls have a Nikon, and since I am new to photography, can any of you give me any pointers? I would very much appreciate it!
A merry Christmas to you all!!! Now we can officially start my Old-Fashion Christmas Event!!! Are you excited?
Every week (for six weeks all the way to Christmas Eve), I will be posting a big post complete with giveaway, video tutorials, stories, poems, you name it, but during the week, I will be posting links to great sites for tutorials. Your job will be to link up your tutorial posts at the bottom of each WEEKLY post. Understood? Great! Let's get started!
I have some great tutorials, links, stories, and so much more to share with you!!!
Now, then, before we get started why don't you read the story which so inspired me to start this event!!! This is such a heartfelt story, not to mention festive and inspiring! Whenever I read this short story by Paul Engle, I want to visit this excited family in a time long gone by...
~An Old Fashion, Iowa Christmas~
by
Paul Engle
Every Christmas should begin with the sound of bells, and when I was a child mine always did. But they were sleigh bells, not church bells, for we lived in a part of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where there were not churches. My bells were on my father's team of horses as he drove up to our horse-headed hitching post with the bobsled that would take us to celebrate Christmas on the family farm ten miles out in the country. My father would bring the team down Fifth Avenue at a smart trot, flicking his whip over the horses' rumps and making the bells double their light, thin jangling over the snow.
There are no such departures any more: the whole family piling into the bobsled with a foot of golden oat straw to lie in and heavy buffalo robes to lie under the horses stamping the soft snow, and at every motion of their hoofs the bells jingling, jingling.
There are no streets like those any more: the snow sensibly left on the road for the sake of sleighs and easy travel. We could hop off and ride the heavy runners as they made their hissing, tearing sound over the packed snow. And along the streets we met other horses, so that we moved from one set of bells to another. There would be an occasional brass-mounted automobile laboring on its narrow tires and as often as not pulled up the slippery hills by a horse, and we would pass it with a triumphant shout for an awkward nuisance which was obviously not here to stay.
The country road ran through a landscape of little hills and shallow valleys and heavy groves of timber. The great moment was when we left the road and turned up the long lane on the farm. Near the low house on the hill, with oaks on one side and apple trees on the other, my father would stand up, flourish his whip, and bring the bobsled right up to the door of the house with a burst of speed.
There are no such arrivals any more: the harness bells ringing and clashing like faraway steeples, the horses whinnying at the horses in the barn and receiving a great, trumpeting whinny in reply, the dogs leaping into the bobsled and burrowing under the buffalo robes, a squawking from the hen house, a yelling of "Whoa, whoa," at the excited horses, boy and girl cousins howling around the bobsled, and the descent into the snow with the Christmas basket carried by my mother.
While my mother and sisters went into the house, the team was unhitched and taken to the barn to be covered with blankets and given a little grain. That winter odor of a barn is a wonderfully complex one, rich and warm and utterly unlike the smell of the same barn in the summer: the body heat of many animals weighing a thousand pounds and more; pigs in one corner making their dark, brown-surrounding grunts; milk cattle still nuzzling the manager for wisps of hay; horses eyeing the newcomers; oats, hay, and straw, tangy still with the live August sunlight; the sharp odor of leather harness rubbed with neat's-foot oil to keep it supple; the molasses-sweet odor of ensilage in the silo where the fodder was almost fermenting. It is a smell from strong and living things, and my father always said it was the secret of health, that it scoured out a man's lungs. He would stand there, breathing deeply, one hand on a horse's rump, watching the steam come out from under the blankets as the team cooled down from their rapid trot up the lane. It gave him a better appetite, he argued, than plain fresh air, which was thin and had no body to it.
A barn with cattle and horses is the place to begin Christmas; after all, that's where the original event happened, and that same smell was the first air that the Christ Child breathed.
By the time we reached the house, my mother and sisters were wearing aprons and busying themselves in the kitchen, as red-faced was the women who had been there all morning. The kitchen was the biggest room in the house, and all
family life save sleeping went on in there. My uncle even had a couch along one wall where he napped and where the children lay when they were ill. The kitchen range was a tremendous black and gleaming one called a Smoke Eater, with pans bubbling over the holes above the fire box and a reservoir of hot water at the side, lined with dull copper, from which my uncle would dip a basin of water and shave above the sink, turning his lathered face now and then to drop a remark into the women's talk, waving his straight-edged razor, as if it were a threat, to make them believe him. My job was to go to the woodpile out back to split the chunks of oak and hickory and keep the fire burning.
It was a handmade Christmas. The tree came from down in the grove, and on it were many paper ornaments made by my cousins, as well as beautiful ones brought from the Black Forest, where the family had originally lived. There were popcorn balls, paper horns with homemade candy, and apples from the orchard. The gifts tended to be hand-knit socks or wool ties or fancy crocheted "yokes" for nightgowns, tatted collars for blouses, doilies with fancy flower patterns for tables, and tidies for chairs. Once I received a brilliantly polished cow horn with a cavalryman crudely but bravely carved on it. And there would usually be a cornhusk doll, perhaps with a prune or walnut face, and a gay dress of an old corset-cover scrap with its ribbons still bright. And there were real candles burning with real flames, every guest sniffed the air for the smell of scorching pine needles.
There are no dinners like that any more: every item from the farm itself, with no deep freezer , no car for driving into town for packaged food. The pies had been baked the day before, pumpkin, apple, and mince; as we ate them, we could look out the window and see the cornfield where the pumpkins grew, the trees from which the apples were picked. The bread hadbeen baked that morning, heating up the oven for the meat, and as my aunt hurried by I could smell her apron that freshest of all odors with which the human nose is honored - bread straight from the oven. There would be a huge brown crock of beans with smoked pork from the hog butchered every November.
There would be every form of preserve: wild grape from the vines in the grove, crab-apple jelly, wild blackberry and tame raspberry, strawberry from the bed in the garden, sweet and sour pickles with dill from the edge of the lane where it grew wild, pickles from the rind of the same watermelon we had cooled in the tank at the milk house and eaten on a hot September afternoon.
Cut into the slope of the hill behind the house, with a little door of its own, was the vegetable cellar, from which came carrots, turnips, cabbages, potatoes, squash. And of course there was the traditional sauerkraut, with flecks of caraway seed. I remember one Christmas Day when a ten-gallon crock of it in the basement, with a stone weighting down the lid, had blown up, driving the stone against the floor in the parlor.
All the meat was from the home place, too. Most useful of all was the goose-the very one which had chased me the summer before, hissing and darting out its bill at the end of its curving neck like a feathered snake. Here was the universal bird of an older Christmas: its down was plucked, washed, and hung in bags in the barn to be put into pillows; its awkward body was roasted until the skin was crisp as a fine paper; and the grease from its carcass was melted down, a little camphor added, and rubbed on the chests of coughing children. We ate, slept on, and wore that goose.
And of course the trimmings were from the farm, too: the hickory-nut cake made with nuts gathered in the grove after the first frost and hulled out by my cousins with yellowed hands; the black walnut cookies, sweeter than any taste; the fudge with butternuts crowding it. In the mornings we would be given a hammer, a flatiron, and a bowl of nuts to crack and pick out for the homemade ice cream.
All families had their special Christmas food. Ours was called Dutch bread, mad from dough halfway between bread and cake, stuffed with citron and every sort of nut from the farm - hazel, black walnut, hickory, butternut. a little round one was always baked for me in a baking-soda can, and my last act on Christmas Eve was to put it by the tree so that Santa Claus would find it and have a snack - after all, he'd come a long, cold way to our house. And every Christmas morning, he would have eaten it. My aunt made the same Dutch bread and we smeared over it the same butter she had been churning from their own Jersey milk that same morning.
To eat in the same room where food is cooked - that is the way to thank the Lord for His abundance. The long table, with its different levels where additions had been made for the small fry, ran the length of the kitchen. The air was heavy with odors, not only of food on plates but of the act of cooking itself along with the metallic smell of heated iron from the
hard-working Smoke Eater, and the whole stove offered us its yet uneaten prospects of more goose and untouched pies. To see the giblet gravy made and poured into a gravy boat is the surest way to overeat its swimming richness.
The warning for Christmas dinner was always an order to go to the milk house for cream, where we skimmed from the cooling pans of fresh milk the cream which had the same golden color as the flanks of the Jersey cows which had given it. The last deed before eating was grinding the coffee beans in the little mill, adding that exotic odor to the more native ones of goose and spiced pumpkin pie. Then all would sit at the table and my uncle would ask the grace, sometimes in German, but later for the benefit of us ignorant children, in English:
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest,
Share this food that you have blessed.
My aunt kept a turmoil of food circulating, and to refuse any of it was somehow to violate the elevated nature of the day. To consume the length of breadth of that meal was to suffer! But we all faced the ordeal with courage. Uncle Ben would let out his belt - a fancy Western belt with steer heads and silver buckle - with a snap and a sigh. The women managed better by always getting up from the table and trotting to the kitchen sink or the Smoke Eater or outdoors for some item left in the cold. The men sat there, grimly enduring the glory of their appetites.
After dinner, late in the afternoon, the women would make despairing gestures toward the dirty dishes and scoop up hot water from the reservoir at the side of the range. The men would go to the barn and look after the livestock. My older cousin would take his new .22 rifle and stalk out across the pasture with a remark, "I saw that fox just now, looking for his Christmas goose." Or sleds would be dragged out and we would slide in a long snake, feet hooked into the sled behind, down the hill and across the westward sloping fields into the sunset. Bones would be thrown to dogs, suet tied in the oak trees for the juncos and winter-defying chickadees, a saucer of skimmed milk set out for the cats, daintily and disgustedly picking their padded feet through the snow, and crumbs scattered on a bird feeder where already the crimson cardinals would be dropping out of the sky like blood. Then back to the house for a final warming-up before leaving.
There was usually a song around the tree before we were all bundled up, many thanks all around for gifts, the basket as loaded as when it came, more so, for leftover food had been piled in it. My father and uncle would have brought up the team from the barn and hooked them into the double shafts of the bobsled, and we would all go out into the freezing air of early evening.
And now those bells again as the horses, impatient from their long standing in the barn, stamped and shook their harness, my father holding them back with a soft clucking in his throat and a hard pull on the reins. The smell of wood smoke flavoring the air in our noses, the cousins shivering with cold, "Good-bye, good-bye" called out by everyone, and the bobsled would move off, creaking over the frost-brittle snow. All of us, my mother included, would dig down in the straw and pull the buffalo robes up to our chins. As the horses settled into a steady trot, the bells gently chiming to their rhythmical beat, we would fall half asleep, the hiss of the runners comforting. As we looked up at the night sky through half-closed eyelids, the constant bounce and swerve of the runners would seem to shake the little stars as if they would fall into our laps. But that one great star in the East never wavered. Nothing could shake it from the sky as we drifted home on Christmas.
*Sigh* I love that story! See how I put the words, "It was a handmade Christmas"? That is what we are going to concentrate on over these next six weeks. Well, that, and spending time around the fire together, thinking of Christ's birth. What is my Christmas wish you ask? Well, spending time around the fire with you all, chatting with a sweet cup of chocolate (with marshmallows to be sure;). Would that not be a wonderful Christmas present? Have all my dear friends who I have met through the blogging world, spend Christmas with each other? *Sigh*
~~~~~~Tutorials~~~~~~
I thought, why do we not start this blog party with "easier," supplies because some people do not know how to sew, or crochet, or knit (which I hope to teach you by the end of this blog party;). The simplest materials I thought of we could start with is... PAPER!!! Enjoy these great paper crafts!
This is a cute little art journal for an artist friend, or just for yourself!
LOVE this tutorial!!! What a great Christmas gift this would be (or birthday gift!)
Origami! I thought making a whole bunch of these in nice origami paper and hanging them with clear fish string on the ceiling in your room, would be so whimsical! Also, a few on the tree might be a neat, new touch as well! This little crane will probably take a few tries (my first attempt ended up with a wad of paper!:)
(Because, this post is hooked up to the Linky, I thought to avoid confusion I would have the giveaway posted above. Giveaway in the later post above)
Now, it's your turn to link up your posts! The linky will be running all week, so do not feel pressured to join immediately!!
This week's idea is PAPER!!! I look forward to reading your posts!
Oh, and my good Sister in Christ Bess from Bess's Bag is also hosting an event which I encourage you to check out HERE!
Christmas Blessings!
Please comment on this post letting me know if you linked up, because I would love to see your tutorials!!!
Hello, dear readers!!! I apologize for not posting this sooner! Time just sneaks up on you!:)
It has been quite chilly here; winter is upon us right in time for Thanksgiving. In fact, we are to be travelling during Thanksgiving and will not return until a few days, but I have my Old-Fashion, Handmade Christmas Event post scheduled to be posted the day after Thanksgiving in the morn.
Until then, I thought I would share with you the photos of the Colony Days reenactment held this past October:
I absolutely adore this dress, and the shoes were given to me by a dear friend's grandmother. (They are so Victorian, no?) The dress, Mother and I found at a garage sale and purchased for only a dollar, a deal we could positively not pass!
Here is a "tour," of Tent City's main street. Tent City was a town made of tents established for the residents who were waiting for their homes to be built. It is a big reenactment in our local area. There were a lot of people looking at the booths which included: the (real) ice cream parlor, Barber Shop (where people can purchase real haircuts:), land seller, church, schoolhouse, and so much more! It truly is like a little town! Enjoy the videos! (Be sure to turn off my music player)
(Mr. E.G. Lewis {the founder of Tent City} is in the video above. The man with the straw hat and glasses:)
Thank you Lord for your provisions, thank you for salvation, thank you that we can come to you and that you are always there beside us.
Thank you for friends and family. Thank you for the Pilgrim's courage to come to the New World to worship you freely, so that we may have the freedoms of worship we have to-day.
May we not only sing praises unto him on this specific day, but let us have a day full of thanksgiving everyday!
Lord of all to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise...
Happy Thanksgiving, dearest readers!!!
Love always,
~Grace~
P.S. My old-fashion Christmas event starts to-morrow!!!
The art of medicine consists of amusing the patients while Nature cures the disease.~Voltair
Thank you so much for your dear comments from the last post! I really do appreciate the sweetness and warmth held in each one of them from my dearest readers!
As I told you in yesterday's post, our home has come under the flu and cold sicknesses (I have not been influenced at all, but my parents are still fighting something.)
Thank the Lord, that He has created different medicines to relieve the symptoms. Our family tries to buy good, 100% natural and wholesome products made from 100% natural plants and herbs. I thought I might share some of the products we buy from online natural food stores, so that you may use them during the flu season.
~Berry, berry Well for a Beeyoutiful you~
Berry Well from Beeyoutifulworks wonders (thought currently out of stock at the time; it's that good!) It only contains perhaps, five ingredients (organic honey, echinacea, elderberry, apple cider vinager, and something else...) Take about one tablespoon every hour or so, and it really helps! Besides, it is completely natural. The taste is not terrible, and really sweet because of the organic honey, but it takes a bit getting used to.
Some reviews have said that it has completely cleared their allergies as well as soothe colds.
Must warn you that it is very expensive, but I highly recommend purchasing this!:)
~Throat Coat~
Throat Coat works wonders as well! It soothes a sore throat with a yummy taste (if you add a nice quantity of honey;). I really dislike the taste of black licorice, and even though this has licorice root in it, I love the taste of it. It is a nice homey, herbal tea that you might like so much, you will be drinking it even when you are not sick!
~Yummy Ruby Goodness~
Of course, you really cannot buy pomegranate's goodness from an online shop, but you can buy it at the store. Our neighbors down the street graciously allow us to pick as much as we like from their tree. Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to eat a pomegranate a day to keep the cold away! Pomegranates are so yummy not to mention filled with antioxidants for a strong immune system!
~Lovely Lavender~
Lavender oil is not only heavenly to smell, but also strong enough to clear out your lungs to soothe coughs. When Father becomes ill with a cough, I always take out the lavender oil from the shelf, with some thyme and sage, boil some water, and have him take a relaxing steam to clear out his irritated lungs.
What are some of your family remedies? I would love to hear from you!
This really has nothing to do with herbal remedies, but because I do not have a camera at the moment, I thought I would share with you the yarn of which I am making a lovely scarf out of!
May the Lord keep you and your family well this year!
Thank you again for all your prayers for my parents as well.
I am seriously getting into the cheer of the holiday season! Can you not believe that Thanksgiving is in a week's time? Goodness! I cannot wait to take a relaxing trip with my parents to the seaside for one of the homiest times of the year!
A young lady commented on my blog saying if I could post a sneak peek of my event! So here it goes:
Each week for a six-week time period (November 26 ~ Christmas Eve!) I will be posting a MAIN post that include heartwarming stories and poems, video tutorials, project ideas, and links to great tutorials. Here are some of the main posts:
Of Knitting
Of Crocheting and Yarn
Of Paper
Of Sewing and Fabric
etc.
During the week, for everyday I will be posting links to some great blog tutorials for gifts for friends and family.
Each week I will also be hosting a giveaway for anyone to join whether joining my event or not (with the exception of the homemade giveaways. Unfortunately, I will not be able to send the prizes internationally, but the sponsored ones [with the exception of one], I think will be alright.) The weekly giveaways will in turn be connected to the main post. For example, Of Knitting I will be giving away a knitted project! (Can't exactly tell you what it is, though;)
Your Job will be to post your project ideas, tutorials, and or video tutorials at the end of each main WEEKLY post, so that other girls will see your projects and get ideas for their handmade Christmas presents. I will be setting up a Linky tool for you to do so.
You may also include in your post your holiday traditions (videos would be awesome!!!) and your decorations as well!:)
Oh, and one more thing:
This is a handmade Christmas!!!
The first post, I am trying to film a video of introduction but in it I will be saying, "Put down that shopping list and instead add ribbon, yarn, buttons, and fabric to it! Because let's make this Christmas an Old-Fashion Handmade Christmas."
You may post your ideas consisting of handmade paper crafts, handmade (or sewing machine) sewing projects, handmade knitting projects, but under no circumstances STORE-BOUGHT gifts!!!:)
So are you ready? Are you excited, because I am REALLY excited!!!
~Buttons for spreading the news are coming soon~
Hope all of you are having a charming evening! If you have any questions, do ask!
Love always, Grace
P.S. During this month, it has been really busy; therefore, I will not be posting my monthly interviews until and unless things settle down. My grandfather is in really bad condition right now, school has been keeping me preoccupied, and so on. Therefore, monthly interviews will probably not be running until January of 2011!:)
P.S.S. My daddy is sick as well, with the flu, and really needs prayer (and also prayer for protection for us)! Your prayers for a quick recovery will be much appreciated! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your help for the blog design!!! I will be temporarily using the Back Ground Fairy's Blue Winter Snowflake background. I think that the blue gives our eyes a break from all that pink! So what do you think?
I still wanted something light, but feminine, and not too dark, as some backgrounds are too busy and too dark. Again, this is just a temporary background unless I find a really great one!!!
Also, I will not be adding my Christmas playlist until after Thanksgiving, because I think we all get really sick of hearing the same Christmas jingles until comes Christmas, we do not want to listen to them again!:)
Good morning, dear readers!!! Thank you so much for stopping by! Again, I want to specially thank all of my faithful readers, for staying loyal even though I do not post much!:)
Now, as you may know (and how could you not with me reminding you all the time:) that my Christmas event (special thanks to my sponsors) is coming up soon, and I thought I might do a slight makeover. How do you like this sweet and feminine holiday background?
Or the blue:
I wanted to keep the same color-pallet blues and pinks.
If you have any suggestions on my header and or background, please tell me! Really, this was the only background that I liked out of my two main background sources (they didn't really have any great winter backgrounds!); however, if you know more great sources (with an old-fashion flare) I would be so appreciative! My two main sources are Background Fairy and Cat Paisley Designs, but mostly the Background Fairy.:)
Rebeka from By His Grace and For His Glory kindly sponsored a giveaway at
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home which is giveaway a lovely Tea Cozy for the holidays, of your choice!!! Click HERE for a chance to win a cozy of your choice!!!
Life has kept me quite busy, and has sadly not permitted me to update my blog posts. I apologize for that, and the lack of pictures. Either I am too lazy to use my mother's camera (which she has kindly allowed me to use whilst I am saving {and will be saving for a very long time} for the Nikon D5000 or the Canon Rebel!:) or I do not want to go through the hassle of the pictures coming out blurry. (I think it is perhaps both!:)
Please be patient with me, while there might be a lack of pictures for awhile (except during my Christmas event). I do so miss having a fairly good camera!:(
This past weekend has greatly much fatigued me! My little niece stopped by for a weekend visit, while her mother went to Sacramento for her best friend's baby shower. A five-year-old has so much energy, which can be both physically and emotionally straining, for I woke up this morn in a very disagreeable manner, and had been suffering a head ache for the most part of the day. Thankfully it has very much subsided. Dear, little Julia is a joy to entertain, but is, at times, very hard to manage!:D
Not only have I been watching my niece (who returned home late last evening), I have also been very busy preparing my Christmas ideas, finding tutorials, and emailing my sponsors for the giveaways. I am thinking of asking some of you who may be interested in sponsoring my giveaways, for I have emailed at least five companies and only four replied, and two of those replies turned down my offer!:(
I hope you have been having a cheerful autumn Monday!
I completely did not realize that it ends TODAY!!! lol! I edited all the pictures above with Picnik. I do hope in the future (when and if I purchase that neat Canon Rebel or Nikon D 5000) to obtain a really good photo program.
I have been browsing a bit with my favourite blogs, and have found SO many tutorials that I know you are going to LOVE including-well, perhaps, I should keep it a secret:)!!! I absolutely cannot wait for my "Old-Fashion Christmas Event," to start.
I was wondering who will be joining me! It's going to be so much fun!
I was also wondering if any of you know a tutorial of how to make a blog button. I really need to find a place to make MY OWN buttons without having to download anything. I would very much appreciate it! Thank you!
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