Let Your Light Shine

My sister got these really cool oil lamps from Israel, made in Galilee.  The girls tiled them and grouted them.  We put some oil in them and watched them glow.  What a fun, messy, meaningful project.  

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

"Then Jesus again spoke to them saying, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life".  John 8:12

Shine your light and

GET JOY!

Maybe this would make a great homeschool project. Check them out at www.jerusalem-art.net

It's a Picnic Day!

Today, my daughter decided to go on a picnic and bike ride...me and her dad decided that was a good idea and that we would come along!

Here is shorty unhappy with me taking a picture of him again.  He was happy about the Oreo in his hand though.  I think at least three made it into his belly.

"I have food in my mouth...I can't smile"  Too bad....CLICK!

I have decided that there are just not enough pictures of me with my family...so here is me trying to fix that problem.  However, I just ate an Oreo too and I didn't want to show off me chocolate teeth.  Bwahahaha

Here are some of the freshly picked strawberries I bought this morning from the farmers market.  The were perfect for our picnic lunch. Yummy!

Our beautiful ride home.  It was fun hanging out with my girl!

We took a few stops to enjoy the scenery...

and enjoy God's wonderful creation!

We even found the biggest, I think, dandelion I have ever seen.  It was fun watching her blow the seeds off of this one. 

Jesus, thank you for beautiful, sunny days where we can enjoy each other and You!  You always help me everyday....

GET JOY!

Girly Summer Crafts 2011!

Fourth of July Fun
Dress up the things you have with fun patriotic ribbon. I got this ribbon at Wal-mart for like $2.00. Look at how cute this plain white bucket hat now looks!!!! So easy, all you need to do is make a bow and sew it on with a simple stitch. You could hot glue it on; but if you want the bow to stay on better sewing it is the way to go! If you are unsure of your sewing skill...do your best and then add hot glue to make sure. hahahahaa!

These were fun patriotic pins we came up with this year. I got a cheep skein of yarn....red, white and blue of course. My daughter then crocheted a very long chain stitch for me. Go here to learn how to crochet a chain stitch. I then sewed the loops together at one end, sewed on a button and a pin on the back. Go here to learn how to make these flowers! How patriotic.... you could pin these on a jacket, dress, or a hat!
Flippy Flops
I love taking cheap flip flops and making them cute! Tie balloons to them! Take scraps of material and tie them on! Our take my fun fabric flowers and tie them on! So many fun ways to make your flip flops dazzling and adorable! And did I mention...how easy it is!!!!

For the balloon flip flops I first tied the ends of two water balloons together. I then tied those around the plastic top of the flip flop. What makes them cute is using complementary colors, patterns or rainbow order....Just have fun!

For these fun fabric flip flops, I borrowed my friend picking shears. You know those scissors that have a zig zag edge to keep fabric from fraying. You don't have to use those, they look fun frayed as well. I wanted to try something different this year. Cut your fabric in several strips to as long and as wide as you like. Lastly, tie them on! Your kids can do this one!!!!!


Don't you just love these gingham ones!!!!
Fabric Flowers!
Have I told you how much I love, love, love making these fabric flowers. I have blogged about making these before, go here to see how. New tidbit though....if you have and embossing heat tool use it! It is so much easier than using fire to melt the edges and less dangerous.



Put this flowers on hats, barrettes, pins, flip flops, purses or anything to make everything more adorable.
If you make lots of this stuff you can then sell it for some summer cash!!!! Whooo HOO!

Being crafty helps me...
GET LOTS OF JOY!

Dinners Outside!

One of my favorite summer things to do is eat outside! We are couped up all winter long here in the north so it's nice to be able to be outdoors as much as we can. So while dad was playing tennis across the school yard from us...we ate our dinner. It was a little chilly tonight and we ended up getting our jackets....gotta love Michigan!

Like my swing? My neighbor was throwing it away...What?! I am gonna paint it and get some new cushions and it will be like new. I love getting stuff like that and the swing is awesome!

Everyone should have a glass pitcher! I got this one at an antique mall for like three bucks or something. I love it and drinks just taste better from glass things....why is that???? : )

He loves eating outside sometimes it is just hard to focus on eating and not the twenty million other things going on around us....tooo much fun!

I kept it simple hot dogs, green beans and french fries I already ate; but there is the leftover ketchup. : )

Guarantee that there are going to be some messy faces and some tears when I wipe off that mess.

My grandmother who has passed away loved geraniums. I try to get some in honor of her every summer. I love them with my flag, so patriotic!


Oh, I tried something new today. I made freezer jam. It wasn't all that hard at all. A friend at church gave me a huge bag of strawberries from her garden...this is what I decided to do with them.....

Oh my, this jam is sooooooo good and I think it is gonna last me the whole year.....all I can say is AWESOME!

Girly Summer Craft Ideas!

I love craft ideas for the summer here are a few....

Tye Dye
Okay so this is a "Must Do" project. I was always afraid to do this because of the mess and it seemed hard. Well, just wear nasty clothes and do it outside on a nice sunny day and who cares about the mess. It is so much fun and it is not hard at all. To do this project, go to your local craft store and buy a kit and some white t-shirts. Apparently one kit makes a ton of shirts. This picture is of my very first shirt. I love this project and I want to do it with my girls very soon!!! Isn't the shirt toooo cute! Love this!

Hanky Purses
This handkerchief purse turned out really cute. You need to two handkerchiefs.

1. Put the handkerchiefs good sides of patter facing out.

2. Cut off an inch on three sides (leave the top uncut this is the opening of your purse and you need the nice sewn part so it doesn't fray) Set aside those inch strips.

3. Cut 1/2 inch strips, as far in as you want your size purse to be, on the sides and bottom. The bottom corners just cut off the square on each side (you will know what I mean as you do it).

4. Tie the coordinating strips together so that the back of the purse is tied to the front of the purse.

5. Use the left over strips from step two and braid three of them together. This will be the handle of your purse. Hand stitch handle to your purse.

Now all you savvy seamstresses I sewed the three edges so there will be no little holes in the purse. You don't have to do that but my little girls always just throw tiny treasures in their purse and if you don't sew it there small things may fall out

Funky Hair Ties

Hair ties are so fun. These were made out of various fun ribbons tied (double knot) to a chunky rubber band. The key to these fun ones is keep it to one color of various shades or three colors that are found within the ribbon (the green and yellow is a good example in the pic) All the ribbons in a pony tail look really cute. A little girl can do this project...it is super easy!

Barrettes & Earrings
Make fun barrettes and earrings. The barrettes are made out of paper chains...maybe you made them as a kid out of bubble gum wrappers. I love Ehow go here and they show you how! The Gerber daisy barrettes are made out of the petals of the flower and a giant rhinestone glued to a Barrett. Earrings can be really easy and you can have a lot of fun picking out beads with your girl. It doesn't have to be expensive either. The earrings in the picture are three things...the part that goes in your ear, a long wire with an end on it (kinda looks like a pin for sewing), and beads. I used one tool with these earrings needle nose pliers that are rounded. I am sure there are technical terms for all these things but I don't know them off hand. Oh, for fun I used glow in the dark beads, the girls loved those.

Bracelets

Teach your daughter how to make friendship bracelets (call em BFF bracelets now : ) ) There are so many different ways of making them. Here is one kind you could make here.

Too Cute Hat

I found this bucket hat at a local craft store; it was like less than 2 bucks. Sew on a cute bow and Gerber daisy (take a part to just the petals). Glue on giant rhinestone!

Flippy Floppies
We love flip flops at our house. I made two kinds and they were easy, easy, easy to make....
Material Flip Flops
1. Cut one strips of really cute material.
2. Tie (double knot) onto your flip flop.
Gerber Daisy Flip Flop 1. Glue daisy top to the flip flop (our on a clip that you clip to your flip flop)
2. Glue a giant rhinestone to the center

Pretty Pillows

Sewing is becoming a lost art... sad : ( . So, if you know how teach your daughter how. It really is a fun and creative experience. My daughter designed this idea for a competition at our girl’s ministry retreat, Powette. She got a blue ribbon. She was really proud of her creation!

Side note Glue is very important so you want to make sure you find the right kind....sorry Elmer’s and glue sticks are just not gonna get the job done. Sometimes hot glue isn't going to be that great either. I did find some great glue at my local craft store, it is a tacky glue that adheres to metal and plastic which is exactly what I needed for the flip flops and barrettes.

Have fun being creative this summer and




I made of these things to sell at our girls ministry retreat. They all turned out really cute!

What To Do...What To Do...

I made this list a really long time ago of things to do for my daughters when they say, "Mom, there is nothing to do!" So I thought I would share my list of 101 things to do for little girls. Please, feel free to copy it and give it to your kids.

101 things I can do when there is nothing to do....

1. Make a tent in your living room.
2. Make popsicles out of juice, small paper cups, and popsicle sticks.
3. Pretend to go on a trip, make tickets, pack a bag, board your couch, take pictures.
4. Write a list of 10 things you would like to do.
5. Ask to have a parent let you take pictures of God’s creation and put them on the fridge or your blog.
6. Make something three dimensional; use a box, paper, tape, glue and crayons.
7. Press some flowers you picked.
8. Make rubbings of leaves that you find.
9. Learn about a different Christmas traditions and add it to you own.
10. Most definitely have a tea party.
11. Have a sleepover.
12. Go on a treasure hunt in your yard (make your own map)
13. Learn to play tennis or baseball
14. Try a hula hoop…see how many you can do
15. Decorate your bike and have a parade down your sidewalk
16. Have a lemonade stand
17. Have the Olympics in your yard…make sure you make medals.
18. Go fishing (in your tub if you can’t go for real)
19. Make cookies with your parent
20. Make a card and send it to an older person who may need encouragement
21. Go through your toys and donate old ones to a mission
22. Play hopscotch
23. Do a mural on your sidewalk with sidewalk chalk
24. Paint a picture of yourself
25. Look in the mirror and try to learn to wiggle your ears
26. Practice spelling Mississippi
27. Go on a bug hunt
28. Volunteer some time helping someone…like raking leaves.
29. Do something special for mom
30. Do something special for dad
31. Go to the library and check out a fun book
32. Make your own paper dolls
33. Make a puppet out of a sock or paper bag and then put on a puppet show
34. Pretend you are from a different country and practice the accent
35. Make up a new song while singing on your swing
36. Invent a new game; make your own board and pieces or write up the rules
37. Learn how to play soccer or basketball
38. When you get a package in the mail ask your parent if you can have the bubble wrap and dance on it.
39. Ask for a big box (the bigger the better) and make something out of it (house, boat, car, rocket ship)
40. Build a snow fort
41. Make a collage out of newspaper or magazine pictures
42. Make something out of duct tape (slippers, purse, wallet, bracelet)
43. Design blue prints for a house on a piece of paper with all the rooms, doors, and furniture
44. Write a play and act it out for your family (make tickets, playbill and popcorn)
45. Make a home movie theater and watch a family favorite (make tickets and popcorn)
46. For dinner ask if you can make it into a restaurant, design a menu, give out fake money, take orders, and bus the table
47. Make a memory box to keep special items
48. Start a journal and write stories, thoughts, poems, songs and draw pictures
49. Make flowers out of Kleenex ask mom how
50. Plant a seed in a plastic bag with wet paper towel and watch it grow
51. Help mom and dad with chores without being asked see what happens
52. Make a card for someone special
53. Write a letter to the President of the United States and thank him for all his hard work
54. Ask mom if you can dress up in some of her old clothes, shoes and jewelry
55. Have a fashion show
56. Learn how to play an instrument or make your own
57. Learn ALL the words to your favorite song and sing it to your family
58. Make a paper airplane and see how far you can get it to go
59. Make homemade play dough
60. Make a Christmas ornament or decoration
61. Write a letter to God (put it in your memory box)
62. Make popcorn garland for your Christmas tree
63. Go caroling with your parents
64. At Thanksgiving pass out paper to everyone and have them write why they are thankful and hang them on the refrigerator
65. Learn the Pledge of Allegiance and the pledge to the Christian flag
66. Learn how to sing our national anthem
67. Draw and picture of our flag and hang it on the refrigerator
68. Learn about a current soldier name and address; pray for them and send them encouraging letters.
69. Make a special dessert for the pastor at your church
70. Draw a special picture for your teacher
71. Take an apple to your teacher
72. Wash your parent’s car and vacuum the inside…make sure you get their help and permission
73. Go to Grandmas and help her with some yard work
74. If you have a video camera ask mom and dad to help you film a short movie you wrote.
75. Ask mom for some old wrapping paper and on the back of it draw a mural or a sign
76. Have a water balloon fight
77. Play in the sprinkler with umbrellas
78. Make mud pies
79. Play hide and seek
80. Go swimming or learn how to swim
82. Take care of a pet
83. Rearrange your room, make it nice and neat
84. Get a cozy blanket and read a good book
85. Play house
86. Play school (make sure you send home homework)
87. Collect food boxes and washed out cans and set up your own grocery store, get some brown paper bags and play money too.
88. Make snow angels
89. Go sledding (make your own hill if you need to with the snow in your yard)
90. At the beach roll in the sand, jump in the water, dig to china and make a sand castle
91. Count as high as you can
92. Blow a bubble with chewing gun and try to blow a bubble inside of that bubble.
93. Camp in your backyard
94. Plant a flower or a tree in your yard with your parent
95. Paint your mom’s nail or if your dad will let you …his nails
96. Go for a nice walk with your parents and explore the nature around you
97. Ride bike with your family
98. Have a picnic on your living room floor on a rainy day
99. Dress up for a special event
100. Have “Pillow Time” get all the pillows in your house and put them in a huge pile in the living room and have your parents read you a book or watch a movie
101. Wear mixy matchy socks!

Summer Makeovers of a Different Kind!

My daughter came home from camp begging to do a blind fold makeover! Like a good mom, I said,"SURE!" What we used was liquid eyeliner from Almay and baby wipes. The eye liner worked like a paint brush and the wipes worked like magic in taking it off.

You can see in this picture I obviously did not use a blind fold. At this point I decided that they were a little bit little to do this without poking it in each others eyes. LOL I thought it was pretty fun anyway without the blind fold.
And of course my face got painted too. I think that was the most fun of all for the girls. They tried to get dad in on the fun but that was a no go! LOL

Getting Joy Everyday!

Arts and Crafts for Kids

I LOOOOVVVVEEE Art! So during our Arts and Crafts time today we worked on some fun activities. My favorite place to go for ideas, when I taught art at a Christian school, was crayola.com! They have so many great ideas like that bird! You can pick any them and type of craft. It is one great place. Here are some projects my girls worked on today. I gave them four choices and all we needed were crayons, markers, paper, glue sticks & straws.

Bird on your hand: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/detail/a-bird-on-your-hand-craft/
A-mazing Kids: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/detail/a-mazing-kids-craft/
Action Pals: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/detail/action-pals-craft/

The girls had a lot of fun and here are some pictures of their masterpieces.
This weekend we are on a little road trip. I will try to post some things soon.
Blessings,


GET JOY