Valentines Day Cards and Treats

 

 

 

We were all surprised Valentine's Day morning when we came downstairs and saw the jumbo candy Valentine Heather made for us.

 

 

Andrea and Kayley made heart-shaped marshmallows, and heart-shaped berry kabobs. That was breakfast the next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are all the cards I made for my sisters and mom, all using supplies I already had on hand. Most of the girls in my family didn't get around to making cards this year, but Andrea did. This is the darling card she made me. She's so good at writing messages in cards too. Something I'm not so good at!

 

Kayley's 18th Birthday

 

 

Kayley, my baby sister but often the most adult one in the house, decided to use the money that would have been used on her birthday presents to instead hold a bake sale in support of Bible Orphan Ministries. She does love to bake, and this strawberry angel food cake just so happens to be her first angel food cake- and the first time we've ever used the angel food cake pan Momma's had for like 14 years. Momma frosted it with 7 Minute Frosting; I'd never heard of that before, but it's just sugar, cream of tartar (I think), and whipped egg whites cooked in a double boiler. Like a meringue frosting. Delicious, especially with extra strawberry pulp mixed in.

 

We had a mishmash of little dishes for supper- a couple different kinds of sushi, egg rolls, fish sticks, wild rice, red bell pepper slices, and sautéed spinach. We played a game of Nerts, which I just learned for the first time. It's like solitaire, but for a group. You can play your cards on anyone's aces, and it's like a race to see who can play the most cards the fastest. No taking turns!

 

I got the idea to make a birthday stocking for my sisters. I wanted to give Kayley some little gifts that I had lying around already or that I made myself, the sorts of things that might be stocking stuffers if it were Christmas. Originally I was going to make it a stocking shape, but that seemed too seasonal, and I went with a triangular shape in the end. It has straps to tie it to the birthday girl's chair, and glittery tulle and ribbon for pizzazz. I gave her the bracelet I made in the photo above (using a variety of old craft supplies I already had- the spiral wire pieces are really scrapbooking supplies, held together with jump rings and spiced up with seed beads). The other things in her birthday stocking were a packet of Tee Chia cereal and a journal. She told me later with a smile that she was "actually surprised" by it.

 

Pumpkin Pillows

 

 

 

 

 

These pumpkin pillows were such a fun little project. Since there was no machine sewing, I could work on them in the living room while chatting with my family.

 

I've got to credit JoAnn, the craft store, because I got the idea from some decorative fabric pumpkins they were selling this fall. Giant stuffed fabric yo-yos: that's all these pillows are. To make the stems I cut a circle out of fabric and cinched it somewhere in the middle with a piece of twine, then tucked it into the hole. I was going to hand tack the stems in place, but the fabric I used has a pile and held itself in place pretty well. If I don't have to work, I'm not going to, so... nope, the stems aren't even sewn on.

 

My family actually treated them like pillows; they got mashed into the couch and sat upon, so they needed a little "fixing" now and then. I made these primarily to use up some fabric and stuffing that's taking up precious space in my room, but now my family wants me to save the pillows for next fall. They're cute and all, but I consider things like this to be disposable...

A Bike Ride in the Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a sunny, mild winter Sunday, so my dad, two sisters, and I took a ride through the park. I can't believe how fortunate we are to have a big swath of nature just a 10-minute bike ride from our house. In the clear air and bright sunlight, I'm reminded that the Creator cares for all of His world, even the rather ordinary, unspectacular bits, like the one I live in. His affection is all over it. My corner of Texas will never make it into a travel magazine, yet this place is brimming with beauty and joy.

Christmas Origami Garland

 

 

 

I took one evening a few days before Christmas to make a whole forest of Christmas trees for my room. The paper was just regular origami paper, not intended to be Christmas-y, but the in the shape of a tinsel tree, the red, green, blue, and brown combination definitely has a winter/Christmas feel. I don't want to take it down!

 

Santa is an elegant two-fold design, but I couldn't believe how much it looks like him!

First Compassion Letter From Me

 

 

In October I started sponsoring a five-year-old girl in Bangladesh. It's something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager, and when I got my first paycheck from my current job I finally felt like I could make the financial commitment to support a child's education until she finishes school. The girl I'm sponsoring happened to be the longest-waiting girl on the day that I went to the website to sign up as a sponsor. She is cute as a button, comes from a country where prospects for an uneducated girl from an impoverished family are not good, and likes playing with dolls. Then and there I decided she was going to be my sponsored child.

 

I kept the first letter short and just gave her the basics about me. I filled out the form that comes in the new sponsor booklet with my name, birthday, and the state and country where I live. Then since there was space I added a few more lines to the form: my family, my pet, my favorite colors, and my language. On the back I wrote a short letter telling her that I think about her a lot and want to hear from her, and I asked her a few questions about her family and her language (most people in Bangladesh speak Bangla but I don't want to assume.) She's five so I didn't want to overwhelm her with too much in the first letter.

 

Now the fun part: little gifts! That I had to make her a paper doll was obvious. They were my favorite craft and toy all in one from the time I was around five until I was ten or eleven. I made the doll look a little bit like her, and drew 8 outfits for her- four I colored and four I left for her to color. I was a little concerned about the pieces getting lost so I made an envelope out of a scrap of pretty wrapping paper. Then I made three origami animals- pets for the doll. There's also a sheet of animal stickers and a photograph of me.

 

I sponsor through Compassion International and so far the organization has really impressed me. The amount of work it takes to process and translate the letters that go back and forth from the children to the sponsors is staggering. A few weeks after I became a sponsor, they sent me an email telling me that the little girl (I keep wanting to call her my girl) has been told she has a sponsor. Now it's been two and a half months, and last week I received a new photo of her (She looks so much older! Since she was waiting for a sponsor for so long the first photo I saw of her was already like a year old.) Compassion also keeps up with their blog and Pinterest board too, which has lots of neat ideas for things to say in your letters and gifts to send.



First Century B.C. Meal

 

 

 

 

My sister Kayley surprised us with this well-researched and beautifully presented ancient meal for the first day of Rosh Hashanah. We ate fish, leek and barley soup, yogurt cheese encrusted with herbs, hummus, red wine and vinegar, French bread... the least authentic part of the meal..., grapes, Greek olives, and date and fig cakes. I'm so glad we were all able and willing to eat together that night. I don't remember everything we talked about- aside from the food itself- but I know it was a good evening.