A Weekend Project

How about making a book wreath? This one was a fun project for me, once my Mom saw mine she had to have one too!

I began by making my own form with hangers, floral wire and gorilla glue! Or you can by a metal one at a craft store but the urge to create hit me when it was to late to run to the store!

I had a old book of fiction that I thought I could put to better use, you curl the pages making sure to make each cone similar in shape ( I used thick craft glue) when you have about 45 cones you hot glue one row to the form and then the next on top. My finished product didn't really look like a wreath since the hole in the middle was so small so mine became a flower once we crinkled up a page and placed it in the middle.

 

We first tried it on a bedroom door, it needed more contrast.



Here it is in it's final resting place, you might recognize the silhouettes from earlier.

Have a blessed weekend.
The Keeper



Sleeping with Thankfulness

As I read One Thousand Gifts till I fell asleep last night I realized I woke through the night with gratefulness on my heart, what a gift! We have had a very busy few weeks and I am challenged again to pick up my thankfulness journal and add to the list. As I practise thankfulness I am also practising peacefulness, they seem to go hand in hand, not allowing myself to be so flustered that I become unkind to my family, but taking time to see beauty through their eyes.
Take time, Slow down, Be blessed,
Kimberly

9. cheeks soft with sleep
10. children creating beauty with nature
11. love from a husband
12. my messy house (we live here)
13. peaceful sleep
14. two more days of school!!!

Happy thankfulness hunting!

Thanksgiving

 

My dear friend, Amy, gave me a book that is already changing my life. Have you heard of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp? She shares about a challenge from a friend to name one thousand things to be grateful for and how Thanksgiving can change how you view life, how many times in scripture we are admonished to come to Christ with Thanksgiving then with our petitions. And how God will fill the viod this world of complaining leaves when we ask Him to fill us with Thanksgiving. She has a beautiful blog at aholyexperience.com where she is way beyond one thousand gifts, and counting.
 So the challenge is to begin our own list as we go through the day, here is the beginning of mine. Join me in Thanksgiving for the small and great of God's blessings.

1. Yelling children in the freezing cold pool!
2. Tears that mean I still care
3. Blue eyes and wet spickey hair on an 11 yr. old boy
4. A quiet house
5. Warm sunshine after long cold winter
6. Cold raw milk from a neighbors farm
7. Completed portfolios!
8. Cool evening breezes on the porch

Blessings on your weekend, how about making a list of your own?
The Keeper

A Tutorial Upon Request





I have a small gallery wall and a few of my friends have asked if I'd share how I made the silhouettes of the children.



Partner







Bestie



 

Bubby







 

   You begin by taking a digital picture, I wanted some detail to my silhouettes so I had them pose before changing out of their church clothes ( look closely at the silhouette you can see their collars).  Use the same stool and don't move it so the distance from the wall is the same and their ages will show in the final product, it's slight but their heads are different sizes. Make sure they are all facing right.



Print out your pictures as 3by5 in color on normal printer paper, use small scissors (I used embroidery ones) for fine detail and cut out the face, now with a little scrapbook glue, glue the color side of the face onto black cardstock. You should now have a white silhouette on the black paper. Use your embroidery scissors to cut out along the white silhouette, TaDa you've made your own silhouette!



A keepsake to cherish forever!

Blessings, the Keeper





 











How we came to live in Dream Cottage

  

 Once upon a time seven years ago we moved from our humble trailer into our new home. At the time Partner was four and Bubby two. We have a fun tradition of giving everything a nick-name, the cars, each other the neighbors (that's my husbands specialty!). One afternoon while pretending the boys deceided that we lived in Dream Cottage and it's been our name ever since ( even though now that they are 11, and 9 they would rather call it the Space Station of Doom!).

And you know what they say, New House New Baby, Bestie was born almost exactly one year later!

So that's our beginning. Hope you enjoyed my first post.
The Keeper of Dream Cottage