A Restful Day

 As you can see I've been playing with the "blog". I was over at Blueberry Cottage today to read her review of Karen Andreola's new Mother Culture CD.  I highly recommend it, Karen is an excellent author and speaker, I'm planning on getting my own copy soon, to inspire me before school begins. While there I was envious of the beautiful pictures at the top of her blog so Partner and I spent some time over at picnik uploading and creating, after about an hour I think we got it done! (Where there's a will there's a way!)

 There seems to be a fun competition out there to create a fairy garden at The Magic Onions (look for the button on the side bar!). Sounds like fun to me I'm going to check more into it and see if Bestie and I can do something too.

 Hope you are all staying cool and enjoying this beautiful summer weather.
  The Keeper

A Grilie Day

Today was a real treat, a day for the girls to go shopping! We even had Garden Olives (Olive Garden) for lunch. What makes this kind of day so special? Because we were three generations. My Mother, myself, and my little Girlie. I cherish these times to make memories. We didn't find any of the things we went looking for but the fellowship was sweet and I am refreshed. I thank the Lord for a godly Mother who homeschooled me when it was such new territory and now I am passing the vision on to my daughter. So Thanks Mom for loving me so much and being my friend today.
And thanks too to my Honey who hung out and had a Man's day at home with the boys.

Summertime

Is a time to relax and enjoy my husband and children. We've been enjoying  the time off from our "homeschool" life . It's so nice just to be the Mom for a little while :). In fact my 6yr. old just asked for icecream and I said yes! Can you imagine, I'm trying on the answer yes as much as possible, you see when I get overwhelmed I tend to just answer with a no and then think about it and change my mind. My better half

smile in a bowl!

has taken to calling me the "Mummer of No" lately so this has been a goal of mine this summer. And it's so much nicer to see my children smile especially since I really should be saying "yes" most of the time! Like to vanilla icecream sprinkled with minni chocolate chips, yum. Instant smile!

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