In His Grip

New Blog Format

As you can see I have updated not only my banner but my format as well.  I have always liked blogs with a wider center column, but it took me awhile to not only to figure that out but then decide when to make the change.  Making this change, affects all my previous posts, so some of them are just not formatted the way I want them.  But I decided to make this change with the new year and just not worry about those previous posts.  Welcome to my new digs and happy 2009!

Shoes for South Africa

You know if it were up to me every little girl would be wearing a pair of pink shoes.  During the month of December, the children's department at our church collected money to help put shoes on the feet of children in a village of South Africa.  Their goal started out at $350, as they thought about it that would not provide shoes for all of the children so they upped their goal to $1000.  They not only surpassed their goal they blew it away by raising over $2000.  They are not only putting shoes on all of the children's feet in one village they are helping provide playground equipment for the school.  Yeah God! 

Year in Review

I put this mosaic together of my favorite pictures that have been on my blog this past year.  You might call it my "Year in review."  I look forward to the new year and all the hope that it brings.

Is the Proof In The Picture?

This is a very fun website that I found and maybe it can prove that he really does exist.

Three Word Thursday

Hope is born!

Stitches By Sturman's Christmas

Being a sole proprietor, I kind of miss out on all of the Christmas hoopla out there in the business world.  There have been times over the years when one of my designers will give me a little something.  Today I received the best little something I think I could have and they are, oh, so fun.  Have a Merry Christmas.

Oh No It Is 35 Degrees!

The last several days Jeff and I have been busy making frozen ice globes for candles.  The plan is to use these at the entrance of the church for the Christmas Eve service. We have made over 40 of them.  I learned to make these a couple of years ago when we spent Christmas in Minnesota.  The weather up north is much more conducive to ice globe making.  But when I saw the temperatures for this past weekend I thought that we could make these and use them like luminaries. It worked very well when the temperatures hung around 3 degrees.  We have been storing these outside in the shade, however, today it is 35 degrees and drizzling out.  What will become of our wonderful ice globes?  We have only one more day to make sure they survive for the big night. If anyone is wondering why our temperatures are dipping again, I am sure it is because I am praying for cold temps to save my ice globes.

Homemade Peppermint Bath Salts

I made these great jars of bath salts for Christmas gifts this year.  I found the recipe online and would give credit to the site if I could find it again.  So if this is your recipe, thanks for the great recipe and gift idea.

This is all you need. 

Mix together the oils and then add the salts. 

I added one drop of coloring to make the mixture a soft pink.  Mix thoroughly. 

  Scoop into a wide-mouth jar.     

The recipe is for one 8oz. jar, which is enough for four baths.     

 

 

I added a label to the top and instructions on a tag that I tied on with a ribbon.

I then put tissue around each jar and placed it in a large cello bag, tied it with a ribbon and added a small ornament.  What a fun festive gift to give to all of your friends.

I doubled the recipe several times over and made a dozen of these to give away.  Here is the recipe I used.

Peppermint Salt Soak

You'll need:

• Glass or metal bowl
• 20 drops peppermint essential oil
• 3 tablespoons carrier oil (I used sweet almond oil or jojoba)
• Metal spoon
• 1/2 cup Epsom salt
• 1/2 cup sea salt
• 8 oz jar, tub or tin with lid

Step 1:  Sterilized you materials in a hot-water bath (place in boiling water for 10 minuets, then set on a clean towel to dry).

Step 2:  In a glass or metal bowl, add essential oil and carrier oil to dilute it.  Add the Epsom salt and sea salt and mix thoroughly.

Step 3:  Scoop into a 8 ounce container.

To use:  Pour or scoop a fourth of the mixture under warn running water.  Allow the tub to fill before sinking into the soothing waters.  Enjoy!

Starbucks Card Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the very first In His Grip giveaway is, Lori.  A $10 Strabucks gift card is headed your way.  YEAH!  May you enjoy your cup of Christmas.

Weekend of Crafts

Last Saturday and Sunday I was able to spend my free time in my studio doing some paper crafts and working on the skills of my new favorite craft of soldered pendants.  The biggest priority is to finish up our Christmas cards and get them out this week.  Anna was a big help working with the glitter. Several years ago I started making our Christmas cards after I went to my first stamping show, and have enjoyed thinking of something new each year.

Here are some of my cards from the past.

 

   

Three Word Thursday -- Giveaway

Cup of Christmas! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In His Grip is having its very first giveaway.  To be eligible leave a comment about what your favorite Starbucks drink is during Christmas time before 9:00 pm CST and you will be qualified to win a $10 Starbucks card.  The winner will be picked randomly.  My favorite drink this time of year has got to be the Peppermint Mocha, it is Christmas in a cup!

You Help Me and I'll Help You

So the other day Jeff helped me wrap gifts and last night I helped him shovel the driveway.  We had to run to Home Depot for some wood for Stitches By Sturman and of course there were shovels displayed and Jeff said, "Hey let's buy another shovel so that we both can shovel the snow."  Being the compliant and sub-servant wife that I am, I responded, "Sure honey whatever you say."  Okay, I did not really respond quite like that, but you get the picture.  We got home and started to shovel the snow, I have to say, that I may have shoveled snow maybe three times in my life.  Jeff and the kids have always taken care of this little chore.  But I found that it is quite fun and we had a little competition as to who could get their side the cleanest.  Of course Jeff won because he got to use the new shovel and thought he bought that one for me.

Christmas Wrapping

Gift wrapping is one of the holiday tasks that has usually been done by me alone.  I do have a thing about wrapping gifts I want them to not only be pretty but match the decorations.  So we always have all of the gifts out of the same wrapping paper.  This year I found this fun snowman paper with silver snowflakes at the dollar store.  The Hubby does not get excited about wrapping.  His idea of wrapping gifts, is put the gift in a bag with some issue and call it done.  However, he was "that" guy for me and offered to help out with the wrapping.  The job got done much faster.  He put the paper on and I put on the pretty ribbons and tags.  It took longer that Jeff anticipated and he needed to take a break part way through.  He did persevere and now the presents are all wrapped and under the tree.  I love to see a tree with packages under it.

My Holiday Home

love the Christmas season.  Here are some more pictures of what we have going on to make our home festive.  Some people call it over done, but really I have collected most of it each year in after Christmas sales.  Some of the things I have made or remade. 

This is our newest addition to our Christmas decorations.  I found it on sale for a great price. It was even snowing when I took this picture.      This is the tree that is in our entryway.  I would call this the "pretty tree". Because I have designers in and out of my home on a daily basis, I do feel some pressure to meet their approval.  Please do not judge me for that.  

This is the tree with real memories and family ornaments.  Although, I think it is pretty too, some of the decorations  may not be so "pretty" as much as they are the works of art from the hearts and hands of my babies.

 This JOY used to be very "country" looking until a couple of years ago and I added a little bit of glitter, okay it was a lot of glitter, to totally change it to look much more sparkly to along with the rest of our sparkly decorations.

I almost threw this little tree away.  The bottom branches had broken off and the legs for the base had been lost. When I got the idea to put it in a large red vase with some marbles and ta da, tree on top of the piano.

This is my favorite Christmas decoration. I picked it up last year when we were in Mexcio at Christmas time.  It sits under the "pretty" Christmas tree.  Hope you enjoyed the little Christmas home tour here at In His Grip.

The Meaning Of A Snowflake

I received this today in an e-card that my Mom sent me and had to share it with you.  I have always been a big fan of snow, but this just gives me an even bigger reason to love it!

The Meaning of a Snowflake

Every new snowflake comes to the earth

as a picture of our Savior’s birth,

because they are sent from up above

and remind us of God’s care and love.

 

Each one is intricate and small

because Christ see the details of us all,

And just as two are never the same

the Lord knows and calls us by name.

 

Snowflakes gently cover the world in white

and hide what’s unlovely from our sight,

showing us how He covers our sin

and gives us His grace when we come to Him.

 

So may very snowflake bring Christ to mind

and in every bit of white may you find

a reason to celebrate anew

and reminder of His love for you.

-Holley Gerth-

Three Word Thursday

The Greatest Story 

Deck the Halls with Garland

I truly love garland at the holidays.  They are so much fun to decorate and can make any room in the house festive.  I always use artificial garland because the evergreens are just not available here in Kansas like they are in other parts of the country.  I do miss the smell that fresh cut greens provide, so I use candles to add that wonderful evergreen smell.  Here are some of the garlands that are in my home this season. 

The large ornaments are just cheapies I purchase at Wal-Mart.

A couple of years ago I was at Nell Hills and she had all of the doorway garlands just in the corner and I loved it.  Besides than I could double up the garland and make it look fuller.

Garland is not just for hanging.  I like to put it on tables too.  These silver trees are a dollar store find as well as the snowflakes.  You can't beat the dollar store.

This was the buy of the year last January.  I used the regular garland and then added a garland I got for 90% off to it.  That's right, the fancy garland with all of the goodies on it $3.00!

This 90% off garland goes all the way up my stairs too.

This arrangement was done by my daughter Anna.  Again the sparkly words are another dollar store find.

Family Christmas Tradition

Looking at Christmas lights has always been one of the things our kids look forward to.  It does not matter that they are all grown up now, they still want to go look at Christmas lights. Beings as Jeff's birthday is in December we have made it a tradition that we would go out for dinner and drive to see the lights.  Our first stop is usually Union Station to see the Christmas trees that are autioned off to benefit Marillac and the toy train display.  One of our favorite Christmas light displays can be found at 77th and Fallmouth in Shawnee.  You just have to see it to believe that these people go to this much trouble.  It is not so much the lights, but the animated scenes that they have set up.  You might call it cheesy but it is a lot of fun.

Soldered Ornament Art Class

I have learned a new craft and it is so fun.  The art class that was canceled a couple of weeks ago was Sunday afternoon at Urban Arts & Crafts.  Although the actual instructor never showed up, one of the other class participants had done some soldering before and showed us what she knew.  I decided I would not let the supplies and the time at such a cool craft store go to waste and not come home with a homemade treasure.  The store allowed us to use their studio and tools to figure out the craft we all came to learn.  So I think for not having a real instructor and being my first try, it turn out pretty good.  I figure with some practice I might actually make something that I could give as a gift.  Being the cool craft store that they are, Urban Arts & Crafts refunded our class fee and we got a 15% discount on our purchases.  Needless to say, it was a great afternoon.

Pink Christmas of The Past

I have found that a pink Christmas goes way back in my family.  I remember as a little girl loving to go to my Grandpa and Grandma Bergfalk's house at Christmas time.  They lived in the foothills of Los Angeles and from their living room window you could see lights for miles. The best part of their Christmas decorations was their tree.  The made hundreds of beaded Christmas balls and their tree was covered with them.  My mom brought me a gift at Thanksgiving filled with the pink beaded balls from my Grandparent's tree.  So you see, the fact that I would like a pink Christmas is in my heritage.  These pink Christmas balls are displayed in a clear glass punch bowl (something I confiscated from a pile of trash after a garage sale, score!) and some day will find their way to a tree in my home that will be filled with pink loveliness.