In His Grip

Happy New Year!

 

Merry Christmas to All!

Wrapping Up A Pink Christmas

If you read here often you know that this year has been a pink Christmas for us.  The excitement of planning this new Christmas tradition for our family came to a screeching halt when I realized I could not find any pink Christmas wrapping.  I always like to wrap my gifts in a theme.  Yes, I am one of those people where every gift is in the same wrapping.  This made me know I was going to have to get my creative juices flowing so that my packages could be pink yet still look Christmasy.  Although I love pink, obviously, I still want the feel of Christmas as well.  My search took me on-line to a vendor I use for The Pink Porch and the packaging I do for the items that I sell there.  Nashville Wraps was my one stop shop.  I was able to find this great metallic silver paper with sparkly snowflakes on it and then I purchased several different shades of pink tulle as well as white.  I figured there would be some men that would not appreciate the pink Christmas theme and that way their gift could be in silver and white.  

Next came the lack of pink gift tags.  Out came my Cricut and I was able to cut out pink tags and then used the shadow feature to cut out the slightly larger white card stock.  I then ran a piece of adhesive tape down one side and stuck them together.  I then put a bead of glue along the edge.

 
Then dabbing them in pink glitter to add a little sparkle.  Using a piece of pink raffia to go throuhg the hole, you are then able to attach it to your gift.

Here is one of my all white gifts.  I used some white pipe cleaners and made a snowflake to jazz it up a bit.

This is the result of an hour or two of wrapping for a pink Christmas.  I still have more yet to go, but looking at the pink bits of loveliness makes me so happy.  I know this is going to be a merry merry pink Christmas! 

Three Word Thursday

Live Out Loud!

Pink Snow & Skates

These are some of the things that I made to help my Christmas be pink.  Not only are they pink but they are glittery, you cannot get any better than that.  I found the letters at Michaels, they are white Styrofoam and were only .75 cents each.  The skates are from the boat house in Minnesota.  All of the girl cousins and some of the boys too wore these double bladed skates at Grandpa and Grandma's  lake ice rink. To see the transformation of the sled you can click here.

I started by painting the letters pink and the trim of the skates pink as well.

I then used Mod Podge and painted over the pink and sprinkled with pink glitter.  Let them dry and really tried to knock off as much excess glitter as possible and then made touch ups where necessary and sprinkled more glitter.  For the skates, when the pink was covered and dry I then painted the white portion with Mod Podge and sprinkled with white crystal glitter.

I laced them with pink check ribbon and stuck a pink poinsettia in them and you get super fun pink glittery Christmas skates!

For my snow sign, I took the wire from an old wire hanger and  stuck the letters on it and then added pink craft wire to make a hanger.  Oh, how I love pink and when you can have pink snow, I believe I just might be in heaven. 

Chritmas Home Tour

I want to welcome you to my 2009 Christmas home tour.  I did this last year and wanted to show you some of the different things that I have done with just a couple of additions.  If you read here earlier you will know that I have added some pink things to our Christmas and the porch is all decked out in pink from our wreath to the small Christmas trees that are on either side of the door. 

I painted this sled that I have had around forever to make it match our porch decor.  The sticks oking out of my trees are from my folks woods in Minnesota. I sprayed them with adhesive and sprinkled pink glitter on them and I like how they look in my little trees.  I will have a post later about my skates and the snow sign, but they too are all decked out in pink glitter. 

This is the tree when you walk in the front door.  I love how tall it is but also slim enough to fit in the space nicely.  I put it up on a box so that it even has more height and goes clear to the top of the stairs.

These poinsettias are under the tree to fill the empty space from placing the tree on a box.  I picked them up at Wal-Mart the for cheap, cheap, cheap.  The big one is huge and I have not seen any that nice for the price.  Hopefully, I can keep them alive a couple more weeks. Yikes!

Here is the garland going up the stairs.  For years it was a simple green garland with lights, until a couple of years ago I was at Hobby Lobby after Christmas and ran into the 90% off Christmas sale and pick up some garland that had a bunch of fancy stuff on it and I just added it to my plain green one and "wa-lah" a big fancy garland.

 
Here is my last picture of the day. This is on my coffee table in the living room.  Again, the trees are a Hobby Lobby 90% off find.  You really have to go in Hobby Lobby after Christmas you will find some really great stuff for a steal.  If you missed my pink Christmas tour you can check it out here.

A Step Into Africa

Today the kids and I stepped into Africa through the World Vision Experience. I had no idea what to expect but I knew that I would leave that place with a fresh heart for the poor and hurting of our world.  This brought to my mind the men, women and children that I have met across the world that are in need of a hand up.  I thought of the little orphan boy, Jefty, in Haiti that hugged me and crawled up in my lap and clung to me during a church service.  The fact that he just could not get close enough to me was almost overwhelming.  I remember the little girl I met in the Philippians that would not stop staring at me and finally came over and sat with me and sang worship songs to me while a pastor spoke in a language I did not understand.  I am reminded of the children in the orphanages in India that I have met and the house Moms that care for them.  My friends Sam and Prati Stepehens, Pastor Benny, Samita, Dony St. Germain and the many others that minister to these people.  My heart for the under resourced of this world continues to grow.  As I walked through the life of Babirye today not only did the young girl loose her Dad to AIDS but she also tested positive for the disease.  

 
 

We each followed the story of a different child and had to wait in the clinic area for the test results of that child.  Lindsey and Anna's little girl did not test positive, but both Ryan and I had children that are now living with the disease.

 

All of the children pictured in the prayer chapel have either been diagnosed with AIDS or lost one or both parents to the disease.  The impact of AIDS in Africa is staggering and is wiping out an entire generation of people. 

 
I am not sure what touches your heart.  But I do know that you need to act on that desire to help.  Even though you do not think that your small gift or service can make an impact, if every one of us acts, we can, and will make a difference to the people in this world who are in need.  Whatever you do, ACT!

 
Today my hand is stamped with a + sign as Babirye's was in the clinic where she found out the news.  This is a reminder that I can make a difference if only I act no matter how small the gesture. My God can take my act and grow it into a plan that will make a difference in the world.  Our family plans to act in the LIVE OUT LOUD offering at Indian Creek Community Church on December 20th knowing our God has a plan.

Three Word Thursday

The Christmas elf?

 

The funniest face looked out at me

From a pink ball on my Christmas tree!

At first I thought it was Santa's elf,

But I looked again and

It was just myself!

Christmas Greetings To All

I thought today would be a good day to post my Christmas greeting to all of my closest web friends.  I started this last year and decided to make it an annual post.  If you would like to see other blog Christmas greetings go on over to The Secrets In The Sauce where they are having a Christmas holiday lovesfest.

May  the Christmas season

Fill your home with joy

Your heart with love and your life with laughter.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas

and and New Year with peace and happiness.

From Everyday to Holiday Glitz

I have almost completed my Christmas decorations.  This process was interrupted when I found out that the carpet I had ordered was in.  I did not expect it for another two weeks.  Surprise!  (This is a total story in and of itself, needless to say, Jeff was none too happy to be in a total mess for about a week.) So my holiday decorating extravaganza has been greatly affected.  This process is usually completed the weekend of Thanksgiving, but this year it seems to be dragging on.  This wonderful little setting is on my coffee table.  The deer I found last year on clearance at Wal-Mart.  They were 80% off, so I picked them up for $2 each.  Yeah, thats how I like it!

I bought this candle at Wal-Mart this past Saturday for $6.  Not happy with it just being your standard white candle, I thought it needed and little holiday glitz.  So I got out my handy Mod Podge and painted it on and the sprinkled it with silver glitter. 

You need to put a pretty heavy coat on and sprinkle the glitter on quickly after that because the Mod Podge will tend to separate like you would expect when painting on wax.  But with a thick coat this takes longer and you will have time to get the glitter on it before it starts to separate.

 
Pat the glitter into place and do this all the way around the candle until it is completely covered.

Easy, peasy, from everyday candle to holiday glitz. Because I already had all of the supplies, this cost me all of $6 and about 5 minutes of my time.  I love an instant gratification craft with such great results.   I put the candle down in the top part of a Pampered Chef Trifle Bowl and then dropped in some of those fun little glittery snow balls.  Light the candle you have instant, cozy, holiday cheer.

Christmas in Gardner

Earlier this week the Indian Creek Community Church, Gardner campus passed out hot chocolate at the community Christmas lighting at Cornerstone Park, in Gardner.  Now being a small town, I thought how big of a deal can this be?  Well, was I taken by surprise, this little town goes all out for Christmas.  We arrived in the park around 5:45pm to set up our tent and it was completely dark, the kind of dark that you have to use a flash light to see anything.  As the crowds gathered, we were ready with hot chocolate, whipped cream, and candy canes for all.  The mayor said the word and the park lit up with all of its light as well as a firework display.  About that time, Santa arrived on a fire truck with its lights and sirens on and all was well with the world.  The children from the Gardner schools sang Christmas songs and then all got in line to go through Santa's workshop.  Now, we are not talking just Santa sitting in a chair passing out candy canes, he has a full workshop with elves and everything. He doesn't only give you a candy cane but you get a Gardner Christmas ornament.   I should have known this little town would be the real deal, after all I have been to one of their football games and that should have given me a clue.  Gardner is kind of a big deal when it comes to community fun!

Here is the ornament that Santa was passing out.  No I did not tackle a kid in the parking lot to get one.  I did what any other gal would do who wants something for Christmas.

I sat next to Santa, no not on his lap, and let him know what I wanted.  Yeah!  I am not  too proud.  Besides, I wanted a Gardner ornament and you do what you need to do.   

 

Three Word Thursday

It's Called Christmas!