In His Grip

Christmas Cash

At Christmas time it seems everyone needs little more cash and the church is no exception to this rule.  This year at my church I was the project coordinator for our "Christmas For The Kids" effort.  What this means is we partnered with the school where we meet, Wheatridge Middle School, and they provided us with the information on 72 students in their school that needed some help at Christmas.  Now you need to understand, at our campus we maybe average 80 -100 folks on a Sunday with kids included.  This was going to be a huge challenge.  Our goal was to provide two outfits, underwear, socks, gloves, and a hat along with food to help make it through the two week Christmas break.  In cash, that meant around $70-$80 per student.  Being part of a two campus church, we asked our Olathe campus (600 a sunday) to take 21 students for us which they did, but that still left our little gathering with over 50 kids to help.  We then started asking our folks to step up to the challenge and cover these kiddos as well as other groups we work with.  Wow, can I say Christmas miracle!  Last year our campus supported 5 kids.  Yes, I said 5 and this year we will support 51.  Way to go Indian Creek Community Church Gardner!  As I am not an usher, and have never accepted a cash donation for the church, imagine my surprise when one of the groups helping us with the "Christmas For The Kids" handed me $303 in cash to help cover the project.  Needless to say, my heart is very full this Christmas.  

Candy Cane Stir Sticks

Once again, I am posting about a great idea that I found on Pinterest.  I know it is very simple, but the results are more than I expected.  Because I like to add a little something extra to my holiday parties and gatherings, I thought what a great idea to make these peppermint stir sticks that you can use in any hot holiday drink.  In my pursuit to make these fancy stir sticks, I came up with a couple of hints on how to go about this project.  First of all, I cut the hooks off of my candy canes with a sharp knife.  I did this at an angle which made for a great point to stick into the marshmallows.  

At this point my stir sticks would stand up but once I dipped them in the white chocolate and coated them with the sprinkles they kept tipping over.  Big problem, I wanted them to be even all the way around and not lopsided.  So I came up with the idea of poking a hole in the bottom of a styrofoam cup and turing the cup upside down to poke the candy cane through to help support the sticks while they dried. Wala! Perfect candy cane stir stick drying holder.  

One more little tip.  In the pictures on Pinterest where I saw these stir sticks, all of the sprinkles were white.  I looked everywhere for a jar of small white sprinkles but could not find any, so I went with the festive red, green and white.  Well, good reason for the all white.  When you put the stir sticks in a hot drink the colors melt off and your first couple of stirs are a mix of red and green, which if you ever mix red and green together you know they make a weird brownsih color.  That soon melts away and you are back to wonderful peppermint stir stick fun.

Come on over for a hot holiday drink at my house and you will get one of these candy cane stir sticks to help keep you drink all mixed up.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

Three Word Thursday

I want snow . . .

Candy Cane Hearts

Pinterest has become one of the first places I search when I am in need of an idea to make something either as a craft, recipe, or home decor.  So when the opportunity came to make some treats for a ministry at church for the holidays, Pinterest was my "go to" place. When I spotted these cute little candy dane hearts I knew that they would be the treat that I would donate.  Jeff happened to be with me when I was in my search of the small, mini, candy canes and could not figure out why I needed five boxes of 60.  I had promised 60 treats, but I wanted two hearts in each little treat bag.  So four boxes right?  I knew that there would be some broken ones too so that's why I purchased the extra box.  Jeff was like, "what is it you are doing with all those candy canes?"  I patiently (because that's just the kind of gal that I am, wink, wink) explained to him the candy cane heart concept.  He was very sceptical that this little project was going to work out.  Being the engineer type, I suppose he wanted me to try a prototype before purchasing all of the supplies and then find out it just was not going to work out.  This engineery way of thinking is just not the way that I roll.

Truly the hardest part of the whole project is getting the candy canes out of their little cellophane wrappers.  I then laid them in the shape of hearts on a cookie sheet covered in foil.  

I melted chocolate almond bark in the microwave in a large mug and spooned the chocolate into each little heart.  I only melted a little bit at a time because it is very easy to over heat the chocolate in large quantities, don't ask why I know this, because the waste of supplies is not well taken by the process engineer that I know and love, Jeff.  So this is just knowledge that I acquired with no record of how, ha, ha.  

Using the broken candy canes, I chopped them up and sprinkled them on top.  This is super easy and the finished product is so cute.  

I love it when I find a project that turns out like I had it in my head.  Pinterest is just the place to get the inspiration for just about anything.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

$2.00 Nativity

Look at this great nativity scene.  Since I have begun doing a little bit of traveling to different countries, I have started a nativity collection from different parts of the world.  I have one from, Haiti, Mexico, and Costa Rica as well as my orginial Precious Moments set.  I have not been able to get one from India quite yet but am working on it.  The gals at 10,000 Villages are looking for one for me.  One of the women that works there has a daughter who has been living in India for a year now and she cannot find them anywhere.  I thought it was just me, but I guess a nativity scene is not important to a prodomantely Hindu country.  This particular navitey scene was made in China and I purchased it after, the after Christmas sale at Wal-mart for about $2.00.  I know, what a great deal.  However, it did not start out looking like this.  I purchased it knowing that I would help it out a bit and make it look just a bit better.

This is what the nativty started out looking like.  It was less than okay in my opinion.  The painting of details was very crude, but the shapes of the figurines were good.  So, I got out my trusty spray paint and gave it a couple of coats of white.  Boy, doggies, what a difference a couple squirts of spray paint can make.  

Here are the three kings, although they are all white, the detail shows up just enough to make them the elegant, distiguished men that they were.

This is the shepard and animals as well as the Holy family.  Okay, yes, I gave baby Jesus a bath in white gold glitter, but after all He is the one that the whole celebration is about. Jeff is still a little unsure about the "sparkley" Jesus, but I like him anyway.  The baby Jesus I mean.  I still like Jeff too, even though he just shakes his head at my spray painting shenanigans.

I glittered the roof of the stable as well.  So now I have a navity from China although I have never been there. It is now proudly siting amoung my other nativities, holding its head up high even though it was only $2.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

 

Three Word Thursday

Skate for change . . .