Waiting for the Call

I will be taking a break from my blog

to spend the last days and hours 

with my dear Daddy 

who is soon going home to be with Jesus...

he has lived a full and happy life for 92 years

most of that time serving in active ministry

and being a spiritual mentor

to 1000's of people in his life time.

There are no regrets as we face

the final goodbyes, I have had the gift

of his full love, support

and affirmation.

No parent could have done better

in teaching his children to know

and love God's Word

and to seek a very personal walk

with Jesus.

He is a man of great honor and integrity

who can face eternity with full confidence in

the cleansing blood of Christ.

Thank you for your prayers,

Karen

It's a Sweet Time of Year Dessert Table

This idea for the dessert table

for Christmas came from Pinterest

and The Hostess with the Mostess

Swaddling Clothes

This idea is not original,

but last night it suddenly hit me with

special meaning...

I couldn't fall asleep as my mind raced from 

one worry to another.

 I got my Bible

and decided to see how many 

Old Testament Scriptures

I could find that refer to the 

Birth of Christ.

As the prophets inserted into seemingly oblique

passages glimpses of what was to come

in Bethlehem one Holy night,

I was overwhelmed with the thought

that if you made a strip of cloth and wrote each passage

on it and wrapped it around the Christ Child,

He would be swaddled in the Scriptures!

And if you began to add those references

to His life and death

the manger and stable would be filled with

bolts of Swaddling cloths...

Such a humble place for a King we say?

I say what Rich and Royal Robes

He wore that first Christmas Day.

A blessed and Holy Christmas

filled with joy and peace to All!

Karen

from 

Out in the Fields

All the Presents are Wrapped

I only enjoy wrapping Christmas

presents if I can do something crafty

while doing it...

weird, I know!

This year I bought plain paper

and bags and used my 

star stamp to add images,

burlap and twine for ties, 

and stamped gift tags.

 Layering papers strips added a nice simple

element also.

 On the bags below I used an idea I saw

on Pinterest for a card and embellished

the bags that way with initials for 

the recipients.

A Wall of Good Wishes

This year to display my Christmas 

cards received,

I used my barn board +chicken wire

wall display

and pinned the cards on with

clothes pins covered in 

old sheet music.

The banner is made of felt

Sugar...Flour...Butter

Yesterday was baking day.

I always ask my boys which 

Christmas cookies they want me to make

and they all like the same ones

which as I was baking I realized

contain the same 3 main  ingredients

with a slight variation

to added ingredients and shape!

Flour

Sugar

Butter

My forays into GF baking didn't go so well,

the cookies flattened into butter pools

and the tarts fell apart when looked at...

A Bear on my Doorstep

I opened my back door today and

to my great surprise and delight

this is who was sitting there!

I was having a very sad day...

and this was the first thing that made

me break out in a big happy grin.

Thank you to whoever left this for me,

I assume that you know the story of

my stolen bear and blessed me with 

a new one...AND flowers!

If you didn't know that would be 

an amazing thing:)

God bless you for brightening up a 

tear filled day, God knew I needed to be

shown that I am loved:)

Bits and Pieces

I manage to keep getting things

done despite my tendency to get

distracted by new ideas!

Stockings

 Little Girl Outfits

 Bags

Bear, "free" to Good Home?

Remember this bear from my 

front porch?

Somebody stole him!

I drove past yesterday and noticed 

something didn't look right

and my heart dropped.

But this is what I hope...

that whoever took it has a child

who was not going to get anything for 

Christmas because there was no money.

That child's parent saw the bear

right there and easy to grab

and took it knowing that their 

little one would squeal with

delight Christmas morning.

I only wish they would have asked...

I would gladly have given it away.

Out in the Fields House Tour

I had already featured my house on

my blog soon after decorating

but I am redoing it into one post

to make it easily accessible to 

those coming from

Jennifer Rizzo 

Holiday House Walk

Thanks for visiting!

This year I went from a 4300 sq ft

house to a 1400 sq ft house...

but I love it! 

It's so easy to decorate for a lot less...

(Please click on pictures if you'd like to

view in a larger format)

 Porches

Living Room & Kitchen

 My Bedroom

Most decor and pillows are hand crafted

by me:)

The birds and stars on tree are made

from craft paper and sheet music.

The snow on tree was from a tutorial on

U Create

A Fool for the sake of Him...

Today at the crowded mall,

with the hustle and bustle 

we associate with 

what we call

Christmas,

I saw a lady walking around,

carrying a 24x30 sign

that said

It stopped me in my tracks...

and I hope it reached the heart of

every one who saw it.

Whoever you are dear lady,

He will not be ashamed of you either!!

Be blessed...

A Fairy Party

Brielle is 4!

I was happy to do whatever my 

princess wanted for her party

and she LOVEs Tinkerbell,

and purple

so it was a fairy party...

 For the flowers I used Dollar Tree

scrubbies and pipe cleaners:)

Cheap and Easy

Isn't she lovely?!

Christmas Home Tour Day 3

We will end the Home Tour

in my bedroom.

The idea is from Pottery Barn

and you may recognize the quilt

from a previous post
Made With Love

I made the shams, pillows (except for the London one)
and stockings.
The shelf has been above my bed with other items
on it so I just changed those out.
It's so cozy when I crawl in here after a busy day
and reach for  "Christmas in Thrush Green"
to read until I fall asleep:)

Christmas Home Tour Day 2

Day 2 of my home tour is

all about porches...

I have 2 small ones, back and front.

My outdoors decor I like to look

pretty natural, but I do use artificial

greens as they don't dry out.

 My pillows have seen many years of use

and were worth every penny of the

original cost.

Hope you are relishing the season of Joy!

Christmas Home Tour Day 1

This year I absolutely LOVE the

look I went with in my house!

Its so warm and cozy and country.

 Probably helps that I live in a

 little house this year too

so it's easy to do a few things and

have it fill the whole room with

a Christmas feel.

I like a small house...

I always have.

The tree was a plain artificial one

but I saw a tutorial online at

Ucreate

for how to add artificial snow.

I absolutely love how it turned out

& it cost me only a couple $s.

These pics are of my living room

entry and kitchen.

Many of the ideas were found on Pinterest-

you can check my Pins for the sources

if you are interested.

Cost? Low! most of it was hand crafted

with items I had in my stashes

or was used previous years.

 

Tomorrow will be my porches

and then the next day my bedroom,

if you want to come back and join me!

 

More Christmas Crafts

Here are a few more items I upcycled

for Rusty Glamour, 

Its amazing what a little addition 

of paint or burlap etc can do

to a tired old decoration!

First Fudge of the Season

I found an interesting recipe for

fudge in a book called

" A Vintage Christmas"

It is called Mackinaw Island Fudge

However it was not as good as the recipe

promised so I'm back to my old favorite

from the back of the marshmallow creme jar!

Any of you Michigan people tried this famous

fudge while visiting Mackinaw?

Just wondering if it's supposed to be more

like chocolate than fudge?

Spicy and Sweet

I know my grand daughter will soon be too

big (and picky)! to wear this type of an 

outfit so I wanted to make a few more 

before that happens. 

The collar on this was actually off a jr. size

shirt from a g-sale, but it fit 

perfectly into the neck line-Yay!

Collars can be a real pain.

Scrappy Sallie

Here is a doll I made for the shop,

She sold:) 

I painted her hair on this time so a smaller

child could play with her and she

wouldn't get wrecked.

Caramel Crazy Dessert Bar

With all the great ideas on Pinterest

I came up with a dessert bar for

my son's birthday-really for me

to have the fun of crafting it,

cause he could care less!

That was all about caramel, apples

 and sweet stuff...

It was a big hit with old and young:)