Days in the Sun

Winter hasn't been that bad here in Tennessee but for some reason it has been harder to handle this year. I long for warm sunny days outdoors. My husband and I made a trip to our favorite place, Norris State Park, last weekend just to get outside. The wind was blowing and it was chilly but the sun felt so good. We walked along the Clinch river and watched the wildlife. There were lots of geese, songbirds and otters. But the thing I enjoyed most were the Herons. There were 3 that were chasing each other back and forth in front of the area where we were. I was lucky enough to get this great shot of one of them. Being outdoors for the day reminded me that each season has its charms. I shouldn't wish so hard for spring and in the process miss what winter has to offer. I think too often in life I do the same, wish for something to hurry and pass so that I can get on to something else and I miss what that time has for me. So from here on out my goal is to enjoy each season of my life more for what it is, good or bad, and learn the lesson it has to offer. I'll end with one of my favorite quotes from Rainer Maria Rilke: If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.

Making Cards on the cheap

Valentine card for my daughter I got the idea from a group on Flickr, changed and adapted it for my purposes. We turned it into a plaque for her wall. Making cards can save money. But assembling the supplies and really getting into this hobby can be expensive. I have found ways to save dollars and still have plenty of goodies to work with. The first thing to do is open your eyes to the ways to use things you might otherwise pass up. If you look in the aisles of Hobby Lobby you see items for scrap booking and card making such as fibers and unusual papers or metal objects. If you look at the picture below you can see many of the items that I have used in making my cards. I find most of my items at the thrift store, dollar stores and even in my garbage can.

Supplies I've collected

I have bought old board games such as Scrabble for 50 cents to a dollar and use the tiles for unique wording on pieces. Sometimes I just lay the words out on my scanner and copy them, cut out and paste onto my cards. I buy old patterns at thrift stores and flea markets, copy the cover and cut out for unique artwork. I cut up old maps for backgrounds(travel brochures are great sources of free clip art) use the inside papers from junk mail envelopes, use old sheet music, use pages of print from local papers or magazines, ribbon and trims bought on clearance. I copy old family black and white pictures, use pages from books bought at yard sales for pennies. My favorite resource right now is the Dollar Tree. They have rubber stamps and other scrapbook supplies such as paper and punches for $1 each.

Card making is a fun and rewarding hobby and can be an inexpensive one if you use your imagination.

Visit Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas.

This U2 video is so clever

I love it. It must have taken quite awhile to get it all the clips gathered and in sync.

Works for Me

One of my very favorite products to use is UnDo or Scrappers Solution, I have seen it sold under both names. It was made for Scrapbookers to use to remove stickers placed in the wrong place from scrapbook pages. The coolest thing about it is that you can put the sticker aside and let it dry and it will stick to the page again. I use it most often to remove stickers from presents that I am giving. It doesn't leave any oily spots or any marks at all. Just let it dry and there is no evidence of it at all. I have used it to remove stickers from very fragile packaging material such as tissue paper and it works great. It comes with the scraper that you see on the small bottle to lift the stickers. I always remove this from the bottle because the liquid is so thin it pours out and you only need about half what comes out of the bottle. Removing the scraper makes it easier to control the amount used. It is a little expensive but well worth the price because it takes such a small amount. Works for me

Happy Valentines Day

I'm posting this a day early because I'm not sure I'll be able to post tomorrow. I've been sick off and on since Christmas. Unfortunately more on than off. Usually we have our tree down by the first week of January but this year I was just too tired to do it. The middle of January rolled around and there it still stood. I got the ornaments off but the lights were still up. We used it as mood lighting! LOL. It became a joke around here that we would just throw a blanket over it and leave it until next Christmas. The end of January came around and still the tree loomed in the corner of our living room mocking me. One day my daughter came home from work with a mysterious bag and a big grin. She told me she had a surprise for me and pulled out two rolls of Valentine garland and told me that since the tree was still up we might as well make a Valentine tree out of it. So we proceeded to decorate the Valentine tree. I think it turned out really pretty. We used cardstock, paint and lots of glitter. Anyway, after tomorrow that tree is history. We joked that we would just leave it up and decorate it for every holiday but...no. Maybe if we had a den and a living room I might consider it but I am so sick of having this thing in my LR. The kids got a real kick out of it though and we had fun decorating it. Let me wish everyone has a Happy Valentines Day.

I laughed so hard at this!

Pray for this family.

A local family was devastated by a fire last night. They lost their 4 oldest children. The 911 calls were all over the news today and it was truly heartbreaking. I'm sure that the family would welcome the prayers of everyone so please keep them in your thoughts.