27 June 2009
Click each to enlarge.
Woodcuts from the old book Young People’s Scrap-Book
These lovely vintage images are FREE for your enjoyment and usage!
Note: If you post any of the above vintage images on your blog, a link-back is always appreciated!
14 May 2009
My sister and I have been very privileged to have our work published in The Girlhood Home Companion, a magazine for daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. The GHC is produced by Mrs. Jill Novak of Remembrance Press.
The magazine “encourages young ladies to enjoy their precious girlhood years while walking closely with the Lord and developing a deeper relationship with Him.” It is both encouraging and beautiful, inspiring ladies in lovely femininity.
In the latest Spring issue, Breezy has a gorgeous painting that has it’s own two-page spread. I have a craft tutorial in the issue, a preview photograph is above. To see Breezy’s painting, and to find out what I made and how you can make it, click here to order your own copy of The Girlhood Home Companion!
Breezy and I will be interviewed by Mrs. Novak online tomorrow (the 15th), if you are interested in joining us (and getting to hear what we sound like!). We will be talking about our home businesses and how to use your talents to start your own! Click here and “join in” New Location: Click here (it’s free!), download, and log in with your name — we will be starting around 4:00pm EST.
“People so often look with longing into a day-dream future, while ingnoring the importance of the present. We are all in danger of thinking, ‘Someday I shall be fulfilled. Someday I shall have the courage to start another life which will develop my talent,’ without ever considering the very practical use of that talent today in a way which will enrich other people’s lives, develpe the talent, and express the fact of being a creative creature.“
- Edith Schaeffer, Hidden Art
9 May 2009
From May 9 – June 1, $10 from every sale of “The Library” in Breezy’s Etsy shop will be donated to the Little Tait Preemie Fund. To order, click here.
Little Tait was born on November 6, 2008 at 3:29 pm, a 27 week preemie weighing 2 pounds 9 ounces, and 14¼ inches long. He and his family spent several months in the hospital as God used the doctors to help sustain his life. After 3 months he was allowed to go home, doing very well.
Tait’s parents, Tait and Lauren Zimmerman now have to pay the neonatology bill. It was originally $186,769 but was negotiated and reduced to $51,644.35. If it isn’t paid by June 4th, it will be raised to the original amount. Tait and Lauren have decided not to accept government support, as this would restrict their control in the care of their little boy.
Would you like to help Little Tait and his parents? We will be donating $10 from every sale of “The Library” print to the Little Tait Fund! If you choose to help them by buying a print, make sure it’s before June 2.
For more information on Little Tait (as well as to make direct donations to the fund), visit www.LittleTait.com
Thank you and God bless!
To help spread the word about The Library Fundraiser for Little Tait, Copy (Ctrl+C) the code below and Paste (Ctrl+V) it in your blog’s html.
To help spread the word about Little Tait’s Preemie Fund, Copy (Ctrl+C) the code below and Paste (Ctrl+V) it in your blog’s html.
17 April 2009
Over a century ago, our 20th president of the United Sates, James Garfield, said this:
“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . [I]f the next centennial does not find us a great nation. . .it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”
He said it well, and it is still just as true today as it was a century ago. It is because we have tolerated it that our government has become “ignorant, reckless, and corrupt”. We stopped demanding high qualities. But it is time for a change, we must stop tolerating such ill character and start insisting that our government be intelligent, brave, and pure.
The government is in shambles because we have been lazy (even ignored) the political forces, saying, “They know what they’re doing, that’s why we vote them in.” Should we be ignorant in the way we look at the government, in who we vote for, and in who will lead this country both at the local and national level?
Our nation is no longer the nation that it was when it was founded; no longer a nation that is held up by a belief in God as our creator and lawmaker; no longer following its own rules.
But what can we do to change that? We must take action. We the people of the United States of America have a voice. We have a voice that can be heard in Washington, no matter how hard they try to plug their ears. We must no longer be tolerant of ignorance, recklessness, and corruption for that kind of behavior is only tearing down our nation.
There are many across this nation that have a problem with how the government is being run: how the government is spending money, making more money to pay it’s bills, and not even following it’s own constitution. Our cry against such unwise and foolish behavior is there, but there are those who seek to stifle that cry (i.e. the media).
Our voices must be heard, we can be silent no longer. In a large, crowded room would you speak in a whisper when you wished to be heard? No, you would speak loud just like all the others. We must raise our voices, jut like in that crowed room, because we want to be heard. The media is in that loud and crowded room making plenty of noise, and we are that voice who is trying to be heard above all the clamor.
That is where the tea parties come in.
We stood beside our state’s capitol building at the Tea Party in Indianapolis on Tax Day. Surrounded by at least 13,000 other people who were fed up with the way the government is “working”, we saw that we were not the only ones. The people of this nation are tired of a reckless government who does not even read the bills it votes on, and we gathered to say, “Enough.”
The Tea Parties were formed to tell the government that it has done enough damage, and that we have had enough. We have been involved in our local Tea Party for several weeks now. Together we can make a difference!
We want our government to be intelligent, brave, and pure. We must step up and we ourselves be intelligent, brave, and pure, that we may, as President James Garfield once said, “demand these high qualities to represent [us] in the national legislature.”
We must pray and trust in the Lord, He is in control and His will will be done!
“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.”
- Psalm 103:19
P.S. Tea Parties were held all over the US yesterday with a great turnout. At the San Antonio Tea Party, Doug Phillips (President of Vision Forum) gave a speech, and posted a few of his notes here (click here to download his address from Behemoth.com).
16 March 2009
Thank you all so much for the many name suggestions for our Dear Little Friend! There were so many sweet ones to choose from that it has taken me a while to decide.
After quite a bit of thought and looking over the list of names, I have decided to name her Molly (which was suggested by Cinnamon).
The name Molly is originated from Ireland and means “sea of bitterness.” But for our dear little Molly, that does not apply. She is a joyful friend, who finds pleasure in the little things of life.
A deciding factor was that one of our favorite literary heroines is Molly Gibson from Wives and Daughters (by Elizabeth Gaskell), a sweet and submissive young lady who was a treasure to all she met.
So, in honor of our dear Molly, I have created a new button which you can use to link to me. I hope you enjoy it, feel free to put it on your blog! All you have to do is copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the code below in the HTML where you would like it to be.
(If you would like a non-animated button, click here to get the code.)
And to make sure you don’t miss any posts, join me here!
2 February 2009
The latest blog I designed was for Sarah Mae over at Like a warm cup of coffee.
She gave me the specifics and after many enjoyable hours of design work, it was completed. With a pleasant blue background and warm happy header, the template is quite cozy and inviting.
Sarah Mae posts a wide variety of subjects, a few of the topics include Marriage, Modesty, Homemaking, etc. For a live view of her blog, click the above image.
On another designing note, I have a new and improved art print available in my shop!
As a side note, I want to thank the Lord for His protection. I pinched three of my most used fingers in our garage door this evening while I was shutting it. My fingers were wedged where the panels hinge as it was going down. If the Lord had not slowed down the speed of the dropping door, my fingers would probably be broken. Praise be to God!
13 January 2009
Winston Churchill was the British statesman and leader who God used to lead the United Kingdom during World War II. He was quite a witty gentleman, below are a few of his quotes.
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
“The price of greatness is responsibility.”
“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”
“I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.”
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
“We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.”
19 December 2008
This little pouch I created is simple to make and easy to fill. It is the perfect size to hold little treasures found on adventures, such as pebbles, fossils, pine cones, berries, leaves, buried treasure, or any other little thing found while exploring. It is also the perfect place to store goodies (candies, cars, doll clothes, ribbons, toys, sewing supplies, etc.).
Supplies:
• Burlap or Course Muslin – material for pouch (I cut a folded piece of muslin, with the cut dimensions 6.5 inches wide, and 7.5 inches tall)
• Needles – small for sewing, large (very large) for pulling twine through material
• Twine – for draw-string (I used two that where each about 20 inches long)
• Thread – embroidery floss will work well (I used 3-ply)
Directions:
1. Fold about an inch of the top edge inward. Knot and sew (with the straight stitch) across, making a nice hem. This will be seen from the outside when the pouch is finished, so make the stitches the way you would like them to look.
2. Sew the straight stitch about a quarter of an inch from the raw edge. Knot and and cut thread.
3. Hem both ends in this way, making sure to fold them down on the same side of the material – what will be the inside of the pouch.
4. Fold them together, front pieces facing together. Sew about 3/8-inch from the edge all the way down to the bottom.
5. When you come to the bottom where the material is folded, knot securely.
6. This type of finish will make the bottom corners of bag to appear like this when folded right-side-out.
7. For different corners that give more room at the bottom of the pouch, here is a variation. Sew just like before, but add another step. Flatten the inside corner of the pouch to make a triangle, and fold the seam to one side.
8. Sew straight across triangle about 3/4-inch from the tip.
9. When turned right-side-out, the corner should look something like this.
10. The inside of the pouch should look like this.
11. Turn pouch right-side-out. For the draw-string, take a very large needle and thread the twine through it. Poke needle through the first layer of the material at the top of pouch, but not through the second piece. Poke the needle back out through the other side at the edge. Now, this is a little stressful, but if you have strong material it should be alright. Pull the needle through the first hole that was made, dragging the twine through the hole with it. Pull the needle through the second hole on the other side as well.
12. It should look something like this.
13. Do the same on the other side of the hem to where you have something that looks like this on one side,
14. and two pieces of twine on the other.
15. Do this again, just on the other side. When you are finished, each side should have a small line, and a set of twine ends.
16. To keep the twine in good condition and from sliding through the casing, tie knots in the ends of both sets.
If this pouch is for a little lady, you can embroider any type of decoration you would like (e.g. flowers, verses, etc.) for extra beauty.
I keep my sewing supplies – needles, thread, etc – inside of my pouch, and have found it quite handy. I hope you enjoy yours!
