19 Days of Homemade Gifts ~ Day 3 ~ Sentimental Penny Key Chain

This keychain makes a great sentimental gift for all the men in your life. Find pennies with your sentimental years (birth of your kids, when you got married, etc.…).  Then, gather all the other supplies and get busy making your

Supply List

• Pennies with sentimental years
• Hammer
• Nails
• Scrap block of wood
• 6mm or larger jump ring
• Keychain jump ring
• Brillo Pad

Use the Brillo pad to clean the pennies.


Grab a handful of small nails, a hammer and a scrap block of wood and hammer a hole into each of your pennies.

If you have trouble getting the nail all the way through, flip the penny over and hammer from that side.


This not hard but you will bend a few nails, just be prepared with extra nails.


Use a small jump ring to go through the pennies and then attach to the keychain.



This makes a great gift for the men in your life!!

Charity

Day 1 ~ Salt Dough Ornaments
Day 2 ~ Silent Night, Holy Night Pillow
Day 3 ~ Sentimental Penny Keychain
Day 4 ~ Cookie Sheet Chalkboard
Day 5 ~ Duct Tape Composition Notebook
Day 6 ~ Bible Bookmark
Day 7 ~ Bible Notebook

19 Days of Homemade Gifts ~ Day 2 ~ Silent Night, Holy Night Pillows

 

  I want to share an easy craft project with you this morning.  It is a great way to add a little Christmas cheer to your home or share with a friend as a gift.

 

 
 

I made two pillow covers for pillows that I already have on my sofa.  If you do not sew you can do this same thing to  store bought pillows for friends.

 

Then I used this product

I bought mine from an office supply store.

I printed the words Silent Night and Holy Night onto these transfer pages and  trimmed around the words and ironed them onto my fabric.  The hardest part is you need a mirror image of words (print them backwards).

It is a very easy way to add a festive touch to my sofa and now each time I see them I am reminded of that wonderful night and all that Christmas is really about.

Charity

Day 1 ~ Salt Dough Ornaments
Day 2 ~ Silent Night, Holy Night Pillow
Day 3 ~ Sentimental Penny Keychain
Day 4 ~ Cookie Sheet Chalkboard
Day 5 ~ Duct Tape Composition Notebook
Day 6 ~ Bible Bookmark
Day 7 ~ Bible Notebook

19 Days of Homemade Gifts ~ Day 1 ~ Salt Dough Ornaments and Gift Tags

I am so excited to share a great Christmas craft project today.  Salt dough ornaments and gift tags.  For pennies you can make a great gift for your family and friends.  I am using the ones my girls and I made as gift tags that the recipients can later use as an ornament.

All you need to get started is

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 water

1,2,3 easy peasy!!!

Toss it all in the mixer for a few minutes.

Once it is all combined

Kneed until smooth

I separated mine, so each girl could have one.

Roll the dough ball out on wax paper

Now for the fun part….

Grab a doily and press it into the dough with the rolling pin.

When you lift the doily off you will be left with a beautiful pattern.

Next grab a cookie cutter and cut out your ornaments.

Remove the dough from around your ornament shapes, lift and

place on a cookie sheet and poke a hole with a straw.

Cook at 200 degrees for 5-6 hours.

Take them out and let them cool.

Paint them white, start with the back.  After the back is dry, paint the front.

After the paint is dry apply glue to the front.

While the glue is still wet sprinkle with glitter.

Lightly wipe off the top, so that the glitter only sticks in the grooves.

After the glitter and glue has dried seal with a spray sealer.

Write on the back who the gift is to and from and run a ribbon through the hole.

Hang from your gift.

And give to your friends and family.

A simple gift that will become sentimental in the years to come.

 

Charity

Day 1 ~ Salt Dough Ornaments
Day 2 ~ Silent Night, Holy Night Pillow
Day 3 ~ Sentimental Penny Keychain
Day 4 ~ Cookie Sheet Chalkboard
Day 5 ~ Duct Tape Composition Notebook
Day 6 ~ Bible Bookmark
Day 7 ~ Bible Notebook

Saying Yes

A few years ago there was a turning point with my walk with God,

a point of an all or nothing decision. 

Thankfully, I chose all.

I had no idea what the decision would do to my life at the time or that it would change everything about me on some level.  I remember a prayer time with God where I told Him that my answer was YES.  YES to whatever He would ask of me in the future.  I would Submit my will and desires to Him.  I would submit my attitude and judgments to Him.  I would submit my time and possessions to Him.  I would submit my gifts and talents to Him.  It started small and I can not say that I have done ALL the first time that He has asked or that it has all been easy to surrender and I am for sure not finished… sanctification is until the end.  But here is what I do know because I have trusted and stepped out in faith I have been places and done things for Christ that I know I am not worthy or capable of.  I have watched the God of the universe use me to do things that I know are not in my skill set.  Each new step has shown me that it was never about me and what I can do but always about what needed to be done and the power of God through the Holy Spirit that can and does preform miracles.  With each and every YES that I have given God, I have been amazed at what He has done with it.  He has provided all that was needed and taken care of every detail.  All He ever needed from me was faith big enough to say YES!

Picture by the fabulous Coleen Verner

Is God calling you to say YES, today?   I pray that each of you who read this will have the faith to say YES to God and the call He has on your life.  Step out and know that all He needs is a YES from you, He will provide the rest.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.       

                                                                                                                  Luke 17:5-6

 

This faith walk is an exciting adventure, one that I am excited to share with you!

 

Charity

A Promise and A Ring ~ A Promise Ring

Just a few week ago this beautiful girl turned 14.  My goodness, my heart aches with how fast time is flying by!

She has known what she wanted for her birthday for over a  year.  This is a rare thing for her, she normally has no request and is happy with any and everything.  Yes, we know what a blessing that is.  This gift was different, from the time she heard of the idea of a promise ring she has wanted one.  We would be crazy not to want to give her one but we wanted to wait until the time was right for her, which means she did not (to her disappointment) get it for her birthday last year.  We needed her to be mature enough to understand the full meaning of this ring.  This ring was not a simply a gift but a symbol of a promise, first to God and herself and then to us.  This is a promise she has made and there did not have to be a ring to go with it but we are firm believers in visual aids and symbolic gifts so we wanted to give this gift.  Audrey and I have spent the past year studying the covenant promises of God and that when God makes a promise He never breaks a promise.  Going through this study has opened her eyes to the importance of God’s commandments for our lives and that they are for our protection and blessing.  We wanted her to understand that the God of this universe has a plan for her and the best way that she can fulfill it is to follow His commandments and live a life of faithfully following Him.  A valuable piece of that is to be a pure virgin on your wedding night.  It is our desire and expectation that she will not date for fun but date (when she is an at an age to consider marriage) prayerfully with a desire to meet the man God has planned for her.  Her dad wrote her a letter blessing her with beautiful words of how precious and valuable she is and encouraging her as she starts walking through this next phase of life and finally explaining what this covenant promise means between

her and God,

her and us,

and her and her future husband.

One day this ring will be replace by another, one purchased by a man who will make a promise to her for life.  My prayer for her and him is that she can take the ring we bought her off and with no shame give it to him on their wedding night.

Charity

PS.  The study we used was Covenant by Kay Arthur

July 10, 2013 2:30 am

This time 14 years ago I had no idea how

in a few hours my life was going to change.  How could I…this was all new to me.

  Motherhood

was something I had longed for and dreamed about but didn’t know.  I had spent the last few months nesting and fluffing every cute pink thing I could get my hands on but still didn’t know what motherhood was about to do to me!

I awoke at 7:30 to my water breaking.  It was so exciting to call your dad (he was working with Nana and Papa early that morning) and tell him

“it was time”. 

The time we had been anticipating for months was finally here.  Today was our day to become a family of three.  You were 3 1/2 weeks early at this point but I had no fear, only peace.  On the ride to the hospital we took our time, stopping to get me something to eat because after all you were our first and everyone tells you how long it takes.  About 10 minutes from the hospital I had my first contraction.  I may have asked your dad to speed up at that point!  When we got to the hospital we had to stand at the check in desk for what seemed like forever, giving them all he same information I had filled out and mailed to them a month earlier…go figure.  After that they bring a wheelchair and wheel me to a room.  By this point the contractions are regular and strong.  A nurse comes in and asks me a million and one questions, including how much I weigh.  Can I stop right here and just say that NO ONE should ever ask a woman how much she weighs much less when she has spent the last 9 months gaining weight, is swollen and in pain from contractions, there I feel better now!  We answered all her questions only breaking for contractions.  I asked her if she was going to check me and she politely smiles and says, NO dear, this is your first baby and you have a long time ahead of you, I will be back later to check you.  Well, that was not the answer I was looking for because I knew it was close to time!  I told her that she could laugh at me later but please check me now!  She did and to her great surprise I was dilated to a 7, in less than an hour (from when the first contraction came) I had dilated to a 7.  She quickly started making calls to the doctors and prepping the room.  I do not remember what time I it was when I started to push, which I had no idea how to do and spent most of the time doing it wrong, but I know you arrived perfect and healthy at 1:35 pm. 

From the first look at you, I knew my world had changed forever.  I now knew I would never do anything in life the same.  Suddenly I knew what it meant to love unconditionally.  You had not looked me  or touched me and had nothing to offer but needs but I was willing to die for you!  I did not know I was capable of that type of love!  Suddenly, you had welcomed me into

Motherhood

and changed me forever.

I am beyond thankful to have you and one day, in the not to distant future, I can’t wait for you to have your first and to finally fully understand what a treasured gift you are!

For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. 1Samuel 1:27

I love you Audrey,

Happy 14th Birthday!

Momma