Wedding Invitation Ornament

The wedding I have been talking about is getting closer and closer and I still have very little idea what to give the couple for a gift. I just made one small part of the gift and will share that but I still need a few more ideas..... any one?


The small gift that I have is a wedding invitation ornament. I saw this for the first time about 2 years ago in a magazine in a dr's office and now it's splattered all over Pinterest. But here ya go in case you haven't seen it yet.


Gather materials: wedding/rehearsal dinner/day after wedding brunch invitation/save the date etc, scissors, pencil and glass ornament.

First you'll want to decide which invitations you want to use. Some are pretty enough just to use the invitation. For this particular wedding the invitation was plain white. While simple is classy and pretty it doesn't add much to these ornaments so I also chose the brunch invitation for some color. Also here's another idea- As soon as I opened their invitation I knew it was too thick to make these ornaments so I just scanned the invitation into my computer and printed it out on some medium thick paper.

And yet another thought....if your life and kids are anything like mine you may end up with to-do lists, doodles and pictures of pirates holding pistols on the backs (or front) of the invitations. Don't worry, I just glued some regular computer paper to the back to cover and just didn't use the parts of the fronts that were drawn on.

Once you have your invitations together, cut them into strips. I decided to cut the colorful part of the brunch invitation and then use "meaningful" lines of the wedding invitation. For example, I cut out the bride and groom's names, the date, year, place and the line that said "at the marriage of her daughter." I left out lines like "reception immediately following" and "black tie optional." I ended up with 13 strips.


Now you curl the strips of paper, one at a time around a pencil. After you are done curling the paper you just push it inside of the clear glass ornament and now you have a beautiful ornament.

I like to curl the paper one at a time and push them in as I finish curling them because that is when the curl is the tightest and pushes in easiest.

If you wait until all are curled before you start pushing in you may need to recurl or bend your pieces a little more. But that's it, put the cap back on and you have a gorgeous gift that will remind the couple of their wedding every year they pull it out.

Psalm 139:13-18- 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;that I know very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 I try to count them--they are more than the sand; I come to the end--I am still with you.

Fourth of July Fun

I started this blog with the intent of posting every other day.  As it seems most blogs do, mine started off strong but as the weeks passed my posts have become more and more infrequent, but alas today is a new day and here is my second post in as many days. You think I can manage 3 in a row?

When I started the blog I also intended to share all the gifts that I give throughout the year to show that really not a lot of money is required to give a great and thoughtful gift. What I didn’t mean to happen is that I just don’t give gifts at all, like what has happened with my father in law. I’ve missed his Birthday and Father’s Day and still don’t have any great ideas for him. Thankfully my husband and I don’t really “do” anniversary’s or mother’s and father’s day or that would be 2 more gifts I’d be in the hole.  

ALL BOY!!! This is the birthday boy

Luckily when I was in a thrift store a few weeks back, I stumbled upon a great gift for our neighbor’s little boy’s 1^st Birthday party. Now this may not seem like the best gift for a 1 year old, but for this family and for this little boy who is more like 1 going on 3 a remote control JEEP seemed just fine. Seriously, yesterday he was driving a giant Power Wheel’s, pushing the pedal and everything- not your typical 1 year old! So for several dollars I got this great gift, still in a box.

I forgot to take a picture of the JEEP before hand, but
here's a picture of the older kids "helping" Oliver
open his present- he doesn't seem to mind!

 You don’t always find stuff still in the packaging but some thrift stores seem to have more of that stuff than others. The other day I found a flea market in Jacksonville with hundreds of Hot Wheels cars and Star Wars figures still in boxes. I think we may be headed back to pick up Christmas and birthday gifts for all the little boys we know.

And for the fun part, we made our own wrapping paper using brown paper bags and some paint. Since our little buddy was born on the fourth of July, we decided to make some red, white and blue fireworks. We diluted some acrylic paint (craft paint would work great too) with water, then dropped a bit at a time in different areas.

Then we took a straw and blew the paint outward from the center to get fireworks (this would look so pretty on black paper using bright colors).

I tried to get the kids to do the same. They thought it was neat the first time, but then decided they would just rather use the brush or finger paint, and that was fine too!

This was the best way to spend the fourth!!!

Hehe, I love the last 3 pics!

 

Psalm 63:3-8
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips 6 when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Mushroom Bacon Salad

Shannon got ahold of my camera

So it’s time for bacon butternut squash again. You can find that recipe here, but the reason I know it’s time for the squash recipe again is because last night we had Mushroom Bacon Salad. There are 3 meals that I usually make in order because I can start with the salad like I did last night and it makes the next three meals very easy. And talk about easy, this one took all of 5 minutes! So here we go

1 9oz bag of spinach leaves

1 cup of green leaf lettuce torn up into salad size pieces

1-2 lbs of turkey bacon (for all 3 recipes I usually cook up 2 pounds but not everyone likes bacon as much as we do)

1 8oz container of mushrooms

1 onion

Feta cheese

Your choice of yummy dressing- hands down the best with this salad is Red Wine Vinaigrette, but Tim and the kids also enjoy Creamy Poppyseed

Cook bacon on med heat, flipping as necessary, until it’s cooked and crunchy. Empty ¾ of the spinach bag into a large bowl. Mix in green leaf lettuce. While the bacon is still cooking, chop all of the mushrooms and the whole onion. Put half of the mushrooms and ¼ of the onion on top of the spinach leaves. Put the remaining mushroom, onion and spinach in airtight containers for later use. Next add as much feta as you’d like, I’d say we put about 1/3 of a cup. Now the bacon should be done, so pull it off the heat, soak up grease with a paper towel and crumble ¾ of a lb on top of everything else. Put the rest of the bacon in a Ziploc with a paper towel. Toss the spinach leaves and toppings a few times, serve and enjoy!

I love this dinner; it’s easy and even my kids love it. They didn’t always, getting kids to eat salad may take some trial and error as it did with us but now they eat it all up and Patrick told me last night when he finished, “Thanks Mommy, I really liked that a lot.” What I also love about this meal is that I can chop and have everything ready for the butternut squash the next night, then omelets the following breakfast or even dinner. A lot of the ingredients are the same, yet they all taste so different you won’t know you’ve been eating the some of the same foods three days in a row.

So, with the salad we had leftover from last night, I added avocado and some leftover chicken breast, and wrapped it up, poured a little of the poppy seed dressing on top and wrapped it up in a tortilla for Tim’s lunch today. Then there was still a little more salad left over that I will use for omelets tomorrow. For tonight’s dinner, we’ll have butternut squash and use the rest of the spinach in the bag, about ¾ of the remaining onion and 1 lb of the bacon. For the omelets, use the leftover spinach salad, some fresh salsa, mozzarella cheese, and the remaining bacon, onion and mushrooms for a whole new taste with those same ingredients.

And because the salad is so light and refreshing, we had dessert too. This is one of my favorites. For one serving you’ll need

1 cup of applesauce

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

½ cup of berries

Cinnamon to taste

Like the salad this is really simple, just combine all the ingredients and you have a wonderful and refreshing dessert. I like to use frozen berries and thaw them when I need them so I get more “juices” to mix into the applesauce. I think it gives it a little more flavor and it definitely makes the applesauce a pretty color, which served in a pretty bowl also makes a great choice for guests or a brunch.

And again- Shannon's favorite subject: Laura

Pirate Patrick- Arrgghh Matey!

Romans 12:9-18
12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Basket Full ofGoodies

I think I’ve missed the point again. In a nutshell I started the BNN challenge to steer my focus away from things and worldly treasures so that I’d have more time, money and energy to focus on others, God and the pursuit of eternal treasure.  I veered a little off course the other day.

I went thrift store shopping in search of some old doll houses to fix up for some little girl birthdays coming up and for some wedding gifts. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME WITH IDEAS FOR WEDDING GIFTS, EITHER SECOND HAND OR HANDMADE??? Anyway, I was on the right track until I saw a beautiful leather bag. I was going to ask my mom or mother in law to scour thrift stores for one for my birthday. My current purse is cloth which is great because I can just throw it in the wash but I wanted something that I could wipe clean at the end of each day. I also wanted something big and with lots of pockets and something not as beat up as my current purse. So I gave in when I saw this 5 pocket, smooth-as-butter leather purse. $3- p.s. it’s Armani….I don’t really know much about name brands but I’ve heard of that one before and so I think this probably cost someone a lot more than $3 at some point.  

And the purse created a terrible snowball effect where one "justified" purchase led to another. As I was walking through the store this beautiful, bold print caught my eye. 

I unfolded the fabric to find they were pinch pleat curtains. I measured them and noted the hole in the middle and tried to come up with more reasons why these wouldn’t work. But the measurements are pretty close to what I need and most importantly, these curtains are barkcloth. For those who don’t know, I looked up barkcloth on Wikipedia for you and found this: "Barkcloth or bark cloth is a versatile material that was once common in Asia, Africa, Indonesia, and the Pacific. Barkcloth comes primarily from trees of the Moraceae family, including Broussonetia papyrifera, Artocarpus altilis, and Ficus. It is made by beating sodden strips of the fibrous inner bark of these trees into sheets, which are then finished into a variety of items. Many texts that mention "paper" clothing are actually referring to barkcloth."

I love the fabric! It’s rough to the touch (and so it got its name) and it’s absolutely reminiscent of the 30’s to 60’s, a time period which I’ve always been fascinated by. Some may argue that my 15 dollar drapes from WalMart were much better from a design point of view, but these make me very, very happy and were only $5 (cuz they have a “love mark” or “character hole”). Oh and since they are an old pinch pleat style they would typically require drapery hooks which I would have to look for a while to find used.  Instead, I used giant safety pins (I know, cringe, I put holes in the fabric) to hang these up on the rod.

Reading corner in progress, I sat here with Laura and
read yesterday and it was great to relax while not
in front of the TV and to be able to look outside.
The length of these curtains is really bothering me
in this picture....hmmmm?

And since I was on such a roll, I also picked up this basket….

One of my ideas for a wedding gift was to paint an old vintage basket, and while I still might do that, this basket is a little too big to lug to Cincinnati and is already painted, so I’m just saying that I bought it as inspiration. You can’t really tell how big it is, but it’s a good size and I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to put in it or where I’ll put it, but for some reason it had to come home with me the other day. I suppose it was just one of those days. So I didn’t buy anything new, and I didn’t find the dollhouses I was looking for but I still managed to come home with a basket full of goodies.

Please, please, please, any ideas for wedding gifts? I would love some help with this!

Galatians 6:8-10

8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

Chicken Roll Ups

This is one of my favorite dinners and the kids seem to really enjoy it too, so here is it:

Pack of boneless, skinless chicken tenders (about 1 lb)

Bunch of asparagus

1 lb of bacon

Oil

Salt and pepper

Toothpicks

Lemon (optional)

Heat oven to 400. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place 2 pieces of bacon on a surface and lay a chicken tender on top of bacon, in the same direction. Lay 4-5 stalks of asparagus perpendicular to the bacon and chicken and roll the bacon and chicken around the asparagus. Skewer with a toothpick to hold everything in place.

Repeat until all of the chicken has been used. Lay the roll ups on an oiled pan and place in the oven until the chicken is cooked all the way through. If you wish, squeeze fresh lemon juice over all of the roll ups after you pull them out of the oven.

These guys go great with any vegetable, we love them with sautéed summer squash, but something like mashed potatoes would be great too!

When I stayed with a friend a few years back she made a version with prosciutto and cheese that was absolutely amazing and involved pan frying instead of baking. I made this version one night when I had neither prosciutto nor cheese and just used what we did have and it turned out really well.  It’s a great choice for when you have guests too because it looks fancy and like you spent a long time on it, but you really didn’t.

 Below are a few pictures from our trip to Chapel Hill yesterday! It was a fun day and we received great news! If you're ever in that area try the Nantucket Cafe and Grill, awesome food, okay prices and it was very kid friendly!

Rose Garden at playground in Chapel Hill



James 1:2-4

1:2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy,
1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;
1:4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.