Christmas on a Budget: Decorations

After our snowflakes and gifts, we decided to start with some trees for decorations.  With a tight budget, its easier to work with materials you already have in your home of with materials that others might have in abundance.  I am sure that all of you have magazines or know someone with lots of magazines.

Magazine Christmas Trees Tutorial

This is simply one of my favourite crafts, because I always  have loads of magazines and though we craft all the time, I defnitely don't use them all up.

Step 1

One magazine.  Sorry Pick 'n Pay - I love your magazine but today you are being used for craft! You don't need to get this specific magazine, any glossy one will do.  Just watch out for those Popular Mechanics because I know that I wasn't very popular when I suggested using them arts and crafts.  My hubby definitely did not see the humour in that suggestion at all.

Step 2:  

Open to the first page.  (keeping the step simple:)

Step 3

I could probably do this wordlessly but I have a friend who blogs who really detests lots of pictures, so the only way I can keep her motivated to keep scrolling down is to let her think that I might have something interesting to say.  Plus I was reminded this week on more than one occassion that the fact that I haven't blogged for a week is ...... let's just say .... unacceptable!  Well that will teach me, can't start a blog and though go MIA (yes missing in action!)

So fold to the centre.

Step 4

Fold again.  It looks almost like the beginning of a paper plane.

Step 5

Move it over to the left.

Step 6

And now you start from the beginning and repeat.

Step 7

Cut the bottom points off.  You're doing this otherwise the tree won't stand up straight but topple over. 

Step 8

Pull off the magazine cover. Don't worry if a page comes off with it.  Some of the covers come off that way. This is what it will look like from the back after cutting and removing the cover.

 

And if you put it against the wall, it looks fabulous. 

And if you make lots of them, which we did because we have lots of children.... just in case you didn't know (4 and counting:)

And if you want to add the stars on a stick like we did, you can find a template here

We didn't try this, but I am sure you could make an amazing centrepiece, simply by sticking two of them together with glue and adding the star.

Happy Crafting!

The Winner of the Psalms and a Box of Blessings Giveaway

 So its Wednesday and I know that you are all eager to know who won the Psalm Box of Blessings kindly supplied by Christian Book Discounters and of course the CD by Rhema Marvanne.

 And the Winner is Number 5 entry ........is Brigitte and her comment was: 

Ps 121 has been a huge encouragement to me, and I just have to look out the window at the mountain to remember that "my help comes from the Lord".

 Well done Brigitte!  

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Psalms is possibly one of my favourite books in the Bible.  I feel like somehow it speaks into every situation I am faced with.

 I love the fact that these writers wrestled with God, praised Him in their circumstances, questioned Him, doubted, or expressed their frustrations at the unfairness of life. Real people with real struggles.  No matter who we are, we are faced with daily challenges - family, finances, children, work - so many.  But within the pages of the book of Psalms, there is a place where we can be refreshed.  Where we can drink deeply and have our peace and joy restored.

 Part of that is as a result of thanksgiving.  When we stop focusing on what we don't have but what we do have- our perspective changes.  Some of you may remember 1000 Gifts - a List of Thankfulness by Children for Children, an activity I did with the children to remind them of how fortunate they truly are.

Because our American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving and we want to celebrate with them, even though they are on the other side of the world, there is a lovely Giveaway up for grabs.  

Thanks to Christian Book Discounters, who have generously supplied our Giveaway for this super prize of 101 Promises from Psalms.  One lucky reader will receive these 51 special inspiration and blessings from the Psalms. Each glossy card features a verse from Psalms and its packaged in a little sturdy storage box.  They are delightful and would make a perfect gift for someone special over Christmas.

And because I am feeling really generous and kind - because it's Friday and because I am really a generous and kind type of person (when I want to be), I thought I would add another delightful gift to the winner of this giveaway.

This young singer, Rhema Marvanne is only 8 years old and has an inspiring testimony of how she came to sing.  This is her story. (She has  a website where you can find out so much more about her and her mother who passed away after suffering from ovarian cancer.)

And so as part of this Giveaway, I will be giving away her CD "Believe" with tracks which include: * Just as I am *Over the rainbow * I thank God *Hallelujah * Just as I am * Hurt * No more night  


Her voice and her story are touching. I marvel at how someone so small can be so talented! But all for God's glory!  Again I am reminded of how we should never underestimate what God can do through our children.

This is How to Enter the Giveaway

Simply leave a comment and tell me what you favourite Psalm or verse in Psalms is.

Anyone can enter our Giveaway AND you can enter even if you have won one of the Giveaways before.  Its open to anyone whether you live across the ocean or next door.

The Winner will be announced on Wednesday.  

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And for those of you that love Giveaways and if you want to enter another Giveaway, why not head over to Jenni C's who has a pair of children's Green Cross shoes to give to one lucky reader.

Have a super weekend and special times with family and friends

Intangible Giving by Brynne Mack

‘Tis the season of trees and lights.  ‘Tis the season of toys and clothes.  ‘Tis the season of  the 3D HD TV and the latest gaming system.  Ornaments and gift cards.  You have to wonder…what does any of this have to do with Christ?

The tradition of giving gifts to our family and friends as the wise men gave gifts of gold, frankincense,  and myrrh to Jesus isn’t just hard on our wallets, it’s hard on our souls.  We become so obsessed with material giving (and, unfortunately, in some case receiving,)  that we forget the biggest gift of all that was given that day:  our Savior.  

Here is a way to teach our families about the Lord and give priceless gifts without spending a penny.

Gather your family.  Discuss the gifts that Christ gave us throughout his time on earth.  In our household we spend a lot of time talking about the wisdom and learning that Jesus brought.  We value this greatly because without it we would not know the way to salvation.  But Christ gave us so much that you can talk about whatever your family thinks is most important.  The important thing is emphasizing how the gifts Christ gave us weren’t tangible. 

Now have everyone commit to giving an intangible gift this year.  It can be to a friend.  It can be to a family member. It could be to Jesus himself.  You can either share your gift ideas or keep them private.  For younger children, the ideas can be more simple and will probably need to be more fully discussed.  For example, hugs as a gift could be appropriate.  As children get older, you can discuss things a little more fully.  “I’m going to give commitment to my football coach this year.”

“Okay.  And how are you going to give that commitment?”

“I’m going to show up to every practice.  I’m going to show up on time.”

“That’s great.  And maybe while you’re there you could make sure you’re always playing your hardest, too.  That’s an important part of commitment.”

One gift that I, personally, could give this year is the gift of music to my mother.  Despite the fact that I get embarrassed every time I play the piano (as my fingers stumble across keys attempting to play tunes they knew long, long ago,) my mother absolutely loves it when I play.  Somehow she is deaf to all my faults.   I could even practice so that when I did play for her there wouldn’t be so many errors that she would have to overlook.

Other ideas for intangible gifts include giving respect to one’s parents, love to ones neighbor, empathy to anyone around us that is going through a hard time we can relate to,  prayers and praise to God, and quality time to our children.

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Brynne Mack is a 20-something student, mother, and Pittsburgh native.  She has always valued savings and spirituality, but got really serious about it with the start of her young family.  You can check out ways to save on things to do, things to cook, and things you have to do anyways on her blog, Femme Frugality.