Busy Book Now on Etsy!

For those of you who enjoyed my quiet book posts, check out my brand new Etsy shop where I am selling a finished quiet book! The book is Marine Corps-themed and would make a great Christmas gift!

Here's the listing:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/116600908/usmc-busy-book

Being a Marine wife myself and having a young child who it is very hard to explain Daddy's job to, I decided to make a busy book for little hands that would help show more about what the Marine Corps is. My hope is that these books can serve as comfort to some kiddos while their parent is deployed, or just help them to better understand what it means that dad or mom is a Marine.

The book measures 8" x 8.5" and has a marpat desert camo fabric cover with velcro closure.

 Pages 1 and 2 have a helicopter that moves up and down and a bull dog with a mouth that opens to reveal a pull-out bone.

 Pages 5 and 6 have a Marine dress-up and a combat boot lace-up with real 550 cord.

Check out my Etsy listing to see the whole book!

Joy Sign

Lately I've been hearing the word "joy" a lot. I'm not really sure why, but I've always just associated joy with Christmas. Joy is something that we should be experiencing on a daily basis, though. Yes, we should be filled with joy around Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but shouldn't we also be filled with joy each day as we celebrate all of the simple gifts God has blessed us with? Just waking up in the morning should fill us with joy, although I know my mornings generally do not reflect that my heart is filled with joy. I wanted to make a sign for my Christmas mantle and I thought that seeing "JOY" every day might remind me to stop letting earthly things get in the way of my joy. A little JOY for my home...

What you'll need:
- 3-D wooden letters (Hobby Lobby)
- Paint
- Mod Podge (or a 50/50 mix of Elmer's and water)
- Paint Brush
- Scrapbook Paper
- Pencil
- Scissors

How to:
1. Paint the edges of the letters, let dry. I did two coats on mine to get a rich color.

2. Lay the letter face down on the wrong side of a piece of scrapbook paper. Trace around the inner-most part of the letter. (I used 3-D letters from Hobby Lobby so mine had a carved edge and a smaller "face" for the front of the letter than the whole piece itself.)

3. Cut out the letter from the paper.
4. Slather some decoupage on back of the paper then carefully lay it onto the face of the letter. Slather the top of the paper with decoupage too.

Pinecone Christmas Trees

This might be the easiest project ever. It would be great to do with kids, too. Take them on a pinecone hunt to find the supplies!

What you'll need:

- Pinecones (flat bottomed pinecones work best for this project since they will need to stand up on their own)

- Cardboard (boxboard from a cereal box works great for this)

- Marker (I used a metallic marker)

- Glue (Elmer's works fine)

How to:

1. Draw a star on the non-printed side of your cardboard. Fold the cardboard in half and cut out the star so that you cut two identical stars at once. Glue the printed sides of the cardboard together and let dry.

2. Color both sides of the star with the marker, making sure to color the edges too. 

3. Place star on top of pinecone, glue it on or just let it sit free. 

I added fake cranberries to one of my "trees," so things like sequins, glitter, gemstones, etc. would make fun personalized touches! 

A Very Homemade Christmas

It's been forever since I've updated and I apologize for my hiatus. I've been working on starting my own crafting venture and dealing with lots of other things that we'll just call "life." With Christmas quickly approaching, I've begun to decorate my house and came to the realization that while my existing stash of decor worked perfect for our smaller former residence, I have lots more space to fill this year. For most people, this would have a simple solution: buy more crap. I'm not into buying more useless stuff that I'll just have to weed out when we move again in another few years, so I'm opting for making everything I add to my holiday display. I'm trying to make everything from things I've reused, pinecones/sticks I can find in my yard, and stuff that I'll be ok with leaving behind in a few years. After all, Christmas isn't about "stuff," but about celebrating the birth of our Savior. I'll be posting projects in the next few days as I complete them and also posting my not-so-secret product that will be available on Etsy in just a few days!