Craft Stuff (mostly)

Hello!
I didn't want to spam my facebook page with photos of my latest craft conquests, it feels a little like fishing for compliments.
But i still wanted to share some stuff ive been making with those it might interest!
So heres some photos of the stuff ive been up;

Ive really been utilising my sewing machine lately, its been great to see my beginner skills increase with each task. Heres 2 taggy blankets i whipped up for Regan's friend who has just had a baby boy. Ezekiel. Loving his name!

I sewed this bunting for caitlins birthday. We are refurbishing an old desk for her, and this will go on the wall above it. This cost me $4 to make, and i think it looks fab. Got an idea to make one for another little girl who'se birthday is coming up soon.



Gi-Nourmous bubbles! gee these were fun to do. We did them in the second week of the school holidays. We made our own bubble blowers, and i got a recipe for mixture off Pinterest.It made a hooer of a mess, as you need cornflour which dries when the bubbles pop. Great fun though.







School Holiday Fun

I really enjoy school holidays. I stay in my PJ's until i HAVE to go out, and i don't have to prepare school lunches. (My most detested chore)
The July ones are the most challenging for me, given that it is the rainy season, so all activities have to be indoorsy ones.
The solution came to me whilst browsing Pinterest. Theres a ton of craft ideas on there suitable for kids. I made up a list of crafts that won't break my small budget, and so far we've done quite a few of them.

Here a couple of them that really captured their attention.

Wild bird feeders.

You need:
Bird Seed
Peanut butter
String
Old toilet rolls

You cover your roll in peanut butter.

Then you roll your buttered roll in a tray of bird seed

The you thread your string through the middle and tie it at the top. Hang it from a tree, when you are done.

The children have enjoyed watching the birds come and eat from it.

Rainbow Rice

Although this one is intended for toddlers/preschoolers. I knew my kids would still use it, as they are a tactile bunch, and they love to get involved.

You need:

1kg of long grain white rice

A selection of food colouring

A lidded lunchbox

You divide your rice into as many portions as you have food colouring.

You add a batch of rice to your lunchbox, and a few drops of food colouring. (A little goes a long way)

You put on the lid tightly and shake the box up.

We borrowed a trough from the toy library and filled it with our rainbow rice. The children used it for various things. The littler ones like to swish about with it, and the bigger ones liked the feel of it running through their fingers. It kept them occupied for hours, and best of all, even though the trough went back last week, i have the rainbow rice stored away to play with another time.

Fizzy Bath Bombs

These were a heap of fun to make.

You need:

2 cups of baking soda

1 cup citric acid

A few drops of fragrance (essential oil)

2 tsps water (or witch hazel)

You add the dry ingredients to a big bowl, and get out all the lumps. the you add your fragrance, then you add your water and mix it really quickly. It will fizz up a bit, but work fast until your mixture resembles wet sand. Then you put it into molds. We used chocolate molds. you leave them for a minute or two, then carefully pop them out of the molds.

The children want to give them away as gifts, they have to be left overnight to harden, so tomorrow we will make them up with cardboard and cellophane into little gifts.

















Bargain of the year!

I am a self confirmed op shop addict. I just love to mooch around them, and i adore the thrill of finding the best bargain!
Like today!
I cannot BELIEVE what i scored today.
I've seen them floating around on those mummy craft blogs. The cleverest bloggers make them, and i have coveted from afar.

They are sometimes called quiet books, but they are just fabric books, with quiet activities inside. Whoever made my one was extremely talented. Heres a sample of the inside pages.

It goes all the way to 10

I can see it becoming a much loved book in our house, definately one to keep for the grandkids.

Moon Dough

I've been wandering around the online world of other mum bloggers recently. Its neat to see what others get up to with their kids. I found one i especially liked called Happy Hooligans.
Check her out here http://happyhooligans.wordpress.com/
Have a look at those giant bubbles. They are so on my to do list!

Whilst browsing, i came across a recipe for moondough. I remember the stuff being commercially made a few years ago, and sold for a fair bit in childrens stores. I always admired from afar, but was intrigued by the concept. Re-discovering the stuff + recipe, had me pretty excited. And i made it as soon as i could.

Here's Coby getting into the stuff. Its so tactile, All the kids and myself have really been enjoying it.

It holds its shape quite well. (as above) but it isnt like playdough where you can cut figures out. It crumbles away with pressure.

A good tip, gained from a fellow blogger, was to use the Johnson & Johnson lavender stuff, as the smell is really delicious.

Apparently it lasts for ages too, which is great.

Oh and it makes your hands so lovely and soft.

Here's the recipe.

8 cups of flour

1 cup of baby oil.

Yes, it is that simple!!!

Flight to Heaven

I just had to blog about a book i read today.
A Flight to Heaven by Capt Dale Black.



I picked it up at about 10am this morning and just couldn't put it down. I finished it at about 2pm this afternoon.

The book begins as the Captain finds himself very low on fuel and about to land his 747 with no airport (or anything)  in sight.
When you read the blurb about what the book is about you know that Dale was in a horrific plane crash, so you begin to assume that this is the beginnings of the description of that crash, but suddenly at a crucial point, the author whips you away, and begins the story again, with Dale as a nineteen year old.

It is revealed that he, and two other experienced pilots were involved in a catastrophic crash that left him the soul survivor.
Even more compelling, is his story of getting his memory back and realising that whilst his body had been in a three day coma, his soul had travelled to heaven.
The trip to heaven was the reason i was interested in this book. The concept of heaven fascinates me, and i have spent a number of hours logged into you tube, scrolling through testimonies of people who believe they have been to heaven, yet returned.
Strangely, but not unreasonably, quite often the stories have striking similarities.
In fact '90 minutes in heaven' written by Don Piper, echoes the same heaven that Dale writes about.
Whatever happened to Dale during his coma, his life was dramatically changed, his entire world view and personality recieved a terrific makeover, and he dedicated his entire life to the service of Christ.
His accident, which involved hitting a solid object at 135mph, causing the plane to disintegrate in midair, killing one person right there, and then causing him to freefall for seven stories, left him with horrific injuries, and a battle to walk again, see again and even lift his arm. Early on, Dale dedicated his recovery to God, and his own doctor was left astounded at his supernatural healilng defying medical experience.
The stand out scripture revealed in this book for me is

He who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matt 16-25

It is what happened to Dale, and it was a process that he had to walk through himself, but oh, what blessings were in store for him when he did completely lay his own desires down.

The final chapters of the book, flick back to the scene on a seemingly doomed flight, that got us hooked in the first place. All hope is lost. Everything that could go wrong with their plane, and also the ground communication had gone wrong. But as Dale shows us, God came through for him. The plane has a miraculous landing. If i revealed too much about this part it would ruin the book for you.
I highly recommend this book. Its a rollercoaster ride, with a few tears spilt on the way. I love that its a true story, the final page has contact details for the author. Everything he claims is completely verifiable.
That scripture up there though, has really gotten under my skin. You might see another canvas appearing here very soon!!!




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Jesus is bigger than any mistake

Here's my latest canvas.

Its an idea thats been swirling round in my mind for a couple of weeks. Unbidden, and relentless.

Its the idea that Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Which is an idea that could do with a little unpacking.

My three year old asked me what it said. I explained, and this is the conversation that followed:

'So, you know how you stole my tic tacs last night?'

'yeah.'

'that means that even though you did that. Jesus still loves you.'

'oh! yeah!'

About 5 mins later i revisited that conversation.

'Coby? What does my painting say?'

'It says Jesus loves it when you steal!'

I saw i had some more explaining to do.

God's blanket grace for people who turn their heart towards him, is something that takes alot of explaining. Human hearts feel the injustice when we realise that a baby-murderer is offered the same grace, and forgiveness that we ourselves have. Its an unconditional, all consuming love affair, from our Father directed at His creation.

Accepting this for ourselves is a harder ask, harder still, than understanding it. Often we hold on to our hurts, and our condemnation, allowing them to bloom and fester into all manner of ills. How much better to use the medicine of Grace to seep into our bones, and allow healing to occur.

I think this idea turned canvas that God gave me, was not perhaps just for me.

Recently, One of my sons arrived home in a police car, having been picked up for shoplifting. Its such a shocking event, having your child handled by the law, in such a public way, that at first, the incident rocked my whole world. I thought i'd failed as a parent, and perhaps in some ways, i had.

I wondered at the thought process of this the child, who thought that this was ok.

I ranted.

I raved.

I cried.

I prayed.

And slowly, i began to see that just maybe, this incident might not be a defining moment in our lives, it wasn't a line drawn, marked by 'before' and 'after.' It didn't need to fester and scar. It certainly had (and has) consequences. Far reaching ones for sure. But one thing kept coming back.

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Stand before him with a repentant heart, and surely he'll turn any action as white as snow. Erased from His memory, free of judgement.

Not for us. Not for our sake, but for His. To elimanate any barrier that would get in the way of His love for Us.

Its an amazing concept, a powerful one. The feeling of freedom contained in it, has transforming power.

And because we have and can accept forgiveness for our sins. We can offer that same forgiveness to others.

You know that lady who cut you off?

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

That teacher that never calls on your kid when they put their hand up in class?

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Your partner cheated on you

Jesus is bigger than any mistake

Your mother was killed in a road accident by a careless driver.

Yes, Jesus is bigger than that mistake too.

I'm not sitting here, saying its an easy road to take. The road from hatred to forgiveness, might be a twisty one with a couple of u-turns. But the final destination is a journey worth taking.

I'll leave you with a Scripture worth thinking about.

If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
1 John 1: 9

Oh! I found another scripture that really defines my canvas...

Romans 8:38-39

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ironically, its been staring at me from my bedroom wall for a couple of months!

Sky Lantern

We have been having so much fun lately with a packet of sky lanterns we picked up on a discount website.
Personally, i had never encountered them before, and i was very nervous about how they would work.
Turns out, they are supremely easy to use, and such alot of fun, i totally recommend that you get some, and try them out yourself.


Here we are getting set up. Obviously, you have to do this at night, the darker and clearer the night, the better. You light a small fuel block on the bottom of the lantern.

Here it is after a minute filled with hot air and ready for take off. Everyone is excited!



Take off! There she goes...look carefully and you can see a house at the bottom.



Here's the kids in awe of how high its getting. Theres lots of excitement, and lots of conversation. We try to guess how high it will go. We were also nervous it would land on someones roof and cause a fire!

Here is it just before it burnt out. The packaging says it will reach 800m high, And the burn time is approx 5 mins.

The sky lanterns are fully biodegradable, so they arent a problem for the environment when they come back down, although imagine waking up to find one on your lawn! It would make for some puzzling conversations!