Simple Silver Christmas Centerpiece

Yesterday was Christmas music and decorating and getting excited for all the approaching holiday festivities!

As I was wrapping up, I realized I didn't have a plan for a centerpiece but then inspiration struck!

Two awesome wood stars, a vase, silver ball ornaments, fishing line and some Epsom salts equals a simple silver centerpiece.

I wanted the stars to hang over the edges of the vase so I had to devise a plan.  I used fishing line looped though the wire and then tied it with a slip knot through one of the ornaments.  I then tucked the ends of the fishing wire into the top of the ornament.

After filling with salt, I placed the ornaments that were attached to the stars in the bottom of the vase and then arranged the other ornaments on top to weight them down and keep the fishing line hidden in the corner.

I added a pretty mercury candle I was gifted on one side and two star shaped napkin holders on the other to complete the centerpiece.

Crocheted Christmas Wreath

I make myself wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas, but since I have to be prepared for Christmas, I definitely work on projects whenever I have the chance. While in the West Bottoms, I found the "Merry Christmas" sign for $5 and couldn't pass it up. At first, I was just going to hang it on our door with some fun ribbon.  Then I remembered - I wanted to make a crocheted wreath like the ones I saw in Crochet at Home. I purchased a 16" wreath and gathered some Christmas-y yarn and got to work!

I chose the white wreath over a green wreath because I was worried the green would start crumbling.  This was super simple and just took a few hours.  

There weren't step-by-step instructions in the book but I found a great tutorial (with step-by-step pictures!) on goodknits.com (and the wreath on the page is gorgeous). I had never done anything like this so it was really helpful to have step-by-step pictures. I crocheted a chain loop to create the hanger.

For the green edging, I joined with a slip stitch to the first single crochet.  I then chained three and made a slip stitch in the back of every fourth single crochet. Nothing fancy, just nice and simple.  I then used a chain stitch to connect the sign to the wreath.

Merry (early) Christmas!

There are a lot of really cute crafts in the Crochet at Home Book.  I'm looking forward to making the nesting dolls!

 

Eat all the cookie dough

Thankfully, I'm not alone when I say there are times I prefer to lick the spoon over baking the cookies.  This was simple, quick and totally satisfied my craving for something sweet.  It was great on graham crackers but even better on a spoon!

Eggless Cookie Dough

Original Pin     Recipe From: Fun Foods on a Budget

Gather it:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Make it:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar and butter until smooth.
2. Stir in vanilla and milk.
3. Mix in the flour, salt, and chocolate chips until well blended.
4. Chill in the refrigerator.

Hints:

• I did not put mine in the fridge first and I didn't notice a real difference after it had been in the fridge
• I used white, semi-sweet and peanut butter chips.  Because I could.

A childhood verse

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

I feel like this is a childhood verse - the first verse many of us learned and growing up, how many of us heard, “This means He loved you.”  And while that’s true, that is so limiting of the scope if this verse and it’s true meaning. 

God loved the WORLD.  The WORLD.  That means everyone.  EVERYONE. 

Let that soak in.

Do we disappoint Him?  Do we break His heart with some of the decisions we make? I'm pretty sure we do.  But beyond that, God loves.  Loves so much He sent His son as a man to die for us so that we no longer have to be ruled by our sin, so that we could experience the fullness of His love.   His love is so much stronger than any disappointment.

How many of you have heard the verse that follows?  “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17

It’s hard to think how many people miss out on the blessing of His love because others choose to preach a false gospel of condemnation.  God created an amazing and beautiful world, one in which there was free choice and that free choice led to sin.  He wants us to choose to love Him so that we can fully experience His love in return.  In order to prove His great love for us, He sent His son to die.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

I’ve heard Christians being accused of narrow-mindedness and practicing a faith that condemns others to hell.  (Which forgive my tangent – but in essence don’t all faiths do that?  If you aren’t this faith then your faith is wrong?)  But you see, in my opinion, in its truest form, Christianity is the most open and accepting of all faiths. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or who you are.  You will not be excluded because of your age, gender, ethnicity, previous choices.  It’s there.  For anyone – He sent his Son for the WORLD.  He wants you to have eternal life and accept His free gift.

Being a Christian means I have accepted that God is real, Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, He died taking our sins upon Himself and that He rose again to conquer death.  It’s a free gift that you can accept or reject.  There are not 30 steps to get there, no rituals or a list of do’s and don’ts that will get you to Heaven.  All it takes in genuine acceptance of what Christ did for the world. 

If you accept the gift, does it mean you may have to change your life? Probably.  But if your acceptance of what Christ did is genuine and you begin to seek God first and foremost, then you’ll begin to desire those changes in your life.  I’m not saying it will be easy.  I’m not saying the desires will magically go away.  But you will have support not just from God, but from those who care about you.  And you will have a God that loves you for you - all your flaws, all your hurts, all your joys and all your accomplishments. 

I’m not a scholar so it could be some of you could rip me to shreds about what I’ve said and use verses to back it up.  This is also my personal belief and you don’t have to agree but I do ask that any comments left are respectful.  This is what was placed on my heart today so I’m sharing it.  Because maybe one person out there needed to hear this.

If you have questions, check out theses books:

They are well written and compelling.  I read The Case for Christ in college and know others who have read The Case for Faith.

First Fridays in the West Bottoms

If you live in the KC area and haven't visited the West Bottoms during First Friday weekends, you're missing out.  Lots of warehouses have had new life breathed into them as they now hold stores with booths full of wonderful little goodies.  Everything from antiques to handmade.  If I could go every First Friday I would.

When walking around the buildings, I tend to enjoy the buildings themselves as much as (if not more than) the stuff they hold.  Some of the buildings are simpler but some have some beautiful woodwork and iron.  We even got to ride in one of the awesome old-school elevators this time.  I've seen people wandering around with cameras, but I just snapped these with my phone because I couldn't resist.

I scored six of these lovelies for just $30 and they are going to be holding spices with sweet labels...once I get to work on them.

A climbing comp from my point of view

Last weekend, my husband participated in a 24 hour climbing competition with a friend at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas.  They climbed 100 Routes each and I couldn't be prouder of my man!  Here it is from my perspective...

First Day - they were just getting started

Hands before and after.  Pictures don't capture how tired their hands were.

After the rain came through the valley.  
Thankfully, it came after the comp was over.

While the boys were climbing, I had some amazing local fare.  There was a little taco cart in Jasper and these were incredible.  The one on the right had egg, guacamole and bacon jam.  For reals.
The drink was fresh squeezed local pears.

All-Purpose Baking Mix

I decided to give making my own All-Purpose Baking Mix a try and it was totally worth it.  We used it for the first time to make pancakes during our camping trip and they were delicious!

All-Purpose Baking Mix

Original Pin     Recipe From: cooksrecipes.com

I did use buttermilk powder in my mix.  I found it at Whole Foods - the other grocery stores don't carry it.

This was my first time making a successful pancake!  (The only other time they didn't really get done in the middle. Wah-wah.)