Family Binder For My Daughter in Law {Love}

Our son is getting married in 10 days!  We are excited for the wedding and the joy this marriage will bring.  I had the joy of traveling to Chicago for our new daughter-in-law's bridal shower in February.  Besides purchasing a gift for them from their registry, I wanted to create something more personal and unique for them.  I decided to make a Family Binder for our new daughter in law, so that she could have some info and dates and recipes from our family available for when she wants or needs them.  It turned out well and was a fun gift to make.

In the first page protector sleeve, I placed a letter I had written to her...telling her how much we love her and are excited to have her in our family.

I thought that putting our son's family tree in the binder might be helpful someday if they need the full names of some of our family members.

I created a page of all of the birthdays of our son's side of the family, and what year they were born.  

The email addresses of all the family members.

Some Hayden Family favorite recipes, and the little stories behind these dishes.

More recipes

I also included 3 pages of photos of our son during his growing up years, so she can see how their children resemble him for the future.

The ladies at the shower passed around the book and enjoyed looking through it.

And here is the lovely bride to be...the next Mrs. Hayden!

I decorated the front clear pocket of the binder with some vintage book hearts that I handstitched together with embroidery thread.  I also made their last name initial out of 2 colors of paper plus a vintage book page.  And lastly some little book page birds, and a part of our daughter in law's favorite quote.

Consider this idea as a creative, helpful, thoughtful gift for any new bride to be!

Thank you for stopping by!

Blessings!

Donna

Linked to:
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Sunday Showcase

Book Review ~ The Tutor's Daughter

What a book!  The author, Julie Klassen, says she likes all things Jane...Jane Austen and Jane Eyre!  And this book shows it!  Set on the coast in Cornwall, England, Julie uses words to paint beautiful pictures of landscapes, 1800s clothing, the British aristocracy, and life for a simple, smart Tutor's daughter who thinks that love has passed her by.  The four sons of Sir Giles Weston are all mysterious in their own ways.  Henry and Phillip are grown and have gone through Emma's father's school as young lads.  Younger sons Rowan and Julian are now in need of a formal education, and Emma and her father are invited to come to their estate to tutor the 15 year old twins for the year.  Will Emma get to spend time with her old friend Phillip?  Will Henry, her antagonist from earlier years, continue to tease her and play mean jokes on her, even though he is now a man?  And what are those strange sounds she hears in the manor late at night?  Who is coming into her room?  Yes, it's a bit of Jane Eyre and Jane Austen all right!  You'll hardly be able to put it down.  And you'll feel like you've been on vacation to the shores of Cornwall in the process.  Enjoy!

Book Review ~ When Hope Blooms

This is my 2nd Kim Vogel Sawyer book, and she is now one of my favorite authors!  I so enjoyed this gentle, sweet story of a Mennonite widow with 3 children.  Amy moves to Weaverly, Ks to start a new life.  Her young teen daughter, Bekah, is questioning if she wants to remain Mennonite.  Son Parker, age 10, is 'slow' due to a head injury at age 4.  And little daughter Adri, 5 years old, is a flittering butterfly of joy and fun!

Their neighbor is a quiet man named Tim, who left the Mennonite faith 20 years ago, rebelling against his father's strictness.  But he is consistently thrown into helping Amy and her children in their new home.

Amy's sweet, gentle nature, and the grace and love of fellow Mennonites in Weaverly are a consistent witness to Tim and make him question the choices he's made in the past 20 years.

This sweet story kept me up too late at night and had me riding my exercise bike extra minutes so that I could keep reading longer!
You won't be disappointed!

Blessings,

Donna

Vintage Winter Tablescape

 One of the things I love about changing seasons and holidays is the opportunity to practice creativity in changing out my coffee table scape. 

 This antique sewing drawer has graced my home for about 1.5 years after I fell in love with it at a flea market.  I've been watching for a vintage muffin tin that I liked, and found this little sweetie this fall for just $4!  They are both lovely vintage blank-canvases in which I can create little seasonal scenes 4-6 different times a year.

The muffin tin is so cute because it is smaller than usual and has smaller cups than most.  Eight little pockets to stash something cute for each season.  

For January, my tin has a fortune cookie (we traditionally eat out at a Chinese buffet on New Year's Day!), a crocheted snowflake, a candle, red and white peppermints, and two little cups with Epsom salts in them for 'snow' and figurines that depict winter.  The other two cups hold a red and white ribbon wound into a mound and Scrabble tiles that spell JESUS.  :)

My sewing drawer vignette was inspired by my childhood copy of Frosty the Snowman.  All of the things in there with the book are things I already had...vintage cookie cutters are just begging me to make Sugar Cookies, yarn with the colors of the stuffed snowman reminds me to crochet, and the little scoop is my newest flea market treasure that I LOVE!

It's cute and small and roundish and has a red handle.  And is another little empty container that can hold something adorable and seasonal whenever I wish.

At Christmas, it held peppermints.  I'm pretty sure conversational candy hearts are in its near future.  :)

And lastly, I was glad to find that I had enough vintage blocks to spell out 2013 for the table, too.  A good reminder this first month of a brand new year as I try to remember to write the correct date!  And if you like the paper table scarf, it is just 6 pages from a vintage hymnal that I zigzagged together on my sewing machine, and then edged with a paper cutting tool.

The vintage things in my home that I've picked up for a few dollars here and there are my favorite accessories.  I'm a modern day mama with a vintage soul.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  In just a week, I'll be adding some Valentine decor to my little tablescape...won't you?

xoxo,

Donna

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Your HomeBased Mom

A Home in Drayton Valley ~ A Book Review

Reading Christian fiction is my little daily vacation.  If a book is 'pretty good' then I read it just at bedtime til I get sleepy.  So some books take me more than a week to get through.  However this book not only got read at bedtime, but during the day in snippets here and there too!  It was really good!

I like stories that are a little bit different from the normal plots I have read time and again, and this one fits that bill.  Tarsie helps her sickly friend Mary, husband Joss, and their 2 wee ones to have the finances to move by wagon train from dirty, noisy downtown 1880 New York City to peaceful, rural Drayton Valley, KS.  The hope is that Mary's illnesses will lessen in a better environment.  However, Mary barely lives to see Kansas in the distance before her illness  consumes her.  Now Tarsie is left with the care of Mary's 2 little ones and the beligerent, prejudiced, ungodly Joss to finish the journey and set up a home.  What will happen?  Tarsie has promised Mary that she will love the children and even love Joss to the Lord.  But at what expense?

Kim Vogel Sawyer takes you on a wonderful journey with this unique story.  You will love it!

Blessings,

Donna

Felt Farm Animal Puppets

Our sweet little firstborn grandchild just turned one.  Happy 1st Birthday Carson Davis!!

His Momma dreamed up a darling birthday party for him.  The theme was Old MacDonald's Farm.  So farm animals played a large part in the decor.

Being that I love crafting, my daughter asked if I'd come up with some kind of table centerpieces for the tables where the guests would enjoy eating a farm fresh lunch!  "Of course!" I replied.

I found some cute farm animal ideas online and settled on these darling felt puppets.  I found these at Just Another Day in Paradise and was so glad that Larissa provided the patterns for free as well.  Cute for the party, and reusable throughout the years as fun toys!

I tweaked them a bit for my time schedule, just doing machine stitching around the outsides of the puppets, leaving raw edges, and sewing wrong sides together.  I used fabric glue to attach the faces and other details.  I did sew Kitty's whiskers on, using embroidery thread.

And here is how we displayed them on the tables...we sat each one over a small plastic cup turned upside down so that it would stand up, and then tucked some raffia around the base, as if it was in the barn.

Puppy got to welcome the gifts on the gift table.  :)  Carson will be able to play with these puppets when he is a bit older.  Since he loves animals so much, I'm sure they will star in many puppet shows over the years!  One little hint would be to make the body of the puppet a bit wider (another inch?) if you want adult hands to be able to wear the puppet.

Carson had such a fun birthday party!  Especially since our 2nd born grandchild, Eloise Mae, got to come too!  Eloise and Carson are just 7 weeks apart, and are sure to have GREAT fun over the years as cousins.  :)

And that's me.  Mimi!  I'm the happiest Mimi there ever was, when my arms are full of my granddarlings and my heart is full from having time with them.  There is nothing better!

Thank you for stopping in!  You'll find the puppet patterns HERE!

Blessings,
Donna

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Graphic Organizers for Mom (Or How to Play Games With Your Mind)

For some reason, I dislike making lists for myself of things to do.  They tend to become taskmasters to me, and make me feel like I must get them DONE before my day or week is a success.  Typical first born, perfectionist, I suppose.  But I've come across another method for helping me organize tasks, that feels more like a game of Bingo or Black Out.  :)  Oh, the games we play with our minds!  I call it a Graphic Organizer for Mom, and I love how it organizes my want-to's and need-to's into nice tidy little squares.  Here's how:

Just take a piece of computer paper and fold it in half, and then fold each half several times until you have either 16 or 24 little squares.

Then as you think of things you WANT to get done and NEED to get done, write one on each square. I also write down some fun things I'd like to do.  This particular Graphic Organizer is for me over Christmas Break from homeschooling our 9th grade son.  I still have a few empty squares on it, so that I can add to it as I think of something else.

As you complete a task or a fun To Do, put a nice big X through it.  Ahhhh, doesn't that feel aaaamaaaazinnnggg?!  And it looks so tidy.  Plus it feels like I'm just playing Bingo with the goal of a complete Black Out by January 2.

Some of these things I am REALLY looking forward to...like beginning my new Smash Book Scrapbook. Playtime with paper!!

Other items...not so fun.  Like mopping the kitchen and sewing my husband's coat buttons on tight. But, because of this Graphic Organizer I really didn't mind doing it and then having the fun of crossing it off.
My photos today are subpar because I used my iPhone rather than my camera, but you get the gist.  
So give it a try and see if it makes you feel more organized and less mastered by a To Do list.
Works for this Mama!

Christmas Blessings!

Donna

Linked to:
Made By You Monday