A Heart For Home

DIY Beaded Sun Catcher {Finished Friday} Link up your finished projects, too!

Join the fun and link up your finished projects at the bottom of this post.

A few months ago I was inspired to make a beaded sun catcher by this pin. Unfortunately I couldn't track down the original link, but the picture was enough to help get us started in the right direction. Over the past few weeks the kids and I have been working on this project as a graduation present for my niece.

The bead stringing was simple enough for our 5 year old and 3 1/2 year old to do independently, which made this a fun project to work on here and there as we had time.

Materials
wooden top (painted, stained, or left natural)
drill with small drill bit
monofilament fishing line
metal circle key ring
metal crimp tube beads
small needle nose pliers ( I have a pair of chain nose jewelry pliers like this that I love)
lots and lots of beads (we used mostly glass beads to help reflect the light)

My dad helped with the project by cutting out the letter R (our niece's first initial) that I traced on a 1 inch thick board. He also drilled small holes where I had marked, about an inch apart around the entire letter.

You can see the holes here.

Since the sun catcher will be hanging, I chose to make the letter face the correct direction when viewed from below. Even though this sun catcher is meant for indoors, I couldn't help snapping this shot while taking some photos outside.

(We painted the wooden piece white and let it dry completely before starting.)

I simply cut the fishing line to double the length I needed (for the beaded part as well as the part at the top to attach the key ring). Then I added a small bead to the string. Once the bead was on I pulled both ends of the string together so the bead was in the middle and I slid the crimp bead onto both ends. To keep the bead from moving around I pushed the crimp bead down to the other bead and pinched it closed with the pliers.

You can see the ends in this photo. (The crimp beads are the tiny silver ones.)

Once I had finished securing the bead to the middle, Emahry and Jonathan took over the stringing of the beads. Emahry (5) was able to hold both strings together and get both ends through the beads quite easily. Jonathan simply used one of the ends to strings his beads and then gave me his strands so I could poke the second string through each bead.

We made all of the strands about the same length and the secured each one with another crimp bead before passing the end of each strand through the wooden top. Once each strand was through I topped it with another small bead and then used another crimp bead to keep it in place.

Attaching the strings to the key ring was definitely the hardest part. If your piece of wood is symmetrical I would highly suggest just hanging it by attaching a couple of eye screws and threading a length of chain or wire through them. Since the R wouldn't hang evenly I attached each set of fishing line to the key ring with a crimp bead. This was a lot easier said than done.

Finally, I decided to pinch each crimp bead partially closed as I got it positioned correctly, then when each set of strings was attached I went back through loosening and tightening each string to make the R hang evenly. Finally I used the pliers to close each crimp bead completely and I cut off the extra strings.

I already have another beaded sun catcher in the works as a gift and would love to make one for myself soon as well.

Today's Questions: Have you finished any projects this week? Let us know in the comments and link up your posts below.

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

Labels: Crafts and Decorating, Finished Friday, Holidays and Gifts, Learning at Home, Tutorial

What's in the Bible? Memorial Day Sale

If you read our post about the What's in the Bible? DVDs last week, you know our family REALLY likes them! Right now we have DVDs 1 through 5.

But this weekend is the perfect time to complete our collection since all individual What's in the Bible? DVDs are on sale for only $10 each. As always, you also get free shipping on all orders over $15, no coupon code required.

These would be great to watch during hot summer afternoons or on long summer trips.

If you're just getting started on your collection, you can get all 7 available DVDs for only $70.

(By the way, I'll be putting the finishing touches on the free flashcards for DVD 3 this week, so keep an eye out for them soon.)

Now, go and check out this great sale before it ends on Tuesday, May 29th!

Labels: Bible, Children, Frugal and Simple, Holidays and Gifts, Learning at Home

Birthday Cakes {Finished Friday} come link up your projects, too!

This past Tuesday we celebrated two birthdays. Emahry and her cousin turned 5 earlier this month and we were finally able to get most of the family together for a party.

It was my job to make the cakes and I think they turned out pretty nicely (for a novice cake decorator).

I should have taken photos at home, in better light, but I was running around trying to get all the last minute stuff together, so this is the best I have :)

Emahry's cake was completely homemade. It was two layers, one strawberry and the other flavored with key lime juice, loosely based on this recipe. It was covered with homemade white chocolate butter cream frosting. Let me just say this frosting is delicious! (I used healthier, homemade powdered sucanat.) The little butterfly is from Hobby Lobby.

The birthday boy wanted a Captain America cake, so I decided to stick with pure white (store bought) frosting. I also opted for a squeezable bag of pre-colored shimmery red and blue frosting, since I know how impossible it is to make red frosting with regular food coloring. Let's just say that my fingers were stained all afternoon.

I think the birthday boy and birthday girl liked them!

Today's Questions: Do you make and decorate cakes for your child(ren)? What's the most difficult cake you've ever made? (links are welcome, too)

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

Where it says "Your name", type the name of your project.

Labels: Baking, Children, Finished Friday, Holidays and Gifts, In the Kitchen, Photos

Celebrating the Meaning of Easter {Tri-Moms}

This week finds our family struggling to catch up after being hit by a stomach bug last week. While I’m trying to get the laundry washed and the house cleaned I am too often unaware of the filth in my own heart and the deep cleaning that could only be done through the blood of Jesus. This week we are also struggling to point our hearts and the hearts of our children to the cruel cross, the days of sadness, and ultimately the glorious joy of the empty tomb. Here a list of some ideas we’re using or that we think might be helpful to you: :: Easter Sun Catcher Craft – Golgatha @ Almost Unschoolers :: He is Risen Empty Tomb Treats @ Free-n-Fun Easter :: Resurrection Garden @ Impress Your Kids :: Get a Sense of the Resurrection Activities @ Impress Your Kids :: Simple lacing crosses for our kids to play with while I read from a few of our favorite Bible story books.

What we’re reading this week::: The Jesus Storybook Bible:: Beginning Reader’s Bible:: Someone Very Special:: The Easter StoryFor even more great ideas check out our Easter board on Pinterest.

Today's Questions: What do you do to help your family focus on the resurrection on Easter?

Please visit my fellow Tri-Moms, Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and Christy @ A Living Homeschool for more ideas for celebrating the real meaning of Easter.

Up next: April 17: Spring Cleaning Coming Soon:

May 1: Reflecting on the Past School Year

May 15: Summer Learning Plans

Labels: Children, Faith Bearing Fruit, Holidays and Gifts, Learning at Home, TIPsters, Tri-Moms

Finished Friday: Quick and Easy Spring Wreath {come link up your finished projects!}

Today’s project was inspired by this adorable Spring Baby Grass Wreath I discovered on Pinterest.

We needed a new spring themed wreath that was easy and inexpensive to make. I reused the pipe insulation from my last wreath to make the wreath form and used this yarn wrapped wreath trick to make the wrapping a lot faster.

I purchased the lime green “eyelash” fun fur at Michael’s with a 40% off coupon and had the flowers and ribbon in my craft stash.

So now our front door feels all fresh and lovely. (And the wreath will transition perfectly into summer if I don’t have time to make a new one!)

For more spring inspiration check out our Spring Theme board. We also have a Front Door Inspiration board filled with ideas to keep your front door happy.

My entry into Making The World Cuter, sponsored by Appliances Online and the Bosch Washing Machines

Today's Questions: How have you decorated for spring? Feel free to share your links below or in the comments section.

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

Welcome to A Heart for Home! You can easily get

free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often!

Labels: Crafts and Decorating, Finished Friday, Holidays and Gifts

Tri-Moms: Celebrating Spring

I know spring is right around the corner, but it still seems a little early to be discussing it since we saw snow at our home yesterday. Still, no matter what the weather looks like, we are still anticipating the coming of spring.
Our family usually takes a relaxed approach to most holidays and season changes. We tend to focus our energy, time, and resources on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We are definitely not the family to look to for original and inspiring ideas for Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, even when I was a public school teacher I had a hard time “celebrating” these holidays in my classroom. So…how do we celebrate spring? We enjoy it! We no longer need 30 minutes to get everyone dressed and bundled for the outdoors so we get outside a lot more. We run. We jump. We play. We log more hours on my parent’s swing set in a few days than we did the whole of the winter. I start hanging oodles of diapers outside on drying racks. Our sheets start drying outside, too—we go to bed smelling dried sunshine! As our children get older, I’d love to implement Cheryl’s idea of First Day of Spring Baskets. Really, if your children receive Easter baskets, you should check this out. It’s a great way to keep the fun without losing your focus on Christ at Easter. (The first day of Spring is coming up on March 20th.)

We’ll also be creating a little spring craftiness with the following inspiration from Pinterest.

source: Wabi-Sabi Wanderings via Jennifer Blanton on Pinterest

source: alphamom via Jessica Turner on Pinterest

source: eighteen25 via April Noah on Pinterest

For even more great ideas check out my Spring Theme board on Pinterest.

Today's Questions: What does your family do to celebrate spring?

Please visit my fellow Tri-Moms, Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and Christy @ A Living Homeschool for more ideas on celebrating spring.

Up next: March 20: Gardening with Kids
Coming Soon:

April 3: Celebrating the Meaning of Easter

April 17: Spring Cleaning

May 1: Reflecting on the Past School Year

May 15: Summer Learning Plans

Welcome to A Heart for Home! You can easily get

free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often!

Labels: Children, Crafts and Decorating, Holidays and Gifts, Tri-Moms

Finished Friday: Keepsake Embroidery {come link up your finished projects}

Okay, I have to admit that this project is not actually finished, but I’m posting it today anyway since:

1. the nature of the project makes it unending (I’ll never really be finished)

2. I have finished several pieces of the project

3. I need some encouragement and motivation to continue

Just before Christmas I stumbled upon the wonderful idea of a keepsake family tablecloth (I wrote about it here.)

I promptly went out and purchased a white tablecloth on sale for around $10. Then, once I had the tablecloth back home I realized that the texture of the fabric would make it very difficult to write on, which would completely defeat the purpose. I returned the tablecloth and decided to search for a white twin sheet instead.

Before heading back to the store, I thought I might as well check our linen closet, even though I was sure I didn’t have any white twin sheets.

Well, what do you think I found? That’s right, a white twin flat sheet. Perfect! (Even more perfect was the fact that I didn’t have the fitted sheet, so using the sheet for my new project wouldn’t separate a perfectly functioning sheet set.)

I already had an embroidery hoop and a bag full of embroidery floss, so this project turned out to be completely free!

When we went away for Christmas I packed the sheet in a bag along with a Ziploc full of embroidery floss, a mechanical pencil, and my embroidery hoop. During downtime at the cabin, each person took time to write their name. Some added little pictures, too.

I embroidered in the evenings when everyone was gathered around the television and at nap time while I sat with the kids until they fell asleep. I also embroidered in the van on the long drive back.

When we came back home, I toted the same “tablecloth bag” to each of our family holiday gatherings.

By now, all of our parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews have signed “The Tablecloth.”

I’ve decided to pray for each person as I embroider their name. I love doing this! I often get into a rut only praying for my immediate family, so this has been a wonderful challenge for me.

Now, I just need to keep going…

Then everyone will sign it again next year, and I’ll begin again.

Today's Questions: What projects have you finished this week? Are you working on a project that seems like it’ll never be finished?

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often!
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Labels: Crafts and Decorating, Finished Friday, Holidays and Gifts

Finished Friday: T-Shirt Scrap Earrings {link up your finished projects}

I've been looking for a way to use up all the little t-shirt scraps I have left over from Christmas crafting (scarves, necklaces, & trivets). I came across the idea of t-shirt scrap earrings and completely loved the concept. Like Kristin, I love to accessorize with earrings. These earrings are also a great use for the tiniest of t-shirt pieces and are simple to make.

The earrings I made are about an inch and a quarter in diameter and are so light it's easy to forget you're wearing them. I love that I could easily make a pair to compliment almost any outfit--oh, the possibilities!

I started with a pair for myself last weekend. (Yes, I took this picture myself and no, apparently I had not brushed my hair.)

Then added a pair for my sister-in-law as she headed back to college. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I gave them to her.

This last pair is for another sister-in-law, whose birthday is on Sunday. She liked the ones I wore last week to church so I know she'll love a pair of her own.

*If enough people are interested I may be able to put together a simple tutorial, just let me know if you'd like to know how to make your own.

Today's Question: Do you like to accessorize with earrings? I love hoops and dangling earrings in silver and a variety of colors. Describe your earring style. If you're not a fan of earrings, what is your favorite accessory?

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.
Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.

2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath

3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Labels: Crafts and Decorating, Finished Friday, Frugal and Simple, Holidays and Gifts

Finished Friday: Popsicle Stick Puzzles Guest Post

Today I'm sharing a super easy, cute, fun, & frugal craft at Living Life Intentionally.
Be sure to hop on over to see how to make a few of these popsicle stick puzzles for the little ones in your life. They are so easy to make that your children could even make them for their siblings or friends. These puzzles could even be a fun Christmas Day craft for the kiddos. Just make sure you do the cutting, okay.
Everyone but the baby will be getting one (or two) of these in their stocking on Christmas morning.

What do your children get in their stockings?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Labels: Children, Crafts and Decorating, Holidays and Gifts, Learning at Home

Gather Round the Christmas Tree

Lots of hot tea and warm blankets in our home this week. Thankfully, I already had these pictures ready :)

Since our town home doesn't afford room for a traditional Christmas tree, the little ones helped decorate my parents' tree this year.

My parents' decided, for the second year, to forgo the Christmas ornaments packed carefully away in a box and to instead decorate the tree with simple ornaments with the names of Jesus. Just small slips of printed paper backed by red cardstock and tied with ribbons.

It's perfect for our kids who are learning these names during our quite moments of advent each day.