How to Make Re-Usable Wooden Place-cards

These place-cards are great for dinner parties.

Because they are made with chalkboard paint they are re-usable.

Cut a hardwood tree branch at about 1/8 or 1/4 thick with a miter saw.

Make sure they are dry before you paint them.

Sand one side if you want to, but that is not necessary.

Use chalkboard paint (a quart goes a long way) and a small craft brush to paint on two coats, letting each coat dry completely.

I made these, tied them together, added chalk and they made a nice gift for friends who practice a lot of hospitality.

These were for a Christmas dinner party so I just tied a string on and hot glued a couple acorns on and slipped a small piece of greenery in. All can be removed for other occasions.

Fall Wreath - Dried Flowers

I took some dried hydrangeas and stuck them in a grapevine wreath. I left the stems long enough to twist into the wreath, you could use some floral wire if you need to. or even hot glue them in.

Then I spray painted it and let it dry.

And then added a strip of burlap and a bow.

What are your favorite fall decorations?

Linking Up at:

The Pin Junkie

Diligent Hands, Servant Hearts

I received this as a comment the other day on this crocheting post. I was so humbled, encouraged and convicted all at once. This is from Jill:

Several years ago, you did a little series on young
entrepreneurs. One of them was Brianna, a crocheter. I showed my daughter, Sarah, that post. She had just started crocheting, and she contacted Brianna. They have become friends, penpals, and fellow crocheters. Brianna inspired my daughter to start her own business. I think Sarah had just turned 11 at the time.

At first, she was earning money for herself, but soon we started our first
adoption process in the summer of 2010, and she sold her beautiful items to
raise money for our adoption. After we got our first son home, she turned
her efforts to other waiting special needs orphans or families in process.
She has since taught her best friend to crochet, and together, they have
raised almost $6000 to help bring orphans home! (Sarah just turned 15, and her friend is 17.) In fact, just this morning, Sarah did a Farmer’s Market booth all by herself. She is learning so many life skills through this experience, not just crocheting.

I just wanted to encourage you that even a seemingly simple post had a HUGE impact on our family and my daughter’s life. I love the way the Lord works!

I’d be honored if you checked out her work when you have some time. (I’m a very proud Mama!) She designed the blogs/websites herself, and she’ll be
taking an HTML class to advance her skills after your encouragement to have our children learn this skill.

This is her blog she started with:
http://forhisgloryhandiwork.blogspot.com/

Her “Block Party” blog: (Brianna sends blocks for this every year.)
http://blockpartyukraine.weebly.com/

This is her fundraising site where they sell their items.
http://handiworkforelijah.weebly.com/index.html

Again, thank you SO much! God has used you in mighty ways! (I thought it was about time I told you, so you didn’t have to wait until we are in Heaven.
LOL)

Many Blessings to you and your beautiful family!

Please visit our adoption blog: www.mygodislord.blogspot.com
And Sarah’s fundraiser blog for “Maria”: www.handiworkforelijah.weebly.com

DID YOU READ THAT??? They have raised $6000 selling crochet items to help give orphaned children a mom and dad… a real, FOREVER family! And they are only 15 and 17!!!

As I read their blogs and saw their WILLINGNESS to give and serve I was so convicted, convicted of my complacency and laziness.

If I could plead and beg with families… with young people, please set your American Dream worldview aside and reach higher. Give. Serve. Work. Think bigger than yourselves. Don’t settle for our cultural normal. If God chooses to bless you with wealth, use it for His glory. If God chooses to bless you with less wealth use your time, skills and life for His glory. Wherever He has you, let your goals be bigger than material gain and comfort, ask Him to remove the hay and stubble form your life.

What a sad state we are in when we believe Christianity looks like the American Dream. God have mercy on us complacence, materialistic and narcissistic people.

There are children in orphanages that need to be rescued, if you can’t bring them in your home, in your family, then come along side a family that is willing. I’ve posted here about specific ways to help. There are so many ways to do orphan care. Our friends and church have been a HUGE blessing to us in MANY ways as we added our 3 adopted kids to our family.

We live in a very needy world. The needy are not only the orphans, although I believe they are the most helpless. And what is done for the least of these is done for Christ. How are you spending your time? How are you using your talent? How are you investing your wealth?

I love to crochet. I’ve done it so long that it is almost second nature. I can whip up a child’s hat in the time it takes our family to watch a movie. I can make a baby blanket in 3-4 evenings. I don’t mean to sound like a brag, I’m just saying, if I can make something in a couple hours, sell it for $15 and it only cost me $1-2 to make it, that is an easy way to make money for the needy.

Think of the amount of time being wasted!

Thank you, Jill, for sharing your family with us. Thank you for rescuing those precious children. THANK YOU Sarah for being a faithful servant of Christ!

Linking Up at:

Raising Homemakers

Wedding on a Budget: Favors - Seed Packets

Seeds are 20 cents a packet at Wal-Mart (ign

ore the 99 cent price listed there).

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Cut some strips of brown paper from some paper lunch bags.

(I LOVE my paper cutter we picked up at a yard sale!)

Add a little twine and a note, and there you have it,

a very simple gift for your guest.

These are perfect for a spring wedding!

Jeff made this wonderful box to hold the seed packets for the wedding.

He made it from pallets and an iron handle I picked up

at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago for half price!

Again, the rustic look is so easy to work with!

Free Enterprise

I love my little entrepreneur. I hear him from the other room trying to strike a deal with his 89 year old great-grandmother, he offered to tie her shoes for $1. Then his 9 year old sister scolded him for taking advantage of the elderly family member… and then says she will do it for 50 cents! Free enterprise is alive and well at the Brodock house!

Don’t constantly shower your children with all the material things they want or always pay for them to be involved in every club, activity and team. Let your children pay for some things, I promise you, they will get real creative and industrious! Great economies are built by families that know how to work!

Wedding on a Budget- DYI Rustic Wedding Invitations

Emma’s wedding is going to have a rustic theme, which really makes it easy for decorating. And because I have this creative-need-to-be-unique-on-a-budget thing in me, I figured I’d make the invitations. So instead of spending a lot of money, I spent a lot of time, but it was a labor of love that I think does reflect her personality.

I bought a roll of brown package paper at WalMart to line the back of the papers to give it a contrast of color, texture and thickness. This was less than $5. The problem was that it curled, so I ironed them flat after I cut a bunch of rectangles that gave me an inch or so of play on each side.

I printed out the invitations formatting two columns using Word with a pretty font, then used a brown ink to match the invites. These were printed on ivory linen paper, also found at WalMart. This gives a beautiful texture, just be sure you have the texture side up, because the other side in flat. The paper was less than $10, you can print two per page when you place your settings on landscape and format two columns.

I did the same thing with the RSVP cards. I chose not to add a stamped envelope to replies. Instead I printed the date to RSVP by and three ways they can reply, at the website, e-mail or phone.

I punched holes in the RSVP cards and added a piece of twine.

On the left of this picture you see some beautiful motif pockets that we bought dirt cheap on clearance, these were bought when the colors were going to be grey and pink…then she changed her mind. So I (and any other family member I could snag) used a brown permanent marker to color the silver to brown. Then I cut the silver backs off and cut the motif in sections so I could get two out of one and they could be glued to the invitation. I used a regular glue stick glue them on.

I bought the ivory colored Social Envelopes at WalMart that matched the paper almost perfectly. The boxes of envelopes were $6 each.

I made 125 invitations. There were lots of laughs and conversation while these were made, almost everyone in the house had to pitch in and help some…and they all had a comment or two … but it was fun, and that will be remembered.

Paper - $10
Roll of brown paper - $5
Envelopes -$18, with some left over
Motifs $20, with 2 boxes left over I hope to sell
Markers - $5
Glue Sticks -$1
Twine - I already had

TOTAL: $39

To order invitations would have been about $130-150.

Stamps: $55

Fiber Arts Monday - Simple Basics, looking for some ideas

With having little girls in my house again I am looking for ideas to help them learn the basics of sewing and easy projects that will encourage them to keep their hands busy.

Cherish, who is 8, is working on a printed plastic canvas project that we picked up at Hobby Lobby. Just learning the simple basics of how to hold a needle and which direction to stitch in has been a challenge, but plastic canvas , a big plastic needle and yarn are perfect to learn these simple things.

She will work on it for about 10 minutes, get frustrated and then have to put it down. I’m OK with that, I want her to enjoy it. The key right now is mechanics.

But the best part of doing this is that it forces time to be still with us, even when I may not want to. I have to sit with her and help her untangle her knots, or show her AGAIN what direction to go in. It gives me a perfect opportunity to teach her patience and the importance of details and diligence. I am learning just as much as she is, not in the skill of sewing but rather in patience and diligence in my parenting, in nurturing our relationship.

I even started my little Peach on these.

I used Styrofoam trays and poked holes in them.

Then I taped the yarn to the foam to be used as a knot.

We use a single thread so they can be used over and over again…

and un-knoted easily.

She thinks she is making something great! She is learning the same things, just bigger and slower. If she messes up the trays it’s no big deal, I’ll just make more. These are also great to keep her busy while we do school work. I even numbered her holes so we count as we go.

Boys like them too, but sometimes they find other things to do with the string!

Here are some other easy beginner projects:

Cloth Napkins

Tea Towels

Hair Scrunchie

Fiber art is anything that includes stitching, weaving, quilting, sewing, rug making, crocheting, knitting, spinning, etc…

Each Monday we can share ideas, patterns, finished projects and ask questions about fiber arts in the comment section.

You can also link up to your blog post or photo account that is related to fiber arts, I just ask that you link back to the most current Fiber Arts Monday post. Just leave your post link in the comment section and tell us what it is.