"Thorns" by Kathy Rice Grimm




"Thorns" by Kathy Rice Grimm, oil pastel on paper canvas

Come to Calvary's Holy Mountain
Come to Calvary's holy mountain, Sinners ruined by the Fall;
Here a pure and healing fountain Flows to you, to me to all,
In a full, perpetual tide, Opened when our Savior died.

Come in poverty and meaness, Come defiled, without, within;
From infection and uncleaness, From the leprosy of sin,
Wash your robes and make them white; Ye shall walk with God in light.

Come in sorrow and contrition, Wounded, impotent, and blind;
Here the guilty free remission, Here the troubled peace, may find.
Health this fountain will restore; He that drinks shall thirst no more.

He that drinks shall live forever; 'Tis a soul renewing flood.
God is faithful; God will never Break His covenant of blood,
Signed when out Redeemer died, Sealed when He glorified. A-men.

by James Montgomery, 1819
and Ludvig M. Lindeman, 1872

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Garlands Made With Wooly Beads and Scraps




Above, Samples of wooly garlands inspired by an article from

"Handmade Christmas, Decorating Your Tree and Home"

a Country Living craft book.


Garlands made from wool scraps and beads are marvelous additions to anyone's Christmas ornament collection. I always hang soft ornaments near the bottom of the tree so that little hands and the occasional brush with a dog won't send glass trims flying across the room!





Left, felted wool bead, Middle, a homemade pom pom

, Right, felted wool bead with additional trim.


Helpful instructions from other crafty bloggers:

ReconstructedChristmas Garland
ChristmasRibbon Candy Wool Garland
FestiveFelted Garland from the Purl bee
Christmas  Candy Felt Garland

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Scherenschnitte Make Lovely Christmas Gifts




Sample scherenschnitte patterns from a Better Homes

and Gardens book, "Christmas from The Heart" Volume 9.


Scherenschnitte (German pronunciation: [ˈʃeːʁənˌʃnɪtə]), which means "scissor cuts" in German, is the art of papercutting design. The art work often has symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century, and was brought to Colonial America in the 18th century by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania. (wikipedia.)

      Scherenschnitte make lovely Christmas gifts. The traditional color combinations are black on white or the reverse of white on black. For Christmas however, I prefer to cut scherenschnitte from natural colored, acid free papers and mount them on bright red or green background papers. These look lovely in folk art frames.






Pair of Angel Schenrenschnitte






Shepherd Scherenschnitte


Scherenschnitte also make light weight, detailed ornaments that one can hang on the weakest of branches. Cutting such delicate work takes patience and practice, but once you've mastered the skill, you will be able to decorate an entire tree for mere pennies!





Sample scherenschnitte ornament from, "Treasures for the Christmas Tree" by Carol Taylor



Links to professional scherenschnitte artists:
Where to find more scherenschnitte patterns?
Papercuttings by Alison







Video of the "Scherenschnitte Snow Queen"

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Road to Emmaus




Road to Emmaus by Kathy Rice Grimm, oil on canvas.
Emmaus, a village seven and a half miles north-west of Jerusalem, celebrated for our Lord's conversation with two disciples who went thither on the day of his resurrection. Josephus (de Bello, lib. 8. cap. 27.) says, that Vespasian left eight hundred soldiers in Judea, to whom he gave the village of Emmaus, which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem. D'Arvieux states, (vol. vii. p. 259.) that going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, he took the right from the high road to Rama, at some little distance from Jerusalem, and "travelled a good league over rocks and flint stones, to the end of the valley of terebinthine trees," till he reached Emmaus. It seems, by the ruins which surrounded it, that it was formerly larger than it was in our Savior's time. __Calmet.

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Collecting Cookie Molds For Christmas Baking




My most recent acquisition, two carved wooden figures

purchased from The Dutch Village in Holland Michigan.



A very old hand-carved cookie mold that I

found in a flee market in Colorado.

There is also a famous cookie mold artisan

whom collectors can visit on the web; his

name is Gene Wilson and his website is here.



A contemporary terracotta cookie stamp

that I purchased in a popular

kitchen ware shop in downtown Kirkwood, Missouri.



Perhaps the oldest cookie mold I own.

This one came from an antique dealer in Colorado.



A relatively new mold made from copper plate and nickel.


One of my favorite past times is collecting cookie molds. Every Christmas either I or my daughters unwrap these and contemplate which cookies will be made for the month of December. I must admit, I've been leaving this Christmas tradition to the girls lately.  They have become remarkable bakers! Perhaps I should not feel so guilty after all? I still, however, collect cookie molds whenever I can afford to. These are only a few from my giant collection.

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Summer Drinks to cool you down

I know summer is almost over, but my obsession with summer drinks is still in full swing!  Check out these amazing (virgin) beauties:






Nancy's Fruit Water recipe here





Oopsey Daisy's yummy easy recipe here

Watermelon Straight up here



Citrus Daquiri



Watermelon Frosty recipe here




The Miller Family's homemade icees here
Now this homemade icee recipe has my mind going crazy with possibilities like trying this:

TIGER'S BLOOD Strawberry 60% and Coconut 40%

Snow Cone Syrup2 cups granulated sugar3/4 cup water
1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid®

Bring sugar and water to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in Kool-Aid®. Chill. It's now ready for the crushed ice.


Or I've tried a lime slushy with just lime juice, sugar, club soda and ice.  It was DELISH!  And there's tons of lo-cal options, like diet Kool-Aid packets and Splenda.  Or diet coke...



lemonade icees recipe here
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Tuesday:
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Wednesday:
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Saturday:
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Back to School Wreath over at Ducks in a Row!

Hey! We're showing you to make this festive back to school sign (along with faux chalkboard):


over at Ducks in a Row!  Head over and check it out!!!

Pin It

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Back to School Printable(s)!!!

Well, my friends.  It has been awhile since we did a printable (like a whopping month) and when I hear twice in one day (once from Glitta, once from SIL) that I need to do a back to school printable.  Well, I take that as a message from the heavens!  A direct command!  something to do while I'm watching a lame-o romantic comedy.  Rachel Bilson!  That stalker is not boyfriend material!  He's homeless and DOES NOT HAVE A JOB!

Wow.  Got away from myself there!  So if you are ready to get a classroom in order, get kids excited for school, treat a teacher friend, or just psyche yourself up for fall, then I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR printables for you!  Two are jokes, but I just thought they were funny and the kinds of things I pin on pinterest so I went ahead and made them.  They are all sized as 8x10s but should be able to work for smaller or bigger with the right editing.  So without further ado:





Again, these are FREE!!!  But if you do use them, will you tell me?  And maybe follow our little blog?

Pin It

Linking here:
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Tuesday:
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Wednesday:
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Thursday:
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Friday:
http://www.whipperberry.com/, http://www.thegirlcreative.com/,http://tidymom.net/, http://sassysites.blogspot.com/, http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/, http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/, http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/
Saturday:
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

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Birthday Gift Basket

Glitta and I have birthdays very close together.  If you are an avid reader of this blog (as I assume everyone is) then you'll know that Glitta surprised me with an amazing pedi party. 

What you don't know is that we had planned on throwing a joint party a week after mine, a week before her's TOGETHER.  We were thinking watermelon theme, since there's a bazillion cute treats for watermelons circulating the web right now, and we had a cute watermelon wreath and it's the summer, blah blah blah. 

So then that sneaky Glitta throws me an amazing surprise party with all of our friends invited and smugly tells me that she likes throwing a party better than being the recipient of a party.  I left my birthday pedi party thinking, "That was so fun.  Such a good idea.  Now w-t-h am I going to do for Glitta's birthday???!!!"

I couldn't compete.  But I did make a pretty cute little present.  So in case you need an idea of how a holiday snob gives a girlfriend a present, here it is:




I wrapped a cardboard box in purple fabric, hot-glueing to secure.  Then embellished it with ruffled ribbon and a bejeweled cupcake.  I made a pennant bday banner glued to twine to come up from bamboo skewers stuck into the sides.  And then filled with goodies. 

I themed the basket with, "On her birthday, a girl needs to:____________"

"A girl needs to relax" was with a cupcake bath bombe.

"A girl needs to bling" was with a cute pair of rhinestone bow earrings from Forever 21.


"A girl needs to shop" was with a J. Crew gift certificate for a thousand dollars.  Because I'm super rich and just a really good friend.  (hahahahahahaha - that's why I'm selling crafts on etsy, because I'm super rich!)  So maybe it wasn't a thousand dollars but it had some dough, ok?  Glitta is a J. Crew girl all the way. 


close up of the stamped banner


Cute, right?  Hopefully a good comparison to a surprise party.  Hmmm maybe not, but whadda do?  I did surprise her with yummy Lara's Donuts early for breakfast that day.  Still not?  Well, I'll tell ya what, I am NOT planning a joint party next year! 

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