New Curtains!

Here is one of my recent projects: light blocking curtains for our bedroom and walk in closet. Ken has been wanting curtains that totally block the light for when he wants to sleep in on Saturdays. I had not been sure how to make ones that totally blocked the light and had thought about buying something but then realized I would probably have to spend over a hundred dollars for two big windows. I went shopping and found black lining fabric for $1 a yard at Walmart (before they got rid of the fabric here!) and then I was able to get green corduroy fabric at Joann's on sale getting 6 1/2 yards for $21. The muslin that I used for decoration was leftover from when I made our bed skirt. We had one of the rods on hand and bought a 2nd one. The hooks for the muslin I got for $1.79 each at Home Depot. I had looked at hooks that were meant for drapes and they were $7 and up for a pair and so I decided to get coat hooks instead which work fine. The great thing about all of this is that the curtains do actually block light and Ken is very happy!
I decided to give you a tour of the rest of our bedroom, closet and bathroom. It is in our downstairs which we very recently finished (well to be honest there are still a few things to do). Ken with help from the kids and I and sometimes a few others did nearly all the work in finishing our downstairs which saved us a lot of money. Ken hasn't had much experience with carpentry but he got some good books on it and asked questions of family and friends as needed and he did a very good job.
The above to pictures are of our bedroom. two walls are painted light green and 2 walls have pine tongue and grove. We also put tongue and grove on the ceiling. One of our big projects this summer was staining all of the tongue and grove.
This is a picture of part of our bathroom. We painted with all light green in here. I am using Iris for decoration in here.
Here is a partial view of our walk in closet. This is in between our bedroom and bathroom and is painted dark green.
I am looking for some suggestions, I am wanting to do some more decorating in the bedroom but am not sure what to do. My sister Martha had suggested using some of the dark green paint and putting leaves around on the light green walls. I think that I kind of like the idea but I am not sure where to do it- in a strip around the middle or maybe on the top or maybe just around the doors? Also I am wanting to add some gold touches to the room (I already have some pictures with gold frames and a gold lamp) and I was thinking maybe I could do a few leaves in gold, what do you think? Also does anybody have any great ideas for inexpensive headboards? (Ken doesn't like the shabby chic look).Our bed is a California King size bed and headboards seem to be quite expensive, I have thought about trying to make my own but haven't made it that far. Tell me what you think!

Butter making

This week we enjoyed making butter. We have been getting a lot of cream off of the milk we got from the dairy and so we decided to use it that way. For our Colonial time class we are planning on making butter so we thought that we would practise. We did it by putting it in a peanut butter jar (less than half full) and shaking it. The kids had fun doing it. I also did make one batch using my hand held blender. I found some instructions on the Internet which I have listed below.

Here are some instructions for making butter the old fashioned way as well as more modern methods. Here are very good instructions with pictures for making butter with an electric mixer. They also have info on the health benefits of butter. Here is a pictorial instructions on butter making starting at the cow.

If you want to stretch your butter (you can do this with homemade or store bought butter) and make a soft spread that can be stored in the fridge you can do something that my mother-in-law taught me. If you take 1/2 butter and 1/2 oil and blend them in your blender or with your mixer you can make a very nice spread that tastes good and works well. We enjoyed our fresh

butter on fresh homemade whole wheat bread. Very yummy! This butter was not only cheap but very healthy too and a great learning experience.

I am showcased at Frugal Hacks today.

Kim at Frugal Hacks is showcasing Proverbs 31 Living today. Kim is the creator of the frugal blogroll and has many other neat things she does for those that appreciate frugality on the Internet.

To those of you visiting my site for the first time, Welcome! I hope you come to visit again. I love having people comment, so if there is anything that makes you think about something, please leave your thoughts.

I thought I might introduce myself a little better to those of you who have never met me in person. I am a child of God, a christian. This is what is most important in my life. Doing God's will is my greatest goal. I am also a wife and mother. Family is very important to me. I love being a stay at home Mom and a homemaker for my husband. Church is vitally important to me. I am very involved in a local New Testament congregation.

My interests are quite varied. I enjoy frugal living, partly because that allows me to be a homemaker and partly because I hate waste and love the creativity that living frugally requires. I am also interested in wasting less from an environmental perspective which to me goes hand in hand with being frugal. I homeschool my kids and absolutely love it! My husband and I were both homeschooled so this is second nature for us. We homeschool because of a desire to see our kids grow up in a christian environment as well as excelling academically. I am interested in living healthfully. We grow an organic garden, grind our own grains and make nearly all of our food from scratch. We also live an active lifestyle with plenty of activity in the great outdoors and very limited amount of time in front of the TV. I love arts and crafts. I run a small wedding flower business and I also enjoy sewing, knitting, crocheting, stamping, scrap booking and just about anything else that is creative. I am a lover of music as well, I teach some violin and piano lessons and have been learning to play the cello. I am also loving photography more and more all the time. I am trying to share the things I do with you, as much as I have time. I hope you will share with me in my journey.

Cheap gift wrapping

We have had two birthdays at our house lately and it has been my goal to see how many different things I could recycle into gift wrap. Gift wrap is never something I spend much money on. I save both wrapping paper and bags that our gifts come in and then if we buy wrapping paper it is usually on the after Christmas clearance sale. Below are some ideas for using up things that might be around your house.

This one is wrapped using first an old silver helium balloon and then bubble wrap on top. The finishing touch is a recycled bow.

The old stand by of gift wrapping with recycled goods: The comics.
Here is a gift wrapped with paper that came as packing in a box. For a finishing touch I used fall leaves.
For small gifts magazines and calendars can provide beautiful gift wrap.
Here we went really organic and used birch bark and leaves.
This one is a done with tissue paper that came around some flowers in an order and then some wrapping paper I re-used. Below is the very easy one to re-use: Gift Bags. Here is an old candy box decorated with a tissue paper butterfly.

None of these are to elaborate or terribly exciting but they work and I like the fact that I am not using brand new paper that will just be thrown away. Another thing we have used that is not pictured is cloth bags.

Do you have any other ideas for unique gift wrapping?

God's beautiful world!

Yesterday we took a trip exploring North Eastern Minnesota. Ken's family is visiting from Nevada right now and we wanted to show off some of the beauty in our state and also show Ken's Dad that we do have some hills, not everything is flat around here.

We drove 496 miles yesterday and saw some gorgeous fall leaves and just beautiful scenery in general. We are in Awe of what God can make!!!
"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1 & 2
Here is a picture of our family in front of Gooseberry falls near lake Superior.

Here are some pictures at Temperance River. We had a lot of fun looking at the river and then playing on the rocks and beach on the shore of Lake Superior at this park.

We splurged at Lunchtime and went out to eat in a restaurant that is about 15 stories up at the top of a round hotel. The floor in the restaurant rotates, so as you eat your lunch you get to see all over the city of Duluth and you get to look out over Lake Superior. For supper we had packed a picnic supper which we ate in the vehicle as it was raining then and we had many miles yet to go to get home.

We all had a wonderful day even though we spent a lot of time in the vehicle. Ken's Mom kept the kids wonderfully entertained while we were driving by telling stories. Yea for Nana!

Living in the Word!

On Saturday when I was getting ready for a birthday party as well as overnight company coming I was beginning to feel a bit stressed and cranky. I was working at getting the bedroom ready for the company and in came Mara whom I was about to be short with and send her off to get busy when she looked over at my desk and read aloud the above verse that I had hanging there. It really made me stop and think, is the attitude that I am having giving glory to God? I was so thankful that she came in and read it at that moment. It helped me to get my attitude adjusted.

I have enjoyed hanging verses up about the house so that we can be reminded of them day by day. It is fun to find ones that go along with the location in the house or just ones that inspire you. When I was a teenager I had a blast going through the book of Proverbs and finding verses that went with various places like by the phone having Proverbs 10:19 "When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." and one about a dry crust by the toaster, etc. It was fun and also reminded all of us more of scripture. This could a good homeschool activity for using handwriting skills as well as other arts and crafts.

Beyond just having scripture in our homes we need to have it in our lives and in our hearts. We need to spend time reading it every day and spend time memorizing. We do try to work on memory work often but last night at the Singspiration at church I was inspired to memorize more when two of the men quoted the first chapter of James. The Bible is full of useful and life giving words, let's put them to use in our life!!