Reading The Bible In One Year

I have read the bible front to back once and it is often on my list to do again each new year.  I have a Women of Faith Study Bible that has weekly studies to go with your reading.  I am at least trying to do the weekly studies!  I have been thinking about Week's 2 reading all week, Meeting a Fearsome God.  It is about Moses meeting God for the first time and how terrified he was at first.  As he builds a relationship with God he is less afraid and more respectful and awed by God's holiness.  

Exodus 34:5-7; "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 

Last night I watched a movie about the Ten Commandments with the kids.  Christian Slater was the voice of Moses.   It wasn't the best animation, but it was a great movie and really followed everything out of the bible.  The kids were amazed by the whole thing.  The kid's bibles never really say that the Pharaoh threw the baby boys into the river.  Haley quickly gave Jacob a hug and said she wouldn't let anyone throw him into a river. It even went over all the plagues.  I really liked the part where the pillar of cloud and fire who was God that went before them was shown. And then the thunder, lightening and cloud that was the voice of God on the mountain.  It really brought it to life for me too and made me think about how amazing it must have been to see all of that! 

How quickly the Hebrews were to forget God and want more from God and to be so upset that they had only manna to eat. They even wanted to be slaves again so they could have some meat and their other favorite foods to eat.  It really made me feel bad for Moses that he had to deal with all of their complaining.  It is hard to understand the way the reacted sometimes, but I know we would probably be the same.  We are so quick to forget, especially when we are tired, hungry and thirsty.  When I lived overseas my friends and I would spend lots of time talking about the food we missed and couldn't get.  So that part I can really relate too.  But with God being in a pillar of cloud and fire ahead of them I don't know how they could be as disrespectful as they were.  That is why they missed the blessing of seeing the promised land.  And I think this is still the same for us today.  If we do not respect/fear God and all that HE is we will end up being complaining, grumpy people who go our own way to make our own happiness.  And for that we will miss God's blessings. 

I really like this bible verse I found while reading more of Exodus. The Egyptians were coming at the Hebrews in their chariots to bring them back and the Hebrews were standing at the water's edge scarred and fearing they were going to be killed. Exodus 14:13-14; And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be still.”  Then the cloud/fire that was traveling ahead of them went behind them and made it so the Egyptians wouldn't come near the Hebrews.  I thought that was amazing too.  We are still supposed to follow this and let God fight our battles for us.  We still only have to stand firm and be still! 

Repurposing Christmas Packaging

For Christmas my girls really wanted a Lalalooopsy Doll.  So Santa brought each of them one.  They came in really cute boxes with neat plastic decorative handles.  I couldn't throw the handles away because they were so neat.  I knew I could use them for a bag handle somehow.  My girls were also given lots of little Lalaloopsy dolls.  After seeing the mess of little Loopsy dolls all over the floor I knew we needed a way of keeping them somewhat together and organized.  I then got the idea of using the handles for a Loopsy bag.  I got some scraps of fabric that matched the handle and came up with these super cute bags.  I just had to sew the handels in by had, but they were so easy to make. If you are giving or receiving a Lalaloopsy doll you should definitely keep the cute handles!

I added a small square of velcro to keep bag closed.

Sweet Cup Cake

I finally made a cup cake pin cushion!  I have had this pattern sitting in my to-do pile for 3 years now!  It was so easy to make and I think it looks good enough to eat.  This one I made as a gift.  I am working on a couple more for me and my sewing friends.  They will be fun to give for Valentine's Day gifts.

Chubby Charmer Vacation Bag

I can't believe 2012 is already here!  I am still recovering from an amazing Christmas vacation back home in Arizona.  We just finished putting all of our clothes away and put the suitcases back into the attic.  We have all settled back into our old routines and feeling a little bit normal again.  And now it is time to start thinking ahead in this New Year!  I think that is really the point of New Year Resolutions.  To get you thinking about what you are going to do differently and how you will make this new year better.

Is anyone's resolution to take more vacations?  If I could this would be mine!  My mom and dad are world travelers and always going somewhere.  For their Christmas gift I made them a great beach/traveling bag!  It fits everything you need for the beach.  I know because I made one for me last summer.  It fit everything our family of 6 needed for a long day at the beach.

The pattern is called The Chubby Charmer Tote by Quilts Illustrated.

Front View.  All fabric is from Hawaii!  I love this bag.  

Side View

Inside! 

I made one for cousin's twin girls.  They wanted to be different so one had hers done in stripes.

Tights Turned Into Socks

Yesterday I was about to throw away a handful of my daughter's tights.  I was so upset how quickly they wore holes into the bottom part leaving the stocking part still in great shape.  I felt a little guilty throwing them away.  

So instead I made them into socks.  I know socks and tights don't cost much, but I am trying to make things last longer instead of being wasteful and throwing things away.

I had fun making their "new" socks.  I dressed them up with some bows too.  They will look so cute wearing them with their dresses and skirts!  And it only took me about 20 minutes to make 5 pairs.  

I got this idea from Ruffles And Stuff.  The only difference is is that I folded the material again over the elastic. So the elastic would have a casing and wouldn't touch their skin.  I thought it might bother them if it did and this way there were no open seams either so no chance of the material unraveling. 

                  

Snowflake tights.  I dressed them up with a frilly pink bow.

I thought one bow was cute and then thought maybe more would be MORE FUN!

Not all quite in a row, but still FUN!

Embroidery Hoop Art For Teacher's Gift

Over the past few days I have been trying to decide what to make for my kid's teacher's Christmas gifts.  I was thinking about just giving them snack bags that I made filled with cookies.  But my husband said he didn't think that was a good idea because our daughter's teacher might be diabetic.  Then I was trying to decide on how to embroider their name onto something that would be meaningful for them.  I have really been interested in applique art and the embroidery hoop art.  I came up with this idea of using my machine to embroider applique onto some plain fabric and then use an embroidery hoop as a frame to hang it.  I love the look and hope their teachers do too.  I went to Joanns and picked up 2 hoops for about 2 dollars!  This is a great gift that really cost me only time!

After I finished embroidering I sprayed the fabric with some applique adhesive and then put it on top of another cream fabric. This way you can't see the threads and mess on the back.  After placing the hoop the way I liked I cute the excess fabric witha  razor blade and used fabric glue around the inside edge to hold it all together.  Then I added a bow.  I am definitely not talented in the bow tying area, but I think it turned out good.

Grocery Bag Dispenser

My son's teacher asked me if I could make a grocery bag dispenser for her.  I had no idea what she was talking about, but of course I told her I could try.  I looked around for some tutorials that were out there.  His teacher wanted this bag to hold at least 100 grocery bags.  I found this great looking and large grocery dispenser tutorial at Dioramarama.  Here is how it turned out for me.  His teacher was very happy with it and says it holds all of her bags too!  I am glad I can help her out.  She is a great teacher to my son!