Thursday, January 24, 2019

"beautiful girl" SOMETHING every girl needs to hear!

"beautiful girl
         you can do amazing things"

Isn't this JUST the message you want your daughters to hear? Or your own heart to hear?

We simply must encourage our girls from day one!


Building our girls up takes compliments, encouragements, and once in a while a little push, right?

There's never a need to put your girl down.  NO NEED.  Don't let those negative words out of your mouth, instead, think of a POSITIVE way to give your message to her!   And start with, "beautiful girl..."


Don't forget to always include, "I love you!".

Blessings,
   ~Heidi

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Bottle Brush Christmas Trees



One of my favorite things to pull out of my Christmas storage boxes are the fun little bottle brush trees.  They were originally sold to accompany small Christmas village display sets.  These little trees are so fun, singular or in sets of 3 or more! You can set up your own mini forest.  You can bleach them, though I never have.  You can dye them in various colors, though I've never done that either!  A quick search on Pinterest will give you loads of ideas of ways to display them at Christmas.

           






BOTTLE BRUSH TREE



But one thing I've noticed now is that they sell these with the most cheap plastic bases!   I quickly remedied that by pulling off the plastic base (sometimes you have to twist them off, like unscrewing them), and popping them into round wood slices I cut from branches around our property.





You can even drill two or three holes in one wood base and
have a mini forest right there!




Posting this after Christmas isn't going to help you know, but save this idea for next year!

Interesting note: these are called "bottle brush" trees because that's how they began, as BOTTLE cleaners!





Enjoy your little treasures!
~Heidi


Saturday, December 22, 2018

Vintage Sheet Music Christmas Trees


Here's a quick little vintage sheet music Christmas tree tutorial!  I've been making these the past few years, giving them away, loading our house up with them, and even have some for sale at "3:16 Gift Store" in our local mall.



SUPPLIES:
-old vintage sheet music book
-round slices from a large branch 
-skewers 
-any kind of stars (optional)
-hot glue
-Crop-a-dile (hole punch)
-small hammer
-drill and small drill bit


My wood rounds were cut from a branch from a redwood tree from our property.  I enjoy using them for crafts.

The skewers are just from the grocery store.  I get asked where to find vintage sheet music books:  go to the thrift stores and look through the books until you get to the music section. There's always something there you can use, even trumpet music!  If it's not "vintage" in color, and you want that instead of a crisp white just "paint" it with coffee or tea and let dry! Worse case is to search the internet for "vintage sheet music images" and print out a few pages.

Okay, let's make some paper trees!

First drill a hole in the center or your wood round:



-then mark the center of the top of the music page, (or make a small bend):



-then cut up each side at the angle, meeting at the top center:


-now fold the music from the bottom up, at about 3/4" inches (1/2" to 1" is fine, more folds is prettier):


-then punch a hole in the center, where the skewer will go through:


-slide down the skewer, pointed side goes down into the wood round:


-at this point I usually gently tape in the skewer in with a hammer so that it fits snug and tight into the wood round:


-unfold the paper tree, and hot glue the tippy-top to the top of the skewer:


-if you want stars at the top, glue them on:


-it's fun to put multiple trees on one base, just drill three holes (or whatever you want):


Done!





Enjoy!

Have a blessed Christmas!
          ~Heidi


Monday, November 26, 2018

Sheet Music Scrap Christmas Cards

Here's a quick homemade Christmas card craft!

Supplies:
-card blank (or card stock cut to a size to fit your envelope)
-sheet music
-glue (I grabbed my Mod Podge)
-black Micro Pen (I used 08)
-distress in (I used "tattered rose" by Jim Holtz)

First, get a general idea of the size of tree you need for your card:















Next, using the edge of the table, rip a general shape of the tree:



Then rip the tree apart, into the number of pieces you'd like (5-8 is good):



Next, glue each piece on the card, leaving room for the bottom "trunk", and the top star (tip: start at thetop!):



Stick on any star sticker:



Using the black pen, draw on the tree base, and write out "Merry Christmas", then gently distress the edges with Distress Ink:



Tadah! Done!


You can do much more with this craft, such as drawing your own star, or distressing each individual torn music piece, etc.

Enjoy!
       
Blessings,
        ~Heidi




Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Fifth Child! ~An open letter to Chip and Joanna

Dear Chip and Joanna,

The news of your 5 pregnancy hit the web last night, and I think it was the fastest traveling news in internet history! Congratulations!
(source:  ALL OVER THE INTERNET!!!!)

I'd like to offer a name suggestion, and the reason why I think the name I'll suggest is perfect for your sweet Gaines child number five! Well, all this works if.......it's a GIRL!    (I'll come up with Plan B if you announce it's a boy; I realize Chip already thinks it's a boy!)

The perfect name would be Heidi.  I am hereby giving you permission to use my name. Here are the reasons:

1.  It has 5 letters.  Heidi became popular after the 1880 book, "Heidi" was written by Johanna Spyri.  (Johanna is sort of close to Joanna!) In the book, "Heidi" was the nickname her aunt gave her; her full name was Adelheid.  I'm forever thankful to to Spyri for writing this book, or my name might be Adelheid.  (Though my older brother, Mike, DID call me that growing up!)  AND...Heidi loved the goats, as all your children do (and will!).

(from http://jennifermichie.com/2010/04/heidi/)

Our daughter Jessica just gave me a vintage copy of the book, "Heidi", that she found while vacationing on the Oregon coast!






2. I am the 5th child; there are nine in our family, and I'm smack in the middle, making me a middle child.  Who knows how many you will have, maybe Heidi will be your middle child!
(Photos from oldest child, Susan;
top photo-the nine children with Daddy;
botton photo Mommie with youngest daughter, Roberta. 
As Sue said, "no selfies back then, it was Mommie taking the photos!)

(Photo from oldest brother, Mike; he must have had a camera in the 70's!
Again, Mommie was the master photographer so she's once again not in the photo!)



3. Heidi means "of noble birth"; fitting for the birth of your 5th child.
(from https://i.pinimg.com/736x/02/9b/1f/029b1f255fe097f9f1136ad7f442b821.jpg)


4. The poem, "Song of a Fifth Child" just screams for Baby "Heidi", and how I think Joanna must have said when signing off the HGTV hit "Fixer Upper": "I need to slow down and take time for my children."  Interestingly enough, this poem was written in 1958, the year I was born!  It's a great reminder for the mothers of young ones out there that cleaning CAN wait---enjoy your babies and children!

Song for a Fifth Child.

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Poem Song for a Fifth Child by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, written in 1958 and first published in the Ladies Home Journal.   Read more: http://www.essentialkids.com.au/forums/index.php?/topic/715687-poem-song-for-a-fifth-child/#ixzz53AvCo8nS 


5. You are very aware of God's plan for your lives, and clearly live by His word.  The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet starts with "H". So your name should begin with "H".

(Google image)

6. "Heidi" is close to "Helen", which also has 5 letters, but at this point  HGTV's other much-loved-couple, Erin and Ben Napier, of "Home Town", have already selected "Helen", so Heidi is available!
(Google image)

7.  Any old folks will always tease Heidi about the "The Heidi Bowl" incident in 1968.  That's when the TV movie was scheduled to run after the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl had a minute and 6 seconds left in a super close and exciting game when the network started the movie, on time as scheduled and left the sports fans in the dark to the game's conclusion. They were mad; as I grew up some of the old timers often reminded me how "I' ruined their
game! (It's a fun to story to go look up and read if you are a sports fan!)
(Google image)

8.  A bonus: when Chip calls out to Joanna, "give me 5!", she can hand him the baby, not slap his hand!
(Google image)

I was 51 when I began to run.  This year I turn 60 and keep saying, "as long as I can run, I WILL run!"   I try to run 3 or 4 days weekly, and I run almost exactly 4.2 miles.  BUT TODAY, in honor of the BIG NEWS of the Gaines' child number 5, I ran FIVE MILES! (Ignore my slow pace....it's faster than if I sit on the couch....as they say!)



I prayed for Baby #5 as I ran, and thought how blessed the world will be when another Gaines child is born.  May God bless you two Chip and Joanna, and give you a "sweet 2018"!

Sincerely,
Heidi Woodruff