Snowflake Craft- A Sparkly Winter Wonderland Indoors

Photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies


Snowflakes are not often seen in the desert, but inside our house we have a wintery wonderland! This past week we made snowflakes out of paper. They are so pretty, and it was so EASY that I wanted to share how we made them with you!

I found the free templates for the snowflakes on the internet at Marcel's Kid Crafts. These templates are not just your ordinary snowflakes: within the designs of the various snowflakes are snowmen, trees, bells, and other wintery things! The detail is extraordinary! I hope you are able to see the snowmen in this picture:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

All you have to do is print them out on your printer, easily fold them according to the directions on the website, cut away the gray areas on the template, and unfold your snowflake!

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The children and I went one step farther and dabbed some school glue on the snowflakes and sprinkled them with glitter!... Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies



Once I learned how to fold the paper for the snowflakes, I folded some paper for the children and let them cut out their own designs for larger snowflakes. We put sparkles on these snowflakes as well and hung them on our fireplace mantle. They shine and glisten in the light!

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

This snowflake craft takes no time to make, and really does do a nice job of decorating for the winter months. So, while you're busy with Christmas preparations, why not sit down, take a break, and cut out a snowflake or two?!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The Bird is Done! Turkey Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece Craft is Complete!

The children and I spent part of the day working on the turkey table topper centerpiece that I told you about in my last post. It turned out even better than I expected!

Here is the first stage of the process, before adding all the beautiful color:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

I had some old cooking magazines, as well as some thanksgiving grocery store fliers from last week's mail, so I tore pictures in to small pieces and sorted them into piles according to color. We pasted these pieces on to the feathers. each feather a different color. The pictures really created wonderful texture to the feathers. Plus, some of the pictures I tore in to pieces were pictures of food- rich brown turkey, golden yellow corn...so it fits right in with the theme of Thanksgiving dinner! A few finishing touches, and this bird will be ready to adorn our Thanksgiving table: A large red balloon for the gobbler needs to be placed under the turkey's neck, and a tea towel or large cloth napkin can fit as a liner inside the bag to hold the dinner rolls (Or, whatever you'd want to place in the "body" of the turkey!)

Here's our turkey!:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Ever Feel Down, Depressed, Sad? Here's Help... Talk Back!

Today when I read this quote it struck me as so profound that I had to share it with you! I know that for some of you, the holidays do not bring feelings of joy and gladness. I pray it would give you just the ammunition you need to face the weeks ahead! If you're feeling down or discouraged, talk back!...

"I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing "ourselves" to talk to us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you in the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's [David in Psalms 42:5, 11] treatment is this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you." Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have had but little experience.

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: "Why art thou cast down" - what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: "Hope thou in God" - instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and What God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

(If you receive the Bluedorn's Teaching the Trivium e-mailing, you may recognize this. It's where I first read the quote!)