A Christmas like no other....

Yes, I know that most people have completely moved on from the Christmas season. However, I must admit that our Christmas decor is STILL up, and yes I have it up on purpose. ;-)

Partly, it's due to the fact that I haven't really had time to take it down, but also I find that the ambiance of Christmas decor helps the Winter seem more enjoyable. Here in ND, you do everything you can to make Winter more enjoyable - hence why the tree is still up. :-)

This isn't your typical "Thankful Thursday", but I think you'll understand a little more toward the end of this post.....

I LOVE ornaments, I guess you could say I somewhat collect them. Here are a few favorites from our tree....

Our lil guy Thaddeus (we still need to get one for Lola). Everyone has a good laugh when they see this one...


One from Paris, because it's such a lovely city, and one I hope to go back to....

And, because I play piano, you can't forget the "baby grand"....

And my adorable husband when he was little, holding his baby brother....SO cute!!


One of our Christmas traditions is purchasing an ornament that reflects something special & unique about that year.

Our 1st Christmas married....awww! 2006


The year we bought our first house...2007


The year we had our first garden.....2008


Ok, not to be skipping 2009 on purpose, but I think you get the idea, and without further ado, I'm going to introduce our very special ornament for 2010.......drum roll please......

We are excited to announce that "Baby Shaffer" will be arriving in July!! We couldn't be more thrilled!! We're looking forward to all that 2011 will hold for us, welcoming a precious new life into our family. This "Thankful Thursday", I'm praising God for the little blessing that I'm carrying in my womb. Such a tiny life, formed by God himself, given to my husband and I to raise for Him! What a huge responsibility and an overwhelming gift this little one already is to us. By God's grace, may we raise this child for our Lord and Saviour!

Psalms 127:3 "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

Have a thankful week, everyone!!

~Lauren

Merry Christmas!

Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

¹⁹Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

²⁰But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

²²Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

²³Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

²⁴Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

²⁵And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Luke 2:1-14

¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

John 4:42 "And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."

This is what Christmas is all about.

Wishing you all peace, love, and joy from our Almighty and Awesome God this Christmas,

Lauren & Page

TT: Our most precious gift...

Matthew 1:21 "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins."

I look at this verse in awe. These words are pure power. This is Christmas. An ALMIGHTY, INFINITE, ALL-KNOWING, ALL-POWERFUL, GRACIOUS GOD sending His Son to earth to save us.

Please don't miss this!! Sometimes we look at these things, and because we may have seen them a million times before--we loose just how incredible this historical, life altering event really is! Not just a story. Not just "The Christmas Story". This IS WHAT EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT!!

God's Son, miraculously sent to earth--to bear the sins of the world--and save our souls from hell.

I am so grateful and amazed. Even more than that--I am saved and looking forward to His work and grace in my life and His promise in my death.

Thank you, God. I am awe struck and soul stirred this morning.

Psalm 147:18 "He sendeth out His word, and melteth them: He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow."

Jesus paid the ultimate price. His death for our lives. Gift your life to Him--and receive eternal life from Him. It will be the best Christmas you've ever had.

Isaiah 53

¹Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

²For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

³He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

⁸He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

⁹And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

¹¹He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

~Page

CC: Cute Hand Print Ornament for Kids!

This Christmas has definitely been one of the best Christmases ever... Biggest reason being: Little Red!

He has been so much fun this year! His big, blue eyes just light up over all things Christmas... We spot every Christmas tree and decoration as we're driving. He asks to stop at Lowe's to see the "Kipimees" (Christmas Trees) and marvels over of those big, "blow up in your front yard" things. He asks to turn our tree lights on anytime we're at home. And he loves Rudolph...

Presents this year should be a blast! : D

(Last year was more about eating the paper...)

Anyways, this year was his first time in his class at church to get to make his own, handmade ornaments. I'm. So. Excited!

So, in the spirit of being crazy about Christmas ornaments (which you'll get to see in an up-coming post), I wanted to share an idea I got from a very, incredibly, creative gal at our church who passed on this ornament idea to me, either for your tree or as gifts (of which I did both...)

Here's what you'll need:

*Plain, 3 1/4" or bigger sphere ornament(s)

(I got a box of 4, glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby for $2.50)

*Craft paint that is safe on skin

*paint brushes

*your kids hand

*and maybe an extra set of your own hands...

Step 1: Wrangle down your child.

Step 2: Practice where you'd like to put their hand print. Be quick, because this will only be interesting to your child for about 5 seconds.

Step 3: Release child temporarily.

Step 4: Get your paint ready. I did a very light blue, almost white color.

Step 5: Repeat step 1.

Step 6: While gently holding child's wrist, paint very wiggly child's hand. Asking very lovingly for them to be still. They will like this part.

Step 7: In one fail swoop--while never loosing the painted hand, put down your brush--grab an ornament quickly--and gently place the painted hand on the ornament (try to keep fingers slightly spaced) where you had practiced in Step 2.

Step 8: Press on fingers slightly to make sure the little print made it completely.

Step 9: Remove hand from ornament.

Step 10: Again, while never loosing the still-painted hand, put down the newly--extremely cute hand printed ornament to dry, and grab the brush.

Repeat Steps 6-10 for as many ornaments as you plan to do. (We did one for us, and some for grandparents.)

Step 11: When hand prints are completed--all while still holding the wet, painted hand--rush to the bathroom, wash and rinse hand thoroughly.

Step 12: Sigh of relief. The hardest part is now over.

Step 13: When handprint is dry, paint on the snow men effects. And maybe a "to" and "from". Definitely a name and year.

And here is what you'll end up with:

Snow can be added with a paint brush, or flicked on with a tooth brush. I think I might add a spritz of spray glitter? Just considering it...

I just love these ornaments! I love his little hand print. I can't wait to give them to the grandparents!

Let me know how your ornaments (and/or experiences) go! ; )

~Page

Quilled Snowflakes!

To wrap up this Christmas Crafty Creation marathon, I thought I would revisit an older Crafty Creation which you can find HERE. One of my favorite past times is quilling :D In the previous post about quilling, I introduced you to the craft and gave you a basic overview of how to do it. Today, I am going to show you step-by-step instructions on how to quill this BEAUTIFUL snowflake!!!

WAIT!!!! COME BACK!!!! It's not that hard..... I promise : )

I made a color coded pattern of the snowflake so that you could see the individual shapes. You can reference back to this picture if you are having trouble!

First, you need to cut your paper strips to size. I am using 1/8 inch quilling paper. Here are the lengths you need :

6 - 11 inch long strips

6 - 2 inch long strips

6 - 6 inch long strips

18 - 5 inch long strips

Other supplies that you need are tweezers, pins, clear tacky glue, a quilling tool, and a quilling board (optional).

First, grab an 11 inch strip of paper and insert one end into the quilling tool.

Tightly twirl the paper onto the tool.

Take the twirled up paper off of the tool and place it into the 1/2 inch circle on the quilling board. Let the paper expand and fill up the circle. If you do not have a quilling board, let the paper expand in between two fingers until it is about 1/2 inch wide.

Put some tacky glue on the end of the paper and close the circle. I use a pin to apply the tacky glue. Let the glue dry for a few seconds--then, pinch both side of the circle simultaneously to form an 'eye' shape.

Make six of these shapes.

Now grab your 6 inch long strips of paper. Fold each piece in half.

With your quilling tool start at one end and tightly twirl the paper inwards 2/3 of the way down one side. Slide the paper off of your tool and it should look something like this:

Now do the other side and you should end up with an 'open heart' shape. Make six of these shapes.

Put some tacky glue on the tip of an 'eye' shape and place it inside the 'heart' shape. Also glue the twirls of the 'heart' shape to the top sides of the 'eye' shape. The back of quilling boards are usually covered in foam. You can pin your shapes in place why your glue dries. If you do not have a quilling board, get a piece of cardboard or styrofoam and put wax paper on top of it ( so the glue doesn't stick to it) and pin your shapes on place. Glue all six of your 'eye' shapes inside of all 6 of your 'heart' shapes.

Now get your 2 inch strips of paper. Apply glue to 1/2 of one side. Fold the strip in half and let dry on a flat surface.

Now, for your 18 - 5 inch long strips of paper. Twirl a piece tightly onto your tool and DO NOT LET IT UNWIND! Glue the end down, and let the glue dry for a second before removing the tight circle from the tool. Do this with all 18 strips.

Once you have all of your shapes made it's time to form the snowflake!

Glue your 6 heart/eye shape combos together like this :

Glue your 1 inch folded strips of paper between your heart shapes.

Glue 1 tight circle on the tip of each 1 inch strip.

Glue 2 more tight circles below the tip.

(Pin down your shapes to keep them in place while the glue sets if you are having problems keeping things in place. )

Isn't it beautiful! The snowflakes are stronger than they appear to be, but if you want to add some extra strength and protection you can pray some clear / non-yellowing acrylic spray paint on it. Spray a VERY light, thin coat and let dry.

These make beautiful Christmas tree ornaments! You can also attach these to the front of Christmas cards, scrapbook with them, frame them, or hang them from your ceiling!

If you have any questions about the directions feel free to leave your question in the comment section and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!

I hope that you challenge yourself and explore this craft more! Let me know if you want instructions on how to make the 2 other snowflakes and I'll post them!

*Jes*