The Planting of A Seed ~Believe~

I realize that this is the season for the harvest not planting.  But is it ever too early or too late to start dreaming or planning?

When I think of planting a seed. I think of hope. When we actually buy the seed or harvest it from some other place, we are thinking of it's possibilities. There's optimism and excitement about what's coming. If there wasn't, we wouldn't bother. We don't think about drought or the birds that come to steal it away or the flood that washes through and dislodges it's bed of dirt. Our thoughts aren't focused on the possibility of the never-ending rain-showers that turn from friend to foe as the seed rots before it has even a chance to germinate.

No, we imagine sunshine that nurtures and gentle rains that come and wash over it seed slowly coaxing it to open up and let the beauty of the tiny green vine show itself. Reaching through the soft, moist dirt upward toward the sun.

We don't wait for perfect cause it usually doesn't happen. But we know when the time is right.

I see my life in the same way. There are seeds that I am holding in my heart. Pondering over. Imagining how they will grow. Thinking about what possibilities lie within them. And there are hopes and dreams attached to them. I believe God gave us the ability and desire to hope and dream. And Not just about our spiritual lives and who we'd like to become along our journey with the Lord. What about what we'd like to become of the gifts and talents or desires of the kind of life that He has placed within us. 

Just as with the seeds that we put in the ground, there is a right time to put that seed that we have been holding in our hearts into a place where it can be nourished so that it can bring forth the beauty of the life that has been waiting to burst forth.

Maybe it's been there for a long time and you've tried planting it but it just died out. Maybe you thought the timing was right but it just didn't grow. Maybe circumstances crushed the tender plant as it began to grow. It's never too late. Take the precious seed that you've been holding dear and take another chance. Don't worry about the outcome right now. Just start with what you have and take each day as it comes. 

{Nourish the seed with hope and faith. Believe.}

 

  xo Tamara

To Blog or Not to Blog And If So, How?

Oh my goodness. I have been pondering what to do with this blog for months and months and endless months. I have gotten one new follower in a year. Haha. I have to laugh though it is discouraging. I know it takes hard work and different things. I see other blogs that have no "niche" so I don't believe that that's the answer. I have tried pretty much everything accept working endless hours on promotion and design. But my heart isn't in it because those approaches aren't THEE answer either. I know people have good ideas but where to start?

There are many who have found Blogland to be a place of success but their stories are all different. And that makes it very confusing. There's so much and it can get overwhelming. I need to start slow and small.

My comment box MUST only show up every three months or so cause that's how often I get one.

I guess I'll keep trying and see what happens. It certainly can't get any worse. Maybe someone will offer me a little cheese and crackers with my whine. Or I'll get some good advice.

How about you? Do you have any advice? Or can you recommend someone for hire that you have had personal experience with? I'd appreciate some input.

Thank you and be blessed,
Tamara

Shabby, Burlap Covered Planter and My First Retail Sale! / { family sentiments}

This was a really fun project. There are lots of little things to look at.  I Just couldn't stop! The ideas for details kept coming so I kept adding them on. Sometimes I go too far. What do you think?

Is it too busy?

 

I started out with a white metal planter that had a gold embossed scrolling on it. I found it at a thrift store several years ago and had used it for storage but then decided I didn't need it anymore.

I thought it might make a nice little gift for someone or that maybe I could sell it.

I just covered it with burlap and then added the burlap ruffles which are really simple to make. But I found something out about burlap. Some weave is tighter than others. So, if you're purchasing for the purpose of ruffling, you will most like want to get the more tightly woven.

 After I decided the width f ruffle, I hand measured my strip about two and half times the length of the ruffle. And then I just found a string at the end of the ruffle that I could pull. And then I pulled to the desired bunchy look that I wanted. Hot glue works great to attach the ruffle to the planter.

 

 

 

 

There are really no rules to a project like this. It's just whatever you have on hand and the desired finished  look that you want to have.

 

 

I took this to my favorite Antique/Shabby Chic shop. The White Chair. She purchased it to sell in her shop. Thank you, Moli!  I was so excited! I have had my offerings on consignment for a few years but this was my first retail sale. I am so thankful and humbled to think that she would consider my work for her lovely shop. 
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I am travelling right now. We have bought a small place to spend time visiting family and friends in Ohio. This was my second time there and was able to get together with my brother, sisters and many nephews, nieces and greats, too. It was the first gathering in 11 years. The last was when my dad was still with us. It was worth the whole trip. I can't tell you what it meant to me to have us all together again.  I am so thankful for the time.

Family. Family is priceless even though we come together with our hurts and offences, we still make it work. And I know that if my dad could see us, he was smiling as he looked down. Happy that we were all together again. Family. My heart yearns for more. Close times. It's so far away though and it will have to wait until next spring at the earliest. All those months. I will wait with great expectations and anticipation. Remembering the smiles. The laughter. And even those sitting quietly by themselves waiting for others to come and draw them in. My thoughts will return often to them. Like a tune that plays itself over and over again in my mind. Family.

And am now in Oklahoma visiting my newest grand baby.  Although Ohio is still my home, I miss my other home. I've been away for a month and I'm ready to get back. It has been beautiful and special. And I travel the miles and miles back to my other home I look very forward to seeing those who wait for me there. Family.

Well, I hope you were somewhat inspired by my little project and may you be blessed with special family time that pulls at your heart and forever plants sweet thoughts in the garden of your mind.

Blessings to you all.

Tamara

Ruffled, Shabby, Burlap Pillow for Fall~

I can hardly believe it's been a month or more since I posted. My days are so full of family and living this blessed life.

But I have been making time to work on a few fall items as time allows and this little hand-made pillow came to be.

 

It's very simple to make. I like to make my own pillow forms. I find very clean

used pillows at thrift stores. I always make sure they don't smell stuffy or odd.

I have a place where I can buy them for a dollar a piece. I tear them open and use the stuffing.

I also buy clean, white sheets at thrift stores. After washing them, I measure and cut

my pieces for the pillow form. 

 

I learned a new little secret about making the form fit nice and snug inside the

cover. Make it about an inch larger than the outside. I had

my doubts and thought that it might be too small but not so. It worked very

well.

 

All my fabric is thrifted. The ruffles are made from a white sheet torn into strips.

I cut them twice as long as the area to be ruffled. You can triple your length if you

want very full ruffles. And if you're edging the entire pillow with ruffles, tripling

is better.

 

The little flower is made from a thrifted, sheer curtain. There are many tutorials on You-Tube

about making the shabby, burned edged flowers. They are very pretty!

The little burlap flower was also found in a tutorial. I need to write down my source next time so I can give them proper credit. Just know that the though the pillow design is my own, I do not take credit for the flower designs.

Do be careful if you want to make a pillow from burlap. You need a little extra measured into

your size to allow for fraying. I wondered how it would hold together when hand-sewing the

closing. It held up surprisingly well. But the little extra gave me more room to fold in my edges

when closing the opening.

 

The pillow is about 10 inches square.

Burlap is a lot of fun to work with. There are so many uses.  In my next craft post,

 I'll share the little bucket/planter that I decorated with burlap ruffles.. It turned out very well

and I was able to  retail it to an Antique/ Shabby Chic Shop nearby.

That was exciting.

 

Bless you and I hope you're enjoying the last few weeks of summer. 

Soon the cool, fall breezes will be rustling the leaves around our doors and reminding us

to wrap our scarves about our necks!

 

 

 

 

A Found Treasure.. We Can GiveThanks and Trust ... Always

Thrifting can be a treasure hunt. Old books are treasures in my eyes. I love the look of them. With bindings worn and pages yellowing. Smells that give an indication of having been stored in some dark and damp basement somewhere. I love to open them and find bits and pieces of scrap paper or bookmarks. Inscriptions or notes always make me wonder about the person whose hands held it and turned it's pages.

So, when I pass through the doors of thrift stores, antique shops or stroll around a yard sale, one of the first things I look for are boxes or stacks of books.

Stream in the Desert has been a favorite of mine for some time. With it's refreshing applications of the Word and touching, relevant quotes as well as poetry.  There is devotion for everyday of the year. So, when I found this little, 1950 copy with it's red, and lovely embossed cover, at a little thrift store in Heber, Az., I was so thrilled!

 While reading it one day this week, I was so encouraged by the daily reading. There are so many things in this life that we have no control over. But the truth is that God is overseeing the events of our lives and will see us through each one if we look to Him. This is something that I have known and maybe you have to but isn't is so comforting to have that reminder today? And for tomorrow. It was for me. I'd like to share what it said.

                Giving thanks always for all things unto God~ Ephesians 5:20

 

No matter what the source of evil, if you are in God and surrounded by Him as far as by an

atmosphere, all evil has to pass through Him before it comes to you.

Therefore, you can thank God  for everything that comes. Not for the sin of it,

 but for what God will out of it and through it. May God make our lives thanksgiving

and perpetual praise, then He will  make everything a blessing.

 

We once saw a man draw some black dots.

We looked and could not make anything of them but an irregular

 assemblage of black dots. Then he drew a few lines, put in a few rests,

then a clef at the beginning, and we saw these black dots were musical notes.

On sounding them, we were singing,

 

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise him all creatures here below."

 

There are many black dots and black spots in our lives, and we cannot understand

why they are there or why God permitted them to come. But if let God

come into our lives, and adjust the dots the proper way, and draw

the lines He wants, and separate this from that and put in rests at the proper places;

out of the black dots and spots in our lives

He will make a glorious harmony.

May we not hinder Him in His glorious work. ~ C.H.P.

 

"Would we know that the major chords were sweet,

If there were no minor key?

Would the painter's work be fair for our eyes

Without shade on land or sea?"

 

"Would we know that the meaning of happiness,

Would we feel that the day was bright?

If we'd never known what it was to grieve,

nor gazed on the dark of night?"

 

 

Many men owe the grandeur  of their lives to

their tremendous difficulties. ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

 

When the musician presses the black keys on the great organ,

the music is as sweet as when he touches the white ones, but to get the capacity of the

instrument he must touch them all.

 

No matter what happens,

 

We Can Know Who Holds Tomorrow~

Have a blessed day~

Tamara