Christmas in 4 photos

How to Make Large Prop book

I know you all asking yourselves, "How do I make a very large fake prop book for my daughter's Christmas play?"  Well you are in luck.  I learned how to do this from the help from Dave Lowe (he was kind enough to share on his blog to help out this Mom)  Thanks Dave.  Here's my Tuesday Tutorial on Thursday.  Or presenting Thursday Tutorial....

Onward.  First start with foam core and cut front, back and binding.  Take chipboard (thin dense cardboard like on the back of paper pad) and use that to cut embellishments, strips on binding and raised middle.  Make sure it fits together then glue with spray mount.  I also added cut down furniture nail heads to the 4 embellishments in the corners with glue gun (seen in the next pic).

Next you will decoupage paper towels to your book with watered down Matte Modge Podge and let dry.  This gives a textured and weathered look.  When it's dry tape together on the inside and use glue gun if needed on the outside.

Now we add gold paint and let dry.  Then stipple and wipe off burgandy paint to give a distressed look.  Then use stickers or your handydandy Cricket to cut out the title of the book and glue on.  Also add holly to the corners because it's a Christmas play and The nice Director wants holly.  Then take your Mod Podge and decoupage the whole book to give nice matte protection.  When it's dry glue in fake pages that have been crumpled and distressed with ink on the edges.


And here is the finished prop on stage.  Isn't that stage warm and cozy?  Makes me want some hot chocolate.

Cardboard box, tape and some paint

Look at this supper cool car that my brilliant husband built for Elias' Awanas Drive In Movie Night. This night is so much fun for the kids because they get to play games, parade, eat, and watch a movie in their cardboard box cars. Can you say over achiever.....really this doesn't look like a box to me.

And I had to share Ivory's Awana box car Airstream from 2006 also built by Chris and painting and images by me. Don't you love the picture of us looking out the back? It's a real photo blown up.

Orphan Sunday....today!

Faces of Adoption from Videos for AGCI on Vimeo.

This is video from our adoption agency, All Gods Children International with Matthew West's song, "One Less."

Today is Orphan Sunday. Orphan Sunday is a call to the Church for awakening and action on the part of the orphan. What can you do?

Fabulous Coffee

Announcing our new online coffee shop:

justlovecoffee.com/TheKohlers

We will admit that we are coffee snobs. We own our own Expresso machine that gets used twice a day and even more if friends or family stop by. We even call the machine by name....Expobar. If it wasn't so big, we would take it with us on our vacations in our trailer. That being said, we are serious about coffee and always on the lookout for superb coffee beans that give a bold shot of espresso with rich and lovely crema. Well we have found the ultimate roaster with superb beans!! Even organic coffee beans (organic is the way to go if you are going to be drinking this much coffee : ) The 3 coffees that we sampled were all wonderful. This is top quality Fair Trade, mircro-batch roasted deliciousness. We are happy to be partnering with Just Love Coffee Roasters in our adoption fundraising efforts.

A little about Just Love Coffee from their website:

Love kids? Love coffee? We do too. There are an estimated 143,000,000 orphans in the world and this number is expected to grow. Rob Webb, founder of Just Love Coffee Roasters, knows personally how expensive the adoption process is. The thought of having to raise tens of thousands of dollars to adopt a child is staggering to many. It can be the obstacle that stands in the way of a family's commitment to adopt, and many times slows down the process of bringing an adoptive family's child(ren) home. Many people don't know where to start. Just Love Coffee Roasters wants to be that starting point for raising money to help unite the families with their children.

We have set up a online coffee shop and we are selling bags of coffee for $13-$14 for 13oz. bag plus shipping. The beans are for drip and espresso and come ground or whole bean with over 18 to choose from. (The shipping is the same if you buy 1 or two bags.)

Visit our store: justlovecoffee.com/TheKohlers

The Call

God gives us each a passion, a gift, a calling. For each of us it looks different. We cannot ignore it…He calls us. We press on forward trusting our sweet Father and listening to his voice. Only He can give us the faith and perseverance to walk it out. And so we step out in faith.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love God. 1 Corinthians 2:9

Our hearts ache for the fatherless. 147 MILLION ORPHANS. Fatherless, Motherless. Our Arms are open. Our hearts are open.

Ethiopia, Africa. God lead us. Friends pray for us

This blog of mine...

Oh this blog of mine. It sits so quiet. So neglected. I hesitate what to write. What to share. Afraid to say the wrong thing. Do I have anything to say worthy of your time? Maybe. I think the problem has been on keeping reserved and not writing from the heart. This is after all a journal of sorts documenting this precious life that God has given me for just this time. But I do confess that this journaling/writing thing does not come easy to me. I have never kept a paper journal. Talking, sharing my heart face to face is what I am good at. And so I will have to write as if I am talking with friends and family. Not get caught up in the typed words on this screen. Here we go....

And the random photo of the earrings is to keep things creative and pretty here. Every blog post needs a photo! I made these for a dear friend (they were a gift from her lovely husband.) They are fashioned with amazonite stones, vintage shell rosary and sterling silver accents.