♥ My New Pennies Pillow ♥

You know how sometimes you just picture something somewhere before you ever have it? Well we've had our new Johnston Benchwork furniture for nearly a year now and I've pondered over exactly what type and color pillow I wanted for my fireside chair. My pilosophy is to do nothing, or buy nothing, until I'm sure of what I want.  :)

What I pictured in my mind's eye was a pennies pillow, but I was just trying to decide on colors! When I made my decision, my long time blogging friend and friend from the Country Sampler Forum, Karen of My Colonial Home and owner of KM Primitives made that vision become reality! Karen is one talented lady!  (Thank you, Karen..I love my pillow)!

 

It's amazing how a little pop of color from a pretty pillow made that corner all the more cozy! :)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll come back tomorrow and join my guest and me on the sunporch for a Sunporch Chat!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 35 ~

Mondays seem to roll around quickly! It's already time again for Pinned it, Made it! Monday. That's a day for us to share something that we've pinned and made from Pinterest.  Cause you know we have SO many pins, we need to do something with them, right?  :)


This week I tried something I pinned awhile back. I thought it would be a cute little spring project and cute for Joy's room.

Here's the original pin:

Source:  Little Gray Fox

Here are the supplies I used:

I chose the light pink paint because it matches Joy's room (and I had it on hand). She has brown, light pink, hot pink, aqua, and lime green in her bedroom.  And let me just say here learning by trial and error....make sure your paint sponge or paint brush is long enough to reach to the bottom of your vase!  The link to the painting of the vases doesn't tell exactly how they were done, so I just tackled it my way. 

I started with just a clear bud vase. I first tried pouring the paint in and then rubbing it inside with my sponge paint brush, but found that it worked better putting the paint on the sponge brush and dabbing it inside around the inside of the vase. I started with one vase.....it was too tall for my brush to reach the bottom, so opted for this cute little bubbled one. It was a little harder getting the paint in all those crevices, but I like the end result.

We filled it with some of Joy's colorful feathers and irredescent sequins. Obviously, you can see her bedroom is not country or primitive. It's very girly and teen. :) 

You can also see a little of her comforter here to see all the colors and how the light pink blends with all the other colors.

Now it's your turn! Thank you to all those that stop by and a big thank you to those that share your projects here every week on Pinned it, Made it Monday!

To participate in Pinned it, Made it! Monday, here are the guidelines:

1) Just do a post about what you’ve pinned and made from Pinterest, then come back over here to Country Girl at Home and link that particular post (not your blog in general) on this post below.

2) I don’t mind if you link up more than one post….multiple entries are fine.

3) You must add my Pinned it, Made it! Monday button on your post or sidebar of your blog linking back to Country Girl at Home. You may get this button code on the page at the top of my blog labeled “Buttons”. Just copy and paste the code into your post.

4) Be supportive and visit blog entries. I do ask that you visit at least one and leave a comment there. And don't forget to leave me one here! :) We all love comments, don’t we? It’s encouraging and uplifting!

5) By linking up and participating, you give me permission to use your entry photo if I decide to feature an entry.

 

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Have a great week!

 

♥ Tammy ♥

Faithful Friday - "Studying the Bible"

Our Life Groups began last night at church to cover a series called 40 Days in the Word, which will be done over a period of 6 weeks.

There were just a few ahah moments for me that I'd like to share with you today for Faithful Friday.  It was such a simple idea but yet loaded with so much umph.


First of all have you ever thought about what the purpose of the Bible is?  I mean I know I've thought of it as God's wisdom and guidance for us.  But what's the purpose? 

The ultimate purpose of the Bible is to change our lives.  That's a powerful thing....something that can change our lives!

Then we talked about the 5 basic priniciples of Bible Study.  Now I wonder how many of us have been guilty of just opening the Bible randomly and pointing to a scripture (first one it fell open to) and seeing what God had to say for us? I've done it!   Now, I'm not saying that doesn't work because God works in many ways, and He's given me something I needed at that moment.  But, we should study the Bible much more systematically than that to get the most from God's Word and to really grow spiritually. 

In our family, and also personally, we've/I've read the Bible usually a chapter or two at a time.  Right now, our family is reading through the Old Testament and we are just beginning Deuteronomy.  One of us reads it aloud, then we discuss it afterwards.  There's nothing wrong with that method.  That's good.  And we learn alot like that together.

But back to those 5 basic principles of Bible Study.  Here's what we talked about last night and I like this guideline:

1)  Ask the right questions.
2)  Write down your observations.
3)  Don't just interpret it, apply it.
4)  Study it systematically.
5)  Read it over and over again.

And then this:  You can summarize the devotional study method in one word: Meditate.

Now that's not like new age meditation, but it's more like the cow chewing its cud.  You know how they bring it back up later and enjoy it over and over?  (Kind of gross I know, but it's a good analogy).  Meditation of the scripture is like that - reading a passage over and over again, then thinking about it and concentrating on it in different ways until you have digested its meaning.  And then you can apply it to your life!

And the very first method of Bible Meditation that we talked about I just love!  Its called the "Pronounce it!" Method.  So I just have to share this with you.  Maybe you already do this, but studying a scripture in this manner just awed me because I love words and doing this gave made God's Words such simple yet special meaning to me.

Here's how it works:

Take this scripture.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.  Colossians 3:16(a) NIV

Now you read the verse over and over again, but each time you emphasize a different word in the verse one at a time.  After each word, you stop and write down your thoughts, even if it's just a word or two.

For example, here's mine.  (My thoughts are in parenthesis afterwards).

LET the word of Christ dwell in you richly.    (Allow; make a choice)

Let the WORD of Christ dwell in you richly.  (wisdom; guidance)

Let the word of CHRIST dwell in you richly.  (Jesus; not culture or society)

Let the word of Christ DWELL in you richly.   (take residence in;  move in; live in; inhabit)

Let the word of Christ dwell in YOU richly.     (just for me personally!)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you RICHLY.  (extravagantly in a way that brings beauty)


So when I take a look at that scripture now, I see:

Make a choice to allow the wisdom and guidance of Jesus (not culture) to take residence in me personally in such an extravagant way that it brings beauty to my life and others!

Wow....now that's something to take and use, isn't it?   And we were asked to take which word from that verse had the most meaning to us personally.  I liked them all, but for me it was LET.  And that's because it all starts with me making the choice to allow God to do those things in me! 

Oh, and one more thing......how many folks do you hear say that they believe the Bible?  Well it's not enough to SAY that I believe it because actually....... I only believe the parts of the Bible that I actually do.  Now just think on that!  :)  For example, if I say I believe in tithing (giving God the first 10% of our increase) but I don't give my tithe, then I don't really believe it.  If I do it, then I believe it.   That's the applying it part.  :) 

I was just so excited today that I wanted to share this simple, but wonderful way to study the Bible and make its great wisdom and truths come alive to you so you can apply it to your life!

It's easy and you can do this with a scripture in just a few short minutes.  So I'd like to challenge you too.....try taking a favorite verse from the Bible....and use the read it over and over method, meditating, emphasizing, or pronouncing a different word each time and write down your thoughts on that word.  Then see what it has to say just for you!  :)

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Be sure and check out other Faithful Friday posts by clicking on the button above. 

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend!  :)  Thanks for stopping by!

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Luke's Recitation ♥

Our homeschool group has recitation once a month, many times with a theme such as Bible memorization, book reports, musical, etc.  This gives the kids a chance to practice being in front of a group with memorization and speech skills.  Luke has been working on memorizing the Old Testament books of the Bible for a few months now.  We just informally work on it throughout the week and especially on the way to church adding a few more once he has mastered the ones preceding it. 

He was supposed to be able to finally recite the entire Old Testament books at recitation this past Tuesday at homeschool group but we had to miss because of sickness.  And that just happened to be the last one for this school year.

So, I told him I would video him and he could recite them to blogland.  :) 

Had this been Colt or even Joy (1st and 2nd child), they would have been dressed for the occasion before I would have ever started recording.  But as they say, you get really laid back by the time the third and children thereafter come along.  It's true....Luke had his bath, put on his pajamas last night before we decided to do this, and I'm not worrying about it.   He's reciting in his pajamas, wiggling all the time.  :)

Now it's time to start working on those New Testament books!  Thanks for being his audience!  :)

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For those that stopped by, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?  I've had someone recently and someone a few months ago tell me that they had trouble reading the text on my page....that it was small and blended into the background.  It doesn't appear that way to me or to any computer in my house.  I've asked a few blogging friends and they say it looks clear and readable to them.  So I'm wondering what you see?  Is it clear and readable or are you having trouble reading the text in some way?  (Thanks for your input).  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ A Splash of Red ♥

Remember those red handled vintage cookie cutters and the mini pie tin that I picked up at the thrift store a few weeks ago?

I love what that little splash of red did for my stove. 

Makes me happy.  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ A Little Progress ♥

Before we got too sick around here, and mostly because of Jason's hard work in one particular day, we made a little progress on the bedroom makeover.

The wallpaper border was tough getting down, in spite of the fabric softener trick.

The entertainment center was torn out.  Jason plans to reuse the wood to make me a cupboard for The Cedar Loft.

Repairs were made to the walls.

The flooring is stacked and awaits us on the sunporch. We got a great deal, so we got enough to do the master bedroom too.  Guess that will be the next room on the makeover list!

Actually, the painting is done, but that will be for another post.  Here you can see what the paint swatch looks like with the laminate flooring.  I took one with the flash and one without.  It's so hard to capture that true color.  It reminds me of a gray/green.

We hoped to be done by now, but then we didn't plan on the flu hitting our house.  I'm happy to have as much done as we do.   Hopefully this weekend, we'll get that flooring done!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our bedroom remodel adventure!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥    

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~Week 34 ~

Happy Easter!  I hope you've had a wonderful day celebrating this glorious day!

This is the first Easter I can ever remember that our family wasn't in church.  It just didn't feel right!  We've had a tough time with sickness around here.  Joy is still running fever and Luke was so sick yesterday morning that we had to carry him to the bathroom.  Turns out after all that it was the type B flu and it's gone through the family. Today is the first day that we've spent more of the day out of the bed than in it.  So that's good!  Anyway, enough about that.  (But we did miss being in church)!


This week for Pinned it, Made it Monday, I'm sharing a fun learning activity that I made for Luke.  I saw this on Pinterest and knew he would love it and he really needs the practice on recognizing his numbers.  For some reason, the numbers haven't come as easy as letters and words for him.

Source:  Room Mom 101

So, I just took the eggs apart so that the colors wouldn't match when he got them correct.  I knew he'd catch on quickly if they matched.  Then I just put a number on the small portion of the egg and dots on the other part. 

He's played it by matching the numbers to their dots.  Then when they're all together, I call out a number and he picks it out and gives it to me.  That way, he gets double practice.

I liked this and Luke loved it.  I think if there's a fun way to learn, that's the best way!  :)


Do you have something to share this week?


To participate in Pinned it, Made it! Monday, here are the guidelines:

1) Just do a post about what you’ve pinned and made from Pinterest, then come back over here to Country Girl at Home and link that particular post (not your blog in general) on this post below.

2) I don’t mind if you link up more than one post….multiple entries are fine.

3) You must add my Pinned it, Made it! Monday button on your post or sidebar of your blog linking back to Country Girl at Home. You may get this button code on the page at the top of my blog labeled “Buttons”. Just copy and paste the code into your post.

4) Be supportive and visit blog entries. I do ask that you visit at least one and leave a comment there. And don't forget to leave me one here! :) We all love comments, don’t we? It’s encouraging and uplifting!

5) By linking up and participating, you give me permission to use your entry photo if I decide to feature an entry.

 Thank you for stopping by!  Thanks to all who link with me for Pinned it, Made it! Monday.  I appreciate you!  Have a great week!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥