Peace in the Wind and Waves

Yesterday was our first visit to the beach for 2010. So different from the summer with loads of people. Although the waves were crashing and the wind howling, it was very peaceful.  Quite a nice surprise when the weather has been unseasonable dismal and my husband had been in the throws of a stomach bug hours earlier. I hadn’t planned on such a great afternoon…

 

little waterfalls in the rocks

just fun to see someone else looking so free

Wish you could hear it!

 

I’m sharing this at Studio JRU:   

Very Special Drawings

February 21st will be a special day to remember for our family! It was the first time we gave a clear explanation of God’s plan of salvation for to our daughters, and they both said they wanted to make Jesus their Savior!  I know they are only 5 and nearly 4 years of age, but it seemed they were sincere in their understanding and decision. At one point, my younger daughter said unsolicited, “It makes me sad how I’ve been mean.” It was nice to emphasize God’s plan of forgiveness for our sin to her. The girls have continued to talk about it their decision over the  last few days.

My husband remembered a drawing he had learned. You can draw it for anyone to visually understand what God has done for us through giving his son Jesus as the means to eternal life with Him.  My husband drew this picture out for the girls explaining each step (Adam and Eve’s relationship with God before and after their choice to sin, man’s attempts to get to God, God sending Jesus to die for our sins, and our choice). It really kept their attention to listen and watch him draw the next part. After we finished talking about it and praying with the girls, he gave the girls a copy of the drawing for them to color. Here is my older daughter’s colored version:

 

She was actually sick that night but felt great during our our home Sunday School time. In the middle of the night, I let her color to get her mind off her stomach. This is when she colored her drawing and added the pool with people around it. She is excited to be baptized—can you tell?! She added her name on the top line too, showing the path she’s chosen!  We are so thankful!!! These pictures will be a great memory for the girls one day too!

I’d love to give more specifics or answer questions if this is something you’d like to use or understand too!

I’m sharing this at:

Giving new wood some character

In an effort to fill the space left by a removed bide in our girls’ bathroom, I had a carpenter make me a table that fit around the bide pipes perfectly. Good and cheap carpentry is one thing I like living here!

But then to make a new wood table match the decor… I decided to try a part water/part paint wash on a scrap piece of wood and it was too light. I decided upon painting the table with full strength paint and wiping it off with a rag.

While that dried, I practiced applying a top stain in various ways, but decided the wipe off method would work again--a great use for a trashed t-shirt! This time I wore gloves!

I learned you have to work in sections to not let the stain get too dry before wiping it and to be careful of stain collecting on the other edge of where I’m working and not noticing it.

Finished work…

…in it’s new space.

I’m participating in the following “parties”:

 

“New” Foam Soap

I’ve nearly run out of all the great B&BW hand soap I brought back from the States. Instead of using a grocery store soap pump on the counter, I decided to get out an old foam soap dispenser my mom bought me from Pampered Chef years ago. It was not real attractive but very functional with directions on the side for mixing the foam soap solution. Sorry for the blurry photo (I need to work on close up shots!).

I subscribe to a blog called Just Something I Made. The writer, Cathe Holden, posts great FREE vintage digital downloads.

 I found a flower print and a Paris post mark from her site to download and print that went with some scrapbook paper scraps I had. Using some decoupage glue I had, the soap bottle became a little more enjoyable to use.

I left the backside uncovered so I’d be able to reformulate the solution without looking on the internet and measuring it out as I’ve done in the past.

It’s not perfect (bubbles that did not want to be pressed away in the paper after the top coats of decoupage glue), but I am thankful to have saved money and used something sitting in storage. I mentioned it to a friend, and she said she hadn’t noticed a homemade decorated soap bottle when she used our bathroom. What a compliment—thanks Cristi! And thanks to Cathe Holden for your blog/resources too!

            I’m participating in the following “parties”: 

Through a Better Lens

My brother told us we needed to check out the new J.Crew catalog, not for clothes though. The setting of the shoot was in Portugal—talk about making the ordinary here look extraordinary!

J.Crew also has a Passport to Portugal page that is an amazing snapshot of all the good things to see, eat and do around here (“What to Expect”; “Location, Location”; “Language Lessons”; and “Best Place to…”). The shot Rocks of Love under “What to Expect” is Obidos, the castle town about 10 minutes up the highway from us where we visit often and bank at. There are 4 pics of Obidos plus many other wonderful places around Lisbon.

Please check it out so you can see what we get to enjoy here!

Dyeing to Make It Old

I had some great fabric I had bought last year that worked for our master bathroom but wasn’t quite the right tone. It needed to be a little more vintage-ish like the other things in the room (kind of a hodge-podge of vintage, beachy, and honeymoon souvenirs). Since I live overseas, heading to a place like JoAnn’s to get something different isn’t an easy option. I had a successful attempt with tea dyeing in the past and decided to give it another shot.

I brewed some tea using some loose black tea that was getting old. I had used regular tea bags when I did it in the States. I cut just the fabric I needed for the curtain and let it sit in the tea all day. I made sure to stir the tea initially and every so often to not get pockets of darker staining on the fabric.

I learned that you have to dry the fabric without washing it first to not lose most of the stain. Second time’s a charm! Here are the before-stain and after-stain fabrics:

I am pleased with how the fabric turned out for the curtain considering the limitations for that window (and the limitations of living outside of America). I could not put a bigger curtain there because our windows open in, and we open them often in the summer. Portuguese folks tile their whole bathrooms so my husband wasn’t keen on more holes in the tile. Thank goodness for a little wood piece atop the window to attach a rod to!

I’ve linked up with the following “parties”:

     

 

Free Shipping on Books

Yes, not a very fancy title, but it says it all! My friend Jen told me about a website called The Book Depository out of the UK. She said they’ve had most every book she’s ever looked for. I checked it out, curious if they’d hike up prices to compensate.

I’ve been wanting a Portuguese history book and found one on Amazon.com. If I was in the States, that might be the way to go with their free shipping once you order $25. But I have to consider the shipping or effort on my mom’s part to get it to Portugal after that. (Amazon does have international shipping thankfully, if I ever really need to order to come straight here.) So this book I want is $19.95 on Amazon (plus shipping or buy something else) OR 12.46 Euro at The Book Depository which equals $16.95 at the current exchange rate. Saves me time and money!

So exciting to have such a resource! (For all of you reading in the States, finding English books we want is something we miss overseas.) I hope all my international friends will be blessed by the news as well! Thanks Jen!