Caring ... Prayers of Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  I really do try to always have an attitude of gratitude, however sometimes life's stresses and troubles may momentarily take my attention from my many blessings.  But on this special day when all of us in the USA concentrate on our blessings and give thanks for them, I thought I would share a few of the blessings for which I am most thankful, from number five down to number one ...

5 - My crafty friends the 'Thursday's Angels' ... especially Mary, Mary Ann, Iris, and all of the girls who gather at our favorite local scrapbooking (and mixed media art) store on Thursdays to get our arts and crafts on and enjoy fun, fellowship and lots of laughter together!

4 - My 83 year old Mama, her health and the stubbornness that keeps her plugging along.  Last spring she fell and broke her neck, and came through the trauma and pain with such amazing grace and determination!  And just a couple of weeks ago she joined us for a week of camping at the beach.  Now, how many 83 year olds can say that!

3 - My husband, our home and safe haven from the world, food on the table, and 'enough' ... and that word 'enough' has become very real to us in this last few years, and this year more than ever.  After years of plenty, now we are most thankful for enough!       

2 - My salvation ... the number one single most precious gift I have ever been given ... saved by grace through faith, and most grateful!

1 - The miracle of reconciliation, hurts healed, and the joy of new life.  For a number of years the relationship between my youngest nephew had been 'broken' ... disjointed and painful.  My name for my nephew has always been "Young'un", because in my heart, he was MY Young'un!  His young life has been one of turmoil, pain and mistreatment, yet at the age of 17 he decided that if his life was to change and be 'more', it was up to him.  And in the last 9 years he has worked hard and created a life for himself that is so.much.MORE than what either his father (my brother) or his brother will ever know.  This time last year I was distraught because he was newly married and expecting his first child ... and I had no hope of being a part of his or his baby's life.  But God still uses tiny babies to work miracles!  And when my sweet baby boy, aka 'Punkin Bug' was born, my nephew's heart grew and changed and we have reconciled and become closer than ever.

My Boys!

Today my husband and I are having a quiet day and going to Cracker Barrel for our meal.  We did that last year with my mother and it was delicious and SO low stress!  Then tomorrow I'll be cooking most of the day for our meal on Saturday with our nephew, his wife, and Punkin Bug!  We are sharing the food prep, and I am doing mostly traditional family favorites ... joyfully!

So, today, my prayer for you, my family, friends and crafty fans ... love, peace, reconciliation, hope, health, joy, and ... enough!  Blessings ...

Swapping ... Christmas Ornament Swap

I am so excited to be taking part of THIS Christmas Ornament Swap!   I think it will be so much fun to decorate an ornament and pick up a few special things for my swap partner, Sue! 

Sharing ... Favorite Family Recipes ... Holidays

Remember in my first post I said I also love to cook and would probably share some of my favorite recipes from time to time?  Well, it's just a few days until Thanksgiving, and I am sitting here looking up my favorite recipes and making my grocery list, so I thought I would share one of my favorite holiday recipes with you that I will be making for our 'big' Thanksgiving dinner this coming Saturday with my sweet 'young'un' and his wife and my sweet baby boy ... aka 'Punkin Bug'! 

The recipe is for a delicious, basic, and very easy squash casserole.  Years ago there was 'home cooking' restaurant in the Atlanta area called Aunt Fanny's Cabin and, though I only went there once MANY years ago, I don't remember if I had this casserole or not.  But years later, a lady I worked with brought it to a work pot luck dinner and I fell in love, and she shared the recipe with me.  Here you go ...

Aunt Fanny's Cabin Squash Casserole

1. In large pot, boil 3 pounds chopped yellow squash with a little salt until tender.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Drain squash, and put in a large bowl with 1 egg.

4. Mash up squash with the egg.

5. Add: 1/2 stick butter or margarine, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/2 +/- (to taste) chopped onions, dash black pepper, 1/2 cup bread crumbs

6. Mix all ingredients well.

7. Place in 2 quart casserole dish (I use 9 x 13).

8. Sprinkle top with another 1/2 cup bread crumbs and drizzzle with another 1/2 stick melted butter or margarine.

9. Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes or until bubbly in center.

This is such an easy recipe, and can be made a day ahead up to the baking and refrigerated until you are ready to bake it the next day.

If you make this, I would love to hear how you like it, so please come back and leave a comment!

Sharing My Crafty Projects ... A Sweet Birdie Ornament

A while back I was searching Pinterest for felt ornament ideas and found THIS sweet birdie, and promptly fell in love! 

And of course I had to make one!  I did a freehand sketch of the shape of the bird body and wing, and pulled out some felt, needle and thread, brown ink, Christmas stamps, and a few trims.  Next I sketched a bit and finally came up with a pattern for the bird's body and wing, and got to work.  After a bit of trial and error I came up with this ...

Isn't she sweet?  My sewing machine is incapacitated right now (it didn't like sewing thick denim for a journal cover I was trying to make) so I did it with needle and  thread.  The back isn't really pretty, but it was a prototype, so I'm not too worried about it for the first one!

Have you done anything with felt lately?  I would love to see it, so share a pic or a link to your blog post in the comments and I will pay you a visit.  Have a wonderful day!

Sharing ... Something to Remember When Shopping ...

Question ... What Do YOU Think?

I am always trying to come up with new ways to make a few dollars to extend my very limited crafting budget.  Yesterday morning in the wee hours I had a brainstorm, and came up with one idea that I hope will take off ... a Christmas Card Making Kit with a vintage, Victorian theme.

Included with the kit are six (two each of 3) images taken from vintage post card greetings, cut, aged with a bit of brown ink on the edges and ready to be the focus of your card.  Also included is a tag holding strips of muslin (one yard each of 2) stamped with Christmas greetings, 2 yards of brown corded twine, and a button card complete with a few buttons .... some vintage, some not, and one is  covered button matching the muslin 'ribbon'.  All you need is some card stock, an  envelope, some coordinating scraps of scrapbook paper, and some adhesive.

So, tell me, would you buy this card kit?  If so, what price would you be willing to pay?  What would you like to see included?  I really want to know, so comment away ... I look forward to your input!

Sharing ... A Great Look at 2013 Christmas Scrapbook Collections by Lindsey

I have been following mother and daughter bloggers Twyla and Lindsey's blog for probably 5 years or more, and have long enjoyed their love of the retro and vintage styled products ... because I love retro and vintage too!  Lindsey has grown so much as a paper crafter, and now works at a scrapbook store and has her own line of stamps ... vintage images, of course! 



When she published THIS blog post giving a very concise listing of the 2013 Christmas scrapbook collections, I knew I wanted to share it with you.  Please go check it out!

Sharing ... Felt Mitten Banner from Nana Company

 

Sharing is one thing I will be doing on this blog ... sharing my own ideas as well as directing you to blogs with ideas I think are beautiful, simple, or just great!  As my first 'Sharing' post, I just wanted to share this sweet felt mitten banner with you that I found at the Nana Company blog!  Please go check it out!

Revelations in Advanced Age .....

Hi there!  Welcome to my new blog, Crafting Capriciously!  I have been crafting for as far back as I can remember, and that is a long way!  Let me tell you a few things about myself ...

• I am a sixty something Christian woman, wife, daughter, sister, aunt and great-aunt (aka honorary grandmother) and 'Mama' to our two fur-babies, Bailey Sue and Bessie Mae, our two Dachshunds.
• I live in the southeast US ... specifically the hills and mountains of beautiful northern Georgia, and have always lived within 50 miles of this spot.
• I retired from the corporate world in 2012 after 30 years at one large corporation.  Since that retirement I have worked several part time jobs, but in most recent years my 'job' has been that of caregiver to my parents.
• My husband and best friend in the world and I have been married for more than 28 years.  We love traveling, especially camping, because that allows us to take our dogs with us wherever we go.  We have an older (10 years) large pop-up camper, but hope to buy a travel trailer within a couple of years.  My husband has only one more year to work and then he will retire, and we will hit the road and see as much of our country as we can!
• I love to craft, and that means anything from embroidery to crocheting, felt crafts, sewing, paper crafting (mini albums, greeting cards, etc.) to art journaling and mixed media art.  I am most definitely NOT a one trick pony!  I also love blogging about my crafts, and while recent years I have concentrated on paper crafting, I have decided to open my world back up to other beloved hobbies, and hence my new blog.
• I also love to collect things ... things from vintage linens, to vintage glassware and Fire King pieces, to vintage greeting card images to use in crafts.  I love going to yard sales, estate sales and flea markets to look for treasures, so look for posts about favorite collectibles, and the search for them, on here too!
• And cooking is a hobby that I enjoy, so I hope to share some of my favorite recipes with you from time to time as well.
• I am my Daddy's child.  Daddy never stuck with one hobby for very long, and I am just like him ... I like to change things up (craftily speaking) and do it frequently.  But most recently I have had a revelation of sorts ... while I just thought I was 'just like daddy', I learned there is a word for that ... capricious ... and I love that word! (You can see a definition in the right hand column of this blog.)

So there you go ... a little bit about me!  Welcome to Crafting Capriciously, and welcome to my world!  I will be sharing a new project very soon, but in the meantime, I have inserted photos of some of my favorite projects in recent years.  Come back soon!

"just because" greeting card

Broken Pieces art journal page made using Gelli Prints

Double Page Layout of 6 x 6" mini album using October Afternoon's 9 to 5 line

Sheet Music Christmas Tree Ornaments

Framed picture using burlap, patternpieces, vintage brooch.