Karla's Korner

Christmas Blessings...

I had a wonderful Christmas... and I hope you did too!

We drove up to Michelle & Gary's new winter wonderland cabin
on Mt. Hood on Christmas Eve... it was a beautiful setting and a fun
opportunity to go sledding as well... yes... even I... the grandma...
went sliding down the hill... not once but twice... screaming all the way!
There is still a little girl who lives inside this ol' body!!

I do hope you enjoy this little peek into our special time together...
I had a lot of fun this year being creative and making most of my gifts...
and I'm excited to show you what I made since I couldn't before cuz it
might have spoiled the surprise...some of them you can see in the photo
collage but I'll show them to you in  more detail a little later.

I was looking at the verse last night...
"Blessed is she who has believed..."
and my heart was filled with such gratitude because I am blessed...
with the love of family and friends... including you...
and I know that it's only because of what Christ has done in my life.
May the celebration of Christ
dwell in our hearts all the days of our lives!

xoxoxo
Karla

Celebrating a Miracle...

Today I'm taking my youngest granddaughter out Christmas shopping,
but before I go I wanted to share this devotion with you...
may your heart be blessed!
xoxoxo... Karla

Salvation has come to this home today.
Luke 19:9 NLT

Christmas is a special time of year,
a season set apart from all others to celebrate a miracle.
And what an incredible miracle it was!
God came to this world to bring us the gift of salvation.
In fact, He was the Gift!


Salvation was born that Christmas Day so long ago.
He wasn't delivered to a mansion or a motel.
His crib was not found in a townhouse or ranch house.
No fancy wrapping or ribbon either.
Sent by the hand of God,
Salvation entered this world in a borrowed stable,
alway looking... ever seeking... for a home to call His own.

Since the day He was born, Jesus has been knocking on doors
throughout generations, among every culture and people...
He longs to find a home... a dwelling place...
in the hearts of people who will simply believe.


Yes Christmas is a time to celebrate... to rejoice...
not only in the miracle of Christ's birth,
but with even deeper joy
we celebrate the miracle of His being born into our lives,
making His home in our hearts.

(An excerpt from The Heart and Home of Christmas)

Ornaments of Prayer and Praise...

Have you experienced fear, frustration, or anxiety this Christmas season?
If so... I trust you'll be blessed and encouraged by this excerpt
from my book "The Heart & Home of Christmas"...


Have you ever yearned for a knight in shining armor to come
and rescue you from the struggles and chaos of your life...
especially during the Christmas season?  Yearn no longer!
The One whose birthday you celebrate is the Prince of Peace,
and He has come to rescue you from fear and anxiety -
to give you a peace that will make your heart sing.

If you long for less stress and more peace of God,
I suggest you decorate the season with prayer!

Whether it's planning for your holiday activities or dealing with
the unexpected, hanging ornaments or standing in a checkout lane,
Jesus - the Prince of Peace - wants to give order to your chaos,
meaning to your activities, and calm to your heart.




Begin today to thank Him for what you love about Christmas.
(You'll think of more things in the days to come!)
Confide in Him about the things you don't like about the season.
(He knows your heart already.)
Ask Him for the wisdom to change what you are able
and the grace to transform
holiday hassles into holy-day opportunities!

Dear Jesus, thank You for being my Prince of Peace. Help me
decorate my life with the ornaments of prayer and praise,
so that I may be like a tree of life to those around me.

Snowman Ornament Workshop Party!

I love the women in my Bible Study Group and wanted to do something extra
special to bless their hearts so my Christmas gift to them was a craft night...
a Snowman Ornament Workshop/Christmas Party... and we had so much fun!
The only sadness was that two of them were sick and another had a family
event to attend... Connie, Deb & Frances... you were missed for sure!

I served a finger-food dinner that started off with this wonderful
Snowman Cheeseball!  Isn't he adorable? He was a huge hit and I sent
everyone home with the recipe.... you can find it here.


Next came shrimp served around the rim of parfait glasses filled with
cocktail sauce which I forgot to take a picture of... along with...


salmon pate filled cucumbers decorated with chives
and a touch of red pepper and...


cherry tomatoes stuffed with mozzarella balls, adorned with a basil leaf
and sprinkled with garlic salt... yum!! 
This is what you call ARTFUL cooking... my favorite kind!

Then came crafting! Those funny looking grey balls are the snowman heads...
they are made from a paper mache pulp and take quite a while to dry so,
since we only had the evening, I made them beforehand.

But they had so much layering the paints, adding the eyes...


adding rouge to their cheeks...


and especially adding the glitter... the sparkle that brings them to life!


Then came the hat-making... but again... got so caught up in the making...
I forgot all about taking pictures of the process...


but the joy on Brenda's face... and on her snowman's face... says it all!


each one a different personality...


just like their makers... Dottie, Joan, and Brenda...
each woman tickled pink with her own handmade Christmas creation!


We ended the evening with a light dessert of raspberry jello topped with
light whipping cream and Christmas sprinkles... and an ornament exchange.
It was a wonderful time of love, laughter, and creativity!

This is one of the greatest joys of Christmas... giving oneself away...
time, talents and/or treasures... for the blessing of others...
simply in celebration of the greatest Gift we've been given...
the love of Jesus who was born into this world to give Himself away...
for you... and for me... ultimately on the tree.

Father God, thank You for Jesus... who is the Reason for the Season. Help us
this year as we give ourselves... our time, talents and/or treasures... with a
right heart... out of love and not obligation... to bless and not impress...
and if we're struggling with that Lord, remind us of why we celebrate
Christmas and the glory of the Greatest Gift of all! Amen.

Bats in the Belfry... Oh My!

The phrase "bats in the belfry," in case you didn't know, is an antiquated term for madness or insanity and if you had been at Michelle's cabin on Mt. Hood last weekend with me, Michelle and the girls you would have experienced a bit of hilarious, hysterical insanity thanks to one wee little bat!

You see... we had discovered this tiny little creature in one of the upstairs bedrooms earlier in the day and after a bit of screaming and carrying on, we simply shut the door to the room and decided all the girls could sleep in the other bedroom together. Problem solved... or so we thought.



Several hours later, after tucking the girls into bed in bedroom #2, Michelle and I were just settling down to enjoy the peace and quiet, when the shrill of screams, mixed with laughter, came racing down the stairs in madhouse frenzy! That sneaky little bat had left the first room unnoticed before the door was shut and had hidden behind the curtains in bedroom #2... hidden, that is, until the lights went out. He was now circling the ceiling and creating havoc in the hearts of five females!

We had heard about bats getting tangled up in your hair so Jess, the brave one, excitedly ran and got her ski mask... she was ready to go for it... Michelle and I were not quite so confident. Finally, Michelle grabbed the fireplace shovel and I grabbed the fireplace broom and with a quick prayer and ton of hilarity we faced the mighty giant... oh... I mean tiny bat!


As the bat flew circles above our heads, we screamed and laughed so hard I wet my pants... I can't believe I just told you that... but finally... after countless swings and misses...  the madness ended with the stunning swing that landed him on the bed and with a whoosh... he was captured under the pan! Michelle slid a magazine under the pan and carried him down the stairs and out the back door. It must have taken a half hour for my breathing to return to normal.

You should have been there! We are only sorry it was not recorded because, we all agreed later, that we could have probably won "America's Funniest Home Videos!" That room is now and will forever be dubbed the "batroom"... and the best part of all is that we now have a precious memory... okay... hilarious memory... that will last a lifetime!!

I Am Honored...

I am truly honored to have my Etsy store showcased by Susan over on her blog
ByGrace. Susan is a pastor's wife, homemaker and fellow crafter herself!
She shares some great and godly wisdom on her blog
and has some really cute cards and tags... including the one above...
in her Handmade by Grace Etsy store
so please return the favor and go give her a visit!

For we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10

Heavenly Father... I couldn't help but think of this verse and how You are the ultimate Creator and You handcrafted us... one of kind by Your design... and I LOVE how You passed down this gift of creativity to your girls. The need and desire to create is so a part of who we are Lord, whether it's in creating cards and tags or paintings or writings or a loving home or a treasured relationship. We were created to create... to do good works... as unto You and as a blessing to others. Father God, we are so thankful that You will continue to complete the good work You've begun us until the day Jesus returns.

For today... help us to focus on... and give thanks for... Jesus' birth...
because we were created anew only because He came to this earth,
walked among us a man, and died so we could have new life!
For it is truly BY GRACE that we have the blessing of this new life in You.
Thank You Jesus... amen.

Blessing & Truth Giveaway

My publisher, Thomas Nelson, has been hosting
The Blessing & Truth campaign... celebrating
the hope and comfort of God’s Word
presented in visually stimulating and easily gifted titles—
including my newest book, Give Thanks, Max Lucado's Fearless,
and others.

To top off the Christmas season they're sponsoring
the Ultimate Giveaway... visit The Ultimate Giveaway website to enter
and find out what great gifts they're giving away!

"Snowy Joy" and "Jesus is the Greatest Gift" Plaques

I just added these two glittery plaques to my Etsy Store... PLUS...
there's a Holiday Sale going on there... everything is 20% off!!





You can't really see the glitter there but it is... snow much fun!!


 



Glitter doesn't photograph that well... but it's snow cute in person!

You're Going to LOVE this!

I am so thankful for my granddaughters!
They bring such joy and blessing into my life,
I can't imagine life without them!

This thought is what prompted me to offer this delightful snowman print
through my Etsy Store as this months charity fundraiser
for Options 360, a non-profit pregnancy center
that helps women make informed decisions regarding unplanned pregnancies.

Why this image, you ask?
Because, Jessica, my youngest grandaughter, painted it
while she was visiting me just a couple of weeks ago.

She has agreed to donate 100% of the profits to support this worthy cause...
I love it... one child helping save the lives of other children.

You can purchase it here!


Options 360 - Vancouver, WA
**
Also... thank you to all who bought the House Blessing Print during November...
because of you we were able to donate $206 to Open House Ministries!

NEW... Chrismas Coloring Pages

What a great way to help keep your kids focused on the true meaning
of Christmas with this fun new coloring page just for you!
Download this one here and
use it with your own kids, grandkids or Sunday School class.


You might even consider framing their best copy as a gift for a teacher
or other important person in their life!


Some of you have told me you still love to color so this one's for you...
or maybe your older children. You can download this one here.
Color it with love and enjoy!

Heavenly Father... remind us in all we do this season that Jesus truly is
the Reason for the celebration... fill us with such a spirit of joy that those
we encounter will wonder where our joy comes from... and prepare our
hearts to tell them!  For Your glory Lord... Amen.

Free Christmas Tags Download

Like I said in my last post... I LOVE Christmas!
So to start off the seasons celebration, I have a FREE gift for you...
a downloadable page of Christmas tags.

 

You can use them for gift tags or scrapbooking...
for making greeting cards or for making ornaments like I did.
I had so much fun cutting and playing with these little tags...
and I hope you do too!
They are best printed on cardstock on the best quality setting.
I can just see you having a great crafting time with
the kids around the kitchen table!!

Here's what I did... hope you're inspired...

 
I designed the tags so that they could be cut out with the punches
I already owned... Marvy 2" circle with the coordinating circle scallop
and the 36mm square punch with coordinating square scallop.
Of course... you can hand cut with scallop scissors and they'll be just as cute.
Oh yes... glitter... lots and lots of glitter!
I used Martha Stewarts crystal fine glitter
and JoAnn Craft Essentials red glitter in the bottle.

 

And here's what happened...

I printed two copies of the tags and cut out the circle from one copy and
the gift itself from the second copy. I then used foam tape to layer them.

 

I  cut the scallop background from red cardstock and layered it with foam pads.
I then added the red glitter to the scallop and the gift...
and the clear glitter to the yellow. LOVE IT!!

For this one I simply cut it out, added glitter and hot glued the ribbon
and pom-poms to hang it. Oh yes... I did add the rhinestone but wished I had
had more gold colored than yellow.  It's still very cute!


Same technique with this one as with the gift... layering with lots of glitter.


Here I layered it with the red scallop background, added red glitter
to the berries and then glued it to a plastic glittery snowflake.


For this one, I created a window by using the outer edge of the dove tag
and layering it with tiny foam strips over the candle tag. Adding that touch
of red glitter on the flame and the clear glitter inside the circle of light
really brightened it up!



I used the same window idea here with a twist.


 




This one was simple... used the scallop scissors and glittered the edges.
The red background just makes it pop!


Even the tags can be used... this one I just added words layering them
by using little pieces of the foam tape to add dimension.


A simple stamping of "joy joy" turned this tag into an ornament as well.

I don't have a photo of the backs but if you look in the background you'll see
that used a red with white dot paper as a backing so that when they hung on
the tree they looked cute from the backside as well.

So whether you use them simply as tags or use your free download to make
ornaments with the kids... I pray you are blessed and inspired!

Heavenly Father... as we, your daughters, look forward to Christmas may all
we do be as unto You. Bless the work of our hands and our hearts and use
even these kind of crafts to remind us that You truly are the King of Kings and
the Greatest Gift we will ever receive!  Amen!