Creating Gingerbread Houses and a Contest

For longer than I can remember, I've made gingerbread houses with my kids. When we were young, my siblings and I would visit my dad in the bakery while he was making gingerbread houses and 'help' him decorate.

You'd think, now that my kids have all grown up, that this tradition would have petered out . . . . but, in fact, they like it even more now than they did when they were younger. Morgan and Kim even came home to decorate with everyone and left their creation behind for me to enjoy. (Smartie the cat would devour it if they brought it home.)

I love that my kids enjoy creating. And to celebrate that with all of you I've decided to have a contest!

Here are the rules:

• The person who can choose which gingerbread house belongs to which creator correctly, for each house posted here, will win the desk version of this year's Whimsey Photography calendar.

• Who ever gets the most creator/house combinations right will receive the calendar. Should there be a tie, I will make a random draw for the winner.

• You have until Thursday, December 18 at 8pm to give your answers. 

The winner will be announced on Friday, December 19th at 12 noon. The contest is open to everyone, no matter where you live. Shipping is on me! 

I'm still having trouble with my comments here on the blog, so, rather than leaving your answers on the blog please go here to leave your answer on my Facebook post. (click on the blue word 'here' to get to the proper Facebook post)

Now to introduce you to the creators  . . . .

My oldest daughter Crystal:

My next daughter, Holly (with a friend):

Holly's boyfriend Alex:

Morgan and his new bride Kim (they did one together):

And Jesse:

Here are their creations in no particular order:

 House number 1:

House number 2:

House number 3:

House number 4:

And house number 5:

And just to get you started . . . I posted one of these house and it's creator on my Facebook page, If you haven't seen it yet, head over to A Life Of Whimsey on Facebook to find out which one it is.

Good Luck!

Concrete Leaf Sculptures. BIG ones!

I was in bed last night (Friday) before I realized that I hadn't blogged.

 I've been dog sitting Jada's friend Diesel, doing all the things you do to keep a household running smoothly . . . (not) . . . and working on giant rhubarb leaf sculptures.

I  had offers of rhubarb after mine was destroyed in a hail storm  but in the end found some beautiful stuff down the street. (Still hoping to get hosta leaves though . . .)

These giant ones though take up a lot of time, energy and concrete. I ended up having to go out and buy a more powerful drill to hook up to my blender tool as the one I had kept smoking!

Very disconcerting . . .

I hope to get at least four large ones made although I'm aiming for five. The biggest problem with that is though, that each leaf takes up an entire table and has to stay there for two days rather than one. As I only have two tables and each leaf takes several hours to make it's rather slow going. (Real life stuff getting in the way isn't helping much either. (dishes . . . laundry . . . supper . . . sigh.)

But IT is sooo much fun! There is nothing like unmolding my newest leaf and seeing all the detail captured in concrete.

It's an odd thing, but whenever I focus in on detail or the small things in life whether it's through concrete, photography, writing or just plain living those moments, I feel the Lord right there beside me, showing me the wonder of his creation and the vastness of his love for us. God really is in the detail and I've come to realize that those details are what I really have a passion for regardless of the way in which I experience them. It is through those details that I am coming to know Him more and more each day.

It gives me the shivers.

Now I'm off to make more leaves. I'm not sure I'll be posting Monday, it will depend on how far I get but Tamara and I will both be here on Tuesday for our new Travel Tuesdays link ups.

And because we love a good party, even a virtual one, we have a little something extra planned to allow more people to join in the fun!

See you tomorrow!

What I learned in June

I've decided to play today and link up with Emily's' What I learned in June' linky party.

I've been thinking about it all week.

Should it be lighthearted?

Serious?

Quirky??

I was stumped.

In the end I decided to just blurt it all out regardless of it's style, so . . .

Here it is  . . .

What I've learned in June:

1. I love making pretty, tasty or unexpected gifts for people (sometimes all three at once!). What I learned in June is that it's been much longer than I realized since I've actually done this for anyone. Lesson learned. This is going to be one of those non negotiable things in my life, not a 'they would love it if I. . . but I just don't have the time, energy, resources, desire to . . .' 

2.  I have been wasting a lot of food! Something that has really struck me this month since I can finally bend/crouch down low enough to clean out the fridge myself again after nearly a year, is just how much food gets thrown out at our house. It makes me feel rather sick and I haven't figured out just how to fix it

 Which sounds crazy I know. After all if I were just to buy less food, or meal plan better, or have a 'Leftover' supper once a week that should fix it, right??

 Not so far it hasn't. Our life has changed. How we eat, who's home to eat it and what we like to eat has changed a lot in the last few years and I'm only really noticing it now. I've come to see that fixing this problem is going to require relearning the whole approach I've taken to food in our house.

For example. . . If I buy 36 buns at Costco and most of them go in the freezer for later? Or look at leftovers, realize no one will eat them now, so I'll put them in the freezer for later? Or buy the warehouse pack of hamburger, don't feel like cooking it it or separating it into 1 pound portions and instead throw it in the freezer for later?

Later never comes.

My freezer is full of frost covered, dried out, unrecognizable bits of . . . something.

Finding a new way should be an exciting process. Truthfully? It makes me tired just thinking about it.I want this area of my life to be simple. Right now it is taking up waaaay to much space in my brain.

I'd welcome any and all ideas. . .

3. I have a long way to go when it comes to being a good wife. Have you ever been super aggravated with you spouse or even just impatient and dismissive thinking about how little they do for you? Perhaps, like me, you feel as though they have slipped in the cherishing department lately.

 Something happened at the beginning of June though. I heard myself talking to Henry about something I wanted done and I really heard myself.

People??? There was not a whole lot of cherishing going on . . . just a whole lot of impatient "Will you just do it right now!!!"

It's pretty hard to cherish a cranky, rather demanding spouse but that is what I had become. Oh, not all the time of course but a whole lot more than I've wanted to admit.

It was  time to do better. Much better. It was time for me to cherish him.

People??? Life is just lovelier when you make the effort to do nice things for your husband. When you pray for the ability to show your husband the grace God rains down on you everyday.

Lesson learned.

When he invited me out for lunch yesterday? I decided to be thrilled that he wanted to do something special with me rather than annoyed that he just didn't get that our funds are too tight for stuff like that.

Lunch at Joey's in Mayfield Common beside the pool, garage door windows rolled all the way up, thus  allowing cool breezes to blow by?

Priceless. (Although not paid for with a credit card!)

4. I'm braver than I thought I was!

5.I am blessed.

6. I can garden this year!

Hmmm. . .

There was a lot of serious learning going on this month.

I wonder what July will bring? I'm hoping for a little quirky. . .

What have you learned this month?

Drop by Emily's and check out all the other linky participants.

The Giveaway Prizes

Some of you may have wondered just what the little extra's the giveaway winners received were.

Other's may have wondered what the 'little something' I found for the extra winner was.

Wonder no more!

Both calendar winners received the same thing, aside from the fact that one was a wall calendar and the other a desk calendar.

A calendar, a Growing Wisdom note book and wrapped in tissue, a tiny tin of the wood butter I had made the day before.

Wood butter?? What in the world is wood butter?

You'll have to tune in later this week to find that out . . .

 Then there was this cute gift tag Val showed me how to make when she had come for a day of creating a few days earlier . . .

I have been seized with the compulsion to find the perfect bible verse for everything lately. (This was a reminder that spring will come. Probably later rather than sooner, but still, it will come.)

My cousin Marie was the extra giveaway winner. I bribed her with a larger gift if she was willing to come into town for a visit. (She lives about an hour away.)

Not only did she come into town, she also took me out for lunch!

Good thing I had something nice to give . . .

These are the bulbs Nicole and I started last fall.

To bad Val hadn't come yet but I still had fun making this gift tag . . .

And because I said a little something extra . . .

She got to pick one of these concrete leaves!

Which one would you pick?

She picked the gray one.

I do love a giveaway!