Vintage Mama's Cottage

Creative inspiration for your home and family

RUBY magazine May 2019 is now available!

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Can you believe it’s already May?!? We are so excited to see the spring flowers blooming and hear the birds chirping outside the kitchen window in the mornings. This issue of RUBY magazine is packed with inspirational articles and poetry, devotionals and short stories, Mother’s Day craft ideas and recipes, and our monthly feature, the Kids’ Korner with a story just for the young people in your family.

CLICK HERE to read the MAY 2019 issue of RUBY magazine – and be watching for the announcement about the PRINT publication, coming soon!

 

NOW ACCEPTING submissions for the JUNE 2019 issue of RUBY magazine!

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE DETAILS

Free Printable: May 2019 Calendar

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Here is a pretty reminder of all the beauty of spring in the May 2019 printable calendar we created for you this month. If you would like to use this pretty calendar on your blog or website, just right click on the image and “save as” to your computer. Then you can upload it anywhere you want!

It is always so much fun creating these monthly calendars to share with you here at Vintage Mama’s Cottage as well as in the RUBY magazine and community, and on the RUBY blog. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I enjoy making them!

Don’t forget to be watching for the May issue of RUBY magazine, available later this week, right here at Vintage Mama’s Cottage. And be sure to stop by Vintage Mama’s Book Shoppe to see all the new selections for spring. Thanks for visiting me here at Vintage Mama’s Cottage!

 

LINKING UP THIS WEEK AT . . . .

OVER THE MOON LINKY PARTY AT MARILYN’S TREATS

Here’s the April 2019 issue of RUBY magazine!

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Spring has arrived! I am so excited about all of the possibilities that come with the season of new life. This issue of RUBY magazine celebrates Easter and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

RUBY magazine offers creative inspiration for your home and family. In the April issue of RUBY magazine you will find inspirational articles, devotionals, poetry, short stories, book reviews, crafts and recipes that will be a blessing and encouragement to you every day of the month.

I love this magazine, especially because of all the great writers who share their stories, devotionals, poems, book reviews, crafts, and recipes with us each month. I’ve often described RUBY magazine as being a Christian “Women’s Day” in that it includes all kinds of stuff that you and I love to read about.

Each issue of RUBY magazine includes seasonal recipes and crafts, like “My Elegant Little Eggs – How to Chalk Paint Plastic Eggs” by Theresa L. Begin.  You will also find an Easter Bible Reading Plan from Organic Christian Living, as well as a beautiful April calendar printable from The Cottage Market.

There is also an article on Easter baskets and other traditions by Joan Leotta, a book review by Miriam Jacob of “When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams'” by Jill Eileen Smith, and a hymn story by Diana Leagh Matthews about “He Lives” by Alfred Henry Ackley.

Springtime fun recipes for a cute bunny pear salad, cupcakes in a jar, bunny oreo cookies, and a beautiful springtime vanilla lemon cake are also in this issue of RUBY magazine. You don’t want to miss the “Kids’ Korner” where you will find a story to read to your littles, “The Selfless Gift” by Shara Bueler-Repka, or an article about teaching your children through everyday experiences in “Plant Seeds with your Children” by Gloria Doty.

There is so much  more in this and every issue of RUBY magazine! It is available to read online for FREE and it is also now available for purchase as a print publication. It is truly a beautiful magazine and would make the perfect gift for mom, grandma, sister, daughter, friend, or just for yourself.

CLICK HERE to read the April 2019 issue of RUBY magazine online

CLICK HERE to purchase the April 2019 issue of RUBY magazine

 

NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE MAY 2019 ISSUE OF RUBY MAGAZINE

CLICK HERE for all the details!

 

Here’s the March 2019 issue of RUBY magazine

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Even though there’s still snow on the ground, and the wind still blows wildly some days, spring really is just around the corner. I can’t wait . . . how about you? Here at Vintage Mama’s Cottage we are working on some fun new creative projects to share with you in the next few weeks. For now, here’s one that I just finished up. RUBY magazine is one of my favorite “jobs” because I get to share inspirational articles and devotionals by some great Christian writers. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean!

I hope you will join us this month. In this issue of RUBY magazine you will find creative inspiration for your home and family. There are also inspirational articles, devotionals, poetry, short stories, book reviews, crafts and recipes. So many resources that will be a blessing and encouragement to you every day of the month!

WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE?

Be sure to read “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” by Robert Robinson, a hymn story written by Diana Leagh Matthews who shares a historical story about some of our most loved hymns in every issue of RUBY magazine. You won’t want to miss the article by Theresa Begin, “Make Your Own Beautiful Chalk Painted Mason Jars.” Read an excerpt from the latest historical fiction novel from Pat Jeanne Davis, “When Valleys Bloom Again: A Novel of World War II.”

FOR YOUR HOME AND FAMILY

You will also find St. Patrick’s Day Fun Ideas for Your Home and Family from Vintage Mama’s Cottage. There are also recipes for Irish Soda Bread by Jeanne Doyon and Quick and Easy Monkey Bread from Theresa Begin. And for a special St. Patrick’s Day dinner, there’s a recipe for Farfalle with Spinach from Joan Leotta. And don’t forget the “Kids’ Corner” where we have a fun activity for kids each month. There is also a short story by Shara Bueler-Repka. This month the story is, “Rider in the Night.” Great reading fun for kids of all ages.

BE INSPIRED

You will be inspired and encouraged by “How We Stand When the Winds Blow,” by Sharon L. Patterson. Don’t miss “My Greatest Need,” by Lisa J. Radcliff, and “Contentment in a Season of Blooming” by Jehn Kubiak. You can also read encouraging words on setting and achieving goals in “A Goal without a Plan is Just a Dream” by Nina Newton. You can also find inspirational poetry by Rejetta Morse and Norma C. Mesoe, as well as a sweet story by Nancy Frantel about her little boy sharing his toys with his friends: “Compassion Inside.”

BE ENCOURAGED

Be encouraged by the devotional, “Temptation” by Nells Wasilewski and read the amazing story of “Faith on Trial” by Adwoba Addo-Boateng about how God gave her “the most precious gift from God.” There are so many great articles in this issue of RUBY magazine! We feature authors and writers from all across the USA as well as from other English speaking countries. RUBY magazine is an excellent resource for you and your family as you seek to honor God in all areas of your life.

WON’T YOU JOIN US?

We would love to have you join us in the RUBY community, too, now on Facebook, so it is really easy for you to connect with us. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/rubyforwomen/  Hope to see you there!

RUBY Magazine December 2018

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The DECEMBER 2018 issue of RUBY magazine celebrates the gifts and blessings of the Christmas season. Inspirational articles, short stories, poetry, book reviews, crafts, and recipes that will encourage you and your family every day of the month.

RUBY magazine is always FREE to read online, and it is now available for KINDLE, and will be available in print very soon!

Don’t miss the beautiful Christmas poetry by Connie Arnold, Rejetta Morse, Kathryn Ross, Stacie Eirich, and Brittany Keating Pate. You will be inspired by the short story, “Dashing through the Snow” by Norma C. Mezoe, and a sweet story about a young mother and her grandma in “What we Know” by Deb Ilardi. “Gingerbread Houses – A Sweet Tradition” by Joan Leotta will encourage you to make memories with your children and grandchildren this holiday season, and “Wrapped Up in Christmas” by Nancy Frantel offers a glimpse into the heart and home of Christmases gone by.

“Christmas Lights and Memories of Pop-pop” by Lisa J. Radcliff is a touching tribute to a very special Grandpa, and “The Old Cupboard” by Gloria Doty will bring back memories from your childhood if you grew up during a time when Christmas baking was a really big deal at holiday time. Discover the history of the Christian hymn, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” written by hymn historian Diana Leagh Matthews, and learn how to “Make Your Own Holiday Apron for Less than $10” by Theresa Begin.

You will be delighted with the sweet memories shared in “Hometown Christmas Memories or The Spirit of My Christmas Past” by Kathryn Ross, and you might feel a bit nostalgic reading “Memories of an Old-Fashioned Christmas” by Nina Newton (that’s me!).

I hope you will take a minute to read the December issue of RUBY magazine. We have so many gifted writers from around the world who share their hearts and words with us. Be sure to visit the RUBY blog for daily encouragement and inspiration, where you can read every issue of RUBY magazine.

 RUBY magazine, December 2018

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Welcome to this week’s Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party!

Remember you can add three links until midnight on Saturday. One each day or all at once. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us. It’s time to party my sweet bloggy friends. You can add three links until midnight on Saturday. One each day or all at once. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us. – Inlinkz has implemented a new policy when you add your link to the list you need to click the little square boxes about their policies on the bottom right.

TFT Hostess Collage AUGUST 2018

Please subscribe to ALL of your hostesses blogs

Katherine-Katherines Corner

Nina-Vintage Mamas Cottage

Marilyn-Marilyns Treats

Bev-Eclectic Red Barn

Angelina- Petite Haus

Amber- Follow the Yellow Brick Home

Theresa- Shoestring Elegance

Linda- Crafts a la Mode

Pam- An Artful Mom

I broke my blog today . . .

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I broke my blog today

Do you ever wonder what might happen if you just “click here” when you are working on your blog? I didn’t really give it much thought, because every time I had ever “clicked here” before things just always did what they were supposed to do. I think. But since I’m not a tech genius, I assumed that whatever happened was what was supposed to happen. And then I could go merrily on my way, doing all the fun stuff that many of us do in a day, fixing up my blog, creating new posts, uploading pictures and new little “widgets.” I like to make my blog pretty, and since I’m not a professional blogger or even a blogger who really cares about all of the statistics (I really just do it for fun), I’ve never really given much thought to all of the tech talk that is out here.

Well . . . yesterday when I decided to “click here” to do some updates to the plugins (see, I kinda-sorta understand elementary tech talk), I suddenly see a completely white screen that gives me a string of indecipherable words, supposedly explaining to me exactly what happened. Of course, I can’t even figure out WHAT happened, much less HOW to fix it. So that ended my adventure in blogging for that day. Too bad, because we had to be out of town two days in a row which didn’t leave me very much time to try to sort it all out.

Last night when we got back home, I called GoDaddy to see if they could help me fix it, and of course . . . . they COULD fix it! Yay . . . except it would only cost $80 to hire one of their tech gurus to go in to the back side and sort out all of the broken code, that apparently broke when I “clicked here” to update on of the cool new Twitter plugins. It wasn’t compatible with some other code, so in order to fix this problem, they had to update the code for the whole blog. Which of course means nothing to me because I couldn’t find the “code” to update even if they told me how to do it.

So I paid the $80 (which actually gives me two additional “tickets” that I can use the next time something like this happens), and overnight the technology magicians fixed my blog! I’m grateful to have it fixed, and I’m also grateful that I had the funds to hire them now that I’m working part-time from home. So it’s all good, as the kids say, and we’re back in business. So even though I actually tried to get ahead of my schedule by having this blog post written and scheduled on Tuesday night, here I am on Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. trying to get this ready to go . . . while I’m waiting for my first student to show up in my little online classroom.

Then we’re off again for the day, taking a few last minute fun outings together before the girls go back to school next Wednesday. It will be fun, and I’ll feel much better knowing that my blog is no longer broken. I hope this has never happened to you, but if it does, just take a deep breath and call someone. Just call someone who speaks tech-ese (“That just means ))&*)Y  )_(^^^  __%%% . . . it says right there )(*&^ @%%$#$@) and if necessary, hire someone to fix it for you. It’s worth it!

In the meantime, I hope you can join us for this week’s Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party – I’m getting in here at the last minute, but at least I’m here! Hope to see you at the party!

Welcome to this week’s Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party!

Remember you can add three links until midnight on Saturday. One each day or all at once. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us. It’s time to party my sweet bloggy friends. You can add three links until midnight on Saturday. One each day or all at once. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us. – Inlinkz has implemented a new policy when you add your link to the list you need to click the little square boxes about their policies on the bottom right.

TFT Hostess Collage AUGUST 2018

Please subscribe to ALL of your hostesses blogs

Katherine-Katherines Corner

Nina-Vintage Mamas Cottage

Marilyn-Marilyns Treats

Bev-Eclectic Red Barn

Angelina- Petite Haus

Amber- Follow the Yellow Brick Home

Theresa- Shoestring Elegance

Linda- Crafts a la Mode

Pam- An Artful Mom


FREE Printable JUNE 2018 Calendar

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Here’s your FREE printable calendar for June! I’m going to print mine out and use it on one of the pages in my art journal. How do you use pretty printable calendars? You can also use this on your blog or website . . . just right click on the image and then “Save as” an image to your computer. Then drop it wherever you want it! A very sweet addition to your blog, website, or other social media pages. Have fun!

Spring is a New Beginning!

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Even in the middle of getting prom dresses altered and hemmed, along with my regular teaching schedule, blogging, and keeping up with the RUBY magazine and community projects, I was able to find some time over the past couple of weeks to update my art journal. I try to create at least two pages for each month, and then if I have time to create a few more fun designs throughout the month, I like to do that, too. This month I got caught up with my April pages and even had time to get my May pages finished!

This time, I decided to create a “tip out” page, which includes adding an extra page that “tips out” from the right side to create a tri-fold surface for designing and creating. I don’t do that for every month, but it just seemed like a good idea for May! The other change-up that I did this time around was the colors . . . . I usually am drawn to more subtle, vintage-looking papers and embellishments for my art journal pages. But for May, I went really bright and bold, with bright yellow, neon green, and popping purple. I love this color combination, and it just seemed perfect to celebrate the arrival of spring.

One other fun technique that I included in this journal page design is a bit of stitching. It is always fun to add a bit of different texture, and I love stitching on paper, so I decided to create a paper patchwork page (say that fast three times!).

So with the whimsical touches of ribbons, lace, and buttons, I also added the words “With brave wings . . . she flies!” to the paper patchwork where I also stitched on a few circular designs along with a pretty purple ribbon with white flowers and green centers. The purple polka dot ribbon and the yellow gingham ribbon perfectly coordinate with the pretty papers I used for the patchwork design.

On the center page of the tri-fold “tip-out” is where I placed the May calendar with the cute watercolor picture of a yellow bike and purple blooms cascading down . . . . which is the same design I used for the fun little poem I wrote, “My bike was never yellow . . . .” which is about a time when I was riding my bike, really fast, down the hill in front of our house when I was about 10 years old, and I crashed into my girlfriend who was also riding her bike down the hill at the same time. I’m thinking we were probably racing, but I got too banged up to remember exactly what we were doing!

 

And then on the outside of the “tip-out” page that folds in I added a pocket with a little notebook for writing down more memories of springtimes past. This one was really a lot of fun, especially because I tried out new and different colors and added the stitching, as well as one of my own poems. I guess I’ll try that again next time! I would really like to encourage you to give art journaling a try – take time to be creative every day, even if it is for just a few minutes. I’ll be adding more photos to my art journaling page here on the Vintage Mama’s Cottage blog so you can see the process I used to create these pages. Hope you’ll check it out! And if you are working on an art journal, I would love to see what you are doing, too. See you again soon!

The April 2018 issue of RUBY magazine has been published!

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RUBY magazine April 2018

The April 2018 issue of RUBY magazine is filled with inspirational articles, devotionals, poetry, short stories, crafts, recipes, and book reviews for you and your family. Join the RUBY team as we celebrate the arrival of spring!

The digital magazine is always FREE to read online, but now RUBY magazine is also available for purchase as a print publication!

CLICK HERE 
TO PURCHASE THE
APRIL 2018 ISSUE OF
RUBY MAGAZINE

In the April 2018 issue of RUBY magazine you will discover creative inspiration in the craft tutorials by Theresa Begin, spiritual wisdom in articles such as “The Sound of a Silent Soul” by Suzane Avadiar and “What If? The Intersection of Faith and Doubt” by Joanne Jarrett, MD, and “I Lie for a Reason” by R.G. Sharpe, and many more. The April 2018 issue of RUBY magazine also features book reviews by Miriam Jacob and Lynn Mosher, home and garden articles by Jehn Kubiak and Nina Newton, poetry that celebrates the beauty of spring, and our monthly special feature, “Kids’ Korner,” with a short story by Shara Bueler-Repka.

Lots of great encouragement, inspiration, wisdom, advice, and information for you and your family in the April 2018 issue of RUBY magazine.

Now accepting submissions for the MAY 2018 issue of RUBY magazine!

Visit the RUBY blog, submissions page for all the details.

HERE ARE A FEW IDEAS FOR ARTICLES FOR MAY:

Devotionals

Gardening

Spring crafts

Spring recipes

Fun family activities

Children’s crafts

Vacation planning

Spring cleaning

Spring party ideas

What are you wearing?

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Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  Colossians 3:12-13

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless”

I am the mother of two teenage daughters. Well, I am also the mother of four other grown-up children, two sons and two daughters, but at this stage of my life, my day-to-day encounters are primarily focused on the comings and goings of my two daughters at home. Teenagers can be a lot of work, especially if you have a “high maintenance” kiddo. Not that either of my girls is particularly “high maintenance,” but I will admit that they are “high” enough for this mama to get worn out on occasion.

Teenage daughters require a fair amount of cultural and social awareness, so I can’t just retreat into my old-fashioned, traditional world where things feel a bit more “ordinary” or actually “boring.” Let’s just say, I’m quite content with “ordinary” and “boring.” But these days I’m finding that getting dressed every day can be an exercise in trying to keep up with what’s fashionable and what’s apparently so “yesterday.” Or whatever it’s called these days.

So when I discover that jeans with shredded and destroyed holes in them are the latest fashion trend, I have to ask myself, “Who thought THAT was a good idea?” But if my kiddos love the Lord, and they are diligent students, and they are kind to others, responsible and hardworking, respectful and generous, I guess I really don’t care if their jeans look like they came out of my grandma’s rag bag. If they are clean and modest, I’m good with that.

But that made me think about what I wear every day. Well, my girls would suggest that I really need to buy some new things (but really . . . there’s not much money left over for mama’s clothes when those shredded jeans are so unbelievably expensive – which is a good thing that Fashion Diva daughter has a job and can buy most of her own stuff, but still – kids are expensive!).

The bigger idea as I was thinking about what I’m wearing every day, aside from the reality that yes, I probably really do need some new clothes, is what I am wearing in my spirit. These days it can be challenging to be patient, gentle, compassionate, and express a spirit of humility and kindness because of the rising current of division in our country.

No matter the cause, as we all have our own notions of where this divisiveness originated, I have decided that I need to “clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

So when I find myself being criticized, scolded, and lectured because my opinion might be different from someone else, I try to remember that a garment of kindness can bring a sense of peace, civility, security, and love. It’s amazing what those new clothes can do for each one of us!

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