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Getting Ready for the Holidays: Gingerbread House Village

October 18, 2018 by VintageMama 4 Comments

On these chilly, often gray and gloomy, autumn days, it is fun to focus on the joy and beauty of the upcoming holiday season. Here’s a creative (and inexpensive) DIY project that will bring a touch of warmth and light to your home.

This is a super simple and fun DIY that you can do with the kids, too. You can make as many or as few of these charming Victorian Vintage Gingerbread Houses as you want . . . they look beautiful on a windowsill or on a fireplace mantle. All you need is some cardstock, vellum paper, scissors, and glue. That’s it! Check out the short tutorial below and make your very own lovely little gingerbread house village on a chilly autumn afternoon. It will brighten up your home and your heart. I promise!

WHAT YOU NEED:

* 2 sheets of cardstock (8 ½” X 11”) for each gingerbread house

* 1 sheet of translucent vellum paper (with or without design) for each gingerbread house

* Scissors

* Glue

* Exacto knife (or any craft knife with a very sharp blade for cutting out the doors and windows)

* Decorative scrapbook scissors (for cutting the edges of the roof)

* Pattern for gingerbread houses

Step #1: Copy the pattern for one of the gingerbread house designs onto cardstock. You can either print it directly onto cardstock and / or use a white cardstock copy of the pattern to trace onto colored cardstock.

Step #2: Cut out the doors and windows on pattern and then trace those cutting lines onto the colored cardstock.

Step #3: Very carefully cut out the doors and windows on colored cardstock. BE VERY CAREFUL to cut only the inside, top, and bottom of doors or windows that have “shutters” that open and close. All other windows and doors can be cut out completely.

Step #4: When all doors and windows have been cut and folded open, trace the pattern onto the other sheet of colored cardstock to match the front of the gingerbread house.

The back does not need to have the doors and windows cut out unless you will be displaying them where all sides can be seen.

Step #5: Carefully cut the slits on the sides opposite the tabs. Using the edge of a table knife or the edge of scissor handles, very carefully fold the sides along the lines below the roof lines on the front and back of each gingerbread house.

Step #6: When the sides have been folded, cut a sheet of translucent vellum paper to fit inside the front of your gingerbread house and glue in place. When the glue is dry, trim the excess paper around the roof line.

Step #7: Insert the tabs from the front of the gingerbread house into the slits on the back of the gingerbread house; then insert the tabs from the back of the house into the slits on the front of the house to make the “walls” of your gingerbread house. You can tape the tabs in place if necessary.

Step 8: After all of your gingerbread houses have been completed, arrange them on a table top or mantle with fluffy cotton all around and tiny white lights under each cottage to shine out through the doors and windows. Enjoy your beautiful holiday display, and share it with your friends and family!

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

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It’s been a rainy autumn day

October 11, 2018 by VintageMama 4 Comments

We had a lot of fun on our family getaway, even though it rained a couple of the days we were in our rather rustic cottage in the woods. One morning we got up and it was so foggy we couldn’t even see the lake which was just down the hill off the deck outside the kitchen door. It wasn’t cold, so even though it was raining we took a couple of day trips into a little town with an amazing old-fashioned Dime Store, the kind I used to shop at when I was a kid.

Not too far from where we were staying there were a bunch of covered bridges (no, not the Bridges of Madison County, but still . . . . ) so we drove around in the rain to look at a few of them. We drove down winding dirt roads, through cornfields and woods. “Mom, next time can we go somewhere that looks different than it does around our house?” Well, of course, but then we would probably have to go farther away than just 100 miles from home, in a different state. But she was right. It did look an awful lot like the cornfields and woods around our house, but it was a fun adventure searching through the dreary, misty afternoon looking for those rather dilapidated covered bridges.

Actually, there is a rather large man-made pond right across the road from our house with a beautiful covered bridge. It is not for driving on, but it is quite lovely to look at. Especially on a rainy autumn day. So we had a good time just hanging out together, playing Trivial Pursuit every evening, and doing a bit of exploring. One day we drove into Terre Haute, Indiana where we found the CANDLES Holocaust Museum which was amazing! The girls were really interested and we learned so much about the woman who started the museum:

In 1995, Eva Mozes Kor opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, with a mission to prevent prejudice and hatred through education about the Holocaust. Thousands of people, including many school groups, have visited CANDLES since it opened. In 2003, the museum was destroyed by a hate-filled arsonist. Eva vowed to rebuild, and with the help of a generous public outpouring of support, the museum was rebuilt and reopened in 2005.

It was such a moving story of how one woman’s experience of terror and tragedy was turned around into a story of forgiveness and kindness. If you would like more information about the CANDLES Holocaust Museum, you can visit their website HERE.

So, even though our little family getaway wasn’t all that exciting, we had a lot of fun together. It was too rainy most of the evenings to have a bonfire, but then we can do that here at home, out on our deck, when the evenings are dry and cool. We did get to check out a few local restaurants which were OK, but I would have to say that the best part of the whole time was just being away for a few days, with no expectations or responsibilities, with time to relax and have fun. I think we need to do that again before another year goes by!

Today, however, I had a lot of work to do! It has been raining most of the day, so it was rather dark and gloomy, so in the afternoon after teaching in the morning and then grading papers and working on an editing project, I decided to get away from the computer and watch a movie. With a cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and a time to relax. Some days it’s OK just to take a break from all of the busyness of life and take time for yourself.

I hope you have time to do that once in a while. I know it is really challenging when you have a family to take care of (my girls came home later and now one is at work and the other one is doing homework so I have a bit of time to catch up on my blogging projects!), but if you can find a few minutes to catch your breath, you’ll find that it is good for everyone in your life. Give it a try, maybe tomorrow, even if it isn’t rainy at your house. You’ll see what I mean!

But don’t forget to join us for the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party . . . just link up your latest blog post and while you are relaxing with a cup of tea, pop around and visit some of the other bloggers that have joined our weekly party. You’ll meet new bloggers and make new friends, I promise! Hope to see you there . . . .

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

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Katherine-Katherines Corner

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Pam- An Artful Mom

Favorite Things: Family Get-Away

October 4, 2018 by VintageMama 4 Comments

We are really excited about our autumn family getaway later this month! We’ve been talking about this for several months and it is almost time for us to take off for a few days to a rustic lodge on the shores of a lake in central Indiana. We don’t take time off for a vacation in the summer because all we would do is stay inside where it is cool . . . none of us do well in really hot, humid weather. So the month of October works great for us. A few years ago we went to northern Michigan and stayed in a little cottage by Lake Michigan and we were able to climb the sand dunes, walk on the beach and hike out to the lighthouse.

It rained and was misty and foggy for the whole time we were there, but it was still fun. We played board games and did a jigsaw puzzle, and just stayed together without TV or any other distractions. It was great! This time we didn’t want to go so far away because we didn’t want to spend so much time driving, so we found an old fashioned lodge where we will be able to go fishing, have a bonfire at night, walk on the beach or along the trails, or just read a book and play games. And it won’t be hot and humid!

It might rain, but that’s OK with us. We bought a couple new games we are going to play, along with some of our old favorites, and we are planning on just having a fun time together, just our little family. We’re looking forward to our upcoming getaway, and I’ll be sure to share photos with you when we return. In the meantime, I hope you will join us for this week’s Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party. I’ll do my best to stop by and visit as many of you as I can! Thanks for visiting Vintage Mama’s Cottage. Hope you are having a good week.

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

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Katherine-Katherines Corner

Marilyn-Marilyns Treats

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Theresa- Shoestring Elegance

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Pam- An Artful Mom

Favorite Things: Bible Journaling

September 27, 2018 by VintageMama 5 Comments

I guess it’s true . . . . what is old becomes new again, sooner or later. Or, sometimes it’s referred to this way: “What goes around, comes around.” And if you live long enough, you will discover how many times that will happen in your lifetime. One of the things that I’ve realized is a “new” trend that lots of people have been doing for a really long time, is what is now called “Bible Journaling.” That’s a catchy name and it is a great way to encourage people to get creative with their study of the Scriptures.

My poor old Bible is pretty much in tatters. But when when the cover started to fall off a few years ago, I couldn’t bear to part with it, so my family bought me a Bible cover to hold it all together. With a pretty pink, black, and white quilted cover, a zipper, and a handle, I can still use my familiar, favorite Bible, probably for the rest of my life. I’ve tried using a new Bible. I even have several other Bibles that are very nice and they are brand-new. But they are not familiar, like my old Bible. I know where verses are that I’ve underlined, circled, and starred over the years. I have notes that I wrote in the margins during times of study, and times of great sadness and despair. It’s like an old friend who knows all my secrets, and a new one just wouldn’t be the same.

With all those notes and squiggles and underlines and circles, I’ve found that my Bible is a precious treasure that reminds me not only of God’s love, faithfulness, promises, and holiness but it also reminds me of the places and times where He carried me through some very dark days. So writing in my Bible was just kind of a natural way of recording those memories of time of joy and times of brokenness. But it never occurred to me to color in my Bible. Until I started reading about all of the “new” ways of Bible journaling. And then I realized that I had been doing that for many years, just not quite so boldly or creatively. I guess it’s time to step up my game!

And then I recalled all of the beautiful illuminated manuscripts that I studied once upon a time when I was doing my academic studies in Medieval Church history. The beautiful drawings and embellishments that were used in those books, hundreds of years ago, are still a testament to the devotion and loyalty to God by the only people of that day and age who could read and write. The monks in the monasteries would write out the Scriptures and other prayer books, by hand, and they would include beautiful colored drawings to help the people understand the story of God’s love and His gift of grace through Jesus. Because the average person back then could not read the words, so the pictures were the best way to tell that story. Bible journaling in the beginning of God’s story of redemption. We continue to tell that story, and we also can bring our own love of God’s Word into our own Bible through journaling the pages of His Love Letter to us.

I guess it is time to begin my own, more colorful and creative, spiritual journey through the Bible and start doing some doodling, drawing, and even painting and coloring in my old Bible. I hope it will hold up for another few years because this it the one that I just can’t part with. Have you thought about Bible journaling? I would love to see what you do with your designs in your Bible. I’ll show you some of my pages as soon as I get up the courage to start adding some color to my drawings, underlines, circles, and starred verses.

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

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Vintage Autumn Giveaway

September 22, 2018 by VintageMama 5 Comments

A new season and a brand-new giveaway starts today!

It’s time for a new giveaway! I’m joining Katherine, her giveaway sponsor La Bella Vita Cucina and some of Katherine’s blogger friends to bring you the Vintage Autumn Giveaway!

One winner will receive beautiful vintage autumn home decor valued at $150 and a $75 Amazon gift card too!

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The prize is provided by La Bella Vita Cucina, Katherines Corner, Katherines Corner Shop, and ALL of the lovely giveaway Hostesses.

Please remember to follow Katherine, Roz and ALL of the giveaway hostesses so you can get all of your entry opportunities.

Katherine-Katherines Corner

Lisa-Casa Bouquet

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Shea- The Fogue Abode

Laura- Not a Trophy Wife

Tamaki-Bubbling with Elegance and Grace

Neutral Fall Wreath from Live Laugh Rowe

Disclaimer from Katherines Corner-Some of Katherines giveaways have sponsors, Katherines Corner may receive compensation for reviews and advertising provided through a sponsored giveaway. However, no compensation will influence the outcome of any review or giveaway win. Katherines Corner provides reviews to readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. Katherines Corner and its affiliate Bobskatie Enterprises reserves the right to not publish a review of a product or products that do not meet the specified instructions provided to product submission companies or individuals. Reviews are posted in the appropriate section at Katherines Corner and also at Amazon.com ( subject to products availability) This in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Making an autumn wreath for my pretty painted front door

September 20, 2018 by VintageMama 5 Comments

Now that we finally have our deck door painted, I need a wreath to hang up. But I really have been looking for one that is more neutral colors instead of the bright oranges and browns that we usually see this time of year. Here are a few ideas that I’ve found with tutorials to help me make my own autumn wreath. I hope I can work on at least one this weekend. Since we have two doors on the front of our house, I am also hoping to get the kitchen door painted soon, and one of these fall wreaths will be great on my bright turquoise doors. Which one do you like best? Be sure to visit the original blog posts where you can find the tutorials if you want to make your own DIY autumn wreath. Happy crafting!

Rustic Fall Wreath from Crafts Unleashed

Ivory and Wine Autumn Wreath from Bead and Cord via Pinterest

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

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Favorite Things: Family Game Night

September 13, 2018 by VintageMama 7 Comments

When our girls were little we played really simple board games with them. We also like to do jigsaw puzzles together, so for a long time we had puzzles with 100 – 150 pieces. These were really fun because the pieces were big enough for little hands to manage. We started with games like Chutes and Ladders and Candyland, and we even had a game that was based on the American Girl dolls and their stories. We played Scrabble and Uno and Monopoly (although that one never ends!), and the girls loved playing a silly game called “Headbanz.” That’s a fun game where everyone has a headband with a little slot in it to hold a card that you pick from the pile with an animal, or food, or household object on it. Of course, YOU can’t see what’s on the card, but all the other players can see if you are a horse or a butterfly or a bicycle or a hamburger or a pickle.

You put the card, facing outward so all the other players can see it, and then each player tries to guess what card they have by asking questions. But the questions can only have “yes or no” answers. It can get really funny, with both kids and parents laughing hysterically when mom is a hot dog or dad is a mosquito! When on of the kids is a bottle of ketchup or a soccer ball, the questions become so silly that everyone has great fun. Another game the girls really love to play is Spoons. It’s kind of an old-fashioned game that we all played at summer camp or church retreats, but it is still a lot of fun, especially when everyone grabs a spoon and Daddy keeps on playing, not even noticing that all the spoons are gone. Then the “laugh at Dad” commences while he remains clueless. But he sure can beat us all at a game of Gin Rummy!

After summer camp this year, we discovered a new-to-us game called Dutch Blitz. It’s a pretty fast-paced game, and you have to be paying attention the whole time or you’ll miss your opportunities to get rid of the cards in your Blitz Pile. This one doesn’t leave too much time for talking to one another because if you do, you’ll miss something and then someone else will win! So we play this game for a while, and then we switch it up to something else so we can have a conversation while the playing commences. We have also advanced to puzzles with more pieces than we started out with, but a few weeks ago we started one that Mom thought would be challenging at 1,500 pieces. It was challenging, alright!

We always start out trying to find all of the edge pieces so we have an outline to give us some direction. Well . . . we couldn’t find ONE of the edge pieces. We left that puzzle on the dining room table for close to two weeks, all of us taking turns looking for that ONE edge piece every day, and we never found it! But even though we could not conquer that challenge, we will be back at it as the days grow colder and we set up the table in the family room, in front of the fireplace, and start a new puzzle. I hope we find all the edge pieces this time.

Even though our girls are both teenagers now, they will still ask for family game night on a Friday or a Saturday, often times instead of going out with their friends to school events or just to “hang out.” I’m grateful that we started this family tradition with them from an early age. Life gets pretty crazy-busy when the kids grow up and have all of the busyness of the teenage years, so we are doing our best to stay focused on family, together, in the midst of an ever-changing world around us. Home truly IS where your story begins and we continue to write our family’s story day by day, week by week, and year by year. We are now looking forward to a little family getaway in early October, and you can be sure we’ll be playing some games at night after the camp fire dies down and we get our jammies on. Home is where we belong, and family is our “tribe.” I hope your family can find time for building traditions together.

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

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Pam- An Artful Mom

Favorite Things: Holding Time in My Hands

September 6, 2018 by VintageMama 4 Comments

As the days begin to shorten and the leaves begin to change colors, I’m hopeful for some cooler weather so that we can get our yard and garden prepared for winter. That will come . . . in time. As the dark rain clouds scurry across the morning sky, threatening to drench us with an early autumn rain, I am reminded that everything does, indeed, come . . . in time. Perhaps it is the gray skies out my window today, or perhaps it is sending my girls off to one more school year and the realization that, for one of our girls, this will be her last first week of high school. And then what? She can’t decide, and that’s OK, because that, too will come . . . in time.

But whatever the cause of my early morning contemplation of the passing of time, I know in my heart that time passes so quickly and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Not that we really would want to stop the beautiful process of life, of watching children grow up and become whatever God has planned for them, of making memories day by day, even in the smallest of moments. But I guess I’m always afraid I’ll miss one of those moments. I hear that’s called FOMO. Fear of missing out. But there are only a very few things in life that I’m in fear of missing out. Those are the moments that turn into memories.

I sometimes miss those moments because I am busy. So are you. We all are busy, every day, all day long, week after week, month after month, year after year. And then the time is gone. Those lost moments can never be retrieved or recaptured. So we need to start right now, right where we are, and make a decision to slow down long enough to hold on to those moments in time when we can make memories. Like baking bread together, or playing games around the table at night, or even . . . . painting the family room together!

Today I have decided to realize that I actually do hold time in my hands. I get to choose what I am going to do with it, and how I’m going to invest it. Yes, I still have to work, I still have other responsibilities, I still have other commitments, but I am reminding myself that I am the one in charge of how my moments are invested. Today I choose to invest some of that time into making memories. How about you? I hope you are taking time to make memories with your loved ones. And, if you have time to join us for the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party, I would love to see what you are working on these days. If not . . . . go do something fun with your family . . . . blogging will still be here and you can do that again . . . in time.

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

Please subscribe to ALL of your hostesses blogs

Katherine-Katherines Corner

Marilyn-Marilyns Treats

Bev-Eclectic Red Barn

Angelina- Petite Haus

Theresa- Shoestring Elegance

Linda- Crafts a la Mode

Pam- An Artful Mom