We All Could Use a Little Encouragement!

On Monday, I posted a review of the book “Words That Hurt, Words That Heal” by Carole Mayhall. (There is also a pretty sweet giveaway at the end of that post, so hurry over there to enter if you haven’t already!) This book, which I read recently as part of my personal devotions, sparked a lot more thoughts and changes on my part than I could cover in a simple book review. I’m excited to address some of those thoughts today and gain some insight from you in an area that I am still working on improving.

Chapter 1 of this book briefly addressed the area of encouragement.

The author spoke of a brief conversation with her husband, in passing him on the stairs, that changed the outlook of the day for both of them. She speaks of talking with a well-known author who encouraged those around her. A neighbor encouraged her with some rolls and a simple note.

Perhaps the most challenging was this man’s quote:

“I don’t think I’ve had more than twenty minutes with Bob...and those have been in two- and three-minute snatches...but every time we’ve had a moment, he’s shared something with me that was just what I needed.”

Two or three minute snatches.

That isn’t a whole lot of time, folks. How am I spending my two or three minute snatches? In encouragement? Highly unlikely.

I was struck with the truth that encouragement doesn’t have to be a huge, out-flowing, public moment. . . Nor does it have to be limited to a thank you card. Encouragement can happen every day, everywhere we go, with every day people.

Truthfully, encouragement comes easier to some than to others. I do not always have an easy time with words - namely, speaking them out loud (they sound great in my head!) - so an actual spoken word of encouragement is harder for me. But there are ways to learn how to be an encouragement and use this gift practically in every day life.

Carole Mayhall says,

“At one point in my life I asked the creative God for some creative ideas as to how to be an encourager.”

The truth is, God doesn’t ask us to do anything without providing the means to do it. If we ask him to help us become an encourager, He will! He is a creative God that knows just what people need...and just we we need to know to make this a reality.

So I asked our creative God for some ideas, and He gave me these:

1. Seek personal encouragement from God’s word. What is in my heart will come out my lips...if there is something from God’s word that has helped me or encouraged me, I can pass it along to someone else.

2. Take advantage of small moments. No moment is too small or too insignificant!

3. Find something to praise the other person for. This may be the biggest encouragement, knowing that you have noticed something in particular and are thankful for it. I’ve tried this on my family, since they are whom I have the most contact with on a daily basis. I don’t have children of my own yet, but I try to put myself in my sibling’s shoes and remember when I was their age - what would have been encouraging to me? What things did I wish people would notice? Then, compliment them on that thing.

4. Smile! A simple smile can turn another’s frown upside down.

5. Pray that the Lord will give you someone specific to be an encouragement to on a regular basis.

6. Write letters. Just a newsy, how-are-you letter can let someone know they are not forgotten. We all love to get mail in any form!

7. Say thank you. We should all be thanking others for services done or gifts given, but do we thank others for small things? This is another area I’ve tried out on my family. It is their responsibility to do certain chores - for instance, sweeping the floor. Am I required to thank them for that service? It doesn’t seem so, since it is their “job.” But a quick, “thank you for sweeping that floor” could be an encouragement for them to keep doing a good job.

8. Buy the book, Words That Hurt, Words That Heal and read other suggestions from that author that I didn’t mention here. Or, enter the giveaway and try to snag a copy free! :)

These are just a few things the Lord has brought to my mind about encouragement. My prayer is that the Lord will use these things to turn me into an encourager, and that it will become a regular part of my life!

As I was thinking through and preparing this post, a friend of mine (oblivious to the fact that I was going to be posting on this subject) posted the following on Facebook:

THAT bit of encouragement is going to leave a big impression! :)

Now I’d love to hear from you. What are some ways you can think of to be an encouragement to others? I’d love to add more to my list. How has encouragement had an impact on your life in the past? Do you feel you are a natural-born encourager, or do you have to work on it more?

For further reading you might enjoy this post or this post...both popped up in my reader while I was mulling over this topic. What a coincidence. :)

Top Ten Tuesday: What I want people to remember about me

What are people going to say about you when you die? It is a good questions to ask yourself, so that you can be working on those areas that need a little more help! For today's Top Ten Tuesday, I am asking myself that question. Here are 10 things (and there are probably more I could add) that I want people to remember about me:

1. That I smiled often

2. That my time with the Lord was #1

3. That I was a hard worker

4. That I acted unselfishly

5. That I was a lady

6. That I knew how to have fun

7. That I could laugh at myself

8. That I demonstrated patience

9. That I showed compassion

10. That I gave freely of my time, money and talents

What would be on your list?

Last Top Ten: Favorite Non-fiction books (at the moment!)

Gifts and Goals for the Week

It has been a busy, but great week people! How was yours? Seems like we are cramming things in these last couple weeks before school starts, and keeping quite busy and on the move! It is amazing how each year the summer seems to slip away and before we know it, another school year is here, and all those things we said we were going to do this summer? Yeah, about those. . .

The blessings that I added to my 1,000 Gifts list this week show plainly what I've been busy doing...

394. New rotary cutter blade
395. Building friendships
396. Free haircut
397. A pretty day
398. New serger thread
399. Roasting hotdogs
400. Fleece sheets! (had to retire the flannels as the nights are getting cooler!)

So excited to reach the 400 mark! Those round numbers are always a milestone and make me remember just how really blessed I am!

My goals this last week were sparse, due to a bulk Etsy order I'm hurrying to get done.

Read 7 chapters of current books - read a few, but don't think I reached 7

Make 7 bags - other than a couple finishing touches, these 7 are pretty much done! So excited about the progress I made.

Walk 4x - only made it 3x

List 2 items on Kijiji - didn't happen

Write one letter to a friend - complete!

My goals for this week are looking pretty similar...

Plan on finishing up that order this week so I can get back to a normal routine! Speaking of which, I'm hoping to change things up and become even more intentional in my routine once the kids start school (which is next week) so I'll be sure to share that with you when I get it worked out!

What are you up to this week? Has school started in your area? Any new routines taking place?

"Words That Hurt, Words That Heal" Book Review and Giveaway!

***This Giveaway is now closed. Click here to see who won, and be sure to pick up a copy of this book for yourself!***

I like to change things up in my personal devotions from time to time. Some might do the same routine day in and day out, year after year, but I like to add variety and look at different scriptures from a new perspective. One way I do that is to occasionally work through a devotional book that focuses on one particular theme of scriptures.

A couple weeks ago I chose Words That Hurt, Words That Heal by Carole Mayhall off my shelf. I had read this for college years ago, but I’ll admit that was a more superficial reading. This time I wanted to dig into the truths of this book and really glean what I could about my speech.

The topic of a Christian’s speech - particularly mine - has been an ongoing study for me for years as I am visited with different passages, books or sermons on the subject. This book brought some other things out that convicted me of my speaking to others!

It is a short book, only 10 chapters, but packed with truths and practical suggestions to help us tame that fiery tongue. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of speech, such as bragging, gossip, slander, complaining, discretion, reproof, etc. It focuses not only on the negatives but also the positives, showing how we can edify others even during the mundane. The very first chapter touched on encouragement, and was so convicting and life-changing for me that I am going to address it in a whole different post later this week!

Here are a couple of quotes from the book that really stuck out to me:

“It is amazing to me how careless and unconcerned we supposedly mature Christians are about what we say. We may have known God for ten, or twenty or more years, yet still go about sinning with our tongues, completely insensitive to the fact we are grieving the Holy Spirit.” pg. 16

“The love of finding fault...is utterly unchristian. It means that we have been paying an amount of attention to the conduct of others which would have been better bestowed upon our own.” -Alfred Plummer pg. 48

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” -Martin Luther King pg. 71

I appreciate the honesty that Carole Mayhall has in this book, giving personal examples and struggles that she has had on her journey to check her tongue. So glad to know I’m not the only one! Certainly God deals with us all in different ways, but reading about one lady’s journey is certainly a help with my own.

This book does use lots of different versions of the Bible when quoting scripture, an aspect I wish was different. I believe that the King James Version is the English translation that God has preserved for us, so I just looked up the verses in my own Bible as I went along. There is certainly a benefit in digging into the Word of God for myself, anyway!

I would heartily recommend this book for personal or group study. I believe it is a topic that every Christian, and maybe us ladies in particular, need to be constantly thinking about and working on. Our speech affects so many people and so many areas of our lives that we are foolish to not spend time searching for what God has to say about it.

You can order this book here if you are in the US and here if you are in Canada.

And now, the fun part!

NavPress has been gracious enough to sponsor a giveaway of this great book! One of you fine readers will be winning this book, Words That Hurt, Words That Heal, for your very own. Here is how:

Prize: One (1) copy of the book, Words that Hurt, Words That Heal by Carole Mayhall

Giveaway ends: Monday, September 3rd at midnight. Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced here on the blog and on our facebook page.

Who can enter: Anyone in the US and Canada.
    **Note: some have asked if you have to have a facebook account, blogger account, etc. to enter. The short answer is: no. ANYONE can enter! All you need is a mailing address so Navpress can send the book to you. And I’m pretty sure you all have one of those.

To enter (mandatory): Leave a comment on this post, and if you’d like, tell us the following: what area of your speech needs the most work? In what ways do you work on taming the tongue. What is an area you feel people in general need to work on?

For additional entries (optional):
    Like A Living Sacrifice on FB and leave a separate comment here stating that you did
    Like Navpress on Facebook and leave a separate comment here stating that you did
    Share via any social networking site and leave a separate comment here stating that you did

I'm excited to see who gets to own this book for themselves! :)

***Note: I was not perked or paid in any way to write this review or host this giveaway. I just feel this book is vital to our Christian life and want you to be blessed and convicted by it, too. Navpress was kind enough to agree to give a copy to one reader, but no compensation goes to me.

Visit Nova Scotia: Atlantic Heirlooms

Ready to see more of Nova Scotia?

Last week I took you on a virtual tour of Forgotten Memories and gave you a taste of the neat shops we have in our area. Today I have another one for you, highlighting some of the things that caught my eye and just generally encouraging you to stop by!

Come and visit Atlantic Heirlooms!

Right off the bat I stopped to enjoy this little guy on the porch. Sitting on an antique desk (whyohwhy didn't I get a picture of the whole desk????) I couldn't get over how cute he was with those flowers. He would totally be great for Hot Chocolate, too...I've never seen another like it!

Once I went inside, you know what caught my eye first...these unique dishes! I've never seen a set with this orange tint to them. The tag read, "Normandie 'Bouquet & Lattice' 1933-1940." The set of 47 pieces was $495. What a neat set this would be to own! I absolutely LOVE that the plates are divided! :)

These old rolling pins and the crock made a great display, but I'll bet they would also work better than today's rolling pins! I didn't pick them up, but I bet they are nice and heavy.

This dresser just screams "Give me a makeover!" It looks so sturdy and intact. Those washboards would make great home decor... in fact, I used to have one like them!

I'm not one to collect things that take up space, but if I were to start, I think salt and pepper shakers would be my collection of choice. My aunt has a whole bunch that are so fun to look at! Here is a neat display of them...hey, I'll take the shelf, too!

I may live in Canada, but I'm still proud of my American citizenship! This plate caught my eye, and for only $5 it would make some fun wall art.

USA plate, $5

This green jug was huge. I mean, enormous. I don't even know how to describe how humungo it was! I tried to picture what it could have been used for in its former life, and about the most romantic thing I could come up with is vinegar or something. My imagination at its finest, right there. I really think someone needs to give this bad boy a loving home and turn him into a lamp or something. It would be a great conversation piece!

Huge green jug, $250

Someone in my past owned one of these, but I can't come up with who it was. They kept their steel wool in it next to the sink, so in my mind that is what this frog is used for. This would be cute in a kids bathroom, too.

Ceramic frog, $10

Not sure about a price on this, but it is a 3-D puzzle! How neat is that? I don't have the patience for a flat puzzle, unless it only has about 10 pieces, so I can't imagine attempting something like this. Kudos to whoever has that much time and patience!

These mini glass bottles were so cute lined up on a window sill. The purple and blue ones are my favorites!

And you know I couldn't leave without a few more colored glass pictures. This plate had a very unique blue color. It would be so pretty filled with colorful fruit!

Blue plate, $55

There was a great collection of milk glass, too:

Speaking of colorful fruit, these apple paperweights are so eye-catching. The light really reflects the colors and the texture on the outside adds another pretty dimension.

Apple paperweights, $45-$55

This collection of ceramic animals is unique, but beautiful. The inclusion of turquoise just really makes them stand out! They would look great on a stack of books or something.

There were a few more on another shelf. I love the dolphins!

Here is another dish that caught my eye. The lovely scalloped edges make it almost too pretty to serve food in!

Those were all the items that especially caught my eye, but the tour isn't over yet. The entire upstairs of this building is dedicated to quilts!

Made by local women, these quilts were absolutely gorgeous. I didn't know such talent still existed! I can only wish to ever make anything as beautiful as these ladies can. Here are a couple that especially caught my eye (even though they all were lovely).

This one is called "Romance and Roses" in pastels. The detail on this is incredible. There are so many teeny tiny pieces of fabric incorporated, I can't imagine how much time something like this would take! The colors were really well put together, too.

Romance and Roses, $1,820

I have never seen this particular pattern, but I fell in love with it at once. Appropriately called "French Braid" it contained so much visual interest! The blue and brown one takes the cake (because I love blue and brown together!) but the fall-ish one on the left is pretty, too.

And so was the price...

Yeah, pretty sure this beauty will not be coming home with me any time soon! The prices on the quilts I looked at ranged from about $800 to nearly $2000 like the first one shown above. I am sure they are worth much more than that, however, what with all the time and effort put into just one of these!

You can like Atlantic Heirlooms on Facebook to see some more of what they have available, or just come visit them yourself! This was my first visit, but you can rest assured I will be going back, if for no other reason that to sit and drool over those quilts.

Now you can chime in and tell us your favorite item. Are you in love with handmade quilts? What about salt and pepper shakers? Anyone need a big green jug? What do you think it was used for?


I wasn't paid or perked to give this virtual shout-out, I just really enjoyed visiting this shop and thought you might, too! Remember if you are in the area, come check it out for yourself!

August Pinterest Project: Crafty Art

Each month, I try to tackle something new that is Pinterest-inspired. This month, I am working on making my sewing corner a crafty zone that helps me be even more inspired to create and sew. This stage of the project was adding some craft-themed art to the space!

I mentioned in this post that I wanted to work on this area. Here is the "before" picture to jog your memory...

First step was to take down the white board so I could start with a clean slate!

I knew exactly what I wanted to do...inspired by several pins I'd seen floating around! I found some embroidery hoops in a box in the attic. There were only three (left over from our cross-stitching days) so I just used what I had.  It is a pretty small wall, so 3 probably was a perfect number!

I picked out 3 of my favorite fabrics from my scrap bin (you can see all three of these fabrics in this post) and tried them out in the hoops.

I just took my fabric scissors and chopped the excess off. I knew it didn't have to be perfect at this point, but I wasn't yet sure how I was going to finish off the backs of these, so I left a little bit of extra. Then I took the pieces out of the hoops and ironed them. See how they are very imperfect circles? Totally ok, because they are just going to get trimmed more in a minute!

I thought about hot glueing the extra fabric to the inside of the hoop, but what if I want to change these up down the line? (Or, perish the thought, use them as embroidery hoops again some day?) So instead I opted to just trim the excess down as far as I could so they would lay nice and flat against the wall. I did, of course, make sure the fabric was in the hoop the way I wanted it and pulled everything nice and tight before I trimmed them.

When it came time to put them up on the wall, I needed to determine what layout I liked best. I cut out 3 paper templates to give me some ideas...

Random, or symmetrical?

Or random again?

In the end, that first layout 3 pictures up was my favorite, so I put the templates exactly where I wanted them, and then just hammered a small nail right through the template.

The paper pulled off the nail easily, so all I had to do was pop my hoop art up there!

Lets hear it for some pretty, free art! Well, free because I already had the hoops and the fabric scraps. The fabric definitely was not free to begin with, haha.

This space is improving...

As you may have already guessed, I have plans for something else in that empty spot underneath the hoops. I'm excited to get started on it once I find the right supplies!

Anyone else try anything Pinterest-inspired lately? How about some changes to define a certain area? I just love changes to a space that make me smile when I look at them!

Gifts and Goals for the Week

Things are moving around here...and I mean literally:

This little feller (who turns 9 months old tomorrow!!!!) has figured out how to go backwards. His shirt says "Here comes trouble." Isn't that the truth! :)

And because we were talking about cabbage (???) here is the one lone plant that came up in our garden:

I held my shoe up to it for reference...if its as big as my foot, that baby is HUGE! :) It was the biggest head of cabbage I've ever seen. It did have a lot of bad or rotten spots in it when we picked it, but there was lots of good parts, too...probably enough for us to have a couple meals out of it!

And now, on to my 1,000 gifts list from the past week....which is really what this post is about. Partly. Its not really about cabbages.

387. Pretty fog
388. New ideas
389. Hummingbirds outside my window
390. Visit from friends
391. Car seat we needed
392. Bulk Etsy order
393. Baptism in the ocean





My goals from last week:

Complete Pinterest project - done! Deets coming soon!

Make 2 bags - finished one

Read 10 chapters of “Music in the Air” - read 6

Read 2 chapters of “When Life is Hard” - read 1

List 4 items on Kijiji - listed 2

Mending - done

Write one letter to a friend - did this

Walk 3x - walked 4 times!

I have a bulk Etsy order to complete in the next couple of weeks, so most of my time will be devoted to that. I did list out a few regular goals for this week, but anything else is being put on hold for now!

Read 6 chapters of “Music in the Air”

Read 1 chapter of “When Life is Hard”

Make 7 bags

Walk 4x

List 2 items on Kijiji

Write one letter to a friend

Anyone else find yourself busy as summer winds down? Anyone want to come over for cabbage? :)

How to: Make a Valence with a Lining

Curtains are probably one of my favorite things to create with my trusty sewing machine. I’m not sure why - maybe because it involves lots of easy, straight lines, or maybe it is the fact that I don’t follow a pattern, I just create as I go along! Either way, I’m always glad when a curtain project comes my way. You can see some other ones I’ve made here and here.

I recently was asked to make valences for a friend of mine, the same one I made this tablecloth for. It was an easy, standard process, but I thought I’d break it down for you and explain my method, in hopes that this is a help to someone!

Perhaps the hardest part is figuring out the correct measurements to cut your fabric out. I have to admit, I did it wrong the first time around on this. Perhaps it is just my blonde roots coming out, but it seems to take me a LOT of thinking and measure to get it right!

Step 1 is to determine what the finished size needs to be. I was asked to make these for a pretty standard window, about 36” wide, and about 12” tall. Here is how that looks on paper:

But we don’t want to curtain to actually be 36” wide. There would be zero gather in the finished curtain, and it would not look nice! It would look like the curtain wasn’t big enough. So, some width needs to be added. Thankfully most fabrics are 42” wide, which is pretty much perfect for a standard window. I usually just use the entire width of the fabric! So now we have this:

That 42” also allows for a ⅝” hem on both sides as well. Now we have to add some seam allowance for the bottom hem, rod casing and heading. This is where it gets tricky!

Right off the bat I add 1” for the bottom hem. I use a serger to finish my edges, so I don’t have to worry about enough for a double fold hem. Just determine how much you will need for your hem and add that much. I like 1”, I think it gives a nice look to the finished curtain.

Next determine your heading size. That is the little ruffle of fabric that will be above the curtain rod when it is hanging. For a window and curtain this size, a 2” heading looks nice to me. So, add 2” more to our measurements.

Now figure out how much you need for the rod casing. I think 1½”  is a good size for a normal small rod. It allows enough room to slide the rod through easily. So now I’m adding 1½” more to the measurements, plus another ½” for finishing that edge. Again, I just serge the edge, but you may want to allow a little bit more to fold under and create a neat hem.

Now we have finally reached a finished size! Woo hoo!

We’ll figure out the measurements for the lining in a minute, but first I like to get my curtain ready.

Once I’ve cut it out and ironed it well, I serge all 4 edges. Then I press each edge to make the hem, beginning with the sides.

The sides get ⅝”, remember. Then I do the bottom, a 1” hem, and then the top, allowing for the heading and rod casing. That is a 3¾” hem.

Why is it 3¾” you ask? Well, I allowed ½” for finishing that edge, which would have made it a 4” hem, but when I serged it some of that edge got chopped off to give a nice, straight line. So the hem ends up being 3¾” to make sure the actual finished valence side (what everyone will see when its hanging on the window) is 12 full inches. Clear as mud?

Now that all the hems are pressed down well, I can measure for the lining. This process is much simpler. I just have to measure my valence, making sure that the lining will tuck under each hem and get sewn into the seams.

That meant a 9¼” x 40½” lining. Depending on your fabric, you may want to extend the lining all the way to the top of the heading, just for continuity’s sake. I didn’t find it was needed with these, so I just made sure the lining was big enough to be sewn into the rod casing.

Pin the lining in place.

And while we’re talking about the lining, lets talk about the lining. :) I wouldn’t normally line curtains with patterned fabric like this, but I had it on hand from another project, it didn’t take too much fabric, and the pattern was so subtle that it really gave a beautiful look. Plus it matched perfectly. From the back (for someone looking in the window from the outside) I think this will make a nice look. The print-and-print look isn’t for everyone, but you won’t really see both at the same time anyway!

It was hard to capture the real beauty of this fabric. I just love it! It is simple and dainty, making a great accent fabric!

I decided to do mitered corners on the two bottom corners (using this method) to give it a clean finished look. I think the seam comes out so much nicer with mitered corners! Once they are all pressed down in place, I just sew down one side seam, and when I get to the corner, I put my needle down into the fabric and pick my foot up:

Then turn the fabric on the needle, lining up to sew the bottom hem.

Put the foot back down, and I can just keep sewing a continuous line! No stopping, reversing, cutting, and repositioning the fabric!

Don’t the mitered corners look great?

Next I sew the seam for the heading. Thankfully on my sewing machine the metal plate was exactly 2”, so following the edge of it gave me a nice straight seam.

The rod casing, not so much. I had no clear line to follow (and really didn’t want to rely on pins..takes a lot of time and still doesn’t come out super straight!) so I tried a trick I saw on Pinterest. I put a rubber band 3½” from the needle, giving me a straight edge to follow!

It worked great!

Here is the finished front side. See the nice straight lines for the rod casing and heading? Divine.

And that means the curtains are done!

Curtains are a comparatively quick project once you get all the measuring and cutting figured out! It is fun to create something from scratch and have it turn out so nice!

Have you made curtains or valences before? What is your favorite thing to create? Or are you a pattern-only kind of seamstress?