The Climax of a Real Story

The climax of a real story is always movinggrowing upgraduationtruelovemarriagebecoming a mothergetting the kids to bed so you can finally sit down for the eveninghitting send to the publisher after a decade of writinggetting the kitchen clean after breakfast In stories, there is one climax. And then there is the hope of sustained joy.There isn’t…

Words About You, Creative Family Idea Box #14

This is a sweet and simple way to encourage your children and help them to know they are special and loved.  Get an envelope for each child and print his/her name on it.  Have everyone write words about each person on slips of paper and “deliver” the words to the proper envelopes.  At the end…

Standing in the Hallway of Sorrow, thoughts on losing my Mother

(In honor of my beautiful, selfless Mother who went home to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon, hours after I wrote this post.) I am going to write something that is braver and stronger than I now feel, but I believe it with all my heart. Daddy met Mama on a Sunday morning at a little…

Living an Unscripted Life

It is nearly September.  This is when I am always scrambling for a good idea for how to make life work around here.  We only get 24 hours a day.  There is so much to be done.  Every day is a combination of homeschool, home business (teaching music lessons most afternoons), explosive creativity that needs…

Free Printable Paper Doll Club Coloring Book

A thank you gift for you!  This beautiful coloring book is 43 pages of drawings by Rosie, Paloma, Kells, and myself.  Enjoy it yourself and/or give it as a gift.  Just print it out, staple it together, and wrap it with a brand new set of gel pens, colored pencils, or crayons.  We are offering…

The Nutcracker Paper Dolls and Gift Idea

Merry Christmas from The Paper Doll Club!  Here is the promised Week 2 of The Nutcracker Doll Set with Clara and The Mouse King.  (Last week we posted The Nutcracker and The Sugar Plum Fairy.)  Hope you enjoy them.  Rosie made a beautiful Clara doll, and I think you will agree that Kells’ Mouse King…

The Paper Doll Club: Sleeping Beauty, Sara, and Lilly Rose

This week’s printable are Sleeping Beauty dolls.  One is awake, and one is asleep.  Hope you enjoy coloring them, cutting them out, and playing!  You could cut the sleeping doll a bed out of colored paper, make her a paper pillow, and a paper blanket to pull up over her.  And if you like, you could…

Alice in Wonderland and The Birthday Girls, Paper Doll Club

I love this week’s Paper Dolls!  My sister asked if I would make a paper doll for a little friend’s birthday, so that’s where we started for inspiration.  The girls blew me away this week.  Paloma’s Birthday Girl, named Lily, is so sweet that flowers actually grow from her dolly stand.  And Rosie, not wanting…

Fill-in-the-Blank Mother’s Day Cards (Downloadable!)

It gets hard to say “I love you” in a new way.  Year after year, anniversary after anniversary, Mother’s Day after Mother’s Day…  We love our husbands, our children, and our parents.  They are the closest people in our lives.  But it gets hard to think of new ways to express that love in words….

Handmade Day #14: Dollhouse

Okay, this is my handmade of the day. I spent several hours at a friend’s house painting this dollhouse today. I didn’t build it from scratch–it is a wooden Melissa and Doug house that someone gave us a couple of years ago–but I sweetened it up considerably! This item is not in my etsy shop–I…

Handmade Day # 10: 1940’s Actresses with Rooster Recycled Journal

Another fun handmade journal posted to the shop today. Click here to see this and other journals, as well as some amazing jewelry made by Randy, and lots of one-of-a-kind hats. Staying up late to make Christmas presents every night of the 15 Days of Handmade Challenge.

Handmade Day #4: Josephine Knot Guitar String Bracelet (Women’s)

Rock and Roll with just the right amount of sweetness and sincerity. Randy makes these beautiful bracelets, using a Celtic lover’s knot called The Josephine Knot. Click the image to check it out and lots of other cool handmade stuff in our etsy shop. We are posting new items every day for our 15 Days…