Vintage Homemaking Week: Day Three

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Welcome to Vintage Homemaking Week! This series is designed to bring back some of the old-fashioned skills of homemaking for the woman of today.

Each day I’ll feature a post or guest post here on my blog as well as links to some others who are participating. Each individual post will not only have a how-to on a skill of homemaking, but also a great giveaway!

And, there is a grand prize giveaway for one gal who either Tweets, Pins on Pinterest or writes a Facebook status about our series. She’ll win a $50 gift certificate to our Proverbs 31 ministries Online store to buy books and products just for her! {details at the end of this post}

Here today I’ve talked my best friend from college, Kelly Hovermale, into sharing one of her many creative gift ideas with you: handwritten scripture tags! But first, be sure to check out the other bloggers in today’s tour: {And remember that Samantha from Fields of Gold has a new how-to gardening post every day this week!}

Darlene Schacht from Time Warp Wife and her husband Michael I live in Manitoba Canada. Married 25 years, they have four children (three still at home), a birds and two cuddly pugs. Their lives are basically surrounded with three things: faith, music and everything books. She’s an award winning and New York Times best-selling author who is nothing without the grace of God. {And she is a blast to hang out with. We just spoke together at the Women Living Well conference this month!}

Today she’s sharing five ways to encourage young homemakers. She’s also giving away a free printable chore chart to all readers. Click here to get to her post.

Next we have Jennifer Smith. Jennifer leads a community of over 150,000 women through her blog UnveiledWife.com where she publishes daily encouragements for wives. She is passionate about being a wife and mother, she enjoys writing and using her talents to help marriages thrive. {You may remember her from when she offered a guest post here last week}

Jennifer is sharing with us how to get the vintage look with a DIY Non Toxic Wood Stain. She is also giving away a copy of her new devotional Wife After God. Click here to see her how-to lessen!

My new friend Ashley Schnarr from Stay at Home Daughter is a young, single girl living in the southern part of the US. {We also hung out at the Women Living Well conference} She is a homeschool graduate and stay-at-home daughter who lives and serves at home with her family.  She has a love for singing and a heart for encouraging other young women to prepare along with her, for their wonderful, future roles as wife and mother.

Today Ashley is sharing a tutorial on her blog about baking homemade Applesauce Bread.  She will also be giving away a copy of her new ebook “Single Girl- the single woman’s guide to life, liberty and the pursuit of godliness” Great for single women or mother’s of single women! Click here to see her post.

My ministry partner Lynn Cowell is a Proverbs 31 speaker and author who really doesn’t enjoy cooking meals from scratch but does enjoy eating them! In between writing books and speaking to teen girls and their moms, Lynn attempts to feed her family food they like as well as food that is good for them! She is sharing the 4 step system she uses to get that done!

For all us busy moms, Lynn is giving away a 3 month subscription to emeals.com, the resource for taking the stress out of dinner with pre-made weekly meal plans and shopping lists too! Valued at $27!

Lynn is also offering you the opportunity to get the recipe for her family’s favorite birthday treat – The Cowell Cheesecake recipe! ANYONE can make this no fail cake! Click here to get to her post.

Now, for Kelly’s creative idea! She gave me this for my last birthday and it is one of the most meaningful gifts I’ve ever gotten! Here’s Kelly to tell you her idea:

We all know people in our lives that need encouragement and what better way to show we care for that special someone than to create some handwritten Scripture tags. In a day of texting, email, and twitter, we are getting closer to seeing the art of handwriting become extinct.

While making anything homemade takes time, each minute I write, cut, and glue sends a special love that could not be shown any other way.  Yes, it would be easier to type out the verse in a pretty font, but to copy Scripture in my own handwriting helps me to meditate more on the Scripture because I am physically writing each word. Also, praying the Scripture for the person as you write each one out, sends even more blessings.

In thinking about what verses to use, it is helpful to use those that would encourage a loved one in the situation of life they are experiencing. Maybe it is a fearful daughter going off to college, or a new mom who needs encouragement in her new role even in those wee morning hours. There may be a friend going through a tough valley because of her health that draws her closer to Jesus through the reading of each verse. Plus the act of making the Scripture tags slows us down. We cannot use spell check or the delete button, so it makes us more careful in how we handle God’s Word. For me, handwriting is a way to relax and wind down.

Here are some Scripture ideas to use:

• Psalms
• Proverbs
• God’s Promises
• Jesus’ words in the Gospels
• Use a Bible Concordance or Biblegateway.com to look up words such as fear, hope, faith, thankfulness, God’s goodness, grace, joy, prayer, perseverance and many others.

Now, how to make them!

Supplies:

• manila file folders
• scrapbooking paper( about 3-4 coordinated designs with print on front and back)
• white cotton yarn (mine was purchased on a cone and I use it for several things around the home)
• White reinforcement hole labels
• glue stick (one for crafts not kid’s glue)
• hole punch

Instructions:
The size of my tag is 3 3/4 inch by 1 3/4 inch. Cut out a rectangle this size from the manila folders. At about the 3 inch mark cut away up to the middle of the top of the rectangle on both sides to make the point. Now use this as a pattern to cut as many rectangles as verse cards you will need. I made about thirty for a set. Next, cut out  3 1/4 inch by 2 1/4 inch rectangles from the scrapbooking papers. Glue these papers onto the back of the Scripture tags. This should leave a small border around the tag. Use a hole puncher to punch a hole in the arrow portion of the tag. Reinforce with a hole label. Then, cut a piece of yarn 12 inches. Fold in half. Tie a knot at the bottom, then loop in through the hole and pull to knot. The knot should be the part that is hanging.

You could give them in a jar or basket, or just wrap them up and let them choose from a container they have that works for them. You could also make a tag with the verse from Ps. 119:105 and attach it to the gift. They could then attach it to their jar or basket. And remember, they don’t have to be perfect. But they will know it was given from the heart.

TODAY’S  GIVEAWAY: A $15 Hobby Lobby gift card to buy some supplies to make your own handwritten scripture tags!

To be entered to win this giveaway, leave a comment here with who you’d like to bless with a handwritten note or set of gift tags. All winners announced the Tuesday after Labor Day.

To be entered in the grand prize drawing for the $50 gift certificate to Proverbs 31, Just grab a Tweet, Facebook status or Pin below and then tell me by clicking here and commenting that you did so. If you share one way, you’ll be entered once. Share two ways? Twice. All three? {You get the picture}

Here are two tweets to copy & paste into Twitter:

Old-fashioned how-to homemaking skills from over a dozen bloggers! @karen_ehman Its Vintage Homemaking Week at karenehman.com

Homemaking need some new ideas? How about some old? @karen_ehman Vintage Homemaking Week karenehman.com A dozen bloggers & prizes!

Facebook:

Homemaking need some fresh new ideas? Well…….how about some old-fashioned ones instead? It is Vintage Homemaking Week at karenehman.com Over a dozen bloggers & awesome prizes! Baking, canning, freezing, gardening, cleaning and organizing strategies, re-furnishing furniture, throwing a vintage party, retro-hair & make-up and other old-fashioned how-tos! It will spark your creativity and re-energize your home, marriage and mothering. Join us!!!

Pin:   http://pinterest.com/pin/149744756333513747/

See you tomorrow for more vintage ideas!