Donna's Busy Hands

Bible Art Jornaling

2015-06-20T19:14:00.001-04:00

Is anyone else doing the Bible Art Journaling?
It is fun and keeps your drawing skills up.
Proverbs 31 woman.

Show us what you are doing.
Psalm 100:1a and 2b.

We want to see!

2015-06-11T14:37:00.003-04:00

We are proud and very thankful for
our military that keep us safe!

2015-05-22T07:35:00.000-04:00

Hebrews 6:19

Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul,
both sure and steadfast and
which enters into that within the veil.

Is your soul anchored in the word of the Lord?

2015-05-16T16:15:00.002-04:00

Just last month I discovered
Bible Art Journaling

My daughter Ashley had liked it on
facebook and we had talked about it
in a phone conversation.

I love to draw and to read the Bible
So I have found that this is a really fun thing
for me to do.

Every Week they give you a verse
and an idea.
You do what you want with it.

I am enjoying it so much,
I think I will continue.
What do you think?

Do you think this is something you would
like to do?

2015-05-11T21:09:00.000-04:00

My computer has been down for almost
2 months.

It is difficult to post from the Kindle,
as I have the old Kindle that doesn't take
photos, and I had no way to transfer
from my camera to the kindle to the blog.

I am happy to report that the computer is fixed
now and the weather has turned to Spring,
and all is well with my world again!

These are some photos taken at the Mountain House.

The beautiful flowers that abound
are not the work of my hands.
They came with the house, but I am enjoying
them a lot.

beautiful color every where I look.

just makes you want to stay out doors
all the time.

I planted tomato plants again this year
even though I am only there one week per month.

If we have enough rain they will give some fruit,
If not it will still be my pleasure to look forward to
seeing what they will do.

I have been doing a lot of projects
and have taken photos.

So, I will be posting more often now and
I hope I'll be seeing much more of my
friends posts, too.

Last week at the Mt. House...

2015-03-14T10:09:00.000-04:00

Brett spent the night and we did a little
baking...He likes to use the hand mixer
and lick the beaters.

Kayla turned 17 and we had a family dinner for
her birthday...Pineapple upside down cake was
her request.

B spent the night and Don and he played chess.
It is one of their favorite things to do.
(along with playing army and video games)

B has memorized most of the pieces and how they move,
but some of his moves are not legal.

It looks like this game requires lots of
strategy on B's part...the position of your
mouth helps you think.

bonding...

On the subject of snow...
I had wanted to be there in a snowstorm.
We live mostly at the beach and have little chance
to see any snow.

They had just had 6" of snow the week before
we arrived, but it warmed up and most of it
was gone by the time we showed up.

We did see some flakes flying around in the air though.

Now, it's back to work and looking forward to
SPRING!

2015-02-24T11:14:00.002-05:00

Last week I worked a lot in the thrift store and didn't
have a lot of time to sew or make anything.

So this week I have been working on these little
crochet owls.

I just freehand crocheted the little
guys and stuffed and closed the top.

Stuff them pretty tight.

They should be bulging when you start to close the top.

I added some felt eyes and beaks
and I glued a black button on for the
pupil of the eye.

VIOLA !

You can make a bunch of these in no time!

note: they could contain a little pouch filled with
rice and be hand warmers!
(Christmas gift idea for next year!)

being part of the Scripture Project

2015-01-30T09:55:00.003-05:00

Last week we went out of town to spend the week working
on the Bearing Precious Seed scripture project.

It was happening at Calvary Baptist Church in King NC.
Calvary has a school and lots of kids from the school came
down to the project to work for a while during their free time.

These workers are folding printed scriptures
from John and Romans.

They fold the covers and pages and stack them in
groups of 10.

The stacks are taken to the staplers.

Don and I worked on the staplers.
they are electric and easy to do.

We stapled about 720 (360 each) copies each day.
We worked Monday-Thursday.

From the staplers they go to the cutting machine and
they are packaged to be distributed.

This is how they look when we were finished stapling.

(They still need to be cut)

The whole project was completed on Thurs evening.
100,000 copies of John and Romans in English,
50,000 copies in Spanish.

We had lots of fun talking to friends from years ago
when we used to be members of this church.

Lots of good fellowship and blessings serving the Lord.

Little Owl Handwarmers

2015-01-17T11:38:00.003-05:00

I made lots of these little owl
rice hand warmers for Christmas gifts.

They were easy to make and one of my daughter in laws
tagged me in a Facebook post with the pattern.

I made lots of them.
Some had felt eyes and some had
button eyes.

Fill them with a cup of rice and
sew up the closure by hand.

When you want to use them,
place in microwave and heat for
30 seconds.

They stay warm for 30 minutes or more.

If you want the pattern, just google it or look on
Pinterest....it is all over there.

I know you will be able to find it!

Have fun with it!

2015-01-09T15:17:00.000-05:00

I've been sewing for the past week
on these little dresses.

My friend, Ruthann is going to Haiti in February
and she is taking them with her.

There are 17 in all.
I was planning on more but I didn't realize
she is leaving so soon and I will be working
on another project the last weeks of this month.

These little dresses are fun to make and don't take
a lot of time.
They are supposed to be made out of pillowcases, but
I found many sheets in the nicer colors and just
cut them in the size of the pillowcase.

The rick rack and most of the embellishments were purchased
in the thrift store also.

I'll tell you more about my other project soon.

2015-01-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

The Hi Light of our Christmas Party
was going to the assisted living home
in Walnut Cove, NC.

Don sang some solos and the family helped on
the regular Christmas Caroles.

The residents were glad to see us and
really sang along.

We made Christmas treat bags to pass out.

We made 25 bags and they contained an apple,
an orange, Hershey kisses, candy canes, and some
tissues and a few other treats.

We talked to each person.
They were so happy that we had come.

It really was a success...We plan to do the same thing
next year. We did not exchange gifts between ourselves
but focused on making the bags and visiting others.

Even the kids loved it.

After we ate at a restaurant and came back to
the house to have some sweets for us.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts and cheese ball and
crackers and pineapple upside down cake.

Some spent the night and we all agreed it was the
best kind of Christmas party.

2015-01-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

We had our family Christmas at the Mtn House
on Dec 20th

We were a little bit sad that some of us
could not make it this year.

and we did miss them.

We did enjoy the time together.
The house was decorated by me and
Linleigh and Brett.

We planned for a no presents for each other
but to spend the time at the rest home in Walnut Cove.

I will post photos of the Rest Home visit on the next post.

2014-12-15T08:58:00.000-05:00

We had lots of help in decorating the tree
this year.

We had Linleigh and Brett spend the night
after Thanksgiving dinner.

They worked hard and got

that tree done in no time.

Aunt Mandy gave Brett a
Hair cut and style.

Linleigh made some cookies.

Isn't Christmas Fun?

2014-10-26T18:39:00.002-04:00

Today has been a good day.
Our church had "Harvest Day"

Old fashioned songs....
Special singing...
A history of the church...
Dinner on the grounds...

When we got home I decided
to paint my pumpkin.

I think it turned out real cute!

HAPPY HARVEST !

2014-10-09T13:51:00.001-04:00

We have been working hard
on the Mountain House

The cabinets were in bad shape
They were from 1994 and had
lots of scrapes and defacing.

We knew that we were going to paint
them instead of replacing them and I thought
we would replace the hardware.
But when I saw the price for just one drawer pull
(and we needed 40 of them)
I decided to try spray paint.

This is how they looked before.

We sprayed them black and then
shiny silver.

We used Primer and Paint all in one
on the cabinets and painted all the pulls
and this is how it turned out.

We spent 30.00 on our paint for the cabinets and
bought black and silver spray paint.

Fall decorating is in progress.

These are the last of the zinnias...
I pulled up the brown stems today
time for the pumpkins and
leaf raking to begin!

Where did the summer go?

2014-08-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

Hi

This summer has been fun!
Granddaughters cooking in the kitchen

Little brother buttin' in

Grandson Aiden here for a visit!

hanging out at the Dan River, NC

Perfect summer day

Mom helping out...

cold mountain water

Pizza at the mountain house.

Ashley home for a visit.

Brett sets the table for breakfast.

That's the way we like our summers!

We did lots more, but I didn't always have my
camera handy.

I thought I had more time to take pictures.

Where did the time go?

It went so quickly....

2014-05-31T21:01:00.001-04:00

Wouldn't it be wonderful
if this is the kind of woman
we could be?

I have been busy sewing as usual and
working in the Thrift Store.

We are spending some time in
the mountains, too.

Life is good.

My main computer is crashed.
I have been trying to figure out
my husband's laptop.
I'll try to post more photos
when I get the "hang" of this
new set up!

2014-04-23T16:01:00.001-04:00

I'm doing lots of sewing
these are jobs.

I have several months to finish them
but I like to get things done as fast as I can.

These snowmen are called
"Daddy Long Legs"

Their legs have elastic in them
and can bounce up and down.

Cute and fun to make when you are
not in a rush!

I'm going to make some of these
to sell in my booth, too!

What have I been up to? Just Plain Country in Walnut Cove NC....

2014-04-05T18:18:00.000-04:00

Did you think I have abandoned my blog?

This is my new booth at the
"Just Plain Country"
store in Walnut Cove, NC

Did you wonder where I went?

Did you think I'd never come back?
I have been sewing like crazy!
I made everything in this 6x6 booth.
It takes lots of time and it is lots of fun!

If you are in Walnut Cove...Come and visit me
at Just Plain Country on main street!

Woman to Woman Brunch

2014-02-09T14:27:00.002-05:00

Woman to Woman
Missions Brunch

Saturday was our quarterly
Woman to Woman meeting
at our church.

This month the meeting focused on Missions.
Our theme was
Missions: God loving the world through Me.

We had nearly 50 woman in attendance.

The meeting included special singing
a report from Aletta about her
missions trip to Guatemala.

Before we ate we drew slips of paper from a bag
and stood in place of woman all over the world
and remembered that everyone does not have
the food choices we do here.

The decorations featured maps and travel.
We used the words:
Some will pray
Some will give
Some will go
on our banners.

I like to show the decoration so I can remember
and so some of our friends that do work
in their woman's meetings will
be able to get ideas from us.
(I know I like to use your ideas, too!)

I used the gift bags with balloons tied to them
for table centerpieces.
The mat under the bag is a state map.

I made these posters from regular printer paper
on colored back paper.
I cut the burlap and used small pieces of the
maps to make the heart.

Our Woman to Woman meeting is special.
We love our sisters in Christ and
enjoy serving together.

Working on Raggedy Anns

2014-01-30T13:35:00.000-05:00

While the Ice Storm has been keeping us inside
I have been working on Raggedys.

I have 6 in progress.
I usually make that many at a time
because it takes a long time to make one,
and I can make better time if I use the
assembly line process.

The Raggedy Anns take a long time because
they have so many parts.

The face is hand embroidered and the
body is sewn together.
The hair is hand sewn.
The bloomers are made then
the dress with all it's rick rack and
finally the apron.

They cost a bit more because of all the
trims that make them look so special,
add to the expense of the doll.

But when they are finished and all lined up
they just make you want to smile!

crochet owls

2014-01-28T17:58:00.001-05:00

Waiting for the snow and
making a few of these little guys.

Indoor snowball fight!

2014-01-02T15:18:00.002-05:00

Choose sides,
Put down a line.
Each team has the same amount of snowballs.

Set the timer for 5 minutes
Go!

Propel those cotton balls with a plastic spoon.
Try to keep as many as you can flying back to the other side.

Keep them going over to the other side.
The object of the game is to have the least at the end of the game.

Throw those things Ethan!

Lots of fun!

building the perfect snowman!

2014-01-01T12:35:00.001-05:00

At the Fa la la la lane
Christmas Party we love to play games.
The first was build a snowman with the
items in your gift bag.
toilet paper, tape and construction paper
Sara is the snowman for team #1

Eric is the team #2 snowman.
Myself and Mike are dressing him.

Team #2 works with a plan.
We work as a team and don't waste time
getting that snowman built!

Team #1 not so much!

Sara the snowman!
(well, you get the picture)

And the winner is Grandma's team #2
Eric the snowman!!!!

2013-12-30T20:15:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone,
I posted a few pictures this am
But, blogger wouldn't let me post any
comments with them.
So, I'll post a few more now.

For Christmas, we spent 10 days
at the mountain house and
had lots of fun.

these pictures were taken at
the annual Fa la la la Lane Christmas Party.

We had 18 of our sons, daughters, in laws and grands
attending.

There were lots of games, singing
(we are a very musical family),
laughing, and eating happening.

These pics feature Linleigh but I'll post more tomorrow
of all the others.

I have other news to tell,
I'll let you know.