Fakin' It

Giving Jar

 
 

Over Christmas break I read the novels The Christmas Jars and The Christmas Jars Reunion by Jason F. Wright. They are truly inspiring books about the power of giving and selflessness. The premise is to start a jar every Christmas and add spare change to it throughout the year. At the next Christmas, pass the filled jar along anonymously to someone in need.

I didn't get my jar started this past Christmas, but figured it's never too late to start. During lent our  church and school hand out "rice bowls" which was the second inspiration for this project.

 
I started with a pasta sauce jar. I made the rice bowl, chopsticks, bamboo, and Kanji words God and love with the Pagoda Cricut cartridge. I had the panda material left over from my daughter's Hundred Wishes Quilt and the ribbon came from my scrapbooking supplies.

 

Glossy Modge Podge was used to adhere and coat the paper cuttings and the glue gun was used to keep the fabric in the lid.

Encourage the kids to add their spare change to jar along with yours. Also let them help make the decision as to where the money is most needed. They are never too young to learn the joy of giving.

 

 "It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."

 -Mother Teresa   

This post is linked with:

Someday Crafts (button in sidebar)   

Fireflies and Jelly Beans     

Catholic Icing                     

Happy Presidents Day!

Happy Presidents Day everyone and welcome to my blog! This is my first official post. I hope you like it.

Over the weekend my middle child J and I went to the library and checked out a few books for the upcoming holiday. I decided to focus on one president because it would be simpler and I specifically chose Lincoln because I had some cool ideas for our Muffin Tin Lunch which I'll get to in a minute.

 

The first book has a direct quote from Lincoln on each page and uses bold, fun illustrations to help tell the story.

 
This second one is especially cute and sung to the tune of "The Old Grey Mare", which my kids really liked. The last book we read was my favorite because it provided the most information. I even learned a thing or two. It is called Young Abraham Lincoln : Log-Cabin President.We started reading the books over the weekend so L, J and C would understand their muffin tin meal.

What is a muffin tin meal. Well, it's simply a meal served in muffin tins and I got the idea from Muffin Tin Mom, one of my favorite blogs. Watch for a new Muffin Tin Meal from me every Monday.

 

Here's what we have:

1. round crackers, ham and cheese to build Abe's hat;
2. pretzels for logs and even an ax to chop those logs made by adding a flattened piece of caramel;
3.  sixteen, for the 16th pres., Scrabble Junior Cheez-Its (C got all the letters to spell President Lincoln, and the little ones got simpler words)
4. melon balls to represent the barrel where Abe found the law book
5. and for dessert I stacked banana slices with Nutella on top of a small cookie and covered it with chocolate candy melts to make another hat.

 

On a side note, it is pure coincidence that I have been reading Wench by  Dolen Perkins-Valdez. While there is no mention of President Lincoln in this book ,I did have the opportunity to learn a great deal about slavery and abolition while also enjoying a wonderfully written, albeit emotional and tramatic story about the strength, courage, and friendship of four African American women faced with heart wrenching and even life threatening decisions.