Enjoying a "lived in" home

I am purposing to enjoy a 'lived in' home. I have cleaned less this week and spent more time reading aloud, doing puzzles, sewing, contemplating truth, listening and talking with my children, playing card games, helping a friend, praying.  As a result it is now Friday and I have yet to finish my regular cleaning or my laundry. It has been a VERY effective week. 

Tea and Streams in the Desert means:

a few moments of  inner quietness

Laundry baskets full of clean clothing  means: 

we are well clothed with the ease of cleaning them.

Keeping Isaac 'with me' means:

Being apart of his play and folding clothes is an interruption to the a yellow dump truck.

Piles of folded laundry means:

We have plenty.

Choosing to keep media time down means:

Lydia reaching for a homemade toy.

My husband gone for 7 days means:

Togetherness is a gift 

 and so are these wonderful items he brought back with him. :)

Look at these absolutely wonderful handmade Malaysian coasters.

 I love the gifts my husband buys for me...I absolutely love how well he knows me. I am deeply loved by him and I find great joy in being confident of that.

The questions I am asking myself this week:

What are the things I value? Am I living them out in my every day mundane chores and life? Are my children learning the values I (we` my husband and I) so deeply cherish in the little and big things? Am I obsessed with accomplishment or focused on purposeful living? 

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. " Rom. 12:2

In my west corner, 

Becky 

Glittery Puffy Paint

We are so very out of paint and have been for some time. Oh we have a tad bit of this and that but not the quality or quantity that we used to have. Truth is we have lots of orange and blue and some black and little bits of this and that. :) I have found some kids acrylic paint here in Turkey but it is spendy,especially because of all the variety of colors I want, and well I figure we can wait till we get back to the States and load up on lots and lots of colors for less.

Meanwhile I have so had an itch for my kids to paint other than with water colors. So I finally tried diy puffy paint. 
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 to 3/4 water
food coloring or a squirt of acrylic paint
and GLITTER!!

Talk about simple. The kids went to town on our balcony the other day (Spring has hit our west corner with some fever) and were out there for hours. Painting and then having a paint show, in which I attended and clapped for the budding artists.

Adding glitter to puffy paint is a GREAT place to use glitter!!!!!
We just poured it in whatever color we wanted and stirred.
We bought large sheets of drawing paper for 25 kurus a piece and  cut and taped the paper to cardboard pieces in different sizes.
The cardboard pieces idea being used as a canvas of sort I found here. (this is one of my all time fav blogs btw)

using what we have to paint.... and enjoying the beginning of Spring.

In our little west corner,

Becky

Ps. have you noticed my new tab in pages "crafts kids can do" 

It is the beginning of a gallery of pictures of all the crafts we have done here in 'our little west corner". Feel free to click and see all our kids craft projects in one place. ~ I am excited about it all! A cup a tea to me.

Toting a cardboard COFFEE shop

Get your donuts, coffee...

We saw this really fun post last year and my oldest daughter wanted to make something simliar for her sister (at Christmas, yes I back posting. :)).

Sock donuts

Sponge cake 

and cardboard coffee cups make for quite the fun play at:

Lydia's COFFEE. 

This new coffee shop on the go is quite lucrative, especially with a Baba who likes donuts and coffee, plus Lydia discovered that several of our stuffed animals here are coffee lovers as well. Who knew?

Lydia's COFFEE includes: 2 sponge cakes, 2 sock donuts (picture tutorial below), 2 cardboard coffee mugs and 2 cardboard plates, with a cardboard cookie thrown in for extra fun.

We hot glued some cardboard pieces to each side of a cereal/oatmeal box for the Carrying Coffee shop.

We then used ribbon so the little Carrying Coffee Shop could be toted around Lydia's neck.

Unfortunately I didn't get the best picture of the handles on the side and the ribbon around her neck, but I think you can see just enough on the above pic to get the idea. 

The aerial view. ;)

Simply snip toe, roll and decorate. 

Again here is the link for some more close ups of the original sock donut and the link for the sponge cake.

So my thoughts for you are go find some cheap socks and have a donut.

Of course don't forget to throw in some cardboard it makes all pretend play so much the funner. 

Using what we have over here...

In my west corner and smiling. :)

Becky

Fairness vs Generosity

In my home this past week I have been considering fairness. I have recently noticed that I am a tad imbalanced in teaching fairness in my home. I am beginning to see how fairness played out to the end will erode generosity in my kids.  I am on a quest to help my kiddos not to always just  'be fair' but to be 'thoughtful and generous'. I want to help them to consider someone else and not always have to divide it down the middle but be willing to let go and enjoy someone else getting more.

This picture was taken in a small village on the Aegean cost of Turkey. 

I am not concluding that being fair is a bad thing but if that is my focus when teaching my kids I think I and they will be missing out on a Kingdom principle...'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.' It can be easier for me as a mom to just flip a coin or appeal for my kids to be fair but in the long run I am not cultivating a heart of giving and generosity towards others but a 'make sure I get my half" attitude. Many times when considering fairness there seems to be a sense of 'entitlement', I am entitled to my fair share. It seems to be that when I encourage that kind of fairness in play with sibling and others it only keeps back the selfishness for a time but doesn't really deal with the heart attitude.

Well these are some of my thoughts. I am still considering the ideas of Justice vs fairness and God as being our just judge but I thought I would share with you the beginning of my thoughts and how I am applying it to my daily living with my children. ~

 ~ "One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want."
Prov.11:24

~"Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right."
Ps. 106:3

~"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but with humility consider others as more important than yourself." Phil. 2;3



I would love your thoughts...feel free to comment and to add your opinion. i don't mind someone disagreeing with me or challenging me..just keep it kind. ;)

In my west corner,

Becky

Ps. how do you like my new header? I love seeing my cup of tea all ready for me when I visit my blog.

 I know I am such a 30 something tea geek. :)

a few little boy crafts

My son is now 3 1/2 years old and in the last few months I have watched his attention span lengthen and him really begin to enjoy pretend play.  Crafting with all three kiddos used to be a bit of a challenge as my little guy "WAS NOT" interested, however things are changing and he is coloring, painting and gluing and doing lots of other fun things these days. Take a look at the fun art my son has been up too. :)

  Button wheeled cars

Foam roads 

Button tires 

Cotton clouds

Please take note of the capital 'I' you see on each paper. That is an I for Isaac. I am one proud momma.

 Button Faces

Crayons for hair

Buttons for eyes and noses

Yarn for the mouth

This one is an oldie:

 Cereal box car tunnel

Isaac painted the cardboard pieces and then I hot glued the pieces inside the cereal (oatmeal) box.

We then made a red and green stop light for the cars going through the tunnel. 

Here is a pic of Isaac doing what he does best 'being a monkey'. :)

There you have it, a few little boy crafts with what we have here in our little west corner home. :) 

~Becky

HOPE graphic art WINNERS!! and some free Printable's

 The winners to the HOPE graphic art prints

 by Arian and  Delightful Distractions are:

Lauren Ayer and Prairie Cottage Rose 

please e-mail me at creative contentment at gmail dot com.

(rafflecopter announcement at bottom of post)

Congratulations to both of you!!

And for all the rest of you I didn't forget ya. :) Here are 3 GREAT free printables to sooth the loss and brighten your day. :) I hope you enjoy these. Click on the link below each print and it will take you to the source so you can print it out.

My cup runneth over 

My cup runneth over

Fill my heart with song 

Home ~ who I share it with
There are  8 different color schemes for this printable.

Thank you again to all who participated in this giveaway and for all of you who are following
 Creatively Content.

From my little west corner,
Becky

An itty bitty DIY ~coasters

Don't forget to sign up for the HOPE graphic print giveawa. it ends in 12 hours. 

Sometimes its the simple and super easy things in life that make you smile. Here is a before and after of our bedroom coasters that my husband and I use on our nightstands or dresser.

Scrap book paper and modge podge...

Before

After

There you have it.  :) Why am I sharing you my ask, because I like to share the things that make me smile, maybe they will make you smile. 

Plus even simple creativity may inspire you too.:)

Also my husbands parents are visiting us here in our west corner of Turkey for the first time. 

They are on day 4 or 14.  Talk about a lot of book reading and game playing going on in our house. Grandparents are such a gift. :) This kids keep asking if we will leave so Grandpa and Grandma can babysit, this is a great problem. :)

 

In my west corner,

Becky

HOPE graphic art giveaways

Hi all. Well the Giveaway I have chatted about on and off has begun. YIPEE.

The theme is HOPE because I love it and we all need it. 

This giveaway is featuring two different prints by two different women.

The first giveaway is by: Arian Armstrong   

Here are two close ups ~ click here to see more views of the print.

There are several of this ladies prints I really enjoy take a moment to stop by and pin some of her art to pinterst or buy a print for someone. They are super sweet. 

The 2nd print is by: Delightful Distractions

If you would like to see this print up close and framed click here to view more examples.

She too has an ETSY shop and does graphic design. 

If you like my new header she is the reason why. :)

She does custom design and also will let you pick and choose colors and scriptures or quotes for your prints.

I chose this one for you all. 

These sweet prints (that I wouldn't mind owning myself) are for you my followers that have joined up with me during this season of  ' living in the west corner of Turkey'. Thank you all 330 and some followers for following along. 

May each of you be filled with HOPE! 

"Faith looks back and draws courage, Hope looks ahead and keeps desire alive." Sacred Romance

How to enter:

The Terms and Conditions are at bottom of the Raffelcopter widget (big box below)

 for more information on this giveaway.

Really it is pretty easy don't let this big box scare you off. 

This giveaway is for WORLDWIDE anyone can enter. Also you can enter with e-mail/facebook.

Happy winnings. The Giveaway ends March 7th so don't hesitate to click and sign up. 

In my west corner holding to HOPE,

Becky 

Click the read more... to sign up

Egg carton carrying case for LPS

Hi. We are crafting a bit these days. Lydia now goes to kindergarten in the afternoons 1:15pm to 5:00 pm.  This is not my fav however Isaac and I get to have her home with us in the mornings. Today we decided to grab the recycle bin and find something fun to make. 

Lydia made a Littlest Pet Shop carrying case and Isaac and I made some

 tp tube cars that I can share at a later date.

  Hope you enjoy this simple and sweet 'use what you have' creation. 

It started out looking like this and ended up....

looking like this. :)

Important that the LPS's are comfy, don't you think?

We used a silly band to wrap around the case to keep it more secure.

 Later Lydia found two pink silly bands to match.

We used some ribbon to make the strap and some glue and scrap book paper outside. 

For the inside seats we used little pices of fabric.

This idea is original to my knowledge but it was helped along by this fun blog that I follow. 

Check out this DIY Littlest Pet Shop Park made from egg cartons. I love it!!

Ok off I go to prepare for my in-laws coming to visit us for the FIRST TIME here in Turkey. Pretty exciting. They arrive tomorrow evening in our little west corner.

~Becky