"put off" or "put on" - what to wear?

My quick little piece of quiet time art for today. :) 

My choice for today.... :)

In my little west corner...choosing gratitude. 

~Becky

DIY Dollhouse play helped soften a heart. (new pics)

I knew I needed to talk to my daughter. She had been angry and venting her anger through out the day.
We had been working through a few things over the past week and today seemed to be a breaking point.

As I was praying and thinking about her, I felt like I knew what I needed to say and was hoping that it would really hit her heart not just be words. My thought was to go into her room where she was playing dollhouse and have her stop and sit on my lap and talk with her. Just before I went to her she came in and wanted her brother to get out of quiet time to play with her, only he didn't want to play and she didn't want to play alone anymore and she again started to become easily frustrated.

I grabbed her by the hand and off we went to play dollhouse. As we played polly pockets I was able to share with her and I know she heard me and we were able to laugh and talk about truth in not such a heavy context. Her heart softened as we moved the polly pockets dolls from room to room being silly and pretending.

I don't always have these moments of knowing that I met my kiddos need in a way that hit their hearts but today I did. I met her where she was at and not in the heat of the moment. I took time and it gave her the time she needed and me the ability to respond in love and not just trying to fix a problem.

It makes me want to listen more carefully to the Lords leading with kids, not be in such a hurry to fix them up. It is NOT about changing their behaviour or making the hurt go away it is about leading them to the Truth and their need to relay on Jesus for every thing.

~My sweet daughter has a need we all have. We want to be loved and accepted and feel significant. However the truth is no one not even our immediate family members can totally satisfy that need. Even at 7 years old I want my daughter to know that Jesus says she matters to him that she is valuable to Him  and throughout life that is the truth she will need.

Below are some pics of our updated Scrapwood DIY Dollhouse.

We updated the dollhouse from this post and this post to what it is now some time ago. The kids are constantly moving furniture around and a few of the rooms I didn't take pics of.  I finished this refurb of the dollhouse months ago...but hey I am posting them now. :)

This little treehouse addition to the side of the dollhouse was given by our friends to Lydia for her b-day. It is super cool and a polly pocket toy so fits our situation perfectly.  

I love this room. :) How do you like that Turkish carpet. That is a remnant of a 100 year of Turkish carpet. :) This dollhouse has culture. 

We still would like to add color to the doors and pictures on the walls. Maybe next year. :) 

Again that is what makes a doll house so great, always changing and gives the 

girls fresh excitement for it as each little change happens. 

This beginning of a mural has been in the workings now for a several months. I just haven't been able to get to it and honestly I was running out of my little bottles of acrylic paint but a team from the States just came and brought me a few new colors that have inspired me....

(Here is the original post of the table I painted that you see in the pic)

Hope you enjoyed this post of honesty and the simple DIY dollhouse pics.
Grateful today that my children are still young and there is time to live life so close together.

In my little west corner,
Becky

Stamp painting with pipe-cleaners- summer fun

I saw this fun idea Painting fireworks with pipe-cleaners on Pinterest a bit ago and today we put the idea to paper. 

Stamp Painting with Pipe-cleaners

You will need:

Pipe-cleners

paint

paper

An extra thing I did was put some extra pipe cleaners to let the kids

 make a few of their own pipe-cleaners stamps. This idea lasted my kids about 20 minutes. 

We have started something new at our house since school got out. 

We call our new idea Rotation Stations... this pipe-cleaner idea was at our craft station. 

I will share with you our Rotation Station idea with you soon...it has really been a help to me and the kids. More on that next time. 

Here is the original post I saw that inspired us. :) 

Source: Juggling with kids

Using what we have to create some summer fun- today it was Pinterest and pipe-cleaners. :)

In our west corner,

Becky and kiddos

Homemade popsicle Wednesday! Summer fun

It has been quite a week here in my home with some news that has left our family in a bit of shock and still trying to process. As I process I am sure I will share more but for now I thought I would share ONE small way I am making summer time with kiddos fun. They picked the day I picked the idea!

Feel free to join us in the fun!!!

Every Wednesday a new homemade popsicle at our house.

Popsicle Wednesday Summer fun has begun at our house. We started today with Banana pops.  

Here are a few homemade popsicles ideas we are starting with:

Chocolate Banana pops

Fruit and Yogurt popsicle

Pure Strawberry popsicle

Source

This was a helpful post on how she made her banana pops I did basically everything she did.

Source

Makes: 6 (4-oz.) pops 

Ingredients 
2 small ripe bananas, peeled and sliced 
1½ cups frozen strawberries or 1 cup frozen blueberries 
2 cups non-fat plain yogurt 
2 tbsp. honey 

Source

Makes: 4 pops

Ingredients

1 cup mashed strawberries

1/2 cup water

1 tbs sugar (original recipe had 4 to 5 tbs)

Juice of half lime or lemon

Here is our version and thoughts on the Banana pops:

The best advice was to freeze the bananas on the stick for 30 min to an hour before. It helped especially for the kids not to get as messy because the banana was so cold it hardened the chocolate right away. 

They were tasty and messy!! 

Another idea is to roll the banana pops in nuts. 

Summer has begun and again our balcony is such a big help to us!

We would love to have you join us in our popsicle making craze this summer!

Using what we have to create and today it is the freezer and some fruit!

In our west corner

 ~Becky

A calm hill- our getaway.

We were able to get away for 4 days this past week. It was only to be two days and then it became three and then a decidedly four. :) Gas prices here are among some of the highest in the world...so if your going to get away might as well make the most for your fuel price.

Our kids played outside in this breathtaking scene at a place called Sakın tepe (Calm hill). This was our 2nd time to this quiet and peaceful place called Sakın tepe and it exceeded our expectations again. Especially for our children who discovered that the German shepards that were there before now had puppies! Hours of puppy fun. :)

The children were able to play outside for hours upon hours everyday and it was just chilly enough in the hills to light fires in the mornings and evenings.

We chased some butterflies in the afternoons, ate outside, hiked and soaked in the sun when it wasn't hiding behind the clouds. Oh and we played Pit and Monopoly deal and read a lot. 

Also on our 2nd night there was another family that came and stayed in one of the cabins and they had 4 sweet kiddos and we enjoyed their company while at the bonfire or eating dinners together outside on the picnic tables. 

I personally indulged in several cups of green tea and honey and took time to just look and revel in 

the green, blue and rich brown soil around me. The different shades of green thrilled me as I looked out over the trees that expand as far as the black sea. 

Returning to my apartment home surrounded by buildings and roads was a wonderful reminder or what a gift it is to get away and how much more I appreciate those outdoor moments for myself and my kids.

These pics will carry me for awhile....:) 

Being thankful for what I do have, a place to go and enjoy the amazing green outdoors. 

In my west corner,

Becky

Also to any of those reading living in Turkey this is a wonderful place for a family getaway!!

Heart necklace birthday cake. :) ~7 years old

"Ya know mom I thought turning seven would feel different but it doesn't I guess I am just so used to being six." Happy Birthday to my now 7 year old!!!

 Oh how I absolutely love the sweet innocence of these ages. Right now I have a 9, 7 and almost 5 year old I so want to take the time to enjoy them!

Drum roll, Yes yet another very amateur attempt at a fun shaped birthday cake. Hope you enjoy.
One of the gifts we gave Lydia was a heart necklace for her birthday, thus the Heart Necklace Birthday Cake ..the idea was born one night just before I went to sleep. :)

*I used a heart shaped pan for the pendant part and the chain is obviously mini cupcakes. 

Lydia and I worked on this together. 

*For the latch I used a gummy warm cut in half and two rollos. 

Truth be told I would have liked another idea but well this idea came to me an hour before the festivities began so no complaints at least the necklace had an edible latch. :)

 Also one thing I did was set up a small decorating station for the kids to decorate the extra mini cupcakes. Each child decorated one and it was a fun little addition to the evening. 

Enjoying every year with you my little sunshine girl. 

Oh how to keep you little and still let you grow?

In our west corner,

 celebrating the gift of each member of our family~ today that is our new 7 year old.

Becky

linked up at: crafty confessions

My first humble piece of art. Celebrate ~what you don't see

If you have been following this humble little blog for awhile now you know that after I moved to E-city    my gift for being creative really grew.  I embraced a lifestyle of "use what you have', in regards to creating and it has spilled out into all areas of my life. 

At first my creating and creativity were simply with my kids and for them. We have had, and will continue to have so many fun memories of creating together and watching little pieces of art and homemade toys come together out of basic items at our house or the favoured cardboard boxes by the dumpster. 

Over the past few years I have had a growing desire in me to create art. It is has been a quiet longing that has grown and grown. I don't claim to posses any formal education or even any great ability. However, I am just beginning to explore and express myself through small pieces of art through different mediums. My one piece of assurance in regards to being such an amateur and feeling of inadequacies is that the God who created all that I see around me is the God who created me and He is by far my best instructor. 

Here is the beginning of my creative process for this piece. :)

 I enjoy capturing moments while a create, it inspires me. 

 

So I humbly share with you this little piece I have made. I really enjoy it and in some way would love to keep it.  However I feel certain that I am to make pieces of meaningful art to giveaway. 

Sure I will make some pieces for my family and for me...but today this piece is not meant to stay in my home. 

Here is the full piece. 

Celebrate (what you don't see)

It is a mixed media piece. I used jean material and cotton fabric along with brown paper. Acrylic paints, sharpies and my sewing machine. 

This piece will be flying to the U.S. soon to go to my two friends who together have breathed courage in me to try new things and have helped me be a more creatively generous follower of Christ.

I really believe God has enhanced and touched my abilities regarding art out of His love for me. Let me be clear to say it is not that I am excellent at this or that I have some special talent, no. It is that I have acquired a deep passion and longing for colour and when I do it, it meets a need in me and fills me up. I also feel very near to the Lord when I am creating.  I guess a special gift from God that has come out of the struggle of isolation and loneliness I went through. You can read that post here: Sweet isolation
I am confident that our amazing creator will never leave us empty when we follow Him but freely pours out on us surprises and life giving abilities, that fill us and enhance our lives to enjoy life and to pour out on others. Surrender to Christ is a precious cycle. I remember the day when I quit asking God to change the isolating situation I found myself in and I surrendered, it was that day 'art' was born in my soul.

To all of you living in Turkey the meaning of this piece of humble art is for you. ~
In my west corner, (using what I have...today it is the gifts God has granted me.)
Becky