Merry Christmas!!

Praying you have the Merriest Christmas yet!

Here's one of my most favorite songs about the true meaning of this day.....

You lovelies are the best!!

Happy Christmas!

{Freebie} Facebook Christmas Cover Photos

Well I couldn't make Thanksgiving cover photos and not make Christmas ones!!

I've been using the sleigh ride one on my personal page and loving it! I have fond memories of playing Sleigh Ride in high school band, one of the funnest songs to play!!

Pick one and enjoy!

Happy Friday lovelies!

{See my Link Parties page for the shares.}

{Freebie} Christmas Lockscreens

I hope I'm not the only who changes out their home and lock screens for the season!

 Christmas-fying my phone just makes me happy!

I just started on my Christmas tree yesterday so I have no decor/crafty stuff to share so I thought I'd make some lockscreens to help us get in the Christmas Spirit!

Just save the image to your phone and set it as either your lockscreen or homescreen.

{Thanks to PicMonkey for the tree image!}

Enjoy!!

Happy Thursday lovelies!

{See my Link Parties page for the shares!}

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I wish for you many happy memories of thanks and giving this year! And pie. Lots of pie!!

Stay safe lovelies!

{Freebie} Facebook Thanksgiving Cover Photos

Changed up my Facebook Cover photo last week with a Thanksgiving one....the chalkboard one actually.....and thought I'd make a couple more and share!  

Just choose the one you like, right click and save, and upload to Facebook!

Enjoy!! Have a Happy Day!

{See my Link Parties page for the shares.}

2014 Fall Mantle

A couple of weeks ago I was in Sam's checking out their cupcakes.  And of course looked at all their Christmas! Well down a decor aisle I came across the Give Thanks art that I had seen before and liked but didn't want to pay $30 for.  Honestly, that's probably a good price since the art is reversible! It has 'Welcome' on the other side. But to my giddy surprise they were marked down to $9.81!! How could I pass that up? Well I didn't and I actually bought one for my Secret Sister at church too! Woohoo!

So I added some flowers and pumpkins and was done with my Fall Mantle in no time!  I did think about adding a banner of some kind but we are going to be gone the week of Thanksgiving on vacation ( insert excited face!) so I just kept it simple!

I love it! I will probably use the 'Welcome' side for a January mantle!!

And since I did take pictures of this last week but the lighting was yuck and decided to redo them I thought I'd #keepitreal and show you the real picture......

The struggle is real ya'll!! I know you know!!

Happy Thanks and Giving time lovelies!! 

{See my Link Parties page for the shares!}

{Freebie} Thanksgiving Lockscreens

 

Now that Halloween and Lil' Hunkie's birthday are over I'm ready for Thanksgiving.

Not Christmas just yet!! Yes, I'm one of those who like to enjoy one holiday at a time.

To kick off Thanksgiving time I made some lockscreens to share!

Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving time!

 

{See my Link Parties page for the shares!}

Happy Thursday lovelies! 

 

{Recipe} Easy Homemade Thin Mints

I'm going to let you in on one of my little entertaining secrets. 

 Well, this might be the only one I have!

One of the easiest things to add to a dessert menu is a homemade mint. It takes one ingredient....a bag of mint chocolate wafers! Melt and mold and done! My local Hobby Lobby has had the white chocolate for a while now. Recently, I noticed a dark chocolate and gave it a try last month for a bridal shower. They were a hit! While checking out with them the cashier informed me that someone told her that you dip a Ritz cracker in the dark chocolate mint and get a thin mint. 

I had no choice but to try that!!

Verdict: total success!!

Now looking through Pinterest this can also be achieved with Andes chips found in the baking aisle. But now you know it can be achieved with these too!....

Easy Homemade Thin Mints

1 Package Dark Mint Flavored Candy Wafers

1 and 1/2 sleeves of Ritz Crackers

Directions:

Melt wafers according to package. Using a fork dip cracker in chocolate. Tap the fork on the side of the container to remove excess chocolate. Place on wax paper to dry.

Store in an air tight container.

Watch them disappear!!

  

Probably adding these to my Christmas goodies I make!!

Happy Thursday!!

{See my Link Parties page for the shares!}

2014 Scary Free Halloween Mantel

Got my mantel done!!  Bought some feather garland from Hobby Lobby today to finish it out.

 Get it? Owls and feathers!

 And besides my printable the rest is old.  Guess I need to switch it up for next time! This will work since we're about 2 weeks away from Halloween!

Happy "Owl"oween lovelies!!

And Happy Friday!!

{See my Link Parties page for shares.}

{Freebie} Happy "Owl"oween Printable

Well I'm way behind in my 'scary free Halloween' decorating I've been doing the past couple of years! I'm patiently waiting for my husband to have time to help me get the boxes out of our little building! Until then I'm thinking I'm going to do an owl theme mantle and made a printable! And of course I'm sharing!

Just right click, save and print!

*Printable for personal use only.*

Hopefully I'll have my full mantle to show next week!

Happy Friday lovelies!!

**Did you see my giveaway going on?**

Click HERE.

See my Link Parties Page for the shares!

Vintage Gwen Chapel-A Golden Nugget of Wisdom

Psalm 18:30

 As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord ’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.

Lil' Hunkie has been in school for about a month and a half now. And let me just tell you....the morning routine hasn't really smoothed out just yet. There's still whining, etc going on! I realize that I'm in for the long haul on that!

One bright sunny morning while driving to school, into the sun mind you, more whining came, this time that the sun was in his eyes. Well guess what he had in his backpack? Yep, sunglasses.

Whine, whine, whine!

And then came a nugget of wisdom from momma. 

After reminding him he had sunglasses in his bag he kept whining. 

Finally I said...

"Don't complain when you have the solution in your hand."

Golden I tell ya, golden!!

Alright, it was really a nugget from God.

Because at that moment God reminded me that I too, have the solution to the things I whine about in my hand. It's called the Word of God, it's Him. 

He is all we need in every situation.  

Amen? Amen!

Be blessed lovelies!

My DIY Sharpie Mug Experience

Ok lovelies.  DIY Sharpie Mugs are nothing new.  But since I made some I thought I'd share how the process went for me.

I joined a Fall Mug Swap on Instagram last month and could not find what I thought was the perfect mug for my buddy.  So I thought it'd be cool for her to have some scripture mugs in my handwriting. 

I found a great post at Crafaholics Anonymous (via Pinterest) with some great tips.

I picked the tips I thought sounded the best basically!  

And those were to clean the mug with rubbing alcohol, let dry for 24 hours after decorating, place in cold oven, turn oven on to 450, once heated to 450, bake for 30 minutes and then completely cool. 

So here's how it went....

First of all writing on a mug is not as easy as it seems! Using the rubbing alcohol I started over so many times! Once I liked them, I let dry overnight then did the 450 oven baking and let them cool in the oven. 

Well that was too hot for the pink sharpie! It faded! I was so sad! So I went back over the pink parts and did the baking at 350 instead and it was much better! 

The only thing I didn't do was see how they stood up to the dishwasher.  I did use the rubbing alcohol after the first failure baking and the green was set so I'm sure that with hand washing they should be just fine!  I don't know about you but I don't put 'special' mugs, even store bought ones, in the dishwasher. Just one of those 'Jennifer' things!

Despite the writing part being tricky, I love how easy these are! And the possibilities are endless! 

Have you made some of these? I'd love to hear about your experience!

Happy Thursday!!

{Freebie} Back To School Printable

Can you believe it's Back to School time? I'm joining the ranks this year!! Lil' Hunkie is starting PreK next Wednesday!! I'm so excited and so nervous for him at the same time! 

What an adventure we're about to have!!

Of course I had to make a fun printable for this time of year!

(Gold and blue are our school colors!!)

I made this printable in PicMonkey. Surely you're not surprised! And I found that cute school house box at Design Mom via Pinterest.  This one is just paper but I printed a few on card stock to fill for teachers. There is also a house that I plan on incorporating into my brother's wedding reception and into a bridal shower!!

Just right click and save!

*This printable is for personal use only.

Hope your Back to School start was or will be a smooth one!

Happy Thursday!

{See my Link Parties Page for the shares!}

Vintage Gwen Chapel-Saturday Song

Well here I am again with a song that I just love so much I think you should here it too!

I may be a little late to the Rend Collective train but better late than never!

Sometimes when I'm working I'll get on You Tube and find whole albums to listen too. Well I found a Rend Collective playlist and when I heard "Immeasurably More" I literally stopped working and just listened. 

And fell in love!

Here, you fall in love too....

....and your welcome!!

Ps.  While you are enjoying this today I am actually in Denver for a wedding!

Woohoo! Check out my Instagram for the fun!

Happy Weekend lovelies!

Vintage Gwen Chapel-Spankins' And Prayers

Have you ever got a spankin' from the Lord?

And by spankin' I mean a gentle nudge with the words "Now daughter".

Well I sure have. And recently.  

I play bunco once a month with an awesome group of ladies. Some of us attend church regularly some of us don't but are believers. We always pray over our meal and evening.  Well there started being a pattern of who they asked to pray and even the jokingly, lovingly term "Bunco Chaplin" thrown out. 

Guess who? Yep, yours truly.

And guess what I have done?

Squirmed and joked along and squirmed some more. 

And then I got a spankin!

God was saying "Now daughter there's a reason they ask you."

And I was saying "but God I can get carried away sometimes and these ladies don't see the Holy Ghost filled Jennifer."

And God said "they know you know Me."

And then I thought "I should be honored they want me to do it on a regular basis."

And I am, truly I am.

And so no more squirming. 

No more squirming praying for anyone.  Yes it's uncomfortable when you don't know the person or are in mixed company.  And with God's help I haven't been getting carried away (I get nervous so the Spirit takes over and I can be pretty powerful! God has been showing me I can be both powerful and steady and pray His Word!), I've been steady.  And with the help of the book Prayers That Avail Much. It has some great, great prayers! And not just any prayers but ones that pray the Word.  And there's 2 other volumes! 

I used it last week to pray for some ladies and I can already tell a difference in how I pray. 

How are you at praying in front of others? I know it's not easy! So I encourage you to check out the Prayers That Avail Much books and seek the Lord. Now more than ever we need each other.  And nothing, nothing is too small to be prayed over. God cares about it all! And He doesn't expect elaborate prayers either. Just ones from the heart. I know this from experience. 

Praying for you.

For strength, peace, comfort, guidance, boldness.

In Jesus' Name, amen!

Be blessed lovelies!