St. Valentine's Day Free Vintage Children's Printables, Stories, and More

Some posts from this year and last with free vintage Valentine Day items. Enjoy! XOXO

Vintage Valentine Poem

Vintage St. Valentine's Day Children's Stories, Cards, and Lesson Plans

Vintage St. Valentine's Day Poem

Free Vintage Children's Valentine Day Cards

Homeschool: Free Christian Girl's Book, The Orange Seed

A gentle Christian girl's tale roughly for ages 9-12.

This is a nicely written, pleasant storyline for children, teaching them the morality of living through your soul rather than through the flesh. The story is free of any obvious(or at least blatant) denominational theology.

See how eight year old Helen fares as a stranger comes to stay with the family. Helen is an only children, a bit spoiled, but big hearted in a self pleasing sort of way. When Ally, a more reserved older girl comes to stay with Helen's family while her mother recovers from an illness, the two meet spiritual obstacles with their personalities. Both grow in Christ as a result of their experiences, and more opportunities present themselves.

Click here.

Main page

The Orange Seed

By Sarah Schoonmaker Baker

Published by A.D.F. Randolph, 1863

103 pages

Free and in public domain. Downloadable or readable online. If you have a slow dial-up, use a free download helper. I use this with great success, otherwise the download is corrupted with my slow dial-up.

Thrifty Homemade Tea Cup Candles

This project over at Dollar Store Crafts recycles pillar candles by melting them down into thrifted tea cups. To make them a little healthier, I'd use clean burning soy candles. That would bump up the cost a bit, but soy wax apparently lasts longer than regular paraffin wax.

Scented candles found at a thrift store would preclude having to purchase a scent, and would be the least expensive route. I often see bags of old scented candles at our thrift stores for under a dollar.

If all you have are white candles and you want to change the color, Heather recommends melting a crayon with the candles. How clever! I do love the way the white looks inside these shabby tea cups.

Candle wicks can be made by recycling the old wick from the melted down candle, or purchased new at a craft store, or better yet, simply make your own.

The Dollar Store Crafts link above leads to a tutorial for this tea cup candle project, or this is a good general tutorial as well. If you have any questions or concerns, ask at the tutorial site because I have not personally tried this specific craft yet.

Rebatched candles and soap are some of my favorite crafts because they are inexpensive, fairly simple, and leave a lot of room for creativity. The results are amazing custom soaps and candles.

Safety Issues: Any container can crack. Be sure that you choose a sturdy wide mouthed container, and never leave a candle unsupervised. Candles should be placed on a heat safe surface well away from drapes and other flammable surfaces. Never burn a container candle all the way down. See State Farm's Candles and Fire Safety tips.

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

A very simple recipe over at Frugal Granola, a great way to stretch a bar of soap. I've rebatched soap using a similar method.

Homemade Kitty Litter Facial Mask

Unscented pure 100% clay kitty litter makes an excellent facial mask! It's not gross when you think that it is simply bentonite clay, used by many high priced spas.

Take a few tablespoons of clay(litter), mix with water(or rose water), and add a bit of your favorite essential oil. I've added a bit of aloe vera gel as well for a soothing winter mask.

If this grosses you out, or you worry about the purity of commercial clay litter, you can purchase organic bentonite clay inexpensively. Mountain Rose Herbs(my favorite) has a variety of organic clays for sale.

Also see Beauty from Nature.

See more tips at Works for Me Wednesdays.

The Medieval History Quiz

An interesting quiz and fun tool for homeschool. I did pretty well - missed one about English history regarding which was the only king to have the title of "Great". Looks like it's time to read and assign Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall(free) - see reviews.

There are more advanced quizzes and medieval history tidbits as well.

Free Vintage Children's Valentine Day Cards

Click here.

Free Pantry Labels

Click here for download courtesy of Country Home.

HT to Tipnut

Don't Throw it Out, Recycle it! Recycling Underwear

See Let's Talk Underwear (giggle)

Making a Little Extra Money: Freelance Writing Gigs

Milehimama from Mama says... was generous enough to share her detailed knowledge of how to make a little extra money with freelance writing. Freelancing can be as simple as submitting your blog posts for pay. Check it out.

Saving Money with a Wringer Washer

And just when you thought there wasn't anything more that you could cut back on in your budget. Don't laugh, but supposedly these old washers save time and money! See this article by Pat Veretto over at the Dollar Stretcher.

Pat reports that wringer washers use much less water, less detergent, and take half the time of a modern washer to clean the clothes.

Check ebay, craigslist, and Google for reconditioned or working wringer washers. Lehman's sells new wringer washers if you don't mind the expense.

Something to consider: A few commenters mentioned that some of these old wringer washers can be dangerous, especially for children in that the wringer can pull your hand through if you are not careful. Lehman's sells a "safe" wringer. They don't mention how it is safer than other wringers, but they do answer questions.

And there is always this option.

How to Use a Washboard and How To Wash Clothes On a Washboard

Pictured: Lehman's Washboards and see

The Columbus Washboard Company which "has been making washboards since 1895 and is the only manufacturer still operating in the United States of America today", and they double as musical instruments, Yeehaw! Interesting links at this site. Includes a U.K. link to a soap and washboard site.

Free Printable Milk Bath Gift Envelopes(Sachets) and Easy Recipes

People have been taking milk baths for centuries. The enzymes in the milk soften the skin. Milk bath ingredients are easy to find, just buy powdered milk in packets, and pour about half the packet into your bath. To scent your milk bath, add your favorite essential oil. Rose essential oil is often added to milk baths.

Another simple way to add fragrance to milk powder is to combine it with scented Epsom salt. That way it is all-in-one powder, and you can store it in a container. I buy my Epsom salt inexpensively at Walmart. To scent the salts, spread it out on a pan, and pour a bit of your favorite scented oil* over the Epsom salts. I add just enough to moisten it, and for color, I add a drop or two of red food color(turns pink), and bake on warm-200 degrees for an hour or so. The heat dries up the moisture and infuses the scent. You could try this with baking soda as well, or use both. Baking soda softens the water and Epsom salts sooth sore muscles(and hold scent well).

Mix the scented Epsom salts(and/or baking soda) with the milk powder, and you have a lovely bath powder. You can add more or less scented Epsom salts to the milk powder as desired.

See here for printable bath sachet envelopes.

A lavender bath salt label

Blank packet template












*Another Option for oil: Try olive oil with 10-20 drops of your favorite essential oil, and a bit of glycerin(optional softener and binder). Glycerin is very inexpensive and available in most store vitamin aisles, probably next to the witch hazel on the bottom shelves. All natural(except for scent) Africa Best Oil works very well too. It is highly scented and inexpensive at places like Dollar General or Family Dollar in the ethnic hair aisle. A little goes a long way.

Also see recipe for Fizzy Bath Bombs

Free Homeschool Stuff: Online Spelling Program

Valentine's Day Felt Sewing Crafts

What a great low calorie Valentine's Day cookie gift! Crafted from felt and beads, Candy of Candy's Cottage completed these frosted shortbread cookies for her mother-in-law recently. I would love to made these for my daughter. They could even be made as scented sachets, maybe with a little vanilla.

Free Templates for Felt/Flannel Board Pieces

Felts are creative and fun hands-on learning for preschool - kindergarten. They can be made into story boards to go along with classic stories and popular children's books(language arts), and used for learning the alphabet, counting, shapes, weather, health, learning about community helpers, early math, spelling, early reading/phonics, you name it.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? Farm Theme
Five Green Shamrocks(counting)
Five Little Snowflakes(counting)
Alphabet Templates(I'd size these down)
More here with hints, tips, and directions.

Humpty Dumpty with wall

Felt board tutorial with templates

If you are lazy like me, you can order sets that match many of the books(found at the library) from the Before Five in a Row(homeschool reading list/curriculum for age 2 -4) on ebay. They are are some very crafty ladies selling these complete felt kits for a few dollars a set. I've also got a few counting and food sets, like the pizza pictured above. The sets I have are at least six years old, used when my son was in Preschool/Kindergarten. They seem to last well, but I did have to glue a few googly eyes back on from pieces in the shape set.

If anything, looking at the sets on ebay can give you ideas for making your own. If you bid/buy at ebay, click through Bigcrumbs.com for cash back.

I did make my own flannel board with a large piece of light blue felt wrapped around and stapled onto the back of a very heavy piece of corrugated cardboard. That has lasted at least six years as well. A good and frugal investment for our homeschool.

Free Homeschool Ancient Greece ebooks: Homer's The Odyssey, The Iliad and the Aeneid for Boys and Girls

Free and in public domain. Downloadable and readable online.
Click here.
Main page.
The Odyssey for Boys and Girls
By Alfred John Church
Published by The Macmillan Company, 1906
Original from Harvard University
Digitized Oct 26, 2007
308 pages
Suitable for ages 9-12.

Also see The Iliad for Boys and Girls and The Aeneid for Boys and Girls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now in reprint, published by Yesterday's Classics: The Odyssey for Boys and Girls (Yesterday's Classics), The Iliad for Boys and Girls (Yesterday's Classics), The Aeneid for Boys and Girls (Yesterday's Classics)

Free Homeschool ebook: Golden Numbers: Poems for Children and Young People Compiled by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith

Free and in public domain poetry for children and adults alike, Golden Numbers: Poems for Children and Young People. Compiled by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith. Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1902, 686 pages.

Main page, or begin reading here. Book is fully downloadable and printable.

A Chanted Calendar

Here is the Year's Processional in verse; the story of her hours, her days, her seasons, told as only -poets can, because they see and hear things not revealed to you and me, and are able by their magic to make us sharers in the revelation. Read the first six poems and ask yourself whether you have ever realized the glories of the common day; from the moment when morning from her orient chambers comes, and the lark at heaven's gate sings, to the hour when the moon, unveiling her peerless light, throws her silver mantle o'er the dark, and the firmament glows with living sapphires. It is the task of poetry not only to say noble things, but to say them nobly; having beautiful fancies, to clothe them in beautiful phrases, and if you search these poems you will find some of the most wonderful word- pictures in the English language. How charming Drayton's description of the summer breeze:

" The wind hail no more strength than this,

That leisurely it blew.
To make one leaf the next to kiss
That closely by it grew."

If the day is dreary you need only read Lowell's " June Weather," and like the bird sitting at his door in the sun, atilt like a blossom among the leaves, your " illumined being " will overrun with the " deluge of summer it receives."

Then turn the page ; the picture fades as you read Trow- bridge's " Midwinter.'' The speckled sky is dim,- the light flakes falter and fall slow ; the chickadee sings cheerily, for the magic touch again and the house mates sit as Emerson tells them-,

"Around the radiant fireplace enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm."

There are reprints of this book for sale online for ridiculous prices - $40.00 to $60.00 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble respectively. It would cost much less to print and bind the book yourself with brads! Even better, read it for free online or download it to your PC or laptop.

Free Academic Preschool- Kindergarten Printables

Childcareland.com has many free letter, shapes, numbers, language, and matching hands-on printables which you can cut and paste onto cardboard. You can certainly find free letters and shapes off old food boxes and other print media to cut out on your own(no need for a printer), but if you'd rather have it all laid out for you, this is quick and easy.

By the way, a laser printer rather than an ink jet printer really is the least expensive way to go for low printing costs in the long run. I got an inexpensive rebuilt b/w laser printer online, the one recommended by Robinson Homeschooling. I've had this for almost two years, and still haven't had to purchase a new drum, and I do a moderate amount of printing.

Free paper: My husband brings home recycled paper from work, and I use the blank side for printing. Just place it print side up in the printer tray and it will print on the blank side.

I printed out these free learning printables(pictured above), pasted them on the back of frozen pizza boxes, cut them out, and used recycled bill envelopes for the pockets to hold loose pieces. I had my daughter do some of this in order to help her learn to cut and paste. For the letter matching boards, I pasted and taped pockets on the back and front. The cardboard is difficult to cut with small scissors. Get yourself a pair of heavy duty scissors to cut the glued cardboard pieces, or you'll end up with sore hands.

My favorite is the shape matching game, but my daughter likes matching and sorting the letters. So far I've only done the upper case letters, but they do have lower case printable sheets for file folder learning. I think the letter sheets are suppose to be glued into a manila folder, holed punched and put in a ring binder, but I did it my own way. My three year old action oriented daughter would have just ripped these out, so I modified them into a board game-like presentation.

Here's the template for the elephant(from my picture) which can be printed, cut and pasted together. There are eleven pieces for the child to match together from the picture. This was from First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts. I used this site with my son, many moons ago.

I store all these homemade educational items in recycled dry food boxes which can be decoupaged if you have the time, or if your little ones are so inclined. It's a great way to learn fine motor skills - learning to use scissors can be a real challenge. My daughter has picked it up fast, but my son took forever to learn to use the scissors.

I've also found some printable puzzles online. These are fun to print, color, cut and paste onto cardboard for an instant homemade puzzle. The pieces are really big, so it's not like a jigsaw puzzle. It helps teach visual/spatial thinking skills for the preschoolers - good pre-math skill builder as well. It's not pictured here, but we did a little three piece duck when my daughter was younger. I put a little yarn bow around it's neck - too cute, but she keep pulling it off. Maybe I'll teach her to tie it back on!

So save light cardboard boxes from your dry goods, old envelopes, and paper that is blank on one side, and you've got most of what you'll need for an almost free preschool-kindergarten! Free preschool websites will guide you in content, and you can improvise off of this.

Crafting your own preschool materials is a bit time consuming, but if you have your children help, it does double duty as teaching fine motor skills. I'm all for efficiency, what mom doesn't want the shortest route from A to B, so I do use those big fat $5.00 preschool workbooks(huge value!) for Walmart, and educational hands-on games from the Dollar Tree. They work just as well to teach, but when I make the time, crafting the materials is very satisfying and relaxing. There is nothing like something handmade to personalize the educational experience and make warm memories.

Not all printables but, here is a nice link farm for children's free educational games and activities.

Reusing Christmas Gift Wrap Paper

Ideas for reusing gift wrap paper:

- Shred it to use in gift baskets

- Cut out areas that are still in good shape to reuse with smaller gifts

- Use it for craft projects such as this fan ornament

- Shred for compost or mulch in the garden

- Turn it into a Christmas card

- Shred and use as packing filler

- Recycle your gift wrap into thank you cards

- Shred and use it to line your recycling bin to catch run off

- Shred and use for cooking oil and grease disposal

- Cut it up in small rectangles for scratch paper, hole punch it, and pull a ribbon through it. Reinforce it with some recycled gift box cardboard as the bottom page. Great for beside the phone.

- Make paper chains, snow flakes, wrapping paper stars, or lucky stars

- Make a wrapping paper book mark

- Make a New Years party hat from your Christmas wrapping paper and cardboard gift boxes

- Use the odd sized ripped paper for decoupage and mosaic ornaments

- Make paper bows

- Wad into cardboard paper towel tubes for fire starters(fire place)

- Use it for origami

Got any more ideas?

Flu and Cold Season: Benefits of Grapefruit Seed Extract

I use very little in the way of homeopathic remedies because they rarely work for me, but one thing which has worked over the years is grapefruit seed extract or GSE. I used to get these horrible sinus infections every time I got a cold, and my colds would drag out for weeks. I suffered from these debilitating viruses ever since college. I think it was the stress, lack of rest, and germy environments.

I was missing a lot of work, and dragging through the winters pumped up on antibiotics after my viruses turned septic. Something was wrong, and I wasn't willing to change the employment situation, so I read about the immunoboosting properties of GSE in a magazine. I bought some and used about 15 drops twice a day in my orange juice. It really helped stave off infections. I still had the bad colds, but I was less likely to go to antibiotics for secondary infections. I turned my MIL onto it as well.

Since I got married and quit my job, I have been much more healthy! Apparently the single childless life and working outside the home was making me sick. I seem to be more in my element physically and mentally as a stay at home mom. I still get colds, but now I can almost avoid them with the GSE. This last time when the family got sick with colds, all I got was a little sore throat for a day while taking the GSE.

Here are some of the supposed benefits of taking GSE internally. GSE can be found at Walmart, Kmart, etc. in the vitamin aisle:

- antibacterial(bacteriostatic)
- antifungal
- antiprotozoan
- antiviral


Other uses:

- Additive to beauty products much like Tea-tree oil(Antiseptic, Disinfectant)

Because of it's antibacterial properties, I add it to my homemade moisturizer(virgin olive oil) which is especially helpful with blemish control. I think it also has antioxidant(anti-aging) benefits.

- Insect and fungi control for plants

- Additive to natural cleaners to control mold and disinfect.

Controversy:

Weighing on the safety controversy of GSE: Grapefruit Seed Extract Preservative — Safe for Homemade and Natural Products?

Personally, I have not had a problem with the NutriBiotics brand, and only recently learned about tests which revealed potentially harmful chemical residue(when taken internally).

Nutriteam responses to criticisms and more pro-GSE discussion here.

I'm not sure who to believe, but I did find GSE at Mountain Rose Herbs which claims to be free of harmful additives/residues. They are a certified organic processor through Oregon Tilth which is fully accredited with the USDA National Organic Program. I'll be buying from them in the future, just to be on the safe side.

A few blogs(see comments at links as well) mentioning the efficacy of GSE for home and health:

Angry Chicken - deodorant

Clark Chatter - immunoboost

Urban Mommas- Thrush

Kickboxing Mama - home and health(nice list)

Wisebread - home cleaning

Autumn's Attic - Cold virus

Handprints on the Wall - Produce Spray

I wouldn't use GSE in place of prescription medication. I would use it as a supplement like you would vitamins or chicken soup(Occillococinum). It's not an antibiotic, but reportedly has these properties. I can only say it has worked well for myself as a supplement.

Free Vintage Lesson Plan and Story: Anderson's The Fir Tree

From Primary Education, published in 1920, free and in public domain. Simply left click on the pages at the links, select "view image", print preview, adjust to desired size, and print. Page one and page two .

These lessons are appropriate for early elementary school students.

Shell Garlands and Ornaments

I'm still stringing these shells onto twine for a shell garland. I got glitter spray paint for the shells this year. I'm not sure if I like it better or not. I usually use decoupage glue(watered down white glue) to adhere the extra fine glitter onto the shell, and then seal it with clear spray paint. The glitter spray is much lighter than the glue and extra fine glitter. In fact, I can barely notice it, so I put painted a light layer of the decoupage glue onto the shells as an extra adherent in order to get a bit more coverage with the glitter.

These shell garlands are so easy to make. I sit at the kitchen table and drill holes into the shells on a little piece of scrap wood. It's very quick and the results are good as long as you don't press down hard while drilling. I've broken more than one shell pushing down hard while drilling. I even made a pair of shell earrings from some iridescent flat shells. They slid easily on top of a small pair of oval loop earrings, right over the existing hanging stone.

A few of the larger shells ended up as ornaments, especially the large pieces of gray coral and barnacles which where so pretty with gold and iridescent glitter. The coral and barnacles had natural holes for the hangers. They are too difficult for me to drill.

Saint Nicholas Day Cookies, Stories and Coloring Pages

Saint Nicholas Day is this Saturday. Because both my husband and I come from a German background, we follow family tradition and put shoes by the front door on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day which gets filled with goodies for the children. Read more about Saint Nicholas and Saint Nicholas Day traditions at the St. Nicholas Center.

Here's a nice cookie recipe for Speculaas cookies.

Coloring pages of Saint Nicholas.

Printable childrens stories

This is a beautifully illustrated childrens picture book of Saint Nicholas. We checked this one out from the library a few years ago:


I haven't read this one yet but it has two glowing reviews:


You can read an excerpt; I noticed in the excerpt that a painting by Fra Angelico is mentioned. It appears that classic paintings are used to illustrate this text. This looks really good.

A history of St. Nicholas of Myra, free and in public domain.

Excerpt: "While knighthood had its St. George, serfhood had its St. Nicholas. He was emphatically the saint of the people ; the bourgeois saint invoked by the peaceable citizen, by the labourer who toiled for his daily bread, by the merchant who traded from shore to shore, by the mariner struggling with the stormy ocean. He was the protector of the weak against the strong, of the poor against the rich, of the captive, the prisoner, the slave ; he was the guardian of young marriageable maidens, of schoolboys,and especially of the orphan poor. In Russia, Greece, and throughout all Catholic Europe, children are still taught to reverence St. Nicholas, and to consider themselves as placed under his peculiar care : if they are good, docile, and attentive to their studies, St. Nicholas, on the eve of his festival, will graciously fill their cap or their stocking with dainties ; while he has, as certainly, a rod in pickle for the idle and unruly."

Homeschooling: Free Children's Winter Art Lesson

Kathy the art teacher has a nice winter art lesson, Tinted Christmas Tree Painting for children. Click here for directions for this pretty winter scene.

Homeschooling: Vintage Nature Stories for Kindergarten - Second Grade

The Baldwin Project now has over 500 free vintage children's ebooks, all are educational either as classic fiction or non-fiction. They are not downloadable, but can be cross referenced at either Google Books, Project Gutenberg, or with a Google search. Both Google Books and Project Gutenberg allow for free downloads. The Baldwin Project ebooks can be copied, pasted, and printed for personal use only. See Terms of Use.

The Baldwin Project has reprinted many of these classic texts under Yesterday's Classics publishers. I've purchased a few via Amazonand Barnes & Noble with gift cards. Take advantage of the holiday promotional discounts if you use a credit card or Paypal. I read that Paypal is offering a 30% off coupon beginning 12/1/08. Barnes & Noble has got some good ones as well.

I noticed that they have a really nice set of nature story books by Clara Dillingham Pierson:

"If you have been looking for nature stories to read to your kindergarten age child, look no further! Clara Dillingham Pierson, a Froebel kindergarten teacher in Michigan at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, has written a lovely series of nature stories ideally suited for children ages 4 to 7. Each chapter offers the story of one animal interacting with other animals in its community."

Among the Forest People
Among the Meadow People
Among the Night People
Among the Pond People

These are so cute; I wish I had known about them when my son was younger, but I'll use them with my daughter's science curriculum.

Here are the free etexts at The Baldwin Project for the above books.

They do need volunteers for editing new texts. Click here if you can lend your time to these free resources.

Elementary School Beginning Book Report Helps Using Free Online Resources

My ten year old son is developing writing skills. Today his lesson in Climbing to Good English by Schoolaid(an inexpensive Amish/Conservative Mennonite publisher) required him to choose a topic, find information, and follow the steps to writing notes. We use Rod & Staff for our primary English lessons, but Climbing to Good English rounds out his English curriculum with added writing practice and review.

We don't have encyclopedias at home because they clutter up the place, and it is just as easy to find information online. Today we used our online homeschooling library and found two short stories about our topic which were perfect! I used the search engine at my Google Books library link, and browsed the science topic area at my online library blog, Happy Hearts Homeschooling Library. Ds chose polar bears for his topic with two simple questions on which to take notes: what do they look like and what do they eat. We only used one text, but I'll pass on the other in case anyone needs it.

Here are the two vintage texts:

Appleton's The Third Grade Reader, 1910: The White Bear(used for today's lesson). Not on grade level, but concise enough to learn the point of the lesson.

Primary Education, 1914, The Silver King of the New York Zoo.

How to print pages: right click on image of the page, view image, print preview, adjust to desired size and print. Links have been defaulted by me to HTML for printing and saving. Pages will not save or print in standard mode. The page mode change is to the right on the sidebar at links.

Free Thanksgiving ebook: Mary of Plymouth by James Otis

Free and in public domain via Google Books, ages 8-12. Fully downloadable, switch to HTML on sidebar at link in order to print specific pages or save images of pages. Click here.



Summary from The Lost Classics:

"Little Mary and the Pilgrims come to an America today’s children would not recognize. Desolate and cold, there are no homes, no churches, no stores, no crops, no livestock. How did the Pilgrims build homes in the bitter cold of a New England winter? What did they eat? How did they construct a fireplace with no bricks? What did they use to make candles and eating utensils? What about elections…church services…Indians…table manners…cooking…new foods? It’s all here in fascinating detail.

Mary of Plymouth is a story as instructive as it is appealing. A story sure to awaken your children’s curiosity about their country’s history."

HT to Pawpaw Holler Home.

DIY: Cat Bedding Box and Cat Ladder

Today my husband and I worked on making a nice cat safe area away from the dog. They get along mostly, but the cat gets weirded out by the dog's barking, and runs to the top of our entertainment center in the den.

I decided the poor cat need a nice getaway with a ladder. We went to Home Depot and picked up a 12 foot 2x4 rough pine board for the stairs, and some thinner wide pine boards( about 3/4x7) for the cat box walls. We got a small sheet of pressed board for the floor of the cat bed. We looked for the most inexpensive wood, between $3.00 and $5.00 a piece. Also used were some really long drywall screws that we had on hand, a circular saw for the pine wood, an Exacto knife for the pressed board, and a staple gun for the pressed board floor.

~~~~Directions~~~~

Cat box 19 inches x 23 inches for medium- large sized cat: Cut wood to length, two 19 inch, and two 22 inch. Overlap sides, screw all sides together at edges into a rectangle. Trace outline of box onto the pressed board for the floor, and cut to size with Exacto knife. Staple gun floor to the box edges and you are done! This size will fit a single size bed pillow. Bed pillows with cases are easy to remove and clean. (Directions are for regular box. Our cat needed an open end to get to his food next to his cat box, so ours was a three sided box).

Stairs: Cut 2x4 to desired length, cut remaining board to three inch lengths, space them along board at about one every 8-9 inches. Screw these onto the 2x4 from the back and place at an angle for cat to use as a ladder. We screwed the ladder into the side of entertainment center. We also had to staple gun the box from the inside to the entertainment center so that it wouldn't slide off.

There you go, a rough carpentry project for beginners.

The entertainment center was made with rough pine boards as well. We've had these for a few years, and they are very stable with the heavy television, and have held up through all the bumps and rough treatment from children and pets. We custom made three of these(side by side) to fit the area, along with sliding toy chests which slide underneath the first shelf. Nothing fancy, but it works for storage and clutter control.

See more projects at the Make-it-from Scratch carnival.

Free Literature Based Unit Study(Lapbook): The Girl in the Rag Coat by Lauren Mill

From CurrClick:

"Imagine wearing a coat made from rags. Probably doesn’t sound like something you would see in the latest fashion magazine! Now imagine you are a little girl without a coat and you are given one made with scraps of fabric that played a role in the lives of many of your friends and family. It would be like wrapping yourself in a warm quilt each day. Learn more about this little girl and her rag coat when you read the heartwarming story, “The Rag Coat” by Lauren Mills and complete our newest Project Pack, “The Girl in the Rag Coat.” In this Project Pack, you will find a 6 page guide dedicated to the story, including questions to ask your student, a mini-research guide about quilting, coal mining, Appalachia, and a vocabulary list. Next, you will find 24 hands-on activities that correspond to the story and the guide. What a great way to wrap up your winter studies, with our newest Literature Unit, The Girl in the Rag Coat."

Click here for free download. Grades K-3.

2009 Update: this is no longer free.

Free Vintage Holiday Clipart

Click here. HT to Redbud's Lane.

Recycling: Chic Crafting with Oyster Shells

We live near the beach where the most common shell is the oyster shell. The oyster just happens to be our state's official shell. I like the ones off the beach because they have been rolled smooth and clean by the sea, not to mention the exercise and relaxation gained by hunting for them. If you have access to these shells, there are some creative ideas which blend well with cottage/bungalow chic or the shabby decorating style:

Christmas ornaments: Drill a hole in them and hang them on your Christmas tree. These are even more beautiful under the twinkly lights if you paint them with decoupage type glue(watered down Elmer's) and sprinkle with white glitter. I sprayed mine with a clear paint to seal the glitter.

Oyster shell mosaic tables. I saw this in the most recent Allposter.com catalog. All you need is some tile grout and shells. This could be done on just about anything. See the oyster shell fireplace front for another mosaic idea , click to enlarge.



Shell jewelry is always fun. I look for flat small oyster shells(or pieces which have been worn smooth by the sea) with natural holes(or drill your own hole) and string them through a silver chain. You can dress up earrings this way as well, just slide them on to hoop earrings. Limpets are good for this as well.

Click here to see an all white oval shell mosaic mirror done mostly with oyster shells.

Finial Dressing: Shells look very pretty knotted on long ribbons which hang off the curtain rod finals. I've done this in the past with an oyster shell at the bottom.

Garlands: use parts of oyster shells that you find on the beach, drill holes in them and knot them along a long ribbon. In our first apartment, I strung the shells along white, creme and pale pink satin ribbon, very pretty. I don't have a picture of them, but I found this picture of a cowrie shell garland.

I've also done wreaths with oyster shells, used them as candle holders for tea light candles, and as soap holders(drill holes for drainage) . These shells would be beautiful grouted onto a wood cross using driftwood(straight and nailed together) or cut plywood. Whatever you do with the shells, they look better with a shabby chic edge; pair them and craft them with weathered and white items. If you start combining unnatural colors with them they just end up looking like garish elementary school craft items, and maybe not so chic.

Here's an idea from Catholic Traditions in Crafts, Baptismal Shell.

A Marian Grotto that you could reproduce with shells.

Religious symbolism: "Clam shells, scallop shells, and other types of shells are a symbol of a person's Christian pilgrimage or journey through life and of baptism in the church. In the middle ages, Christians wore the scallop shell to indicate that they had made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella in Spain. Placing a shell on a gravestone when visiting the site is an ancient custom and may in fact have several different meanings depending on the cultural background of the people placing the shells. The idea of crossing over a body of water to the promised land or crossing the River of Styx to the afterlife, the final journey to the "other side" is also part of the symbolism of the shell." ~ Assoc. for Gravestone Studies.

Shells are also symbols of life and resurrection, and baptism. The water of the ocean is symbolic of God's unlimited knowledge.

Shells always remind me of grottoes and the 18th century Rococo style(a combination of the French rocaille, or shell, and the Italian barocco, or Baroque style)' one of my favorite design styles. Rococo has a love of shell-like curves.


Shell lined grotto in England, Goldney Hall.

Homeschool: Free Printable and Downloadable Vintage Children'sThanksgiving Stories

All are free and in public domain. They should be defaulted to HTML, but if not use the sidebar(once you begin reading the book) to change to HTML if you want to print pages. Right click on the image of the page to prompt your computer for menu to print.

Good Stories for Great Holidays by Frances Jenkins Olcott, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914. Click here. Contents:
For grades 1-4
A Thanksgiving Dinner, in White, When Molly was Six;
The Chestnut Boys, in Poulsson, In the Child's World; The
First Thanksgiving Day, in Wiggin and Smith, Story Hour;
The Marriage of Mondahmin, in Judd, Wigwam Stories; The
Turkey's Nest, in Lindsay, More Mother Stories; The Visit,
in Lindsay, More Mother Stories; Turkeys Turning the
Tables, in Howells, Christmas Every Day.
For grades 5-6.
A Dinner That Ran Away, in Miller, Kristy's Surprise
Party; A Mystery in the Kitchen, in Miller, Kristy's Surprise
Party; Ann Mary, Her Two Thanksgivings, in Wilkins,
Young Lueretia; An Old-Time Thanksgiving, in Indian Stories
Retold from St. Nicholas; The Coming of Thanksgiving, and
The Season of Pumpkin Pies, in Warner, Being a Boy; The
Magic Apples, in Brown, In the Days of Giants; St. Francis's
Sermon to the Birds, Longfellow (poem), in Story-Telling
Poems.
For grades 7-8.
An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, Alcott; The First
Thanksgiving Day, Preston (poem), in Story-Telling Poems; The
Night Before Thanksgiving, in Jewett, The Queen's Twin;
The Peace Message (poem), in Stevenson, Poems of Amercan
History; The Turkey Drive, in Sharp, Winter.


The First Book in United States History by Waddy Thompson, fifth grade, very detailed and a bit dry, but not if you enjoy facts. Quiz on page 95, The First Thanksgiving Day in America.

History of the United States for Catholic Schools by Charles Hallan McCarthy(middle school), The First Thanksgiving Day.

English Lessons by Ada Van Stone Harris(advanced fourth grade, fifth grade), Thanksgiving Lessons.

Stories for Every Holiday by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, published by The Abingdon Press, 1918. Primer, beginning reader. The Story of Pilgrims.

TELL ME ANOTHER STORY, read aloud for young children, The First Thanksgiving.

Story Hour Readings by Ernest Clark Hartwell, Thanksgiving Day Proclamations: George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt.

In the Child's World By Emilie Poulsson, A Boston Thanksgiving and How Patty Gave Thanks.

The Childrens̓ Sunday Hour of Story and Song by Sara Bullard Moffatt, Julia Augusta Hidden, The First Thanksgiving.

Poems of American History, by Burton Egbert Stevenson(middle school - high school): The First Thanksgiving Day , The Thanksgiving in Boston, and The First Thanksgiving.

Live Language Lessons by Roscoe Driggs, lessons plans with stories: Third Grade, Fourth grade and Fifth grade.

The Merrill Third Grade Reader by Franklin Benjamin Dye, The First Thanksgiving.

World Stories Retold for Modern Boys and Girls by William James Sly, The Mayflower and The Pilgrims.

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Hélène Adeline Guerber, The First Thanksgiving(middle school).

Standish of Standish by Jane Goodwin Austin, The First Thanksgiving Day of New England(middle school and up).

History Reader for Elementary schools by Lucy Langdon Williams Wilson(about third grade), November Stories.

Primary Education, November 1914 short poems, stories, songs, and cutouts for young children, pages 576 - 580.

Foundation Lessons in English by Oskar Israel Woodley, The First Thanksgiving(middle and high school).

Guide Books to English by Charles Benajah Gilbert(advanced third grade, fourth grade)

Short Stories from American History By Albert Franklin Blaisdell, The First Thanksgiving(late elementary)

Picture Study in Elementary Schools by Williams Wilson, picture study of Boughton's, The Mayflower.

More here and here(quick printables).

Veteran's Day

LOGAN AT PEACH TREE CREEK A VETERAN'S STORY [July 20, 1864]

You know that day at Peach Tree Creek,
When the Rebs with their circling, scorching wall
Of smoke-hid cannon and sweep of flame
Drove in our Hunks, back ! back ! and all
Our toil seemed lost in the storm of shell —
That desperate day McPherson fell!

Our regiment stood in a little glade
Set round with half-grown red oak trees —
An awful place to stand, in full fair sight.
While the minie bullets hummed like bees.
And comrades dropped on either side —
That fearful day McPherson died!

The roar of the battle, steady, stern,
Rung in our ears. Upon our eyes
The belching cannon smoke, the half-hid swing

Of deploying troops, the groans, the cries.
The hoarse commands, the sickening smell —
That blood-red day McPherson fell !

But we stood there ! — when out from the trees,
Out of the smoke and dismay to the right
Burst a rider — His head was bare, his eye
Had a blaze like a lion fain for fight;
His long hair, black as the deepest night.
Streamed out on the wind. And the might Of his plunging horse was a tale to tell, And his voice rang high like a bugle's swell:
"Men, the enemy hem us on every side:
We'll whip 'em yet ! Close up that breach —
Remember your flag — don't give an inch!
The right flank's gaining and soon will reach —
Forward boys, and give 'em hell!" —
Said Logan after McPherson fell.

We laughed and cheered and the red ground shook,
As the general plunged along the line
Through the deadliest rain of screaming shells;
For the sound of his voice refreshed us all,
And we filled the gap like a roaring tide.
And saved the day McPherson died!

But that was twenty years ago.
And part of a horrible dream now past.
For Logan, the lion, the drums throb low
And the flag swings low on the mast:
He has followed his mighty chieftain through
The mist-hung stream, where gray and blue
One color stand,
And North to South extends the hand.
It's right that deeds of war and blood
Should be forgot, but, spite of all,
I think of Logan, now, as he rode
That day across the field: I hear the call
Of his trumpet voice — see the battle shine
In his stern, black eyes, and down the line
Of cheering men I see him ride. As on
the day McPherson died.
~Hamlin Garland

From Poems of American History by Burton Egbert Stevenson, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908. Free and in Public domain.

Holiday Gift Card Deals

Applebee's $50.00 Gift Card $10.00 Bonus: "From November 3^rd through New year’s Day, for every $50 in Gift Cards you buy in one of our restaurants, you’ll get a bonus certificate for $10 more…which you can give to a friend, or keep all to yourself! Just visit our restaurants for details."
More holiday restaurant deals here.

Kmart Gift Cards buy $50 card -- get $10 card FREE

Sears buy $75 Gift Card, get $10 gift card or combine with the Discover deal to get $740 in cards for $600. Sears deal ends today 11/9/08. Discover deal good through 1/4/09. Sears is also have a big Veteran's Day sale through Tuesday. 60% off clothing, 50% of some tools, and 50% off mattresses.