The Eden of Home

Country Cottage, by Joshua Fisher

An interesting  way to make anything worthwhile and beautiful, is to think back to the beginning of time; to the Creation. There are several lessons that can be taught about the Garden of Eden, and taking care of the home is one of them.

The first two chapters of the book of Genesis record the creation of the very first home and family. The description of the beautiful garden, and the couple who lived there, can be an example in creating our own homes, for a number of reasons: It had everything the man and woman needed for living, and to make a living. We assume by its description of the rivers, the precious gems and the flora, that it was also a lovely, pleasant place.

Stephen Darbishire

If God saw fit to create such a lovely place for Adam and Eve, we can, in our limited way, provide a place of beauty and happiness for our own families.  The work of the house can be approached as though it were a special Eden, a reflection of that first home.

Log Cabin Covered Porch, by Sung Kim

 Like the Garden of Eden, the home will  have to be cared for and maintained. Not all of the work will be completely pleasant, and that is why homemakers enjoy the little extras in the home. That is why homemakers are interested in the special touches, from fresh foods and special napkins for the table, to bright cushions and scenic pictures for the living areas. Not all housekeeping will be easy. That is why women are interested in choosing good working tools and cleaning products. Straw brooms, polishes, detergents and storage containers of a certain quality and appearance, become very important in making housekeeping meaningful and uplifting. These little touches create a nice atmosphere in which to work.

Making work worthwhile means that you have to have some kind of vision beyond the current job. You will not just be cleaning up the kitchen or doing the laundry. You will be making life more pleasant for yourself by having this work done. In the short-term scheme of things, you are making life easier for yourself by being able to find things, but in the long term, you will be building a life for yourself that your own generations will one day refer to when they talk about the things you did to make the home more comfortable. If you have children, your attitude will influence them one way or another. These are among the future results of homemaking with thoughtfulness.

On the first day of the Creation, God made the lights. Light is an important factor in homemaking. Choosing curtains that let in soft light, or having a flickering candle on a mantelpiece, is better than working in a gloomy, unlit room. When photographs are made for house magazines, light is the first thing that is prepared, so that the home will be shown at its best.  Small lamps, chosen for their style or sentimental value, positioned in corners and on furniture side pieces can make housekeeping enjoyable.

The second day of creation, the heavens and the waters were separated. Some things belong in one place, and others in another place.  If the earth were all jumbled up in a big mess, we could not function as human beings. Consider the home as a type of creation in the making. You may have to separate things and  create places for them,  to make order.  In a huge mess, begin by placing things that are alike, together in piles and finding a place for them. Books, clothes, toys, and papers, all need to have their own places. This is part of creating order, and making home living enjoyable. 

Arranging Flowers, by Leonard Zorn

 The third day, the dry land, called the earth, appeared, and was separated from all the great bodies of water. On top of that ground, God added green grass and herbs and fruit-bearing trees. The concept of interior home design must have come  from the Creation, because designers  usually take care of the big things first, like the floors, the walls, and the drapery. Then, like the plants added to the earth,  they add the furniture, and lastly, the accessory items of pictures, lamps and other useful or decorative items.

The fourth day, all the different kinds of lights were placed in the heavens--some for day time and some for night time. There are such nice choices for your private Eden of the home: humble curtains that let in light as the morning appears, and pretty lamps with special shades for extra evening light. Soothing, scented candles light the home with memories of simpler times. My favorite scented votive is called birthday cake, which makes a wonderful aroma for the house when stored in decorative containers and left unlit.

Sunshine in the Country, by George Turner

The fifth day, all the living things that could fly or swim, were created. A friend of mine has an old painting of a farm home. In the scene, are animals, with a little creek flowing through the land. Children are playing outside on a home made swing. There are clouds in a blue sky, and daffodils in a flower garden. Although she does not live in the country, this lady's  picture is a reminder of the relationship of the home to the creation. I think it is very good for home makers to remind their families of where life began, by having pictures on their walls, with scenes of the birds of the air and other living things. A small plant or container of flowers brings in fresh scent and gives you a close-up view of nature. If you have things growing outside, try a handful of spearmint stalks, mixed with the humble forget-me-not, which brightens the center of a table and scents the home.

Summer Evening, by Daniel Ridgeway Knight

The sixth day, after creating animals, God created man and woman.  The home was prepared, and now, it was time to put someone in it to care for it. These two people were told to have dominion over the creation. In a similar way, we must have control over the house, so that it can provide the place we need in order to think, to pray and to work. Most people do not have the luxury of outside help from maids and gardeners. That is why it is so important to develop the habit of caring for the home and keeping it orderly. It takes daily attention. There will be interruptions and sick days, but if you have the idea of Eden in your mind, you can always get back on track. 

If you keep in your mind a vision of the reputation you are building for yourself in the future, and the many reasons you want to be a good homemaker, the work does not seem like mere housekeeping. It becomes fulfillment. If you work carefully and enjoy it, rather than rushing around doing it in a hectic manner, it becomes less of a race and more of a gentle walk through your own Eden.

Grandmother's Doorway, by Abbot Fuller Graves

On the seventh day, God rested. Keeping house and doing it enthusiastically can give the homemaker more free time and more opportunities to put her feet up and rest. When everything is in order, there is more time to  seek special creative interests. I often put simple crafts, art projects and sewing on this weblog to show how just a few minutes of creating something special with your hands can lift the mood and result in something beautiful. This same concept can be used in keeping house. You can treat it as a creative work art. These are some of the perks of homemaking. They do not detract from our work, and they enhance the job at  home.

A homemaker wants to make the daily housekeeping a little more interesting.  That is why some of them use motivational things like interesting aprons to protect their clothing, with pockets for lists and found items, special table cloths and table settings, pictures of nature on the walls, floral prints on fabrics used for pillows or blankets, and all the lovely extras that make life at home so enjoyable. Most people are familiar with the film, "The Quiet Man," in which the young woman tells her prospective husband that she must have her things around her, in her house: the household furnishings that belonged to her mother and her grandmother: her table cloths, candlesticks, pictures for the walls, and her dishes.  This is what we still need, today, to make housekeeping enjoyable. If it is just a matter of sweeping the floor and cleaning the bathroom, it cannot be as appealing. When we are surrounded by the small comforts of a hand made blanket and a favorite cup, housekeeping has a different meaning: we are taking care of our own things.

The Family Album, 1869, by Charles Edouard Frere, French (1837-1894)

 We are the caretakers of the family history. We are the ones who keep the photograph albums and make the scrapbooks to record family events. We are the ones who create the special moments for the family. Keeping house so that these things can occur, makes good sense.  Women of the past used to say something like, "Let us get our work done early, and then we can go somewhere," or "Let's get the housework finished and then we can work on our favorite things."

To make housekeeping more enjoyable, try the following things:

Preparing for the next day, by leaving the kitchen clean at night before you retire. It might be possible to try this at least one night a week.

Dressing like a lady the first thing in the morning, and wearing an apron.

Putting a centerpiece on the table, after you have cleared it.

Putting away the dishes after they are washed, and making the kitchen streamlined and clean, as bare of clutter as possible.

Using a matching canister set to store often-used ingredients such as baking supplies or dried soup supplies.

Putting a tea set on display, ready to serve  impromptu visitors.

Folding things to fit the spaces they have to go in.

Laying a special folded towel across the edge of the tub, with a fresh bar of a special hand made soap on it.

Adding a pretty quilt to the top of your couch.

Buy scented candles and place them around the house, especially the laundry room, bathroom and kitchen. Without being lit, they make a wonderful scent for the home when placed in a decorative container and set on a shelf.  

Giving your home and yourself rewards: making a new garment to wear at home, having friends over for a fancy tea, ordering something special for the home, starting a new knitting project you have been wanting to do for years, or working on your photograph album or family memento scrapbook.

Not just cleaning house, but beautifying your living spaces, and thinking about, not just the near future, but the further future of your family.

While these things do take a little extra time, that is one of the purposes of a woman staying home. She has time for things that make her house feel homey and cared for. These are those extra things that calm the spirit and make life at home satisfying and fulfilling.

Paintings on this post can be viewed here.

Due to some setting on this blog that prevents clicking and saving, you might find it difficult to print this article. To print this, highlight and paste on another page, then click print. It may still be possible to download.

For further reading on other homemaking subjects, you might find this site helpful.

Beautiful Cottages

Cottage and Garden

Leisure Craft: Victorian Dress Card From Scrapbook Papers and Trims

Cottage in Derbyshire, by George Turner, British 1843-1910

These cards can be made from medium weight or heavier scrapbook papers, and trimmed with the paper lace that comes in squares, circles and hearts. The buttons on the pink dress are diamond-look stickers. The ones on the left are made by putting green sparkle over drops of white glue. Thin buttons can be used for this, and you can also add some picot ribbon to match, at the hem.

Materials for this project are minimal: fancy paper or card stock, paper lace, stickers.

The template is placed on the fold of the paper. It makes a card just the right size for a long envelope.

It is joined at the sleeve and skirt, on the fold. This is what the card looks like on the inside, when it is opened. You can add extra pages just by making them a little smaller than the skirt section and securing with clear tape.

To make the collars, use the corners of square paper lace or the point of a heart paper lace, or curves of the round paper lace. Glitter glue dots for buttons. Center the neckline of the  card over a corner of paper lace and trace around on to the paper, to get the right shape.

You should be able to print this template by clicking on for a larger view, and printing it.   To make your own template, start by drawing your dress style. Fold the drawing in half, and cut out both layers. Open it up, and it will be even on both sides. Paste to heavy paper or card stock, and you will have a template. Place the left edge of the sleeve and skirt on folded paper or card stock, trace with a pencil, and cut out.

Homestead Craft - Woodsy Fake Cake

This fake cake can be easily made with natural things from the outdoors.

It is covered in bark from the white ash tree, and topped with pine cones. All it needs is a miniature shovel for the slice. The white ash tree bark is very thin, like paper, and peels off easily.

It can be made with silk flowers if preferred. Ingredients needed are: three small stryrofoam rounds (from the dollar store), tree bark, a blank side of a piece of paper, a pen, a serated spatula or a knife with a serated edge,  tacky glue or fabritack, or hot glue. Thin white glue does not dry as fast, but might work.

Trace around the styrofoam round with the pen. If you do not want to buy styrofoam, trying using a short, round box with a lid, and make the cake completely round, with no slice.

Cut out the circle you just traced, and fold it in half, then, in half again. Open it up and cut out one of the fourth sections.

Lay the larger section on top of the rounds, and trace the "V" shape with a pen, digging into the styrofoam a little to make a line to follow.

With the serated edged spatula or knife, slice out the section on each round. Drop big glops of glue all over the inside layers. Glue all three layers of foam together with fabritack or tacky glue. Hot glue works too. This is not a craft for children.

Then, slice off a little less than half of the small sections, as you see here. Glue all three layers together.

With ordinary scissors, or childrens scissors, cut the bark sheets to match the size of the cake, and start gluing them on. White ash has a lot of curly pieces, and you can use them to patch and embellish the cake. Squeeze big drops of glue on to the stryrofoam and then press the bark on it. Cover any edges that have styrofoam still peeking through, with extra curls of white ash bark.

Use the under side of the bark for the inside of the cake, as you see here. The inside is usually a dark brown, while the outside is white.

Place white bark on the ends and widesst side of the slice. Glue the dark side of the bark on to the slice.

In place of pine cones for the top, use whole cinnamon sticks.  Scent the cake with any choice of scented oil.

A friend of mine has decorated her home in a north woods theme. Someone gave her one of these and she has it on her entry table by the front door, where anyone who walks in can get a whiff of the nice aroma. The scent can be refreshed by adding more scented oil or scented spray.  This is a good outdoor craft because you can just let the scraps fall to the ground. It takes about an hour to complete.

Take a look at this real cake, made to look like a birch bark cake.  For more craft cakes, type in "chennille cakes" or "felt cakes" and see the hundreds of creative, hand made things people are doing.

There used to be some McCall's craft books that showed how to make potpourri cakes. The scented fake cakes are very popular now, being seen in show homes and other places where fake food is used. The scent is wonderful for the home.

Things like leaves, cedar branches, or pine cones, could be used in lieu of bark. There might also be some artificial materials such as scrapbook papers, and woodsy decorations, that look just like this.

You may also be interested in this floral scented fake cake.

Daughters at Home

Special Post for Home Taught Daughters

The Letter, 1913, by Thomas Benjamin Kennington, England 1856-1916

God wisely provided mothers to train their daughters at home. A daughter should learn about home making, while standing at the elbow of her mother. 

Mother-Daughter and Teacher-Student Relationship is Important:

There are several things that take place when daughters are taught at home by their own mothers. Firstly, they develop a relationship with the teacher, which is essential in any kind of worthwhile learning. A mother as a teacher is an authority that is tailor-made for the temperament of her children. If she has stayed home with them and nurtured them, discipled them, and taken responsibility to educate them herself, she is superior as a teacher, to anyone else in the world. A mother is a teacher who loves her child better than anyone else, for she has borne her and knows her from the cradle.

The Home Provides Whatever a Daughter Needs to Grow and Develop into a Future Wife, Mother and Homemaker:

Home is the best place for daughters, and there is nothing anyone else can provide for them that is greater than their home life. The colleges can't give them what they really need, physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

 The military cannot give young women what they need to keep their marriages together and their children obedient and loyal.

 Careers cannot give women the skills they need for home making. Any knowledge that these places claim you need, whether it be from the military or workplace, can be attained in other ways, if it is really needed.

 Ministries are often large youth groups, where daughters are used for washing dishes and sweeping floors--work they could be doing at home, to help their own mothers. Though many claim that they are "counselling" or teaching younger people, they would still be better off under the care of their own families, rather than working in someone else's ministry. Ministries can be worse than the work place, in that they rarely pay the young volunteers.  Parents often send money to support them while away from home. 

 These institutions do not support us in the belief that our daughters are raised to become wives, mothers and homemakers and should be home, practicing for that career. We must, therefore, stop expecting that any agency or person in the world outside of the home can provide the things our daughters need for life and godliness. 

 As soon as a daughter reaches her teen years, it will seem like everyone has their hand out, beckoning to her to come and join them in college, at work, the military, ministry, and apartment living with friends.  These people want your daughter because they can profit from her in some way. If a daughter has learned from her  mother  to enjoy home making, she will have no trouble resisting the friends and relatives and church members who want her to leave home.

Rest by the Pool, by Friedrich Peter Hiddeman, Germany 1829-1892

Homemaking is a Spiritual Thing, Not Just a Mechanical Thing:

 Daughters need to know that anyone can wash a dish or sweep a floor, but it takes a heart of love and concern for the family to become a real home maker. If home making is just a mechanical cleaning of sinks and cooking necessary meals, the heart of it is lost.

Study the Old Paths, See What the Good Walk Is:

Think about the things that produced a feeling of home, sweet home, in the past. It was the mother making homey things: sewing thoughtfully for her family's needs, and making her own table cloth and matching curtains. It was the daughters taking tea on a tray to a guest. It was the grandmothers who tended pretty flower gardens, which grown men can still remember in detail.  It was the women who sat in a chair with her feet on a small stool, contentedly knitting, while her husband and children were around her.

Taylor Caldwell remembered the scene of her Aunt Polly's home: "I would visit Aunt Polly for the soothing joy of being in a real home, among soft voices and gentle music, among fragrances and graciousness, topping it off with a real British tea..."

We go into the past because there we find a record of many things that women did when women's place was proudly in the home.  Things that factories produce today, women did at home to show their love for their families. Things like handkerchiefs, socks, shawls, sweaters, embroidered cushions, wall pockets, plant boxes, dish cloths, soap, aprons, painted plates, and much more, were lovingly hand made. Tables were lovingly set with plates and cutlery, adorned by hand made napkins. It was not so much the material things that made the house a home, but those humble touches, which made the memories, which made the home feel so differently than it does in our fast-paced world.


One reason I place the 18th century paintings here, is for a peer into the work and leisure time of families, when the women were home focused. 

Home is a Place of Freedom to Develop Interests:

The Home Quartet, 1882, Mrs. Lushington and Her Daughters, by Arthur Hughes, English 1832-1915

Home is the best place for grown daughters to develop talents. No other place can provide the kind of atmosphere and encouragement needed to pursue her different interests.  I have seen the productiveness of daughters at home. There, they are free to make a beautiful quilt, sew a pretty dress, design a scrapbook to display family memories, make cards and gift-baskets.  Music is a wonderful by-product of daughters at home. I have heard sisters sing in harmony while washing dishes. I know women whose homes have that wonderful, homey feeling, because of the talent of their daughters.  There is more time at home to perfect these talents.

A Daughter's Presence Warms the Home:

Many women can recall the bleakness of the neighborhood when women went to work, en-masse.  Going for walks was a cold and lonely experience, when passing darkened houses with no homemakers to light the home.  Daughters at home make it a bright, homey place just by being their for their Papas and Mamas, to provide a pot of tea and serve a snack. I know some girls who are not particularly interested in hobbies, like painting or other arts, but they love to keep house. They get their buzz from seeing a clean floor or a polished table; a cooked meal and a freshly arranged bouquet of garden flowers on the coffee table. There is nothing wrong with that. They will always be happy, as long as there is house work to do. Others find some kinds of work tiring, and will need to have the perks of fancy work or pursue artistic and musical interests.  It does not matter, as long as they know that the care of the family and the keeping of the home is what God expects of them. To neglect it is to put God's Word in a bad light.

The Test, by Thomas Armstrong, British 1831-1911

The Privacy of Home:

It is important for daughters to be at home to protect their own  privacy. At college, a work place, in an apartment with other girls, in the military, and even in a ministry, there is gossip and false teaching. Remember that the world does not support the real needs of the young woman who has been taught to pursue the Biblical excellence of being a wife, mother and homemaker.  If she has been taught these things, there is no reason for her to leave home, except to go into her own home some day when she gets married.

No Need to Ask, "What Will I Do Now That I'm Grown?"

If a daughter has eagerly developed the art of homemaking, there is no need for her, or her mother, to ever ask the question, "Now that I have finished my home education, what should I do? " for she will be busily putting to practice the many things that she has learned. Grown daughters can now let their mothers rest and re-create with their own past times, by doing much of the housekeeping. 

Colleges cost a good deal of money, and even the scholarships are not completely free. The little it prepares a girl for a long-lasting marriage and the skills to have a stable home life, it would be better to use the money, if the parents have it, to give to her at her wedding, to help with a down payment on a house.

News From the Front, by Alexander Rossi, Italian, 1870-1903

Look to the Homes, to Find the Wives:

Men who are looking for wives, should inquire of parents if they know of any parents with daughters at home. College, the work place, the military, and sorrowfully, even churches, are not providing the kind of women whose goal is to get married and raise up a generation for the Lord. If you are a man, hoping to find a homemaker for a wife, you will not likely meet her at work, because she will be home with her mother. This is the training ground for future wives. The college is not. The military is not. The workplace is not, nor are ministries or apartment-sharing friends.  Women who are learning to be wives, mothers and homemakers, will be at home, helping their mothers, until they are in their own homes with their own families. Young women who have been home, caring for her own family, will adjust more easily to caring for their husbands in their own homes. They will have had the training and the practice that makes it natural and easy to be contented at home.

Expect Insults and Intimidation:

Home is where God put the family. There are forces that have always worked to destroy the home, so that children will no longer respect their parents and follow their guidance. We should always hold on to high standards regarding the responsibility toward daughters. The rest of the world does not think this is "healthy" and wants to separate these young girls from the care and protection of their fathers and mothers, to get them under the control of colleges, employers, captains, ministers, and friends.

 God placed parents in their lives for more than just feeding and clothing them and teaching them up to a certain age. As parents grow older, they become more wise and wary of the snares of the world, and are able to advise their daughters better than anyone else. You can expect a lot of resistance to your beliefs, so do not be astonished at the tactics that are used to intimidate you. 

Those Phrases:

Such phrases as: "Don't you think your daughter is old enough to decide for herself" really mean, "I want to decide for your daughter. College recruiters want to decide for your daughter. The military wants to decide. The ministry wants to decide." When you hear phrases like that, you know that they are trying to get the daughters out from under the teachings of their parents, and get them in their college, their factory, their office, their army, their ministry, and their apartment. No one decides for themselves. Either they decide the way they are taught, or the way someone else has taught. There is nothing new under the sun,

Another phrase, "It is none of your business, now that she is 18" is designed to put you off so that they may insert their agenda for your daughter. They say it is none of the parents business, but they are making it their own business. The Bible says to train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  The college recruiters (usually a handsome young man recruiting young women, and a pretty young woman recruiting the men) do not believe that your daughter should  continue in the homemaking way she was trained. The military does not want her to stay home and follow the way she was taught; the ministries do not support the family in their efforts to teach their daughters to be keepers at home; the workplace will not reinforce the way she should go. They are all telling her to depart from it.   There is no substitute for the government of the home. It is mighty. It produces sons and daughters that marry, have children, practice a religion, make a homelife, and teach their own children to do the same. The family has a right to train up their children in their own beliefs. The world does not think the grown children should continue in the way they were taught. They think they should depart from it.

A Mother's Duty:

 As a parent, you are obligated to guide your daughters into the right way of life. The Bible says that younger women should marry, bear children, and keep house, in that order. The world says that young women should spend their youth in colleges, workplaces, military, ministry and apartments. This is a waste of good womanhood, when it should be used to strengthen the home.

The Bible, The Ultimate Guide:

One can present all kinds of reasons for daughters to be home under the care of their parents, but the Bible is our last stand. There is no example of sending daughters off to work, to the military, to college, or even to ministry, just because they are not married. That is a 20th century plan, and a trend, which needs to be unsettled and thoroughly refuted.

Things Daughters Need to Be Doing:

1. Continuing in the good homemaking habits they have been taught by their parents.
2. Making their parents home a clean and lovely place. A mother with more than one daughter ought to have the nicest, cleanest, prettiest house. A large family should not mean a messier house, if daughters will do the work.
3.Making things for their mothers and her home: clothes, quilts, decorative items. They can also make things to sell, like the Proverbs 31 woman. Remember, she gave her products to the merchant, to sell. She did not sit around all day in a shop.
4. Start getting  curriculum ready for future children.Make Bible lessons for littleones, complete with little illustrative crafts.  Begin a notebook with things in it they might use.
5. Make her wardrobe. If marriage comes suddenly, she will not have time to sew, and if children follow quickly after that, she will be glad she had plenty of clothing.
6. Keep her own room clean enough for it to be a good testimony to her homemaking skills.
7. Learn new skills: ceramics, sewing, knitting, painting, making things from nothing, cooking from basic ingredients and not mixes or cans. 
8. Learn to manage money and to substitute no-cost things, such as making cards and gifts, or making her own curtains.

For further research, some readers might find this of interest:
The Mis-Education of Women
Tooley, British professor of education, takes to task the U.S and British educational systems for succumbing to feminists in the last 30 years and misdirecting young women into early careers instead of marriage and motherhood. The result is what he calls the "Bridget Jones syndrome," young women suddenly realizing they're squandering their prime opportunities to marry and reproduce. Refuting educational policy in the U.S and Britain that promotes gender equality, Tooley argues that boys and girls are different and should be counseled differently on life and career choices. He counters the arguments of famous feminists Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer, and Betty Friedan with Bridget Jones' Diary and vignettes of unhappy young women who have sacrificed personal lives for careers. Echoing Friedan, Tooley announces that the "problem that has no name" is the misdirection of feminism. First published in England to scathing criticism, this book is sure to spark vociferous debate in the U.S. as well. Vanessa Bush

The Ulster Scots

Daniel Ridgeway Knight, 1839-1924

The complete works of Daniel Ridgeway Knight. 

1913 Newspaper: A Warning From the Past

Back From the Common, 1890

An article in the New York Times printed May 12, 1913, warns that the women's movement is a sign of decadence.* A leading lady of the time asserts that the  movement is born of  "a striving for artificial happiness, indicative of an unsettled state of mind." 

 Mrs. Dodge listened to a young woman telling how the manners and morals of men could be improved if women had a greater say in politics. Later that day, she saw this same woman with her friends dressed in revealing and suggestive clothing.  She suggested that women were ludicrous to insist that politics could right the evils of society, and at the same time, dress and behave provocatively.

"We are in the the midst of a remarkable period in our history," she said. "There is more immodesty in dress, more looseness in conversation, and more impropriety in dancing than has ever been known to the American people..." She called it "the lowering of women's ideals in conduct," and went on to say that women have used their liberty as license, and have forgotten their main purpose of guarding the home.

"The suffragist wants to busy herself in the affairs of men, to such an extent that she will make of home only a name.

"We wish to preserve in the home that which is really home--an atmosphere of tenderness and sweetness and gentleness.

"The moment they outrage or destroy or deny the purpose for which they were created, they become shirkers and drones. Mis-directed government is a bad thing...but misdirected sex is a national tragedy, which, if it is not checked, will degenerate the race."

One of the things that stood out to me in this old article was her reference to daughters wanting to get out from under the watchful eye of authorities at home, and what it had led to.  She also mentioned that the reason so many women had gotten away with so much, is that the men were too chivalrous to deny them anything.  In his famous sermon of 1943, "Keeper of the Springs,"  Peter Marshall implored women to rise to the high calling of Biblical womanhood.

The way to make a mass of people believe a lie, is to spin something differently than it is, by the use of what I call word-ology.  A God-given privilege, such as being keepers of the home, is spun as though it is oppression. Women have been led to the trap of the work place by being told that home is a prison where they have no freedom. There is much more freedom in the home, when a woman approaches it as her God-given duty and privilege.

*Decadence: the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities; decay or decline marked by unrestrained gratification; self indulgence; deterioration in art, literature, music, conduct and civility with no sense of responsibility.

Framed Cards

Home Sweet Home

Before wall art was so abundant and inexpensive, post cards and cards were often framed to provide pretty pictures in the house.  I have removed the glass from these frames because the pictures look better without the glare, but if you need to protect your picture better, you can use the glass. Clean it with window cleaner and dry with a towel when you take your frame apart. The picture above is a post card copied on the copier on to card stock, and then the palest part of the rose petal edges are high lighted with clear, sparkled glue. 

A tiny gift card is worth saving and put into a small dollar store frame. The art on this card just happens to be a print of Victorian artist.

With a few dabs of clear glue, it looks like rain on the roses.

Stickers saved for something special can be used with a small frame.

Place stickers or small clippings on textured card stock.

This is a good way to use stickers or scrap art that seems too special to use.

This is the same kind of card I used yesterday for the dimensional card. It fit this dollar store frame perfectly. Use old frames again, and change pictures as often as you like.  There is no end to the things you can frame. Try making scrap book type pictures of your own, using clip art and small things, such as buttons, keys, and papers.

Creativity Causes Contentment

One reason to include creative things in your life, is to gain contentment.

 If you are creative, you can make anything you want, with very little cost.

Take a few minutes each day and make something beautiful.

Dimensional Cards

Roses, by George Dunlop Leslie

To make the beautiful dimensional art, common during the Victorian era, all that is needed is a package of cards from your local dollar store, or two inexpensive cards that are exactly the same, some glitter glue, and some dimensional tape. Rolled, clear tape, or folded paper can substitute for dimensional foam tape. Instead of commercial cards, you could rubber stamp and emboss two cards alike, for this craft.

On the left, cut out the roses from one card. On the right, cut out the right side outline of the flowers, as shown.

Next, using dimensional tape or rolled clear tape, place the roses on top of the other roses on the card, so that they looked slightly raised. It is hard to tell on the above photograph, but you can see the shadows where the roses are mounted on the picture.

Use your glitter glue and then add some extra sprinkles of sparkle, if you like. I have used the mica flakes on this one.

A view from the side to show the dimensional effect. Try this with a Victorian picture like the one at the top of this page.

Either people absolutely love getting bright cards in the mail, or people are crazy about buying them, because, if you go to any store that sells cards, there are a lot of people standing in that aisle studying the cards. Cards are really a premium product, and many of them today seem to imitate the hand made card. So, if you make some cards, you know they are very much appreciated. 

George Dunlop Leslie (British, 1835-1921)

Home, Sweet Home (detail)

Giclee Print

Leslie, George...

Buy at AllPosters.com






Roses


Giclee Print

Leslie, George...

Buy at AllPosters.com

Dimensional Cards