Creation or Natural Coincidence?

Take a look at this aircraft cabin for a minute... 

It takes a lot of genius, planning, technology,
and wisdom to build such a marvel, wouldn't you say?

If someone said that the aircraft and its cabin were not planned... they just existed... by themselves... or by chance... or by coincidence... how would you react? How would the engineers and designers and scientists that built it react?

Now let's consider these wonders...  

My Bible Marking System

I will just tell you right off the bat that I am big on organization. Now, what does that have to do with highlighting in your Bible? Well, if you use any color to highlight any verse here there and everywhere with no logic behind it, or if you underline verses here there and everywhere that have to do with this that and the other, then you will have a very written-in Bible, but it won't serve you as well as it could. So, what I'd like to suggest is that the next time you get a new Bible, it's a great time to re-think your Bible Marking System! If you were to mark certain themes in a certain way or color, it makes it easier to find verses you've marked, and helps you to glance at a the page and know what themes are talked about. You'll see what I mean in a minute... let's just dive in.

First off, ditch the highlighters! They are unstable ink (they'll bleed through the page or mess up over the years). Second, get yourself some colored pencils for underlining. I've tried various bible markers, including the chalky type special Bible highlighters and other stuff that's geared specially for Bible marking, but colored pencils are the way to go. If you get a good little set, you'll have a variety of different colors that you can use for various different subjects, and since they're pencils, you can erase the occasional line that goes askew. Or the one that your one-and-a-half-year-old drew after watching Mommy do it.

Featured Readers!

I wanted to share a couple of the recent pictures I've received from readers who have made some of the projects on my site! Here we go:

Shona Mason used my Bible Cover sewing tutorial to make two pretty bible covers using an assortment of recycled fabric pieces! She didn't use a serger so she cut extra lining and folded it around the inner seams and hand-stitched them for a smooth finish. Here they are:

Sarah S. used my DIY Baby's Sleep Sack tutorial to make a sleep sack for her son. She wrote me back, glad for the  "super easy sleep sack pattern". She's a beginning seamstress and thought it was very easy to make. Here's hers, modeled by her sweet little Sammy: 

Thanks for sharing Shona and Sarah!

DIY Ponybead Suncatchers

This is such an easy way to make cute, surprisingly hardy little sun catchers. We made a couple of these last year and then made a couple more in our recent Kindergarten unit, "S is for Sun."

To make them yourself, you need some transparent pony beads, which look like this: 

S is for Sun

Well, we started Kindergarten, and someone is pretty excited!

Besides phonics and Right Start Math, we learned all about the sun and studied how Jesus is the light of the world. Here are a couple fun highlights...

We practiced the letter S in shaving cream, to make the boys smell good and clean my patio table, which was a fun and non-frustrating way for him to practice writing and re-writing a tricky letter. It was the first time he's been able to consistently make his S's face forward instead of backward.

Smurfy Tan & a Revamped Swingset!

My husband and I did a little revamping earlier this summer on this ugly, rusted, icky old swing set.

Update Your Links :)

I know you're all dying to know what I've been doing lately. The very most lately, I've been transferring my website content from a webhost I had to pay for, and moving it over to blogger (which is free). You can still get here by going to www.tracystreasury.com BUT... your favorite projects and posts that you may have bookmarked or pinned on Pinterest will need an updated link. Don't hate me.

I know you guys are cream of the crop, so I hope you won't mind this little hiccup in our relationship as I get things smoothed out over here. And if you REALLY love me, please comment on and re-pin pages you may have already since their location has changed and I unfortunately lost the comments from my old site.

Click below where you can:

• Browse my Do-It-Yourself Posts & Tutorials
• Find oodles of Home School Resources
• Use my favorite Christian Resources
• Read a couple of my favorite Dr. Mom Resources. 

THANKS! You're the BEST!!!!!! :) :) :)

I'm moving my website content to BLOGGER!

It may seem a little backwards, but after building my website and having it hosted independently, I've decided to move it over here to Blogger. (I think most people do the opposite... they start with Blogger, then decide to move elsewhere.) I realize that I'll be losing comments, links & pins, but hopefully it will survive the transition anyway. If you're wondering why I'm moving my site here it's pretty simple- because Blogger is free. And although I didn't start my site as a blog, I'm hoping that maybe it will benefit from the blog format, since that's more familiar to most people to navigate through. We'll see! :)

I'm waiting to move my subscribed readers over to the new site until I've got all my content posted so there's not an explosion of old posts to your inboxes :)  See you soon!

Hanging Baskets for Art Supplies

 Here's how I finally got our art supplies cutely organized and accessible... 

Box Crate Book Shelves Tutorial

This little project came about because we had more books than shelf for a while and I wasn't finding something I liked at the store. I didn't really think bookshelves were in the realm of my DIY capabilities, but it turns out I was mistaken. This fun little boy bookshelf is a combination of my desperation + four box crates + RIT dye (of all things). I love that you can still see the grain of the wood, and they have some spunk to them for a kid's room. 

Happy Hineys! (Tutorial for fabulous waterproof changing pads)

With a title like that, you gotta know you're in for a treat! Today's project was crafted for my newest nephew, Jeremiah. Isn't he just a doll? 

Today I'm sharing the tutorial for what I made him, and what every mama needs for the daily job of keeping that "tiny hiney" a HAPPY hiney... If you don't have babies, don't throw this project aside! Bookmark it for the next time you need a cute baby gift for someone special! (More on that in a minute!) It's a super-simple project that any mama will graciously thank you for! 

I introduce you to... waterproof changing pads! I use these to sit on top of my son's actual changing pad so that the cover doesn't have to get washed all the time. These pads are easier to make than spare covers, and quicker to change out as needed. (There were some days while he was a newborn I'd actually go through a couple in a day.)