Christmas Count Down

While scrolling through Pinterest the last few weeks, I saw a Christmas Count Down board that was so simple ~ a clip board jazzed up for the season with "Days till Christmas" at the bottom.  You'd then clip on the days till Christmas number like a regular sheet of paper cut down some.  Very clever idea, worthy of recreating.  I thought it might be nice to add an activity to the back side of the number, so there would be something to do each day.  Not sure what all would go on this list, but here are some ideas:

1. daily Advent activities
2. make hot chocolate with candy cane stir stick (dip the non-hook end in melted chocolate or something fun like that)
3. make Christmas Cards
4. drive around neighborhood to look at lights
5. watch a Christmas themed movie (repeat as often as necessary to get to 25)
6. go into D.C. to look at National Tree and State Trees
7. bake cookies
8. make Christmas candy
9. read some Christmas books cuddled under blanket
10. invite friends over for Christmas sing along
11. deliver treats to neighbors
12. make wrapping paper
13. look up/research favorite Christmas songs or activities
14. see a live Nativity in your area (if available)
15. take some corny family Christmas photos
16. see how many things you can be thankful for from the past year
17. Christmas Party!

This may be a good enough start to a list!  Don't want to overwhelm ourselves during this holiday.  Now to keep my eye out for good bargain on clipboard andChristmas Paper.

What do you do?

when exhausted and having a head cold BUT your brain is wide awake and ready to go?

Personally, at this moment, beyond the obvious blogging, I'm sitting with one of favorite cookbooks to figure out some new recipes to try.  Here's my favorite, go to, cookbook (at least one of very few):

This is the cookbook where I found a good fried chicken recipe; the same one that while watching the show one Saturday our youngest cried because they were demonstrating the recipe and I didn't have time to make it for dinner.  That one recipe, is worth the cost of the book.  I've made one or two other things, but want to get to making more.

So I'll sit for awhile and find a few other recipes to try in the near future.  May start with looking for bread recipes as I've been asked to bake some soon.  They have some tasty looking desserts too.

Now off to some like reading, then maybe internet surfing for craft projects I want to copy.

Homemade ~ anything

Making anything homemade has it's advantages and disadvantages.  For awhile, making things at home, saved you money.  If you had the talent to do something ~ anything ~ you'd save $$$'s by doing it yourself.  Prices seem to be getting a lot more expensive, lately, and it's almost not worth it.  Now, to make something at home, it's for the shear joy of creating something, from something else.

Personally, I love going through thrift stores, yard sales, craft stores, (and even trash day) and wondering what I can make out of the items I see.

Here are a few things I've made and posted on the blog:

• rug deoderizer
• wood cut drawings
• knit shawl
• cable knit scarf
• baked donuts
• quilt blocks and knit baby blanket
• homemade pizza

Most of the above has been out of things we've bought; I have picked up a couple things on trash days!  I have a beautiful (now) wash stand that was thrown out.  A new door made by my dad, a new towel bar, and  I refinished it.  I also found a mini terrarium on trash day that just needed a bit of sanding and paint touch up.  I've passed up on a few things that, now, I wish I'd picked up.  Oh well!

What do you like to make new?  What do you like to make, at home, even if it would be more economical to buy new?  Do you keep a blog and want to share a link?  Would love to see some of your recreations!  Please share and maybe we'll all get a bit more inspired!

Squeels of fun!

Have you ever seen a new craft "toy" that just looks so cool, you just want one? Over at "Soft Place to Land", there is a give away for a Silhouette Craft Cutter. Here's a number of the things it can do:

• Create your own craft cut-outs with a Silhouette HD digital scrapbooking tool
• Craft supply gives you instant access to your entire digital design collection
• Machine is an essential tool for any crafter
• Works with vinyl, vellum, craft paper, cardstock and more
• Transform designs anywhere from .25 inches to 8 inches tall and up to 39 inches wide
• Cut any true type font on your computer
• No cartridges or CDs to lose, damage or store
• SD capability lets the Silhouette SD cut on the go without being connected to a computer
• Choose from over 1,000 available digital designs to download anytime
• Easily adjust your designs and text to any size
• Built-in blade cap holder for easy storage
• Replace blade holder with a Silhouette sketch pen to sketch digital designs
• LCD screen lets you select, cut and resize designs without a computer
Includes:
• Silhouette SD digital cutting tool
• USB cable
• AC adaptor
• Power cable
• $10 gift card for purchasing additional digital designs online
• Silhouette software CD and instruction manual
• Cutting mat
• Blade, blade holder and three adjustment caps

If this looks like something you'd like a chance to win, head over to asoftplace.net and leave a comment for a chance to win. Enter by August 9, 2010 by noon EST.

Boys are growing up!

Which should be quite obvious really! They're moving on from an all consuming desire for things that are trains and into more tween/teen interests. Sports and Legos are difficult to combine, though, when desiring to design a new room for the boys. I keep coming back to a surfer type room with hints of sports and legos. Probably because a few years ago they had a surf/beach party and I tend to buy and make some sort of accessory for the theme.

As a result of the party, we have two strands of the lights, like those to the left, and they still work. Think these would be cool in the nook they have in the big room they'll be moving into again. Might attach some tea cup hooks to the ceiling and hang the lights criss cross all over that area. That area will also have some new Billy Bookcases {like these but without the narrow ones at each end}. I still want to bring in some tie dye, but just not sure how. Possibly in bean bag chairs or making a cover for the papasan chair they have and enjoy using.

Also, I plan to fix some surf boards I made that look more like enlarged boogie boards. I want to try to make them look more like surf boards which means they need to be a lot more narrow. I've seen a number of paint designs that would be cool and could also put their names on them. I can get the boys involved in this painting and am sure they'd love doing this.

Have you seen these peace lights from Pottery Barn? I think they're very cool and would be cool to have one, in black, for the boys room. I'm having trouble coming to terms with the light costing $149.00, though. Really??? How much does one have to make a year to be able to spend about $150 on a light? Suppose it is a good thing that we have some scrape plywood, about the right size, have tools that will work, and I enjoy working with wood and craft projects in general. All that is really lacking, in house, would be the black paint and rope light. Those can be picked up relatively inexpensive. As we have next week off from school, maybe I'll start working on it. Should be a fun project.

Other things that will be included in their room: a lava lamp night light, some sort of pennant banner (at their request with plaids and possible surf type stuff), fringe that looks like a hula skirt (possibly as window valance), and hibiscus flowers.

Happy Decorating,

Next Craft Project

This morning, I was taking a look at "Home Made Simple" and came across this gift wrap storage center. I'm totally excited as this is something I can recreate at home.

When Kevin and I were first married, we bought a wicker clothes hamper; ours is circular though. I've got so much spare fabric that I can make a liner for it. We also have a few hangers hanging around (pun intended). Not sure when I'll get started on this, but it will make Christmas wrapping look a lot better this coming winter.

I'm looking forward to a craft project that most of the items are already in the house!!

Sunday Afternoons

This has been a Sunday afternoon that I truly like. I've spent the better part of the afternoon working on a couple quilt squares. Over at "Five in a Row", when there is a lose of a friend from the boards (or a member of their family), the ladies pull together several quilt squares to make a larger quilt. Our friend, Fran, lost her battle with breast cancer almost two weeks ago, so I've been working on a square for her husband's quilt and one for one of her daughters.

My picture taking is a bit off today, but this is
the panel for one of Fran's daughters.

This panel will be going into the
quilt for Ed, her husband.

Also enjoyable today, has been cooking and baking. Granted there isn't much special about grilled cheese for lunch, but no one seemed to complain about having lunch fixed for them. It was also the easiest thing to fix given that I wanted to roast a chicken for dinner. HHHmmm the house has smelled wonderful this afternoon. Who cares that it feels horribly hot outside.


Other odd things that have made today day enjoyable (pictures below the statements now):

~ being able to maintain a newly sodded front lawn
~ a quick trip to the library to pick up a new book for the boys (sssshhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell the homeschool police that I only picked up one book!!) and their summer reading packages
~ a quick trip to Starbucks for their iced tea (only $0.53 when bringing in one of their cups to reuse)
~ finishing up a baby blanket; I like how the edges turned out looking a bit like lace!
Off now, to enjoy the family!

Trash Day

I'm generally not one to go dumpster diving ~ that is just a nasty thought. I don't even troll the streets on trash day. I DO however, keep my eye out for treasures, when I am out and about on trash day. I feel like I've hit the jackpot twice now. The first was a wash stand in surprisingly good condition. It's door needed a bit of work and was missing a towel rack. I asked the owner if they were sure that they wanted to "trash" this and they said yes. I've never run so fast to get my van as I did that day. The next time I spoke with my folks, I mentioned my find and they were happy for me too. These wash stands, when in good condition, sell for close to $500.00 or more. My folks paid to have it stripped for me, bought the towel rack, and Dad built a door with oak lumber he had (all that was a Christmas gift, a VERY nice Christmas present). All I needed to do was stain and poly urethane it. Woo Hoo for me!! So here it is, all decked out for Christmas (is that fitting or what?).
So, today as we were taking Thing One to speech, on a trash day, I "see" a mini green house on a metal stand. Looks kind of cool, but don't have time to worry about it. On the way back it's still there. I decide that we'll leave a few minutes early (to pick Thing One up) and see if it's still there. It was, and true to form, I ask if I can take it. I just don't like taking things, even if it is at the curb, without asking. The neighbor said yes and said she was hoping some would. So, after cleaning it up a bit, sanding a bit, and painting it (all of which I had and it still may need another coat) it sits with by basil in it, in the one spot that great afternoon sun. There wasn't much difference between the before and after pictures so I'll just post the after.


Oh! Even better is that there were four little terra cotta pots in it that I can use for something. It's been a good day!!

Valentine's Day Art

Had a burst of creativity for an art project with the boys. Some was directed toward fine motor skills for both boys (the punching of holes in construction paper), which of course turned into a competition of who could punch the most holes at once. I'm not going to complain about it because it was keeping them happy for a brief moment. Had planned on vacuuming the living room anyway, so a few extra bits of construction paper is no big deal.

Back to the art project, following is a quick directions and photos of what we did.

1. Punch holes in pink and red construction paper.

2. With clear contact paper, sticky side up, sprinkle dots all over the place. Yes, you can see sprinkles on this, but after putting top piece of contact paper on, I realize sprinkles weren't a great idea. Skipped the sprinkles on subsequent "runs".
3. Put a top piece of contact paper on. Would work with smaller pieces than I did, probably more of a square sided piece than rectangle. The contact paper would be more manageable to deal with.

4. Cut out heart shapes, any size you want. I folded the contact paper (loosely) in half to cut out the hearts.

5. Used clear tape to hang hearts on paper. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see what looks like frosted hearts with dots in them.

Enjoy,

Something fun

fun to sew. Wanted to get back into sewing and this was something relatively quick to make; at least it felt relatively quick (maybe a couple hours wortth cutting, sewing, turning right side out, more sewing). Any hoot, used the width of white fabric cut to the width of the chair, plus about an inch, then sewed up the sides. Decided to put loops on the sides for the ties, so that, if the mood strikes, I can change them out as the seasons change.

Multiple things from school!

We're wrapping up our "Owl Moon" week today with the boys working on their Owls. They enjoyed the beginning of building it, but time got the best of us and a week later we're working on them again. Alls well that ends well. At least the starting point, today, is easier than the starting point last week. We know how finicky the owls can be AND most of the remaining parts are very similar, so it should be a breeze to put together (If only I hadn't starting typing this post prior to working on the Owls the second time. Thing Two has given up on his. Thing One's is almost finished. The are just a pain to put together).

Also, on tap are the Owl Pellets we have to dissect. Once again, Thing Two had a blast with this kind of activity, where Thing One couldn't be bothered. Two totally different kids, two totally different interests. Here's Thing Two and the biggest bone out of his pellet. Being so small, it was hard to photograph well. Probably took about 50 pictures and this was the best. It looks like it might be a skull of a small bird. Thing Two was pleased with his find.








Last, but not least, our newest school tradition ~ Mad Lib Monday. Enjoy your reading . . .

REVIEW OF A MONSTER MOVIE
(the words in bold were filled in)

A new movie has just opened called “The Teenage Printer Meets the Blue Vampire from Outer Space.” At the opening, we see the teenage here, played by George Lucas, who is a green scientist. He is trying to build an orange monster out of old Thing Ones and used Thing Twos. The monster has Silver skin and 20 gazillion arms and is played by Scooby-Doo. Suddenly, the monster comes to life and kidnaps the beautiful heroine, played by Carrie Fisher. Then he begins to destroy Springfield. In the end, the monster is destroyed by the vampire, who is played by Mark Hamill. And the hero and the heroine live quickly ever after.

A weeks worth of pictures

Actually, about eight days worth. This covers things from last Sunday, which I never got around to posting, through this weekend. Enjoy the photo's.

Christmas Child Box
Thing Two's donation

Christmas Child Box
Thing One's Donation

Our church had a goal of 200 boxes.
We collected over 330. Way to go
Burke Community Church.

Going away party for a friend. She's moving to
Hawaii to be with her husband. Our lose,
his gain.

Don't you hate it when someone
snaps a photo and you aren't ready.

The guys chatting. Probably about
basses, guitars, and the latest music
software. They did end up in Al's office
playing something or looking at something

Wish you could see how blue Thing One's
teeth were. They were almost day glow blue.

Starting of my long awaited Craft Room. That is Kevin's
marriage proposal from 13 1/2 years ago. The room may still take a
bit of tweaking, but it's mostly there.

The rest of the craft area. Things have been hung!!

Yes, I'm posting the laundry area. I was pleased
with how it looks with the pots on a shelf.

Have you ever . . .

wanted something like this for your craft room? This particular series comes from Pottery Barn and can run close to $1,000.00. We don't have an extra $1,000.00 and if we did, it probably wouldn't go into a craft table that will end up in the basement.
In searching the internet, I came across this blog. The author likes the same table and showed how she made the table for a fraction of the cost. Think I'll have to ponder how to create something for myself.

Completed Crafts

YES!!! I have gotten a couple crafts finished. Here's the finished product of what I've been working on:

The completed chalk board paint, tin, and ribbon trim.
I also put buttons on the corners.

The ribbon I cut to size and put up with Elmer's Glue. It worked
well and didn't change the color of the ribbon. Then I hot glued the
buttons together, then to the corners.

Fall themed wood things that I hot glued
magnets to the back.

Candle holder - there are small circles on top
so the glass votive holders don't slid. The votive candle
holders came from Ikea. The wood I stained a cherry
red and decided to paint the bottom black.