Christmas

I am not a crafty person, although I do wish I was. But I do have a hankering to do some crafting around this time of year. Pinterest is a great place to find ideas along with your favorite blogs. Here are a few things I am contemplating...

 

This one is from my favorite blogger, Joy at artfulhomemaking. You can go HERE if you would like to see how she made this beautiful plate for next to nothing. She also has some other great printables as well. I used THIS printable on some brown paper colored cardstock and put it in a black frame. Such an easy and beautiful way to add Scripture to your home.

 

For our Advent calendar this year I am making THIS. I will modify it though and just use posterboard for the backing instead of fabric. I don't mind if it isn't reusable since I enjoy finding something different each year.

 

I also picked up three fake silver platters from the Dollar Tree to make THIS. I just love anything that is chalkboard. I got a can of chalkboard paint for my birthday that I have been trying to find projects for.

 

Anyway, those are a few projects I am hoping to work on and that is about all that baby is going to let me write.

 

Happy Christmas Crafting!

 

 

 

 

 

Easter

A few things we have been doing for Easter...

                                                     Making our Resurrection Garden

                                                         
                                                        It is starting to sprout

                                         We made these yummy empty tomb snacks.

                                                    Jesus paid our debt in full.

For Easter week, starting tomorrow, which is Palm Sunday we will be reading through the Easter story in the Bible. Instead of doing an Easter basket I planned out some things we will do each day after we read.
                     Sunday we will read about Palm Sunday. Palms make me think of coconuts so I bought Almond Joy and Mounds candies for the kids.
                     Monday we will be reading the Scripture where Jesus talks about the parable of the Fig Tree so I bought Fig Newtons(YUM).
                     Tuesday we will be reading about Judas agreeing to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver so we will have chocolate coins.
                     Wednesday we will be reading about the Last Supper so we will have oyster crackers(mini-saltines) and grape juice.
                     Thursday will be the betrayal in the Garden by Judas, where he kisses Jesus so I will give the kids Hershey Kisses.
                    On Friday we will be reading about the crucifixion and making a crown of thorns out of pretzel sticks and chocolate, also we will make our Resurrection Rolls which is a tradition. If you have never made them you really should try them. They are so yummy. You can find the directions HERE if you are interested.
                    On Saturday we will be reading about the soldiers securing the tomb with a stone. We found some candy rocks in the bulk section at the grocery store. It really looks like little rocks. Who knows how it will taste though.
                    Sunday will be church and a big meal although I don't know what we are having yet. Probably ham, which somehow seems wrong, since Jesus wouldn't eat pork but that just seems like what we usually do.

How about you? What plans do you have for Easter?

Projects

I have been in the mood to do some projects lately. I guess now that B#10 is almost 1 I feel like I am coming out of a year long fog. He still wakes up several times a night to nurse but we have a relatively good schedule. Feeling like fall is coming on also makes me want to do some creative things. Last week before 1/2 of the family left for B#1's Boot Camp graduation, the girls and I started recovering our dining room chairs. My mom sent me some lovely dark plaid fabric which she got for a steal of a deal. It goes so well with my dining room and should hide stains well. I took a before and after picture for you so you can adequately appreciate the difference.

                                                           Before..stains and all

                                                                    After

I love, love, love chalkboard. I have wanted to paint one of my cabinets in my kitchen with chalkboard paint for a couple of years now. I still haven't gotten brave enough to do that but I did find some chalkboard paint looking adhesive backed paper to use for labels on my storage jars and recycleable trashcans.

This was how they were before. I like the way this looks, at least the way it would look in a good picture. If I could combine this with chalkboard that would be lovely.

These were the tools I used to finish this project...

 

 

I also made (with the help of B#4) a burlap table runner but I think I will save pics of that for after I get my fall stuff put on it.

Star Ornaments

Traditionally our family each gets a new ornament for the tree each year but honestly, decent ornaments are becoming more and more difficult to find. I just don't want a race car or an Elvis on my tree. Not to mention the cost of ornaments now. We recently went to a Christmas shop while my family was visiting. We found lots of cute ornaments there but with each one ranging from $5-$10 each and our family being a family of 10 that was just a bit excessive for us. But all is not lost...at our local Joanns craft store I found these plain wooden snowflake ornaments. I bought 8 of them each for about $.50 and the kids painted them white then sprinkled silver glitter on them. So for $2.00 plus the cost of a bit of white paint and glitter, we have our 2009 ornaments.

Merry Christmas

Just a quick tip

If you read my second to the last post about the adorable craft cans to give as gifts and like me were excited to try it, hang on a bit. I got out my pop-top soup cans to use for dinner and thought, "Wow, I can actually try that craft now". But low and behold, if I had bothered to go to the tutorial on how to do it rather than assuming I could figure it out, I would have seen that you have to use flat bottomed pop-top cans and something called a "flat edge can opener", which I definitely do not have. I was bummed but decided to keep my eyes open for the right "tools" for the craft and do it another time. I am always wanting to craft around Christmas time. How about you?

Neighbor Christmas Gift Idea #17 – Pop Top Treats

#17 Neighbor Christmas Gift Idea… How fun will it be for your neighbors to pop the top to some yummy Christmas treats!

You just open the original pop top can from the bottom with a can opener, use the contents, wash it out, fill with treats, glue the bottom back on, decorate, and deliver!
So clever, and oh so very GREEN!!
Thanks Not So Idle Hands for this fun idea and great tutorial on how to make it!

This came from the Fabulessly Frugal Blog that I follow very regulary.

Soap Making

Last month several ladies and girls got together at a friend's house to make soap using real lye. I have always wanted to learn but using lye scared me so I never pursued it. It was amazingly easy, especially when all of the ingredients were provided to us already measured out. B#2 and B#4 had a good time making several batches while B#3 helped me with the little ones to keep them out of the kitchen. A good time was had by all and we were pleased to be invited to join in with the ladies this year. We are looking forward to next year unless we get brave enough to try it on our own here at home.

There were two different ways to make the soap. One way was the "hot process" which we did using crockpots. One lady needed to do hers in the oven and that seemed to be a better way to do it. The other way was called the "cold process". That one went much quicker but had to cure for two weeks to let the lye become safe to touch. We added essential oils and fragrances to our soap to make different smells. My favorite it the lavender, as that is one of my favorite smells and flowers.

Hats, Hats and more hats

Well, I finally found a hobby I can do...crocheting hats. I have been trying for years to find something I enjoy doing that can be done while DH watches a movie. I started out trying to crochet baby booties after seeing some of a friends baby's booties. I did manage to make a couple of pairs but once I tried a hat I was hooked. The cream colored ones in the picture are made from a pima cotton/tencel yarn, the pink one with the matching booties is made from bamboo/silk yarn and the purple one is made from 100% alpaca yarn, nope its not from our alpacas...although I am hoping the girls will give me some of the yarn that they have spun from our alpacas. Do you think one can crochet too many hats???

Kelly