give thanks

Last week at craft night we changed things up a bit and rather than each bringing something different to work on, we all worked on the same project. Alison found a fun tutorial for a burlap banner, so we all set to making our own.

For whatever reason, the lettering doesn't show up well in photos, but it does in person. Go figure. Here is a bit of detail...

Our living room is separated from our kitchen by an old brick chimney with wooden pillars on either side and I thought it would be the perfect spot for the banner. As I was taking the photo, I was annoyed by the thermostat because I felt like it was messing with the aesthetic of the photo. I had to remind myself that the thermostat means that we have heat in the winter and for that I should give thanks like the banner suggests.

On the dresser below the banner, we keep our gratitude journals. In these journals we can appeal to our kinesthetic sides as our thoughts take on the physical form of ink on paper...just one way to bring our thanks to the front of our minds and give them a sort of permanence.

Ann Voskamp tweeted today, "God calls us to *do* thanks. That thanks-giving becomes thanks-LIVING. That our lives become the very blessings we have received." My hope is for this spot to be a constant reminder to us to be thankful and to never forget to live a life full of thanks. It is easy to dwell on things that aren't as we wish them to be, and as a result, be robbed of our joy.

"The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving." Psalm 28:7

linking up with

fall wreath

I mentioned in my last post that I had started and finished two projects in one night. People, this is significant for me. I am excellent at starting projects and I little less than awesome when it comes to finishing them. So, I was pretty excite to have two completed projects in just a couple of hours.

I know there have been a lot of wreaths and fall decor out in blogland recently and I didn't want to be left out. Actually, we have several doors in our house that lend themselves to wreath hanging. I made this one last year and it still hangs in our living room. And honestly, I really enjoy making them, so I may have to make a few more. They are such inexpensive projects! I think I have less than five bucks in this one.

I really love looking at these swirly flowers. I also really love making them. Anyone else having fun will fall decor?

crafting for auction

This past weekend was our family reunion. I have posted before about the auction that we have every year. I didn't get very many items completed this year. My favorite were these hand towels from this book I picked up from the library. I plan on making a few for myself. They are so simple and fast.

I made a couple of other items as well. Sorry for the poor photography. I finished the projects at night and the next morning was cloudy so I decided I would wait until we got to the reunion site. And then I didn't remember to take photos until during the auction. Geez. Conference room lighting is not exactly ideal.

Anywho, here are a few pics of projects and craft time...

Clockwise from top left:

{A fun headband I made using this tutorial (warning: highly addictive)}

{Flip-flop refashion using this tutorial}

{Hubby crafting with me!}

{My girl raiding the button stash while I crafted}

You can see a few past auction items here and here. It is always fun to see what everyone brings to auction. And I love being with family! I won a fantastic apron that I will have to post this week. Did anyone else do anything fun over the weekend?

happy ten

Last week Michael and I celebrated our ten-year anniversary. And I must say, they have been amazing years. I have a wonderful guy. I remember when I was much younger and would hear of someone celebrating their tenth anniversary. I thought it was such a long time. And I guess it is quite a while, but man has it flown by! You can see a little bit of our wedding day in this post from Michael (and the very sweet thing he had to say about me :) )

We didn't have big plans for the day. It was very low key, but nice to just do whatever we wanted for the day and not have to be anywhere.

That morning Lucy and I got out our new paint because she wanted to make something for us. While she was painting I decided to make a little something for Michael (Obviously, I am not a painter). You can see a bit of it up above.

Lucy made us a sweet little painting.

I absolutely love it. Can you see where she wrote mom and dad at the bottom? Sweet. And this little bird it just too cute...

She also picked up this little birdhouse at the craft store the other day and painted it for us. I especially like the blue around the inside of the hole.

I love that we are a family who likes to make things for each other and I hope that value sticks with our kids. I don't expect all of our gifts (received and given) to be handmade, but it is nice to take the time to create something for someone else or to know someone took the time to make something especially for you.

christmas revisited week :: day 1

Wow! How is it already January? December kinda went by in a blur. I had planned several things to post over Christmas, but we got so busy right before Christmas and then we spent a week with family that I couldn't seem to find the time to post. That and we have discovered the show Psych on Netflix and have four seasons just sitting there waiting on us. Well, not so much waiting since I have the overwhelming need to watch at least one episode every single night. It is so addictive. Anyway, back to Christmas. I decided that while I try to get us back on track with homeschool this week and find our groove, I would just post the things I was too busy lazy to post in the past few weeks. So, for those of you who, like me, are still enjoying the Christmas spirit, enjoy!

I had planned to spotlight some of our Christmas decorations. It was weird being in a different house and having to figure out where things should go, but it was fun just the same. In this house, our living room does not have the space for our regular tree, so the small one that used to be in our kitchen is now in the living room. Oh, and the pic above is the regular one in another room. I would have a tree in every room if I could :)

Michael and I bought this nativity when we first married. We bought it at our local Ten Thousand Villages. One day I came in the room to find baby Jesus on the back of the ox and then he went missing for a few days. This incidence produced an odd feeling. But moving on...

Once I saw this wreath that Eren made, I wanted to make something similar. OK, very similar. I love it, and am considering leaving it up all year. I think I have a total of three dollars in the project.

These birds found their way to our home this year. And I have had these books for years with no way to display them. I think this is a great way. And I have so many vintage books that I think I will rotate with the seasons/holidays.

I have a bag of bottle brush trees that I bought several years ago. This year I found this cute jar and decided to put a tree inside. I would love to have a whole display of these in different sizes. I will have to build up that collection up slowly.

One thing we have never had is a mantle. We have always hung our stockings from a door frame. This Thanksgiving while we were at my parents' I had my dad take me out into the woods to find a limb to bring home. I had no idea what I was going to do with it so for a couple of weeks it sat on our front porch. Then one night, Michael had the great idea to hang it above the couch and hang our stocking from it. I love it! I am also going to leave it up and hang something different from it the rest of year. I have a few ideas I want to try. But if you have a good idea, let me know!

As I mentioned in my last post, we did make our first gingerbread house this year. I used this recipe and I altered a pattern from this site. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and now I know some tricks that will be helpful next year. The most important thing is how much fun the kids had with it!

Lucy made a sled with people wearing hats. I love it.

So, there you have it. A small tour of our Christmas home. I am pretty sure that Christmas will be on our minds quite a bit this year. I posted earlier about Smalltown Poets releasing a Christmas album this year. Last night Michael cleaned out the studio/library and got things set up. He has named the room, "Christmas Town" and has informed me that we will move the white Christmas tree into that room. And of course, Christmas tunes will fill our house for months to come. It will be fun!

shirt happy

We are currently at our family reunion and I am happy to report that for the first time ever, I actually completely finished my auction items before we got here. Past years have found me huddled in a corner of the meeting room furiously hand stitching. But not this year. I get to relax!

This year I decided to embellish some tank tops. This is partly because Lucy refuses to wear anything but tank tops. Her reason? "They're comfy." You can't really argue with that. But, I wanted to make her some that were a bit more special than the two she currently owns (and as a result, I won't have to wash those every day!)

I'll start with Lucy's...

{Made from scraps left over from this.}

I made two for the auction...

{Made from pieces that I keep cutting off of a dress I made years ago and never wore.}

{Also made from scraps from this.}

I thought it would be fun for the kids to create something for the auction so they made t-shirts using freezer paper stencils.

{Larkin is crazy about Star Wars and has never even seen it!}

{Lucy went with the simplicity of a cat.}

Well, I am off to enjoy a weekend with family. Have a good one!

its all about the hair

I had several nieces on the gift giving list this year. I went with some cute little felt headbands. These are all around the crafting world and now I know why. They are fun to make and super cute! Not much to say about these photos except that Lucy was quite the willing little model.

I also made some ponytail holders to go in with the headbands. These are just coverable buttons with elastics attached through the loop on the back of the button. I have to admit that I was sad when I ran out of buttons to cover. Making these could prove to be quite the addiction and it helps to decrease the scrap fabric pile.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

fun with freezer paper

I first heard about freezer paper stencils from angry chicken. I have wanted to make shirts with the kids since then. I know, I have waited a long time and am now probably the last person in blogland to try it. I thought it would be a fun project for the first day of school. We all loved it! It is so easy to do, even for the kids (with a little help). I love how these turned out and we are already eyeing some more objects we can stencil. I want this little lamb that lucy picked out...

We are into week two of school here and we are finally getting into a groove...I think. And while I am on that subject, I think our little lunch break is over and it is time for a chapter of Charlotte's Web...

more gifts

i have been busy today! i have made most of my Christmas gifts! yay! however, all the things i made today are for people who read this blog, so I can't post the images until after Christmas. (yes, that includes you aunt deborah :)

i made the bath salts above to go in the gift with the lemon sugar scrub. i don't have a recipe for these. i just guesstimated. but, they have epsom salt, baking soda, vanilla extract and lavender in them. in that same gift, i am also putting the hot cocoa mix packs from lolly chops that i mentioned yesterday. they were fun to put together. here is the front...

and the back...

a good morning

the morning started off well with a yummy grapefruit, sprinkled with brown sugar and then broiled in the oven. if you haven't tried grapefruit this way, you should!

i have finished a couple of Christmas gifts. first on the list was a baby gift. i made this little clutch cube...

when you open the red flap, you get a little suprise...

oh, and there is a little bell type ball inside that rattles when you shake the cube. larkin and lucy had one of these cubes and both loved it.

now, on to some of the ladies on the list. i decided to make sugar scrub. these are so simple to make. and your hands will feel wonderful after using it! you just need to mix these three ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

lemon essential oil

there are a lot of recipes that call for other ingredients, but this one was the most simple and i already had the ingredients at home. i just found cute jars and tied a ribbon around them with a label...

and thanks to lolly chops i had these cute tags to put on top of the jars...

she has a lot of great download and print freebies. i have already downloaded her template for hot cocoa mix packs and am going to mix those this afternoon. and i am working on some other gifts, so stay tuned...

*i am looking forward to some sunshine in this part of the world. we haven't had any sun all week. not good for photography...or motivation.

my wallet redo

first i would like to state that this post does have a photo, i just want to keep you in suspense a little while. i have been seeing a lot of flat wallets these days. a friend of mine had one at dinner the other night and i thought it was quite cute. well a couple of weeks ago i attended a homeschool meeting and in the middle of the meeting they had a drawing for door prizes. low and behold, i won a flat wallet. now before that sounds too exciting for you, let me show you what it looked like...this. i will keep my opinion to myself about this fabric because there is some slim chance that one of you loves it and besides, i think the fact that i couldn't even take my own picture of it says something about my opinion of it.

when i won it, i immediately had the same thought that many of you would have had, "surely i can figure out a way to change the fabric." well after a couple of weeks of prying and pushing on the frame, i could not figure out a way. last night my friend janelle came over for project runway and noticed it still sitting on my sewing table offending the nearby fabrics (oops, so much for keeping my opinion to myself). she picked it up and immediately figured out that the whole border was a piece of rubber piping that you could pull off. so we set out to replace the cover. i first had to cut a piece of white fabric to lay on top of the cat fabric, because it was so bright that you could see it through every piece of fabric i tried and i couldn't remove it because it was glued to the padding and would have ripped it off. i then cut my desired fabric to size (i decided to use this wonderful amy butler fabric), placed in on top using a little bit of spray adhesive to hold it in place, and then replaced the rubber piping. here is the final product...

i am so very pleased with it. not only is it now cute, but i actually finished a redo project. i have so many hanging out it my sewing area and it feels good to get one finished (oh, and i finally hemmed a pair of curtains for my bedroom closet, too!) i'm on a roll!