Jingle All the Way (Christmas 2012 prep)

It’s the 25th, and that means only 11 months until Christmas!

Okay, I’m going to try to do at least one thing a month to prepare for next Christmas and get it posted here…

This month it’s a fun thing and it whipped up in just a couple of hours while watching TV. I found this idea on Pinterest.

This jingle bell garland is crocheted using crochet thread rather than yarn. You need to string all of your bells onto the thread before you start stitching, so it’s a constant process to move the bells down the string as you work. I got several feet done, then the string snapped – the bells had frayed the thread as I moved them. Jess used that on her Christmas tree anyway, and will tie this longer garland to the shorter one that should decorate the entire tree next year.

For a full tutorial, you can go here.

Popcorn Ornaments

I made these fun glass popcorn-filled ornaments a few years ago to hang on the Christmas tree on the ticket counter at our local movie theater. The theater manager donated some boxes of old candy to add some color. This will be the fourth year they use them – they’re holding up wonderfully.

The customers just love them, and each year several of them ask what the secret is to getting the popcorn inside.

I'm going to share that secret here with you:

 

Supplies:

clear glass ball ornaments

unpopped popcorn (don't use the pre-packaged microwave corn that includes grease)

microwavable dishes

hot pads

First remove the metal top on the ornament and set aside. I rinsed the glass balls with vinegar and water and let dry overnight.

Put popcorn kernels in the ball - the amounts I used varied with the size of the balls. I think I counted out between 40-60 kernels per ornament.

Set the glass ball inside the microwavable dish. (Some instructions I've read say to use a paper bag, but that didn't work so well for me. Plus, I like being able to see the ornament and monitor the popping of the corn.)
Microwave on high until the kernels no longer pop. Each microwave is different, so I hesitate to put a length of time in my instructions. I just watched and listened, and when there was a count of 10 after the last pop I heard, I removed the ornament.

Keep in mind that these dishes and ornaments will be HOT when you remove them from the microwave. Use the hot pads and let everything cool before you handle them. I also had to take a few breaks and let my microwave cool off. Be warned, also, I did have a few of the glass balls break. Have some extras handy and please HANDLE WITH CARE.

Once they're cool you can shake out any unpopped kernels, then put the metal hanger back on and embellish as you desire. We added colorful candies from the theater concession stand, and hung them using ribbons.

These are an easy way to have somewhat old-fashioned decorations on your holiday tree, with a modern-day twist. Enjoy!

 

Making Some Fun

Today’s Make Do & Mend project is one from the garage. Well, kinda sorta. I’ve asked Greg to keep any large pieces of cardboard we can, and we have a small collection of big cardboard. Greg isn’t excited about keeping it, but he humors me. (I’m a lucky girl and I know it!)

Friday of last week was the first time for me to keep both grandboys here all day. I knew I’d need to keep Bradley busy while I tended to the baby, so before leaving to pick them up, I dragged out one of the smaller pieces of cardboard and put it on the back porch. Bradley saw it right away when we came up on the porch, and was excited when I brought it inside.

I drew a quick “map” using a black marker, putting Brad’s house in one top corner, and my house in the opposite bottom corner, then a maze of roads in between. Then came the fun part – a stop sign, a corn field, cows (his request), a pond with fish, trees, shrubs, a bird, and one of my kitties sitting in the window.

I labeled the drawings and Brad started coloring. I helped color a little bit, and I think we’ll be adding things and coloring them for awhile – sort of a continuous project.

Silas laid on the floor, contentedly watching the ceiling fan most of the time, but eventually did need some attention of his own, and some snuggling and rocking to sleep for a nap. To keep his big brother busy, I brought out the little cars and the box of dinosaurs. Brad thought it was great that he had roads to drive his cars, and his dinosaurs moved into my house immediately!

This project cost no money and only a few moments of time, yet we made tons of fun out of it!

 

Tammy

He Knows Alot About That!

Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. When I taught preschool we used to have green eggs and ham for either breakfast or lunch. Many of the kids thought this was wonderful, but every single year there was at least one child who would not eat those green eggs!

I never much got into Dr. Seuss until Nick was learning to read and Nanny had the book “Hop on Pop”. He enjoyed having that book read to him, then it was the first one he read by himself. And he truly read it, instead of just reciting the words from memory. His journey to reading was on a bumpy road, one I shan’t travel down again to explain here, so when he read that book, I was ecstatic. I became an instant fan of Dr. S.! Jess also had regular access to that book when she was learning to read, and it was the first one for her to read alone, too.

On to preschool where we used Dr. Seuss to learn about rhyming and the beginning sounds of words. I often recommended his books to parents and took them along when I made home visits.

Now, Bradley has discovered “The Cat in the Hat” cartoon on PBS and he just loves “Cat”. I don’t think he really grasps what they’re talking about in the episodes, but he loves Martin Short’s voice (as The Cat) and the “thingamajigger”, and the music. One day a couple of weeks ago, we were sorting toys and rearranging things in the playroom when we found a little stuffed toy of The Cat. He was thrilled and carried it around all day, sleeping with it for nap, and taking it home with him that evening. Jess said he plays with it all the time at their house.

One thing he was frustrated with was that the hat didn’t come off the toy. In the cartoon, Cat takes off his hat and finds all sorts of interesting things inside. :o)  I knew Bradley needed his own Cat in the Hat hat, so on Monday I dug out my box of felt to make him one. There was a huge piece of nice red felt, but only scrap pieces of white, so those had to be patched together to make the stripes. I followed this easy tutorial and it took a couple of hours, just because I had to keep stopping and take care of Brad. If he hadn’t been here, my bet is it would have taken under an hour.

He knew what I was making and was happy to keep trying it on as I put it together. When it was finished, he was thrilled!

Yes, the living room is a mess in this photo – that’s what happens when I try to work on projects while Bradley is here. He trashes the place. Oh well, it cleans up. (And yes, that is a Barbie on the floor. He loves her. Don’t judge.)

When Greg got home, he made him try on the hat. Sorry, no photo was allowed. Greg didn’t love it as much as Brad did, but he’ll do anything for that boy. :o)

I’m happy to give tribute to the wise Dr. S. and his funny rhyming books, green eggs and ham, and The Cat in the Hat. They’ve entertained many a child in my life and that’s given me extremely good memories.

Only TEN Months Til Christmas!

Yep, I’m gonna come back here on the 25th of every month this year and poke you in the ribs so you don’t forget how long we have until Christmas. Heehee.

Admittedly, I didn’t work on much this month, and finished this project only yesterday. I did the cross-stitching many, many years ago, stitched the names last year, and finally have finished these into stocking ornaments.

All I did to finish them was sew on a backing fabric around the outline of the stocking, leaving the top open, then turned them right side out. The do need to be ironed, but I don’t want to drag out the iron while Brad’s here.

I must confess that we didn’t even have Max and Tucker when I stitched these stockings. I was going to make several and use them to hold our flatware on a Christmas tablescape. I should know better – I really don’t like to stitch the same pattern more than once. I’m glad to have one less unfinished project in my cross-stitch box, and the kittie boys will be glad to have a little treat tucked inside them on Christmas morning!

A Little Touch of Christmas

Here we are, almost halfway through December and the Holiday Season is in full swing. I can’t say I’ve been feeling it much, but I have done some crafty things here and there.

The one I’m showing you tonight is this: 

It’s a decorated glass block. I have several of these blocks out in the garage, gathered a few years ago when lighting and decorating them was the “in” craft on the internet. I finally got around to doing something with one, but I love it so much, I will do more.

First I used a 1/2” ceramic drill bit to put a hole in the back of the block. Now they do sell blocks at the craft store with holes already in them, but this one is heavy and durable and it was in the garage… It took a few days for the inside of the block to dry out after I rinsed the debris from drilling. This is not a quick project.

I used clear silicone caulk to adhere the flat marbles and a few pieces of red stained glass. The pattern just sort of happened as I played around with the marbles and glass. I think it sort of looks like a poinsettia. The caulk needs a few hours to dry, then just pop in some Christmas lights and there you have it.

Hopefully during this week I’ll be able to share a few more Christmas touches around the house (there are only a few). In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful rest-of-the-holiday-season!

Funtime with the Cricut

We recently celebrated Greg’s niece’s birthday and I wanted to give her a little something for her new apartment. I picked up a small, unscented candle and got out the Cricut to personalize it for her.

A capital “H” cut from black vinyl went on first:

Then I used some lime green, her favorite color, to cut “hannah”:

Using the transfer tape, I peeled the letters off the vinyl backing

 

and they were ready to position onto the candle. I centered the entire name over the capital “H”. Since the letters were on the transfer tape, I was able to reposition without too much trouble – you can see here I got the letters a little on a slant at first.

When the letters were positioned to my satisfaction, I rubbed over the lettering and then peeled off the transfer tape.

She seemed to really like it, especially with the lime green letters.

Yeah, I didn’t get the letters straight after all, but it’s still a fun little candle and a sweet gift that didn’t strain the budget at all.

While we had the vinyl out, I opened up the Cricut Expressions machine I had at home from the library. (I own a small, early version of the Cricut, but am able to check out the awesome Expression and a few cartridges at a time from the local library.) There was a spot on the dining room wall just begging for some kind of quote, and since Thanksgiving is coming up, I chose a line from a popular hymn, “We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing”.

The Cricut Expression can cut 12 x 24” shapes, and I picked up a 24” mat at Hobby Lobby several weeks ago, so I was able to cut and transfer the entire quote with one piece of transfer tape.

The steps are the same as with the candle. The quote is cut and excess vinyl removed, then the transfer tape down over the top:

Here’s the spot on the wall. If you look closely you can see the laser level line so I get the words on the wall straight (yeah, I’m challenged that way…)

Aligning the text with the laser line, I rub the letters onto the wall, first with my hand, then I go over each letter with a wide craft stick.

Peel off the transfer tape,

And there it is – an appropriate sentiment for the Thanksgiving dining room:

The text is level, the wall hanging above it is not… I said I was challenged that way!

You’ll notice it’s missing an apostrophe in “Lord’s”. I did hand cut one from vinyl and just pop it up on the wall. There was no apostrophe on the cartridge I used to design the quote.

This vinyl is easily removable, though not intended to be reusable. If you order vinyl online, it’s pretty inexpensive, so changing quotes with the season would be very doable. I do like this one for the dining room, though, so it’ll probably stay awhile.

How I Made the Playhouse

One day last winter when I was blog-reading, I came across this idea for a felt playhouse. It’s essentially a slipcover that fits over a table (I used a card table), with an opening to go inside. The one I saw in this blog was really cute and I started following links to see what other creative ideas were out there. I loved it so much and wondered who I knew who was the right age for one of these? Immediately my niece Taylor came to mind – there were several months before her third birthday so I’d have plenty of time to create.

A few Sunday afternoons were spent cutting, sewing, and stuffing the little things. Then everything was tucked away as other projects came along with a shorter deadline. A couple of weeks before the birthday party, I got things out again and prepared to finish up.

Large sheets of posterboard were used to make a pattern the exact size of what the finished side panels would be, then the felt was cut one inch larger on top and the sides for seam allowances. Before the panels were sewn together, each was embellished with whatever scene was going on it.

There is the front door (a panel that flips up over the top to stay open) with a mailbox and flowers in the grass. A small bluebird sits atop the mailbox, but he can go anywhere on any of the panels. There are some felt pieces of “mail”, too (no photos of those) – the flap opens to reveal an opening for mail delivery.

One side has a garden scene with a stalk of sweet corn (peaches and cream variety), a head of cabbage, some carrots, and a couple of radishes.

The next side has an apple tree that houses an owl. The apples can be picked and then put back on the tree.

The fourth side has a clothesline for Taylor to hang her doll clothes. I included real clothespins. The sun is shining in the corner.

My favorite little detail is the butterflies. I used my Cricut to cut out a couple of templates. Then the templates were cut apart with one part being the wings and the other the body. I cut two wings pieces from bright colored felt for each butterfly, then sewed them together in the middle with the black body.

I also love the owl. For his eyes, I used old black buttons, but did decide to ask Angela to take those off so there’s no chance that Reese will bite one off and choke.

 

The playhouse fit their card table perfectly (I’d emailed Angela for the dimensions, and it was the same as mine) and the kids dove right in to playing. Taylor loved it and Angela reports that the two girls have spent lots of time in it since the party.

Okay, so she’s cheesin’ pretty hard because I told her to smile big! :o)

Jess helped me fit the finished playhouse on the card table the night before the party, and said to me, “You know you’re making one for Bradley.” I already had plans to make one, but wasn’t sure about a theme. We’ve decided on a starry night/space/alien theme and have been planning the construction. Brad’s will hopefully be ready in time for Christmas, since it apparently takes me months to get one done. :o)

The Writing on the Wall

I love words. I like reading them, writing them, and mostly, speaking them. They’re a powerful tool when used correctly, and hopefully this latest project qualifies as such a use.

Many weeks ago at the gym where I work, we decided to add some inspirational vocabulary words to a blank concrete block wall in the gym. Rose, the fitness director, started a list, and Jess and I added to it, coming up with several dozen words that we thought would inspire our gym members to work hard and stay committed to their fitness goals.

This is not the first time I’ve put words on a wall in a public venue, but this time it was much easier. Instead of printing out the font, tracing it onto the wall, then handpainting, I used my Cricut and cut the words from vinyl. The vinyl adheres to the wall in a simple process, and will peel off without harming the paint when we’re done with it.

We started with wide expanses of purple(!) cement block walls. In this first photo, I have one word put up as a trial. I wasn’t sure how well the vinyl would adhere, but the paint has a flat finish, so it worked pretty well.

We did this wall first, putting up just a couple of words a day.

Then we moved to the other side of the men’s locker room door.

Then we went on to the other side of the wall, around the corner and down the hall.

You can see that I used several different fonts and letter sizes. Design Studio for Cricut was invaluable for designing words that fit the size of each brick.

Feedback from gym members has been wonderfully positive. When someone drags in early in the morning (I get up at 4 AM, so do not cry to me about getting up early!) I direct their attention to the wall o’ words and tell them to be inspired!

My Tree on the Avenue

For the past few years the local library has offered their “Avenue of Trees” event for the holidays. They invite the public to bring decorated Christmas trees for display in the building from the weekend after Thanksgiving until the weekend after New Year’s.  Each year a growing number of individuals and groups bring trees of every size, color, and theme,  and turn that library into a Christmas forest!

The first year of the event, I think it was 2006, I was still at Head Start and we put together a small tree with crayon bundles and small wooden alphabet blocks as ornaments. It was simple and sweet and a good way to advertise for us.

The next year I took Grace to the library one day, not remembering about the trees, and she was entranced. She would have been just almost 3 and we spent a long time going from tree to tree, touching what was allowed.

This year I decided to take a tree of my own. My theme is “In Loving Memory” and I made ornaments with photos of loved ones who have passed on – my parents, my brother Arlan, all of our grandparents, and some of the great-grandparents.

The ornaments are photos sandwiched between two pieces of microscope glass, then soldered around the outside. While soldering, I attached a jump ring to the top so the ornament could be hung with a ribbon.

This is the wedding photo of Greg’s grandparents, Fred and Myrtle Wolfe:

My dad’s high school senior photo:

Mom when she was 15:

There are only 10 soldered ornaments and it’s a 4-ish foot tree, so I filled in with plastic silver ornaments and silver/white wired ribbon. A small plastic topper and some white fleece around the base finished it off.

I’ve had several compliments on the tree and a woman from Exeter called the last week wondering about the ornaments and where I got those frames. She said if I ever want to make her a dozen or so, give her a call. :o)

My tree is in the foyer of the library, and time was short the day it was set up, so I’ve not been to see the rest of the Avenue for this year. Perhaps this week? The twins will be here for the afternoon on Thursday, so maybe we’ll stop in after preschool and take a look. If so, I’ll share our favorites with you!

A Little Re-Do

Okay, so I looked at that canvas I put in the bathroom yesterday, and while I liked the simplicity, it started to seem "too" simple. So I did made a little addition today and like it much better: Now I'm pretty sure I'll lose the ivy and bird's nest and put something else there. Just need to figure out what that is... :o)

Rainy Day Play

It's been a dreary, soggy day here, so my gardening plans got postponed until another afternoon. Instead, I thought I'd finish an art project for the bathroom I'm redecorating.
It's been several years since the "public" bathroom in our house has had a makeover, and it was looking a bit tired. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, until one day when I was sorting through my scrapbook papers and came across this piece. The colors are fresh and spring-like and they inspired the new color palette for the bathroom. In fact, I decoupaged the paper to a 12"x12" canvas and turned it into art to hang on the bathroom wall. While the paper alone is pretty, I knew I wanted to add something simple to it. I love birds, and have collected a few patterns for bird crafts. This particular pattern came from Skip to My Lou, a creating and crafting web site. I did enlarge the pattern a bit to make the bird the size I wanted for this canvas.

I wanted the bird to face the other direction, so I flipped the pattern to trace it. My pencil was pretty dull, so when I traced, it didn't really leave lead marks, just a slight indentation in the canvas.

I went over the tracing with a black paint pen.

To finish the edges of the canvas, a little black/white polka-dot ribbon worked great. I used scrapbook adhesive for that.

Here's the finished project, hanging above the toilet. I'm thinking I might add a ribbon hanger, but want to look at it a few days before I do.

The silk ivy and little bird and nest are a "cottage-y" touch that adds softness to the room. We'll see if the cats leave it alone...

Since I decoupaged the canvas several days ago, it really only took a couple of minutes to finish this up today. I'm one step closer to having the finishing details done in the bathroom, and spent a rainy afternoon being productive. :o)