In the Midst of Final Preparations

Here at our house, we are scrambling to finish the last of the Christmas preparations.   Nick has been home all week.  We've been enjoying our time together.

Baking...

Making gifts for one another.

Here are 2 of Sweetpea's ornament creations that I'm sure are to become favorites of their recipient.

And crocheting...  I finally finished the scarf and hat set for Munch.  Well, it's really not a set.  Munch loves accessories.  I made her a scarf for her birthday as well.  All have some shade of orange in them (her favorite color) so they can be mixed and matched at will.  None of them "go" together.  But, that totally suits her style.

Here's the scarf.  I followed the Icarus Scarf pattern on the Purl Bee website.  Loosely followed, really.  I wanted to make the whole thing, just as is, from start to finish.  But it was a last minute plan of mine (I have those often).  And I had this corn fiber yarn from Kollage Yarns that I wanted to try in a similar color scheme.  So I went with it.  Munch is only 11, so I shortened the scarf to 250 chains.  And then I ran out of yarn (that's what tends to happen with my last minute plans), so I couldn't finish all the rows.  Since it was a smaller scarf, I then decided to shorten the fringe from 6 inches to 4.

The corn yarn is really soft and has a nice sheen to it.  It's made in the USA.  From corn.  Which always fascinates me.  It's called Corntastic by Kollage Yarns.

Her hat is the Lacy Scallop Hat found on the Ravelry site.

I used this really great cotton/rayon blend yarn called Cotton Blossom Yarn by Dixie (also made in the USA) in tangerine.  I absolutely love how you can see the shiny rayon fibers crinkled in with the cotton fibers.  It was easy to stitch with.  The hat looks better in person.  Someday, I may even take a better pic of it on Munch and post it. 

Nick has been wanting to get some molds to start a gingerbread house making tradition with our kids.  In the meantime, I picked up a kit for them to start on.  They had fun putting that together last night.

We still have a lot of things to do - ice cookies, bake a few more, make a gift for my parents, finish putting together the rest of Sweetpea's ornament creations, make food for gatherings, clean...  I'm working very hard at staying sane.  Right now, i'm taking a little break.  Everything will wait for me while I recharge my batteries a bit...

Snowman Garland

Today, we made snowman garland.  I got the idea from a Family Fun book at the library, but decided to change some things to suit my preferences.  For one, the original craft called for craft foam.  But I don't care for craft foam, so I opted for stiffened felt (which can be purchased at any decent craft store) instead. 

Using glasses, we started off cutting the felt into 2 different sized snowmen.

Then we went to town using every thinkable thing to decorate our snowmen - googly eyes, snowflakes, puff balls, felt for hats, fabric for scarves and hats, bells, ribbon, etc.

We used an all purpose craft glue to stick everything on, but I'd have to say, next time (if there was such a time) I would definitely be using something stronger like hot glue or a fabric glue.  Lots and lots of our little items fell off to everyone's dismay.

We kept all the little craft items organized by using saucers.  You could use little take out dressing cups or little bowls instead if that's what you've got.  But it's helpful for keeping down messes and for easier cleanup.

All in all, we had a grand time, and our little creations turned out rather cute.

After they dried, I punched holes where the arms would be.

Using a tapestry needle, I threaded ribbon into the front of the left side, around the back, and out on the right side.

But, in hanging them, I realized that they were top heavy and tended to flip over.  Not very good unless you want a string of snowmen standing on their heads.  To fix this, I just made sure they were all leaning against the wall - not dangling in space.

If you want them to hang freely in space, you may want to consider weighting them somehow.  I tried to think of something quick and easy, but frankly, I was done with the project.  So, my fix by leaning them all on the wall was perfect for me!

What sorts of things are you making for Christmas this year?

Crafty Monday

We are in the midst of a craft!  Stop back later (probably this evening) to see how it all strung together.

More Carving

This truly is one of my favorite fun and creative projects for this time of year.  We had another pumpkin carving session last night for our party this weekend.

I think our kids have just as much fun with it as I do!!

Who let him handle the battery powered pumpkin knife!?!?!  Yike (as Boy, himself, would say - singular - as if the situation only calls for one slight bit of panic)!!  (Oh, and that's a small glimpse of yours truly right there.  Can't believe I'm putting this out there...)

Sweetpea used her creative spark to come up with a new way of decorating pumpkins involving push pins.

Cool design!!

Here's Nick - deep in concentration.

One pumpkin in my totem pole needed replaced...

Hopefully, we can have one more pumpkin carving session before Halloween actually arrives.  Today, I have 3 sick children, some paperwork, laundry, onions, and garlic to take care of.

Wishing you all a lovely day!

Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins has become my favorite part of our Fall and Halloween celebrations.

Each year, we get together with my husbands family to carve bunches of pumpkins for our Halloween party.

Everyone got in on the action.

It rained buckets here on Saturday, so we got very few pictures of our masterpieces.  Nick did manage to get some pictures of my favorite creation - my jack-o-lantern totem. 

I hope to get some more pictures of our carvings from this year, but while we are waiting, I'll leave you with one of my favorites from last year...

Happy October everyone! 

Do you carve pumpkins or have any special fall/halloween traditions?

Hopscotch Bean Bags

My niece, who is 7, has decided she wants to learn how to sew.  I was asked to give them.  So, (sew...) she came over this morning to have her very first lesson.  I picked up some fun starter supplies, which she was very excited about.

Just the basic supplies - needles (colorful and larger for smaller hands), thread, a seam ripper, scissors, a needle threader (that is the technical name, I think) , and some fun butterfly pins. 

For our first lesson, we made hopscotch bean bags.  They are simple and fun to make.  What little girl wouldn't love to have her very own made-by-her hopscotch bean bag!?!

She did a fabulous job!  She picked her own material from my stash, and we cut 2 3-inch square pieces from it.  Slapped them together.  And hand sewed them, leaving a small gap for turning.

Munch got in on the lesson, too.

After we turned them right side out, we filled them with lentils, and stitched the hole closed.  They each made one completely by themselves!

I think they turned out pretty great!  Then they drew pictures of the purses they want to make for next time.

Sweetpea decided that she wanted to take some pictures too.

With her brother's binoculars.  "CHHH."

"mi-wwlllll!"  (translation:  smile.)

Yogurt face...

Ladybugs and Caterpillars Take Over Our House

We have had an invasion of ladybugs and caterpillars over the last couple of days!  They are just appearing out of nowhere!!!

My son, who my youngest has dubbed Boy, receives Your Big Backyard Magazine every month (totally awesome magazine, as is Ranger Rick).  This month, they featured a ladybug craft.  Boy, being so utterly fond of a good craft asked (read insisted) on going to the craft store to get the necessary materials.

Now having all the materials, we sat down to make them.  After fussing with several puffy balls and glue and goggly eyes and more puffy balls, I remembered why I never made crafts with them.  Nothing every sticks to them in the right way with normal glue your kids can use.  And they don't have the patience (neither do I) to hold them until they are near dry.

Being the quick thinker that I am (ha!), I replaced the glue with thread and taught Boy, who is 6, how to thread a needle and sew the ladybugs together.  This whole time my oldest daughter, Munch (10), was busy making about 85 ladybugs all on her own - the nice thing about a 10 year old.  And my youngest daughter Sweetpea (2) was lining puffy balls up in cool rows - wonder where she gets that!  Sitting there staring at the incredibly cool rows she was making gave me the idea for an alternate craft - caterpillars!  They would be so much easier to string on a thread, and they would be so very cute to boot.

We strung them up.

And made little antennae.  Before putting the head on, we sewed the antennae onto the last ball, by wrapping the thread around the pipe cleaner in 3 or 4 places like so:

Then came the head.  And of course, the googly eyes.

Just too cute!

They multiplied like bunnies.

And took over our dining room alongside the sheep made earlier using this really cool tutorial from The Inadvertent Farmer - check her out, she has Great ideas!!

All underneath our flying bees, made using this tutorial, again from The Inadvertent Farmer.  Check her out, she's really cool.

After 2 days, the craft stuff is still out, and the bugs are multiplying like crazy!  We will be completely overrun very soon.