The Eleventh Day of Christmas

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me,

Eleven Planes for flying, 

Ten Soda's for Sipping,

Nine Records Spinning,

Eight Maids a Milking,

Seven Fish a Swimming,

Six Cheese for Playing,

Five O N I O N Rings,

Four Caring Words,

Three Wrench Pens, 

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree! 

Eleven little planes that Dave and the kids will have a ton of fun flying in the house!

The Tenth Day of Christmas

On the Tenth Day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me,

Ten Soda's for Sipping,

Nine Records Spinning,

Eight Maids a Milking,

Seven Fish a Swimming,

Six Cheese for Playing,

Five O N I O N Rings,

Four Caring Words,

Three Wrench Pens, 

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree! 

Dave's favorite soda is rootbeer!  The Key lime and Cherry Lime looked so festive though! (and maybe he'll share!)

The Ninth Day of Christmas

On the Ninth Day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me,

Nine Records Spinning,

(Several blasts from the past!)

Eight Maids a Milking,

Seven Fish a Swimming,

Six Cheese for Playing,

Five O N I O N Rings,

Four Caring Words,

Three Wrench Pens,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree! 

We've had a record player for a few years now, but not too many records.  I had fun sorting through piles of records at the second hand store and finding artists Dave liked as a kid:  Herb Alpert, Roy Clark, and this awesome Andy Williams Christmas Album!   I'm sure he would have preferred the Nine Ladies Dancing, but at least now there would be something to dance TO!  :)

The Eighth Day of Christmas

On the Eighth Day of Christmas

My True Love gave to me,

Eight Maids a Milking,

Seven Fish a Swimming,

Six Cheese for Playing,

Five O N I O N Rings,

Four Caring Words, 

Three French Pens,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree!

Dave LOVES chocolate milk.  He drank it a lot as a child and still has at least one glassful every day.  I knew I wanted to do chocolate milk for day 8 but thinking up what to do with it was tough.  This is as close to a "maid" outfit as I had time to create! 

The Seventh Day of Christmas

 ♪♪♪

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

My true love gave to me,

Seven Fish a Swimming,

Six Cheese for Playing,

Five O N I O N Rings,

Four Caring Words,

Three Wrench Pens,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree!

♪♪♪

Dreamin' of warmer days.  Care free fishing.
So what if they're Swedish fish in Jello! 
 

The Sixth Day of Christmas!

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

My true love gave to me,

Six cheese for playing,

(nothing like a good game of cheese and crackers!)

Five O N I O N rings!

Four Caring Words,

Three Wrench Pens,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree.

An explanation...   UNLESS you have played, or have children who play Pajama Sam's "No Need to Hide When it's Dark Outside" Wii or computer game, you won't get this. :)   Pajama Sam, on his adventures, comes to a spot where he's invited to play "cheese and crackers" which is like tic tac toe.  You can find a better description HERE. Our older kids loved this Pajama Sam!  We've heard reference to this game a lot. :)
 

Dave received, for his sixth day of Christmas, his own Cheese & Crackers board complete with playing pieces and directions. :)

The Fifth Day of Christmas

On the Fifth Day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me,

Five O N I O N rings!

(along with a Papa Burger and A&W root beer in a mug)

Four Caring Words,

Three Wrench Pens,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree.

And here is my true love enjoying lunch.  We rarely get a chance to have lunch together, just the two of us, so it was extra fun to bring his gift for day five and have 45 whole minutes with my true love!  (And isn't he a handsome dude! )

And the song goes on......... 

The Fourth Day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me,

Four Caring Words,

I Really Love You!

Three Wrench Pens,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree.

1 bag of Kisses for my true love in a nice jar....  hope he'll share!   XXXOOO

The Third Day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas

My true love gave to me...

Three Wrench Pens,

(great for the times things need fixing and white-out won't cut it)

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree.

12 Days of Christmas Day 2

On the second day of Christmas

My true love gave to me,

Two Turtled Gloves,

And a Cartridge in a Bare Tree.

(Turtle Candy stuffed inside a pair of gloves)

12 Days of Christmas for Fun Day 1

I've been thinking my amazing husband needs some extra love this Christmas season for all the hard work he does for our family. (and for putting up with me!)  I decided to do a 12 Days of Christmas countdown TO Christmas for him.  (I do realize that the actual dates would be from Christmas until Jan. 6th - but this is just for fun.)   I'm trying to not spend much, and he has a great sense of humor so he'll "get it" with my sillyness! 

I'll post a picture of each day as it happens:

On the first day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me,

A Cartridge in a Bare Tree.

(An empty shotgun shell "cartridge" tied to a branch from my lilac bush worked wonderfully!)



More pics to follow!  I could post more now but Dave follows my blog. :)

Ruffle Pillow

I tried my hand at making a pillow for the couch in my dining room.  It didn't turn out too bad...  I might have preferred a square pillow, but pillow forms were more money than I wanted to practice with.  This was a little travel sized pillow from Walmart that cost me $3.  I used a strip of crushed velvet left from making a dress for the flower...  just cut a strip, it rolled together and I just twisted it as I wound it around to create the flower.  Glued to a circle of felt - and added a button.

I see a lot more ruffles coming in the future.  They're fun and easy to make!

Scripture Bag

Nicole (9) liked my ruffled bag, but didn't want so many ruffles on hers.  She designed it herself.... chose the fabric and ribbon, assembled the flower the way she wanted. :)

The bag fits her scriptures, a pencil and a pack of tissue just perfect for toting to church! 

More Bows and headbands

My 11 year old daughter was invited to a birthday party tomorrow.  She wanted to take a headband.  She chose the ribbon and also put together another hair decoration - a flower and button combo.

I think they turned out pretty cute!  My daughter said she'd love to wear them. :)

Ruffled Tote. It's DONE!

I saw a cute ruffled tote on pinterest.  It looked a little complicated for my simple skills, but I pinned it anyway.  I kept looking at it and wondering if I could actually DO it. 

I decided to give it a try using just supplies I had on hand - then if it didn't turn out, I'm not out anything. :)  I had an old canvas tote with a picture of a gray wolf on the front and wording on the back.  Not that I don't like gray wolves or anything, but it wasn't my favorite bag to carry around.   I had a hard time coming up with fabric for the ruffles.  I didn't have a lot of choices in the type of fabric I needed (now if it used FLANNEL - a whole different story!  I have plenty of that. ).  My daughter Audra helped me decide which fabrics would go together and I really love the combination.

I have to say I was so intimidated I just let the material and bag sit in the craft room a few days before I got up the courage to start cutting.  Once I got started, it probably took me 3 hours to finish the bag.  If I did it again I could do it in much less. 

The tutorial I followed from pinterest is HERE...  I love how she does ruffles.  Easy!  That's not how I learned to ruffle. :)  My hope it posting my project is that you'll figure if *I* can do it, so can you!

Here's my bag before:

And after:

Un-Paper Towels

Browsing Pinterest I found a tutorial for Un-Paper Towels. You can find the tutorial HERE.  I had a stray white towel and some flannel left from a blanket I made a couple of years ago so I thought I'd give this a try.   We use paper towels minimally anyway, but these look so much more cheery than an old t-shirt or worn out towel.  AND they fit on the counter nicely.

I opted not to do the snaps so I could roll them on a paper towel holder.  Seemed like more work that it was worth AND I could utilize ALL of my white towel by making different sizes.  I made 6 of these handy towels.  I can see I will need more.  I think for the next batch I'll use a darker towel and flannel to use for spills that will stain.  I don't see these white ones staying beautiful very long. :) 

I will still keep paper towels on hand for the REALLY yucky jobs... but these un-paper towels are much more absorbent, prettier, and better for both the environment and my budget. 

Family Home Evening Chart

Here's my version of a Family Home Evening Chart using items already on hand.  An old clipboard is spiffied up with craft paper, ribbon, and decorated clothes pins.  This will help us remember who's turn it is to do what every Monday night!

I didn't spend any "new" money on this project.  The name plates are covered with pieces of plastic cut from a 2-liter soda bottle...  Already had everything else on had left from other projects.  I'm pretty pleased with it... especially considering it has taken me nearly 15 years to get around to actually making a chart.  lol

Bow for Dani

My friend Dani wanted  pink bow.  She picked out the ribbon by herself.  :) 

Kindness Kritter Board

Our family decided to take turns doing kindnesses for each other this upcoming year.  I made the Kindness Kritter Strikes Again board to help us with that.

When a kindness is done for someone in the family.... Kritter is moved to that persons name.  Then that person is responsible for doing a kindness for someone else.   Fun!

I didn't want to buy anything.  Challenging. :)   I decided to use an old, worn-out children's book for the base.  I hot glued it together, covered it with paper and ribbon.  I used a 5x7 piece of metal we've had around for a couple of years (intended for a different project & never used) in the center.  Kritter is made from yarn, a stray pair of Mr. Potato Head eyes, and some shaped sports buttons leftover from a different project last fall.  He has a bottle cap & magnet glued to his back so he can move from name to name.

I think it turned out pretty cute considering my crafting skills!

New Bows for New Outfits!

JC Penney had an amazing clearance sale this weekend.  70% off is just too good to pass up!  My girls, 9 & 11 both got a few new shirts and pants.  I've just started playing around with bow making.  My daughter-in-law Brianna showed me a little of what to do, and then turned me loose to play on my own. lol   The girls have been having fun with more bows to choose from, so I decided to make bows to go with each of their new shirts.

Here are tonight's results...

Crafting? Me?

Honestly....   I haven't a crafty or creative bone in my body.  BUT  I'm not too bad at looking at something and figuring out a way to do my own thing with it. 

This blog is just to document my projects and progress as I learn and practice fun new things! 

No instructions or tutorials just yet...  maybe if I get good at something or a project turns out amazing (snicker) I'll let you know how I did it.  Otherwise - maybe just seeing my efforts will help you realize you can do that - but even better!  ;)