A Little Easter Craftiness

I saw these fun yarn eggs on Pinterest and immediately thought they'd make a fun wreath. So I made a BUNCH using yarn in my stash (all leftover from other projects). They got better over time and I eventually picked my favorites to make this wreath. To make the wreath, I connected the eggs with a bit of glue and then reinforced the wreath by putting two rounds of clear fishing line through the middle of the eggs (to help hold the round wreath shape). To make the eggs, see the tutorial on the original post. Make sure you follow the directions to wipe off the excess glue before you wrap the yarn or they won't look as good. I used around 25 feet of yarn per egg. I felt the wreath needed a little something extra so I found the cute little birds at The Dollar Tree.

Happy almost Easter, everyone!

Lovebug

Happy Valentine's Day from my little Lovebug!

Homemade Valentines

The boys and I made some homemade Valentines this afternoon.


Can you tell which one I made?

More Christmas fun

Reading Christmas stories:

Getting our Christmas tree at Lowe's (the boys loved watching the tree get trimmed and wrapped):

Driving home with our tree:
Our tree:
Riding the Christmas train with the boys while in Ohio:

Christmas Craftiness

Thanks to Pinterest and all the lovely craftiness posted there, I have been in the crafty spirit this Christmas. I want to do more, but here are a few ornaments I've made this year.

I made a bunch of cookie cutter photo ornaments for my mom and my sister. This is a Martha Stewart craft that I've been doing for several years. They are so easy and so cute! Here are a few of the ones I made this year:I like to get the pictures printed in Sepia tone as they give it a warm antique look and can pull a variety of photos together into one unified bunch of ornaments. I use pretty scrapbook paper for the back and always make sure to note the year they were made.


Inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I made this felt bacon ornament for B:
This link will take you to a free tutorial, if you want your own bit of bacon-y awesomeness on your Christmas tree. I used the template there, but simplified mine a bit. I did not put the wire inside and feel that it looks plenty bacon-y without it.

I also got some Martha Stewart glitter (SO lovely) when it was half price at Michaels. This ornament for my godfather and a similar one for my godmother were made with the glitter. I put their names and their children's names and grandchildren's names on them.


Finally, I saw a pin with a little snowy scene inside a clear ornament--so I made this. It has a little Christmas tree and "snow" glitter inside and a cute little cardinal perched on the outside. I swirled the glitter around quite a bit so it looks like quite the little snowstorm in there.

And, of course, I wanted to let the boys do some crafting too. Another pin on Pinterest, inspired these:
The top one is one I helped N make. The bottom one is one that J made. As you can see, J got really into making the antlers. He also wrote 2011 and his name on the back which may be my favorite part :). I bought a dozen of these little balls at the dollar store. We gave a few of the finished ornaments to grandparents and kept the rest for our tree.

That's all the craftiness we've had time to complete, but we have lots more ideas so we may sneak in a little more before Christmas.

May your Christmas be crafty too!

If I had a shiny, red nose like Rudolph...

J's recent writing assignment from school:

It says "If I had a shiny, red nose like Rudolph, I would... I would have a shiny nose. It would be red. I would light the way for Santa Claus."

And here is the picture he drew to go with it:Merry Christmas, everyone!

I think the homemade gifts were a hit...

I had so much fun watching my nieces and nephews open their homemade Christmas gifts.


Michael with his Yoda doll.


Lizzie with her doll.


Lizzie in her knitted bobble bonnet.


Mary with her "Mary" doll.


Madeline and Reed with their dolls. Reed was particularly happy with his "Mr. Doll."


Joe with his Zorro doll.


And a last minute gift:
J with Fred (from Scooby Doo)--J had been asking for a "Fred" doll when I was working on the others. I told him it would have to wait until after Christmas, but then felt sad about that so I decided to try and make him in time for Christmas. I managed to get him done in about a day and a half which is quite a feat for me.

And finally, my sister-in-law sent me this picture of my nephew:
Oscar in his caterpillar hat. She said he'd been wearing it ever since he opened his present. He looks SO adorable!

Merry Christmas!

We just got home today from a wonderful, but entirely too short trip to see my family in Virginia for Christmas. Well, for pre-Christmas celebrating of the holidays. We drove 18 hours with the two boys and our dog Pepper to get back in time to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in our own home here in Texas. This is our first Christmas ever to spend by ourselves in our own home. We are excited to put the boys to bed tonight and to get everything ready for Christmas morning. We are so excited about seeing our boys' faces when they come downstairs and discover their gifts. BUT it is SO hard not being with our families today on Christmas Eve and I'm sure tomorrow will be hard too. My family always gets together on Christmas Eve. It used to be a birthday party for my grandmother who was born on Christmas. Now it's just a fun time for the extended family to get together. I am sad we are not there to celebrate. I hope that one day we will be able to live close enough to family to both enjoy the family traditions and celebrations while still having Christmas morning in our own home.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas whether you are with extended family or not. May your holidays be filled with love and laughter with the ones you love.

As a final bit of holiday cheer, here is a picture from our visit:
My parents with all eight of their grandchildren!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Trip to Oregon in Photos: Part 1, The Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we went to see B's sister, her husband and their children in Oregon. It was a whirlwind visit, but we had such a blast. On Saturday we went to a great pumpkin patch/farm.

Our first stop was the pumpkin launch. With each paid admission, you get to launch two pumpkins.

My nephew Oscar, 3, very seriously watching how it's done while waiting his turn:

Making a plan (B and J):

The pull (B and N):

The release (Chris and Oscar):
Next we went to the pony rides.
My niece Isla, 17 months, watching the ponies:

My cowboys :) (J in front, B and N in the back):

Next we had a yummy lunch while listening to live blue grass music. Then on to the petting farm which included goats, a sheep, chickens, rabbits, turkeys, pigs, donkeys and a llama.

Oscar feeding a goat:
Isla trying to feed a rabbit:

The next stop was the hay pyramid. If you look closely, you can see B, N, Chris and Oscar. J was up there somewhere but can't be seen in the picture:
One of our many attempts to get a good picture of all four cousins:
J and Oscar had a blast on the pyramid:
Next we did the pyramid maze and then took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch.

The pumpkin patch (N is in the foreground and the rest of the crew is farther away in the background):
Oscar with his giant pumpkin:
Each paid admission includes one pumpkin of any size.

Another attempt at a cousin photo:

A group shot while waiting for the hayride back to the rest of the farm:
So much fall farm fun!

My Little Leprechauns

When we were getting dressed for St. Patrick's Day, I told J that he had to wear green. We were headed to a St. Patty's Day craft play date and I wanted the boys to look festive. I picked out a green t-shirt for J to wear. I found the green vest I knit for J for Christmas in 2008 and decided that N could wear it. When I went to pick out the rest of N's clothes, J decided N had to wear his green pants too. Well, then J wanted to wear green pants. So shortly thereafter I had two little leprechauns.
J looked more like a modern combat leprechaun in his olive greens, but N looked like just a traditional little leprechaun.
Or maybe traditional leprechaun at Mardi Gras.

Happy Valentines Day!

Found a fun kit at the grocery store where you color cookies with food coloring markers. We had fun creating and eating our masterpieces!








And a bonus silly shot:
Happy Valentines Day! Hope yours is filled with love and laughter!