Fun w/ blogger

As you can see I am tying out some new looks.  Bear w/ me over the next couple weeks while I decide which fits me best.  I want to make sure its a simple enough design so my mom can view it easily on her old computer, but at the same time make it....uniquely me :)  Votes and suggestions highly encouraged!!

Urban Craft Uprising....I wanna go!

Hey for all of you up in the Seattle area, are you going to the amazing Urban Craft Uprising?  I wish I could go but we will be out of town on Saturday and then I have "critical" missions on Sunday.  Drat DRAT drat!! Double Drat!  If anyone is going, please take me in spirit and share what you find :)

Bazaar fever!!!

Ugh!! Only 3 more days to go and I need more hats!  I need more time to make more hats!!

Crazy me spent the whole Thanksgiving 4 day weekend working on ONE, count that as ONE, new pattern.  Ever have those days-weeks-months you get an idea stuck in your head?  That's what I was like all weekend.  Good thing I learned long ago that ripping out a mistake is my friend :)  I must have ripped it out at least 15 times.  Finally finished the hat Sunday night, only to have both the teen and the boy give it a thumbs down. :(  So last night spent again redesigning it!  UUUGGHH!  I need to stop messing w/ it and finish making hats for the bazaar.  (Picture of the agonizing design to follow soon.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bazaar Bazaar

I will only be doing one bazaar this season, the Pleasant Valley Elf Festival on Dec. 4 at Pleasant Valley Primary/Middle school.  So I have been crocheting like mad!  The boy is my co-sponsor. He wears my hats to school and "advertises".  The deal is he gets 50% of any sale if the kids mention his name :)  If he sits at the bazaar with me all day, I'll also give him 50% of sales.  As you can see, I'm not really into this to make money.  I'm also working hard on Christmas gifts as they ALL are going to be handmade this year.

 

The hat's a work in progress, I have an idea of this type of hat, but not quite happy with the end product yet.

Yeah! I felted another purse!  I'm using this as my purse now, it's so darn cute!

  

New items in the shop

Hey!  I've been working on some things and finally got around to placing them in my etsy shop.

Click on over and check them out!

Pumpkin time!

It's that time of year!  Time to go get pumpkins!


We took the girls w/ us and went to our annual favorite pumpkin patch, Pomeroy Farm in Yacolt, WA.  We visited the stinky pigs, the old barn, the silly chickens, and best of all, Pumpkin Lane!

They had so much fun running around the pumpkin patch looking for just the right pumpkin.  

They have lots of fun things throughout the property.  Magic shows, music, food, hay rides, and lots of great photo ops.

What the kids remember and look forward to the most is Pumpkin Lane.  They decorate various "pumpkin people" throughout the property and through the back woods.  The kids love looking for their old favorites and can't wait to see what they will have new each year.

They even have a small hay maze that we have to go through...many...many...many times.

All in all, a good day!

Halloween crafts

Another season, another reason to craft!  Rather than dig out the same ole', same ole' Halloween decorations, I thought I'd try some new craft ideas.  These come from my favorite inspiration blog: One Pretty Thing.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is the best blog for craft ideas!  If I don't have time to go through my daily list of blogs, I at least go to One Pretty Thing.  I've been so inspired by all the lovely bloggers this site features.

First craft: Halloween plates.

This is from TheAnswerIsChocolate . I opted not to add the metal flakes as her tutorial showed, (only 'cause I did not have the supplies) but  instead covered the whole plate w/ paper.

Supplies:

Clear glass plates (local Goodwill $2)
Mod Podge
Sponge paint brush
Scrap book paper and/or Halloween napkins (I used both)
Sharp Knife

Napkins from Target, $1.50. And you only use a couple so you still have plenty left to use for your Halloween party.

Step 1: Measure the bottom of the plate and cut out a circle to match from either the napkins or scrapbook paper.  I wanted the skull on the bottom, so I cut my circle with the skull in the middle of the circle.

Step 2: Paint just the bottom of the plate with Mod Podge. 

Step 3:  Press your cutout circle onto the Mod Podge on the plate with your fingers.  The object is to press out all the bubbles.  Then paint over the paper with more Mod Podge.

Step 4: Cut strips of paper a little wider then the width of the sides of the plate.  Paint one side of the plate with Mod Podge.  Apply a strip of paper to the Mod Podged plate as you did with the circle.  Press the paper down with your fingers, then cover the paper w/ a layer of Mod Podge.  Continue until all sides of the plate are covered.

Hint: If you are using stiff paper like scrap book paper, wet the strips of paper first to make it more pliable.  You want to make sure there are no bubbles and that all the glass is covered.  If need be, cut smaller pieces of paper to cover the gaps.

Step 5:  Once all paper is applied,cover the entire surface with another layer of Mod Podge.

Step 6: Let plates dry overnight. Or until completely dry.

Step 7: Once dry, use a sharp knife to cut off the excess paper around the edges.

Step 8:  Ta da!  You now have beautiful Halloween plates!  Obviously these cannot go in the dishwasher, but you can use a damp cloth to wash off the top after use.

For the large plate, I cut out the skull from the napkin, then used scrap book paper to cover the rest of the plate. I like the effect it had of the skull looking "ghostly".  On the smaller plates, you can see where I had some of the strips overlap the skull and since the napkin was pretty thin, it showed through.  Next time, I would probably not overlap black on white.  But I still think it looks pretty cool!

Second Craft:  Spooky Bottles

This is pretty simple.  I bought these "spooky" labels from the Dollar Store a couple years ago.  But you can also print off your own from this site: http://www.fantasyjr.com/printable-halloween-labels/ or from Just Something I Made or from The Graphic Fairy.  I use these sites for lots of fun free printables.

Step 1: Get some cool looking empty bottles.  (I keep used bottles just for this occasion.)

Step 2: Remove the labels by soaking under warm water and scrubbing w/ soap.

Step 3:  Apply labels w/ double sided sticky tape or Mod Podge or glue.  Your choice!

Step 4: Fill with colored water and oil.

Step 5:  Set out amongst your Halloween welcome center-piece.
NOTE:  The Boy felt that the Rat Poison needed something "extra" so he filled the bottle w/ rice.  Nice touch!

Third Craft:  Halloween Pictures

This idea came from The Graphic Fairy .  Talk about simple!  I did this craft while waiting for my kids to finish getting dressed Saturday morning.

Step 1: Print out picture of your choice onto card stock.
Step 2: Frame!


Hope you enjoy!  Happy Halloween.

Yummy!

Chocolate cake, blackberry pie, banana cream pie

Blackberry cobbler was a hit!

Recent Crochet Projects

Even w/ all the kid and summer activities, I've been able to sneak in a couple projects.

I found the pattern for these cute little flowers over at Easy.  She has lots of wonderful crochet ideas.  I took her flowers and added beads to the centers then attached them to bracellets and rings.  They would also make nice headbands.

The flower pattern came from Sew Ritzy-Titzy.  I just added a crochet leaf, although her fabric leaf I've logged away for another project.

Then my bags, oh my beautiful, fun bags.  I got the idea for these bags from one Future Girl's  blog. This link is to her free download page where you can download the pattern for her Starling handbag.  As you can see I took some liberties and added longer handles and embellishments.  I really need to go through her tutuorial on linings as mine didn't come out quite right....they were a bit off but the hand sewing covers it up...I hope.

 

This cross pattern comes from a silly little crochet magazine I receive in the mail.  I don't know why or how I started receiving this, but I do, and occassionally it has cute patterns that I can follow.

Kids kids kids

When I started this bog I had grand ambitions that it would be filled w/ all my wonderful crafts and crochet projects.  And some posts about the kiddies.  Silly me!  I thought I could somehow change my life priorities.  Instead, this blog has turned out to mirror my life rather than my personal dreams.  Its all about the kids :)

Not that that is a bad thing....just a fact of reality.  So once again, here is a post about the kids.

All 3 grand-daughters have their birthdays at the end of August.  So to save some money, time, and make their birthday memories last longer than any toy might, we decided to take them all to Enchanted Forest, the Disneyland of the Northwest.  It was also a great end of summer activity for the Boy and Teen and her Boyfriend.

 

We packed a picnic lunch complete w/ birthday cupcakes.  The girls had so much fun running through the fairy tales houses, visiting the castles, and going down all the different slides.  They could not get enough of the Old Lady in the shoe slide.  We stayed there so long, they started folding the rugs and handing them out to other kids.

Taking a short break in between fairy tales

At the mouth of the Witch tunnel/slide

Panning for gold in the western town

Alice, Pappy, and china

The big kids even had fun. Of course they had to go on the log ride several times, as it takes a bit more than a slide to get their adrenaline running.  But at the end of the day (we closed the park!), all were exhausted big and little.  

 

After hours of running up and down hills and lifting a 3 year old up and down ("Molly, up, up!")  I think I've had a good enough work out for the next month. Today is definitely a day of rest and recuperation.

Kids entering high school...

1.      Have no concept of computers w/out internet access

2.      Get their music via downloads and sharing not the music store.

3.      Watch TV on their schedule not the network schedule.

4.      Use gift cards as a common form of currency.

5.      Will openly talk about homosexuality, pedophiles, HIV, and narcotics...probably since 10.

6.      Equate having a debit card to having a bank account.

7.      Will never write a check or balance a checkbook in their lifetime.

8.      Have at least one game system and most have more than one.

9.      Consider off-line or single person gaming out-dated.

10.     Have made at least one video recording and probably posted it on the Internet.

11.     Have never used and nor probably seen a phone booth.

12.     Consider security guards and metal detectors common place in schools.

13.     Know the proper procedures for a terrorist attack at school
14.     Have never used a phone book
15.     Have at least one "log on" ID and password
16.     Expect all public buildings to be smoke-free
17.     Believe smoking kills and should be out-lawed
18.     Have lived through 3 wars.
19.     Know more families that are divorced than not
20.     Expect Internet access to be available everywhere via wireless.


What else can you guys think of?  
Here's what Beloit College came up with for the class of 2014.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Saturday was the 3rd granddaughter's 3rd birthday.  All 3 came over and spent the weekend.  We had so much fun!  Catching frogs in the planters, jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler, Popsicles, and cupcakes :)

Then Spongebob and they all crashed before the movie even got going.

I wish we could keep them all the time...but then again I think sleep-overs are probably just as good.

Summer = Fair, so when the fair is over does that mean summer is over?

This year the Teen and I submitted some of our handmade awesomeness to the Fair.  My photos are kinda blurry as I only had the camera phone w/ me when we went to the fair.

 Lol, we got Red Ribbons straight across the board.  Don't know if they equate to any premiums (cash) yet, but it was fun seeing them hanging up at the fair and having friends and family go see them.

The judges actually commented on each item so we have an idea of what to do to get a Blue ribbon next year....we'll see.  As the Teen says, "I don't believe in re-dos.  Once is good enough."

I love that the Teen submitted this dress she made from her dad's old shirt.  It looks absolutely cute on her!  Her sewing style is...unique to say the least.  More of - eye it and hand sew here and there, then any great seamstress skills.

This photo is of my friend's felted hat that won the Judge's Prize. She just started felting this year!  She learned so she could teach her GS Troop, and now she's an artist.  She also submitted a beautiful scarf out of silk, but that photo really looked too bad to post.

Too bad the photo is fuzzy, because the hat is gorgeous!

The Teen's BFF is an amateur photographer.  Here is the photo she submitted:

...and now the fair is done and gone.  Time to start thinking about school shopping.  Ugh.