October 2010

Oh my, once again I am so far behind. I always say that I won't let it happen again and, of course, it always does. Well, when I left off we were going to Iowa. Which we did twice. First we went for my Mom's birthday. My grandmother, my great aunt, my aunt and uncle, and the normal Anamosa crew were all there to celebrate. It was a really nice time and I always cherish the opportunity, not only for me but especially my kids, to spend time with my extended family. I made some homemade ice cream and sorbet for Mom, which she loved and was awesome. Everyone ate a lot of food and dessert and had a good time visiting. Aidan had to visit the tractors probably about four times during our stay, sitting in each one. And Olivia actually slept through the night somewhere other than our house. Amazing!! The next weekend we were back in Iowa for the Des Moines Half marathon. This was Julien's first half marathon. We woke up early and got down to Greys Lake and waited for him to run by. As he went by, we all cheered him on and took pictures. Even the kids got into it. He ended up finishing in 1:53, which is great.

Then came time to get ready for Halloween. My neighbor and I had decided that our kids needed to be Pebbles and Bam Bam. With fabric being on sale, it ended up being about a $5 costume. This was the first time I'd touched a sewing machine since the 7th grade. The experience was a little harry but my neighbor Jen and I were able to get it together. The outfit was a little tight but it looked very cute. Pebbles and Bam Bam were a big hit. Now on to my next project. Or should I say projects? Of which I have 3. First, I have a new furniture project. I inherited a china cabinet from a neighbor. While I am excited to have one, this one is from the 70s and not quite up to style. So, I have some plans for it. This will be my winter project. Next, I'm already thinking about teacher presents for Christmas. I bought some canvas tote bags for half off and have some ideas on how to spruce them up. Although this involves touching a sewing machine, so we'll see how this goes. (At this point I'm thinking I may need to invest in a machine.) But my big project right now isn't a crafty one. Every time I go to see my folks we always end up going through old pictures. And every time I say that all us kids need copies of these pictures. Being part of our family history, I think it's important. So I've taken it upon myself to scan all these old pictures and catalogue them, eventually putting them on cds for everyone. If you are a brother or sister of mine, Merry Christmas! This is what you are getting! I've done probably 200 pictures, although I really have no idea, and I'm several hours into this project. Right now I have one of 3 albums left to do, then more pictures that my mom has accumulated since her birthday party. It's a lot of work and repetition but, it's been a lot of fun too. I'll be glad when it's done though.

Crafty, Crafty Me!

Well, last time I told you the story of my first crafty project, which I now have thumb tacks for! The next project I tackled was one that Olivia was in desperate need of; a barrette/bow holder. Olivia has many of these and, as any Mom can tell you, they are awfully hard to keep track of. My first thought was to make a barrette/bow holder like one I had growing up. It was a round mirror that had yellow yarn on it that made bangs and braided pigtails and you would clip things to the pigtails. I have no idea what happened to it but I wish I had kept it. I have good memories of it. Anyway, what I settled on was a picture frame holder, simply because I had a frame with the glass broken out of it that I was going to throw away. These are the kind of projects I love best. They keep items that still have use out of the landfill and allow them to have a new life. There was nothing wrong with the frame so why throw it out? So I bought some ribbon, buttons and other decorations, and got out the hot glue gun. I glued strips of ribbon on the back of the frame. Then I glued these cute buttons I got on the front. (And I have a few left over for other crafty uses.) The O's were in the scrap booking section of a hobby store on clearance but I thought it was a great way to personalize it and it was cheap. I hung it in her closet and immediately filled it with barrettes. Like it's full full. I think she needs another one! :) All in all, I must say that I'm very happy with how this project turned out and with the ease and speed at which it was accomplished. I may have to do this again for Christmas or birthday presents.

The other crafty ideas I've had lately are knitting and bow/barrette making. I found some knitting needles recently on clearance for $.80. Yep, less than a dollar and they are normally about $5. I should have bought every single one they had left! (Once again, me in the clearance section. I love awesome finds for really cheap. My mother taught me well. ) But, I got some yarn and a little pattern book and set about teaching myself to knit. The book was no help so I turned to You Tube and found a video that I thought was incredibly helpful. So far, I have a few rows going and haven't gotten back to it but I intend to. I have a goal of a blanket. It may take me all year but I will get there!

The barrette/bow idea was born out of frustration at the price of little girl hair accessories. I find it ridiculous to pay $5 for a big flower or bow on a clip. I also have problems finding colors to go with Olivia's outfits. My daughter doesn't wear hot pink everyday, thank you very much. So, back to You Tube to find some informational videos on how to do it. Actually, it's pretty easy. I bought some alligator clips and ribbon and decided to try it out. First I used fabric glue as suggested by the video and it just did not work for me. I must have the wrong glue or something. I switched to hot glue instead and had more luck. Considering it cost me $2 for the bag of clips (25 count) and $2 for a thing of ribbon (3 yards at least) it's very cheap and therefor very motivating to give it a go. So far I've just covered the clips with ribbon for barrettes but I plan on trying making bows. It'll take a little practice to get them perfect but the hardest part so far is not burning my fingers. Once again, I can see this being a useful skill to have around holiday time.

My current project that is consuming my time at the moment is the antique dresser I bought about a month ago. After we painted the stairway and entryway I decided that the dresser would need to be painted and not restained after all. Honestly I'm a little relieved it worked out this way. Striping it and restaining it would have taken a lot of work. This will be much easier and I'm hoping it will look prefect in it's chosen spot. I have the drawers primered now and I hope to finish priming in general shortly. I will make sure to put up pictures when I'm done.