Making Progress

I hope you all had a wonderful family filled Thanksgiving weekend.  Our time was spent with Kevin's side of the family this year.  It was such a fun time and the kids loved getting to play with their cousins they haven't seen in about 15 (?) months.  Of course it was crazy with 8 adults and 9 kids, but it was a great, albeit short, visit.

As for the progress part of my post?

I've been able to get the craft/office room emptied and move the furniture around a bit.  It's amazing how much really useful stuff was in the room (do you feel the sarcasm?).  I'm slowly getting things sorted and put back into place. Very much hoping to have this room situated by tonight - at the very latest tomorrow.  We are having company Friday evening and my parents are coming for a visit this weekend, so the pressure is on!

And The Winner Is............

via Mathgoodies

I'll be sending the gift card your way soon!

Thanks to all of you who entered and all of you who didn't enter but still read the blog.  I keep my sanity and creativity by doing all these little things, but I'm glad that it has been of help to others.

The next couple of weeks are going to be CRAZY.  I love this time of family and food, but it can also mean a LOT of driving for us.  I'm sure all of you are going to be busy too.  :)  Hoping to get a couple of posts up during that time, but we'll have to see.

Have a great weekend!

I'm In The Mood... For a Giveaway!

****NOW CLOSED****

Yep.  Blame it on early Christmas Spirit or just a general good mood or maybe it's me just wanting to say a HUGE 'Thank You' to all of you who read this little blog.  (I think it's the last.)  Regardless, I'm giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon.com to one lucky reader.

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment at the end of today's entry.  ( 1st Entry)

Become a follower (the button in the upper left) and then leave another comment telling me you did so. If you are already a follower, just tell me in the comment.  (2nd Entry)

Head over to Facebook and become a member and then leave another comment here letting me know.  (3rd Entry)

That's a total of 3 entries per person!   (Make sure I have a way to contact you in the event that you should win.)

Giveaway will be closed on Thursday, November 18th at Midnight.  I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner first thing Friday morning.

Good luck!

Pencil and Paper Holder Extra

I'm on a mission to get a few of the Pencil and Paper holders made up as gifts for Christmas this year.  Some of the kids are kinda young, so I wanted a place for crayons as well as pencils.  Here is what I came up with.

The green area is for the pencils and the lower blue is a place to put the crayons.  {I really need to figure out how to use a photo editing software.}  There is room for 12 pencils (just like the original) and 11 crayons.

Here's a quick tutorial on how this is done.

First, get all your pieces ready for sewing just like the original tutorial.  Also, cut out a piece of material 6x12 1/2".  This will make the pocket for your crayons.  Fold this piece in half lengthwise and press so it is now 3x12 1/2"

Mark your sewing lines as directed for the pencil area.  Then mark sewing lines on the crayon pocket placing them in between each of the sewing lines for  the pencils.  Measure in 3/4" for your first line and then every inch after that.  Here is a diagram to hopefully make it more clear.

Wow! Make sure your lines are straighter than mine. :)

Next, get ready to sew.  Follow the sewing directions in the original tutorial.  We are just going to be adding an extra layer.

Your first stitch will be the crayon section to the pencil section.  Make sure your edges line up and stitch the first line.  (Without the body section.)

Now, place the attached pencil and crayon sections on top of the body and line up the edges.  Flip the crayon section back out of the way and sew your first line on your pencil section attaching it to the body.

After you have that line stitched down, lay the crayon section back in place.  Then get the body out from underneath. 

Keep alternating this process until you have made it all the way across the body.  You will eventually end up with this.

Just remember - When sewing the pencil section to the body, have the crayon section back out of the way.  When sewing the crayon section to the pencil section have the body folded back out of the way.

I think this is all clear.  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment here, on facebook or email me.

Linking to:

 

I've Been Dabbling.....

in Photography.

Don't you just love those pictures you see in the store front windows of professional photographers of the adorable kids outside just having fun with genuine smiles on their faces?  Getting ALL the kids dressed and looking presentable at the same time (for an extended length of time) rarely happens.  Not even on Sundays are we able to avoid some sort of mess on the clothes (i.e. toothpaste, spit up, marker, snot :) nor can we keep the hair nice.  Plus, I get exhausted just thinking about all the work it means for me.  Great pictures I want, headaches and stress I don't.

The only other option that worked in my mind was to just take a leap and do the pictures myself.  This way I can do it at my own pace (one kid at a time when they are happy) and get the pictures that really fit the individuals personality.  Here's a couple of what we've gotten.

 

As you can see, there has been a LOT of giggling lately.  The one on one time is great for me to keep connected to them as an individual, too.  Now, these aren't exactly professional quality, but there's much more meaning to these pictures than I've ever had.  

Now I just need to learn how to use a photo editing program.  I'll add that to my list......

Tuesday's Tip of the Week

Remember the Tip about unfreezing frozen bread?  Well, I'm excited to let you know that it DOES work for hamburger buns too!  Yea!  Just do the same process as was done with the loaf of bread.  (I did separate the them so there was only a single layer.)

Now I can keep a supply in the freezer and spare my husband a stop at the grocery on his way home from work.

The Weekend

Well, it's Monday.  We had a very busy and crazy weekend as usual even with a couple of things getting canceled.  Unfortunately, I got no sewing done.  No crafting done either.  My kitchen is clean and the laundry is fairly well caught up, though. :)

So, instead of sewing, I started tackling my mess of a craft room/office.

Here I've started clearing it all out.

And a little farther into the process. (The shelves are now down, too.)

My dining room is now a mess as well, but I had to put it all somewhere.  I decided that if I'm going to be doing several projects this holiday season, I need to actually be able to find things quickly and easily.  After I've finished clearing all the items out and rearranging the furniture, I'll have to sit down and sort things into keep and get rid of piles.  Anyone what a couple of bookshelves?

Pencil and Paper Holder

I'm in the process of adding a little to the DIY Pencil and Paper holder like I made last Christmas using the tutorial at Skip To My Lou.

Here is a little peak at one addition I've made.

Still trying to get everything tweaked just right.  I'm pleased, for a first run, though.  Fingers are crossed to have it done by Monday.

Election Day!

Get out and vote everyone.  Exercise your constitutional right, and then you will have the right to complain.  (If you so choose.) :)

Halloween Recap

We had a great time last night Trick or Treating.  Kevin took the older 4 out around our (wonderful and generous) subdivision to get a candy supply that should last until Christmas.

The day started off with a couple of the kids being under the weather.  I kept the two youngest home from church yesterday morning.  And then around 2 o'clock our oldest started running a low grade fever.  I wasn't sure what the evening was going to bring, but I knew I didn't want to be lugging a sick and crying child to the door every time the door bell rang.  So, at the last minute I made up this sign to put out with the candy on the porch.

It's just card board painted with acrylics.  The writing I typed up and printed off the computer.  To age it a little, I tore and then used chalk around the edges.  I then taped these eyes in the window (minus the horns).

I'm thinking I might keep this to use again sometime.  One of these days I'm hoping to be able to go out to Trick or Treat too.  :)

Everything really worked out well.  I kept the baby home with his little runny nose and cough.  O, our 4th daughter, wasn't feeling very well and only went out for about 15 min.  (She actually asked Daddy to bring her home.)  The other kids stuck it out and had a blast!  All of our neighbors are so great and the kids really loved getting to see all their friends dressed up.

Daddy even got a cut of the candy for taking them out! (These are actually the full size candy bars that the kids didn't care for in their buckets.  :)

Now that Halloween is officially over, I plan to get started on Christmas.  It seems crazy, but did you all know that it is only 55 days away?!  I have 11 nieces and nephews to think about plus the rest of the family members.  I have a good start on some and a long list for the rest, but I'm really hoping to be done with it all by Thanksgiving.  Well...... at least I have that as a goal.