Fall traditions

A little tissue paper

a little contact paper

and

a little mess

and

we have one of our family’s favorite fall traditions.

Fall leaf (and pumpkin) sun catchers

On our to-do list for next week is another one of our family traditions:  our tree of thankfulness.  (But I’m planning a little twist on that tradition.)

Do you have any fall traditions that your family likes to do?

Sick days ~

So you’re probably tired of hearing about our sick days but that’s kind of my life right now…  And please excuse the mom in the above picture.  She’s been a little too busy for beautification right now.  {smile}

First, let me say thank you!  I truly appreciate the comments and prayers for our family.  Slowly, the sick ones are starting to feel better.  We’ve still got a way to go but as my mother-in-law said today, “You can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” 

 

No one has felt much like school these past two weeks so I decided to put all workbooks aside and just focus on our history readings.   In addition to reading about the American Revolution, we have been watching the show Liberty’s Kids on the Netflix instant movies.  It has been fun to see the topics we have studied in history being portrayed in this cartoon.  (That link above is a companion site to the Liberty’s Kids shows.  I’ve not checked it out yet but it looks interesting.)  Today the older boys added a little math to their school work.  Slowly, we are getting back to a more normal life. 

The boys got kind of bored while in bed with the crud.  They even grew tired of TV and video games so they asked for some bars of soap.  Being boys, they do have pocket knives (and have passed their Boy Scout knife carrying thing) and they decided to carve some soap into figures.  Can you guess what animal the above is?  I’ll give you a hint:  it does not look like what Bryce intended it to look like!

 

The girls got a little bored too and asked to sew.  So I drew a little picture on some fabric and taught them to stitch around the figure.  When they are finished, we will sew their embroidery into a little pillow.

Today, the girls were feeling a little craftier than yesterday so we pulled out the paints.  I saw this somewhere online yesterday.  (I’m sorry I don’t have a link.  I can not remember where I stumbled upon these.  If you know, please let me know so I can give credit.)  We made hearts out of coffee filters and painted with water colors.  Some of them we cut like snowflakes which is appropriate since we may be having a snow day tomorrow!

I love how the girls taped this one to the window all by themselves.  {smile}  Tomorrow we have plans to make a heart garland like the one Amanda and her children made. 

Sick days definitely aren’t fun days.  But finding little bits of fun makes these yucky days seem a little bit brighter.  

 

Gingerbread houses ~

This week, we made gingerbread houses.  In the past, we have bought the kits and then we fought over shared the kit amongst the kids.  You can imagine how that went over.

We found out last year that is was much easier to make our gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and homemade icing.  (recipe at the end) 

I tried to help Baby Boy with his house but he had more fun seeing it fall!  He was so proud of the house he worked on though.  It was the first thing he showed his Daddy when he walked into the house.

What’s really funny about the houses is that they show the personalities of my children.  Each house speaks to the creator of it. 

 

 

I smile when I see these gingerbread house! 

We had a lot of fun making our gingerbread houses.  I didn’t even mind cleaning up the mess afterwards…

Icing for Gingerbread Houses

32 ounces of powdered sugar

6 egg whites

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Beat together with a mixer.  Beat for about 5 – 7 minutes.  Use as glue for gingerbread houses.

Have a blessed weekend!

 

My new obsession…

Look what I learned to do!

I’ve been wanting to learn how to applique for the longest time and when my friend Salinda mentioned teaching a class…well, I was all over it.

I’m as slow as a turtle but it is so much fun!

I’m all ready envisioning all of the things that I can applique!  If I can find the time, that is.  :0) 

More to come, I’m sure!

A new wreath ~ a how to, of sorts…

I have needed a new wreath for quite some time.  So the other day, I went shopping at one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby, for some items to make a new wreath.  While I was there, I stopped to see how much a premade wreath would cost.  The small one that I happened to look at was $70!  Wow! 

I’m not sure of my total cost because I got rid of the receipt but I did buy everything but the grapevine wreath at either 40% or 50% off.  The wreath cost $4.99.  So if I estimated, my wreath cost about $15 - $20. 

I thought that I would share how I made it in case you were looking for a cheaper alternative to those expensive wreaths too.

I started with:  a grapevine wreath, 3 bundles of 2 types of flowers, a roll of toile ribbon, and some small bumble bees.  You can use more flowers.  Personally, I wanted more forsythia flowers but this was the only bundle I could find in the store.  I guess everyone else wanted some too. 

Other things I used:  floral wire, wire cutters, scissors, and a hot glue gun.

I began by placing the flowers on the wreath to get an idea for where I would place them. 

Using the wire cutters, I cut some of the very long parts off of the flowers.  I left enough of the stem to weave into the wreath.

I started with the forsythia and wove the flowers into the wreath.  Using the floral wire, I tied down some of the stems especially if they were sticking out a bit further than I wanted.  I also bent other stems into place.

 Twisting the wire around the back of the wreath to secure the flowers into place.

 I cut the other flowers into small bundles and tucked them in around the forsythia.  I secured them into place with a dab of hot glue.

 Just a dab of hot glue in a hidden spot should hold it into place.

I started making the bow and it just wasn’t looking right.  Since it had been a long time since I had made a bow, I googled it.

How to make a bow (clickable link)

I untied it and started again…and again…bow making is not really my forte. 

I attached the bow using some hot glue and the wires used for making the bow plus another wire.  I took the leftover ribbon and secured it to the back of the wreath with hot glue and wrapped it around the wreath.  I then glued the end of the ribbon to the back of the wreath on the other side.

Now for the fun part!

Since bumble bees will be at our house soon when the violets starting blooming, I wanted them on my spring wreath.  That, plus they are incredible cute…if they don’t sting you, that is!

I glued the bees to the ribbon here and there.  I even hid one in the flowers!

Fluff the bow and the flowers until it looks like you want it!

Then find the perfect spot to hang it!

That’s how I made my new spring wreath!

The Art Box ~ Snow Art

I’ve been wanting to participate in the Art Box for a while and now I finally have time! Yay!

This week, Sunshine Girl was learning S is for snowman so I carried the s and snow theme over to art box.

Project 1:

* wooden shapes: snowman, snowflake, star, the letter s

* blue and white paint

*white glitter

Sunshine Girl painted the shapes and sprinkled with glitter. LOTS and LOTS of glitter. (Her favorite part!)

Project 2:

* empty soda bottle

* white paint (we used tempera at first, but we found out that you need to use craft paint. The tempera flakes off.)

* brushes

*other paint for the details or googly eyes, pipe cleaners for arms, fleece scraps for the scarf, hat

I found this idea at this site. If I had read her directions I would have seen not to use tempera paint! ;0)

All of the siblings got in on the fun!

Baby Brother was learning about blue and winter. So he drew pictures with chalk. (And he tasted the chalk – yes, I’m sometimes a bad mommy.)

He painted with white paint on a piece of blue construction paper. He would. not. let. go. of the paint brush. I wish I had a picture of that! Hard to take that picture though when I’m the one he is struggling with!

And he painted with blue…

We even painted his hands. He loved this! However, I did not wipe all of the blue paint off of his hands and he let me know! He was telling his daddy about it when he got home by pointing to his hands and the picture hanging on the line.

Sunshine Girl colors a wooden seal. This was a kit that came from Michael’s. (I love Michael’s!)

We did not get to all of the objects that I had in the art box but we had fun with what we did do!

I’ve had fun planning this week’s new box too!

For a peek at some other art boxes, please visit Tired, Need Sleep

Crafting is good for the soul

 

Oh, how I love to create things.  I often don’t have time but this past week I found myself sitting there nursing a cold and since I can’t just sit and I didn’t feel like reading (say what?), I decided to craft. 

It feels so good to be creative.  It creates joy in me.  I need it but often times, I push it back to make way for things that have to be done.  It’s just that season of my life and I try to remember that.  My mom tells me that one day, I’ll have time to craft but will miss these busy days with my children. 

So I am thankful for my busy household and appreciate those moments that I can steal away to create something to add beauty to my home.  And I love the comments from my family as I bless our home with works of creativity…

“Mommy, ours house is pretty.” ~ Sunshine Girl, 3 years old

(Original idea for banner found on The Homespun Heart.)