Some Angel

I just realized I have not shared with ya'll about my house guest. I am watching a dog for my daughter. Her name is Bow. Also known as the beautiful brown angel (aka arnery old dawg).

She has some bad habits that I have just not fully adjusted to; the worst being getting into the kitchen garbage if she thinks no one is looking. I know this so, it really is my own fault when I forgot to hide it before I left the house. But really? Does she really have to drag the can into the living room and perforate it? You would never know I feed her 4 times a day!

The good news is these cute little glasses that I found at Target today. This morning it occurred to me that this year we will have little ones joining us for Christmas Eve dinner. My other grandchildren are in their twenties now so they have been eating on the good china for some time but this year we will have 4 and 6 year olds joining us so I decided to come up with some age appropriate dinnerware for them. It doesn't really show in the photo but they are double walled and have glitter and snowflakes that float around. (I hope that does not encourage spillage!)

Maybe I should ask Santa for a locking garbage can?

Christmas Candle Lampshades

Darlene has been going to town with these little lamps that we made a couple of months ago. She uses a lot of wrapping paper to make her shades so I decided to give that a try. Very easy to do and just for some added glitz I used a straight pin to poke holes in the snowflakes on this pattern.

You don't notice with the lights on but with the lights off it adds a very neat effect. Unfortunately I am unable to get a decent photograph, so you will have to use your imagination or try it yourself.

This is the other paper on a goblet, whereas the blue is a slightly smaller shade on a flute. These just continue to be so much fun!

Tis the season

I just finished making four sets of pjs and other than running a little behind on crocheting figured I am pretty much on schedule. I usually do all my baking the last week. Then again it 'tis the season...

Let me begin by saying that I have the perfect front yard for kids to play in. Nice low climbing tree and bushes absolutely made for hiding in ambush under and behind. I was a tom boy - I remember and know what they look for. So as you might imagine my yard attracts boys by the handful! And I rarely complain even though it makes the dogs crazy in the house. I love to see kids playing outside, using their imaginations! So as long as they leave my car alone and don't break things I don't complain.

Well, some one of them did take glass ornaments out of the neighbor's garage and broke them all over my side yard. Yeah, I complained. And their mom was even madder since they were her ornaments! The other neighbors driving by and seeing me out with a shop vac vacuuming my lawn may think I have lost it though. I just told the mom I wanted them to stay off the yard for a bit as I worried I might not get all the little pieces. One large chunk pierced her flip flop as she walked away driving home my concern. Thank you Lord.

So fast forward a few weeks and the boys are back playing in the yard though I think one is no longer joining them... Yesterday I saw them scooping leaves into piles by hand in my yard and I figured they would jump in them (who wouldn't) and they would scatter back where they began. WRONG! Today I saw that in fact they had raked them up and bagged them. And one of the boys pointed it out just in case I missed it! I told him I was grateful and he proudly announced that they were going to rake some more today. He was so proud of himself so I told him that I would give them some cookies next time I baked. His little face lit up and he promptly shared his find with the others who thanked me.

Later I saw them out there with rakes working like mad and they came as it got dark to let me know they would be finishing tomorrow. So I promised to bake cookies tomorrow to which the youngest (first grade - just ask him!) wanted to know if I could make ginger bread cookies. And told me all about the one his teacher brought the year before.

Oh yeah I did. I said I would see what I could do. I wished them a Merry Christmas to which they eagerly responded in kind. So now I am not only baking cookies tomorrow but the kind that have to be rolled out and DECORATED! But 'tis the season.

The time when we are maybe more aware of how much difference a kindness can make. And ever so grateful that Christmas isn't all about shopping.

Round Napkins for Christmas

Over at Nancy's Notions I watched a short video on how to make round napkins and fold them to resemble trees.

They were quick and easy but I folded them over one more time as I liked my trees more slender.

So as you can see I have packed away the Thanksgiving decorations and have started on Christmas. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas", (even if the A/C is still running)!

Thanksgiving decor just in time

I saw these done in "Better Homes and Gardens" and thought they were so pretty.

So I gathered up some acorn caps and got out my clear spray and spotted this metallic next to it and thought "I wonder..."

So I sprayed some of each and when they were dry gathered up some supplies.

I made a 3" circle pattern and got out some plastic pellets that I use to weight down stuffed things so they sit upright.

I just love that I got to use up small scraps of velvet I had saved. I hand stitched around the edges and after drawing it up and filling and stuffing I just sewed it closed.

Then tucked the caps on top. As you can see I decided I really liked the silver color better with the dark color velvet. It is especially glamorous on the burgundy that has a silver sheen to it.

I hope all of you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Who knew?

Who knew I would be helping with a last minute request from a 6 year old who just had to have a Monarch caterpillar cake?

At first it was just going to be a caterpillar.

But then she got quite specific so this is what we whipped up.

Can you believe all I had to buy was the cake mix? Licorice, M&Ms, cake decorating tips, large box and even a liner paper for the grass were all just sitting around here. I guess that is why they come to me. I always have plenty of 'stuff'. I just hope it passes the 6 year old's expectations.

Now back to Christmas stuff...

Update

Just a note of update on the tea towels I did here.

I bought a pen at JoAnn's in the quilting section designed for holding up to laundering as it is for signing quilts. I tried it out on another towel and it worked great and held up beautifully when I washed it.

I packed away the stash of blank tea towels with the pen and packed up all the Halloween decorations without taking more photos so you will have to trust me on this one.

Beads and Bells Christmas Necklaces

All that is needed for this project is a strand of beads leftover from Mardi Gras, some jingle bells in various sizes, large jump rings and some small pliers like those used by most jewelry makers.

Attach the bells as desired on the chains using the jump rings. This took a little longer for me as I did not have any jump rings large enough so I took the time to make some with a jump ring tool and some wire I had on hand.

Even with that it was a fast and inexpensive project duplicating necklaces we saw for sale at JoAnn's for $5.00 each. We just couldn't resist since I had the supplies at home already other that the bells which we did buy at JoAnn's.

We just can't give away everything we make.

Webbed Christmas Ornaments

To finish the ornaments that we sprayed with gold webbing we used different things.

I stuffed half of mine with red curling ribbon.

For the rest I printed sheet music from "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" onto some parchment paper and then shredded it.

Kristy filled hers with strips of red tissue paper.

But the sheet music strips she preferred to put into clear ornaments.

No matter what they came out great and she is looking forward to giving them away this Christmas.

Check back to learn more about that necklace she is wearing.

More Webbing

Now that Halloween is officially over I need to back track a bit and show you some of the Christmas things we also worked on.

We were having so much fun with that black webbing that I got out the gold can and some clear glass ornaments so we could see how that looked.

Pretty cool. Now to decide just what we want to do next. Can you believe we are finally moving on from Halloween to Christmas?