Back to School

It's back to school time and nothing says back to school like school supplies. I have to admit that I love shopping for school supplies! One of my favorite school supplies is Fiskars scissors. This year I will have two teaching roommates. One of them is new to our school and I wanted to make her feel welcome. What says welcome to school better than school supplies, right? I tied a bit of scissor printed ribbon to a set of student scissors and a pair of big teacher scissors in the same color. Red is my favorite color so this red set so it's for me. My roommates are getting purple and pink scissors. I hope they like them.

Back to school time means spending lots of time setting up and organizing at school. Nature Girl has been a trooper. I've been dragging her into school everyday for the past week so I can work. She's been great about entertaining herself. Here's the cup tower she made one day. Today she used a Styrofoam cup, four forks, some pipe cleaners, duct tape, and markers to make a bobblehead. She certainly is creative!

Happy back to school time to you!

Vintage

I made this market bag for myself using some vintage fabric I bought at a yard sale this summer. The fabric had once been a set of curtains. It took me a couple of months to decide whether to make an apron or a bag with this fabric.

Just look at this fabric. It features the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, as well as a few other little shops. I have some fabric scraps left but I wish I had more of this fabric. I just love it!

I've also developed a new love for yellow glass. I found this set of six glasses at a yard sale for a $1. I just love them!

Our Family

I have a brother and two sisters. Now that we're adults and life is so busy it's not that often we all get to spend time together. So when we had a chance to spend a few days together this summer we had a blast. Between the four of us there are nine children. We have six girls and three boys. The kids range from three and a half years to eleven and a half years old. Amazingly they all get along well and they like to be together.

Here are all of the kids. They let us snap pictures for a while before they got bored.

We decided a silly picture was in order. Just look at those silly faces!

Then it was the adults turn to take pictures. First the serious picture . . .

then the kids wanted us to do a silly picture too.

We had fun and really enjoyed spending time together, one big happy family!

Panda Swap Fun!

Nature Girl and I have been hosting Panda Swap 2011. The craftiness has begun and some of packages have even been mailed. You can check out the swap goodies over at our other blog Crafty Bits Swap Spot. Right now our panda swap is featured but we'll be hosting another swap soon. We'll keep you posted. Below is the panda package Nature Girl received.

Nature Girl received her panda package from Melinda and Olivia. They sent pajama bottoms with a matching panda headband, watercolor paints, Twizzlers, and an art book.

Just look at this book they altered. Isn't it awesome?!! We think it's a panda masterpiece. The book is full of paper for Nature Girl to draw and paint on. When she saw the book she said "Look it's art." Thanks for sending such an amazing piece of art to her. She LOVES it!


Also a special thank you goes out to Val who sent Nature Girl these special goodies. Nature Girl wishes I could crochet (I do too) so I make cute little amigurumi softie animals. Val was so sweet and sent this sweet amigurumi panda, mermaid fabric and mushroom to Nature Girl. Nature Girl says thank you! Thanks from me too, I appreciate your kindness and friendship!

Puppies and Patterns Don't Mix

I got up early this morning thinking I get some crafting done. I set about cutting out a new pattern while the rest of the house was still asleep. I was almost finished cutting when Nature Girl brought puppy boy downstairs. There I was sitting on the floor cutting out all of the pieces. Chunk immediately found the pattern scraps pile and wrecked havoc with it.

I whisked him outside for a morning potty but when he came in he immediately ran to my pattern piece pile and marched his little wet feet all over my patterns.

Chunk isn't a help when it comes to craft projects. Good thing he's so cute! I was able to save the pattern pieces before he did more damage but I learned that puppies and patterns don't mix!

My Not so Green Thumb

I have a reputation as a plant killer. It's a sad but true fact that I have more of a black thumb than a green thumb. The only plant I have successfully kept alive for a long period is "Harry, " my Golden Ponthos(part of the philodendron family.) While we were in Kauai we learned that philodendrons are parasitic plants that almost impossible to kill. Based on Harry's 12 year existence in my house I'd say this is true. I've branched out a bit adding a spider plant, a Wandering Jew and a Cyclamen to the mix this year. The cyclamen isn't as healthy as the rest but it's holding on. Actually the Wandering Jew "Wanda" and clippings from the original Harry were hanging in the window in my classroom all year. The kids helped me water and talk to them and they really thrived this year.

Feeling heady from my house plant success I decided to try my hand at gardening this year. I wanted to grow my own zucchini to make zucchini relish this summer. Each year I spend a ton of money on the produce to make relish, so I thought growing my own would be a great idea. I bought a small two tiered raised bed at Sam's Club, gardening soil at the local hardware store and a few small veggie plants from someone at school. I planted cukes, zucchini and tomatoes in my little garden. Thanks to having to take Chunk out to go potty twenty times a day I've actually remembered to water my garden and it's been growing. I've been so excited to see my zucchini thriving and a few little tomatoes are starting to ripen now.

Here is my first harvest. Five zucchini and two cukes show my new success as a gardener! My husband is a realist, so when I first planted my little garden, he pointed out that with all the money I spent on the raised bed and soil it would have been cheaper to just pay for the produce at the supermarket. While he is correct, you can't put a price on the feeling of successfully growing your own food, particularly when when you have a bad reputation with the plants. I'm so excited! Even my husband and Nature Girl are surprised and impressed with my gardening success. So now it's zucchini relish making time again and this year I grew the zucchini myself!