life with nature girl

Zentangle Freebie

2012-01-29T06:15:00.009-05:00

Everyone loves a freebie, right?! Well, here's a little Zentangle freebie for you. I made these bookmarks while I sat in a three day workshop this month. Yes, I did actually pay attention and learn even though I was drawing. I'm an auditory visual learner so drawing Zentangles helps me listen and attend. Not only did I learn new things but I left the workshop with these four bookmarks to share. I printed these on cardstock, cut them out and ran them through my little laminator. I made some for my local library and for the workshop presenter. Now I'm sharing them with you too.

The bottom design is my favorite. It has my personal pattern creation. I call it "fancy snail"(it's the spiral design on the left side of the bottom bookmark.) I'm hoping to draw out the steps and submit it to tanglepatterns.com. I thought that if I wrote that here maybe I'd actually do it. Anyway, Click HERE for a PDF of my bookmarks. I hope you will enjoy them!

Bits of Wool & Wine

2012-01-25T06:00:00.013-05:00

By now everyone knows I love to work with wool. This year for Christmas I made lots of woolen creations to share with friends and family. You could even go so far as to say with was the year of wine and wool for me.

This little owl drink cozy is made from three recycled wool coats. I sent this to my friend Val as a Christmas surprise.

If I could make wool drink cozies why not wine cozies? So I made this tree trunk wine cozy complete with a little white owl. It's made from a recycled wool sweater and pieces of two wool coats. I hand painted these wine glasses to go with the wine cozy. These are my first ever painted wine glasses. I'm way better with a marker than a paint brush so I need to look into getting enamel markers for glass instead of using a paintbrush.

I made this set of glasses including little red birds and a tree trunk wine cozy for another co-worker. I should have added a little red bird to the wine cozy but ran out of time.

This wine cozy was created for our friend and daycare provider. She like prim decor so I though this was a good way to package up a bottle of wine. This one is literally a sweater sleeve with the cuff cut off and a bottom added. I was done hand stitching this one in 30 minutes.

These were a gift for my partner in our Secret Santa swap. This wool and angora sweater sleeve need something so I added some beaded ribbon that I received as a tuck-in during a swap. I think it added the right amount of embellishment.

Even with these wool creations, I've hardly made a dent in my wool supplies, so I need to make some more woolen creations before spring arrives. I'm thinking I need to make some new wool mittens and try making some wool slippers, since my feet are always cold.

I didn't just work with wool this Christmas. I also made a couple of bags as gifts for co-workers. I filled the bag with crafting and zentangle supplies. This one is made from the Burda Charlie bag pattern. You can print the pattern for free here.

This one is made from a printed duck cloth, using my own throw it together method. I started this last year but messed it up and ran out of time to complete it before Christmas. I had all year to fix it but didn't. Never worry, a year later I pulled it out of my UFO pile and fixed it. I gave it to my co-worker with a tag that said Merry Christmas this year and last year! She laughed and appreciated the joke. I'm lucky to have such great friends.

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

2012-01-22T16:59:00.003-05:00

I won this adorable apron on The Distracted Domestic. The uber talented Regena made this apron just for me. I won it for participating in her Tie One On Apron giveaway. I made aprons for two of my co-workers for the official Tie One On Day. I greatly enjoyed doing this and I won this fabulous apron in the process! See it was a win - win situation! THANK YOU Regena, I LOVE it!

Regena sent me an e-mail entitled Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner to let me know I won. Of course I was super excited to win and every time I hear Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner it makes me think of a recipe I got a few years ago during a Wilson Reading workshop. Another workshop participant gave it to me. In honor of this occasion I thought I'd share the recipe.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Ingredients:

! small roasted chicken or 3 cooked chicken breasts (shredded)

1 box stuffing mix

2 jars of chicken gravy

1 pie crust(pre-made or homemade)

Frozen veggie mix

Fresh veggies(mushrooms, celery, onion- or whatever you like)

1/4/to 1/2 cup merlot or red wine

3 tablespoons of butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Prepare stuffing and set aside.

Saute the fresh veggies in butter. Add fresh rosemary or thyme if desired.

Stir together all ingredients in a casserole dish (I use a 2.5 quart dish)

Top with a pie crust. Cover with with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden and bubbly(approx. 35 minutes.)

Serve and enjoy!

And that's Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

2012-01-19T16:46:00.003-05:00

Announcing the . . . . . Crafty Bits Swap Spot

Give a Hoot - Owl Swap

We are swapping Owls this time. Sign ups close January 30th and the ship date is March 1st. For swap details or to sign up, visit Crafty Bits Swap Spot.

Happy Owl Swapping!

Catching Up

2012-01-06T17:34:00.003-05:00

December was a blur with school and the holidays. Now in January we're playing catch up. I have tons of pictures of Christmas goodies to post but to start our blog catch up, I'll leave you with this picture. This is Nature Girl - toothless, well as least having one less tooth than usual. She turns eight soon but this is just the third tooth she has lost. She was very excited!

More pictures and goodies to follow in January.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-27T12:40:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our family to yours! May 2012 be a year filled with happiness and good health for all!

This was the picture Nature Girl drew for our Christmas card this year. Even naughty little Chunk made it on the card. I'm happy to report that despite his naughtiness Santa was very good to him. Chunk got lots of presents!

We're enjoying our time off together. I was busy crafting right up to until Christmas. I'll post my crafted Christmas goodies soon, so you can see what I've been up to. Happy Holidays!

Tie One On Day

2011-11-30T20:41:00.002-05:00

I've missed making aprons! I hadn't made any aprons in quite awhile so I was suffering from apron withdrawals. Not to worry, November is time to celebrate National Tie One On Day. It's a holiday right before Thanksgiving where you give back to others by crafting an apron and some goodies just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Not only does it take care of apron withdrawals it makes someone else's day! I call that a win -win situation!

I made and delivered two aprons for National Tie One On Day. Both aprons went to co-worker/friends at school.

The first Tie One On apron is this wild psychedelic number. It is made with vintage silk screened acrylic fabric. It's wild but I really love the fabric. Of course it's reversible and has a flamingo print on the back.

The second apron is this pink polka dot apron. I made this one for one of the speech therapists last year but held onto it because it needed some adjustments. She was trying to lose weight so we decided to wait on adjusting it. She's lost 33 pounds and looks great. We had to tear apart the top of the apron to get it to fit but we finished just time time for Tie One On Day. Look how cute her apron looks on her! This one is also reversible with a brown paisley fabric on the back. It was fun to share my love of aprons with my coworkers/friends!

I also finished this apron which is my first crafted Christmas gift this year. I finished a second apron for a Christmas gift and have a third one that is partially completed. Three Jillymade Christmas gifts done. Let's hope I can get a few more made in time for Christmas!

Woosh . . . And November is Gone

2011-11-30T16:19:00.012-05:00

The title says it all. Time is flying by and I'm running along like a crazy woman trying to catch up. I took tons of pictures in November but hardly posted anything. Christmas is just around the corner and I haven't shared anything from November, so here are a few highlights.

My wonderful husband celebrated his birthday this month. Happy birthday Honey, we love you! You are the best dad and husband ever! We have a couple of birthday traditions. The first tradition is that you get choose a homemade birthday dessert. He chose Tuxedo Brownies. Yummy! Our second tradition is that you get to go to dinner at the restaurant of your choice. The restaurant he choose had a super long wait so he chose a second restaurant instead. We brought him back to his first choice few days later, so he got to have two birthday dinners out.

Nature Girl participated in a Veteran's Day assembly at school. She learned to sign the words to "God Bless the USA" and performed it in front of the school with her class. She did a wonderful job and of course I cried! That song always gets me and I was so proud of her. She worked so hard to learn the signs and was very nervous about performing. She's an amazing little girl!

Nature Girl also got her report card this month. She did a great job! We took her out to dinner to celebrate.

Chunk had surgery this month. He was micro-chipped and neutered. After a few days of not feeling like his usually naughty self, he's back to normal and seems to have forgiven me. He also had his first stay in a kennel over Thanksgiving. He was a bit scared. He didn't like the other dogs barking and had to be hand fed in order to get him to eat. Needless to say he was happy to see us. Now he's back to his normal self, which means he's back to eating anything within his reach. This weeks chewing choices include socks, paperclips and a mini bottle of bubbles.

That leaves me. I've been trying to fit a few crafts into the chaos of everyday life. I've had owls on the brain so I've been making little owls from wool. I've also missed making aprons so I've made a couple of those too(I'll show those in another post.)

I crafted an owl ornament for my friend Barb.

I hosted a pincushion swap in October that spilled over into November. I couldn't stop myself from creating this little wool tree stump pincushion complete with owls. I sent this one along to Barb too. I have another tree stump that just needs an owl attached. Of course Chunk ate the wings off that owl so I need to make a new one now.

There you have it, a few highlights from November. And woosh . . . November is gone! Bring on the holidays!

A Girl, A Puppy and Snow

2011-11-02T22:13:00.004-04:00

When I looked skyward last week, this was the view. It's fall in the East. The days are cooler, the trees are changing color, leaves are falling. It's a very pretty time.

There should be plenty of time to enjoy fall, or so I thought. We don't usually have snow in October. Winter made an early appearance on Saturday night, we got 24 inches of snow. It quickly went from fall to winter in just a few hours. Nature Girl loved putting on her winter jacket to catch big fluffy snowflakes in the backyard.

Chunk came outside for some snowy fun. At first he didn't know quite what to think. The snow was as tall as he is. He jumped off the porch up to his head in snow and quickly wondered, "What the heck is this stuff?"

Soon he began to romp through the snow with Nature Girl! Watching them play in the snow reminded me of how exciting and magical the first snow is. Don't you remember the excitement the first real snow brought when you were a kid? A girl and a puppy playing in the snow can make you remember.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:23:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe summer has come and gone, now it's already Halloween. Time flies! We dressed up for Halloween and walked around our neighborhood tonight. Nature Girl decided to be a devil this year and thought Chunk should be a devil too. I thought I should be an angel to balance out all of this devilishness.

Here is a close up of Chunk during one of his costume wearing practice sessions. He keep doing a whole body shake trying to shake off the costume. He wasn't a fan of the costume at first but we had him practice wearing it a few times before Halloween. He still didn't love it tonight but didn't mind it too much. It certainly helped that I feed him a good amount of treats as we walked around the neighborhood.

This is a picture of one angel and a little devil. Really I might not be an angel but he certainly is a little devil. He will eat anything and has a wicked naughty streak in him. Good thing he's cute and I love him! Look at that little black face.

Nature Girl had a party and Halloween parade at school on Friday. I snapped this picture of her and a friend. She and the purple witch have been friends since they were babies. It's great to see them in the same class this year. They are both growing up so quickly!

Nature Girl got to march at the front of the Halloween parade with the paper mache' ghost puppet she made in art enrichment. Overall we had a great Halloween. I hope you did too. Happy Halloween!

Zombies

2011-10-30T21:23:00.006-04:00

Val over at Yarnigras hosted a zombie swap. Of course I just had to participate. While I dislike scary things, one thing I do love is funny zombies! My love of zombies started when I first saw Shaun of the Dead. It's one of my favorite movies. I also love Zombieland. So creating a zombie doll was something I couldn't resist trying. I had so many ideas I wanted to try but didn't have time to create them all. So after creating a zombie for my partner, Val and Kerry invited me to join their Zombie Challenge. The challenge was to create a zombie doll for yourself and reveal it on Halloween. I decided I was up for the challenge, so here's the big reveal just in time for Halloween. Drum roll please . . . . . . .

Here she is. She still needs a name. All I've thought of so far is Gwendolyn or Raven, but nothing has stuck so far. Any ideas? Anyway, back to my zombie. I used gray duck cloth and black thread to make her. Then I used some great buttons that my YOE swan swap partner sent to me, to accessorize my new little zombie friend. Notice the zipper on her belly?

Well, when you unzip her middle you can see her little zombie heart and insides. Almost gross, right? But I think she's just too sweet to look gross and the guts just seem to finish her off. Her arms naturally fall into a zombie like position, so she looks like she's searching for some brains to eat or maybe a zombie partner to dance with.

This is Undead Fred. He's the zombie I created for my zombie swap partner Laura. He's part of a zombie work rehabilitation program that trains zombies to be productive workers. How do you motivate a zombie to be a productive worker? With brains of course! See Undead Fred has a stick with brains attached to him. The brains are just out of his reach. I loved Fred and hated to see him go, but he's happily chasing that brain at Laura's house now.

Here's the zombie Laura sent for me. I love the polka dot fabrics and the Day of the Dead fabric Laura used on the skirt. Thanks Laura for a bit of zombie fun. And thanks to Val and Kerry for including me in their Zombie Challenge. I can't wait to see what you've created! You should go check it out too.

The Dog Ate My Homework

2011-09-28T19:31:00.003-04:00

Last night Nature Girl worked on her homework like usual. We sat on the couch together to do her reading fluency passage. Once she finished, she set her paper on the couch and walked out of the room. I left the room for 30 seconds to get my laptop. Now, here's where the trouble began. Chunk has learned how to jump on the couch (we're trying to break him of this.) When I came back in the room, what did I find? Yep, you guessed it, a cute little puppy eating Nature Girl's homework. I told him he was naughty while trying to keep a straight face. I have to admit that I found this very humorous! Maybe it's because I'm a teacher so I have heard a million excuses for why homework isn't turned in but a dog really eating homework is funny! Right?! After an almost straight faced scolding, I told him to stay put while I got the camera. He just looked at me like, "What did I do?" Seriously, look at that face, how could you stay mad at him?

Nature Girl did not see the humor in the situation and started to cry. I calmed her down, then e-mailed her teacher, so all is well. Tonight after reassurances from both her teacher and I, Nature Girl is able to see the humor of the situation. After all, how many times in your life can you truthfully say to your teacher "My dog ate my homework?" It's definitely once for us. Let's hope that's the last of the homework eating incidents, though I have a sneaky suspicion that it could happen again. He loves to eat paper!

half eaten homework

There's A New Swap in Town

2011-09-12T19:09:00.004-04:00

We're hosting another swap. This time it's a pincushion swap. I'm very excited about it as I'm currently in love with pretty, unique, little pincushions. I hope other people are too and will want to join me for some pincushion fun. Head over to Crafty Bits Swap Spot for details and sign up.

Wonderful Friends!

2011-09-11T16:36:00.010-04:00

Have you ever stopped to think about how lucky you are? Sometimes it's easy to forget how fortunate you really are. Have you you ever had a tough week then had a friend do something special for you? Did it make you feel better and make you realize how lucky you are to have such wonderful friends? That's happened to me. Going back to school after a wonderful summer at home is always hard for me. I love the kids I teach and wouldn't trade it, but it's a lot of work. I feel like I run around like a chicken without a head from September till June. This year is particularly crazy! At three weeks into the school year, I already felt like I was months behind in my work. One Friday a few weeks ago, I was feeling particularly tired and stressed when I left school. When I got home things started to look up.

I realized again that I'm so lucky to have the greatest friends! My friend Barb sent us a panda surprise in the mail! I came home to discover these Panda screen bags. Just look at them! There was one for my daughter and one for me! What a great surprise! We love them and feel completely spoiled!!! Thank you Barb! By the way Barb is an amazing seamstress (Yes, I'm going to brag and gush about my talented friend!) She has an ETSY shop if you're in the market for a screenbag, purse, wallet, travel pillow, etc. Check her ETSY shop here.

I've been super busy with school so I didn't get to post my random surprise mail package from Karen. I won a a giveaway over at Karen's blog a while back to receive a random package with a handcrafted Karen-made gift. It arrived totally unexpected(yes, I know that's why it's called random mail.) Karen sent an owlie zippered pouch made from her tutorial. You can see the tutorial here. I have my pouch filled with my Sharpie pens and markers so I can doodle when I get a few minutes.

Karen sent an Owlie purse for Nature Girl. Karen has some in her ETSY Shop (Yes, this is a plug for her shop. You should check it out.) Karen sells aprons, bags, pincushions and many other beautifully made items. We planned to buy an owlie purse from the shop, only she sent it in the random mail package. Thank you Karen! We love our goodies! Random mail really is great!

While we're on a roll doing shameless plugs for my amazingly talented and wonderful friends, I can't leave out Val. She has an ETSY shop here with mosaics, amazing crocheted goodies and aprons. She sent us some mermaid fabric unexpectedly this summer. I finally used it to make a car-bage bag to hold our trash when we travel in the car. I think it turned out great and should help keep the car a bit more tidy.

Thank you for being wonderful friends! I appreciate your friendship and generosity! It brightens my day and reminds me of how lucky I am! Thank you!

YOE Frogs

2011-09-11T15:42:00.003-04:00

The August YOE theme was frogs. My partner Gin sent this froggy package to me. Nature Girl quickly scoffed up the puzzle and hung the appliqued froggy hand towel in the bathroom. The fabric has been set aside to wash/dry for a future project and my frog prince ornament, complete with a crown and royal cape, is hanging on my YOE tree. Thank you Gin!

I sent Gin this package. It included some gummy frog candy, a fat quarter in a frog print, a frog stapler, a frog prince ornament and a frog pincushion with magnets so it could sit on a sewing can. I had a blast making the pincushion. I am just loving pincushions these days!

Back to School

2011-08-22T19:11:00.004-04:00

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

2011-08-20T17:06:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-18T23:14:00.006-04:00

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!

2011-08-08T09:56:00.004-04:00

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

2011-08-02T16:30:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-01T07:00:00.004-04:00

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!

Introducing Chunk

2011-07-29T09:56:00.008-04:00

This is our new puppy Chunk. He's a 12 week old black pug. Nature Girl picked him out and named him herself because she thought he looked like a chocolate chunk. We picked him up four weeks ago and have been busy trying to train him and adjust to life as puppy owners. Chunk is a bite-er. He bites fingers, toes, shoes and shoe laces. This doesn't endear him to my husband, as he regularly has his toes chewed on!

Chunk went to his first puppy class last night where we worked on sit, which he already knew, and down which he needs a lot more practice on. Hopefully he'll learn not to bite so much! We've been working on it, so he's better with me but not Nature Girl and my husband. I think it's his way to trying to get them to play and interact with him but it hurts like heck!

Chunk is my little buggy-eyed boy. When he plays, his eyes get super buggy. It's too cute! He makes me laugh. It's hilarious when he chases his own tail! Last week he chased his tail at the top of a hill and ended up doing summersaults all the way down the hill. It was one of the funniest things I've seen all summer.

Here Chunk is sitting in a pink car seat. He likes to sit in Nature Girl's seat when she's not in the car. He has a doggie seat belt on but can just reach the car seat to sit in it. This picture was taken during his first long road trip when we stopped for a few minutes. He stole Nature Girl's seat when she got up. Really he is great in the car! He rode for 5 hours and slept most of the way.

Life with a new puppy has been a bit busy but I think he is a keeper! Just look at that sweet little face!

Panda Partners

2011-07-16T11:28:00.002-04:00

Let the panda fun begin! Panda Swap partner information has been emailed out. If you have any questions let me know.

Panda Swap 2011

2011-07-07T16:12:00.009-04:00

Nature Girl asked me last week why I don't sign her up for swaps anymore. I explained that working moms have less time for swaps. Of course since I'm a teacher and have the summer off that doesn't currently seem like a good reason. So we discussed hosting our own swap. We decided to host a panda themed swap. We're already thinking about panda bags/purses, panda softies, panda journals, panda pillows, panda key chains, panda jewelry, etc. The possibilities are endless! As you can see we're excited about this swap, we hope you are too! Here's what we are swapping:

Participants will swap:

One handcrafted panda themed item.

Three black and white goodies of your choice. These can be bought or made.

A card or note to your partner to say hi. Please include your e-mail address so your partner can send you a thank you.

Swap rules:

This swap is open to people of all ages. If this swap is for a child make sure you state that in your sign-up so the package can be geared to a child.
You must have a blog or website to participate in the swap.
Please be prepared to spend or create items that are about a $10 to $15 value. You don't have to spend a lot, just send something that you would be happy to receive.
All packages must be mailed by August 16th. If you are in the US please use delivery confirmation and send me your tracking number. Please send e-mail to let me know when you mail and when you receive a panda package.
You must send a thank you note to your partner once you receive your package. It's only polite to say thank you when some creates something special just for you.
If you sign up you must follow through, so please only sign up if you are able to create and send a package by the deadline(August 16th.) We don't want any sad swappers! :(

Now that you've read the rules, it's time to sign up. Swap sign up is open from now until midnight on Friday July 15th, so hurry! Partner information will be sent on July 17th. You can sign up by completing the sign-up form HERE. Leave a comment or e-mail me if you have any questions.

Did you sign-up? If so, grab the swap badge from the sidebar and get ready for some black and white panda fun!

Ladybug YOE

2011-07-01T16:27:00.006-04:00

June's YOE theme was ladybugs. I was excited because I have always loved ladybugs and consider them to be lucky. One of the things I've really enjoyed about the YOE swap this year is trying new things. So to keep with the idea of trying new things, this month I tried modge podge and paper mache with tissue paper for my ornaments. The frame ornament on the right was made using a silver frame that I bought at a yard sale. I modge podged a page from Alice In Wonderland onto it, then drew a little ladybug for the center, of course that could be taken out and replaced with any other picture. Since I was having so much fun with the modge podge, I decided to alter a small Altoid tin to be a ladybug ornament or maybe a little pill box for my partner's purse.

The green leaf ornament in the center was made using wire and tissue paper that I glued to the wire. The ladybug on the leaf is also made from paper mached tissue paper. It's not easy to paper mache with tissue paper as it rips super easy when it gets wet!! But I didn't let that stop me and I was really happy with the result. I'm already thinking of other things to create using tissue paper mache.

Of course my personal favorite in the package is the wool ladybug pincushion. I promised myself I wouldn't use recycled wool this month for YOE ornaments but I couldn't stop myself. Technically it's not an ornament but a pin cushion so I didn't really break my promise to myself. Either way, I did use recycled wool and this little ladybug fairy was born. I think she's very cute and rounds out the package. I had a great time making these ornaments and hope my partner Sherry will like them!

Now I'm looking forward to July's theme - Mermaids, water sprites, sirens, and water nymphs! I can't wait to get started! I have a few thoughts stirring in my head but no definite plan or vision yet. I'm still mulling it over.

Freaked Out

2011-06-30T13:12:00.003-04:00

I'm home alone today cleaning and organizing while Nature Girl is at her last day of art camp. Around 12:30 I heard the dog across the street barking and looked out the front door to see a coyote standing in my front yard. I did a double take. . .yep it really was a coyote. Cinnamon, who is a tiny little dog, kept barking. The coyote took a look a Cinnamon then trotted off down my driveway then around the side of the house. I couldn't see where he took off to.

Now, we live in a rural area so we have plenty of wild animals around, I just don't like it when they are in the yard in broad daylight. Nature Girl is always wanting to play outside, ride her bike or drive gator around. Seeing a coyote in the yard makes me want to keep her inside! Of course I know that's irrational, so instead I now have to show her a picture of a coyote and say if you see this immediately come inside. It freaks me out! I think I'll be spending lots of time outside this summer on coyote patrol.

Sweet Portrait

2011-06-24T10:24:00.003-04:00

Nature Girl drew this sweet little portrait of me with a raccoon while we were at school on Wednesday. I was impressed and think it is just so cute! She drew it while hanging out in one of the fourth grade classrooms, so even the 4th graders were impressed with her drawing ability. I wasn't sure why she picked a raccoon to draw next to me, but funny enough when we got home on Wednesday night we could hear raccoons outside in the trees around our yard. They were really chattering out there.

Summer!

2011-06-22T05:47:00.003-04:00

Happy summer! Today is my last day of school. Nature Girl finished first grade yesterday, so she's coming to my school for the day. It should be fun!

To celebrate the end of school and the first day of summer we went out for dinner at a little roadside stand nearby. We had hot dogs and onion rings. Nature Girl had this double onion ring. I think they make great summer glasses.

We're both excited to have the summer at home and can't wait to get started on our summer fun list!! Yay summer!!

Show and Tell

2011-06-11T07:00:00.006-04:00

Recently Nature Girl started in a program at the library where kids can practice their reading skills by reading to a dog. A few weeks ago she saw this dog coming into the library and begged the librarian to allow her to read to him. Isn't he cute?!! His name is Fritz. He's a five year old great dane that has been trained to be a therapy dog. Look how he lays on her. He even does this while she's reading to him.

Fritz is a sweetheart and I think it was love at first sight. He's as big as she is but Nature Girl thinks he's the best. She asked his trainer if she could take him to school for show and tell. We had to get permission from the principal for Fritz to visit school, but Nature Girl went to the principal and asked him herself. The principal agreed to allow the visit. So Fritz went to school this week as Nature Girl's show and tell. The kids were amazed and had lots of questions about Fritz and his job. Fritz visits nursing homes, libraries and now schools too. He's a companion and a good listener even though he is deaf. Because he is deaf his trainer uses hand signals with him. He responds to the signals and is well behaved.

Fritz is a wonderful therapy dog. He loves to be around kids and people. As you can see, this little girl likes to be around him too!

A Girl and Her Art

2011-06-08T11:59:00.003-04:00

Nature Girl brought home this picture yesterday. It's her with her new stuffed Webkin pig. She purchased the pig with her own money. Look how happy she looks in the picture. I think it's a sweet little drawing and could picture it as a greeting card or in a little book with cute sayings about friendship.

She drew this on the back of a math sheet at school. She told me that the kids at school watch her draw and tell her that she's an artist. She seems surprised by the comments but it makes her feel good. She loves to draw and it makes her happy. Watching her draw makes me happy! I'm glad she has an outlet for her creativity and a talent that makes her proud of herself.

I have to share another drawing too. This is Nature Girl's tortoise drawing. Things that are important to her come out in her art. We've been talking a lot lately about getting a pet. We had adopted Ruby back in the fall but after she tried to bite Nature Girl several times she is now happily living in an adult only home in NY. I'm happy to say that Ruby is very happy there but I miss having her around. We're definitely ready for a pet and have discussed several possibilities including kittens, a dog or a Russian tortoise. I'm not sure what we will get but I know we're both ready to love some special little animal.

Mushroom Fairy Tutorial

2011-06-05T19:52:00.009-04:00

Nature Girl and I have been creating together. We sat down and made these mushroom fairies together. I sewed and then Nature Girl stuffed them. We each painted our own little mushroom fairy. Nature Girl asked me to do the details on her fairy but she did all of the base coat painting herself. I just did the arms, details on the face and the polka dots. She wanted red polka dots on her wings so our fairies would look different. I think they turned out pretty cute, so I thought I'd share a quick little tutorial on how to make your own mushroom fairy. Eventually I'll add a pdf of the tutorial to the sidebar. In the meantime here are the steps.

Mushroom Fairy

Materials:

Muslin

Poly-fil

Acrylic paints

Paint brushes

Sharpie(ultra fine)

Pencil

Instructions:

1. Cut out the pattern for the mushroom fairy.

2.Fold the muslin in half, so that you have a double thickness, then pin your pattern pieces to the muslin. Cut out your pieces. You will have two of each piece when you are done.

3. Sew the two mushroom body pieces, leaving the bottom open. Clip your curves then turn and stuff your mushroom. Sew the opening closed.

4. Sew the mushroom fairy wings, leaving an opening for turning. Clip your corners then turn the wings right side out. Press your wings flat with an iron, then sew the opening closed.

5. Now attach the wings to your mushroom fairy's back. Place the wings on the back then hand-stitch a vertical line down the center of the wings to attach them to the body.

6. After your doll is sewn and stuffed, it's time to paint it with a base coat. I chose the tan of the face so I'd be able to see if I missed any spots. Good thing, you have to go back to paint a few times as the fabric will suck up the paint and you end up with light spots even though you know you painted it.

7. After the base coat dries use a pencil to mark where you want the face, top and bottom of the mushroom. Now paint the colors you want your mushroom to be, like the red and the white.

8. To add spots to your mushroom you can use an unsharpened pencil end dipped in paint to put the spots on. When your spots dry, finish off your mushroom by outlining using sharpie. Add your face, arms and hands with the sharpie.

Created by Jill Tacy – May 2011

Happy Mail!

2011-06-01T22:30:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I arrived home to find three packages waiting for me. One was an Amazon order, one was YOE flower fairy swap mail and the third package contained this beautiful bag. Sew Mama Sew hosted a giveaway day at the end of May. I happened to see it listed as I was reading one of my favorite blogs and went to check it out. It's amazing to see the talent and generosity that is out there in the blogosphere. I stayed up way to late perusing blogs and entering some of the giveaways. I was super tired the next day, but guess what. . . it paid of. I won this amazing bag! There were many amazing things in the give away but this bag was one of my favorites and now it's mine, all mine, I tell you! Yipee!

As if the bag wasn't enough, which is totally is, Stephanie sent along rainbow fat quarters too. I can't wait to get them washed and start planning what I'm going to create with them. If you get a chance pop by Stephanie's blog and take a look at the new bag she's giving away. Thank you Stephanie! I love my new bag! By the way Stephanie has an ETSY shop with more bags like mine for sale. Go check it out.

May's YOE theme was flower fairies. I was partnered with Val from Yarnigras! Val and I have been blogger friends for years so it was lots of fun to be paired up. Val always sends amazing packages! She certainly spoiled us once again. Val sent two flower fairy ornaments, flower hair clips, post it's(every teacher loves these,) items for my fairy house that I still need to build, a bookmark, book, and goodies for Nature Girl including paper dolls, candy and a pencil with erasers that Nature Girl uses as a wand.

My favorite ornament is this flower fairy house. Val crocheted the flowers and leaves then attached them to a little painted bird house. It's so unique! Thanks Val, I love my package! You can check out the package I sent to Val and other flower fairy packages here. June's YOE theme is ladybugs.

Making Progress on UFO's

2011-05-31T09:15:00.007-04:00

Remember this skirt I made when Nature Girl was in preschool? Well, it finally got a make over this weekend. I hadn't worn the skirt in forever so I ripped it apart about 6 months ago and cut it up to be an apron. Unfortunately it sat in a UFO(unfinished objects) pile waiting to be sewn. I finally finished it on Sunday. Here's what it looks like now.

Exhibit A

It's my new favorite apron. Yes, I know I always say that every time I get a new apron, but can you blame me? There all so pretty! Really, I love this fabric! I've made Marilyn aprons for lots of other people but never made one for myself, until now.

This wasn't my only UFO, I've been uncovering them all weekend. I found a scrap quilt that was half finished in one of my craft buckets. I started it about 5 years ago, so it was definitely time to finish it. I worked on it this weekend and it's almost done. It still needs a binding but will be a picnic quilt when it's finished. I haven't gotten to the fabric store to buy binding but we were dieing to try it out. We took it outside for a family picnic in the backyard. It worked great!

Here's another UFO. A few years back my sister asked me to make an apron for her husband. This is a picture of the apron I made him. I had a little bit of the fabric left and planned to make a matching apron for my sister. Of course, I never got around to it. Over the weekend I finally used the left over material scraps to make that apron for my sister. She's been in Hawaii for a year but will be moving back here in July. I'm excited to see her again and thought this would be a good welcome home present. (The picture is a little dark. Nature Girl was the photographer.)

Exhibit B

I was on a roll with UFO aprons so I decided to finish this apron for Nature Girl's teacher. Nature Girl had requested that I make an apron for her teacher as a Christmas gift but I ran out of time. New plan, we'll make the apron for Teacher appreciation week instead. That didn't happen either as I was super busy at school.

Exhibit C

Now the end of the school year is approaching so I decided to I use left over fabric from the spring fling apron to create this reversible apron. Nature Girl wanted a purple apron for her teacher. When I finished it she said, "That's pretty but I think she'd like red with polka dots better." Ugh!

Exhibit C (reverse side)

While I've been on a roll, I don't think I will get around to making a red polka dot apron anytime soon. If she waits for me to make one, it will be another 6 months before it's finished! Now with it completed, I'm second guessing. I do hope her teacher likes aprons. While Nature Girl and I are apron crazy it seems that the rest of the world does not necessarily share our obsession. Go figure! Really, who doesn't love a pretty new apron? Every new apron I get is my new favorite. See Exhibit A above for proof.

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-29T20:54:00.005-04:00

Happy Memorial Day!

This hangs in our front foyer. It's made from an old ironing board top that I painted back when I was a stay at home mommy. The flag is a colonial flag because I knew I'd never be able to sew all fifty stars on. It's one of my favorite decorations and is a good reminder of how fortunate we are to live in the land of the free. To those who protect our country and our freedoms, we say thank you! Happy Memorial Day to you and yours!

May Artwork

2011-05-23T18:46:00.002-04:00

Nature Girl created this crayon rubbing landscape in art class today. I just love it! The textures are perfect for each section of the landscape. This one is definitely a keeper. I'm thinking I might even frame it and hang it in my office. Of course the last piece I did that with cost me $70 for custom framing. I think I can buy a regular old frame for this one. Phew!

Nature Girl takes pride in her artwork and even took this picture of the paper mache piggy bank she made in art enrichment at school. She already owns several piggy banks so this one is purely for decoration. The paint has peeled from the plastic cup used to make the snout so we have been planning to re-do it. We just haven't tackled that yet.

Lastly she shared this apple doodle with me. I have to say my first thought was dang that's good! And my second thought was I'm going to copy that and start drawing my apples like that. Is that wrong to steal an art idea from your 7 year old? Ha, ha! I hope not. I don't think she minds as she likes to draw and craft with me and feels very proud when she's created something that is better than mine. She's competitive and a perfectionist.

I just love to watch her create and see her art growing. Not only is it a great way for her to express herself, but it's something she feels really good about. I've framed a few pieces, hung other pieces on the fridge and I've saved a lot of her artwork in a box with her school papers for her to look at later in life. I often wonder what else to do with her artwork. What do you do with your kids artwork?

May Friday Night Sew In

2011-05-20T22:49:00.003-04:00

Tonight I worked on some fairies. This is a flower fairy I made for myself out of recycled wool. It's very simplistic and looks more like a bumblebee than a fairy but it makes me smile. She's destined to live on the desk in my office/craftroom. Now if only she was a cleaning fairy, she could clean up the craft mess or file my school papers while I'm asleep or at work. That would be great!

I worked on another fairy that looks nothing like this one but I can't share it as it's for a swap. Plus it's not quite finished yet. I'll post it after I mail it off to my partner.

A Few Firsts

2011-05-17T23:04:00.006-04:00

Guess who learned to tie her own shoes???? That's right Nature Girl can tie her own twinkle toes now. She was surprised and happy when she finally accomplished this feat(sorry for the bad pun, I couldn't resist.)

Look at these sweet little feet. I snapped a picture of her first successful shoe tying experience. I was excited for her. Shoe tying seems to be one of the skills kids are losing or are greatly delayed in accomplishing these days. Honestly I have 4th graders who can't tie their shoes. So I'm thrilled that Nature Girl has finally mastered tying her shoes.

The last of our firsts is this rhododendron. We've lived in our house for eight years now. This little rhodie was here when we moved in. It hasn't grown much over the last 8 years, maybe tripling in size, so it's not very big. It hasn't bloomed either. We're very excited that it is blooming for the first time. I think all of the lawn fertilizer my husband has put down over the last three years is paying off.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T11:38:00.002-04:00

It's time to celebrate the joys of being a mom. Being Nature Girl's mom is the most amazing thing! I love being her mom and look forward to every moment of it. I'm very blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful little child! So today I celebrate my fortune.

I hope today, is a celebration day for you too. May your Mother's Day be filled with sunshine, flowers and love! Happy Mother's Day!

April YOE - Bird's Nests

2011-05-07T14:40:00.002-04:00

April's YOE theme was bird's nests. When I read the theme announcement, I knew right away what I wanted to make. This month I signed up to swap and was partnered with the fabulous Melinda C. Melinda is super talented and creative!

This is the marvelous package Melinda sent to me. The bird's nest is on a clothes pin so it can clip to the tree. She also sent these amazing tags she made and this bird pendant. Not only did she create these amazing goodies but she did it all while moving into a new house this month and having to search through packed boxes for craft supplies! Thank you Melinda for the extra effort!! I love my goodies!!!

Here are the bird's nest goodies I sent to Melinda. As you can see I couldn't resist making another felted wool bird but I made a nest for it this time. I love this little guy. Remember my birds in a tree doodle? I used it to create some greeting cards for Melinda and found these cute bird salt and pepper shakers. As I mentioned before, Melinda just moved so I thought they'd be a good housewarming gift. I made a wire birds nest that could be a pendent or a key chain but my absolute favorite is the green tree ornament I made.

I few months ago I was looking around ETSY and found a valentine tree pendent. I fell in love with it. When I heard the theme I knew that I was going to try making one. So I gathered up some brass wire and a brass ring I had, then set to work. I just love how it turned out. I made it specifically for Melinda but loved it so much that I was a little sad to think of sending it off. Over spring break I remedied this problem. I made myself a wire tree ornament.

I wanted an ornament that felt like spring. Cherry blossoms came to mind immediately. Many years ago my husband and I lived on a street lined with cherry trees. I loved driving down the street in the spring looking at all of the beautiful cherry trees in bloom. So my tree ornament is a cherry blossom tree. I love it!

Wondering about YOE? You can check here to see the items everyone else has been making at YOE. Here's a little YOE little preview. May's theme is flower fairies. I've already started thinking and searching for some inspiration. I have an idea to try in a new media. Let's see if I can pull it off.

Cinnamon Buns

2011-05-02T20:23:00.002-04:00

Over spring break we met a friend at a local restaurant for breakfast. This was lots of fun as we enjoyed the company and had never been to this restaurant before. Nature Girl loved this pig chef. He's holding a gigantic cinnamon bun.

After we finished eating Nature Girl broke out the creamers and created breakfast sculptures while the grown-ups chatted. Then we ordered a big cinnamon bun to go for breakfast the following day and headed on our way.

The next morning we heated up our big cinnamon bun for breakfast. As we were sharing it, Nature Girl says to me, "Why do they call it a cinnamon bun? It doesn't look like a butt." I cracked up! I told her I wasn't exactly sure, but maybe it's because if you eat to many it will make your butt big. Then we had a good laugh!

Spring Flirty Apron Sent & Received

2011-04-30T20:21:00.006-04:00

This is a bit of a picture of the apron I made for my partner. I mailed it off today but forgot to have my husband or Nature Girl take a proper picture of it. This was my one handed self snap shot of it. I really need to get a dress model so I can photograph the aprons I make. The funny thing about this apron is that for once I actually followed the pattern to the letter and didn't deviate or do my own thing. That's hard for me, I suffer from creative-itis! Creative-itis is a disorder where you think you can tweak things a bit to make them work better for you. It often results in extra time using your seam ripper, lots of curse words, frustration and learning things the hard way.

For the Spring Flirty Apron Swap we had to include three tuck-ins with your apron. The challenge was to match the items with your partner's initials. I used fabric scraps from the apron to make a few of the tuck-ins. I made my partner a rug mug, a wire bird's nest pendant/keychain, a quilted kite and I sent along the Sunday Dinner apron pattern. It's the pattern I used to make her apron. I had a hard time sending off the kite as I love it and so wanted to keep it to hang in our craft room/office. But I sent it on it's way today. I hope she'll like the package I sent.

But don't feel too bad for me because we got apron swap mail yesterday! Isn't the wrapping beautiful! It's funny how pretty wrapping makes it even more exciting to open the package to see what's inside!

Deidrea sent two aprons, one for Nature Girl and one for me! I love Nature Girl's expression here as she opened a box with a sweet treat shaped like a diamond ring. She's already wearing the apron Deidrea made for her.

Spring is finally in the air here. The new aprons and the spring weather lead to dancing and horsing around in our front yard and this upside down moment. The neighbors probably wondered what we were up to! Thank you to Deidrea who sent us this wonderful apron package! Nature Girl and I loved the package! The aprons are unique and beautiful!! Thank you!!!!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T22:21:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter from us to you! May you have ~~hoppy~~, I mean HAPPY day surrounded by your friends and family!

Preparing for Easter

2011-04-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

We're preparing for Easter and our spring break. Isn't this bunny bag sweet? My teaching roommate brought it back from California. It's filled with sweet treats and Easter goodies.

I found this cookie at our local bakery. It's a shortbread cookie with candy coating and a marshmallow bunny. It's called a Little Bunny Foo Foo cookie. I bought one for Nature Girl and I ate one too. Yum!

Our spring break starts tomorrow night. We're excited! Nature Girl and I made a list of things to do over vacation. Nature Girl thought of the title for our list - Our Awesome Vacation List. I made a to do list for myself too. She aptly named that one the Boring List and said it had to be kept separate from Our Awesome Vacation List. Too Funny! She added 7 activities to the Awesome list, since we have a week off and a week has 7 days. Really we have 9 days off but I didn't tell her that. With our lists ready I'm sure we'll have an awesome vacation!

We hope you have a great Easter!

Girls Night

2011-04-19T19:30:00.003-04:00

Nature Girl and I had a girls night last week. We had dinner together, stopped off a thrift store to look around and then went home to relax. We had a good time!

We ate at Panera bread. Nature Girl claims this was the best tomato soup and bread ever. She sheepishly told me it was even better than my tomato soup. This is funny since I make her tomato soup from a can.

After dinner, thrifting and a bit of grocery shopping we headed home to relax. Here we are taking a self portrait. We had accidentally zoomed the camera in too far, but I like how this picture turned out.

This is another self portrait. Nature Girl gave us makeovers by fixing our hair. I was looking very pretty with over 25 barrettes in my hair. I really enjoyed girls night. It was nice to spend the time together and just have a night of fun without the regular interruptions of life. I think we need to schedule more girls nights and maybe a few nights that include the daddy too!

April Friday Night Sew In

2011-04-17T11:02:00.005-04:00

I participated in the April Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) this week. It's was fun though admittedly I started late Friday night so it became a Friday night and Saturday night sew in for me. Nevertheless I have finished my project. I made this ruffled scarf from a pattern I found awhile ago over at the Sewing Republic. It's meant to be a thank you gift for someone who wears a lot of white and cream. I'm a bit worried that the green & white gingham looks like a kitchen curtain around my neck. I asked my husband. He said now that I pointed it out, yes. What do you think? I bought some more fabric, not gingham, so I can make a few more of these. Nature Girl has requested a pink one to go with her pink sequins hat and I want to make a black and white one for myself.

Want to know more about the FNSI? Click here to go to Heidi's blog and see a list of people who participated. It's kind of fun to see what everyone made.

Doodles and Bits of Wool

2011-04-14T20:52:00.005-04:00

We've had birds on the brain here. The April YOE theme is bird's nests. This combined with my habit of drawing and sewing little red birds has made for lots of bird crafts. As a result I can finally take this note off my desk.

Nature Girl asked me, back in January when I sewed this red wool bird for Gin, if I would make her a bird too. I gave her some paper and asked her to write me a note so I wouldn't forget. This is the note she wrote. I quickly scrawled a few extra details and put it on my desk to look at later.

I haven't had time to work on it but could you disappoint this sweet little face? No, of course not! She's the biggest supporter and fan of my crafts. She always seems to think I'm capable of far more than I think I'm capable of. She frequently checks on me when I'm crafting to provide her opinion and request that I make things for her. Often with the activity of everyday life these projects get put on hold, so when I had a few extra minutes this past weekend I decided to try to sew her a bird. It took me two months to get to it but I'm finally finished and can remove the note from my desk.

This little green bird was made from a recycled wool sweater. She thought it needed a nest and some eggs so I figured out a way to make a nest from another felted sweater. We added a few little green pom-poms to look like eggs in the nest.

As I worked on the bird she found the cuff of the sweater on the craftroom floor and claimed it. She wore it on her wrist before coming back to tell me it was almost like the fingerless gloves she saw made on a craft show. I had cut the cuffs of the green sweater too short so we pulled out another sweater then cut and stitched those cuffs into fingerless gloves.

See, she loves them! She's been wearing them all week. I think she might be sad now that spring is on it's way and she won't need to wear wool gloves anymore! We've certainly have had fun with our bits of wool!

With the arrival of spring a bird doodle seemed like a good idea. I had a bunch of meetings this morning at school so I doodled this tree as I listened. The drawing needed some color so I took it home. I find coloring to be very relaxing so a spent some time coloring tonight. I really enjoy doodling and coloring!

Spring Clean Up & Recycling

2011-04-13T18:27:00.002-04:00

Looking proud of her work.

This weekend we spent some time outside enjoying a day of 60 degree weather. Since it was so nice, we went for a family walk in our neighborhood. As we walked we saw lots of trash, aluminum cans and bottles strewn along the side of the road. Nature Girl was upset that people would throw trash on the ground. She has always been conscientious about putting trash where it belongs and taking care of the Earth. We discussed cleaning up the trash another time when we had bags with us. She agreed that we should clean it up but was worried about getting her hands dirty. Dirty hands, not a problem! We have a box of disposable gloves left over from a tie-dye project.

Monday after school Nature Girl and I set out on another walk wearing our disposable gloves and carrying a few trash bags. We didn't get very far down the road before encountering a new and unfriendly looking dog in our neighborhood. There is a leash law in our town but apparently his family doesn't know about it. We opted to turn around and clean up the other side of the street instead of facing this unfriendly fellow. We filled a bag about a third full with trash and collected half a bag of cans, glass and plastic bottles.

Nature Girl thought we needed a staged photo of the clean up. Here she is picking up a beer can. She crushed and recycled the cans, then sorted the plastic and glass. We took it all out to the the curb where it was recycled the next morning. We'd like to keep working on our neighborhood spring clean up and recycling effort but we have to wait for it to stop raining. It's been raining for days. I just checked the weather and it looks like the rain is supposed to continue through the weekend, so maybe next week.

Progress Not Perfection

2011-04-11T22:10:00.004-04:00

I usually try to stay positive and share funny things and crafty tidbits here on our blog but today's post is something I've been ruminating and pondering on for a few days. I just can't seems to figure it out and don't know how to change it. So this is my attempt to get it all down and try to make some sense of it.

Progress not perfection. That has become my mantra in my adult life. I have always struggled with the idea that somehow I am supposed to be perfect, do everything right and never make mistakes. While I know that this is not realistic or even possible, I have never been able to fully let go of this idea. I do not have this expectation of others. As a matter of fact I am very forgiving and understanding of the mistakes of others, after all they are only human! But try as I might I can't accept this idea for myself. Yes, I know this is my own crazy issue! It's one that I usually try to keep hidden but it's come to the surface this week. When Nature Girl was born I learned to let go of some of my internal need to be perfect. She was fussy and had to be held 24 hours a day. I couldn't do things to my previous standard so I learned to let go a little. Apparently not enough!

It seems that Nature Girl has inherited a bit of this perfectionism. Her report card came home last week. Students are graded on this scale: S- = standard not met, S = standard met, and S+ = exceeds standard. Nature Girl's report card was all S and S+ with the exception of two little areas that were S-. Both areas are skills that just require a little bit more rote practice, which we will ensure she gets. My husband and I were pleased with her report card. We praised her as we reviewed it together. When she saw the first S- she started to cry. I felt so terrible!!! To see her so upset about it was heart breaking! She's just in first grade. It is not our expectation that her report card be perfect but it seems to be her expectation. She has always been a child that does not like to be wrong, make mistakes or lose( I wonder where is got that from?!!).

So this leads me to wonder is perfectionism a trait that is inherited? How can I teach her from a young age to stop reaching for something that is a myth and is never possible to achieve? Better yet how do I teach myself that so I can teach her? Being motivated and ambitious is not a bad thing but feeling terrible when you haven't done something perfect, even when that something very small, is a bad thing! I don't want her to struggle through life with this. Somehow I need to remember the mantra - "Progress not perfection." - and teach her as well. So how do I do that? Telling her that she's not perfect and we don't expect her to be isn't enough. We've already been doing that so it's time for a new plan. I just haven't figured it out what that plan is yet. Wish us luck!

Gnome Bowling

2011-04-06T20:47:00.008-04:00

February's YOE theme was gnomes so I made this little gnome bowling set for a YOE giveaway. These gnomes are happily living at Kerry's house now. Nature Girl loved the movie Gnomeo and Juliet so when she saw these gnomes she wanted her own set. I thought she should be able to make her own set.

I gave her some wood doll pins and she went to work painting them. I took pictures of the process along the way and we've created a tutorial so others can make their own gnome bowling set too.
Nature Girl painted her gnomes blue and red like the movie. She had the idea of mixing the colors together. I helped put the polka dots on at her request. I also helped with sewing and gluing the hats on. When she finished making her gnomes she used a Chrystal Light container to make a gnome home to store her game in. I love the ladder going into the tree hole and the little squirrel she drew. It turned out so cute!
The picture is a bit dark but, here the gnomes have been set up for a game of bowling. In between frames the gnomes were paired up and married. The red hats married blue hats and lived happily ever after. It was very cute! If you'd like to see how to make your own gnome bowling set you can look on the sidebar or click here for instructions.

April Fools Equals a Snow Day!

2011-04-01T17:27:00.011-04:00

Well, here in the Northeast April Fools Day equaled a snow day. I have to admit I've enjoyed being home with Nature Girl today, hanging out in our pjs and crafting all day. But here's where the fool part comes in. . . for every snow day we have it means another day of school day tacked on to the end of the year. Now school will be in session until June 22nd! We'll be dieing in the heat come June. I work on the second floor with just one small window we open in a feeble attempt to cool ourselves. That's what I have to look forward to in June but for today I enjoyed my time at home.

We made unsweetened ice tea with our new ice tea maker. This is Nature Girl's glass. Yes amazingly she loves unsweetened tea and lemons! She accessorized her own glass with the umbrella and straw.

It was a productive craft day for me. I finished another hedgehog pincushion this morning trying a smaller nose this time. I think I prefer the big honking nose on my original prototype but I love the look of the colorful leave shaped pins I added. I found these pins at JoAnn Fabrics a few weeks ago.

Then I finally got around to finishing and posting a felt bunny in an egg tutorial(it's on the side bar.) I made the one in the picture for Nature Girl last year for Easter. I'd like to make a few more to use for Toy Society drops. Maybe I'll get them done this weekend.
I also made this little apron for Nature Girl. I have three more like it cut out waiting to be sewn. I wanted to make them for my nieces in Hawaii. I planned to have them done before we visited but as you know we've already been to Hawaii and back and I haven't started sewing them yet.
Sewing an apron today meant I got to use my brand new iron for the first time. I read Karen's post about her new red T-Fal iron and decided to try it for myself. It arrived this week along with the ice tea maker. So now I'm sipping ice tea and ironing. For those of you who know me and know that I rarely iron my clothes with an iron. . .yes, it's true I use the dryer for ironing. . . you maybe questioning why I even need an iron. It's purely for crafty purposes like apron making, sewing, etc. and for the occasional yet extremely rare ironing of an actual article of clothing. The iron worked like magic today and it shut itself off. Definitely a good thing.
well, I'm off to craft a bit more before bedtime, for tomorrow the snow day is over and it's back to the real world of house cleaning and school work! I enjoyed nature's April Fools joke and made the most of the snow day.

Chicken Loving Aprons

2011-03-30T23:11:00.005-04:00

So this is a bit late but I had to share the fabulous chicken apron I received from Chrissy as part of the Chicken Loving Mamas apron swap. Chrissy sent me this beautiful apron in my favorite color scheme black/red/white. Just check out the fried egg and polka dot material on the ties and ruffle. It's hard to see but the top of the apron has smocking. Not only do I love the colors and prints on the fabric but I have to say that I think the cut and style makes me look skinnier so I love that too!

Chrissy sent some delicious looking recipes that I haven't tried yet and this beautiful red(my favorite color) chicken cookbook stand. Isn't it marvelous?!! The cute felt owl clips were included for Nature Girl. She loves them!

I started off with a totally different apron in mind but ended up making this whimsical chicken half apron for Chrissy. You know me, I love the make my aprons reversible so that you have choices for your apron wearing pleasure. You can't really see it in the picture but the chicken's wing sticks out.

The back of Chrissy's apron is a pink/brown/white polka dot print. Pink is Chrissy's favorite color so it seemed like a good choice for the reverse side of her chicken loving apron.

Chrissy has a beautiful little daughter named Regan. I had fun making a little apron, also pink polka dot on the reverse side, for Regan. I made a little stuffed chicken doll and included the book The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza for Regan. You can see the little red hen doll nestled into the pocket on her apron.

I borrowed this photo of the chicken I made from Chrissy's blog. Stop by her blog to see more pictures of their aprons. I had a blast sewing the aprons and putting this package together for Chrissy and Regan. Thanks for a fabulous swap!

March YOE

2011-03-28T21:41:00.004-04:00

Hedgehogs! The March YOE theme was hedgehogs. I was excited because I think hedgehogs are among the cutest of forest creatures. The task was to create a hedgehog ornament for your YOE tree. Check! The challenge for March was to create a hedgehog pin cushion. Check again! So here they are.

I made the ornament from felt and hand stitched his quills one night a few weeks ago while my husband and I watched Red starring Bruce Willis. I thought he turned out rather sweetly but wanted to try more of a 3-D hedgehog for my pin cushion so I stuck with the same basic shape but added additional pieces to the back and nose to get more of a rounded look.

My hedgie pincushion is made from recycled, felted wool sweaters, black beads and a black pompom. I had a hard time sticking pins in him. As a matter of fact I heard him cry out in pain but hedgies are used to spines and pokey quills so he got over it quickly.

I have greatly enjoyed making hedgehogs this month and have several other ideas I'd like to try. I also have the makings for another wool hedgie pincushion cut out and ready to stitch up when I get some time to do it. I think I might need to add the hand stitched quills on the second hedgie pincushion.
I have to say I am LOVING the YOE swap! It's been so much fun to stretch my creativity. Even better I've gotten to keep the last few things I've made. Imagine that, I hardly ever make and keep something for myself! Now that the hedgies are done and March is drawing to a close, guess what the theme for April is. . . . bird nests. I have a perfect idea to try and am anxiously awaiting some time to get started. I also feel a few felted wool birds coming on. I went to a bag sale a local thrift store this weekend and got a garbage bag full of wool sweaters and jackets. Tweet, tweet!
I'll try to catch up later this week on some belated posts like the Chicken Loving Mama's apron swap, more pictures from Hawaii and some Nature Girl at her sweetest(yes, she's always sweet!)

Shazam!

2011-03-17T19:16:00.003-04:00

Nature Girl picked out this pink sequins hat while we were shopping last weekend. Isn't it cute? The sequins send off little reflections of light everywhere. When I see it, I can't help but think shazam! She loves her new hat! We were prepared to pay full price($16,) however when we got to the checkout it was on sale for $2! I loved that. Cute and on sale, now that's my kind of hat!

2011-03-12T22:07:00.004-05:00

I'm participating in the Year of Enchantment this year. February's theme was to create a gnome home. The challenge was to create it using a media you don't usually use.

Well we're half way into March and I finally finished my gnome home! I was vacationing at the end of February instead of finishing my ornament. Plus I wanted a 3D gnome home where the roof could come off to revel a gnome inside. That's a bit of a challenge when you have to hang the house from a tree branch so the roof can't be totally detached. I ruminated on the best way to achieve a roof that would retract but would still hang like an ornament. I essentially made it up as I went so it's a good thing this one is for me. There are too many things that make it a bit wonky to send it to anyone but that's okay because wonky or not I like! It took me a little while to finish it but I'm happy with how it turned out. It's made with recycled felted wool and embroidery thread. Now I just need a gnome for inside my little home.

I doodled this picture awhile back and planned to make a little 3D gnome to go inside but I haven't done it yet. Instead I stitched my picture to create another ornament for my YOE tree. My intention was the meet the challenge of using a different media by painting on the fabric to create the gnome. I've been in love with the painted dolls and creations over at Cart Before the Horse for years. Jo and her husband Dylan are super talented! If you haven't visited their site you have to check it out! I've been wanting to try this media for a few years but haven't mustered up the courage. Hopefully I'll give it a shot in the next few weeks. In the meantime I'm moving onto the next YOE theme. . .hedgehogs! I can't wait to make a hedgie!

Chicken Heaven in Hawaii

2011-03-08T21:13:00.002-05:00

We just came back from a vacation in Hawaii. We spent a week on the island of Kauai visiting my sister and her family. This was my first visit to Hawaii. Knowing I was heading on vacation I quickly finished up my Chicken Loving Mama's apron package and sent it off to my fabulous partner Chrissy. (I'll post pictures of the package Chrissy sent to me and the package I sent to Chrissy later.) Now in hindsight I wish I had waited because did you know that Kauai is chicken heaven? It turns out it really is, there are wild chickens everywhere!!!!

There were wild chickens in every parking lot from the Walmart parking lot to the sight seeing parking lots. You can't drive a quarter of a mile without seeing a chicken on the side of the road or in someone's yard. As a matter of fact we ate at Dukes on the patio one evening. My daughter looked down to find a chicken by her chair. It ran under the table and over the top of my sister's foot before exiting the patio through the bushes. I think that chicken was looking for an adrenaline rush! Imagine showing up at a restaurant! Crazy!

This chicken is on the playground at the school my nieces attend. He disappeared when the kids came out for recess. I think many of the kids like to chase the chickens!

This one was my favorite rooster. Look at all of those colors! He was strutting around at one of the Waimea Canyon lookout stops.

Here's another pretty boy. This guy was hanging out on the beach with us. I think it was Baby Beach which is part of Poipu beach. See I'm telling you there were chickens EVERYWHERE!!!

We learned on the Kilohana Plantation tour that back in 1992 and 1993 a series of hurricanes destroyed many of the chicken coops on the island. The chickens ran free. It turns out that there are no snakes or natural predators that eat chickens on Kauai so the chicken population keeps growing. Now there are chickens everywhere on the island. there are also tons of chicken souvenirs that you can purchase! One vendor joked with us, saying "For every chicken item you purchase we'll give you a real chicken to take home for free!"

If you've always wanted to see chicken heaven you have to visit Kauai. The island was beautiful and the chickens are plentiful!

We have lots more Hawaiian adventures and pictures to share. I'm still trying to adjust to the time change and get into the swing of being back at school this week. I'm really dragging!! Anyway stay tuned for more posts on Hawaii and the swap package post.

The Winners of Our Random Crafty Bits

2011-02-24T19:33:00.004-05:00

So I'm a little late posting our winners. I've been busy finishing swap packages and completing reports for work before we head off on vacation this weekend. It's been busy around here!

My random number generator.

I finally sat down tonight and used my random number generator to pick the winners of our random crafty bits giveaway. She picked:

Karen
Christy
Val

Congrats ladies, you'll be receiving random bits of craftiness from us sometime this year. I'm excited to craft something for each of you. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but how fun!

YOE January Ornaments

2011-02-19T10:15:00.003-05:00

I joined Val's Year of Enchantment(YOE) ornament swap this year. They had so much fun last year so I've been super excited to participate in it this year! I sent off my first YOE package earlier this week to my partner Gin. Here are the ornaments I sent.

The two snow birds are painted on a sand dollar and the other two ornaments are sewn from recycled bits of felted wool. You can see other YOE participants ornaments here. Below was my first attempt at a YOE ornament. It was added to my unfinished pile as a misfit, though I think I'll will finish it up for myself.

Have you ever had an idea that looked better in your mind? This happens to me all the time!!! That's what happened with my snowman snowflake ornament. This was my original sketch and my first attempt at sewing it. Nature Girl thought it looked like a snowman with lots of hair and she didn't like the scarf as it didn't match my drawing. My husband agreed with her on the hair so it was back to the drawing board or in this case the bag with the recycled wool bits for a second try. I think the version I sent Gin was closer but still not quite what I had originally envisioned. This misfit one is destined to hang on my YOE tree I think, though I may need to have a second tree for all of the misfits I create this year! Either way it was fun trying to create it. Now I'm working on the February YOE ornament, it's a gnome home theme. Since it's a craft along in February so I get to keep what I create. Let's hope my gnome home ornament turns out closer to the idea in my head!

** On another note did you notice the blog background change? Nature Girl picked out this frog recycling background. She thought it was very clever to have the recycle symbol as the leaves in the tree. It seems appropriate for a little Nature Girl!

Lovely Mail

2011-02-17T07:00:00.004-05:00

We've been fortunate enough to get some lovely mail recently. Karen from Sewmuch2luv opened her own Etsy shop. We purchased two of her beautiful owl pincushions. They arrived last weekend and are just so sweet! Nature Girl picked out the blue owl for her birthday. She squealed when it arrived and spent hours playing with both owls.

She took lots of pictures, found furniture for them and just had fun playing with them. Nature Girl has no intentions of sticking pins in her owl, she's using him as a softie instead. I can't say that I blame her as the owls are truly lovely with beautifully hand stitched embroidery patterns on their wings. Each owl is unique. I have to admit that I haven't stuck pins in mine yet either, I think he might be too cute to pick!

The package Karen sent was beautifully wrapped in tissue paper with stickers that match her shop logo. Karen definitely puts together a wonderful package! She's thought of all of the little details that make for a lovely shopping experience. She just added a lovely little gnome pincushion to her shop. Go take a peek at her shop now, you'll be glad you did!

Now I have to brag for a minute. I recently won two giveaways. That's right two! I won this beautiful snowflake ornament from Val as part of the Year of Enchantment January swap. It arrived on Monday and is beautiful. I still need to get my YOE tree put up so I can put my new ornament on it. The second giveaway was Karen's. She did a giveaway where she chose several winners to receive a random crafted surprise this year. I was lucky enough to win! It's very exciting to win two giveaways! I feel very fortunate! Of course when you're fortunate enough to win you have to share the love so don't forget to enter our random bits of crafty mail giveaway. We'll choose three winners on February 20th. You can enter by going to the post here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T19:08:00.005-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

As you know, I like to doodle and zentangle. I thought gift tags would be a nice thing to create, so while sitting in a workshop today, I listened to the presentation and doodled. I created these circle gift tags.
It's Valentine's Day, a day to share love and kindness with your family and friends(really everyday is a day to share love and kindness, but I digress.) Since we couldn't send each and every one of you a Valentine we're sharing these zentangled gift tags instead. They can be printed on cardstock, cut out, then punch a small hole and add a bit of string before attaching them to a gift. We hope you'll enjoy them. Click here to download a pdf with the circle gift tags.

Or if you'd prefer a different set of tags, how about these. Click here to download these gift tags instead. Enjoy and have a lovely Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday and a Giveaway

2011-02-07T19:30:00.004-05:00

Guess who turned seven? That's right Nature Girl is seven. Can you even believe it? I can't, she's growing up so fast!! At our house we have several birthday traditions. Our first birthday tradition is going to your favorite restaurant for dinner. The second tradition is choosing a birthday dessert that the rest of the family makes for the birthday person.
Nature Girl celebrated her 7th birthday with Boston cream donuts for breakfast and dinner at the Outback. She chose the restaurant and for her birthday dessert she wanted cheesecake. We baked it at night and placed it in the fridge to cool. The next morning she woke up and asked for cheesecake for breakfast. We served it up on our birthday plate.

This year we took a few of Nature Girl's friends to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Here she is wearing her new pink 7 shirt. The photo is a little dark as the resturant is somewhat dark inside. It was her first visit to the Rainforest Cafe. She loved it!

Here we are outside the Rainforst Cafe. These two girls have been friends with Nature Girl since they were all babies. It's fun watching them all grow up together. They're sweet girls! They had fun looking at all of the animals and watching it rain inside the restaurant. It was a great afternoon. All three declared "This is the best birthday party ever!"

This is Nature's Girl's latest self portrait. It seems appropriate to share along with her 7th birthday post. By the way, not only are we celebrating Nature Girl's 7th birthday with this post, but it marks our 200th blog post as well! Thanks to all of you that have shared our adventures with us over the last 200 posts.
With so much to celebrate, it seems only right to have a give away. I'm going to borrow an idea I saw posted over Sew Much 2 Luv. We'll choose three comments at random then send a special handmade surprise to the three lucky commentors sometime this year. Who doesn't love random surprise mail?! We'll choose our winners on February 2oth. Good luck!

Sweet Things!

2011-01-23T18:16:00.003-05:00

My school got a grant to serve fresh fruit for snack this year. Last week, I sent one of my students to the cafeteria. My student brought what we needed and also brought back this bag of oranges. He handed it to me and said "Here's Mrs. Tacy, these are for you for all the nice things you do for us." I tell you, my heart melted right there! See I'm easy to please . . . a few kind words, some fruit and I'm happy! I thought it was very sweet!!!

Speaking of sweet things, here's my sweet little Nature Girl. She was bored the other day and asked to pull out the playdoh. She played for a couple of hours setting up a playdoh town. She got to wear the playdough apron her Mimi got her for Christmas.

These are her playdoh people sitting under a tree she devised. I love to watch her play and create!

Lists of Good Things to Do!

2011-01-22T16:25:00.005-05:00

The new year is underway. What is it about the new year that makes us reflect on the past and plan for a better future? I'm not really one for making resolutions. I try to live my life a little better each year. So I don't have any resolutions but instead I have a focus for this year. My plan is to focus on taking better care of myself. This includes maintaining my weight loss(25 lbs,) organizing my life and materials (to decrease the chaos and stress,) taking better care of my family by focusing more on them(after all they are an extension of me,) and I want to set aside more time to be creative as this recharges my batteries. I've been thinking that some daily doodles, musings or crafting would help accomplish this. I sat down with Nature Girl to doodle for a bit today and this is what I created! I had a very enjoyable time and was happy with my results. I just love my crayola twist-able colored pencils. I bought myself a sketchpad about 6 months ago so I would have a place to doodle but I haven't been able to make myself draw in it. my reasoning behind not drawing in it is this, what if the doodles are horrible or messy? I haven't wanted to ruin the sketchpad. No worries I devised a new plan to get around this . . . I can doodle on paper then paste it into my sketchbook. I've decided to add my new year's mouse and my owl as my first doodles in my sketchpad. Best of all I spent quality time with Nature Girl and produced a doodle at the same time. See I'm starting the new year on the right foot.
Here's hoping 2011 is filled with good things for you and lots of time to create and enjoy life!

Pumpkin Bread

2011-01-18T16:55:00.001-05:00

We had another snow day, so Nature Girl and I baked pumpkin bread together. We made three batches of batter so we ended up with five mini loaves and two big loaves. I haven't made pumpkin bread in a very long time. As a matter of fact, I probably haven't made it since I was pregnant with Nature Girl. Needless to say I had forgotten how delicious it is!!! I'm including the recipe if you want to try it. It's yummy with some butter spread on it.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin pie filling

1 ¼ cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cloves

¼ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. allspice

1/3 cup water

½ tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Mix together sugar, oil and eggs. Then add pumpkin.
Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Add to mixture.
Add water and vanilla. Mix well.
Bake at 350 in greased loaf pan for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: This recipe makes one large loaf.

A Belated Happy New Year!

2011-01-17T11:03:00.003-05:00

True to form our Christmas cards went out late this year and now our New Years greeting is being posted late as well. Of course I guess it's better late than never. So Happy New Year to all of you! I hope 2011 is your year!
Nature Girl drew this picture of Jingle the huskie to ring in the new year. She received Jingle the huskie pup and his interactive story from Ann. Thanks Ann! Nature Girl loves him as huskies have a new place in her heart, a place right next to orange kitties. In her book orange kitties are right at the top.
This is my new year's doodle. So Happy New Year to all of you from Nature Girl and I!

Warm Woolen Mittens

2011-01-04T20:20:00.000-05:00

From itchy ugly wool sweaters to warm woolen mittens is a snap. I've been collecting wool sweaters from thrift stores and family members this past year. I've washed and felted them and finally started turning them into warm woolen mittens over vacation. My photos are a little dark but I think you can still see what I've been up to.

I've made a couple of pairs so far. I used this tutorial and pattern here and my husband sent me a link for another video and pattern here. This video is kind of long but she shows you how to ensure that you end up with a right and a left mitten. Seems obvious but it's easy to end up with two left handed mittens so the videos are helpful. Before I watched the second video I ended up with two left handed mittens. Not to worry I used the same sweater to make the right handed mittens for my two lefties but I'm sad to say I now have four left handed mittens instead of two. Ha, ha! Thankfully it was an ugly sweater that my brother in law gave me. He's living in Hawaii and doesn't need the sweater or the mittens so nothing lost.

I made this pair of mittens for myself. I'd like to try making a matching hat for my mittens. Or maybe I could create some slippers or something else with my left over felted sweaters. I've spent some time looking around Etsy for some inspiration. Looking for some cute felt slippers? Check out these rabbit slippers on Etsy, aren't they amazing?!!

Lastly I wrapped a pair of my homemade warm woolen mittens for my mom. I thought the packaging was ingenious but when I asked my husband if he got it he said "What, is it packaging for poor people?" I explained that it was warm woolen mittens in brown paper packages tied up with string . . . these are a few of my favorite things. I told him my mom would get it as we watched the Sound of Music together lots of times when I was a child. He laughed when she opened it and I asked if she got the packaging. It turns out it wasn't as ingenious as I thought, I had to explain it to her too. She did love the mittens though!

Creative Juices

2010-12-30T19:26:00.005-05:00

Here's a little something to get your creative juices flowing. Just before vacation began I got the greatest gift from one of the 4th grade teachers I work with. She's incredibly creative and talented and likes to draw, create and cook just like I do. She knew I've been eating healthy and trying to keep the weight I've lost off so she instead of giving me chocolate for Christmas she zentangled this orange for me. I love it! She also zentangled these postcards for me. I love them so much that I know I'm going to have a hard time sending them. Then again they're too beautiful to keep all to myself!

I've tried to get my creative juices flowing too. I created some zentangle Christmas bulb tags that I attached to the gifts I gave this year. I just love how relaxing it is to draw these. I've also finally gotten smart and started using my scanner to create/duplicate the designs I've made instead of redrawing each one.

I baked some biscotti then attached a zentangled bulb and a Dunkin' Donuts card so people could enjoy some coffee with their biscotti. I've had a new biscotti idea floating around in my head for about a year so I finally tried it. I usually make my favorite Almond Pecan Toffee biscotti but this year I finally tried making a lemon poppyseed biscotti too. I still like my almond pecan toffee biscotti the best but my mom and my husband really liked the lemon poppyseed biscotti so I'll have to try making it again.

I also made this tote bag for Ann, the teacher I share a room with. I tried to make a second one for another coworker but at 11:00 at night when I finally turned it rightside out the lining was about 6 inches too short. I guess at that hour of the night my creative juices had stopped flowing. I haven't ripped it apart yet to fix it. It's in the large stack of UFOs waiting for me to get back to it.

Did I Miss Something?

2010-12-29T19:23:00.000-05:00

Last night Nature Girl had her cousins E & M over for a sleep over. We watched movies and had fun last night then had Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast before heading out to see Yogi Bear at the theater this afternoon. When we got home I found this note from my husband attached to this card that came in the mail.
I had to chuckle at his note. Apparently we've ended up on the mailing list for a local dairy company that sends a welcome card and coupon to new parents. We love having extra kids over for playdates and sleepovers but it's always nice to go back to having just one child. I love children and wanted two but after 3 years of infertility treatments and years learning to accept that Nature Girl was meant to be an only child I think we're good the way we are. Our family is little but good and we all agree that we're happy with just the three of us. So did you miss something, honey? Nope. . .we're good!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T19:45:00.003-05:00

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Secret Santa

2010-12-18T09:17:00.003-05:00

This week we did Secret Santa at school. The rule for Secret Santa was to do a gift for the first four days that cost under a $1 with a gift under $10 on the last day. The person I picked liked crafts so I got to make lots of little crafty gifts for her. This photo shows the first four days of gift giving. A snack, a felt brooch with snowflake post-it notes, tissue covers, and chocolate bars with a wool felt ornament for her tree. I had fun crafting for this.

My person for Secret Santa likes snowmen so for the final gift I gave her a Lia Sophia snow flake charm bracelet and a pair of children's skates I bought at a thrift store. I painted a skate, then added some artificial greens. I think it turned out pretty cute but it reminded me why I never became a florist. I'm terrible at arranging flowers and greens!!!

I painted these skates for myself about 5 years ago. This was a pair of skates I wore as a teenager so they have sentimental value as well as being a winter decoration. I love them! I'd like to find some black skates to paint snowy scenes on. I'm also collecting wool sweaters to felt and craft with through the winter. I have quite a few ideas for projects now I just need the time. Thankfully Christmas vacation is just around the corner!

The Best Guacamole Ever

2010-12-14T09:56:00.004-05:00

I mentioned that I made guacamole with my students at school last week. Since then, they've been asking for the recipe. I'm printing out the recipe so they can make it at home. I thought you might enjoy the recipe too. I did my quick and easy version of this recipe but here is the full recipe. Enjoy!

The Best Guacamole Ever

By Christy at Mamarazzi

So here’s what you need:

2 ripe avocados

1/3 medium yellow onion

1/2 tomato

1/4 cup Salsa

Louisiana hot sauce

garlic salt

Directions:

Peel avocados, de-pit (save one pit for later). Chop avocado with knife until it creates a chunky but slightly creamy mixture.
Chop onion & tomato into small, chunky pieces & add to avocado. **
Add a few sprinkles of Garlic salt., 1/4 cup salsa, a few squirts of the Louisiana Hot sauce & stir everything together. Stir until a creamy yet chunky combo forms. Keep one of the pits and put into mixture (obviously not to eat), this is said to keep it fresher a little longer, I still recommend serving right away, at the most, within a few hours.
The recipe size here will serve 2-3. If you are making this for more, you can easily double it. Serve with Tortilla chips or on crackers.

A few notes:

Avocados are ripe when you can squeeze them gently and feel them smoosh just a little. If they are real hard, they aren’t ready yet, if they smoosh too much, they may be too ripe.

Also, depending on your tolerance for hot & spicy should depend on whether you get hot, medium or mild salsa.

Last: If you are not familiar with avocados, they are similar to bananas in the way that, after being peeled, they tend to “brown” quickly and taste does change. I highly suggest you make this recipe same day as you intend to eat it, for best outcome, immediately before serving. Remember: Fresher equals better when it comes to this recipe.

Visit Mamarazzi for photos and directions on making the Best Guacamole Ever.

** Note from Jill:

When I'm in a hurry I skip this and add extra salsa. It's still delicious!

A New Apron

2010-12-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from Hawaii. I was expecting this package knowing it contained some Christmas presents for Nature Girl. This fall, my sister J moved to Hawaii for a year with her husband and three girls. We keep getting lovely photos from their adventures on their new island home. Of course the teacher in me uses this information too. As a matter of fact this week my students took a reading assessment featuring a few passages and questions on the island my sister is living on and avocados. After the test I took out my phone to show the students the pictures of Hawaii that my sister has taken. Then we talked about the land and avocados. To my surprise only one of the students in my room had ever seen or eaten an avocado! One of the passages on the assessment described avocado skin and flesh. Many of the kids missed the questions on this passage because they had no experience with avocados. Needless to say I brought in avocados the next day cut them open for the kids to see and sample. Then we made guacomole and have the pits susspended in water to see if they will root. The kids loved it! Not only that they added to their background knowledge and experiences, they now know what avocados look, feel and taste like.
Sorry I digressed a bit there, back to the package. My sister sent Christmas gifts for Nature Girl and at the bottom of the box this lovely apron for me. Isn't it pretty?!! My sister knows me so well and is so sweet to me! It was handmade in Hawaii. It has three pockets along the bottom. It's lovely! I didn't have any baking or cooking to do last night so I wore it to hang out and watch movies on the couch instead. Thanks Girl for the beautiful apron!!!!

Crafting

2010-12-06T20:36:00.003-05:00

So I have been busy working. Even with IEPs and evals to write for school I've managed to fit in a few crafty projects. Granted I haven't done as many as I'd like given that Christmas is just around the corner, but I have gotten a few things made. Sadly there are many more projects on my list that I probably won't get to before Christmas. Oh well, I won't dwell on that now. Instead I'll concentrate on what has been finished.
I made this patchwork stocking for my partner in the St. Nickolaus Swap. I love how it turned out and hope to eventually make some for us of course that probably won't happen anytime soon.

I also worked a little bit with wool felt and felted wool sweaters to create these brooches. I sent the blue bird brooch to my partner for the St. Nickolaus Swap. The rest are destined to become gifts for co-workers. I keep forgetting how much I like working with wool felt and old sweaters. I've got to come up with some more projects to use my sweater stash.

I also made and sent this apron to my St. Nickolas Day Swap partner. I love the color combination and the polka dots. I was tempted to keep it for myself but that wouldn't have been in the spirit of St. Nickolaus so I sent it on the way to it's new owner instead.

As you know I'm a bit zentangle obsessed so I've done a some of that over the last month or two. I zentangled this red umbrella for a swap. It took a lot more time than I thought it would to draw on the whole thing. As I was getting ready to mail it out I noticed some black on my hands so now I'm not sure it's even waterproof. I almost didn't send it but decided to send it anyway since I spent so much time on it. It may have to be used as a parasol or a decoration instead of a functional umbrella. I was afraid to test it out!

Lastly I altered this dress for my sister. My sister was looking for a dress to wear to a formal holiday party and asked me to alter her green dress. She originally wore it in her best friend's wedding last year. It was about 5 inches longer and strapless. The dress kept falling down and had to pulled up frequently so it definitely needed some alterations. I have to say I was scared to death to cut it and attempt the alterations. I am not a seamstress and get nervous about cutting and altering items for other people. Especially expensive clothing! My sister was very calm and trusting and didn't seem worried at all. That's okay because I worried enough for the both of us!!! But in the end I worried for nothing as it turned out really cute. It's a little wrinkled in this picture but think it looks even prettier now that it has been altered. My sister wore it to the party last weekend and got many compliments on it.
So what have you been up to? Are you done your Christmas crafting?

Introducing Ruby

2010-11-28T09:08:00.002-05:00

This is Ruby. We adopted her 2 weeks ago. Ruby is a 2 year old english bulldog. I have been in love with bulldogs for at least 12 years. I have wanted one for many years. They have a face that only a mother can love! Ruby is no exception, I think that she is beautiful!!!! I tell you that face just kills me!

Ruby is a sweetheart and loves lots of attention. She's thrilled to see me when I get home and wants to spend all of her time with us. She can fetch but most of the time she just watches us throw the ball. Which brings me to a few of the reasons I think she was meant to be my dog.
1. She doesn't really like to exercise. Me neither!
2. She's afraid of all cleaning tools and supplies. I hate cleaning!
3. She needs lots of love and patience. I have lots to give.

She's very smart and quickly figured out that the dog food was in the basement. She kept sticking her head through the large cat door we have in our basement door looking for it. I couldn't resist taking pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T10:27:00.003-05:00

We have so many things to be thankful for today and everyday! So today we celebrate the countless blessings we have as we spend time with our friends and family. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving too! Happy turkey day!

Fall Portraits

2010-11-13T19:40:00.004-05:00

I love zentangling. When I started to zentangle Nature Girl wanted to join in the fun. I gave her a marker and some paper and let her go. Now she zentangles often and really enjoys it too. She has her own ideas about zentangles and likes to use colors not just black. It's fun to see what she will create. This sweet apple zentangle is one that she recently drew for me. I love it and have it hanging in my classroom.

Apples make me think of fall and school portraits. The last two years she's had a forced fake smile for her portraits so I wasn't expecting them to turn out this year. In fact I had already scheduled a portrait session for our family portraits and had decided to get her pictures done when low and behold this portrait from school showed up. I think it turned out great!

These last two are from our family portrait session. She wanted her picture taken with the fake rock because she loves rocks so much.
In fact she loves rocks so much that she wants a meteorite. I think we'll have to add it to the Christmas wishlist. Last year she wanted Santa to bring an ostrich egg and this year so far the list includes a stuffed husky, a lava lamp and new twinkle toe sneakers that light up. I think a fossil would be cool too but she hasn't mentioned that.

A Whole New Bag

2010-11-08T19:34:00.003-05:00

Nature Girl visits the library at school each Tuesday. At the beginning of the year each child was given this green bag to put their library books in. They have to bring their library book back each week in the bag. Last week, just two months into the school year, the string broke and Nature Girl began to fret about returning her library book this week. I probably could have threaded a new string through the old bag but it was all crinkly looking, like it's seen better days. Instead of messing with a new string I just made a whole new bag.

I bought this corduroy owl fabric awhile back to make something for Nature Girl. It seemed like the perfect print for a new library bag. So I sat down at my sewing machine tonight and made this library tote bag.

She was excited and exclaimed "Oh mommy, I love it!" I think it passes the kid test. Let's hope it passes the school librarian tomorrow.

Happy Fall!

2010-11-07T14:20:00.002-05:00

Time really files these days! It's hard to believe it's already November! Before we know it we'll be leaving fall and heading into winter. I'm not ready for winter yet and haven't even begun to think about the holidays or holiday shopping. Thinking of it now makes me a little queasy. In an effort to enjoy fall and slow the impending winter I thought I'd share some of Nature Girl's recent fall art. I just love to see what she will create when she sits down to draw. It's fun to watch her!

She traced her hand print then colored, cut out and glued the leaves and the pumpkin. I love that the turkey has been nibbling on the pumpkin.

I also love this squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. He is so cute! He reminds me of Scaredy Squirrel. We love all of those books!
Like me Nature Girl really enjoys drawing and creating. I have been creating too. I'm working on a couple of swaps but I can't share yet. I'll post more when my items have been finished. In the meantime we're wishing you a happy fall and a delay in cold winter weather!

Spookify Me Challenge

2010-10-24T18:50:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago during a meeting a co-worker challenged me to zentangle something for Halloween. Of course I took the challenge and created this eyeball. It's hanging in our classroom now. My students love it and have been asking me to make eyeballs for them. This week the students will be doing a few Halloween activities so I decided to create an eyeball that they can complete. I created one for the kids that don't like to draw so they can color it instead and one for my budding zentanglers so they can zentangle their own eyeball. I thought I'd share the pdf and open up the challenge to you. What kind of eyeball can you create?

Zentangled Shoes

2010-10-18T18:58:00.006-04:00

Yes you read the title right! It may sound strange, but what does someone who is obsessed with zentangles do to their shoes? Why draw all over them of course! I've zentangled bookmarks, name tags and a pencil can, so why not shoes. I saw this tutorial for painting on shoes back during the summer. It sparked my creative juices and got me thinking about zentangling shoes. I bought a pair of white ballet flats at Walmart this summer for $7. I set them in the closet to draw on later. Well, later finally came last week when I pulled them out of the closet and decided to try it. It took me about two and a half hours to finish both shoes.

Here's a side view. I didn't follow the tutorial, I just used a sharpie to draw on them. I decided to do a series of floral patterns and designs on the shoes. I didn't repeat any of the patterns so each shoe is totally different.

Here's what they look like in the front.

Now the view from the back. I was very happy with how they turned out. The only problem, when I put them after they were finished I decided that they are a little too tight. My toes were at the end. I swear they fit fine when I bought them this summer. Oh well, nothing lost. I had them at school to show some co-workers and my students. The teacher I share a room with has a daughter in college that wears a size 8 so they're being mailed to California for her to enjoy. Maybe I'll eventually make another pair but I think I want something with a little bit of a heel. In the meantime I'll be thinking about other things I can zentangle all over.

Frankenstein & Ghost Brooches

2010-10-16T19:45:00.002-04:00

This week for Spookify Me Saturday I'm sharing some Halloween brooches I made a couple of years ago for a Halloween swap with Val our wonderful Spookify Me host. Click here for a PDF with the pattern and simple directions.

Don't need a brooch?! I also made this pin the nose on the monster game using the same pattern. I just blew up the pattern really big and added a layer of batting in between. We hang Frankie up each fall. We have lots of different colored noses for him so everyone can choose a different color to pin on his face. Sometimes we just use him as a decoration instead of as a game.

Another Spookify Me Project

2010-10-09T07:21:00.001-04:00

Here's another project for Spookify Me Saturday. I made this cat wall hanging for a swap and was really excited to see how this turned out. I fell in love with it, so it was hard to send it on it's way but I did. I'm glad the new owner loves it! I created this tutorial so I can make another one when I have time. In the meantime I decided to share this tutorial for Spookify Me Saturday.

Poe Swap & St. Nicholaus Swap

2010-10-08T06:07:00.004-04:00

I participated in the Poe altered art swap. I've already shared the great package I received from Little Messy Missy here. So what did I send? My partner was not a fan of gruesome or scary so I went with the sweeter side of Halloween. My partner chose the story The Black Cat. I couldn't find a cigar box so I altered a paint can to look like a black cat. I made a few bookmarks, a cat coaster, a candy corn brooch and included some candy as well.
This is my favorite piece. I made this quilted black cat wall hanging for my partner. It took longer than expected but I'm really happy with how it turned out! It's the first time I've made my own binding so I wanted to keep it! I mailed it, so hopefully my partner will love it.

I sent off the Poe package to my partner then received my St. Nickolaus Swap package. Cindy made this incredible quilted wall hanging for me. Don't you love it?!!! I hung it right away!

These are the other goodies Cindy sent. Thank you Cindy!! She even sent some rocks, polished sea glass and a cute little owl bag for Nature Girl. Nature Girl was very grateful as these things are all her favorites.

Look what she made with the rocks . . . . St. Nickolaus! Isn't that cute?!!! I'm always impressed with Nature Girl's creativity!

Spookify Me Project

2010-10-03T11:17:00.008-04:00

I made this cat coaster and thought it would be perfect for Spookify Me Saturday. Each Saturday in October, Val from Yarnigras will be posting projects for Halloween. It sounded like fun to me so I made this coaster from wool felt then wrote up a quick little tutorial for it. You can use this coaster to get into the Halloween spirit or use it all year if you choose. You'll find the tutorial here or on the sidebar. Check in next Saturday for another Spookify Me project and don't forget to check out Val's projects.

Poe Swap

2010-09-28T19:34:00.007-04:00

I participated in Val's Edgar Allen Poe Altered Art Swap. I received my package from Little Messy Missy on Saturday but didn't open it until tonight. I was under the weather for a few days last week so I'm not finished my package to send out. I thought waiting to open the package would help me get my goodies done faster. It helped but one project took much longer than planned so I'm still not quite done. My husband and daughter just can't stand walking by the package knowing it's been left unopened! Tonight Nature Girl became the camera girl and snapped some pictures of the goodies Missy sent.

Inside the box was wrapped. Nature Girl claimed the sparkly white fabric right away.

Missy altered a cigar box to fit the story I picked, The Tell Tale Heart. Doesn't it look amazing?!

This is the picture Nature Girl took to show what was inside.

I took this picture to show what was inside. Missy also made some amazing tags and a Poe necklace complete with blood spatter. Poe does to have a bit of a gruesome side, perfect for Halloween.
Thank you Missy for an amazing package! You are great at altering art! I think I need to take a few lessons from you. Too bad you didn't live closer!

National Tie One On Day

2010-09-26T06:50:00.004-04:00

I just saw this button on Karen's blog this morning and was curious. I had to check it out. I'm glad I did, I love this idea! The idea is to wrap a baked good in an apron, tuck in a prayer or note of encouragement in the pocket and deliver it to someone in need. I know I have a few extra aprons I've sewn(yes, because I'm apron obsessed) so plan to try this. How fun is it to spread kindness and apron love?!!
I don't remember my mom or Gram wearing aprons to cook but Thanksgiving was always a time filled with family and fun! This Thanksgiving I'll be wearing my apron and hope someone else will be enjoying the apron I've wrapped up and sent their way. If you want to join the fun or read more about National Tie One On Day click on the badge or click here.

Tutorials

2010-09-21T19:45:00.002-04:00

I'm a teacher so I love to teach. I also love to do crafts. What better way is there to combine these two loves than to write a craft tutorial. I created two simple tutorials to share. I'm not sure anyone else can use them but I thought I'd put them up them up anyway. You can click directly on the pictures here in this post to download the pdfs or click on the sidebar.

I have a couple of apron tutorials I'd like to do and another softie but I need time to make them again and take the pictures. I just need about 10 more hours in every day and then I might do all the things I want to do!!!
* Special thanks to Val and my husband for being my tutorial editors and my tech support. You two are great!

September Hail & Snow

2010-09-21T19:10:00.003-04:00

It's only September so it seems way to early for hail or snow. Surprisingly a good thunderstorm rolled through last week and dumped a bunch of hail on us. We watched from the windows waiting for it to stop. When it finally ended Nature Girl headed outside to play with it. She thought it was great! Her dad and I worried about any dents it might have left in his car(though it was fine.)

Yesterday we made snow. The teacher I share a room with at school took a trip to Colorado this summer. Being the amazing teacher she is, she brought back polymer crystals that turn into snow when you add water. It's what many of the mountains use to create their snow. The first week back at school was brutal in our room as the temperatures were above 90. She pulled out the crystals and had her students making snow and practicing letter sounds, spelling and math in the snow. They had a blast! She was kind enough to share with Nature Girl.

We had a great time sitting at the table writing, drawing and touching the snow! This was one of Nature Girl's snow creations. The best part is it doesn't melt. We put it in a jar to use again.

Weekends

2010-09-18T14:09:00.006-04:00

This is a bit of a long post as I'm jamming in the last few weeks into one post. Now that school is back in swing, things have been a little bit quiet on the blog. It's not that we haven't been doing things, it's finding the time to sit and post the things we're going. School/work takes up most of our time so we look forward to the weekends, it's our family time. The last few weekends have been filled with fun. Over Labor Day weekend we sent the weekend by the ocean. We walked on the beach, went swimming and relaxed the whole weekend. It was fabulous!
Nature Girl had a blast and loved having an indoor pool, an outdoor pool and a hot tub at her disposal. She thought we should trade houses with Steve and Carolyn who were kind enough to invite us to share their home for the weekend. Our house would fit in the indoor pool area of their house so when Nature Girl said "Wait, that's not fair." I thought she saw the obvious differences in our houses. Then she continued on with " It wouldn't be fair because they'd get all of my toys." I guess that shows what has the most value for her.

On the way home we stopped at my favorite hot dog place. I wanted one last hot dog special-all rings, before they close for the season. It was delicious! I thought it would be our last hog dog of the summer but then . . .
We were invited to a hot dog party last weekend. Well, I've never been to a hot dog party but it sounded fun to me! There were tons of hot dogs and topping choices to choose from. Being the teacher I am I brought along a story and coloring pages for the kids who might show up at the party. We had a good time! After the party Nature Girl had a sleep over with her cousins E & M, so we had a date night then a field trip the next day.

Can you tell where our field trip was? Opening day at Gillette Stadium - Patriot's vs. Bengals.

It was a great game and we had a lot of fun! The Pat's won and are off to a good start this season. We've never been to a game before. Half the fun was the people around us cheering and joking around. The season's ticket holders next to us we're hilarious! They've been going to games for the past 17 years.
Two rows ahead of us was the infamous Schuster. He was the Patriot's fan of the year in 1999 and is well known. I was surprised that he didn't show up until half way through the 3rd quarter of the opening game. That doesn't seem like a big fan to me. He had his face all painted and was decked out in his Pat's gear. Of course I tend to think it might have been the gear he was wearing when he won fan of the year in 1999.

So with all of these fun activities over the past few weekends you're probably wondering what this weekend holds. The answer is cleaning the house. I know that sounds boring to me too! At least I can wear an apron.

Creative Girl

2010-09-10T23:09:00.006-04:00

So what does a creative girl make with some magnets and some rocks? Why a cat of course!

Feeling Giddy and Spoiled!

2010-09-10T20:25:00.001-04:00

I got home after work to find a package waiting for me. I took my time putting away my school stuff. All the while Nature Girl was trying to be patient. Finally she couldn't contain the excitement any more and blurted out "Let's open your package." She climbed on the the counter and waited excitedly as we cut into the box. Of course we forgot the camera and had to go find it before she could look inside, but she waited patiently poised to grab up and claim anything that sparked her interest. I don't know about the rest of you mommy swappers but anything that comes in a box addressed to me doesn't necessarily belong to me by the time we're done. The loot usually gets divided up. Not to worry Kerry sent the most amazing package with more than enough goodies for everyone!

Not only are the goodies amazing, Kerry wrapped and packaged everything so nicely. It made it even more fun to open it all! She even packaged up some goodies for Nature Girl, who was thrilled and says "Thanks!" Kerry sent buttons, a bookmark, the AIW story, tea, the sweetest little tea strainer shaped like a teapot, a Cheshire cat full of M&Ms, a necklace and the most amazing crocheted teapot. Not to mention that this is an apron swap so she sent an incredible apron too!

Kerry made this incredible Mad Hatter apron for me. I love how she stitched little details on the picture. I just love embroidered and stitched items! This apron has stitching, polka dots, great embellishments, long ties and it's reversible. All things I love, so I haven't taken it off yet!

Speaking of love. This is Nature Girl pulling out the Cheshire cat saying "Oh my Cheshire cat!" The little girl is cute but that's just thievery. I can't blame her as she does love her cats! However, I quickly stole it back as I adore it and she already has a lot of cats. Plus it's my package, right?!

This is me saying "LOVE IT!!!!!!!!" And I do! Thanks for such an amazing package Kerry! You Rock!!!!

St. Nikolaus Swap

2010-09-09T19:56:00.003-04:00

I joined the St. Nikolaus Swap. You have until the end of November to create and mail a package with goodies to fill your partner's boot in time for St. Nikolaus Day. Sign ups are open just until September 15th. You can check here for here or more information or to sign up.

Back to the Future Aprons

2010-09-07T19:35:00.004-04:00

I arrived home from school today to find a package with my name on it. Inside I found this Back to the Future themed apron and goodies. Cynthia included school supplies for me, which are already packed to take to my classroom tomorrow.

She also made a matching pouch with the lotion and lip balm inside. Thank you Cynthia!

I made this poodle skirt for my partner. It arrived at it's destination but I forgot to put my e-mail and blog address in the package so I'm not sure if she liked it.

These are the goodies I sent. The apron and a necklace to wear while vacuuming represent the 50's, the cd with hits of the 80's and a key catcher and purse holder to represent the 21st century. I had fun with this swap!

Now I'm waiting for my Alice in Wonderland apron to arrive at it's destination. I had the worse time creating an apron for that swap. Ask Val I had several e-mail freak outs while trying to create something, but that's a story for another day!

And the Winners Are . . .

2010-09-06T18:44:00.002-04:00

We were off vacationing by the ocean this weekend so I'm a little late posting the winners of the poodle apron giveaway. That's right I say winners because Nature Girl pulled both Christy and Madelyn. Madelyn wins the poodle skirt apron and I have another special goody for Christy. I'll get the prizes mailed out this week.

Art and Love

2010-09-05T21:06:00.001-04:00

Sometimes art and love go hand in hand. Nature Girl loves her stuffed animals. As an only child they are often her playmates and friends. She's never been one to dress and diaper dolls but her stuffed animals have all seen a lot of love! When we went on our Disney cruise her grandmother took her to the Disney shop on board and let her pick out anything she wanted. She chose this Webkin armadillo that she named Dilly. Dilly has travel with us this summer and has been on many adventures both real and those imagined by Nature Girl as she plays. She loves him so much that she drew this picture of him. You know he's loved when he starts showing up in her artwork. She accidentally ripped the page after it was drawn so part of his tail is missing but I still thought this picture was so cute! It makes me smile.

Then again what's there not to love about a rainbow armadillo?

First Day of School

2010-08-30T07:12:00.003-04:00

It was back to school for Miss Nature Girl last week. She started first grade on Wednesday. She made this cute picture frame on her first day. I'm happy to report that Nature Girl likes her teacher and says that she has a sweet voice.

I was lucky that Nature Girl's school started the day before my teacher workshop days so I got to be the one to take her to school the first day. Here's our self portrait. Daddy was out of the house and on his way to the office so we snapped our own picture. It's a little crooked but I like it.

Nature Girl wanted to wear all black like a ninja for the first day of school. I think her back pack is almost as big as she is!
She had a great first day though the pick up line was beyond crazy. I had to wait in traffic for 30 minutes to pick her up. The poor thing was standing in the rain in a little black sweater the whole time. I felt bad!
Today my students start school. Like every year I'm nervous! I know most of the kids I'll be working with. Last year they worked with the special educator I share a room with so they were in the room with me. I do have two brand new students and two others that will be new to me. I hope we have a great year!

Crafty Goodness Swap = Happiness!

2010-08-26T19:22:00.005-04:00

Today was my first official day of school. I got home after a day of teacher workshops and meetings to find swap mail. I joined the Crafty Goodness Swap over at the Magical Bean this summer. As a matter of fact, I just mailed my package out yesterday. It has a ways to travel but I'll try to post some pictures of what I sent later. When this package arrived today, I knew it was from the Crafty Goodness Swap and couldn't wait to see what was in it. Nature Girl was my official package opener. She was excited when she found this sweet owl book. It turned out to be a little cookbook with hand written recipe cards and more blank cards that can be filled out and attached to the pages in the book. Nature Girl called it as her very own since I have one she says. She was very happy and can't wait to add more recipes. Nature Girl got the recipe book but that's okay because look what I got. . . .

This amazing little quilt was made by Maria from Maria's Secret Garden. I just about screamed when I saw this! Maria chose these special photos from our blog and created this amazing keepsake quilt. I can't even begin to express how much this means to me. I immediately hung it up in the hall where I can see it and enjoy it everyday. Thank you so much Maria!! You put a lot of thought and energy into it and created something so special for us! We really LOVE it!

Of course Nature Girl got into the picture. Life wouldn't be the same without that sweet little face!

Apron Give Away

2010-08-24T16:54:00.005-04:00

I've had a great summer with Nature Girl & my husband, but sadly summer is coming to an end. I've been a little apron crazy sewing lots of aprons this summer. As a matter of fact I made this poodle apron for the Back to the Future Swap over at the Flirty Apron Swap. At the time, I knew the theme but hadn't gotten my partner's information yet. I couldn't help myself I started sewing and created this. After getting my partner's info I've re-done the poodle apron for my partner but I still have the original. It could use a good home, so I've decided to give it away. If you'd like it please leave a comment and we'll choose at winner by the end of next week(September 3rd.)

A Pick Up & A Toy Drop

2010-08-22T22:07:00.002-04:00

We went to NY this weekend to pick up Nature Girl. Despite the fact that she didn't want to talk on the phone to us while she was gone I think she actually missed us. We tried to wake her up when we arrived at 11:30 pm on Friday, as she had requested we do, but she was zonked out and didn't even open an eye. When she woke up Saturday morning I was treated to lots of hugs, kisses, chats and snuggles. She stuck by my side for at least the first hour, so I think even though she had a great time she did miss us just like we missed her!

On the way home from NY we decided to do a toy drop. Meet Deloris, Amy, Arnold and Aurthur. This little hedgehog family was stitched and sewn by me then stuffed by Nature Girl and three of her cousins. Here they are riding with us on a deary rainy day. We left them on a bench inside a rest stop on the VT/NH border. We didn't stick around to see if they were picked up but we hope they found a good home.

Strawberry cake - yum!

2010-08-21T12:28:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago Val from Yarnigras posted a recipe for a strawberry cake she likes to make for her family. Both Nature Girl and my husband love strawberries so I tucked that recipe away for later. When my in-laws came to visit last week I decided to make the cake for desert. I didn't layer my cake so it's not as pretty as Val's, but it was absolutely delicious!!! My husband loved it. Me too, I have to admit I ate a piece for breakfast one morning. Yummmy!
Nature Girl like the frosting but didn't eat much because it wasn't ice cream cake. I should have remembered this. I made birthday cakes for the first 4 years of her life decorating entire cakes with little stars of frosting to create pretty cakes. Despite getting claw hand each time from the hours of decorating she would only eat ice cream and not a single piece of cake. For her 5th birthday she got an ice cream cake and her 6th birthday was a cheesecake. It takes me a while to catch on but eventually I learn! Anyway, when I asked her if she liked it she said it was missing something. I asked what and she said it needed chocolate sauce all over it. I think it was perfect as it was and didn't last long before it was all eaten. That's a sure sign it's good! I think the frosting would be delicious on cupcakes too. Click here to see Val's post and get the recipe.

I'm Not Listening to You

2010-08-19T16:58:00.000-04:00

Nature Girl is spending a few days with Grandma and Papa in NY. Number one I can't believe she is big enough to go off to another state without us but she is. Number two she doesn't even miss me even though I miss her terribly. I was just sitting her thinking about her and was reminded of these pictures I took a few weeks back. Here's the story behind the pictures:

I'm Not Listening to YOU!

Like any good parents we've tried to teach Nature Girl manners and to respect adults. We've taught her that she can't cover her ears with her hands when she doesn't like something we have to say, though occasionally she does try it. When her cousin E. stayed with us for a few days she got upset with him. They had been arguing and she had had enough. They're both stubborn and she wasn't making any headway with getting him to see her point of view so she didn't want to listen to him anymore. Since she couldn't put her hands over her ears she devised a new way not to listen to him. She put on the safety head phones her dad had given her. It worked but her cousin was greatly insulted!
Of course like any blogger would, I swooped in to take pictures before helping to mediate the argument. I told her to give me her best mad faces, then I used mosaic maker to put together this I'm Not Listening to You collage. We talked for a bit and agreed that there were better ways to settle arguments. They went off and happily played for a few more hours. Best part is, after a few hours of harmony her cousin E got upset with her and did the same thing to her with the headphones. She was beyond insulted. It was too funny!
So for my little Nature Girl even when you're mad, grumpy and unwilling to listen I still love you with all my heart!!! I can't wait for you to come home!