State String Art

Wow, the last time I've posted was January 1st! But I am happy to report that I am right on track with my new year's resolutions, and having much fun completing my goals. Here is some state string art that kept me busy for awhile.

Most of these supplies were purchased from a hardware store (I love Ace!) the silver thread is from here.

I googled images of whatever state I was looking for, then I changed the scale when I printed them.

This is the island of Oahu, way easier to just do one island instead of trying to squeeze the entire island chain on a 12"x12" board.

I liked making the Texas art because you know, Texans love Texas.

For the most part, I followed this tutorial. I changed it up a little bit, and I really like the way they turned out. All of these were gifts, but I was thinking about maybe making one for every state I've lived in; but that would be a whole lot...not sure if I'm up for the task!

Resolutions

Every year I enjoy making New Year's resolutions -- though keeping them can be hard, making them is quite fun. January 1st is like a fresh sheet, a blank slate to set goals for yourself, it's like each year you're given a second chance for yourself. I know that you can choose to change whenever you want, but there is something just so symbolic about the changing of the year, the old one is passing and the new one dawning on the horizon. With that being said here are some goals/resolutions I am making for myself.

1. Since I have a membership to the Y, I am going to drop little G. off in child watch and go to the classes. I would like some little muscles, and "Women with Weights" is just calling my name...

2. Create something every week. I enjoy crafting but I have this habit of crafting mostly around Christmas, than I go into crafting overdrive and burn myself out. Too much crafting in much too little time.

3. Make one quilt. I've wanted to quilt for ages, and I found a simple one on pinterest that I would like to try my hand at making.

4. Pick up my knitting needles again. Just do it!

5. Okay, okay so every year I say "Learn to crochet" but this year I am actually going to give it the ol' college try

6. Be better at taking photos for this here blog. Often I think "I should blog about that!" But I don't have my camera with me to take pics.

7. Learn to give myself manicures. I got my first gel manicure yesterday and I'm in love!

8. Write down recipes. I like to try out new recipes that I find online, but then I seldom write them down. I like things to be tangible so this just seems like a logical thing to do.

Okay, so there's my resolutions, please feel free to ask me from time to time how I'm doing. It'll keep me on track.

Fingerprint Ornament DIY

I'm sure many of you have seen this fingerprint ornament floating around pinterest. When I saw it, I wanted to make it soooo bad to commemorate our first Christmas with little baby. Well, technically our second Christmas with Little Baby, but he was born so close to Christmas that it is was all a blur to me, but I digress. Anyway.... on pinterest the comments claimed this ornament could be made with salt dough. Excuse me, but if you actually click on the picture, you find out that the ornament is cast in bronze (hence the hefty price tag) and you are NEVER going to get such fine fingerprint lines from salt dough. Believe me, all you get is a blob of an indentation which could have been a grape that you pressed into the dough.

Now, this is by no means perfect, but I am pretty satisfied with the result, and it sure beats the $210.00 price tag of the one I linked to above!

Supplies: Sculpey clay*, circle cookie cutter or lid/jar/glass, straw, stamps, dark ink (or dark crayon), fine tip Sharpie, Sculpey gloss glaze, and piece of ribbon.

*Note, Sculpey is NOT food safe, only use tools with Sculpey that will NOT be used with food.

1. Sculpey comes in a little square with 4 segments, remove a segment and roll in your hands to form a ball. Flatten ball with a rolling pin until it is 1/4" thick. (I sandwiched my clay between 2 pieces of parchment so it wouldn't come in contact with rolling pin)

2. Cut out circle shape with cookie cutter. Mine is a bit wonkey shaped because I used an exacto knife to cut around a jar lid.

3. Use a straw to poke a hole in the top of the ornament.

4. Now this is the fun part -- fingerprint it up! Be sure to press firmly enough to leave a print, but not so hard where you squash the clay flat. Little baby didn't want to cooperate at first with his finger, but later he willingly gave me his little pointer finger and let me squish it into the clay. Then he smiled, looks like I have a crafting buddy!

5. Use stamps to put the year in the center, or even your family's last name. I used these metal stamps that I have.

6. Bake according to package instructions and cool.

7. Rub a little ink into the fingerprints. I used calligraphy ink and a q-tip to lightly rub it into the impressions. I used a fine tip Sharpie to fill in the year. Let dry.

8. This is an important step, I think it gives a more finished look to the ornament. With a paintbrush, coat the ornament with Sculpey gloss glaze. Let dry.

9. Finally, tie a piece of ribbon through the hole. I used a pre-tied ribbon ornament hanger, just because I had eleventy-million lying around.

A close up: Not perfect, but it is a sweet memory of my little family -- Papa, Baby, and Mama.

Another fun idea is to make smaller, individual prints of your child, with their name on one side and the year on the other. You can make them into ornaments or skip the step with the straw and make them into magnets instead. 

Necessities for a Sick Baby

As some of you may know I have a baby who is frequently at the office and he has picked up his first cold. Poor baby! A few things that have been helpful around these parts are the Nosefrida Snotsucker

You just place the tube against baby's nostril and suck the snot away! You might think "Eww, gross!" but there is a little filter so not a bit of mucus touches your lips. And boy does it work! The traditional bulb aspirator can't hold a candle to the NoseFrida.

Next on the list is doTERRA's Breathe blend, I am quite the fan of essential oils (see my shop here!). I mix one drop of this blend with a drop or two of jojoba oil and rub it on baby's chest and back; it works like Vicks but I think it is stronger and it doesn't contain any petroleum jelly and is safe to use on babies, it's 100% natural. 

Poor baby is on day 2 of his cold but snuggles, and his favorite blanket and stuffed animal seem to be helping him. Get well soon sweetheart!

Tis the Season...

...to watch all of your favorite Christmas movies and tv show specials. In no particular order here are my favorites to watch year after year after year.

Christmas In Connecticut

The Muppets Christmas Carol -- a perennial favorite.

Elf -- I was watching this last year when I went into labor, needless to say I did not finish the movie.

Home Alone -- I just recently sold my Talkboy.

Addams Family tv Christmas Special

It's A Wonderful Life -- I have a very special place in my heart for this movie. ♥

The Little Drummer Boy

Meet Me In St. Louis -- This isn't necessarily a Christmas movie, since it covers all of the seasons, but it spends a good chunk of time at Christmas. And here's a piece of trivia; Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas was written for this movie.

Home Alone 2 -- I so badly wanted to go into FAO Schwarz, it looked like a dream toy store!

Flinstone's Christmas tv Special -- I loved everything about this episode, I liked seeing snow on the palm trees, Barney's ear muffs made out of a wishbone and Betty's usual bow replace with a sprig of holly.

Charlie Brown Christmas -- "And that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."

A Claymation Christmas Celebration -- Oh my gosh, I LOVED this tv special as a kid; from the dinosaur hosts to the California Raisins, it was the best in my book!

Happy Days Christmas tv special -- the Fonz has no family but doesn't want to tell the Cunninghams that he has no place to go on Christmas Eve.

The Brady Bunch Christmas tv special -- Oh no, Carol has laryngitis and can't sing her solo at church!

The Office Christmas Party episode -- the office has a Christmas gift exchange, Michael gives an iPod and gets upset when he receives a homemade oven mitt.

A Very Brady Christmas -- And the Brady's make it again on my list in this cheesetastic made for tv special! I absolutely loved it as a kid because the Brady's were all grown up, I was bummed that it was not the real Cindy though.

Nester the Long Eared ChristmasDonkey -- Another Claymation gem, why is Nester crying? You'll have to watch to find out!

Miracle on 34th Street

Well folks, that is a pretty comprehensive list of my favorite Christmas movies and shows to watch, maybe you'll find a new one to watch and love!

Pinecone Garland DIY

Well, the festive season is upon us, and here is a simple DIY garland that can transition your home from Thanksgiving to Christmas. What I love about this garland is that it is a hardware store craft; I don't know about you but I love going into hardware stores and imagining what I can do with non-crafty supplies.

Supplies: Package of small screw eyes, pinecones, twine and scissors (they didn't make it into the picture, rats!) 

Twist the screw eye into the center of the pinecone. It is pretty easy, but you do have to use a bit of gentle pressure. My finger tips were just a little bit sore after doing all of these.

If the screw is a little bit tight, you can use a pair of scissors or a chopstick to help twist it into the pinecone. Once all of the pinecones have the screw eyes, tie them onto a length of twine. I cut a 7 foot piece of twine and I tied the cones about every 6 inches.

Ta-da! An easy pinecone garland, if you want to get even more festive you can paint the pinecones gold or silver or add glitter to them.

Happy Halloween!

Today is the Big Bad Wolf's first time trick or treating, I think he's going to make the cutest wolf around. We decided to make it a family affair and I am going as Little Red and D. is going as the woodcutter. For baby's costume, I wanted to get him this sweet one from etsy, but the price ($55.00) was a little too steep for me. So I got some fleece from Joann Fabric, which was running a great sale and I just figured out a pattern and made Little Baby this wolfie costume for a whopping $2.70. I must say, I am a bit proud of myself. *Pat self on back* I am new to sewing and I was a bit doubtful of my skills, but I am happy to have pulled it off and it looks strikingly similar to the one I found on etsy. My cape is the bottom of a skirt that I cut off a long time ago and the hat was out of my collection. Yes, I do wear this gnome/pixie/Little Red hat on a regular basis when it is chilly outside. :)