Kitty Ripple

I learned to crochet a ripple using the Neat Ripple pattern from Lucy at Attic 24.  I LOVE rippling!!!  I love Lucy's blog - so full of color!  She NEVER crochets in neutrals - it's all bright, happy, exuberant color.  And yet the effect is serene. 

This is the second ripple project I've done, a bright afghan for Earthgirl's room.  No, it does not belong to the kitty. 

Next up, I think I'll try out this even more ripply  Ripples of Happiness pattern.

Coping with Crochet

I stayed busy in December.  I was a Crafty Mama, in fact.  I was not a Bloggin' Mama.  The next few posts will probably feature little crafty thingies whipped up between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Hmmm...maybe next year I can just re-post those posts if I get overly December-busy and unable to put words or pictures to blog...

First up, Coping with Crochet! 

I use crochet to cope with waiting time when reading would take too much concentration - like at Gymnastics practice!  

I love making a Super Star Baby Afghan.   Mikey showed me how:  Super Star Baby Afghan.  I wish I'd found his videos back when I first started reteaching myself to crochet.  He shows so clearly what he is doing.  Of course, some of my confusion may have stemmed from misunderstood terminology.  Did you know that USA crochet and UK crochet have different definitions for "single crochet" and "double crochet"? Live and learn...

The first one I made is hot pink, blue, and green,  all Caron Simply Soft yarn.   

 

 

The second, one made for a new great-nephew, is white, blue and green, also Caron Simply Soft yarn.  You can make these any size - just keep going round and round and round until you think it's big enough or you run out of yarn.  I made both these car-seat baby-lap-blanket size.   

They were so much fun!  As I worked on them at Gymnastics, piano lessons, Science club, they always attract attention - they are just so cute!  Seeing these pictures makes me want to get another one started - maybe I'll use this week's Hobby Lobby coupon for another skein of yarn.

More of 17 - Framed!

This collection of empty frames have been designated to decorate the guest room. They have just been waiting for me to paint them all the same color. 

The biggest one I purchased at a thrift store for a whoppin' 25 cents (notice the red crayoning in the left bottom corner).  It's already seen duty as a photo framer.  The others I bought at twice that price.  Yup, that's $1.75-worth of frames.

I considered painting them all bright green, like my cool chair.  But then I got some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Annie Sloan wax, and these seemed like the perfect starter project!  I used Provence, a pretty blue-green, and antiqued them with dark wax.

I purchased my paint and wax at Alice and Jay, right in downtown Sasser, GA, which is on the way between here and my family's fame up in south Georgia.  I had a great visit with them on a Monday, when they are not officially open.  I contacted Alice ahead of time, and they opened up for us!  I met Jay, up on a ladder, (Jay, not me) and spent quite a while with Alice, learning about applying the paint and wax.   Pluto Boy got to see the old bank vault.

Alice was so helpful - opening up her paints and painting and waxing a few paint-stirring sticks so I could see what the color would do.  Fun, fun, fun.  I'd have taken a picture of us together, 'cause that would've been cool, but my camera was still AWOL. 

As soon as we arrived at home, I was itching to start painting.  One of the HUGE draws for me was the promise that I would not need to strip, sand, scuff, or prime anything beforehand.  I would only sand if I wanted to distress a piece.  Yay!

Love the detail in that formerly-gold frame.

After I painted the frames, I read up on recommended techniques for painting, waxing, distressing, buffing, color combos...I am indebted to many generous bloggers, including Perfectly Imperfect, Southern Institue of Faux Finishing, and Modern Country Style. If you search using terms like "distressing with Annie Sloan chalk paint," you get a kabunch of places to look. Since some of these have link-up parties devoted to Annie Sloan chalk painted peices, you can waste spend the entire day reading up. Thanks, everyone!

I am now an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint fan. More to come!

Sew Helpful

Amended to add:  Cynthia's invisible zipper tutorial looks great - I think I will try this method next time.  Thanks to Jennifer from Sewplicity for recommending it!

Sew4Home has a great post:  You Asked For It  -  a long list of detailed sewing basics.  I'll look at their invisible zipper tutorial later this evening before I attempt my second-ever invisible zipper installation.  I have never thought of using an invisible zipper on a pillow, but what a cool idea.

And look at this post about sewing an invisible zipper with a facing from Colette Patterns!  How cool is that?  I plan to line my skirt, and may try to make this technique work to attach the lining, skirt, and zipper all in one scary step.

Here is the skirt I am working on:

Sew far...

I could spend all day reading Meggiecat's links.

...but I am NOT reading her entire blog right now because I am sewing!!!  I am working with ruffled fabric for the very first time.

Pretty cool, huh?  This fabric did not come from the website above, but from a store in the Orlando area. We love the colors.

 I wanted to do Earthgirl a dress kind of like this one, only big girl size.  But she wanted something more along the lines of a ruffle-skirted sundress like her friend's dressy cream-colored sundress.  So we borrowed the dressy sundress (actually, we borrowed her little sister's almost-identical dress) and I am creating something similar from looking at that dress and one of our favorite patterns. 

...but first, before I cut into the not-so-inexpensive chifffon-y stuff we got for the bodice, I am making a muslin out of some cotton - it will be a sundress top. 

...and there is shirring involved in the back. 

I am sew crazy.

17 More Projects - Part 3: More wall art

Project ideas are really stacking up in my head.  It would be so much fun to take a week off, just stay home and do fun projects. 

I have an impressive stash of scrapbook paper, thanks to a store closure about 2 years ago. I'd prefer the store to have stayed in business : (  When it's time to make a card or do an album layout, I have the goods, and some of my prettiest papers I bought for pennies.  {At the same store closing I picked up 2 reams of nice-quality 11"x17" plain white paper for $3 total, and Earthgirl, her friends, and all the Sm'Arties have been drawing, coloring, painting, and writing on it for almost 2 years here, here, here. }

I've already done a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper art, hung in the multipurpose room (office, craft, school, home theater), but I want to add some to my bedroom.

The 2 papers in the multipurpose room, mounted on 12' vinyl tiles, Mod-podged.

Scrapbook paper auditioning for the roll of wall art.  Here are the 3 finalists.  The floral fabric is auditioning for the role of pillow cover.  I think it is a shoe-in. And imagine that headboard painted black and distressed...

Here are some places with cool ideas:

Frugal life Project's Wall Art - my original inspiration

Sew Can Do's wall art - another good use of pretty paper

Here's some more from sealed with a Kiss

and more from 31diy: easy peasy wall Art, using frames...

...which reminds me of my friend Science Geek's decor, and here .  She gave me 2 pieces for Christmas:

I love the sentiment on this one.  I love that she gave it to me. She's making the story of my life, too.

...and just when you think you've seen all the cool stuff your wall could take, I run across somethings like this pinwheel art.  ...which reminds me of this recycled magazine gift bow from How About Orange that I intend to make one day.  I've got plenty of magazines...

17 More Projects

I have that whole 17 Projects vibe goin' on in my head again. I am wanting to do it myself!  Today I'll show you some home decor inspirations that are calling my name.  Maybe later this week I'll show you some more, including crochet and sewing.  Hey, maybe I'll even get crazy and post recipe inspirations!  Here is the today bunch:
 We painted Earthgirl's room LAST YEAR, but have yet to add a new bedcovering, window treatment, and accessories.   - We already have purchased enough polka dot fabric for a duvet or quilt top, and enough floral for pillowcases. 

We found this inspiration from Hobby Lobby

The pillowcases may even get You Go Girl's posh pillowcases treatment.


I have the plainest white cabinets.  I'd like to mess with them a little and give them some kind of character:
It would be a good idea to close the pantry door before taking a picture, huh?

Kitchen re-do, especially using that beadboard wallpaper.

 Maybe I could beadboard the cabinet doors, then mould them?  I like how they upgraded the cabinets without purchasing new cabinets:

Drab to Fab's kitchen re-do

A blog post link-up on kitchen cabinet re-do's is brewing over at Funky Junk Interiors.  I'm looking forward to perusing the results - I could find some heavy-duty inspiration there!

I want something aqua, like this:

Sweet as June Aqua re-do.

or this for Flea Market Trixie

OK, that's all for today.

Comfort Food

Even here in the middle of Florida we have seen some cool days and cold nights this winter.  It's a great time for a bowl full of comfort!

Everything is Homemade has a yummy recipe for Un-Chicken Noodle Soup. This is a new favorite for me.  When I made it, I was missing some of the specific herbs and spices, so I just used Italian seasoning and Beau Monde seasoning instead. (We just recently bought our first Beau Monde seasoning, and we have been dumping it on everything!  It's yum on chicken, fish, vegetables, salad, boiled eggs, bread-and-butter, bagels-and-cream cheese...)  And I did not run buy the vegetarian bouillon; I used the chicken bouillon I already had on hand.  We think this would be really good with actual chicken in it, too.  Hmmm...maybe I'll make some more tonight!

I just learned how to spell bouillon.  I thought it was "boullion", but Mr. Spelczek underlined it, so I checked my fave online dictionary. 

We love Southern Plate's Chicken and Dumplings. Hmmm...maybe I'll make this tonight! 

We also love homemade chicken pot pie, topped either with Mama's dumplings, Pillsbury's pie crust, homemade biscuits (for those of you not from the US, these are NOT sweet biscuits/cookies, but Southern quick-bread biscuits), or frozen biscuits.  Maybe I'll make THIS tonight.


The theme here seems to be "chicken and starch."

Reading the Whole Thing

A couple of friends and I are reading through the Bible in chronological order. I've posted about this before.

Last year my friend read the whole Bible, gleaning much benefit from just digesting the whole thing.  here is what she posted on Facebook:

Yeah! Finished reading the entire bible straight through! Started some time this summer. I have never just read it straight through like this before. Read random books before. It was a wonderful perspective. I read it like a novel and things are so complete when you see it that way! You really get to see God's patience, forgiveness, and love as a whole. Awesome! Time to start over and do it again! Love it!

I encouraged her to read through chronologically this time, and asked if we could kind of read along together. She liked that idea, and so did her sister. 

These days we live hundreds of miles apart from each other, but we can still spur one another on to love and good deeds.  Now they are probably all caught up, while I bogged down on Job and a Christmas trip. But I am keeping in site that the goal is not to just do my spiritual check-offs, but to grow closer to God.

Some reading-through resources, chronological and otherwise :

My friend found this chronological listing. It differs somewhat from my Daily Bible in Chronological Order.  I am following her list this time.  Much of the time, I am reading from The Message, online at Bible Gateway.com.  Bible Gateway also has a few read-through-the-Bible plans. Some of the time, I am reading with my actual Bible, curled up on the sofa, usually with a cup of coffee. (OK - now it is almost 11 p.m. and I want a cup of coffee.)

My cousins, both young moms with young children, are encouraging each other.  They shared this link via Facebook:  The Hardest Thing to do is Open Your Bible.  In that article, Molly Piper refers to another article, Bible Reading Program for Slackers& Shirkers. I appreciate these ladies and their honesty.

A few more resources:

One-Year Bible Blog

Various Bible Reading Plans

Even more Bible Reading Plans. 

Some new favorite goodies this holiday season

Homemade peppermint marshmallows  - Who knew? In hot chocolate...ymmmm...Next I may try these. 

Folding little Christmas trees - addictive. 

Caron Simply Soft yarn - Feels so good running through your fingers.  Read the reviews - I am not alone in this opinion.

Loops and Threads Country Loom yarn - I finished two-thirds of an afghan today.  No, not kidding. I may finish the rest tonight.

Chainless foundation  - These tutorials, here and here,  taught me how to make a whole line of single crochets without starting with a long chain stitch.    Therefore, the afghan.

The movie Tangled - The scenes featuring Maximus the horse were worth the price of admission. All over the theater I could hear adults as well as children laughing out loud. (We haven't seen Voyage of the Dawn Treader yet, but I'm sure it will be a favorite, too.)

A simple 4-in-1 cookie recipe that has been in my recipe box for years, but I never made it until this year.  My favorite version: lemon flavoring with dried Craisins. The recipe originated from McCormick.


Did you discover some new favorites this Christmas?

Vanilla Butter Cookies

4 cookies from one recipe

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 t salt

Flavorings/spices(see below)

Add-ins(See below)

Preheat 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg and beat well. Blend in flavorings and spices.  Combine salt with flour; add to creamed mixture. Stir in add-ons.

Drop by rounded teaspoons, or roll into balls.  Flatten slightly with bottom of a glass dipped in flour or powdered sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes until slightly golden.

Flavorings and Add-ons:  

1. Vanilla Butter:  Add 1 T vanilla extract

2. Lemon: Add 2 t lemon extract plus 1-2 t. ground ginger

3. Cranberry Almond: Add 1 t. almond extract.  Stir in 1/2 cup driend cranberries ("Craisin") and 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds. (Note I skip the almond and almond flavor, and make these lemon-cranberry)

4. Chocolate Mint: Add 1 t. mint extract along with 1 T. vanilla.  Add 1/2 cup cocoa to flour mixture.  Stir in 2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used chocolate mint M&Ms)

While I am working on a real post...

...I want to share a link.  I have a beautimous* picture as wallpaper on my desktop, shared from a blog of someone 'way more artistic and creative than I, and generous, too!  I love having the little handdrawn calendar in the corner.  Can I stand to let it go next week to switch to her November desktop?  For some reason, I cannot link to single posts on her blog.  The October 17 and 18 posts are the ones, but her whole blog delights me.  Check it out!

Gennine's Art Blog

* Yes, beautimous is a real word.  My Daddy said so.

Going on more Picniks

Are you tired of reading about picnik yet?  

Yes, I know picnic is spelled without that "k," but our picnics are Picniks!  I love using picnik to edit pictures. 

Now Earthgirl is using Picnik, too.  She edited many of her own birthday party pictures, and had a ball.

Vignette and text

Text and border

Neon

Pencil sketch, color added back in

Ideas for using Picnik in the classroom.

Printables!

Happy Friday!

FreePrintable.net offers a load of business and personal printables, from timesheets and invoices to family trees and recipe cards, to mazes and play money. I wish I had seen this printable Western Bookmark last summer during our Western theme Vacation Bible School.  The paper section alone is just cool -  music paper, penmanship paper, knitting graph paper, Yahtzee scorecards...  Did you know there was polar graph paper?

I have noted this graph paper generator before.   Stop me before I start generating graph paper again!

Do you have a source for cool printables?

Picnik, and borrowing reading glasses.

I spent a lot of time last week at picnik.com, the photo-editing site I love to visit.  It takes time for me, because I have so overloaded this poor old computer, that it must stop and take a breather now and then.

At Mini-co-op (still in search of a better name)  last week, Mom Keisuzi thought I had hand-painted my reading glasses.  She thought I looked like a real art teacher. 

Nope, they came this way from Dollar Tree.  I own about $8-worth of reading glasses, most of them plain.  I used to own some with flowers painted on them (also from Dollar tree), and one day my favorite Sunday School teacher (the one I married) arrived at Sunday School with no reading glasses and no large-print Bible.  He borrowed mine, much to the merriment of the class.

I worked 3 tax seasons at H&R Block, evenings, part time.  (loved it!)  It was not unusual for a customer to go through their whole tax return input with me, then at the end be unable to read their copy - "forgot my glasses" - so I have lent my little skinny metal-frame pair to maybe 1-2 dozen customers.  Ya' gotta see what you're signing, on penalty of law and all that, ya' know.

 I really like Picnik's 'blemish-fix' feature - you can't even see that I have healed-but-not-gone-yet fever blister right above my lip, can you?Just a little necessary improvement, or I won't post a picture.

Read the directions

A couple of weeks ago while we were in Orlando, we visited IKEA.  Earthgirl and I had fun roaming among the IKEA-designed showrooms upstairs, and then grabbing office and kitchen goodies downstairs.  We never have really spent as long as we want in IKEA.  We've been twice to the store in Atlanta and twice to the one here in central Florida, but always there is a schedule to keep.  It's probably just as well - I'd probably try to redo the whole house if I had more time.

We picked up 3-slot document organizers; one in steel for me, and one painted white for her.  It seemed like a good tool project for her, so we grabbed screwdrivers and sat in the middle of the floor reading directions.  I use the term, "reading" lightly, because the directions were all pictures.  They made me think of Science Geek's recent post.  I wonder if she can interpret this one?

This was such a simple project - 6 screws, screw them part-way in, then come back when all are in place and tighten. Great practice.

Here are the finished products. 

All wrapped up

I am all wrapped up in trying to figure out a reversible wrap skirt.  I'm using instructions for a half-circle wrap skirt from Sew What! Skirts book, but am making it a reversible skirt. Lots to think through...I've got it pretty well completed except for a binding at the bottom to attach the 2 skirts together.  I plan to cut bias strips of fabric 1, that will fit over both fabric 1 and fabric 2.  Maybe I won't start chopping the remainder of my fabric after 10 p.m.

Quick note on errata for the Sew What! Skirts book:  If you have or borrow this book, and the instructions for the 1/2-circle wrap say to divide the waist measurement by 6, it is wrong - you divide by 3 (approximating pi).  Later versions of the book correct this, I understand.  I found the corrections from helpful on-line sewists. 

Hey!  I just realized why many persons who sew refer to themselves as "sewists" rather than "sewers."


I also just realized that this skirt, laid out on the carpet, looks a lot like my Christmas tree skirt, only in blue/green/brown calico.

Other DIY wrap skirt patterns and tutorials:

Whatshedidtoday

The Versatile Wrap from Make it Perfect

Graceful Elements

Happy Hearts at Home

--and this seemingly (seamingly?) impossible one:

The Domesticated Skirt from Sew a Straight Line


And now just for fun, go to this 2008 post from Posy Gets Cozy and read all the way, including the comments.  You'll laugh!  Her  next newer post after this one had wrap skirts, and I found it helpful.  It tells me I need to let my skirt hang overnight before joining the 2 halves at the hemline.  Don't know if I can stand to wait.

What Was I Afraid of?

I used to long to know more about art supplies.  I wanted to try out real art supplies.  I wondered what "pastels" were.  I wondered what it would feel like to paint on real canvas.

I would look over furtively from the "craft" side of an arts and crafts store, to try to see what was in the "art" side.  All those tools - what was their purpose?  All those colors.  All that paper...

After learning a bit of decorative painting in a class at age 15, I was able to walk boldly to the paint section, confidently picking out tubes of acrylics and oil paint, but those pastels still intimidated me.  I felt sure the real artists who worked there just knew I didn't really belong. 

What was I afraid of?  Snooty art store staff?  Didn't I know that they are in business to sell me those pastels?

After attending my first Creative Memories scrapbooking class (more than a decade ago!), I grew bold about acid-free pens and paper.  Hurray! Another section of the arts store conquered.

Now, just now, as a middle-aged homeschooling Mama, I am finally losing my fear of art supplies and embracing the lay artist I could be.  What has opened up the world of art for me?  Homeschooling! 

I've actually ventured into the art section of our library, as though I was...an artist.  Here are a couple of things I found there:   The Decorated Page, by Gwen Diehn, and Altered Books, Collaborative Journals, and Other Adventures in Bookmaking, by Holly Harrison. 

Now I'm working on an art journal.  Here is some coffee-staining in progress.  More next time.

I checked out I Draw, I Paint: Colored Pencils, by Isidro Sanchez; and Earthgirl, that intrepid child artist, took it to her desk and went to work.  Look at those cat eyes! 

Evidently she has no fear of art supplies.

By the way, I have some oil pastels now.

Hanging on to Innocence

We don't live in the country; we live in a neighborhood.  We don't shop in Mayberry; we shop at Publix and Walmart.  We don't attend a church full of perfect Christians; we are part of a church full of recovering sin addicts (thanks, Pastor, for that perspective).  Our Homeschool group is not full of parents and children who never make a mistake and who are all more righteous than we; it is full of all flavors of Christian Homeschoolers in all kinds of places along the road of their Christian walks. 

But I want to hang on to my daughter's innocence.  And I want to help her be strong against the wiles of sin.  And I want her to minister, and yet not be influenced. 

I realize more and more that to expect my little girl to stay a little girl until she is old enough, to expect her to grow up to live a pure life, is asking her, advising her, begging her to swim upstream.  

This article from Focus on the Family, along with its companion articles, encourages me with good perspective. 

 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world 

Philippians 2:15

 

Fall 2009  

Extra credit for identifying the location

For the Boys

Nope, I don't have any boys.  Just that one little girlie girl.  And she has lots of little girlie girlfriends.

But she also has friends who are boys.  And I have friends who have boys, nephews (pretty much grown up now), and future boys will be coming along.

I just found these 2 blogs celebrating BOYS this month.  Made By Rae and Made are celebrating boys with their crafts all month.  So far, they and their guest bloggers lean more toward goodies more appropriate for preschool boys, but there is still a lot of month to go!

Now, why didn't I find all these cool craft-and-sewing blogs back when my husband and I were part of the young couples' Sunday School class, and I was going to baby showers every month?

Review Sites

I cannot keep up with Earthgirl's reading - she reads books and books!  As she begins to get up to the tween-type books, I want to be careful about what she puts into that little mind, but I have not committed to read every book before she does - she reads hours each day!  So I, at least partially, rely on reviews by others.

I love book reviews.  I can jump around and read review after review. I even enjoy reading reviews of books I know I won't read. So it is just natural for me to seek out reviews of her books, too.

Focus on the Family has a Book Review site for parents.  It does not purport to judge the literary content of the books, but gives a synopsis, along with what to expect from a Christian worldview-parenting perspective.  So, for example, it tells me about whether a book has profanity, any ..ahem.. inappropriate content,  and whether it has any religious content at all.  It's also helpful to read reader reviews at Amazon.com. (I'm not looking up the link for that one)

I don't think I want to be a movie reviewer.  Though you get to see good movies, you see a lot more bad movies, and are subjected to much yuckiness. 

 We have used Screen-it for movie reviews several years. It's worth the spoilers to know just what you are getting in to.  For example, a while back there was a movie we grownups wanted to see (right now I cannot recall what movie it was).  It looked good; the trailer hooked us, but the rating was a concern.  When we checked it out on Screen-it, we learned the movie contained, among many other offenses, OVER 200 separate utterances of a particular 4-letter word, one still (thankfully) not allowed on network TV.  I did a little math, and found that this word would be inflicted upon us, on average, EVERY 20 SECONDS during the movie.  We decided the story could not be good enough for us to endure that kind of verbal assault for 90 minutes.  Thank you, Screen-it!

Focus on the Family's  Plugged-In videos review site helps me know if this video will be appropriate for by child. This is especially helpful if a child is easily traumatized my fearful scenes.

I wonder what review sources you use?