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Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Christmas 2014




Tate's trip to the MI Capitol

Christmas Cookies for the Bakesale

Happy Messes

Blessing Bag Supplies

Blessing Bags for the Homeless

A special gift from Aunt Carol

An outfit from Claudia (that she didn't take off for 3 days.)

Receiving an iTunes gift card

Buttershots and Hot Cocoa

That damn elf

Homemade St. Andrews Banana Bread (named after our church in London)

3 baby Jesuses

Relaxing with Daddy on Christmas morning
Ending the week in a hotel, in Iowa, with a sick little one.  

Monday, December 01, 2014

Advent Calendar 2014

Every year, we do a Advent Calendar of activities.  
I also will include a few small little gifts, and printables of kids mazes, puzzles, activities. They are very excited to open packet #1 after school today!  Do you do an advent calendar?  What do you include?  I am always looking for new ideas:) 


Labels+Scrapbook Cardstock


Washi Tape+Paper Bags+Cards

Saturday, November 29, 2014

My Nest

I have been in this new house since July, and this has been the first house that I know I will be in for a long, long time.  For this reason, I am burrowing in deep this season.  I have been making all attempts to make our home a cozy one, and Paul is handling the bigger renovations.

Take my advice with the home improvements:  go slowly.  We are in such a rush to make the house our own, and are used to having to move after a bit, so we have been making rush decisions.  (Like having carpet installed before part of the basement is fully painted!)  

I just returned from a spontaneous trip to NYC with one of my great friends, so I want to be at home even more.  It was fabulous, as expected, but home always feels good afterwards. 

One of the advantages to having moved around a lot, is having friends all over.  Now, I apologize to those friends at this time, because my online presence has been minimal.  I haven't returned texts, emails, FB, blogged, etc.  I have been in the here and now with the family and where I am right now.   I will be back soon!  This is a result of my nesting, my retreat, my snuggling in to HOME.  

Making PINK MILK with almond milk+strawberries

Homemade Advent Calendar in progress

Courtney & Soleil snuggled in
Making zipper pouches 

Running errands together. 
The easiest decoration ever
A bit off subject, but we started putting up the Christmas decor, and I must share this with you!  I had a coupon from shutterfly to make any photo a stand up, hard plastic/glossy material decoration.  I quickly found a free printable online, and used it instead of a photo.  Instant Christmas decoration!! It is quite good quality and will last over the years.  

I wish you all a cozy and restorative Thanksgiving weekend.  


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Beeswax Candles!


I have been wanting to make these for a very long time.  I have been to many Waldorf schooling blogs, where they have posted beeswax crafts, and I always thought the candles looked so glowy and creamy yellow.

Now that we are settled in a bit from our move, we can craft more and more each day! Also, when we went to the farmers' market this week, the "bee guy" had his wax there at a great price.  I am so happy to be able to seek out those special places and people where you can find, say, beeswax, or the best coffee, or the best apple orchard.  I love it because we aren't going to move--we can embrace our lovely community in a way that I couldn't before.

Anyway, back to the candles.
I thought that Tate was getting to that age where he is going to start opting out of Mama's activities.  He recently complained about "Vinegar and Baking Soda and Food Coloring again??", so I have been letting him do his own thing.   Before I could even finish getting everything on the table, he was obsessed with the yellow soft sticks of beeswax.  He was building with them, playing with them, talking about them, etc.  It was a PERFECT Sunday afternoon activity.

How did we do it?

1.  Get Beeswax.  (Bee Guy, Natural Food Store, Amazon)


2.  Put a thin wipe of Jojoba oil in pyrex, then add wax to Pyrex.  Use about 1.5x the quantity that you want to fill.  (We used old glass candle holders and teeny canning jars.)

3.  Melt by putting Pyrex in a pot with an water in it.  (It takes awhile.  Watch very carefully as it can ignite if it gets super hot.   I just stand by and stir and stir and adjust temp as necessary.)

4.  Get wick ready.  They sell these at Michaels or other craft stores and are very inexpensive.  I used the long wick that I could cut to whatever size I need, with metal bases that are sold separately.  You just tie a knot in the bottom, pull it through until you hear it pop into the metal tube, and then crimp with pliers.  
 5.  Pour a little melted wax in the bottom of glass and "glue" wick down.  (You can do this before all of the wax is melted.)

 6.  Add and stir essential oils to fully melted wax OFF the burner.  I used 4 ml total and you could just smell the scent.  It was subtle, so add more if you want.
7.  Pour into glass candle holder.  Use 2 chopsticks or skewers (seen above in the corner) that you lay flat across the top of the glass, on either side of the wick to make it stand up straight.

8.  Let cool and trim wicks, and you have candles!
 They helped choose the oils, stir the wax, and basically just played with all the supplies as I did most of the work.  They didn't care--they still felt like they made the candles.
I need to go back to the "Bee Guy" for some more wax!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Break Fun Time

I like to set an activity for the kiddos on a regular basis because:
1.  They love it. 
2.  It makes life easier on me.
3.  It's fun.
3.  It prevents them from being on TV, which reinforces #2. 

 Mostly, I steal ideas off pinterest, or I just put out what I have in season colors and themes.  Here are some ideas to make your Christmas Break just a little more fun.

Styrofoam balls+toothpicks+buttons+mini marshmallows
 Prebaked Gingerbread House.  I like Wilton's brand better than the other brands out there.

 Tate rolling fondant.  It was like Cake Wars in my house. 

Gel pastels+watercolor+stickers+thick paper.

It is unseasonably warm here, so when Tate asked to go play in the rain, I said yes.  Notice the sled, even though it is 75F.

Easiest Lunch Ever:  Get a cute little stand (this one is from Ikea) and fill it with fruit, veg, carbs & Protein.  They love that is like a big snack.

And a Christmas tradition, we had the kids get ready for bed, and then we surprised them with going to see the Christmas Lights (at Norfolk Botanical Gardens).  
I packed cookies and cocoa and had it waiting in the car. 

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Project 11: Salt Dough Tags

1 CUP SALT
2 CUPS FLOUR
1 CUP Warm WATER
200 degrees F/4 hours OR 250/3 hours

Easy Peasy.  I don't have a photo because we did this while I was in Michigan, barely recovering, and I didn't want to post someone else's photos.

The stamping thing works, but use a little flour.  Also, I like the thinner rolled ones.

And if you must have a photo (if I were the one reading, I would!!), here are a few links.
http://pinterest.com/pin/100064422942154622/
http://pinterest.com/pin/420453315181284100/

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Getting into the Spirit

Surprise New Bedding (for Tate)! A few Saturday nights ago, I locked myself in my craft room to make Christmas cards. I heard a little knock on the door, and well...I let a certain boy stay up past bedtime and we made this together instead. (foam wreath+wide ribbon+stars and glue dots+felt reindeer with adhesive on back)Feet are fun.
Got this idea from my friend, Ursula. I think she calls it Muffin Tin Mondays. This was a Thursday, and I wanted something easy for dinner. Just take muffin tins and fill with a (semi) balanced meal using the leftovers in your frig.
Cold weather calls for baking bread. While watching "From Paris With Love". Jonathan Rhys Meyers is so much better as King Henry than he is his character in this movie. J. Travolta--awesome. Cracked my butt up.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Home Sweet Home Holiday


(That's apple juice in the glass, not wine!!)



I really like when Tate is home from school. Instead of feeling frustrated with what to do, we get into a nice rhythm that I don't want to come out of when school starts back up. Yep, I could totally homeschool my kid.

As we have been home, I find myself being freshly inspired by many websites. I am looking for ideas of fun things to do (there is an unending list once you start looking), and in doing so, I stumble across many things that make me feel inspired as a crafter.

A few sites: