Christmas & Crafting update

Okay, one week into Christmas break, which is wonderful.  I'm not doing a good job getting enough sleep, but I'm having a great time with the kids.  They were both fully into the Christmas spirit, old enough to understand what is going on but young enough to have the innocence of youth, jumping up and down with excitement for 2 days before and joyfully opening presents the day of.  I loved hearing them talk about what to leave Santa for a snack (final decision - pretzels and an orange), as well as seeing their eyes sparkle at the candlelight singing of Silent Night at church.

This week was spent in preparation, and even then I felt like I didn't get everything done that I meant to - great intentions for homemade gifts, but did not plan enough time to make quite everything I'd planned. Left feeling like I could have done a little more for a few family members, but I'm going to tell myself the giving season is not over yet and try to finish a few more things.  We really stayed home, went to a bounce place one day, but other than that it was a cold, rainy week indoors.

Of the last crafting list, I did accomplish most of what I set out to do - turkey shirts and skirt, clothes for the baby dolls at church, and making jewelry - a bracelet at least for each female family member, with coordinating earrings or necklace as time allowed (although some I was stringing Christmas Eve!). Sadly did not take any pictures before giving away.  I'm discovering some of the beads I picked up at Michael's or Joann's were not a great size/weight for what I was trying to do, but these handy little $2 acrylic packs from Wal-Mart had enough for a bracelet and necklace!

Did not finish the red dress - at this point not sure what to do with it.  I did not mark the pattern well when I cut it a year ago, and it's leading to major frustration in creating the bodice - I can't match up large dots if I never drew them/they faded from a year ago!  I also didn't get the memory quilt done for David, which I knew was a long shot.  Nancy had these sweet blankets made from shutterfly that included pictures of them and their favorite toys, they are both sleeping with them tonight.

So before break is over, (having just dug through the unfinished project pile that is WAY bigger than I remember!), here's what I'd like to accomplish:

• necklace for Joanne
• finish owl blanket for Tracey  finished tonight!  Just wanted to have something scratched off!
• edge blue blanket for Kyle & Ashley
• work on owl cross stitch for Sara's door
• complete birth announcement for David's room
• sew firetruck latchhook to pillow & backing
• make sleeping bags for the kids' teddy bears
• GT scarves for my parents

November Crafts

With a week off school, I actually had leisure time at night and the time to make some stuff for myself and my family.  I had pinned this turkey shirt last year and finally made it for Sara last week.

Once I'd made one for her, I realized I could do one for David too, and since I don't do much sewing for him, I was excited to have an easy project to complete.  Took about 2 nights for each shirt, one to put the fusing on the fabric and cut out feathers, the other to iron down and then sew around.

For David's I hot glued some googly eyes on along with a beak and waddle, these did not last too long in the wash and/or through rough-and-tumble boy play, will sew on the fabric, not sure how to more permanently attach the eyes.

for Thanksgiving dinner they both wore khakis with their new shirts, here are my goofy kids.

When I found the fabric for Sara's (of course I bought new fabric instead of using scraps like it suggested! Did use scraps for David's) it was in the quilting section, just some cute 5X5 squares, and there were coordinating fat quarters.  Clearly this necessitated buying both and making a fat quarter skirt.  Picture of the skirt and outfit on my bed because I could not get my model to pose  :(

And after that push was done, I decided to open up a "Class in a Box" Jill had gotten me last christmas and play around with making jewelry.  It's somewhat frustrating - nothing like tiny beads to make your usually facile fingers feel clumsy.  Learned how many times you have to knot stretchy cord to get it to stay put, and restrug a necklace 4 times before I closed it off correctly.  I'd like to make some more for some Christmas presents this year, but we'll see how it goes once I am back to grading papers and planning lessons during my evenings (next year will be easier, right?)

Year End Crafting List

Hmm, haven't posted much this year, have I?  Definitely busy with a new school (which could fill another post), and not using my evening time as wisely as I could be.  BUT, halfway through Thanksgiving break (which is wonderful, as usual), here's a list of what I would like to get done before Christmas, in priority order (the first 2 being by tomorrow night!)

• Turkey shirt for David.  Made one for Sara earlier in the week, and this is something easy I could do for him, and I never really get to sew stuff for him.
• Matching skirt for Sara - I have coordinating fabric for a skirt to match Sara's turkey shirt, but a fairly complicated pattern, am looking around for a simpler one now.
• t-shirt quilt for David - hoping to get done for Christmas, purchased supplies yesterday.
• red dress for Sara - pattern was cut last year, I hope it will still fit if I make it in time for this Christmas!
• Dresses or diapers for the baby dolls at the church nursery - tired of seeing naked babies!
• Jewelry - just opened the "Class in a Box" Jill got me for Christmas last year!  Would love to make some handmade presents this year.
• Fleece blankets?  Need to figure out what to do with all that fleece I apparently bought 2 years ago (thought it was just last year!)

And honestly, that's enough for the rest of the year.  Let me not overwhelm myself.

Last day of summer

Whelp, it's over for another year.  Those lovely 8 weeks home with my kiddos.  No pics right now, but highlights included:

Annual beach trip with in-laws, back to a condo in Amelia Island.  Beautiful weather and lots of family fun. (lowlights on the way down would be locking keys in the car and A/C breaking down)

Teaching a rising 6th grade summer camp at my new school!  I transferred to Bay Creek MS, 3 miles from home.  It was really hard leaving Shiloh kids, and it won't be easy starting over, but I'm excited to be working with beginners again, in what appears to be a very supportive school. 

Spending more time with my BFF!  She moved over to Gwinnett to be closer to school, with closer to us as an added benefit.  We climbed Stone Mtn with the kids, and both bought new bikes, which we rode around Tribble Mill park a couple times each week.

Day trips with the kiddos - we made a list, and knocked off everything, mostly things we'd already done- Fernbank, Fort Yargo, Children's Museum, INK, Aquarium, but it was fun to go see Sara experience these things for the first time as a 'big kid.'  Our 'new thing' for the end was the Peachtree DeKalb Airport, picnic and playground in sight of planes taking off and landing.

Teaching at Encore Orchestra camp - this is something I was asked to do multiple times years ago, but always had grad school, or then David.  I was really excited to be able to do it this year, I had a blast working with the kids and hanging out with cool orchestra teacher colleagues.

Loosing 20 lbs! Never a bad thing - I had climbed my way back up to near post-baby weight by the end of the school year, so locked things in with Weight Watchers.  Still have a ways to go, but it's encouraging to see the scale moving in the right direction.

Valentine Craftiness

So the first time we were snowed in for 2 days, David looked around and said "we need more Valentine's Day decorations!"  I think he was expecting a Christmas level of decor, but we did take it upon ourselves to create a few new homemade things for the house.  Those that were not finished 2 weeks ago have now been finished as we are stormed in (more sleet and ice than snow this time) for the second time in two weeks!

This was a craft I found here and had been wanting to complete; took a long time and yarn+hot glue + messiness, but I'm really happy with the finished product.

I also made a heart wreath for the door, which was my first time playing with tulle.  I've debated adding more, but I think it looks cute the way it is, and it makes me smile when I pull into the driveway to see it on the front door.

This is the other side of our mantel; picture painted by David D.  Thanks to Pinterest, found you can just tape the top of a toilet paper tube up and dip in paint for an automatic heart stamp!  David loved having his art framed like a 'real artist' - thank you $1.99 Ikea frames!

So since I had tulle left over, I clearly needed to make a tutu for the little lady.  Sadly, she is not a big fan of it right now,took a lot of face-making to get her to smile.

Obligatory hair bow; will be making more if snow continues. I bought heart-shaped buttons with the intention of putting one in the middle of this bow, and of course cannot find them now.  Will probably find them Feb 15.

These are older handmade crafts, but I'm proud of them, especially the 'candy heart' names; probaby my first 'pinspired' craft.

Okay, so this one's not handmade at all, but I got it on super-sale with a coupon, so that counts, right?  It and a little heart tree I both found at Kohls seemed to fit in with the decor.

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend with the ones you love!