My Son's Latest Work

My son has been working on carving bread boards lately. Here are some photos of a few of his most recent pieces. This first one is incredibly beautiful, it is made of Teak. It was carved using a Travisher, Spokeshave and Gouges.
If you are interested in purchasing any of his work you can find it here.

In one of these photos the bread board is sitting on a chair seat. The chair is a hand made Windsor Chair which Forest also made.





Here's another bread board, this one is made of pine. (Following 2 photos are of the same bread board)

How to Make Inside Out S'mores

We have just returned from a week at my mom's house. While we were there we celebrated my mom's birthday with a campfire. Due to one item, this campfire was one to remember. Knowing how crazy my mom is about marshmallows, we just knew we had to buy her these:






Now these may look in the photo like just a regular bag of marshmallows but they are not, here is a photo to show you the comparison of a regular marshmallow to these babies.





Let me tell you, these are huge! The kids had to use two hands to eat them and what a mess.
We did come across one problem with them. They are too big for the crackers for making S'mores. So we got creative and made Inside-Out S'mores. We made a hole in the marshmallow (not all the way through) and put the crackers and the chocolate right inside the marshmallow, then roasted them. Spur of the moment creativity....genius!

These should be illegal. Due to the chocolate being heated while the marshmallow is roasting, these were ridiculously gooey and delicious. They were definitely a hit with the kids (and the adults). So if you see these super sized marshmallows in the store be sure to pick them up for some added "wow" value at your next campfire. And be sure to have a hose ready for hosing down the sticky kids.

New Project For My Family: To Help Those Fighting Leukemia

It has been awhile since I put anything on my blog. I have sat at my computer a few times trying to write and the words just would not come. Even the last post I did for Pink Saturday I had to force myself to do. See, In April my Nana went home to be with the Lord, and I was out of state for about a month spending time with my family. I could have written while I was out of state but as I said before, the words just would not come. I wrote about my Nana back in March, here is a link if you would like to read it. My Nana was an amazing lady and I will miss her all my days and my children (one who just turned 17) are incredibly fortunate to have had their Great-Grandmother as a regular part of their life, oh how blessed we have been. I mentioned back in March that part of the legacy my Nana left was a legacy of hope, more specifically, hope for Glory. As a symbol of that hope, her family, almost 30 of us, wore bright yellow to her funeral, it was a sight to behold.

A while after we arrived home from being out of state and doing the funeral, my daughter asked me if there was anything we could do to help people who were fighting Leukemia, like Nana died from. My daughter is 13, she loves crafting and creating (gee I wonder where she gets that?), she loves planning and organizing, and she loves blogging (she has her own crafting blog here). So, here is what she came up with to honor Nana's memory: She started a ministry called "Ellen's Hope" and a blog for you all to follow the progress of her projects. She wants to do ongoing projects to help those fighting leukemia, but she wants the projects to be able to change. For example; right now, for her first project, she has a goal of putting together 50 gift baskets for Leukemia patients (25 for adults, 25 for children), to be delivered to the cancer floors of local hospitals. However, once that project is completed, she wants to have the flexibility to do something different, maybe a yard sale to send money for leukemia research, maybe a bake sale, etc. So, on her blog you can follow all of the details of what we are currently doing. I say "we" because "we", the whole family, are helping with these projects.

We will be adding to the "Ellen's Hope" blog regularly so please check back often. If you would like to participate in any way, please get in touch with us through the contact information either on this blog or the "Ellen's Hope" blog. If you would like to participate, we are currently looking for donations for the baskets. Attention crafters: This may be a great way to get your items into people's hands. We don't mind if your labels include your contact information.

Pink Saturday!

Here it is Pink Saturday once again. I thought for this weeks pink it would be fun to see what pinks my hands touch in the course of an average day. These are a few items which I lay my hands on daily.

First, I have a sweet basket pin cushion which is one of my latest thrift store finds. I have needed a new pin cushion and spotted this one at the thrift store for under $1.00. Next to the pin cushion is a cone of pink yarn which I took from my stock of weaving yarns. It's a pretty shade of pink and has been used in baby blankets, purses, and other items. These two items are sitting on a Math Teachers Manual. I am a homeschooling mom and therefore this pink item is truly a part of my every day life. See, pink truly is everywhere and you don't have to look to far to find it. What pink is a part of your everyday life?

It's Pink Saturday Again!

Once again it's time for another edition of Pink Saturday. For this week's edition I have a couple of lovely pinks for you. The first is a quilt I made for my daughter. Her bedroom is a loft above our kitchen and it is all pink. She has pink cabinets, pink bow borders and pink walls. She loves pink and this is the quilt I made for her bed.

This next photo is of one of my daughters and believe it or not, it was taken just last week on Cape Cod in MA. We had a beautiful fairly warm day in the midst of snowing and cold and took the opportunity to head to the ocean while we were at my mom's. We have been studying oceans and were at the point of studying shells so we were looking for a chance to collect some, and boy did we, we came home loaded down. I love this photo, don't you think even the water looks pink?



















By the way, the lovely lady in this photo is participating in Pink Saturday this week on her very own blog. She is very excited and would love for you all to drop by at
www.crittersncrafts.blogspot.com

Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for organizing Pink Saturday for us all.

Handmade Blank Journal from Vintage Book Cover

I made the outside of this journal from the cover of a book called "Do You Love Someone?" The journal is a pretty pinkish color and closes with a corded tie. Inside you'll find 28 cream colored pages with deckle cut edges. You'll also find some stitched fabric pockets to hold notes and keepsakes. I also included some of the little images from the original book on the corners of a few of the pages.

Faith for Today, Hope for Tomorrow

I was traveling recently to visit my Grandmother who is fighting leukemia at 83 years of age. As I was driving, I was listening to a recording of a friend of ours, he had given a talk on the subject of hope. It seems when hope is mentioned in scripture is it referring to things in the future. But when faith is mentioned it is referring to things of the present.

2 Corinthians 5:7
"For we walk by faith and not by sight."

2 Timothy 4:7
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

His talk got me thinking about my Grandmother, my Great-Grandmother and my Mother.
My Great-Grandmother was a Swedish immigrant who after moving to America as a young woman, never returned to her homeland. She never saw her mother or most of her family again. Times were so different then with no telephones, email, facetime, skype or webcams and communication was done primarily through letter writing. My family has many of the letters which my Great-Grandmother wrote home to Sweden and they have been translated from Swedish. In those letters is expressed the heartbreak of homesickness and longing. Buried in one of those letters is one line which still resounds in my heart many years after first reading them. I am paraphrasing that line here because I would have to go through every letter to find the exact line but it says something like this "if not for the hope of Glory, I would not be able to endure the heartache of missing you all".
While listening to the audio of our friend speaking it struck me that the legacy my Great-Grandmother, my Grandmother and my Mother have tried to instill in us all, is a legacy of faith and hope. They have instilled in us a faith in God, a faith which helps get us through today and the trials of life. But in addition to faith they have tried to point us towards hope, hope for Eternity, hope for Glory, hope for tomorrow. What a beautiful legacy to leave for those you love. In the end, isn't what really matters knowing that your loved ones know the Lord and Savior Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior? I know it is for me. I only hope I can leave a legacy of faith and hope for my children. I am so grateful that three incredible ladies loved me enough to pass on that legacy to me. Thank you Ma, I can't wait to meet you in Glory, and Thank you Nana and Thank you Mom. I love you with all my heart.

Still Praying for Rain

In one of my prior posts I shared how I was praying for rain and someone shared a song with me in regard to that post. I wanted to share that song with you. Here is a link to "Let it Rain" by Michael W. Smith.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qttxhgc8d9E
I hope you enjoy.

New Crafting Blog for Young Girls

If any of you have daughters who are into crafting you may want to have them check out a new blog. My 13 year old daughter has created a blog geared towards girls who are into creating and who are crazy about critters. She already has some great tutorials on there and has already taken pictures for more posts. She is very excited about it and would love to have some comments and / or followers. We promise you it will be a safe and wholesome place for your young ladies to visit on the web. Thanks for checking it out for her.
http://www.crittersncrafts.blogspot.com/

Pink Saturday - Valentines Day

Last week, when I was uploading pictures from my camera for Pink Saturday, I came across a photo and knew it had to be the next Pink Saturday picture. This is my daughter at a recent church sledding party. It's funny how on the day of the sledding party, I hadn't even noticed all the pink but when I saw the picture it was all I could see. How's that for Pink, one of my little valentines in all her pretty pink.
Happy Pink Saturday!
Happy Valentines Day!

Let it Rain!!

Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain.

The Lord will make flashing clouds;
He will give them showers of rain,
Grass in the field for everyone.
Zechariah 10:1

I am not sure why but I feel the Lord has asked me to pray for rain. And although I may never totally understand why He wants me to pray for rain, I know I will be blessed by the obedience of doing so. So I am praying. I also have been studying rain as it appears throughout scripture and I thought I would share some of my observations with you.

I see two types of physical rain in scripture. There is the type of rain which can be a scary, flooding, destroying, downpour, an example of which we see in Genesis with the Noah flood. The other type of rain is a sweet rain, a rain which nourishes a dry and thirsty ground, an example of this can be seen in 1 Kings. In Verse 18:1 of 1 Kings it says

"And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth."

Then in verse 41 it says

"Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain."

This was the end of a drought. These people were happy to see the rain finally come.
Now, the other type of rain I see in scripture is not physical but is used for the sake of analogy.
We see examples of this many times throughout scripture, here are a few examples:

Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow (or unplowed, unproductive) ground
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
Hosea 10:12

I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing;
and I will cause showers to come down in their season;
there shall be showers of blessing.
Ezekiel 34:26

There are many more verses where things like righteousness and blessings are said to "shower" down. Now the question which came to my mind while I was studying is this: Why did the Lord use the comparison of rain in these instances? I think it is because He wants us to know that the righteousness and the blessings which He will shower down are going to be abundant. Not only will they be abundant but they are going to be refreshing as well, like rain is to a dry, parched and thirsty ground.

So when storm clouds come, they don't necessarily mean dark days ahead. As the above verse from Zechariah says, flashing clouds, which we often think of as frightening, also come before blessing and refreshment. If there are dark clouds in your life right now, don't despair. Thank the Lord for the clouds and get on your knees and let's pray together for rain.

Pink Saturday

It's that time again, it's Pink Saturday.

I have to tell you how much my girls love Pink Saturday.
So, for this weeks edition of pink, I let them be in control. Actually, my oldest daughter says she always wants to choose the pink. So here's what they chose for this week:
This is a hair clip that my daughter made








And this is a photo of my other daughter in the outfit I put together for her for a Christmas gift. I mentioned this skirt in a prior post, I made it for her from a curtain and a sheet. (I didn't make the top).


If you want to see more lovely pinkness, head on over to How Sweet the Sound to get the links to all those who have participated in this week's Pink Saturday. Thanks Beverly.

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!

2009 Christmas Challenge

Here it is February already, the second month of the 2009 Christmas Challenge. If you haven't yet signed up for the challenge, you can read all about it here. Be sure to leave a comment either here or on the original post if you would like to participate.

The challenge goal for January was to write up your list and get one gift taken care of. How did you all do with January's goal? I have my list done and have made some little items to give to some of the ladies on my list. I would so much like to have started with the gifts for those who are difficult to shop or make for, but I haven't figured out yet what I am doing for them. So until I come up with something, I will work on other things.

Anyone have anything done which they would like to post a link to? Any ideas you'd like to share? I have found some great ideas which I may work into my plans check out some of these:

For those of you who are into jewelry making, here are some great instruction for earrings.

http://jewelrymaking.about.com/od/janeaustenearrings/ss/122407.htm

http://jewelrymaking.about.com/library/bl052400.htm

And this link will bring you to a list of jewelry instruction for everything from bracelets to earrings, to necklaces and on and on.
http://jewelrymaking.about.com/od/jewelrydesigning/u/Projects.htm

And how about some aprons for the cooks on your list? Here is a list of 50 (yes 50) free apron patterns and tutorials.
http://tipnut.com/free-apron-patterns-tutorials/
There are some really pretty aprons on the list, here is a picture of just one of them.

And I think I may make these pretty skirts for my girls. They will love them.
Excellent instruction included.

Well, there's some eye candy to help get your creative juices flowing. Remember, one gift taken care of in February, that's all. You can do it. Come November, you'll be so happy you did.

It's Pink Saturday Again

Wow, did Pink Saturday arrive again quickly. Thank you Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting this for all of us. For this weeks pink it's time for a walk down memory lane. This is my daughter wearing my 1984 prom gown with her pink boa. I know, I know, my age is showing but I just couldn't resist sharing this with you all.
I hope you enjoy.
Happy Pink Saturday.

Pink Saturday

I have joined Pink Saturday (organized by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound). The idea is for me to do a post with a pink theme on Saturdays. Initially I thought this would just be a fun thing to participate in, I then realized what a challenge this is going to be. Not that it will not be fun as well, it will just be fun in a challenging sort of way. Here's where the challenge comes in; my house is pink deprived. No, really. I am talking, the absence of pink. A big pink void. As I look around my house, almost everything is in earthtones, browns, creams, whites, etc., so this should be interesting. So here is my pink for this, my very first Pink Saturday:

My daughter and I found this apron at the thrift store a couple months ago. Isn't it the most amazing thing? Don't you dream of a slower time when even aprons were made to be works of art?
As you can see by the photo, I did find something pink, ok, so maybe there isn't a total absence, just a shortage. I'll have to work on that.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

As promised here are some photos of some of the things I made for Christmas gifts this year.

These are pins which I made for a few of the ladies on my gift list.

Here is the set of garden markers which I made for my brother. I trekked to our creek through 2 feet of snow and stood in the icy water (after breaking through the ice on the edge) with my boots on to get these rocks. My brother has been gardening with his daughter who is a Veggie Tales fan so I included the characters on the markers. After I painted them I sprayed them with polyurethane. The only one I wasn't completely happy with was the "peas" one because I think it sort of looks like a pepper. I included with this gift a number of garden related items, gloves, clippers etc.













This is the Bible cover I made for my husband. I made it from black leather which I had been given.

Other gifts I made this year:

• Handwoven scarf for my mom woven from llama fleece which I spun.
• Notecards made with some adorable images I found in an old book.
• Skirt for my daughter made from a gorgeous curtain I purchased at the thrift store and a pink sheet. The skirt is very much princess attire.
• Button flower hair clips for the little girls on my list.

I've Been Busy With This

We are home now after being away with family for the holidays. We had a wonderful holiday but it is always nice to return home. If you are wondering what I have been so busy doing that I have had no time to give to my blog well here is what has been taking all my time.
We found this great dollhouse on Craigslist for our girls for Christmas. It was a fraction of the original price and was brand new in the box. When we began putting it together we realized that one of the 24 sheets of wooden punched pieces was missing. In fairness to the people I purchased it from, I do think it was missing originally from the factory. In a panic, thinking I had wasted my money, I looked for the address of the company to call and see if I could purchase just one sheet. Well let me tell you, God is good because it turns out the factory is only 1 hour from us and when I called they said the sheet of parts was only $6.00. Then, when giving me directions, they tell me to watch for the sign that says "craft factory outlet". So was this my lucky day or what, only $6.00 AND I get to pick it up at a "craft factory outlet". Well that was all my kids and I had to hear, so off we went. After purchasing our sheet of parts, and of course many other items which we "had" to have, we came home to put together our dollhouse. So that is where I have been. As you can see from the photos, we are not done with it. Actually we have a long way to go but we are having soooo much fun.

What To Do With a Diaper Wipes Container... And My Husband Thought This Was Just Trash!

"Here honey, would you drop this in the trash?" My husband said as he handed me this.....
As the words registered in my mind, that other part of my mind, the creative, convoluted, misunderstood part was in other places. After all, this is a perfectly good plastic container.

"It's such a nice plastic container." My husband teased as he saw that scary look on my face, the look that says, "I'm going to do something with this and you're going to have to get excited about what I make when you get home from work."

He gets frightened by that look.

But, surely there must be something to do with this if it is just going to fill up some landfill I thought. I'm not talking about the obvious things like remove the cover and use it for a pencil container because after all how many pencil holders does one family need? I'm talking about something creative and fun to make and well, something like this...
It's a little gadget case/purse and I really did make it out of the diaper wipes container. O.k, here comes the apology, I'm sorry I have no photos of the process. I really had no idea what I was doing and wasn't even sure it was going to work. However, I will be making another one and I will photograph the process then. Here is a basic overview. I took the container, cut off part of the top of the container until it was the height I wanted. I threw out the cover and the top of the container which I cut off. On the outside of the container I used fabric which I wove on my loom but was leftover from a previous failed project. Then I took a fleecy fabric repurposed from the inside of an old coat and lined the inside of the container with it.I folded the lining fabric over the top rim of the container and blanket stitched it to the other fabric. The cover was made out of cardboard covered with more of the handwoven material and lined with the same lining material as the container. I then blanket stitched around the inside of the lid lining. I attached the lid to the container with a cord so when it is opened it doesn't get lost. A button holds it closed and a long shoulder strap was added for carrying. This case is perfect for when you only want to have a few items with you. My daughter says it is perfect for yard saling (great minds think alike). It's great for carrying around your spending money, your cell phone and keeping your hands free.
As you can see there is room for the phone, credit cards or cash and keys and probably a lipstick or other item or two. Here's a few more photos:

Isn't it cute? I do think if you are going to use this idea you should be sure to use as much repurposed materials as possible, that is the whole idea isn't it? I hope this inspires you too create something out of found materials too.

Oh Where, Oh Where Has The Blog Author Gone....

Wow, the Christmas season sure is flying by. Being without power for 4 days really put me behind on everything it seems. I am just beginning to feel like I am getting caught up. Yes, I know, I have totally neglected my blog. But the time has been well spent I promise. See, I have been busy with creating and finishing up the gifts which we are giving for Christmas. Creating always (o.k, almost always) makes me smile so I guess that is time well spent. I can't really show you the things I have been working on because someone might see their gift, but I will be sure to photograph them to show you all later. I can show you a fabulous find which I came across while Christmas shopping, I was tickled about finding these.

I absolutely love them. Actually I loved them so much I bought 14 of them! Boy am I a sucker for a good deal or what? They are metal, well made, and they were marked down from $1.99 to $ .79, I mean really, could you have passed them up? I couldn't. I wanted to have a number of them for our home, for my children's ornament collections, and I also wanted to tie a few onto gifts. See, there is a reason for my madness.