blue

Normally, I would have chosen a contrasting bowl, but this one seemed perfect for the Fourth.

Enjoy the day.

happy hearts...

because it's hearts day, and because that's what we have around here.

Funny how after you have children, holidays totally revolve around them...pink foods:

















heart ice cream sandwiches:

















and writing A-l-e-x over and over (32 times!) and stamping and a 'copter, o my!

My valentine for Mike is still in the car.  I hope he knows I love him.

a little February cheer

I saw this idea here first, and during our art-and-craft-athon on Sunday, we pulled out an old MSL and punched.  The heart punch was a hit, for sure.

















Then, I put the hearts in a bag, and forgot all about them until this morning.  Not a moment to waste.

We wound the bobbin,
















sorted the hearts,

















saved a favorite for later (in a zookeeper hat, of course, the safest place of all),
















and (I) sewed.

Lessons learned:

















layering back to back will make heart flipping and reflection irrelevant (a lesson for next year), and it's difficult to take a quality photo of a mirror.

a wintry breakfast

Banana pancakes from the freezer + a paper towel, scissors, strainer, & powdered sugar =

 snowcakes.

 They seem to have been a hit.

I'm looking forward to a wonderful day with family tomorrow, some relaxing and a little selfish crafting over the weekend, and sharing some of the rest what we've been up to around here sometime early next week.

Wishing everyone a joyous Christmas.

you know it's winter when...

you've used up the last of the freezer jam.  Or so the saying goes.  Or something like that.

You also know it's winter when, nine days before Christmas, you have a bunch of presents that have to be sewn, painted, and glued, and all you want to do is knit.  Very cool presents, to be sure, but wouldn't it be cozier and less complicated to be toting one ball of yarn and two needles, and making one of these?

Or one of these?

Or two of these?

I feel a new year's resolution forming.  Or something like that.

Because a pictureless post is boring (I say that a lot, don't I?), and I haven't gotten up the gusto to photograph the awesome fabric I got in the mail recently (well, I guess I sort of did)...or the ten beautiful ornaments that we have been so enjoying (Alex claimed the adorable gingerbread house in an instant; I may never get it back!)...or the eleven five-minute gift card holders I made for (group) teacher gifts at preschool--just kidding, I did photograph those!--

I'm including this.  When your husband is slaving away on your basement remodel and the power has to go out in one half of the house, your child will have to watch TV since it gets dark at 4:30 these days and you can't play in the living room.  But, somehow, these two things will still have power:

 A pre-Christmas miracle.  Or something like that.

to the Christmas tree patch! (and a winner, too...)

Really, to the Christmas tree farm, but when you're three years old and your last u-pick-it experience was here,

in June,

it's the Christmas tree patch to you.

We really had to earn it--a tollway bottleneck (but don't worry!  It's the best road construction project of 2009!), a just-as-slow alternate route, and a missed-sign-induced backtrack--but by the time we got there, we had the place all to ourselves.

Tools of the trade:

Cutting it down (it didn't take long at all!):

Following Daddy back to get it bagged up:

A small disappointment because the popcorn machine wasn't up and running, but they did have a much healthier snack (kidding!  But he did love them.  Who remembers this bag from the 80s?), and a juice box is great for improving a preschooler's mood.

Look what they let me take home for free!  Here's hoping I'll be able to turn them into what I'm picturing in my mind.  More on that in a couple of days.
***
Now, onto the real-er deal.  I was delighted by the response to my SMS giveaway...thanks so much to everyone who visited.  The surprise is indeed finished, except for finding the perfect button (hoping to do that tomorrow on my marathon trip to Joann; photos then too, when there's some sunshine!).  Now, can you believe this?:

Has this ever happened in the history of the RNG?  I guess it just goes to show that random is random!  So Kari, check for the comment I posted on your blog.  If I haven't heard from Kari by Wednesday morning, I'll choose another winner.  Again, thanks to everyone who visited!

glowsticks

That's what I'm thankful for. Hope everyone else's day was as great.

november

November plus 1, actually.  Needed a breather after Halloween, which was really terrific this year...a recap later this week.  Out with the old...

and in with the new.

A few crafty goals for the month:

• some kind of handmade Thanksgiving decoration (one for me, one for Mom, I hope!)
• Theo's blanket (lots of nighttime TV garter stitch in my future...)
• Theo's baptism handkerchief
  
• project for tutorial (plus the tutorial!)
  
• this wreath (my first mention in a blog post...kind of exciting for me!--the idea originally came from here--I hope there are still some pretty leaves left!)
  
• finish Small Fox swap ornaments
• Christmas quilt (finish top, piece backing, baste, bind, quilt)--I really want to be cuddled up under this thing come December 3rd (Thursday is an important TV night at our house)
• Whatever the first block ends up being for this cool project--check it out!
  
• Christmas cards designed, drafted, to printer, ready for assembly (my goal mail date is December 10)
  
• Alex's (handmade--more on that later) Christmas gift--designed & supplies bought
• Knit a tiny Santa hat--for the turkey!
  

We'll see if that's doable.  My husband is probably starting to sweat (I tend to get a little crazy this time of year), but it's nice to have it all in one spot.  Off to cut some ornament felt!

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone lots of candy and warmer weather than we had in Chicago!

all hallows' eve eve

Say that fast a bunch of times.

Not that anyone is dying to do a craft right now, but there's always next year...we did this at Alex's Halloween party today and I thought it was about the cleverest thing I'd ever seen.  I also really liked it because it appealed to my mess-hating craft-indifferent kiddo.  I cannot take one ounce of credit for it--it's the brainchild of the wonderful Miss Lisa at school.

Basically, cut three sheets of scrapbook paper like so: one triangle (the roof), one intact square (the "inside"), one square (the façade) into which you also cut doors and windows, using, I'm guessing, an x-acto knife and an angled ruler.  Precision was not the key, and the result was some serious wonk--all the better when kiddos are doing the gluing and the final product is a haunted house.  Some kids used regular Elmer's (including one who made a glue pond while my head was turned--they're so fast!), others glue sticks, and spider confetti was available.  You must make one!

 In the background, a moment.

And off topic, I really love the second life of a bouquet of flowers.  The original arrangement in this case was beautiful (and, alas, unphotographed--a surprise from my husband, just because!), but once the rest of them started to wilt these few were rescued, I re-vased...and I think I like this one even a little bit better.  Nobody's going to confuse me with Eddie Ross, but I sure smile when I see them--like I cheated flower death and eked out another couple of days of walk-by happiness.

 Trick or treat!

moments I

So the official title is “Moments”—and since yesterday’s photos were of clean things (though I bared my imperfections in the text!), today I’ll share some of our life in its uncropped glory.  A disclaimer: I did edit these a bit—just to improve the composition & color (though it’s official—we’re in the market for a new camera).  And another one: I did clean up the table a little bit before we started, realizing that if we had a tidy place to work, I would feel more relaxed as we carved.  But worry not--you’ll still see our house living life.

Another kind of blog perfection that sometimes pokes at me a little bit is how much kiddos seem to love doing all the activities suggested and hosted by their moms.  Oftentimes, mine doesn’t.  I love crafting (obviously!) and Alex would rather do a lot of other things than crafts, or really, than whatever I want him to do at any particular moment—though of course, I’m never allowed to go to another room (that’s how I know he loves me!). 

Anyway, I imagine that in the perfect pumpkin carving post, the kids would be helping to trace the face onto the pumpkin, and then watching in awe as mom or dad deftly brought the jack-o-lantern to life.  Mine thinks pumpkin guts are gross and wanted to push buttons instead.

So we came up with bringing the keyboard over to the table, so he was with us, and it was fine.  We were together.

My real "moment" of the day?  Alex wanted to put the “hat” on the pumpkin.

So he did.