Snow...and all that that entails.

Last night we had a bit of a winter storm.

The kids and I went to get groceries right after school, and drove home in the midst of it.  Scary stuff.  What normally takes us 20minutes to get home on back roads, took 1 hour on main roads.  I was about ready to kiss the ground when I drove in the garage.

This storm, however, led to a 2-hour delay this morning.

And I'm not complaining one bit about that extra sleep.

After I got the call about the delay I promptly went back to sleep, only to dream about a naughty 2nd grade amish boy I have at my recess everyday.  In the dream he not only got into trouble once, but three times on my watch.  (Was this a premonition for today?)

I had my morning breakfast (usually at 6am) at 7:30am instead.  It was nice to eat with the sun coming in the windows instead of the nightlight on the barn shining through them. 

An hour before the kids and I left, Brent calls to tell me this, and I quote, "They have plowed out the road at the end of ours, but not ours, so you'll need to time it right, and take a running start to get out onto the other road."    Really? Are you serious?  This, unfortunately is not surprising, our county NEVER plows out our gravel road.  Sad, but true.

The kids were very happy about the snow,though, and so was Rudy.

This is his favorite time of year.  Cooler weather, and fun in the snow.  He takes is guard duty seriously every night too, as he stuffs his body into our wicker chair on the porch.

I guess it's that time of year to realize...Winter really IS coming.  So it's time to get on board!

Giveaway Winner!

It's time to announce the winner of the giveaway I posted last Wednesday.

I was so excited to have a giveaway for the first time, and to get some more WONDERFUL followers.

I so enjoyed putting the things together for the giveaway.  I plan to have some of these things in my Etsy shop once I get some inventory compiled.

So, without further ado...the winner is.....JAN!!!! (aka anonymous).  Which is hilarious, because Jan is my old neighbor.  I can't imagine anyone more deserving.  We LOVED having her and her husband and son as our neighbors.
The drawing was fair and square too, I used random.org.

Jan was #6.  Congrats.  I'll get the box out to you this week!

(disclaimer...when I put in the number 39, it generated 6.  I don't know why 100 keeps showing up!)

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:6Powered by RANDOM.ORG

A happy accident

The other day when I was trying to put some things together for my giveaway (good till Sunday, Nov. 28) I stumbled upon something by accident.

I originally wanted to make some ornaments out of book pages, but when I started making some, I just didn't like them like I thought I would.

I got out some twine, some book pages, a hole punch, and tried something different.
This was the end result.  Book page garland.

Needless to say, THIS soon became part of the giveaway.  I'll show you how to make it, though.  It's easy, just takes a little time.

First, you'll need a hole punch, scissors, book pages, twine, and some tape (any kind will work.)

Cut some pages, the width of the paper.  Cut as wide as you'd like.  I think mine were about 3/4" thick.

Punch a hole on the end of each strip.

Next, pick one end of your length of twine (cut to desired length of garland...can be any length), and add tape to the end, since you will use this to thread through the holes punched in the pages.

On the other end of your twine length, tie a knot about 3 inches from the end.  This will be where your first paper "bow" will start.

Fold one strip of paper in half so the punched holes line up and thread the taped end of your twine through it.

Add as many of these folded over strips as you'd like, rotating their positions until you have a bow similar to this....

I don't know how many folded over pieces I used, but I just kept adding till it looked full.  The number is up to you.

Before you start another "bow", tie a knot where your bow ended.
Then tie another knot about 6 inches from the bow you just finished, and start another bow.

Repeat until your entire length of twine is filled with bows.

Now you're done. Add it to your tree, and stand back and bask in the brilliance of something so simple and cheap to make.

I'm sharing this homemade craft/gift over at Funky Junk Interior's Saturday Nite Special linky party. (click on the link below to visit.) And Shabby Art boutique.

Good luck with your garland.  Once you make some, you won't want to stop.

FINALLY a Giveaway!

I've been tempting you all with a giveaway for at least a month now, telling you I was gonna wait till I had 100 followers...well, I couldn't wait until then, so I decided to just do it.

Then I posted the other day about how my dream is to have an Etsy store and sell the things I love making...
and I didn't want to re-nig on my true desire...

And, it's Thanksgiving, and I've very grateful for family and friends, and ALL OF YOU...

So, I'm having a giveaway.
There will be a box arriving on your doorstep filled with these items if you are the winner...

There will be garland made from a vintage book.

An old school chalkboard.

A journal of my own design with a vintage pencil.

An adjustable ring of my own design.

A ruffled tote.

And lastly, a vintage macaroni and cheese jar and lid.

I just wanted to share some things I might have in my etsy store, and hope that you like them.

The giveaway will start immediately and run through Sunday, Nov. 27th.  Winners will be announced on Monday, Nov. 28.


To enter...(there will be 3 ways)
1.  Comment below with an answer to the following question,  What are you most thankful for?
2.  Become a follower and leave me a comment telling me so.
3.  Post about the giveaway on your blog or facebook and leave a comment telling me so.

So, that's 3 ways to enter.  I'll pick a random number and reveal it on Monday, Nov. 28.

Good luck!  And Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm traveling today...

This image has absolutely NOTHING to do with my post today...which is really not a post on my blog, but on someone else's.

Jenn at Ruffled Sunshine asked me a couple weeks ago if I would guest post on her Thankful series.

I wholeheartedly agreed, feeling very humble indeed.  (can you tell we've been rhyming in Kindergarten?)

So, that's where I am today.  Come visit me.

Feelin' Giddy

Organizing things makes me giddy.

I know that's weird.  I know my husband thinks I'm weird for it, but it just makes me feel "put together."

Can anyone else understand this?  Am I alone in this?  It's comforting to me.

I recently read on someone's blog (and I can't for the life remember whose...) that they were in the middle of organizing their house BEFORE Thanksgiving.

How honorable of them.  What a great idea! Then I up and told Grace we were going to do that in her closet over Thanksgiving break.  She looked at me and said, "WHY would we do that?"  Which really means, "You mean I might have to work?" (at this stage in her life...work is just the worst punishment EVER!)

But I thought, what a great time to do this, right before Christmas, when we probably have too much of what we need, and we're close to getting more. 

Excellent idea, I'm on it!

So, not only will Grace's closet get a once over, but also my hall closet.
Now, I don't have any before pictures yet, but let me just tell you, it's the tiniest closet in the house, which is really dumb, because it's for COATS.  Come on home designers out there...who builds SMALL coat closets?  Coats are big!

I'm eyeing something along the lines of this.

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I like the shelf on the bottom with the baskets for gloves, hats, etc.  I like the storage underneath for boots and the shoes that my kids usually leave ALL OVER THE RUG!

I would love for Grace's and my own closets to look something like this.

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My shoes are in disarray, and I don't know what to do.

My craft area is really in pretty good shape, but wouldn't this look nice?

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I think these baskets are swoony and use them wherever I can.

Right now Katie Brown has a line of them at Meijer.  Awesome.

In my entryway, I would literally DIE for a bunch of these.

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or these...

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I would also like to take all of Grace's shopping bags she has been saving, and frame them like this.  She's so into fashion right now, and this would just fit her room's "image."

So, that's my plan for Thanksgiving break...well, along with shopping on black Friday with Grace (first time ever with her...she's so pumped.) 

What will you be doing, well, besides eating Turkey?

To Infinity and beyond!

Ok, so by the title, can you tell I've had kids and have watched one too many Toy Story movies?

All joking aside...did you know there is a new kind of scarf out called the Infinity scarf?  Crazy.  Maybe I'm totally behind the times, but I just found it online, along with a tutorial which you can check out here and then make your own.

It is a non-sew project (which is great...although I sewed mine, just in case.)

To make, you'll need a t-shirt.  Size XL works best cause you can get more material out of it.  I rummaged though my husband's t-shirt drawer last night.  Seriously, the man has like 100 t-shirts.  I can't believe in 14 years how they have accumulated!  You'll need one that is plain without a pocket.

I picked my favorite color of all time, one I wear ALOT.  Heather grey.

You'll also need a plate about 8" in diameter, and something to trace it with.  Trace as many circles as you can on the shirt without tracing through any seams.

In fact, before tracing the circles, cut off the bottom seam.

Once you cut all that you can, you should have a decent sized stack of circles.

Now, with your scissors, start about 2" in, and cut each circle in a spiral.

and you'll end up with something like this.

Keep cutting until all your circles are done.

The tutorial shows that once you have all the spirals cut out, you hold them in one hand, and just run your other hand down them.  It makes the edges curl so you can't see your cut lines.

It also shows that you glue with fabric glue, short pieces together.  I sewed mine for added strength.

Then I sewed all my individual long pieces together in the middle.

Then I added a fabric bow I had laying around.

The end result,  something NOT bulky at all, but easy to make, and fashionable, at least I think, and in my favorite color, so I can wear it with many things.

Easy peasy as the kindergarteners say!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

I honestly don't even want to know how many more days till Christmas. 

Not because it's not my favorite holiday, it is, but it's just coming WAY too fast.

The snow we got last night (a mi-nute amount) that actually stuck to the ground was a rude awakening.  The kids, however, were THRILLED! 

Tomorrow is our church's Christmas Bazaar.  It happens every year (I think we're going on 12 now) and this year I'm once again co-chair, which means next year I'll be the top banana.  Or maybe it's monkey!

A couple weeks ago, I showed you one set of ornaments that I made for the donated table.  (Crafts that are made by church members and DONATED, which means, the church gets the money once they are sold...unlike the other vendors who buy spaces and then get their own profits.)

It was just glass ball ornaments I purchased at Wal-Mart, glittered the top of, and stuffed with cut pages from a book I keep exclusively for art projects/crafts.

I had promised the committee I would bring in more ornaments, seeing as how the other night when we set-up at church, the amount on the donated table was VERY LOW....

Last night I got to work, but I wanted to do something I thought would be less time consuming than watching the glitter dry...I don't know if I succeeded or not.

My inspiration was an ornament I had posted about on Wed. that I found on Pinterest.com with no source.

I just added my own spin on it.

First, I cut my pages out of an old book, and got some twine, (sorry the pictures are all dark...I had low lighting in the craft area last night)

and then cut out some of my favorite patterned scrapbook paper with a punch.

I even cut some old playing cards with the punch.  If you're doing this craft, the pages were cut 1/2 inch wide, and I also used some gems and smaller circles to go in the middle.

So, first you take your strips of pages (length is up to you, based on how BIG you want your ornament to be.  Mine were about 12" long) and fold them in half and staple at the bottom.

Next, hot glue all the stapled "curlies" together until you have a circle.  I also then added my twine loop (to hang) between two of the curlies.  Each ornament takes about 12 curlies.

I only made 6 ornaments.  They took longer than I thought.  They are very cute, though, and I plan on making some for my own tree.

You can make these as original as you are!  Whatever you put in the middle of the ornament is up to you.  You could even glitter a piece and stick it on.  All the middles were just hot glued right to the book page center.  It's hanging on the tree, so you won't see the back, and it doesn't look bad if you do.

Maybe we should start a series...50 things to do with book pages!  (not a bad idea...)

Anyway, hope the snow stays away a little longer.  Happy weekend everyone!