Handmade Gifts Part 1:

Josephine and I began her gift making today.  She is making snowman pillowcases for her siblings and Mommy and Daddy (yes I realize I am helping make my own gift).  We used a flannel top sheet to cut them from. This way we only need to make the wide hem at the opening on some of them. She did a great Job sewing and even did some of the seams all on her own. We will do the rest of them over the next few weeks.

The finished project and the proud seamstress!

close up of the name tag.  She used staz-on ink and stamped the names on seam tape then zigzagged them on and sewed on a button.  Yeah Jo!

Handmade Ornaments

every year I make ornaments for my Nieces and Nephews and Great Nieces and Nephews. This year that meant 17!  I made 14 stars and 3 birds (for those who got stars last year) scroll down for info on the patterns for them.

Peppermint stars! they are so cute!  I will be wrapping them in white tissue paper and putting little white tags with star mints on them and the recipients name. I got the pattern from the Allsorts blog. You have plenty of time to make some of these cuties while watching Christmas movies!

and I made 3 adorable little birdies.  I am in love with them.  I got the pattern in the book

"Last Minute Patchwork + quilted gifts" by Joelle Hoverson.   Check out the authors blog as well  - The Purl Bee

See Jo Read

I wait

Today I am waiting. Waiting for the foretold snow. For the crisp beauty. I awoke and the light through the window was not quite right, not that glow that comes when the ground has a blanket of white.  I was sad. disappointed.  I am too sad and disappointed right now from other things and I need to have the little joy of this snow.  So I wait for this gift and I try not to cry and I remember - You are good, and what you do is good .... Psalm 119:68a.

This is what I want Christmas to mean!

  I was linked to this video from a blog I read - Christine Smith Digital Designs Blog  and it touched my heart.  

    ADVENT CONSPIRACY VIDEO

  Our family is doing an all homemade Christmas this year for many reasons, but this has challenged me to find ways to give outside our family as well.  I hope it inspires you to do the same.  

Happy Birthday Sammi!

Today we celebrate 10 yrs of life with our sweet girl.  Look how grown up she is!  This is a photo of her today with her new Bitty Twins - she has named them Hanna (the dark haired one and Lia (the blond one)   She is now busy playing dolls with her younger sister.  We will have cupcakes and a special dinner later. Then on Friday her BFF Sarah will come over for a sleepover. 

Falling Snow

See the pretty snowflakes 
Falling from the sky, 
On the wall and housetops 
Soft and thick they lie.

On the window ledges, 
On the branches bare, 
Now how fast they gather, 
Filling all the air.

Look into the garden, 
Where the grass was green; 
Covered by the snowflakes, 
Not a blade is seen.

Now the bare black bushes, 
All look soft and white, 
Every twig is laden - 
What a pretty sight!

-Traditional Irish Poem

         Bread pudding for breakfast!  with Banana slices. find the basic recipe here. I over mixed it a little so there where not many bread chunks left but it was still yummy and warm.

  On the Christmas gift front I found a great book at the library yesterday to make a monster or Alien for my 8 yr old. "Invasion of the Plush Monsters!: Wickedly Weird Creatures You Just Gotta Sew" by Veronica Gunter , You can see it at Amazon HERE .  

 Hope you have a wonder-filled day :D 

Handmade Holiday...

 That is what we will be doing this year.  All of our gifts will be handmade (or programmed).  We talked with The children about this back in Oct. and I had anticipated some resistance to it. But boy I have great kids who all thought it was a super idea!  We have been secretly discussing ideas and plans and making supply lists over the last month.  This is the week to get started making. Jo and I will be hold up Sewing in my room.  The boys have some books on hold at the library to help them with their plans for their sisters.  

 

 I will be checking out the "Sew, Mama, Sew blog" daily this month for all their wonderful ideas on handmade gifts.  Today there was a link to a Yummy pumpkin scone recipe so I made them up and they are YUMMY.  Go here to get the Recipe! If you want to share your Holiday traditions and plans you can share it with others there as well ( click here to see how)

 I will share the projects I can (don't wanna ruin the surprise)  and pass on any fabulous ideas I find.   Todays tip is to head over to www.YouCanMakeThis.com to buy printable patterns for all sorts of wonderful things.  I am loving the felt food (do a search for it)

 If you live in the Salt Lake Valley fm 100.3 is all Christmas music all the time right now!  

Somewhere over the rainbow...

there are cute little kiddies all dressed up!   Sammi, Jo and Seth decided to be Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man for Haloween.  We already had the Dorothy dress but we needed the shoes and the other costumes.  So I got busy!  I think they look very cute.  You can go to the Picasa Zoo Boo album to see more pics and details on the c0stumes.

Have a Happy Halloween.

Pato - for Erica

 Our family loves to have pato for dinner!  I learned how to make this from my older sister when I was about 12.  It is a simple spicy tomato/peppery  stew like dish. I think it is the best made with Pork, but it is good with beef as well - chicken is not so good in it.

Ok first you need El Pato sauce from the Mexican isle of your local grocery store - the yellow is the best. But if you can not find the yellow the green works - it is a little less spicy and you can taste the tomato a little more.

Ingredients: (this is for use with one can of pato, make increases for each can you use)

One 7.5 oz can of El Pato sauce

4-6 potatoes - peeled and cubed (about 1/2 inch cubes)

1/2 - 1 lb pork cut into small cubes (or beef - stew beef works well here)

(optional) Frozen vegetables - I do not like it with them but some people do

water

salt

oil

Mayonnaise

Tortillas 

Cooking:

boil your potatoes in salted water until the are mooshy.

while potatoes boil Cook pork in a little oil in a large skillet or wide sauce pan. Cook until pork is brown and crisp and yummy.

Drain potatoes and add to pork - I like to mush mine up a bit more- but you can also leave them more in cubes.

add one can of pato and one can of water.  ( you can add the veggies here too )Now simmer this stirring often until the sauce is thick.  We like it really thick with very little sauciness left.

To serve place in bowl and add a good dollop or 2 of Mayo - I know sounds weird but it is OH so good. Plus the Pato is really spicy so the Mayo cuts that.  For my kids I add lots of Mayo.

Serve with lots of tortillas and milk to drink. 

We like to tear off pieces of the tortillas and fill them with pato and pop them in our mouth. Dwight prefers to dip his tortillas.

So there you go a fast , hearty, simple meal that our family LOVES.

hmm good to know!

You Could Not Be a Vampire

Sorry, but you're not just cut out for flesh eating, turning into a bat, and living forever. But that's okay. The sight of blood turns your stomach... without even thinking of drinking it. And while you definitely would never be a vampire, you're exactly the type of frail prey Dracula wannabe's crave. Maybe it's time to arm yourself with a cross and some nasty garlic breath! What you would like best about being a vampire: The raw power (though you wouldn't admit it to anyone) What you would like least about being a vampire: The whole killing thing

Could You Be a Vampire?

I was tagged by Angela

Here are the rules:
* If you are tagged, you must firstly post the rules:
* Write 7 strange characteristics about yourself. They interest us all!
* Tag 5 other people at the end of your Post.
* Visit everyone that you have tagged and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they have been tagged.

So here are my seven strange characteristics:
1. I do not like watermelon - it is icky
2. Driving Miss Daisy is one of my fav movies
3. I read Jane Eyre every year - this is ike my 20th year reading it.
4. I homeschool all 4 of my kids- is that strange?
5. I ADORE the rain only a little less than the snow!
6. I am done with summer- PLEASE bring on the fall
7. I am soo MAD that this is the last season of ER

Here are my five:
Erica

Carrie

Di

Megan

Rachel

What was I like in highschool? 

not like this hehe - but it was a fun quiz. I was really a brainy girl, who was on speech team and in biology club. Read all the time and was in a bible study group on my lunch break. I did have friends of all different types. I was overweight but not really made fun of. I had a few good friends who I hung out with (Hi Jodie!)  and boyfriends on and off.

You Were the All American Kid

Popular but not plastic. Athletic but not a jock. Smart but not a brain. You were well rounded and well liked in high school.

Who Were You In High School?

A Happy Layout!

everything about this layout makes me smile! first the photo of Dwight and Jo is so heartwarming and sweet. I loved how the white space really worked on this layout. And the bright little pops of colors makes it all feel whimsical an girly.

Just a few fun quizes!

It seems I know my Grease lore- do you?

Grease quiz

my results:

You are an expert!

You have correctly answered 13 of 15 questions.

On average, 728 of users who took the quiz gave 11.45 right answers.

 

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
The Inland North
The South
The Northeast
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I scrapped a page!

I have not scrapped for a few weeks.  been busy sewing with my friend Erica -so much fun!

I adore this photo of Jo I took in June. the layout uses a new kit - Hitched by Robin Carlton and Kay Miller at SSD.  to get the rest of the credit click on the layout.

 We have been having a very lazy summer but enjoying it. We have gone to the Zoo a few times, gone swimming and to the park. Played with friends. On friday is the Pool party at our townhouses - that will be fun. Next week is Seth's 8th Birthday - Wow how did he get so big? We are going to have a little party at the park for him.  We are starting to get our activities planned for Fall - school in Sept, Youth group will start for Tim then too, Brownies and Junior Girl Scouts for the  2 girls (and Me, the Brownie leader) , not sure what Seth will be doing yet. Tim may be playing soccer and the younger 3 will be doing a science homeschool group with friends.   Busy time of year.  I think I really need to enjoy this last month of summer. 

You Are Classical Music

You are a somewhat serious person who enjoys studying subjects deeply. Art of all kinds interests you, and a good piece of art can really effect you emotionally. You are inspired by human achievement, and you appreciate work that takes years to accomplish. For you, the finer things in life are not about snobbery - they're about quality.

What Kind of Music Are You?

Summer Jobs!

we where challenged to tell about our childhood summer jobs at the sweet shoppe blog.

I only had 2 summer jobs - the first was when I was 14 and I was a part time Nanny for 3 sweet kids that we had known forever - we had such a great time together and enjoyed going to the park, playing in the sprinkler , making cookies. It was a great experience.

My second summer job was actually the summer after graduation and I worked 2 jobs! I worked the night shift fulltime at the canary and then part time during the afternoons at Arby's! after about a month I quite Arby's and continued at the canary. I had alot of fun and worked along side my Best Friend Jodie.

Meet Kirsten!

  "Kirsten Larson must leave all she’s ever known to come with her family to the New World. They settle on the Minnesota frontier, where people don’t speak her language or understand her traditions. Yet in time, Kirsten discovers the richness of her new land—and the true meaning of home."

 I won this adorable American Girl doll for Jo on ebay this week. When she came she only had a little shift to wear. In the image below you can see how she came in the lower left corner.  the top 2 images are how she looks new and the pattern I used to make her new clothes. the lower right pic is a close up the original accessories you can buy from the AG store. I wanted to try to match her original outfit as close as possible with what I had on hand.

 

And here she is After with her new clothes.  I think I did pretty good!  her bonnet is a bit small but Jo likes it and that is what matters!  Notice the little handkerchief in her pocket. I made it out of bleached muslin and hand embroidered the details to match the original.  scroll down for pattern details. Josephine loves her and she even learned to tie a bow in 2 tries using her apron!

Details:
Dress - Butterick 4699 view F
Apron - Modified Butterick 4699 view F
handkerchief - Butterick 4699 and added hand embroidery
bonnet - resized from this tutorial -http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1978-07-01/Make-Your-Own-Sunbonnet-in-Less-Than-Two-Hours.aspx

What Your These Fireworks Say About You

You are jubilant and easily excited. While you aren't very intense or passionate, your happiness is abundant. You can always find cause to celebrate, laugh, or even just smile to yourself. You find that life is full of things to be happy about!

The Fireworks Test