One of Those Days . . .

Today is "one of those days" where things aren't quite going my way, and although I'm able to recognize that it's *me* that is the problem, that doesn't seem to help all that much. :>) I finally took a minute to open the e-mail I get every weekday from Word of God and it was awesome enough to raise goosebumps and make me write this post immediately.
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God is our refuge and strength. (Psalm 46:1)

O Lord, support us all the day long,
until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then, in your mercy, grant us a safe lodging
and a holy rest, and peace at the last.

Ven. John Henry Newman, 19th century
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Yup, my day is looking up already. Thanks, God! If you'd like to sign up to receive these e-mails, you can click the link above.

I-Spy Bags

Yet another of my gifts for this year's Handmade Christmas is I-Spy Bags. I tucked away the link from Peculiar Momma on how she constructed hers, and I was heavily inspired by Pondered in My Heart on the items she included in her I-spy bottles, and especially the drawings that Kimberlee's daughters did of the items!

Here are some things that I considered when thinking about bags versus bottles:

Using bottles would certainly be easier than constructing bags! We don't use bottles like Kimberlee's though (I'm guessing they're from sports drinks . . . though I'm realizing that a glass jar would work fine - doh!). With bottles, I think it's more of a shaking action, and with bags, you do more manipulation with your hands - plus you can feel around for things that you can't see. With bottles, the entire thing is a "window" and with bags, you only have the little spot to peek inside.

Because my four nieces range in ages from 10 to 5, I made the bags more difficult for the older one and easier for the younger one. Some ways that they differ from oldest to youngest:

* Window size - smaller windows for the older niece, bigger windows for the younger
* Size of bag - bigger bag for the older, smaller for the younger
* Shape of bag - the youngest got round bags so nothing could get lost in a corner, and the olders got rectangles, I even made one long, skinny one for the oldest with the window on one side, so there's a lot of real estate that she can't see
* Amount of filler - I tried to put less rice in the youngest's bag so it would be easier to manipulate and more rice in the older's bag
* Size of items - the older the child, the smaller the items
* Color of items - I tried to have several different brightly colored items for the youngest, but the oldest got nearly all green items (different shades) but that makes it more difficult because it's not like you see a glimpse of red and know it's the pony tail holder, you see green and don't know if it's the button you already saw or the bead you're trying to find
* Similar items - the youngest got all very different things, but the oldest got a few things doubled up, like paper clips in different shades of green
* As I was finishing the post below, I realized that it would be more difficult with different colors of filler items. Colors pop more when you see something orange in the all-white rice, but if you had white rice, red beans, green lentils, yellow corn (etc.) things aren't going to be as noticable. I mixed together a bag of bean soup mix, a bag of red beans, pinto beans, black beans, lentils, split peas, popcorn, and maybe field corn. (remember that I have a LOT of bags - and I still had extra mix left over.) I then opened up the I-Spy bags, emptied them, removed some rice, added the beans, mixed it up, refilled them, and stitched them back shut. Whew!
* Kimberlee's children also made it more difficult by finding the items in the order of the list - i.e. if you see the wheel but are looking for the flat purple bead, the wheel doesn't count yet

To make the bags, as usual I based a lot of things on the size of my fabric scraps. :>) (You can see here how I pick up fabric on the cheap.) If possible, I tried to make one edge the fold so I would only have to sew three sides, but that's just me.

I'll admit, sewing in the windows gave me some fits. What finally worked for me, was to carefully cut the vinyl (which is sold on the big rolls by tablecloth kind of stuff and pretty inexpensive, even without a coupon) and make it a good inch larger on all sides than I wanted the window to actually be. Then I carefully cut a corresponding shape out of the fabric. First I traced the vinyl, then I took a ruler and measured an inch and an eighth (just for extra security, I guess :>)) to the inside of the window tracing. You should be able to click on the picture to make it larger. I ended up with a home plate shaped window because it first was a triangle and I didn't like that at all.

Next, I cut out the mini window out of the fabric on the lines I made. I then carefully made a 1/2" snip with scissors toward the corners, and folded the pieces back then pressed them down. (that's my ironing board cover you see peeking through. A new one is on my Christmas list as it has some major issues - not the least of which is some navy fabric left an enormous stain when I pressed it with some steam. It's cute, though - it has pictures of different clothing items scattered about. You can see the socks peeking through the window.)

To stitch the vinyl on, I found I HAD to use a piece of paper to get it to feed through my machine, otherwise it stuck and made a huge mess. I also found that I had to make sure it was well-sewn onto the fabric. The first one I did was a circle shaped window on the round orange bag, and I was so proud to have one all completed . . . until the first thirty seconds I field-tested it. The vinyl pulled loose and I had rice everywhere. I'll tell you that one of my nieces is likely to find the cure for cancer someday, but until that day comes, she's going to take apart everything in her path. So they needed to be K-proof, and that definitely didn't pass. It was then that I figured out (with a bit of help from Shalet at Peculiar Momma!) to cut the window out of the fabric smaller than the vinyl and fold the pieces of fabric back so the vinyl really had something to hold onto when stitched down.

So, after cutting the window from the fabric and pressing the little flaps back, I then laid the vinyl over the opening in the fabric, and put a piece of paper over the vinyl. I found it impossible to line them up with the right side out so I could pin them. So I left the right side of the fabric down (so the order from bottom to top is table, fabric right side down, vinyl, paper) and put two or so pins in from the "inside" or wrong side to hold it while I flipped it over. I then pinned everything together with the pins on the right side of the fabric and removed the two pins on the wrong side after it was anchored from the top. (Clear as mud?)

To make sure that it caught, I zig-zagged around the window three times and then did kind of a wandering zig-zag over all that a fourth time. The needle holes make a nice perforation in the fabric, so it's easy to tear away the paper. I did the outside first, then bent along a seam and picked a bit at the paper over the actual window and it tore quite easily as well. I didn't worry one bit about the bits of paper left underneath the stitches - I don't think there's a good way to get it out anyway.

Before I stitched the bag shut, I made up the list of included items and sewed it on. Because I ran out of plain fabric, I used some yellow print that I just turned over and wrote on the back. To start, I used a ruler and pencil to make faint lines, then I used a fine-point sharpie to write the names of the items and draw the little pictures. I know art is NOT my strong suit, but I thought I did well enough that the non-readers and new readers would be able to figure out what they were looking for without too much difficulty. I also used markers to color in bits that I could to help even more, though some of them worked better than others. :>) And, I didn't have a pink marker, which would have gone a long way with these items, so I just left those blank.

Please note that you should stitch the list on BEFORE you sew the sides of the bag. Go ahead, ask me how I know . . . I can also tell you that if you forget, you can get away with hand stitching it on carefully using the opening you left for pouring in the filling, but it takes a while and isn't nearly as pretty. So stitch your list on (I just pinked the edges and didn't worry about folding under and pressing then stitching, but I guess you could), and then stitch your bag *making sure to leave an opening into which you can pour your filling stuff*! (again, ask how I know . . . I try to remember to use a sideways pin - or six - to remind me to stop.) I found it much easier to leave enough room to use my canning funnel as rice doesn't move well through a regular funnel. When turning your bag inside out, use the point of a closed pair of scissors, a choptick, or something along those lines to poke your corners out well. I didn't bother with pressing my seams because it didn't seem to matter since they get filled with stuff.

Finding items wasn't as hard as I feared it might be. I kept an eye out at the thrift shop, and found a surprising number of items in my own house:

From the thrift shop:
* Small owl salt shaker (which I stuffed tight with a piece of fabric since it didn't have a stopper to keep other items from getting lost in there)
* Miniature tea cup
* Pumpkins and gourd from fall “spray”

From my craft stash:
* Beads of larger various sizes and shapes
* Small corks
* Buttons of various sizes
* Googly eye
* Jewel beads
* Jingle bells
* Mini clothes pins
* Metal bobbins that fit my sewing machine but don’t work very well

From toys:
* Marbles
* Bouncy balls
* Wheels from a toy motorcycle something or other (from a rummage sale, actually)
* Pats of fake butter, plastic bacon, small carrot
* Small Garfield the cat
* Small plastic triangle
* Small action figures
* Small plastic key

From the bathroom:
* Small terry pony tail holders
* Flower off cheap barrettes that fell off the first time I tried them
* Cheap barrettes (alligator clip/poing style)
* Safety pins (various sizes)
* Bobby pins
* Plastic barrettes

Other:
Pieces of field corn (could also use different types of bigger dried beans)
Paper clips, various sizes and colors (and I thought about mini binder clips but didn't need them)
Dime/penny/nickel
Large nut, smaller bolts

I was thought about some sort of pom-pom, but I didn't want to use a homemade one (reference above K-proofing). Same with silk flowers. I didn't look for any, but I think a multi-pack of small erasers in different shapes would be excellent. Some things were included in each bag, some were one-of-a-kind.

So. Window is firmly stitched, list is stitched on, and bag is sewn except for a hole. To make seven bags, I used approximately 23 pounds of rice. My bags are MUCH bigger than Peculiar Momma's - she used about 6x6" bags and 10-20 items depending on size. The size of my bags varied greatly - the round ones are the size of a big dinner plate, the square ones are perhaps 10x10. I used probably 14-16 items per bag. There are a number of different things you could use as filler - Kimberlee used bird seed, I thought about using field corn kernels, dried beans or lentils would be good - just go with something cheap and plentiful! I'd caution that you try to avoid using items for them to find that are too similar in color to the filler . . . unless you're trying to make it more difficult, that is! Actually, I think that multi-colored stuff like bird seed, or perhaps a variety of filler materials would make it more difficult to find things. If you see a peek of yellow among the white rice, for example, it really stands out. But if you have white rice, yellow corn, red and black beans, green lentils, etc - colors aren't going to stand out as much. Hmm . . . I might be opening some of these back up . . . :>)

Peculiar Momma (I think?) used a creamer pitcher to fill her bags, but I really liked using the canning funnel. To keep things spread out, I tried to put in a few scoops of rice, then a couple of items, then a few scoops of rice, couple of items, etc. With the bags, make sure you don't fill it TOO full - I finished filling then pinned the opening (using several pins so it didn't leak!) and then gave it a try and nearly every time, I took out the pins and removed some rice. Hand stitch the opening shut (I used a blanket stitch on a few, since it seems to be the year of the blanket stitch!) and try it out yourself.

If you'd like to see what else I'm making for Christmas, please visit my Handmade Christmas post (provided you're not on my Christmas list!), and for more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom. This is also linked to Proverbs 31 Living's Handmade Christmas.

Frugal Advent Wreath

Friends, I will try to get a better picture of my Advent wreath. But I really wanted to get this post written and published before Advent is over! :>) Here's how I made it on the cheap, nine years ago:

Go to your local craft store (mine happened to be Hobby Lobby) when they are offering Christmas garland on sale. Purchase a 9' piece that you like. You may be able to tell that mine has berries and silver and gold eucalyptis. Also purchase nine purple candles and three pink ones. Tapers happened to be on sale, many people prefer pillar candles that will last the entire season - your call.

Oddly enough (you may have noticed), taper HOLDERS were not on sale at the time, so I bought votive ones and use a piece of fun-tak (ticky-tak, whatever you call it) to hold them in place. Works great - and this should be out of the reach of little ones anyway.

Optionally, you may also include a white candle, which I place in the middle, not only because the holder does not match the others. :>) It is lit on Christmas and represents Jesus. Jessica has some neat ideas on Advent overall, but I especially like the idea of draping the white candle in blue, which represents Mary. (Scroll to Dec 7 and 8.)

Hack the garland into three more or less equal pieces, and twist the ends together to form a circle. I just bent one end over the other on mine and it's held (quite well) though you may wish to use a piece of wire or something to keep the ends together, depending on your garland.

So, now you have three Advent wreaths, one for your home and two that you can use to bless others. When I gave them as Christmas presents to two friends nine years ago, I also included a booklet with Advent devotions. But that was when I lived near a Catholic store. :>)

Blessings to you this Advent season of preparation - and for more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom. This is also linked to Proverbs 31 Living's Handmade Christmas.

Link Roundup - Advent Edition

Today is Day 2 of Goose-less-ness. I didn't particularly sleep in any, but I was still wearing my PJs at lunchtime, so that must count for something. I've managed to (almost) clear out my Google reader, and have caught up on commenting on posts I've linked to in my posts. (That is quite a task in of itself!) Except I'm going to have to do it again on these links. Ah, well - just another of life's tasks that are never really completed. Like laundry.

Anyway. Links! As always, you can right click and choose to open links in a new tab or window, or you can hold down the ctl key as you click and open them in a new tab.

RANDOM
Trent at The Simple Dollar wrote a great post on Making Buyers regarding our kiddos and TV.

Some good kitchen hints at Tipnut.

No Time for Flash Cards put together a Readers Favorites list of toys and gifts.

MAKE
Lovely woven potholders at Blessed Femina.

The Crafter's File Box has a great "eat THAT, Pottery Barn Kids" in this DIY crafty lazy susan. It has me thinking "to heck with the little one, I want one for ME!"

I had quick and lovely thoughts of putting these St. Andrew Chaplets together for a couple of you who are very dear to me, but I am running out of time before Advent begins. Please know that you'll continue to be held in my prayers, though!

DO
I stumbled across this old post from Jessica at Shower of Roses on making a Trip Journal for kids. You may notice that these were made for a ROAD TRIP TO NEBRASKA! Unfortunately, her husband seems to be out of brothers to be ordained as priests (three have been ordained - what a blessing to their family!), so I'm not sure we'll get her back out this way. Regardless, it's very cool idea. Somewhere in there, I also came across this link at Pinewood Castle for going on the road with little people. Good stuff there, too.

Messy Fun without the Mess at The Adventure of Motherhood.

ADVENT
Jennifer at Conversion Diary posted a request here for Advent Calendar suggestions and other ways to celebrate the anticipation of Christ's birth. Lucky you, I waded through the comments and picked them out. Any other suggestions to add to the list? I'm thinking perhaps one of these might be what I'll ask Grandma to get my Goose . . . [please note that due to internet issues, I've not thoroughly checked all these out.]

Waiting for Christmas: A Story about the Advent Calendar (Traditions of Faith from Around the World), From Amazon.com

Fling Wide the Doors: An Advent and Christmastime Calendar, art by Steve Erspamer, SM, from Catechesis of the Good Shephard (it's at the bottom of page 4, so scroll down)

Magnetic Advent Calendar from Catholic Child

Links at Uncommon Grace on their Advent activities

The Advent Book

The Advent Event

A Jesse Tree Banner Kit

Fontanini Advent Calendar

Little People Nativity Advent Calendar from Amazon.com

God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas on Amazon.com, recommended reading for adults

Three from The Catholic Company - Stable Advent calendar, wood Advent calendar, and magnetic Advent calendar

Previously posted (I think): Jesse Tree info at National Catholic Register, and because I'd feel funny not mentioning it, again here is Karen Edmisten's No Panic Advent Series.

Suggestions from Faith & Family Live for Advent

And more Jesse Tree info at Catholic Culture - Ornament Ideas and Blessing, Instructions, Symbols, Jesse Tree, and Prayer Service.

Oh, also - Peculiar Momma is working on an Advent Calendar her way, and she linked to a very fun calendar at maya*made here.

[Edited to add (and I may be doing this more as I find more great stuff!) - Jessica at Shower of Roses has her Advent plans outlined here.]

Happy clicking, everybody!

Link Roundup, Sew, Mama, Sew Scrap Buster Edition

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am full of Grandma J's mashed potatoes and homemade noodles and I can now go on. (Yes, it is that good.) I'm listening to Goose honk away over the monitor and watching a lousy but amusing movie with Hubs but I don't expect him to be awake much longer. Good times.

As I mentioned, I ended up digging through Sew, Mama, Sew's October Scrap Buster projects. LOTS of great stuff there! Here are my favorites (in some sort of alphabetical order as they ended up in the favorites folder) -

Bilbified - floral brooch

Bits and Pieces - bookmarks (there's another fabric bookmark here and another at 7 Layer Studio, and one more here)

Chez Beeper Bebe - plush alphabet

Coloured Buttons - three wise owls

craftytammy - catnip mice

cute little piggytoes - scrappy gift bag

Detail - quilted coasters

Elizabeth's Fabric Focus on Sew, Mama, Sew! - quick-piece tiny squares

Give it a Go - state outline luggage tags

Homegrown Happy - Baby's Soft Book of Colors

Hold On Tight - finger puppets

JCasa *handmade - hairkerchief

Keeping Up With the Jameses - onesie dress

Linaloo - patchwork star

Mairuru - patchwork string

mynewtherapy - fabric covered clothespins

Neuroses Galore - baby doll cloth diaper

Obsessively Stitching - I-Spy fabric scrap cards

Old Days, Old Ways - tiny quiet quilt

One Inch World - scrappy shapes for felt boards

Pleasant Home - dish towel embellishment

Projects at Sew, Mama, Sew - bean bags, fabric balls, and tag blankets (though you can see my tag blankets here and my crinkle taggie toys here)

sew joy - scrap nest

stephjacobsen - fabric strip burp cloth

Stitch/Craft - scrappy color book

Vintage Sheet - travel purse

Well, by the time I was able to finish this post, Goose ended up not taking her nap, we dropped her Papa at the airport (he only flew in for the day, Goose and I drove yesterday), I left Goose with Grandma, and drove home myself. Whew. Tomorrow is a big day, our Altar Society is having a fundraiser and we'll be wrapping people's Black Friday gifts and selling soup and pie at the craft fair in the next town over. Should be a good time. But I miss my Honker already!! Hope this finds everyone well after a day of giving thanks - I sure am thankful for all of YOU! Happy clicking!

Biokleen Giveaway

Katie at Kitchen Stewardship is hosting a giveaway from Biokleen! Click on over for your chance to win!

Link Roundup - What Doin'? Edition

Around here, I'm getting asked "what doin'?" approximately 346 times per hour. I'm thinking the "why?" stage isn't going to be far behind. The good news is that means Goose is trying to figure out the world around her, and I'm trying my best to help her figure it out.

Oh, I've been meaning to ask you guys - does it make you crazy that I don't have my blog set up to open links in new windows? Personally, I HATE having too many windows open. I always hold down the CTL key and click on the link, which opens it in a new tab in the same window. Or you can right click on a link and choose Open in New Tab or Open in New Window. Since I do this for YOU, I'm certainly open to suggestions . . .

Also, I'm working on a couple of bathtub fishing games to put in my Etsy shop and I've been working really hard on my Handmade Christmas stuff, too, and I hope to update that this week. And I suppose I ought to get around to another About Me post. Not because I'm all that interesting, but *I'M* enjoying it, anyway. :>)

Remember I mentioned I got sucked into the Sew, Mama, Sew scrap buster contest posts? Yeah, those are going to have to go in a separate post. There are a lot of them. But, who doesn't love making something out of . . . well, nothing? I asked my MIL today if she'd like to thin her scrap collection a bit. I've found a few projects to make and my scrap pile is kinda scraggly. :>)

HOLY COW, I almost published this without mentioning the newest member of our family! Hubs finally bought himself a miniature donkey. He's a cute little guy and needs a name - we're soliciting suggestions! So far, my favorites are Radar or Roscoe, but we haven't settled on one yet.

So, anyway, links!

MAKE
This pom pom lamp from Ruffles and Stuff is really cute and not at all the fire hazard I was envisioning at first. :>) I'm wondering if one of my nieces doesn't need this (and yes, maybe my Goose).

Crafty Nest has a neat idea for a framed silhouette word (though I'll admit even the cheaper linked frames are still out of my league . . . I'm thinking the idea is totally adaptable.)

Somehow I managed to forget that my sister-in-law mentioned my oldest niece would like some bookmarks for Christmas. Luckily I found a ton of links - Anna Maria Horner, Skip to My Lou, How About Orange, and Infarrantly Creative - lots of super cute ones to choose from already!

I realized that my sewing machine is getting a bit dusty in places since it doesn't have a cover - which will be easily remedied with this sewing machine cover how to by Chez Larsson. I was really excited when I saw the link to the how to recover an ironing board until I looked at my ironing board and realized it has a metal board. Ah, well.

Continuing my felt food obsession (seriously, just make some already!) is this link to tomatoes, fried eggs, and pancakes at Creative 2x Mom. And felt cookies at Many Little Blessings.

Remember the wings from my 100th post giveaway? Here's how to make your own. Instead of using the hangars, I recommend keeping an eye out at the thrift store for a pair that needs recovering and follow the directions from that point on.

EAT
I have warm fuzzies for Rachael Ray because before I weaned Goose, she'd wake up from her afternoon nap and we'd sit on the couch for some mama's milk and Rach. Good times. Anyway. Rachael has some yummy sounding butternut squash risotto.

Amy at Finer Things linked up to this black bean soup. I love me some black beans, so let me know what your fam thinks, 'k Amy?

Sarah from Sarah's Musings has a delicious looking recipe for sourdough french bread. I think I'm going to have to give that one a try - mmmmm!

Bethany at the Apple Cider Mill posted Hungarian coffee cake in celebration of St. Elizabeth of Hungary's feast day.

Cookin' Kids has a free newsletter with "cooking tips, stories from our readers, tips to help your kids in the kitchen,
cool cooking-related websites,and a recipe or two" - sounds good to me!

DO
From Craftzine - velcro catch ball. And a cutie to demonstrate it!

Just add water mini-paintings at Inspired Ideas would be fun for Goose and my littler nieces. (Don't forget about the low-budget version of paint with water previously mentioned.)

While I'd rather visit my knitting buddy, here's a website devoted to learning to knit with videos!

PRAY & PONDER
I always appreciate it when bloggers link back to posts that perhaps were written before I started reading them, or maybe it just didn't sink in at the time. (Or I didn't have a blog to share it with you.) Jennifer at Conversion Diary has a great explanation on offering it up. And Tupac and childbirth. Great stuff.

This week, Jennifer also posted on how asking for prayers worked for her.

See how Karen Edmisten does No-Panic Advent.

Elizabeth Foss writes about connecting depression, burnout, and surrendering to find God.

Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles has a neat series called "Dear New Mommy" with the latest installment for the home stretch of pregnancy.

This is worth some pondering - Trent at The Simple Dollar makes the case that It's Not the School, It's the Student regarding the importance (or lack thereof) of a brand name school education.

Bethany at Happy to Be Called Mommy posted a quote from Sarah Palin's book where Palin writes about a miscarriage she suffered. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Sarah Palin (and Bethany, for that matter).

Considering my pile of books to read gets longer by the day (I brought home a handful of really good ones from Goodwill today!), I doubt I'll get around to listening to these CDs, but Faith & Family Live has some glowing words for Detaching with Love by Fr. Emmerich Vogt.

Happy clicking - and you can look forward to another RTWI installment soon with all my favorites from the Sew, Mama, Sew! scrap busters contest. I know I'm a nut, but I can't wait to look at them again. :>)

Organizing Pot Lids

This isn't a new tip - you've likely seen it before. But I had to read it a couple dozen times before thinking "huh, I oughta try that" and probably a few more after that before I actually went out and did it.

Use a dish drain rack. I found one that was small enough to fit in my lazy susan, which helped me better utilize THAT space, too. Anybody else have a great way of storing lids?

And, while I'm asking questions, I'd love to hear recommendations - I need to replace my teflon skillets because they are no longer non-stick, and I keep reading how lousy that stuff is for you anyway. Anybody using something they love?

For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy's Recipes.

Link Roundup, Squeeze Your Toddler Edition

This past week, I've been praying particularly fervently for a childhood friend whose 3 year old son was killed when he climbed some shelves in the garage and pulled them over. That has weighed on my mind as I have navigated the week with a 2 year old who is on quite a TWO bend.

Today has included her blocks being picked up by Mama and put *away* (as in she can see them but won't be allowed to play with them for a while), and a bowl of spaghetti thrown on the floor, which led to going down for nap early. But, she also walked into the kitchen carrying a puzzle box with her nappies all tucked in, doll pillow and blanket included. (You can see how they got their names here if you missed it.)

So, while you're clicking around, please join me in praying for my friends and all parents who are grieving with empty arms.

Now. Let's cheer ourselves up with some stuff to keep busy:

MAKE
In this week's installment of "How Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog Made Me Die of Cuteness" we have a fabric dollhouse. AND she claims it came together in a few HOURS. That's my kind of craft - instant gratification!

elsie marley has a simple but fun leaf crown perfect for this time of year. I love the concept of using natural materials, enjoying them as they are, and returning them to nature when you're done (i.e. compost).

Karen Edmisten (who has been self-proclaimed not Queen of Crafts) reminds us to work on our Thanksgiving Trees.

Living with Lindsay has a tutorial for some very funky Book Page Wreaths, though I will admit that my first thought is "how do you dust that??" followed by the answer "by tossing in the burn barrel and making another." :>)

Make It Do has a post on making bed warmers, and the best part is when she notes that corn retains heat longer than rice. CORN. The stuff to which I have nearly unlimited access. Yeah, I'll be making some of these. And in the meantime, I took my rice bag to bed last night and Hubs tried to swipe it for HIS cold toes. These are also super for keeping you warm while sitting and watching TV in the evenings ... if you're too cheap to turn up the heat like I am. :>)

Continuing my felt food obsession, Dana from MADE (who has SERIOUSLY inspired the way I throw myself into sewing projects!) won the first round of So You Think You're Crafty, the name of which cracks me up every time I read it. Also crazy cute, though, was this tractor from homemade by jill . . . and I'll admit I'm hoping a tutorial shows up for it! Though Goose would prefer hers to be green, just like Papa's.

[Also, I just stumbled across Felt-o-rama. There are approximately a bajillion links there. And, please celebrate with me, as I was one of the winners of this felt food pattern! SO MUCH TO MAKE and SO LITTLE TIME!]

Abbi at Proverbs 31 Living is working her way through a Handmade Christmas series, and I've done a BUNCH of clicking around over there. Some things I tossed in the Crafty favorites folder include: pinwheel bobby pins from Little Jenny Wren, butterflies at LollyChops, flower crown made from scraps at mellow, and the Eddie Cap at Mushroom Villagers. (Note to sister-in-law - do NOT click through on that last one...)

I love the randomness of this Scrap Buster Fall Pillow at Cluck Cluck Sew! (PS - many of these are noting that October was Scrap Buster month at Sew, Mama, Sew. I'm using all my willpower not to click over there because I know I'd never get out! Especially considering I pretty much ONLY use scraps to sew!)

Not sure where my deep love for making flowers comes from, but these Paper Towel and Baby Wipe Kanzashi Flowers at Filth Wizardy just plain rock!

This would be a fun gift - How To Make Picture Perfect Pads of Paper at Photojojo. Or how about some Fabric Covered CD Coasters from mojo and co?

I'm a sucker for these - Reusable Cloth Ziplocs at Progressive Pioneer.

EAT
Blue Yonder is putting together a series on crock pot tips. So far, there is the intro/vol. 1, volume 2, and volume 3.

I'm a big fan of risotto (how can you go wrong with creamy rice and cheese??) and didn't mind standing at the stove to make it...until the two-year-old entered the picture and tends to need things RIGHT NOW when my hands are busy. Enter Lynn's Kitchen Adventures and Oven Risotto. Yum!

Not quite the same vein as risotto, Katie at Kitchen Stewardship is working on a great series on Lard and Tallow. TONS of food for thought. And let me tell you . . . you haven't eaten really good pie until you've tried a piece on Grandma Johnson's lard pie crust.

Sarah's Musings is holding a For the Love of the Slow Cooker Recipe Carnival - including Sarah's recipes for carmelized onion marmalade (love that it keeps well in the fridge!) and yogurt.

Before long, Goose will be ready to work something like this bread in a bag recipe from AllRecipes.com - doesn't that sound fun?!?

DO
Since our gifts are getting more . . . handmade and thrifted (read: less expensive, more thought!), I'm all about finding better ways to wrap them and make them look pretty. Here's a new one from Bugs and Fishes using yarn and buttons, brooches, and more.

Tipnut has a page on how to help your Christmas cactus thrive. My mom has my grandmother's Christmas cactus and that thing is one happy plant. My cutting from it sits atop my china hutch (far out of a certain Goose's wingspan) and looks sad and lonely. Maybe this will help!

Trent at The Simple Dollar has a great article on Teaching Money Management Through Self-Responsibility. Lots to think about and work towards.

These autumn wreaths at Sweet Life in the Valley are cute and simple - and the square shape makes them really funky, too!

Make your own (cheap!) Pedestal Plate at Reasonably Random.

Confessions of a Sewing Dork (hee!) has easy instructions on how to Hand Dye Silk Play Scarves with Kool-Aid. And a link to cheap playsilks!

These Wrapped Vases from Natural Home Magazine are really neat - though I'll admit I went in there thinking I'd get to learn how to make the paper, too. Quick reconsideration assured me that would be best left to the professionals. :>)

Hooray! This is the first cloth diaper cake I've seen (@ Kate's Kitchen).

READ
Faithfulness Farm has a review of Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. I especially took note of the description of "broken windows" and I know it is quite true in my house. I have a lot of them - lots of bad habits. Need to work on that.

Saving Money In Real Life has a post on Send a Gift, Save on Postage. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated at how postage rates have risen, and I'm pretty far away from UPS and FedEx facilities, but perhaps I need to be looking into them. When I visited Guatemala nine years ago, I was surprised to learn that they'd privatized their postal system with huge improvements in service.

PRAY & PONDER
Though this isn't a prayer, so to speak, Faithfulness Farm also shared a moving poem in honor of Veteran's Day, called In Flanders Fields. I'd not ever known the connection between Veteran's Day (formerly Armistice Day - or Remembrance Day across the pond) and the poppies that Hubs and other members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars sell as a fundraiser - and a reminder. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. Also, for next year, I'm thinking Goose and I might make some big poppies as found at No Time for Flashcards - though green lentils in the middle might look more like the ones that Papa sells.

This falls under Make and Do while praying and pondering Jesus's birth, so I'll put it down here. Elizabeth Foss has compiled her wonderful Advent and Christmas resources all in one post. WOW!

Special thanks to my Goose for taking a good nap today so I coud get this monster post compiled. Happy clicking! (By the way, by the time I got this all put together, I ended up clicking through to Sew, Mama, Sew. It's my goal to come out with less than forty links for next week. :>))

Soft Blocks for Baby

With apologies to my sister-in-law who gets my posts via e-mail, this post is about how I made blocks for her little boy for Christmas. (Delete this e-mail now, sister!) (The rest of you can scroll down to see the pictures.)

I bought a piece of 4" thick foam at Hobby Lobby and found a post at eHow.com on how to cut foam. I'll tell you, my hands and wrists were sore from pulling my electric knife through the foam, and I certainly should have put it up on the table instead of the floor because my bunner muscles and thighs were SORE from kneeling, squatting, and otherwise dancing around while cutting. Mercy. Oh, and I put one of my cheap, large cutting boards under the spot where I was cutting with the knife - you will ding it up, and badly.

The foam was about $22 and I used a 40% off coupon - you should be able to see the current one being offered here. It was 22"x22", so I'm thinking of making extra blocks (or two) and selling them in my Etsy shop. Maybe a set for a baby girl?

On my shopping trip to Hobby Lobby, I found the fabric you see - it coincidentally was a print with 4.25" square blocks! I cut it apart so that four blocks were together, and I stitched on a top and a bottom, so to speak. On the advice of both my mother and MIL, I'm using a zig zag stitch for strength. I left two sides open for stuffing the foam in, as I found leaving just one side open made for a very tight squeeze.

Then I hand stitched the remaining two sides shut using more or less a basic whipstitch. I tended to space my stitches too closely together, which I thought was better than too far apart. My mom had encouraged me to try to space them about the same distance as the zig zag stitches from the machine, but my brain kept over-riding that. :>)

I found that even using only the width of my presser foot as my seam allowance, some of the blocks are pretty tight - plus it comes as no surprise that none of my blocks are completely square (nor are my fabric cuts). Were I to do this again with non-block-printed fabric, I'd probably cut at least 4.5" squares and possibly 4.75" squares to make sure there is enough room. On the one hand, you don't want the fabric too loose and the foam sliding around inside, but on the other hand, too tight isn't very pretty.

To make the bag, I figured three rows of three blocks each, which would be 12" by 12", plus 4" on the sides, and I wanted plenty of room for a drawstring at the top. I ended up cutting my fabric 17" across by about 37" long (partly influenced by the size of my piece of fabric). I was completely winging it without a pattern (which seems to be my favorite way to sew!) so I'll just explain what I did.

First, I made the patch with [nephew name]'S BLOCKS. I tried embroidering it and didn't care for the way it turned out. So I pulled that out. I had a number of scraps left over from the blocks, so I made stencil letters on the computer (see how to do that at my ABC Book post) and cut them out. I used two-sided fusible interfacing attached to the print first, then traced the letters on the back side - make sure you trace the letters BACKWARDS so they'll end up the right way - and cut them out, then fused them to the navy piece of fabric. I cut around the edge with pinking shears and stitched it to the light blue fabric for the sack. Note that my webbing is thick, so I did NOT stitch around the outside. I used some of this on my ABC Book referenced above, and ended up breaking my thread several times. Had I used the Wonder Under that I finally found in the storage room this morning, I'd have used a zig zag stitch around the letters.

Looking at it now, I think I should have scooted it down a few inches when I stitched it on, but without the bag sewn and the blocks in it, it looked centered at the time. So, if you try this at home, learn from my mistakes . . .

To make the bag, I folded the fabric at the bottom of the bagand pinned one side. I stitched that side shut and pressed the seam open. I trimmed the corner a bit, snipping off the diagonal, so it would be neater when turned right side out. I think at this point I had intended to fold the top down and sew the slot for the drawstring, but I forgot. I stitched the other side, also all the way up to the top, which kind of came back to bite me later, but I persevered! I then turned the top down and stitched the drawstring slot, but if you're following along in your mind, you'll realize I don't have anywhere for the drawstring to go into or out of - it's completely stitched shut!

Luckily, I thrive on this type of challenge. :>) I stitched back and forth a few times about 3/4" down from the top of the bag along one side seam, and then used a seam ripper to open the side seam stitches between that and the seam that made the bottom of the drawstring slot. Success! For the string, I braided six strands of navy yarn with different colored flecks and knotted each end. I fastened a barrette on one end, and used that to feed the yarn through the slot. (Slot isn't the right word, but I can't think of what the right word would be! Feel free to leave me a comment on that!) I also pressed the fold at the top so it would lay neatly.

Then I stuffed the blocks in and tied the yarn, sat back, and admired my work. :>) You can see more of what I'm doing for Christmas at my Handmade Christmas post, which I'm updating as I make more things. (Unless you're going to be a recipient of said gifts. Then no peeking, you Scrooge!) You can also see more handmade Christmas ideas at Proverbs 31 Living.

For more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom.