Try and Win a Silhouette Machine!

Go to tatertotsandjello.com to try and win a Silhouette machine.  They are fantastic!  I entered and hope to win!!!  Tatertots & Jello is such a fun crafting blog.  I follow it and so should you.  You will be amazed at what you can make for yourself or someone else.
You can also enter here ! The Idea Room is another crafting blog I love and follow.  The more entries the better chance you have of winning.

You can also try and win @ LittleMissMomma blog. I hope I win one and you too!

I found another one, Better After!   Good luck!

Last Craft!

Eric and I embarked on a craft for my sister-in-law.  Eric is still wondering why "my" crafts involve him so much. 
My craft materials:
1 old window (I got mine from my mantle.  It was just part of my decor and from our old neighbor's house.)
2 super cheap frames (I bought brown ones and spray painted them black.  You can do dollar frames.  I did Walm*rt.)
1 vinyl letter (I used my cricut machine to make my letter.)
2 cans of spray paint ( I used cream with primer built in and black.)

I started by gathering my materials for painting.  I sent Hattie outside with the instructions, "Put these frames in the front yard with all the other things I am going to spray paint.  I found them on the grass all alone.

This was what was on the ground on the other side of the driveway.  I don't know how she missed it.

 I spray painted the brown cheap frames black.  Here is a tip.  Spray paint the back first.

To get the window frame ready, Eric sanded it, breaking two panes in the process.  That was kind of okay, because he was going to need to remove two frames anyway.  Luckily he was able to save one pane.  He removed the good one and put it to the side for safe keeping.  I then wiped down the frame.  Eric of course sanded both sides of the frame and much to his disappointment, I just spray painted the front of it and left the back unpainted.  Why did I need to do the back?  It was going to be against a wall.

Here is the finished window frame.  I put many coats on it.  I did it in 40 degree weather on Christmas Eve.  My fingers were very cold.

Here is Eric putting the good pane into the middle of the frame.  He was very careful.

Here he is ranting about having to do crafts on Christmas Eve

 and me trying to give him input on something I know nothing about.

I don't know what he was doing, but I was behind the camera trying to get

him to rant again.

He gave me this look instead.

I then started deciding where to put my frames.  It looked good this way, but

you will see in the end that I changed it.  I was doing my practice with the window frame backwards to give the pane more time to dry.  We were on a time crunch.

This is the second "W" I made.  The first one ripped because I decided to

try and put it on without the transfer paper.  That was not a good idea.  I am learning while doing.

I was getting super excited at this point because it was looking so good.

We decided on doing the frames at different levels.  We thought it looked great, plus it was going to be

hard to get the frames exactly even on either side.  This was easier.  It would have been a nice touch to already have pictures of my niece and nephew in the frames, but I was out of time.

 I will have to go and BUY:( more old window frames to do this again.  It was a great gift and wasn't too hard.  I do not care to spray paint, but seeing the look on the recipients face was worth it.

 I think Dendy really liked it! 

$1 finds

 For some reason I wanted to take a picture of the girls picks from the T*rget dollar section. 

You can find such strange things in it, and such good things.  

Let's see what we found.

 Hattie wanted to get these icy windshield tools to help "clean her room."

I was just shocked she remembered they had to clean their room today.

Sorry the picture is sideways, but here is what they picked.  

Lydda got a school bus.  I think it will go nicely with the wooden road set I still haven't given Jett.  Lydda might get to break it out and play with it again before Jett gets his little hands on it.

Emogene chose cards.  She taught Hattie how to play Slap Jack today. 

I played one game with her and stomped her.

Hattie picked a pumice stone thingy with a brush on it.  

I know what you are supposed to do with it, but as for Hattie's plans, your guess is as good as mine.

A Finger Tree

An Unhappy Angel

I had only asked that she open her eyes more.  

Trickery

Sweetheart was really hungry. 

Emogene

She was ready for her first clarinet recital.

Please Help!

This is Tylor Strother.  He and his dad were in a motorcycle accident earlier this year and is recovering slowly.  He is still unable to communicate and move most of his body.  We have prayed much for Tylor.  His family needs your help.  His grandpa is the youth pastor at my school.  Extreme Home Makeover has contacted them and want to help.  Tylor's hospital bed is in the living room and it still doesn't fit well.  Tylor's family needs your help to get the makeover.  Please go abc.com and send a message to Extreme Home Makeover that you want Tylor's family to get help to make more room for the equipment Tylor needs every day. 
The children at school were so excited and blessed that Tylor was able to come and see them.  He was very tired after therapy.  He did open his eyes while they sang "Jesus Loves Me."  Pastor Mike says it works every time.

Please pray for him to completely recover.

Cozy Socks

 I had gotten some festive socks from my Secret Santa last week.  Although I looked silly, I wore them all day.  That same day, Hattie was a bit distracted during class.  She didn't do all of her seatwork.  Was there a connection?

As soon as school was over, she walked to my desk and said in one breath, "Here are Emma's clothes can I wear your socks?  They look sooooo cozy." 

I obliged and she wore them around the hallways until it was time to go to the Christmas program.  She later told another teacher that she had been thinking about those socks all day.  That explains her not working.

Crafty Gift

 I saw a craft on a blog (here) that showed foot prints on a stool.  I loved it!  I wanted to make one with Lydda's footprint.  She needed a stool for my mom's house so I asked my mom to get her a stool for Christmas.  My mom bought an unfinished stool at a craft show and I finished it today.
I liked the look of painted words without actually painting the letters.  I saw a technique somewhere that showed how to do it with vinyl letter.  I cut out the phrase "treasure each little step" on vinyl using my Cricut and got to work on painting the stool. 

 I wanted the words to be white, so I painted the top all white.

I then carefully stuck all the black vinyl letters onto the top of the stool.  

I knew it would have some imperfections, but wasn't too worried.

I then took it outside and spray painted the whole stool black.  

I DON'T like spray painting things.  It was a little chilly outside too.

 I let the paint dry and then peeled off the vinyl.  See how it looks like I painted the words.

I did some touch up work where the black seeped under the vinyl letters.  A paint pen would have worked well, but I didn't have one.  I used a paint brush.

 

It was cool.  I should have waited longer before sticking the vinyl onto the newly painted white top because while peeling off the letters, some of the white paint came off.  I thought it was completely dry.  We even used a blow dryer to speed up the process (see Emogene).  It made it look antiquey (not a word), so I actually liked it more with some missing paint in the letters.  Lesson learned though.

I then painted Lydda's little foot and had her step on the stool.

This was not easy.  Her foot was slippery.  I had to wipe off the first one we did.  

This one will have to do.  I liked the results.  I can't wait to hear what she has to say when she opens it at Nannie's house.

A Crafty Gift

 I found a tic-tac-toe board on a craft blog found here. It used felt to make the first initial of each of her kids to use as their x or o.  I liked the idea of making a tic-tac-toe board, but I wanted to change it up a bit by using pictures of the kids.  My niece Emersyn was the luck child that I chose to receive this crafty creation.  We drew her name for Christmas.  Here is how I made it.  The picture process is probably not too great.

I had to search through my old pictures because my sister wouldn't send me pics of her kids.  

She had many excuses.

 I used a 2 1/2 inch punch to cut out their cute faces.  

I liked that Hudson's picture was of him hanging upside down. 

I ordered 7 copies of each picture.  You only need five of them, 

but you should always think about possible mistakes.

I picked a cute giraffe print for the background.

I also looked through my cabinet to find a glass that fit around the picture 

and left a border.

This one was great.

I traced the back of the paper for obvious reasons.

I semared glue on the pictures with my finger to make sure it was very smooth.

I was out of the double sided tape stuff scrapbookers use.

I laminated the pictures and laid out the pieces on some burlap to check my sizing.

I picked a 20"x20" piece.

Here is a good reason why you do 7 pictures instead of 5.  I waited for the laminater to get warm.  It said it was ready, but my first batch had weird air bubbles in them.  It made it look like a zebra strip pattern across their faces.  Make sure you wait 10 minutes after the light comes on.

I measured.  I think I drew a line every 5 1/2".  

I knew it would be perfect.

I let it dry and did the next stripes.

Be sure you put something under it because the paint will seep through the burlap.

Ta-Dah!

 

I checked it out and tried to play a game with Eric.

I wanted to stay asleep instead.

The next day I went to buy ribbon AGAIN.  You see I had put this ribbon in my buggy, 

but it didn't end up in my bag.  I am blaming Lydda.

I hot glued the ribbon all around it.  I did the back first.

Again, it wasn't perfect, but it looked good.

We tried it out.  The girls loved it.

I had a Thirty-One bag made for Emersyn.  I am putting her pieces in it.

I also got her a ruffled cinch sac.  I bet you know where it came from :).

I rolled up her board and put her pouch of pieces inside.

Emogene and Hattie then worried about someone other than Keagan, Hudson, and Emersyn wanting to play the game.  I dug and dug for some paper that would match enough.  I didn't have anymore giraffe paper and  WAS NOT going back to the craft store.

I used my favorite toy to cut out the x's.

I then got them ready to be laminated.  I waited a long time before sending them through the machine.  I didn't have another piece of that paper to do it again.

The girls LOVED playing.  We decided we didn't need to make any o's.  

If someone wanted to be o's, they could turn over the pictures.

I hope Emersyn loves it too!

Emogene's Goodies

 Hattie is modeling one of Emogene's gifts she received at her class party.

This is Cherry.  She broke her arm and leg.  

She was watched all night.  Emogene tended to her every need.

Emogene also got a Rubics cube.  We can't solve it.

Her Reason

This is Hattie's reason for having to sleep with us two nights in a row.

Emogene won't let her sleep with her.  I TOTALLY understand.  Hattie is the worst bed feller EVER!

I told her that Emogene's bed is right next to her, it should be fine.  Hattie said, "But, I have to love on Emma."

We tried to find a solution.  I thought Spidey or huge panda would have helped, but it was a no go.  They aren't as big as Emma.  So, I have not slept well for two nights in a row.  If I want to get some sleep, I need to find a 50 pound person length pillow.  

Pictures with Santa

 Lydda was sooooo excited!

 She didn't cry, but she didn't look thrilled to sit on his lap.

 We then rode the carousel.

It was a great night!  Isabel and Vickers came with us.  Vickers had never been to B*ss Pro and loved it.

I can't wait to have both of them for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.