Christmas recap (continued)

We had a blizzard which left all four of us housebound for a couple of days. We got 19 inches in a day.

Instagram photo taken from our 2nd floor

We stayed inside and did things like make clay ornaments. After they were dry, we colored Elmer's Glue with green food coloring and painted one of them green. The other two little ones were coated with plain Elmer's to protect them from grime over time.

LE had her first hot chocolate. She prefers it cold. Go figure.

LE made a Christmas tree from popsicle sticks that I trimmed with scissors (not easy to trim, mind you).  She colored the sticks with a marker (you could use paint), coated it well with Elmer's, and then applied little decorations.

We also made a Borax snowflake. I recommend making ones smaller than what we did if you want to do this as well. Maybe do them 2 inches wide and use wide mouth canning jars? They are really easy.

After the winds from the blizzard died down, we took the girls out to sled in our backyard and make snow angels, something LE had been requesting since the last small snowfall melted. We got them both bundled up but thought we'd put LE's mittens on outside.

Hannah cried almost from the moment she got stuffed into the Baby Bjorn. I got this photo of John pushing LE on the disc, and the next moment, LE was crying because her hands were too cold. We all headed back inside, officially making our adventure a bust. We spent longer getting dressed than we did outside. Oh well!

We made lots and lots of cookies. LE is super sensitive to noises, so even the mixer was a little too loud for her. I'll do a separate post on the cookie details. One day, we conducted a bake-off between two recipes to figure out which is our favorite. Another day, I made loads of chocolate rollout cookies topped with a mint ganache and sprinkles for a cookie exchange that got cancelled by the blizzard. On Christmas Eve, we made gingerbread cookies and decorated with royal icing (I'll let you guess which ones were LE's!). It was lots of fun, and our neighbors received most of them. :)

My dad's parents came up to visit one day. As you may have seen on Instagram, we think Hannah looks a lot like Grandma U.

LE's Godfather, Michael, stopped for a last minute visit, too. LE had a fun time playing with him for the evening.

And John's parents stopped by on their way up and back from northern Wisconsin, where they spent Christmas. Of course, LE picked out her Cardinals shirt to wear for breakfast with them.

I'll do a separate post on Christmas Day and the couple of days after. For now, this has already been an enormous post! December was a busy month!

LE Hoot Hoot!

Oops! I forgot to add this to Tuesday's post. About halfway through making LE's costume, I realized we were going to be gone for Halloween! I got the opportunity to drive up to Minnesota to see a friend from college while she was there (she's normally in Florida). While LE and I were up there, we also drove the extra hour to see my great aunt and uncle. I made the costume in a way that can be used next year. So, if she has the same costume next year... no comments, ok? ;) I'll pull together a tutorial for those who would want to do their own variation of it.

Clock DIY Make-Over

Last week, I saw a post online where someone repurposed an old clock by taking off the face and painting it. I tried looking around, but I couldn't find that post again. I've been wanting to add a clock to LE's room, but I really didn't want to spend more than $10 bucks on one. 

I casually looked around for a little while. It wasn't until I had to go to Walmart to buy spraypaint (the cheapest place I've found it) that I walked by their clock aisle. Their basic Mainstays brand 8.75 inch wall clock comes in a few colors, and it costs under $4. Add a little scrapbook paper for less than $1. Bingo! A new clock that comes in under 5 bucks.

If you have an old clock that needs new life, or if you're like me and need to revamp a new clock, follow along for the step by step. I'll explain how to do this using thick scrapbook paper as the face of the clock, but with small adjustments to the tutorial, you could use fabric or paint instead. I was able to get this very easy DIY done from start to finish during LE's nap. 

Take a mental note of how the clock hands are placed before you take your clock apart. Flip your clock over and remove the screws that are keeping the face to the back.  Snap out the battery pack, which will remove your clock hands.

Flip the clock back over to the front. Measure the width of the inside. The Mainstays clock face is 7.75in. If the clock face isn't glued in (mine was), remove and discard it.

If you have a Silhouette craft cutter, your job will be super easy (skip to instructions). If not, it will just be mildly more difficult. Print a circle the size of the clock's face (use Microsoft Word or other software that allows you to specify the exact size of shapes) onto the back side of your scrapbook paper. Use scissors to cut out the circle. You should probably buy die cut numbers for the clock unless you are really good with cutting. 

For the Silhouette users:

• Open Silhouette and draw a circle to fit your clock's face. (7.75in for the Mainstays clock)
• Pick a font that you like for the numbers. I used Skia.
• Adjust the size of your numbers until you like it. The 12 in my clock was 2.5in, measuring from the top to the bottom of the 1. 

• Once you get everything to the size that you like, move all of the numbers and extras to the outside of the circle.

• If you're using the same paper for everything, send your paper through the Silhouette on a mat. For thick cardstock, use the pink blade at 2 speed and 33 thickness. I didn't find double-cutting necessary.
• If you're using different paper for the numbers, just make sure you tell the Silhouette which items to cut (e.g. just the circle or all of the numbers/dots)
• Use Mod-Podge, spray glue, or your choice of non-wrinkling adhesive to adhere the paper circle to clock's face. Before adhering, take note of where the 12 is on your original clock. You'll need to be sure that's the top of your new clock's design since that aligns with the hanging mechanism on the back of the clock.
• Paint your cut out numbers, if needed. Apply glue dots or your choice of adhesive to the back of the numbers. Adhere the 12, 9, 6, & 3 (not the dots yet); that will allow you to get them straight. If your clock is like the Mainstays one, there are visible screw holes to help guide you. 
• Poke a small hole in the paper and then push the battery pack through from the front to the back. This will make your paper bend towards the back. Carefully remove the battery pack and reattach it to the clock the correct way.
• Attach the hands the same way that they were originally. For the Mainstays clock, the hour hand goes first shiny side up. Then, the minute hand goes matte side up, and then the second hand snaps in on top. 
• Rotate the hands so that all of them line up at 12. Using the dial on the back of the clock, turn it to 1. Place a dot. Then use the dial to turn it to 2. Place a dot. Continue for the rest of the dots. This ensures that you are placing them in the correct places.
• Place the glass and cover back on the clock. Screw everything back in place. Admire your new clock!

I haven't decided where in LE's room to place the clock yet. For now, it will live with the sock monkey.

Quick Tip: Wash Fewer Paint Brushes!

Don't wash your brushes between coats!

I'll share with you soon what we were working on last week, but to give you a hint... it involved multiple coats of paint.

In general, I prefer to brush on paint as opposed to spraying. There are less fumes, even coats, and less of an overall mess. The one downfall is saving the brush from drying out in between coats.

Introducing: ziplock baggies! You could use plastic wrap if you prefer. 

Place your paintbrush into the bag, squeeze as much of the air out as possible, and seal the top. This will keep your brush from drying out in between coats. I left my brush in there for 24 hours without consequence.

Happy painting!

One of two completed... Thanksgiving Crafts

I finished up the little pilgrim hats that I said I was going to do for this year. These were inspired by this post at Jellybean Junkyard.

Here's the inspiration shot:

And here's how mine turned out:

These were cheap, easy, and not time consuming! 

Here are the supplies for my version (I bought everything from Michaels):

• One small clay pot for each person
• One 8.5x11 sheet of yellow felt (I used the stiff type and less than half the sheet for all 7)
• One 8.5x11 sheet of gray felt cut into strips across the short side
• Black cardstock or paper
• White pen (mine was a paint pen that I already had)
• Paintbrush
• Hotglue gun and glue
• Scissors 

As you can (kind of) see with Kate's place card, I made them so that the names could be removed for different guests in the future. I went ahead and wrote out some other family members' names on cardstock so that I can keep them all together in a Ziploc.

You can follow Jellybean Junkyard's tutorial for most of it, or you can wing it like I did. It's that simple. One thing I do recommend is keeping a little part of the price tag sticker to put on top of the hole at the bottom of the pot. Then paint over it when you paint the rest of the pot. Good luck and have fun!

Now onto the more elaborate one that I may or may not get to this year since the paper mache part takes a few days.... the cornucopia.

Thanksgiving Decoration Ideas -- cheap!

This year is our first time to be in a house of our own {no moving in sight!}, which means I am allowed to start thinking about holiday decorations. John may have other thoughts on that, but as he said to me last week about some other decorating-related item... it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. (note: we really don't live by this rule.)

I try to subscribe to Simple Mom's way of thinking when it comes to what is in the house: only keep what is useful or beautiful. It has to be one of the two. In addition to that, for holiday or seasonal decorations, I would really love to only add items that were handmade, whenever it's possible. Stores sell items so overpriced, and there are so many great craft ideas out there that can turn spaces into awesome places. Seriously, the amount of creativity floating out there in cyberspace is overwhelming! 

I'll post photos of the ones I do. Here are two that I think I'll be doing this year (images are not mine; credited in the caption)

Love the cornucopia idea, and I'd put dried corn husks, small pumpkins, wheat, and squash in there.
This is from i am an aspiring artist.

I'm doing my version of this for sure-- already started it! Mine will be less expensive, though, since I'll be using craft paint instead of spray paint, no chalk paint, and all felt for the belt. The names will be in the middle of the buckle.
How cute are these? Found at Jellybean Junkyard

Are there any fun crafts that you'll be doing or wish you had time to do for the holidays?

Birdhouse Accessories

I stumbled across some plain wooden birdhouses on sale at Michaels a few weeks ago. They were $1 each, and I picked out 4 different styles. They are lightweight and purely decorative-- definitely not anything I'd actually use as a real birdhouse-- and the perfect accessory for LE's bird themed room.

The plain birdhouses were just too, well, plain, but covered with cute scrapbook paper or paint, they'd be perfect to mount in a cluster on a wall or hang from the ceiling as a mobile. I haven't decided which to do yet.

All of the materials that I used to create them are below. Most of them are optional items I had on hand.

1. Birdhouse
2. Cutting surface (only if you are using a razor to cut)
3. Colorful [super cute] paper
4. Paper cutter (optional)
5. Paintbrushes
6. Razor or box cutter
7. Paint
8. Water (optional)
9. Glue (I didn't have glue at home for the first house, so I made my own with cornstarch and water.)
10. Scissors

All you do is paint the small areas and parts that you don't want to cover in paper. Then, using one of the cutting apparatuses, cut out the paper to cover the sections of the birdhouse. Apply a layer of glue to the house. I watered my glue down and spread an even coat with the paintbrush. Press the paper down firmly and make the creases crisp. Voila! You're done!

I'm on the fence about getting some clear spray paint or mod podge to seal it. They can sit on a shelf if you want. I'll either drill a hole in the back to mount it on the wall or put a hole on the top to string fishing wire through to hang it from the ceiling. I'll post pictures when they are hung.