Time + Inspiration = She's Crafty

This week, I have had so much fun getting crafty!  I am mostly a crafty wannabe...I love the idea of it, but rarely have the time, energy, resources,etc...to pull it off.  Thanks to the ideas in this blog: http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/11/craftastic.html, I was inspired to make time.  Her ideas were simple, and her background music makes me happy...reminds me of older days, not sure why.  So off to Hobby Lobby I went with the kids. 

First project:  Thanksgiving Turkey Placecards
The kids had a lot of fun with these, helping glue faces, eyes, beak, waddles, and feathers of course.  Oh, and they are cinnamon-scented pinecones, so they smell delicious! 

7 Turkeys ready to go for our Feast!



A closeup shot.  We're packing these puppies up and saving them for next year!



Second project:  Felt flower
These are super easy and only require 1 sheet of felt and a hot glue gun.  These came from a different blog.
http://shadandlizzie.blogspot.com/2010/08/felt-flower-headband-tutorial.html
These are so easy and you can make them in a bajillion of colors.  You can attach them to anything to spice it up.  Laynie loves her new headband...but of course, she already lost it.  We're still looking.  You can't see from my picture, but we glued a red jewel in the middle as well, making it extra fabulous to my easy-to-please 4 year old!

 

Third project:  Babylegs! 
I saw these silly knee high socks at Target and couldn't resist.  Why is there a whole section of knee-high socks at Target anyway...who wears those???  These take me about ten minutes to make.  Right up my alley. 



My deliciously sweet Josie, modeling her new babylegs.  She actually kept them on happily, even napped in them! 



Fourth Project:  Christmas banner
This idea comes from the first blog I mentioned.  She made a "Thankful" banner that inspired me.  Hobby Lobby had limited options for fabric, so I went with what I could find as 3 kids were slowly descending into meltdowns!  I thought about running to Joanne's "real quick"...but the kids impending meltdowns deterred me.  This project stretched my crafty brain.  It required multiple steps, lots of measuring and cutting....and instead of gluing everything, I chose to sew most everything except the letters.  But I had so much fun watching this come together!  I wasn't sure where I was going to hang it when I made it, but if I had known, I would have made the letters blue and the stars red...because the red does not pop nearly as well against the red well.  Oh well.  Finishing this project was a big step for me.  It says "Joy to the World" if you can't see it.



We ended the evening with a cozy fire, watching Polar Express with the big kids.  So much to be thankful for.  And yay Christmas time!

Thanksgiving Week Memories



Josie swinging at the new park on 518. I love her sweet, ridiculous smile!



Beautiful November park weather



2nd day at the same park.  This time with donuts (and baby Hippo)!  It is vacation :).




Ty has been into making paper airplanes this week.  Using his Klutz paper airplane design book, he created 3 himself and has been testing/racing/aiming and competing them, sometimes for points.  He even designed his own "windsock" out of cardstock and crate paper streamers to determine the wind direction outside.  He is so silly....and smart :).




3 silly kids and 2 big dogs = craziness and fun :)



Josie has decided that if eating involves a utensil, she must be in control of it.  Laynie was helping and encouraging Josie with her yogurt and they were both pretty proud of their success.



Thanksgiving feast with Ryan and Heather.  All of the food was delcicious and the kids had a great time with their Aunt and Uncle visiting!  Jason was the mastermind behind the turkey and continues to come up with creative ways to use the turkey...his first turkey and dumpling soup, turkey and broccoli quiche and more to come.  Yum!



Mancala has been the game of the week!  Ty has been playing mancala at school and we had an old board in the garage, so after bringing it in, it has become a hit!  Even Ty and Laynie can play together...it's great!  (until Laynie loses, but she's getting better :)).



This is one of Josie's many crazy moves lately.  She has officially become a climber.  She has no interest in toys right now, she only wants to climb the chairs at the table or climb onto the couch and over onto the end table.  She is pretty much a constant source of craziness and sillyness!



That's all for now!  Next post will include some of the fun crafts we've done this week!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Wiley

Wiley was such a special pet, he bridges so many memories.  After dating for 6 months in high school, Jason asked my mom if he could get me a kitty for a present...who does that?!  Surprisingly, she said yes!  He came home from the local SPCA around September of 1994.  The first couple of pics are hilarious to look back at, but I love them.  I love that Jason has been a part of my life for so long.  It is such a blessing that he got to know my mom before she passed away.  Wiley was there from our senior year in high school, through college, through our early years of marriage moving from Davis to Mountian View to Sunnyvale to San Jose...and finally to Texas!  All 3 of our kids have loved him.  (Although Ty has recently announced that he doesn't really like cats because according to him, cats somehow open his door at night and sneak into his room.  That would weird me out too, I suppose.) :) 

Jason with Wiley in my bedroom.  Our senior year in high school.  Gotta love the posters on the wall :).

Wiley was just a few months old here.  And yes, overalls were totally cool then ;).



The date is wrong in the corner of the pic.  I think this is around 1998/9 (our senior year in college) when Wiley was living at my Dad's house. 

Wiley at our apartment the year after we got married.



Wow, my hubby is hot!  :)  This is yesterday, saying goodbyes :(.



Cuddling my sweet Wiley.



Sweet Wiley Woodles.  We will all miss you around here.