Stash Bash!

It's time for the Stash Bash!! 

I am joining in on Crunchy Catholic Momma's weekly Stash Bash cause you know us crafters have our stashes! lol  It is my goal this year to use up some of mine and to actually finish (or start! ha!) these projects that I have been stashing materials for! lol There are just too many great ideas and not enough hours in the day!! So I have to remind myself to stay focused!!



This project is no different....I first saw it in a Family Fun magazine. What a great idea to make a rug out of old t-shirts!! I must admit that we bought the hoola hoops for this one MONTHS ago... ok last summer ... and I've been collecting t-shirts off the share table at our homeschool co-op and MOMS club for months too.... well, my stash was beginning to take up way too much room in my closet so it was time to take the leap and start cutting!!
















 I so love using cast away clothing for new projects but SO hate that first cut! lol

I couldn't believe how long she worked on this without complaining!! :) She worked so hard on it and it is progressing so nicely!!  I'll post more pictures when she gets it done! This is going to look so nice in my kitchen!! :)

Tell me a story!

I was working on getting my shop stocked back up the other day and my daughter just had to point out the way these guys were sitting on my counter.... she said that it looked like the wolf was protecting the sheep... I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was more likely he was protecting his dinner! lol

The girls and I have really been enjoying my newest creations- story cubes! I started out making these for a swap and they ended up being a new favorite in our house! While I am making dinner, or the girls are waiting for Daddy to get home, they get them out and roll away to find where the story leads them!!  In the beginning the stories were really pretty lame....

There was a cow and a sheep making foot prints in a field with an acorn, a sucker and a ball of yarn.

Now they are getting really detailed and sometimes entirely too long! lol

Once upon a time there was a little sheep that saw a little cow and the cow said "Do you want to play?". "Yes" said the sheep and they scattered off. They found a lollypop on the ground and they saw some footprints beside it. "Someone has been eating this lollypop" and then there was an acorn falling from a tree that hit the cow!  And the sheep said "Oh dear!". Then they found a ball of yarn with a cat chasing behind it.They decided to all be friends!

I love hearing what the girls come up with and they love taking turns adding to the stories. It still amazes me how it's the simple things that seem to entertain them the best! :) I'll be adding these to the shop soon so please check back! I plan on making some more of these for my girls to hide in their Easter eggs! Who needs candy when you could have more stories?! :)

Everybodies neighbor

Every city has someone that they are proud to call there own... it might be a sports figure or an actress or even a US President that is that cities claim to fame. Pittsburgh has those kind of people too but it also has one of the greatest men I wish I had gotten to meet... Mister Rogers....

 Now, I don't know if it was because I spent a chunk of my childhood near Pittsburgh, or if it simply came down to it was just something I loved to watch... but for me Mister Rogers and his land of make believe was a very big part of my growing up. I can remember learning about music, and getting to "meet" great singers and musicians. I can remember watching him feed the fish and thinking how wonderful it was for him to have that in his house. I can also remember learning how things like wagons and teddy bears were made. My favorite memory tho is when he went to the Crayola factory and showed us how crayons were made. I remember it so brilliantly, tho colors melting and swirling and the mass amount of colorful crayons that were created. Perhaps that's where my love of crayons come from, who knows. To this day, I still have my own box of crayons that I won't let the girls use! :) Not to worry, they have their own collection of colors! :)

It saddens me to think that there is a whole generation of kids missing out on his life lessons, and that someone somewhere thinks his lessons aren't very relevant today. His shows aren't on everyday like they used to be and that is such a tragedy. His kind of life lessons will never go out of date and every child that has ever seen his show is nothing but a better person for having seen it. I have tried very hard to make him very real and alive for my girls. They actually just found out a few months ago that he had passed away... they never knew that he was gone before they were even born! We have watched the shows as much as we can now that they are limited and harder to find and I honestly wondered if I had made a big enough of a deal about him for them to really get how great of a guy he was....

On our recent trip to Pittsburgh, one of our goals of the trip was to find the Mister Rogers display in the airport. I had talked about it for weeks and the girls had agreed that they wanted to find it too but I wasn't really sure how "exciting" it would be for them.... boy was I wrong!! As we left the very cool toy store in the airport, we asked for directions to the display and were told they were actually talking about taking it out of the airport.... another shame on them moments if you ask me! So the girls and I set off to find this display (which is near the indoor playground in case you were wondering) and then we saw it.... in the shape of King Friday's castle.... standing there in all its glory. On one side there was a screen with info on it and then the girls turned the corner of it and all I heard was loud screeching! They had found his shoes and sweater and through the squeels, giggles and jumping up and down I really thought they might pee their pants from excitement!! :) We took a number of pictures and I finally had to tell them to calm down because the pictures were coming out blurry! lol It was then I knew that I had done something right, they knew what a big deal it was to see this great man's sweater in person.... and I knew then that he would never really be gone. He will never be gone as long as there are people to tell his story and share his work.

So, for now, I will just keep on showing them his shows on Amazon and keep playing his record (my very favorite record in my collection) and hope that his messages keep speaking to my girls and that they will never forget....that I love them just the way they are....

 Remembering Fred Rogers, March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003

Finally it's spring!!

Happy Spring Equinox!

 Finally it's spring!! :)

 I feel like celebrating! To celebrate I am having a sale in my Etsy shop! Enter "SpringFlowers" and get 20% off now thru March 31st! :) Just in time to get Easter goodies!

Girls after my own heart

With our vacation taking a little longer than expected, we were in a mad dash when we got home to get our car kits and get working on them for the upcoming AWANA Grand Prix! The girls were so excited to get started, and to be honest, I was too!

We started by tracing out the shape of the block of wood onto a piece of paper so the girls could draw out what they wanted Daddy to cut out...














Then the girls decided their cars really needed drivers and asked if I could make them some pegdolls to sit on top. Now, of course I could have but what would the fun have been in that!? So... I put them to work on making them themselves! lol They had to draw it on in pencil and then I agreed to wood burn their drawings on for them and they could paint them! It was so cute to see them hard at work on pegdolls.... girls after my own heart...

After Daddy cut out the cars, I used carbon paper to transfer their drawings onto the wood cars and then wood burned the drawings on for them! They were just ready to paint, seal and race!!

Can you tell that my oldest is definitely a Daddy's girl? It looks like a tank to me but she said it was a hunting truck complete with deer head on the front! lol Too funny!!!

And of course my youngest had to have a VW bug! She was so proud of those tulips she drew on the sides! :)

Check back for an update and more pics of the finished products. This whole experience has been great family time so far! Lovin it! :)

Never be the same...

It's such a weird feeling to know that someone you have known ALL your life is gone.... being away makes it feel so surreal... I'm just not comprehending that someone that has always been there just isn't....Death is a part of life but still somehow I can't imagine... just gone...

It can never be a good thing to get woke up out of a deep sleep to the phone ringing.... but it's even worse when you see on caller ID who it is and your mind starts racing faster than you ever thought possible in the few seconds it might take for your hand to reach for the phone and answer it.  That's how my day started today....

I can't even remember if I said hello when I answered it, I think I might have just blurted out "Are Grammy and Papa ok?" That was followed by a breath of relief before the next blow came and my mom said "It's Uncle George".

I cried, felt regrets that we didn't get to see him while we were back visiting (due to all the illness we had and didn't want to share with him!) and crumbled into my husband to cry some more. I cried for my Papa who lost his only living brother, and for my cousins who lost their Dad and Grandpa, and I cried for myself because it's the loss of  one more person in my world who grounded me. Another one of "those people" who are part of my earliest memories in life who have always been there and who in my mind would always be there...

The loss of someone you love is always such a reminder to tell the people that are still with us just how much they mean to us. It might be an awkward thing to pour your heart out to someone about your deepest feelings about them but really, what do you have to lose. Some things just need to be said before it's too late. My challenge for you is don't wait. Don't wait to make that phone call or send that thoughtful card. Don't wait to make sure the people you love know just how much!!



I hope my Uncle George knew how much he was loved....

"Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.” ♥

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.

Fairies among us!

Before the sick crud set in on all of us, our vacation was cruising right along. Fun snowy days of sledding and hot cocoa, family visits all around and even a trip to our much loved Hobby Lobby! :) Living where we do, we SOOO miss having the option of shopping there so I took advantage of their wood crafting supplies and picked up a few things for the shop. As usual, I get something in my head and just have to make it happen before I bust from creative ideas! lol  So, I set to work with Mom's new toy (a wood burner just like mine) and this little egg was what I ended up with!

Is it crazy to say I'm in love with a wooden egg?! lol

 

While the larger egg is for me, the smaller one and a few others were mailed out for another swap with BitsofGoodness. I love being part of such an amazing community and can't wait to see what other fairy goodness we get in return!:)

 Also be sure to check out KEEP CALM CRAFT ON for more links to amazing creations!