So, it's been a while.

I won't make excuses for having been gone so long from here. It's been a little nuts around here. Between thanksgiving and the girls getting sick, me being sick, hubby was sick too, we had friends in town, Brielle turned 3 and had 2 birthday parties all on the same day..... Ok, so maybe that sounded alot like excues.

I have managed to be mildly productive during that time, but just mildly.

These are ornaments that I made by just wrapping scrapes of material, ribbon and ric rac around a foam ball and pinning a loop of ribbon on top to hang them on the tree.

The original purpose for this "tree skirt" was going to be a blanket. I started crocheting it when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter and realized a few months ago that I had absolutely no intention of ever finishing it. So I tied it off and moved on. It just happens to be the perfect size to wrap around the bottom of our tree and it matches the colors I use.

With Christmas coming there are lots of things to be made. In case you don't know this about me, our family (which includes us plus 9 gift recipients, not counting the girls) decided a few years ago that we would give only (pretty much) handmade gifts. And if we are being totally honest, I have 17 days and no gifts completed. To be even more forthcoming, I only have one hat on needles. That's all I even have started. Ahhh! Why am I blogging. I should be working!

I'll be back soon. I promise! If you feel so inclined tell us what you're making this holiday season.

This was really hard for me. I was asked by someone in our church to embroider this.  Folks from several churches will do a square and it will all be sewn together and finished as a quilt.  Here's the problem(s) I faced. First, I was super nervous about being brand new to embroidering and having my piece put  next to folks that I'm sure are old pros. Secondly, I really (REALLY) dislike Precious Moments. This did not help the process, at all. However, I managed to finish it and am really excited to hand it over and move on.

Kid Crafting

 Today I'm watching a friends kids for a couple hours while she goes to a doctors appointment. Rather than just letting them run around fighting with one another over the toys in my little house, I decided to do a craft project with them.

Before they arrived I set out markers, colored pencils, crayons, buttons, ribbon, glue, stickers, glitter (I have reaffirmed my distain for glitter. It was in the grilled cheese crusts I had for lunch) and all things fun!

The plan was to make sketch books for each of them (to have to avoid bickering over coloring books).

 So we sat down and got to work. They colored and glued on buttons and stuck stickers. Then the mess really took off when I gave them each a glue stick and a shaker of glitter. Mind you, I'm working with 2.5, 3, and 5 year old. After they were satisfied with the book covers we added fill paper and a back, I punched holes and they picked their favorite ribbon to tie them up with.

Success!! I even managed to make lunch while they colored in their new books! yay!! I would totally do this again with any age really. I will however, remove glitter from the equation and maybe add some fun stamps and more stickers.