Why is it so hard...

 I'm sure you must feel as if you've been hearing about our new house for months... you're right, you have. Yesterday marked the 17th month since we signed the contract to build our home. I can't hardly believe it's taken this long. And the end is not in sight yet. I don't think it's going to be completed this year. There's not a thing I can do about it. I work mightily at not giving in to disappointment.

But, the good thing is that this time as given me the opportunity to purge, downsize, declutter, face the reality that I'm never going to get to some of the craft projects I thought I'd like to do. Haha

But, why is it so hard to let that stuff go? One reason is because I spent money on it in the first place. I choose to counteract that procrastination by realizing that giving those supplies to someone who will use them is a good use of that money. Another reason is that I keep holding out hope that I'll actually try that craft one day. The reality is that one day hasn't come for years, so why would I keep hoping it will! 

I've been giving my 6-year-old granddaughter a lot of craft supplies. So many, evidently, that she told me this summer to please not give her any for awhile! She uses the supplies she receives and does crafts alot, but even she's wise enough to know when enough is enough. I need to be like her!

I have an aversion to moving stuff that I know I'm not going to need/use. It's a waste of time, money and effort. Now that our house has been extended so many more months I'm seriously going to sort through the craft boxes in storage and be brutal in facing my truth. I am 66 years old and I'm only going to keep the crafts that I actually do. The rest can go to someone who will use and enjoy them. In the past I've donated needleart supplies to the local high school. I may see if the art department wants some of my other supplies.

Either way, I woke up this morning serious about really purging. Hope I keep my intention! 

Candy Sleds

Of course, I found this idea on Pinterest. It is a sled made out of candy! The grandkids were thrilled and wanted to make them for their parents.

The day before Thanksgiving we gathered our supplies and set to work. They did a great job! I used glue dots instead of the hot glue gun that is called for in most of the instructions I found (how can you use hot glue with chocolate?!) They were able to handle the dots by themselves. I found the chocolate Santa at IKEA and he looked very cute "driving" the sled.

This was a fun activity that I will definitely keep in mind for future holidays.

Thunder 

Skye

Sunny 

(My son, JD is making pies in the background)

See What I Found... J's!

In August I posted a request to my children to please not name any more of their kids with "J" names. Scrabble games only come with one "J" and I'm really into making Scrabble crafts right now.

Well, that was then and this is now.

We were in KC last weekend and went to an event down at the West Bottoms. At one of the shops they were selling individual Scrabble tiles for 25 cents each.

You guessed it... I bought J's!

Eight of them in fact. I was so thrilled.

So now, if someone in my family has another "J" baby, I'm prepared!

Skye

Skye was over recently and I caught her spinning her fidget spinner on Gramps' head...

Success! 

He is such a good sport! Later, she and I made a Christmas craft (because as you know, it's never too early or too late for Christmas activities at my house!).

Doesn't she have the sweetest smile?

As you can see from the playroom behind her there was some serious playing going on that day! The ornament was simple and fun to make and the other grands will be making them over Fall Break in October. It's so fun to do crafts with them, especially now that they're older and more interested in the details of how you create things!

Textiles

I am a stitcher. I currently create counted cross stitch projects.

My stitching life began in first grade. Literally. For some reason our first grade teacher, Mrs. Betty Kerns taught all of us first graders to knit. I love to knit, but haven't picked up knitting needles in over thirty years. I keep meaning to take a refresher course and take it up again, but I have too many counted cross stitch patterns to make first.

I learned to embroider when I was nine years old. My maternal grandmother, Mae Ammerman taught me how. I loved to embroider. Especially with variegated threads!

My next foray into the needle arts was needlepoint. I enjoyed needle point throughout my teens and early twenties. This was accompanied by a brief obsession with latch hook (I have a box of latch hook projects I made and I can't bring myself to throw them out, but I really don't want to keep them. Any suggestions?)

Then I discovered counted cross stitch. I don't even remember how I came upon this craft. I was hooked. I've been cross stitching every since (except for the ten year break I took to raise my kids from 1990-2000).

I have also dabbled in quilting. I like to quilt, but since I use the hand piece, hand quilt method it's starting to be difficult. Because I have old eyes and old hands.

The one needle art that has eluded me is crochet. My grandmas (both of them) crocheted and tried to teach me how multiple times. My problem is that I stitch too tightly. No matter what, I could not relax the tension of my stitches. So I gave up.

Since I can't crochet, my mission in life is to rescue as many crochet doilies as is humanly possible at Goodwill, garage sales, estate sales and antique shops. I also pin crocheted items on Pinterest. A lot.

While I wish I could crochet, and I do occasionally think about giving it a try again, I can't get past the dozens of cross stitch patterns I need to stitch first. So, here are some photos of what I would crochet if I could crochet.

   

   

   

Christmas Crafts

Sunny has always been very creative and interested in crafts. She has been begging me since she turned three years old to teach her to stitch. Thunder is now getting more interested in crafts, so I thought this year would be a good one for Christmas crafting.

I bought one of those foam DIY ornament kits at Hobby Lobby. They made several individual ornaments, and then we decided to make the rest of them into a garland they can hang at their house. They worked on their ornaments individually, and I was surprised when Thunder took more care making his than Sunny did. I think she got bored.

Anyway, here is the end result!

See What I Made!

While visiting JD and Janel in Kansas, Dan and I stopped off at Menard's. We don't have Menard's in Phoenix, but we sure wish we did! One of the items we purchased was a craft glass block. It was priced at $8.99, but rang up for $3.00. I thought about purchasing two more, but I didn't. After we got home I started playing around with ideas for my glass block. This is what I came up with:

The trees are from my Christmas Village. The snowflake lights were purchased at Menard's. Not only do they have three light settings, but they stay on for six hours, turn off for 18 hours, and then come back on for six hours. I have run them now for over a week and they never fail to come on and go off at the same time each day. Jessica made the bow for me (because I am bow-challenged).

After I made this, I called JD and asked him to run out to Menard's and buy me two more blocks! He did and will deliver them to me at Thanksgiving. I'm excited to see what I can do with them to add to my Holiday decor!

Home Again!

We've been on the road the past week visiting our oldest son and DIL in Kansas. I miss JD and Janel so much during the year and enjoy every moment we're able to spend with them.

We left last Tuesday afternoon to try to outrun the moisture from Odile, which never materialized in our part of the state. We arrived in Manhattan, KS mid afternoon on Thursday. The purpose of our trip, besides spending time with the kids, was to lay flooring in their home.

Dan and JD got started on Friday morning and finished the job on Sunday around lunch time. It looks beautiful! It's amazing how changing your flooring can change the entire look of your home.

Duke attempting to make friends with Piper

Dan laying the new floor in the entry 

JD working on the kitchen floor 

Part of Janel's container garden,

she has quite the green thumb!  

Me and Janel!

Janel and JD 

Piper, our new grand-cat 

Nym

Me and my son!

Duke, Dan, JD

While the boys were busy working, Janel and I were busy having fun!! Having our priorities straight, the first thing we did on Friday was head to Picture This Plus in Abilene, KS. In case you've never been there in person, you may not know that PTP is on the basement floor of the building and a new and used bookstore is on the street level. The bookstore accepts donations and gives a store credit that can be used at either the bookstore or PTP. Of course, Janel used her credit at PTP! Next time we go I'm going to take our books and see what credit I can get.

Marilyn and her staff are all terrific and available to help in any way needed. I bought four fabrics and one pattern. We'll back there again next July and of course, will stop in again. We also visited a couple of antique shops in Abilene and had a delightful lunch at Mr. K's Farmhouse. Then we ran up to Salina to Sam's Club and then back home.

On Saturday morning, I attended Janel's card club and actually made some cards! I was so nervous about this because I've not really used stamps before (Janel sells Stampin Up products). But Janel walked me through it and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!!

My first attempt at stamping

After lunch, we headed down to Aggieville for the 125th year celebration. Then Janel took me over to the mall.

On Sunday morning, we sat outside and stitched while the boys were finishing up the floor. It was glorious weather, and a nice change from stitching in the air conditioning in Phoenix!! We also got to stitch outside on the deck that afternoon after the boys were through using the saw out there.

Sunday night we went to The Little Grill for dinner. It's a Jamaican place with live music almost every night. We went there last time we were in town and loved it. It's on our list of places to definitely go every time we visit!

I came home inspired to speed up my stitching! It's hard to leave them; Dan and I agreed that we start missing them as soon as we pull out of their driveway. But this year they're coming home for Thanksgiving so I will see them soon. Since JD and Dan worked so hard while we were out there, I want to be sure to have lots of down time for them to spend together here. Jessica, Janel, and I are planning a lunch at The Spicery which will include stitching time for all three of us. I can't wait to see them again!!

Fun with Jessica

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:25 NIV

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Yes, as you can see I can't update my text box again. Grrr! This time I'm not even bothering to send feedback to Google. I don't think they listen anyhow.

Yesterday Jessica was off for Columbus Day. We decided to have a craft day and wow, am I pleased with the results!

My mom had a shoebox of angels that she wanted made into a wreath, so that was the first craft completed. Jessica worked for my brother and SIL as a teen in their flower shop and honed her talent for arranging. Mom's wreath turned out great and Mom liked it too!

This summer as I started to think about Christmas decor, I decided I wanted a swag. Do you know how much they cost?! Even with a coupon, they are still pricey. A few days later my Current, Inc catalog arrived and guess what?! A swag for less than $10.00! And it was flocked and lighted with LED lights. I ordered it and began to think about how I wanted to finish it. 

I was in the garage this weekend looking for something and had to move the tub marked "Santas". That brought to mind the mini-santas Dan painted years ago. I've always loved them, but I've never found just the right way to display them. Well, now I have. Jess used them for my swag and I love the way it turned out.

Two of the ornaments in the center are Santa-related too. One says "HOHOHO" and the other says "Dear Santa" with an outline of Santa reading a letter. Isn't it pretty? And what a great way to display those mini-santas (FINALLY!)

The last craft was pinned from Pinterest. I've seen a variety of ways to do it on that site. Each one is cute. I knew I wanted to make an ornament shadowbox for this year, but that's as far as my thought process went. This August I was walking through Michael's when I saw a grey/silver colored shadowbox in the clearance bin. I bought it and started planning what kind of theme I wanted for the box. I knew I wanted to fill it with ornaments, but wasn't sure what color combo to use. 

Yesterday I decided to use traditional red, green, white for the box primarily. I also added some tiny snowmen to help fill in the spaces. I bought the words for $2 at Walmart. This craft I was able to do with Jessica! Even I can place ornaments in a shadowbox! It is gorgeous. Very shiny, very colorful. I love it!

The swag, the shadowbox, and the wreath we made this summer are going to be festive additions to my Christmas decor this year. Plus, I've got a totally new vignette in mind for decor... you will be amazed when you see it. It's totally outside of the way I normally decorate. I'll share it after Thanksgiving...

Christmas in July Pinterest Party

I've been posting a Christmas in July entry every day on my Christmas blog. I can't believe that I actually came up with 31 posts for this series! Tomorrow's post will feature today's Christmas in July Pinterest party.
Jessica, Katie, Shelby, and I got together to make crafts that we've pinned. We had a blast and have already planned our next Pinterest party for Nov. 2nd. We were joined via Skype by Janel who had crafts of her own to share with us.

Here's a look at what we made:

My craft

(but really Jessica made it for me!)

Katie's craft

Katie's craft

Jessica's craft

Shelby's craft 

Shelby graciously let Sunny "help" her! 

Shelby, me, Katie, Jessica

Wrapping Up 2012

Before I begin this post I'd like to ask for prayer for my granddaughter Sunny. She was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday. Poor little thing... she looks absolutely miserable. I know she's sick because all she does is lay on the couch or in bed. Hopefully Thunder won't get it too. Thank you for your prayers!

The last week of 2012 was a flurry of activity and I didn't post some final photos, so here they are:

Summer enjoying a nap in Dan's chair

Marti, Kyler, and me

Kyler is our surrogate grandson. He turned 14 this year. His birthday is a few days before Christmas so I delivered his birthday and Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. I can't believe he's 14!!

Sunny rockin' out at Abuela's house on Christmas Eve

Thunder is on the left and his newest (and only boy) cousin Bryce is on the right

Christmas Eve Family photo

I need some new wreaths and Jessica came over the day after Christmas and made this wreath for me. Isn't it beautiful?! I'm hoping she can make a couple more next year.

The kids stayed with us a few days/nights while Katie and Gabe went to California to celebrate Gabe's 30th birthday. Of course Buster came to spend the time too. As you can see, everyone likes to sit on Gramps' lap!