Christmas softies, take 2

I posted earlier about making these little felt ornaments.

 In the meantime, I tried to make a different shape. I just don't love it so much. I think I am a fan of  stars.

 Eventually I did get some white to make the candy cane stars. LOVE them!

 And after much contemplation-wanting to make snowflakes, and then ornaments, then this, then that-I went back to the original idea of stars for the tree skirt I was hoping to make by Christmas. I decided to make them white with maroon/magenta and light blue stitching. I hate matching colours. I took a snowman decoration from our house I liked and matched the colours to it.

 So here is my start. . .

 A finished blue. . .

 And a finished maroon/magenta . . .

I still need to stitch the outer edges of the tree skirt. . .

We will have to see if it gets done. It is an ice-skating kind of evening for me and my son tonight, so I don't think much will get done. At least it should be done for next Christmas!

A little pre-Christmas

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted last!

I can believe that I have been having an awesome week with my kiddos so far!

A busy end to school. . .and now it is a lot of playing. No sleeping in for me, but I can't ask for too much, right?

Last night the kids got a surprise visit from Santa! Yep, Santa came right to our door! Along with two firetrucks and a bunch of firemen on their way to the hospital to spread some Christmas cheer there. It was a nice pre-visit for my kids--their eyes were HUGE as they looked at a "real" Santa that close!-- and they each got a stuffy from Santa as well.

 The kids have been busy making cards. . .here is one E had for a teacher/helper at his school. "Real Christmas cards are just kinda boring, unless they have glitter"--according to him.

 Crazy me always have my kiddos help me make cards of some kind. I started this when E was 3, I think. They love it, but I am crazy for doing it! This year we made cards using recycled materials (cards, paper, left-over craft materials, etc.) We didn't get very far. . .I think we only made 19. And I also haven't sent too many off yet. . .too busy!

 But never too busy for. . .

A hot chocolate break!

 The Christmas picture we finally settled on. . .after all the other failures! But then, who knows if anyone will see it as the Christmas cards are not being used so much yet.

 More Christmas crafts/ornaments that need to be made. . .

 Yep, one craft a day is how it has been going down at our house. In addition to the other "creative messes" we have going on, of course.

And to close this overdue post. . . 

This is the first picture with Santa the kids have ever had. We finally decided that this year Santa wasn't so scary! (Although, from the photo, I can't tell that Princess A is convinced. She did find him later so she could give him a hug!)

Blessings to you during this holiday season!

A little Christmas softie

I was home on my own on Friday night, and decided to try out a little craft. It was one of those nights where I had two loads of laundry to fold and a movie to watch.

(As a side note, it was WWJD (What Would Jesus Do? with John Schneider and Adam Gregory . . . got it from the library. . . and was quite impressed with its message, just FYI. Good to watch . . . not raving about the acting or anything like that, but a good movie to still watch and I am not regretting it. I liked Fireproof a lot too, for that same reason. So. . .that is my take.)

I had wanted to make a tree skirt for my Christmas tree--knowing full well I should start that NOW if I wanted to get it done by the time we set up the tree! I had this great idea, but wanted to test out the stitching before doing it on the final project. . .so I decided to make a little Christmas ornament. I got this idea from here. (BTW--adorable blog!) I was going to make it look EXACTLY the same! When I was looking for my felt, it turned out my "white" was actually a white with apple green polka dots! Hmmm. . .what to do.

 I did a little google search for Christmas colour trends, and found this fantastic photo. I loved all the bright colours. . .not sure I would ever try it in my own house, but loved the colours together . . . which gave me the confidence to keep trying my little softie.

(image from here)

I chose a deep magenta-kind of purple embroidery floss. Then I put the two star shapes together and started my stitching. Blanket stitching, I believe it is called.

 Okay, okay. I got too excited! Back up to the beginning. This is what you want to do first: Get a star pattern. Cut out two. Choose embroidery floss and get a needle.

 THEN, start stitching! I tried to get some close-up photos to show you my stitching. You just do your regular go in the back and come out the front stitching . . .

 . . .except that when you are ready to go in the back you need to thread it through your loop.

 That will "hook" the top and make that nice line along the outer edge of your piece of felt.

(And for some reason, I want to do this stitching around about 10 stars on my Christmas tree skirt!!! What am I thinking?!!?)

 At about this point, I decided to get some of my "stuffing" (quilting batting for me) to make it poofy and soft.

 Once it is full, I finished stitching around the last point of my star, made a loop for hanging. And there  you go--a star.

 However, I added a little star button (just lighter than my embroidery floss) and the extra floss in a bow. I placed it just off to the side of the centre of my ornament (although it is kinda hard to see from the picture.

I think I will have a bunch of nights like this if I am going to finish up that tree skirt idea of mine. . .

anyone want to come for a crafting/coffee/cookies night?

Happy crafting!

Halloween Weekend

This weekend we did all of our "Halloween Stuff" (for lack of a better way to say it all!)

The local library had a program for kids--they could come dressed up, but their stuffie also had to have a costume! Very cute idea! So my kids picked their "costumes" for the kids, got on google for its help in printables, and enlisted the help of Oma for making a tutu for the fairy stuffie.

My Spiderman with his bat-dog.

 My fairy princess with her fairy princess Ruthie-Lynn

 The kids listening to some stories at the Library. They also got to play some games, make a mask, and collect a treat!

 Later in the evening the grown-ups went to a pumpkin carving get-together with our small group. . . here was my food contribution. Chocolate and creepy-crawlies! Yum!

(See below for the {small} pumpkin the hubby created!)

 The next day was pumpkin carving day with the kiddos.

 Daddy and Princess A making their scary pumpkin face

 E designed his own this year and needed some help learning how to get it on the pumpkin "the way Daddy does it."

 E hard at work. . . and Princess A there for the photo!

E's pumpkin 

 Princess A's pumpkin

 Then came the actual day! Here is our chauffeur, in true pumpkin-day style!

 Here are our fearless trick-or-treaters!

A fairy princess, a fisherman (minus the hat that was just too annoying to keep on for him!) and Spiderman.

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Al's neighborhood, where we saw our cousins too. . .

 . . . and then met up with some of our friends to tour Opa and Oma's neighborhood, where we saw our other cousins, too!

 And here is our "pumpkin-magic" for the evening.

Happy Halloween to you all!

Pumpkin Patch

More Fall FUN!!!

The school I teach at went on a field trip to Aldor Acres. It is a 4 seasons farm, but we went to help celebrate our unit on Fall and Pumpkins. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day! I'm not sure we could have asked for a better day! (Okay, maybe a few less bees. . .)

One great thing about this field trip was that the class I taught had lots of parent supervisors come along, so I got to spend some time with my class and some time with my son, who is in a different class. What a blessing that was for me (because it is also one of the "bad" things about working/teaching as a mom!). So here is my little guy with his pumpkin!

 Playing on some of the decorations they had. . .E loved this one!

 This is one of the barns the kids got to go in and see/play with the animals. This farm did a pretty good job of having displays and information about the animals, and lots of them to pet as well!

 The big pig and the piglets!

 Just a fun little picture of E and the kids in his group. It was great to be able to see the kids in all the classes play and explore around this great place!

 Holding the baby bunnies. . .I think E wants a pet now!



It was another great day to explore God's creation and the changes He brings about during the seaons of FALL!



Family Fall Fun

Around Thanksgiving, my sister and her family came out to visit. There were a few sunny days, so we took a little trip to a local "farm." We left the youngest kids with Oma and Opa, and then all of us big kids enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of Willowview Farms. I love the cutesy-country feel of this place! They have great decorations for Fall and the Country Store--oh my! Loved it!

 It was quite a sunny day, and it seemed like all the photo opportunities were facing the sun! So here are the kiddos, squinting as I forced them to stand for a picture!

 My adorable niece! She loved seeing all the pumpkins.

 And my adorable kiddos!

 Walking through the big pumpkins, and trying to move them. We were not successful at that, but it was fun to try.

 And many more pumpkins to choose from. Too many actually!

I loved this little "How Tall This Fall?" height measure! If only the sun were shining the other direction and I could get a decent picture. . .oh well, maybe another time. Or to create one of my own somewhere. . . (to my hubby's horror!) 

 Our favourite animal of the day. . .little piggies!

 A picture in one of the pumpkin patches. . .those are big pumpkins!

 And a picture in the corn field. . .the kids had never walked in between row of corn before, so that was kind of exciting for them!

 Oh course there was the apple orchard, the play area, the animals, the candy sticks and pie. . .so much to do and enjoy there!

{And the bees! Who can get away from the bees this year!}

And so much fun to do it all with family!

So long Fall Fun Day!