Jessica's Present is DONE!

Now I hope I didn't hype this up and you are expecting more than it is, but I am pretty excited to have started AND completed this project. I can't remember if I mentioned  The Best Dressed Knitted Bear book that Jessica saw in a recent KnitPicks catalog. She was enamored of the ballerina teddy bear she saw sampled in the catalog. (It's also where Amy saw the most recent giraffe she wants me to make for her). Anyway, I wanted to see the book first before buying it and I found it at Barnes and Noble (unbeknownst to Jessica). That started my mad dash to create the bear as a Christmas gift for her. Last night I put the finishing touches on the bear and thought I'd share it with you. Please remember, I'm much more of a crocheter than a knitter.

Here is my version of Ballerina Bear. The pattern called for adding a bunch of sequins to the skirt. I didn't think it needed the bling (the sample Jessica saw didn't have the sequins, either) as I felt it would over power the outfit.

I had to make a slight modification to the skirt as it ended up too large for the bear (I'd stuffed her first and made the clothes after stuffing). After mulling it over a bit, I decided to weave some ribbon through the waistband so it could be tightened to fit. That way it didn't look like a mistake (taps forehead with finger-always thinking), if you know what I mean. LOL

I have fallen in love with that face. I'm SO tickled at how it turned out. No mischievous, naughty grins this time. hee, hee



A couple of close-ups, if you don't mind...

Here's that face again....love how the ears droop a bit, too.

And the shoes. Can't forget the shoes!

Here she is from the back...and that is the mommy is much relieved to have completed somewhat successfully Christmas gift for Jessica. Whew!

And in keeping with the ballet theme, last night I was at Target picking up an Amy Grant Christmas cd, because I can't find my copy (so much for claiming to work on my organizing around the house). Found one called A Christmas Collection, with four new songs on it (Love the songs, Jena).  Anyway, I wandered around looking for gift ideas for the girls and I came across a rack of  dance leotards on clearance for around $3 each! I was thrilled and got one for each of the girls. (We may be signing them up for dance class this winter, since Amy they keep asking). 

Nona posted these mittens on her blog yesterday. Omg, they are adorable! But I have to overcome my fear of double-pointed knitting needles before attempting this one. Maybe I'll make it one of my goals for 2010?

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great day! Now that I've got this bear done, it's onto other projects...

Amigurumi Ornaments

I keep seeing that it's less than two weeks until Christmas. I wasn't too stressed about all the goodies I want to make until yesterday, when I realized I still had a bunch of things I wanted to create and not a whole heckuvalotov time to get them made. I don't think I am going to get them all done. But I've decided I'm not going to stress about it. I'll do what I can for the holiday and call it good.

Toward that end, I thought I'd share these ornaments with you. I found the pattern at Joann's...one of those freebie ones you see as you walk around the store. My initial thought was to just make the Santa and the Snowman for the recipients I had in mind. Jessica was looking at the photo and insisted I had to make the mouse, too. Okay, you all know how I feel about mice (well, the real live ones) these days(and we have another one roaming around, darn it). But even I had to admit this little guy was kinda, sorta cute, so I agreed to make him, too. With a slight addition. The pattern called for making two arms and no legs, but I thought a legless mouse might look a little weird, so I added a couple more "arms" and called them legs. Santa is modified a bit as well. The pattern didn't call for the white hat brim, but I felt it needed it. Then the hat looked kind of silly sticking straight up, so I folded it and sewed the fold in place. There, he looks better (we won't talk about his crooked face, 'kay?) And don't look too closely at the snowman's smile. I think it looks kind of creepy, like he's got some not so nice thoughts going on which is so not right to think about this time of year. But, I followed the pattern and placed the smile on after it was stuffed and I really should have added it before. Oh well. Maybe I'll just think of it as a mischievous little smile.

*******

I'm hoping Jessica is not going to end up with what I fear she might...late yesterday she told me her ear hurt. Ugh. Gave her some ibuprofen and it stopped hurting, but apparently she was up during the night (Steve got up with her, I must have been dead to the world). She told me her ear hurt and she had a bad dream. Double ugh. I don't want to have to take her to the doctor and be told she has an ear infection. Although, it wouldn't surprise me, given how stuffed up her head was with that cold/sinus thing she had. Please think good thoughts today that it resolves itself (or share some hints that might help it to resolve itself) so we don't have to get antibiotics. Thanks!

On a positive note, I have been making some good progress on her gift. I'm just about done with the knitting (yay!) and can put it together tonight (hopefully) after she goes to bed.

*****
I forgot to say thank you so much for your good thoughts after our fence incident. I sure appreciate them. I don't think it bothers me (that it happened) near as much as it bugs Steve. But then, I'm not the one who will do the majority of the work to fix it. We won't be making a claim, I think it'll cost less than our deductible. What bugged me more is that the person didn't take responsibility for it. Accidents happen, the road is snowpacked and icy. Own up to your mistake, don't take the coward's way out. But what goes around, comes around, right? It's a done deal and we will just take care of it. Maybe that person drives by and thinks about what they did and does better if there is a next time with someone else.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope your Sunday is a good one and your week is productive and happy!

How About Some Prettier Pictures?

Well, maybe this isn't quite the pretty I was thinking of, but I think you can guess what the girls and I did yesterday. LOL This is the mess before the pretty. Yeah, that's it.

Maybe this is a little prettier? Well, except for the chocolate face, but we can look past that, right?

Amy really gets into the decorating of it all! She was a huge help in getting the boxes down from the attic.

And my two sweet helpers when they were all done with the tree. I took these at night and my initial tree shot (minus kids) came out blurry. Darn.

Jessica added Polly to the Santa Express!

Here's the train set they put up themselves. Actually they decorated the tree by themselves. I did the other decor.

And here are some shots from around the house. I pulled down a box I must have missed a few years (or Steve left up in the attic) and had fun discovering what I actually had in my stash (like all the snow people and stuffed goodies...LOL) By the pink bag is another thrift store snowman from this year. Oops baby snowman fell over.

The mantel. First time I've decorated it, other than having the stockings around it. Another snowman found at Arc. I noticed after I got him home he's missing an arm, but the rest of him is too cute, so I don't really care. I found the tall bowl on a stem at the thrift store too and added some dollar store garland and pinecones. Then I added a small jelly jar to the center and stuck some cinnamon sticks in it. The cross stitch was made by my mom. The gold ribbon and ornaments in the jars were found at the dollar store. I added a few clear ornaments (from the thrift store) to help fill it up. Oh and the mason jar with the fabric has jingle bells I found at Michaels (on sale) I love the country feel the darker colors evoke. Guess where I got that garland draping the mantel? Yep, the thrift store, it has lights, too, but I gotta figure out a way to get it plugged in. Cost? $2.99 for that garland! Can you tell I've been having a blast? I have three Arc thrift stores within 10-15 minutes of each other and I've been going on Saturdays to check them out. On Saturdays almost everything is 50% off the ticketed price. So fun!

 Found a good place for my gingerbread house and card holder. Showing off some of the great cards we've already received. Now to keep the girls' stuff off the "little table." LOL I painted that sled back in my tole painting days. Loved the little elves.

I crocheted this snowflake garland with the thought of putting it by the mantel (before the garland score) and needed to put it somewhere. Somehow it seems to fit here. (don't tell me if you think it looks dorky, okay?)

And finally, so as to not bore you to tears...here's my corner table on the porch. I found a Christmas tree I forgot I owned! Love how it fits perfectly right here!

Thanks so much for looking. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my humble attempts at decorating for the holidays. Maybe it's not magazine worthy, but you know what? I'm really liking how it turned out this year. I love the homey and comforting feel.It's more than I've ever done. I just hope I don't forget to pack away everything...you know how it is...you lug the last box into storage and find you've forgotten to pack this or that and you just don't have the energy to put it away? I'm gonna have to take a few tours to be sure I've gotten it all put away, huh?

Have a wonderful weekend. I'm excited to share that after the big freeze of last week, we are being rewarded with temps in the 40s today and the 50s (!!!!) tomorrow. With that, the thrift stores are open and I must be off to see what I can find today. LOL

It Could Have Been Worse...But Still...

Look what we woke up to this morning.

Ugh.

The window you see in this photo is our bedroom.

The girls' room is right next to ours.

Someone apparently took the corner by our house too fast last night.

Way too fast.

And didn't have the guts to let us know.

This shows how far some of the wood flew.

Can you believe none of us heard this?

I haven't been sleeping well lately, waking up at 3am or so, for no reason.

But not last night.

I woke up at my normal time this morning thankful I got a good night's sleep.

Not that we can really do anything about this, but I did call the police to get it recorded.

Our street is not a pass through. Usually those who drive around here, live around here.

There's got to be some front end damage on a car around here.

I'm just glad the fence was there to stop the car.

It could have been MUCH worse.

Happy Friday.

What a way to start the weekend, huh?

Kanzashi Flowers...

Happy Thursday to you! I've had to wait a week to try this and I've been so antsy! A couple of months ago I saw, on a blog somewhere of course this really neat looking flower. I was instantly smitten. I discovered there was a somewhat newly published book called Kanzashi in Bloom by Diane Gilleland. I tried to find it in the library, but none of them had it. A week or so ago, I found it, in stock, at Barnes and Noble. (I know I could have ordered it online, but I was too impatient to wait for it to show up...plus, I like to try to look through a book first before I order it, just in case). I snatched it up. I was all set to try it out last week, but then Jessica got sick and wanted me right by her while she rested. Today I finally got a chance to play and look what I made! I am so tickled!

I found some links online by Googling Kanzashi flowers, which led me to a few tutorials. I found one this morning and since it's on the web, I think it's okay to post it here. This is from the book. I like the book because there are some pretty neat projects in there to inspire you, so I really think it is worth it (if you like this flower) to pick up a copy for yourself. The first flower is made with 3 inch fabric squares, the size recommended to start with. The next flower is made with  2 1/4 inch squares and the smallest flower is roughly an inch or 1 1/4 square (I trimmed it before folding and didn't measure again. You can pick up Fat Quarter fabrics at Joann's for a decent price and you can definitely create several flowers from one piece. I want to buy lots of fabric now. LOL

Here's another link for you that I found that has a video if you are interested. I can see making these to add to cards (when I get back to card making). It's not hard and it's definitely fun.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great day. Now, I must get back to knitting Jessica's project.

Did You Know This About Blogger?

I sure didn't until I was reading blogs this morning! Today is Wednesday and that means Works For Me Wednesday on the We Are THAT Family Blog. What a treasure trove of ideas! I love reading about all the tips and tricks shared.

One link went here where the blogger wrote about making Blogger a happier blogging experience. Did you know there is an updated editor? Look what I can do now at the click of a button! There are undo arrows! How many times have you accidentally deleted a photo? Apparently you can undo that now! It takes so little to make me happy. I haven't even read the entire post, so I don't know what else is new, but she shows where to go in your settings to get the updated editor.

Gosh, I love the whole blogging experience! Have I mentioned that lately? *Ü*

Have a Happy Wednesday. We are slated to get up to 18 degrees for the high...sure beats the 6 it was yesterday...brrrrrr. I hear that this weekend we'll be in the 30s-40s! Makes me want to break out the shorts! LOL

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas...

Jessica came home from school around 10am on Thursday. She has had a cold and woke up that morning saying her throat hurt, but I thought maybe it was because she was breathing with her mouth open and it was dry. She didn't have a fever and wanted to try go to class. Apparently the throat was still hurting (or hurting again) and she went to the school nurse, who had her gargle with salt water. It seemed to help. But 10 minutes later, Jessica apparently had a little upset tummy (from the salt water, I think) and she threw up a little. By then her temp started to climb. So I dropped what I was doing and went to pick her up.

She's had a low grade fever ever since, but the throat and tummy are feeling much better. She's been eating and drinking fine so I suspect it's just a doozy of a cold, poor thing. Maybe a little sinus issue. Behaviorally, she is acting fine today. I hope she can go to school tomorrow as they are scheduled to have their mid-year assessment and she'll only be there for an hour and a half. That is, if the snow we've been getting all day doesn't create a snow day.

Wave one of the snow has come, but they are talking about another storm due to come in sometime tonight, I think. Time will tell.

So, I've lost two school days of work time for me in terms of holiday gifts. This coming week I'll lose two more, with the assessment day tomorrow and a day off scheduled for Friday. Sigh...hopefully I can get what I want to done! Time will tell.

In the meantime I have a couple of things to show that I have been able to work on.

*Ü*

I started changing out the decorations for the winter season. Here's one of my new snowmen that I got at the thrift store for $1! Isn't he just adorable?? I love his feet! I filled the basket with some cinnamon scented pinecones and a few cinnamon sticks. The pine stuff is a cut up garland I got at the dollar store.

And I've filled the pots on the porch, too.

I found the greenery at the dollar store (I still can't believe it) and the rest are from Joann's, 50% off!

Here's what I did in the hanging pots. I have three of these snowmen and they all have a different looking scarf/earmuffs. You can see I cut up another dollar store garland to wrap around the base. The garland was 15 feet long and pretty full. I'm pleased at how it looks.

And, since I'm not really able to work on Jessica or Amy's gifts with Jessica being home, I decided to try my hand at crocheting some ornament covers. It took a few attempts, changing the hook size to make the cover bigger since it wouldn't fit the ornaments I picked up at the thrift store. When I checked the pattern again, I realized the ornaments I was using were too large. (**slaps self on the forehead**) Another trip to the thrift store resulted in finding the correct size (for $1) among other things (like another snowman, an OshKosh coat for Jess, a dress for Amy, a couple of books, the placement on my table on the porch and a few other things almost all at 50% off the ticketed price!)

Once I got the correct size ornament, I was successful in creating a couple of covers and thought you might like to see them.

The dark gold one is for Jessica and the red one is for Amy.

Front view close up

Side view

Front view

Side view

I'm not sure I would make a ton of these, but these few attempts were fun (once I got the correct ornament size, that is). The girls are excited to have some new "special" ornaments.

Thanks for stopping by! I sure appreciate the visit.

Hope your week is a good one!