Super Saturday

Project 1: Old Boris + a box of Vlad's native soil = a certain nine year old boy's dream project. I think he just wanted the Dracula Pez dispenser inside. In addition to Queen of Quirk's Old Boris kit I also used her Jeepers Accent Pack [I thought I had taken a photo of the inside of Vlad's coffin, but alas! There is not one. It's the very cute 70's yellow/brown diagonally striped paper- It's my favorite part]. The coffin treat box template is from Martha Stewart.

Project 2: costume record + fabulously cute homemade envelope using Carina Gardner's Haunted + Raven collections. The girl is going to be Dorothy. The baby will be the lion. I'll be either the Tin Man or the Scarecrow and ::B:: will be the other. The two oldest boys wanted to be The Grim Reaper and Dracula.

Project 3: Haunted Bingo + Party Bags [again using Carina Gardner's Haunted + Raven collections].

Project 4: "dem bones dem bones gonna dance around". Have you ever seen a skeleton doing a heel click? I thought it would be fun. The skeleton and spooky cutouts are from Samantha Walker's Harvest Moon Halloween Accents. I sprayed the spooky with adhesive and glittered it. I wanted it to stand out but not be distracting. I kind of like it.

And I think that's enough for one day. See you next time for the end of month round-up ;).


ps. I'm open to project suggestions. Want to see me make something?
pps. After cutting out everything involved in these various projects I decided to use my saved up [for the past 4+ years] birthday money and buy a Silhouette Cameo. It's in the mail. Yipee!

2.for.Tuesday

one: the 3rd grade man came home from school with Father + Mother Pilgrim yesterday. They were so cute I wanted to share. I even made a pattern for you all because I think they would make awesome name cards/place settings. The boy has gone to bed, but I'll have him pose with them tomorrow + get a photo up ASAP. The template is in the box. Please let me know if you use it!

two: I've got packaging on the brain these days. I love this. What a great gift tag.

2.for.Tuesday

This is really a continuation of yesterday's post. As I went through the rest of the assignment yesterday, JS supplied a list of words as she asked us to think of phrases or sentences that described our holiday values. Lots of great words. Lots of important words. Togetherness. Warmth. Giving. And all of those things come into play. But really, why Christmas?

one: wonder. this is the hardest to define and yet the strongest in my mind and heart. I want my children to feel the wonder of the Savior at Christmas. The miracle of his birth. That he is the Son of God. I want them to love the baby Jesus and what he represents more than anything else at Christmas. I want them to give gifts because the wisemen gave gifts and because Jesus gave the ulitmate gift. I want them to receive gifts because without someone to receive there would be no gift. I want them to understand all of this. And more. Much much more. I am starting with the Nativity. We will set out the Nativity one piece at a time [one piece per day] and talk about the role that piece plays in the story of Christmas. Ending with the baby Jesus. I hope that as *B* and I bear testimony that they will begin to feel the true spirit of Christmas and wonder at the life of the Savior.

two: magic. is it the crispness in the air? the smell of wasail on the stove? the lights? the carols? I really believe that it is all of these things. It's leaving a gift on a door step and running as fast as your little legs will carry you after you ring the door bell and collapsing into a laughing heap knowing you didn't get caught. It's wondering how Santa gets to all of the houses of all the little children in all of the world in just one night. And do reindeer really fly? It's not quite believing Mom + Dad when they say that Santa won't come unless you're asleep and not being able to sleep because you do believe. Just a little. As always, thoughts and ideas welcomed! Enjoy the journey!

I've Been Thinking

Christmas is coming really fast and every year I tell myself that this year will be different. I won't hate Christmas. Not that I really hate Christmas. Just that I end up hating Christmas. This year Jessica Sprague is doing a free Holidays in Hand class [I think it will be similar to the Stories in Hand class that she did last year]. Today's assignment is to write my values + goals. Hmm. Good question. What do I really want? I've always been big on the magic and wonder that surrounds Christmas. I love it. I don't even hate Santa Claus. I would like to see that magic + wonder in the eyes of my children. I would really like to feel it again myself. So hear is the big question... What is it that makes Christmas magical? I'd like to hear your thoughts. Enjoy the journey! ps. today is the last day to register if you're interested. just click the link for details + free code.

2.for.Tuesday

Not quite Tuesday, but just in time for Halloween. I'm kindergarten room mom this year + we're having a party. These are the games I came up with plus a link to some other fun ones that we're going to use. one: Ghoulies. This one is basically Cooties. I was inspired by this post from Angry Chicken. She made a little art project for her girls with color + cut + mix + match pumpkin faces. I took it one step further and made it a game [for 2-5 players]. Here you go:

1. print + cut. My pages are HERE in the box.
2. set up the game: sort according to type... eyes, ears [also includes bolts, antenna, horns...]. You will need a die [as in the singular for dice, not to be confused with death and all things halloween].
3. Enjoy the game!

And for those rusty in Cootie skills... Each number on the die corresponds to a type of feature

1. pumpkin head
2. eyes [and all things eye related i.e. glasses]
3. noses
4. mouths
5. ears
6. free [since we're playing with kindergarteners I left this one free + the roller gets to choose whatever they need].

So, basically you just take turns rolling the die and the features are first come first served. As in, just because you got the cat ears doesn't mean you get the cat face, etc. These pumpkin heads will be totally random and really fun.
The only real hard and fast rules in cooties are that you can only roll the die once per turn [i.e. I rolled a one and I already have my head so I want to keep rolling until I get a four because the mouth is the only thing I'm missing. Yeah, that doesn't work] the other is that you must have a body [pumpkin head] before you can add features [but you can change that if you want to... after all, it's your party]. Yes, you must roll a 1 first [or, a 6 because this is kindergarten after all].
two: Skeleton Scramble. Check out the template for this paper coffin from Martha Stewart. Eyeball it much bigger to alter your basic cardboard box to be a coffin. Add a mixed up skeleton [I like the plastic ones that really have the shape of bones] + fill with dirt. The kids get to dig in the dirt to find the skeleton pieces + race to put it back together again. I'm considering picking up some very small skeleton keychains + just doing it the size of the template. But that would remove the running back and forth fun of the race. I envision a team lined up. First person runs + finds a bone + runs back. Next person does the same + so on. Until they have all the pieces. Now it's a race to assemble it. When I told Melissa this idea she wanted to do it for her pre-school so I didn't put it together. Thus, you just get the idea, not the photos +/or templates. Have a happy + safe Halloween. Remember that he who hands out the candy also gets to eat the candy. Enjoy the Journey!

  **later** the game went beautifully. The kids enjoyed it and we only had a few broken hearts because they didn't get the feature they wanted. They even had time to color them. I took a few photos. I'll get them up when I can. The only downer for me was that my own little man wouldn't play because right off someone chose the eyes he wanted and that was the end of that. There was no compromising on the eyes. I also think the game would have gone much more smoothly if we had waited to glue the features on until the game was over. Have them place the feature where they would place them but don't bust out the glue and crayons until everyone is ready to use them. It really clogs up the flow of the game. Believe me. I know. You could either have them get their boxes and set them under their chairs or have them go and get them after they have all their features. Heck, if space is available you could also have them go to a neighboring table and get to work while the others finish playing.

2.for.Tuesday

Hello, hello! It's Tuesday again! I'm still stuck in Valentine's Day mode so you get more Valentine's Day type stuff...

one: Paper Dolls. I love paper dolls! My grandma had some (and I think I may have had some at one point though not necessarily this particular kind). These ones are vintage... real vintage (from the early 50's). Not 1980's vintage! I think that if you print them smaller - maybe two pages per sheet sized - in my mind they will be the perfect size to fit into the little purse from last week (or was it the week before...). That would complete the perfect little girl valentine. Yes it would. I found these on flickr. The link is the search results... Besty McCall paper dolls. ENJOY! two: Another banner. This one was made by Kara (... I used to be cool like Kara... and because I can't seem to get enough of online classes/inspiration + she's super cool, I'm going to be taking her "life story" class next week. I think it's hilarious that I'm taking a class about documenting your life story from a 16 year old... Yes, she's that cool), for Hambly Studios. I am definitely making one. It's not just Valentine's day this week... it's also *B*s happy birthday. He's getting pretty old. I'm trying to figure out something fun to do for him and it's just not happening. I thought maybe a party but there would be a whole lot of important people missing. We'll probably just end up doing the traditional standby: Pier 49 pizza. He did say I could get him a cupcake from 25 Main. Yum! So... I'm thinking I'll make the cards used in the banner add up to his age. Even though they're painted over you can still tell what they are + what their value is. I think that would be a fun little addition. The boys would get a kick out of adding up the numbers too.

Go ahead and make something fun today!

Enjoy the Journey!

The Windows Are Open

And that is a big deal. It means that the weather is finally turning! I love the crisp nights of Autumn. The smells of Autumn. The feel of Autumn. Last week we went up Cedar Mountain and the colors were beautiful and it had snowed the night before and it was lovely. I took some pictures [just went looking for my camera so I could upload said photos... it's missing. I hope *B* hid it to teach me a lesson and not the very real possibility that a child wandered off with it. that would be really sad]. I taught the nieces/nephews how to whistle with acorn tops. We scared the boys getting lost on a muddy road. I think Autumn is my favorite time of year and I honestly think that it's the only reason I love Halloween. No, I think I might just love halloween for the candy. And the dress up. Can't forget the dress up. It's been a very busy week for me. Here are a few notable occurances:

• Tuesday I went and watched Les Miserables at Tuachan with the Y.W. I loved sitting in the open night air of the canyon. If you haven't experienced Tuachan you really should try to make it... in October. It's the only time of year that it's not sweltering (I'm sure there's a time in the spring too, but I can't decide when that would be. April maybe). When I got home the girl was screaming at *B*. Wonderful *B*.
• PTA meeting yesterday. Have I used the word stupid yet? ARGH! the girl cried the whole time. again.
• Last night was supposed to be my book club but it was canceled. I went to Krumpet's instead. They were having a halloween late night sale and the cashiers were all wearing blinged out witch hats. I loved them. I love halloween. Really, I think I just love to dress up but don't feel comfortable drawing attention to myself. That makes halloween the perfect opportunity and I don't feel like an idiot in the process. I should really get over that issue. I bought a few strands of jingle bell spider garland.
• I also had a church volleyball game last night. Finally I am feeling the volleyball in my blood and it's so good! It's been such a long time.
• Tonight the boys are gone camping again and it's just me and the girl. I have a to do list for the weekend. It goes like this (in order of importance/deadline):

1. make invites for primary get-together.
2. make changes to primary sacrament meeting presentation: cut out parts [2 sets], type in words to songs for teachers copies, make up program for for the presentation.
3. baby names. three of them.
4. scan collabo stuff & do a new post/call for starters (you know you all want to play...).
5. blog class assignments [that post about autumn up there... that's an assignment!].
6. finish slippers.
7. get long sleeved onesies and applique something to match slippers.
8. CLEAN THE HOUSE! This one is in desperate need of being numero uno, but it doesn't have a deadline. I guess it could technically go in at no. 4, but well... even though cleaning makes me happy I really enjoy that other stuff too!

I think I'll put some cider on the stove to make the house smell yummy. Or maybe I'll just simmer up some chai spices and have some chai hot chocolate. mmm.... Or maybe I should just go to bed so I can tackle that to-do list seeing as how I spent my night reading Percy Jackson and playing on the computer...

enjoy the journey!