a perfect sunday outing

Two Sundays ago we headed out to a near by park shortly after breakfast.  I wanted to capture some fall-early-winter pictures, possibly one for a Christmas card, in the morning sunlight.

It was bitter cold!  Park people had to think we were crazy running around. 

The best part of our little adventure was there was very little complaining from our youngsters.  It was definitely shocking!  In addition to it being super cold we took a ton of pictures, which I thought for sure they would tire of!

We captured pictures of them running,

throwing leaves up into the air,

tossing rocks into a half frozen pond,

running down a hill at full speed,

finding an awesome tree to climb,

and then running some more.

I hope everyone had a nice time with family and friends on Thanksgiving.   

Now on to the next holiday...

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

happy thanksgiving

I wanted to stop in and wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving! 

Cherish your time with your family and friends on this special day!

I know I sure will!

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

freezer paper book covers

I wanted to share with you how I made my book covers for my display niche above our TV.

I wanted an uniform book look and didn't have a collection of all the same books with same covers. 

I remembered reading about this tutorial found here, where she coffee stained shipping tags as a seating placement card.  I used the same technique on freezer paper and cut it to fit as a book cover.

I started by cutting sheets of freezer paper large enough to cover my books.  Make sure you cut it large enough, you will see why at the end once it drys.

Then I crumbled some up and others I folded.  I found that the manner in which you do this will leave a different pattern once it gets wet.

I prepared my instant coffee according to the directions and then dunked the paper into the coffee.

Watch out it will be hot!

Then I laid it out.....it's OK if some coffee remains on the sheet.

I then dibbled some of the granules onto the sheet into the excess and watched as it slowly dissolved.

I dabbed some of the excess liquid off.

It happened to be a nice day and I laid them outside to completely dry.

I didn't take a picture of the next steps but I cut the sheets to fit the books as a cover and hot glued them on. 

If you notice in the picture that the ends curled a little and that's why I suggested cutting the freezer paper a little larger than the book.  I cut around the curls for a straight edge.

I think I will always have these books as props in my display space.  They are a good neutral color with some interest and an unique texture.

I MIGHT try diluting red or green craft paint and doing the same technique for my Christmas display.  I am working on several things...ornaments, tree topper, wreath along with Christmas shopping and OH-My a little guy's 4th birthday party! 

I feeling a little stressed and the season hasn't even begun!

So the neutral book covers might need to work though this holiday season.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

fall gallery wall

I might be a little late on finalizing my fall gallery wall knowing that Christmas is just around the corner, but my summer pictures had to come down.  I wanted to replace them with ones from our pumpkin patch visit.  It was such a fun time!

I love the mix of colors the fall season brings and I wanted to incorporate them into my gallery wall.

Again I brought in some of our front porch pumpkins and leaves, like I did here, and used them as accessories to the wall.  Instead of doing all pictures I like to frame different seasonal elements like I did with this pumpkin.  I printed it off onto colored card stock and framed it.  It was an image, along with the others, bought on Etsy last year.  Unfortunately, this seller is not selling these images anymore.  But I'm sure you could do a search and find something similar.

I just love these little pumpkins...they bring in an interesting pumpkin color variation.

I will do a post on the making of the letter "G".  It's really quite simply.  I drew the letter on a scrap piece of wood we had in the garage and my handy husband cut it out.  Then I cut stripes of linen fabric and wrapped it around. 

This was another image from the same seller.  I printed it off onto transfer paper and ironed it onto the fabric.  Then I stapled the fabric onto another piece of scrap wood and had cut into a square.  I've also framed several of similar pictures, but I like how this one looks more like a piece of canvas art.

I kind-of don't know why I did all this work when I'm going to be changing it soon for the winter season. 

I just can't get enough of looking through Christmas catalog after Christmas catalog.  I've checked out multiple issues of past years of several major magazines at the library.  I am so excited for the Christmas season!

I am in the process of taking these ornaments apart.  I made them 10-15 years ago and they need a face lift.  Plus I'm tried of the green and blue!

  Also I inherited a large tree that I might put up in our front foyer room along with our normal tree in our family room.  2 big Christmas trees in a small house with 3 children and a husband not liking the sound of that...hmmm will this work?  Stay tuned....

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

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a glittered "thankful" banner

I needed to take down my Halloween items in my niche above the TV in our living room.  I bought in a few pumpkins from our front porch along with some leaves and a few fall photos and I created a new "fall" look. 

I wanted to create a banner to go along with the Thanksgiving holiday.  I received the letters in my monthly download from one of my favorite blogs found here.

I printed them off in a 4 x 6 size, traced them onto a cereal box and then cut them out.

I punched holes along the top followed by adding glue and sprinkled some glitter. 

I was not looking forward to this next step...stringing the letters onto the ribbon.  All I had on hand (and I wanted orange ribbon) was a 1-1/2" wide ribbon.

As you can see I had to write the word "thankful" so I wouldn't get mixed up with the stringing the letters.  I started in the middle of the word.

I forgot to mention that I did 2 layers of glitter.  I was a little worried that once I started stringing that some of the glitter would rub off.  And some did but not enough to notice.

One practical note:  Lay some newspaper or I used freezer paper on your work surface.  Makes clean-up a breeze!

And here's the finished product!

I really like how the ribbon billows between letters.  Not at all what I was going for.  I just love it when things come together like that!

I taped the ends onto the shelf and then added a knotted end to hang over the edge.  I wanted to add a big floppy satin bow - but didn't have enough ribbon.  But I'm happy with this look none-the-less.

And finally some family photos of our children at the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago.

I promised awhile ago on sharing how I made my book covers.  I haven't forgotten!  It will be done!

This was a super easy project that I did during nap time yesterday.  I did get glitter almost everywhere:  floor in the kichen and on the way to the niche, TV, sink (after washing my hands), and on my shoes!  Ohh-well it was fun!

I had a couple of people ask my about my post on Monday about what I've been pinning on Pinterest.  You do need an invite but it's no big deal.  Just send me an email and I'll send an invite.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

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