knitting

So I have this friend... she's pretty, her husband is nice looking... they have 2 kids (a girl and a boy)... she has a PhD... she sews and she knits... beautifully. Sewing... I can sew well enough to get along. I make stuff for myself and my kids. Years ago I entered things in the county fair and won ribbons. Knitting, however has not really ever appealed to me. Both of my grandmas crocheted and I pictured knitting kinda' like crocheting... for grandmas. I hadn't really thought about it, but A LOT of my friends knit. Crazy. So this friend has made me some cool stuff and finally after the 3rd cool gift I decided I had to learn how to knit. So I asked her if she would help me. I also asked for some knitting stuff for Christmas (from someone who knits - my husband's step mom). Well she got me some needles, yarn, some accessories and a basic how-to book. I started right away, that night.

This is the first thing I knit. I know, not very exciting, but I could do it.



Then I decided I wanted a "fun fur" scarf. I have no idea if they are still in style (although my friend would say hand made things are always in style), but I wanted one. So I decided to get some fun fur and get started. I bought multi colored fun fur that would match just about everything I owned and I made a scarf 3 skeins long. I had to start over once because Little Brother pulled the needle out and there was no way I was going to get it back in. So now it's done and I've worn it and it is a very nice feeling of accomplishment. Here it is in bad lighting:




I have moved on to the next project, which is fine. What is not fine is now I want to knit all the time. I have found tons of patterns that I want to make... there's things for me, for the kids, for gifts. There is not enough time to do it all. Any ideas how to balance knitting and real life and all the other hobbies?

DIY Magnetic Chalkboard wall

Once again Pinterest was the inspiration for my project. I did a small magnetic wall at our old house maybe 9 or 10 years ago. It was in the space between the cabinets and the counter top and I just painted regular paint over it... not chalk board paint. Well on Pinterest I saw someone's pin to a link at the Martha Stewart website about how to make your own chalk board paint. Not only is that less expensive than chalk board paint, but you get the color you want. So I asked for some magnetic paint for Christmas (and got it). Then I spend more of my Christmas money at Home Depot and bought another quart of magnetic paint, some unsanded tile grout, and a quart of my color of choice for my chalk board (which in this case was dark blue). I also bought accessories needed to paint (tape, roller covers, tray liners, etc) and the PVC pipe for the previously made play house, but I digress.

First I painted a border around the wall... a lighter color to set off the chalk board wall.



I let that dry and then I taped off where I wanted the magnetic paint. How I decided how big I wanted it was basically I did it as high as I could reach and then on each side and the bottom I went in 6 inches.



Then I painted the magnetic paint. This area, which is approximately 64 square feet, took 2 full quarts of magnetic paint. I did several coats... I lost count after 6 or 7. The more coats of magnetic paint, the better your magnetic hold.



I took the tape off and allowed it to dry. Ideally it probably should have dried overnight, but I just wanted to get it done. I let it dry while I went grocery shopping then I retaped the wall and mixed the grout into my paint. I put 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout per cup of paint (so I did 8 Tbsp for a quart of paint) into a gallon bucket and then I poured the paint in. I mixed this for several minutes.

I painted two coats and that used up almost the whole quart.

Then I used the side of a piece of chalk and seasoned the board (covered the whole thing) and then used a damp cloth to wipe it off.



Then our magnetic chalk board was ready to use. I had hoped this would be an attraction to Little Brother and occupy him during school. So far it doesn't hold his attention very long, but the rest of us have been enjoying it. :)

Some hints and tips: The magnetic paint has a powerful odor. Paint during a season of the year that you can open the windows. All of us were getting a little light headed by the end of the day. Also the magnetic paint splatters. Wear clothes you don't care about and don't wear rings or watches or bracelets. It was several days before the magnetic paint was off my hands. Keep the tape on the baseboards too. And use green "Frog Tape", not the regular blue painters tape. It costs more, but the quality is worth it. You get a crisp edge that doesn't pull the paint off with it when you remove it. I was concerned about that with 6, 7 or 8 layers of magnetic paint, but it pulled off perfectly.

More Pinterest

I saw this cute bird nest necklace in Pinterest. Here is the link to the original tutorial: http://livelaughandphotograph.blogspot.com/2011/06/bird-nest-necklace-tutorial.html

I thought it was so adorable that I just had to make one. I have wanted some kind of jewelry to represent my three boys ever since Little Brother was born. I ran out to Joann's this afternoon and picked up all the supplies. Everything was on sale and cost probably less than $10. I also have enough to make more than one necklace.... well, at least the "charm" part. I'll have to buy more necklaces. I bought a string of "pearls", 20 gauge wire, jump rings and one necklace. It probably took less than 15 minutes to make. That's all you need.

Here's my version:

Duct Tape

Middle brother is obsessed with Duct Tape. However, to his defense, he makes all kinds of cool things with duct tape. His most recent creation was an armor-like helmet. He is amazing in the things he can make (out of anything, not just duct tape). I, however, when I want to make something out of duct tape, have to google it first. A while ago he and I made duct tape wallets together. Once I got the hang of it (from watching a video on youtube) I was able to come up with my own ideas. I made a hello kitty duct tape wallet modeled after my expensive Coach wallet, that I actually use. I also made a wallet modeled after my husband's not-quite-as-expensive Coach front pocket wallet. Well that front pocket wallet is perfect for gift cards. We bought lots of gift cards for Christmas this year, so I made duct tape wallets to go with each of them. The great thing about these wallets is you can put one, two or three pockets on them. On person is getting three gift cards, so there are three pockets, each with a gift card in it.

They are super easy to make... you make two pieces of duct tape "fabric" (that's two pieces of duct tape sticky sides together), slightly larger than a gift card size. If you want pocket then make one or two half sizes. Then you seal up the edges with duct tape. Good thing we bought nine rolls of duct tape when it was on sale at Michael's after Thanksgiving. :)

More Christmas Gifts

Since Big Brother and Middle Brother are giving canvases to Grandparents for Christmas, Little Brother had to give a canvas too. I found a cute tree made from foot prints on Pinterest so we were going to try that. Well, the one on Pinterest was perfect... green feet with red toes to look like ornaments (or berries) at the bottom. The foot prints were not smudged at all. We put Little Brother in the high chair and gave him some ice cream (homemade salted caramel) and took his socks off. I used a sponge brush to put green paint on his feet. Instantly I knew we weren't going to be able to make those cute red berry toes. He did not like it. We did 4 canvases with one foot and then cleaned that foot and did the other foot on the same four canvases. It was WORK. He let us know he was not happy. When we were done, he even cried for two days afterwards if we showed the canvases to him. Goofy kid.

Here's how 3 of them turned out:

DIY Canvas pictures

I love Pinterest. I have found things on there that I never knew I needed or never knew I needed the make. DIY canvases are a perfect example of that. We have a number of pictures that we have wanted to hang in our front hallway, but we couldn't agree on frames. I love the look of canvas prints, but don't really want to pay canvas print prices. So I stumble across a DIY canvas on Pinterest. I must try this. So I did a few of our pictures and they turned about great. Then my kids had to do some Christmas poetry (with pictures) for writing class (the previously mentioned Institute for Excellence in Writing). I had a brilliant idea... scan the pictures and type the poetry and print it as an 8x10 photo and make canvases for the grandparents. Score. They will love it. So here is how I did it....

You need a canvas, a picture, mod podge, a brush, some paint and a sponge.

First trim your picture slightly smaller than the canvas. I found all the canvases to be slightly short of what the stated size was.

Then brush your canvas with mod podge. I did some where I also brushed the back of the picture too. That was messy and I found it to be not necessary.



Then brush mod podge over your picture... don't be stingy. It's going to be white, but dry clear. However you will see the brush marks, so make sure they go the way you want them to and that the edges are neat and not goopy.



(this was one of the photos that I did for the hallway)

Wait for it to dry and then sponge some paint on the edges. This helps to hide the edge of the photo, but also finishes it with a grungy kind of look that I like.




Cool, huh?

Writing is Important

I love to read. I love to write. Just because I enjoy writing, though, does not mean I am good at it. I guess I write well enough that I got through college and grad school... and grad school was mostly about writing papers.

With homeschooling I feel that I am having an opportunity to learn all kinds of things that I never learned the first time through. One is writing. Both my boys *hate* writing. They do pretty well at it, but like many boys, they think they are allergic to pens and pencils. Anyway, we use a writing curriculum called "Institute for Excellence in Writing". Love it!! I have learned a lot and they have too, even though they still claim to hate writing.

Anyway, every once in a while I read something that makes me wish I was more eloquent. The following is such a piece. It is someone's Christmas letter that they shared on an IEW yahoo group that I am on. And I share it here... wishing the words were mine.

Merry CHRISTmas!


Can you believe it is here again? Weren't we just planning barbecues and mowing grass? So much to do and so little time! The cards must go out. The tree must be trimmed. The gifts must be wrapped. Reflecting upon the list of preparations, it becomes evident that there is a certain irony about the way we celebrate Christmas.
Christmas is the time for baking, decorating, and giving gifts. We moan about the weight we gain eating our favorite goodies, we string the lights and hang the holly, we battle the crowds looking for the perfect gifts, the latest and greatest of goods. And yet, it is not enough. Next year, we will need to bake and decorate and shop all over again.
The irony is that we are consumed by all these things that never fully satisfy, never end our longing for more, during a time that we celebrate the birth of the one who can satisfy our every necessity and desire. He came to earth as a babe, fully God and fully man, to die in our place, to take our curse upon Himself. Once was enough to completely meet our need.
His gift fills our greatest need of all: salvation. "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). We were lost without hope, but he paid the penalty that we deserved. If we accept His gift, it will never need to be returned, regifted or refurbished. It will be enough forever.
Soon the sweets will be gone, the decorations packed away in boxes, and the gifts forgotten. Before we know it, it will be time to paint the eggs and fill the baskets. However, there is one gift that can continue to bring us great joy even when the season is over. His gift is enough.

I pray you all are enjoying His gift!