Knitting In The North

Much Thanks

Gwenyth would like me to tell all of you who have sent her cards in the mail, "Thank you very much".  It has been wonderful (and highly entertaining) to watch her little face light up each day that she gets "mail of her very own"!  Really, thank you, thank you.  It is a small thing that has made a very big impact.

 

What I didn't love about the cards coming into our home, though, was finding her collection All. Over. The. House.  Stray cards were in her bed, in the bathroom, on the coffee table, the dining room table, the kitchen counter...  Sigh.  In my constant battle with clutter in a small house full of many people, this was not a good thing.

 

The solution I found in my copy of Handmade Home - a mail satchel, of course!  Why didn't I think of that?  Once the holidays were over, and I could think somewhat clearly again, I ran down to my studio on the first available afternoon, and made one.  (Isn't nap time wonderful?)

 

 

It was a big hit.  (And see the lovely thrifted ribbon?!?  I love ribbon.  Um, I may have mentioned that already?)  Now, even if I find the bag in Gwen's bed, or the bathroom, or the coffee table, or the dining room table, or the kitchen counter, it's a much more pleasant reaction I have, and a much easier problem to fix. 

 

The outside of the bag is thrifted fabric, (which matches this skirt, conveniently enough, and even better, not planned) while the inside is a remnant Gwenyth picked out herself ages ago, and I've had floating around ever since.  The satchel is nicely sized to hold all possible cards & letters.  Isn't it amazing how the little things can be so special?

 

 

:: If you sent your return address with your card, you may just find a thank you note of your very own in your mailbox one day.  If you didn't include a return addres, but would like a custom made, Gwenyth-designed card, please feel free to drop me an email, okay?

 
 

A Bit of Paper

I did it!  After much futzing around, (far more than was needed, really) I sat down and made myself a paper Christmas wreath.  I used three sheets of scrapbooking paper, a piece of cardboard, a stapler and a bit of ribbon.  A large soup bowl made a great outside edge for the wreath, and I cut my leaves approximately 10cm long.  I cut something like 60 leaves, and had a fair bit left over at the end. 

All in all, a fun little project, easy to do with things on hand, well worth a try!  This one hangs in my kitchen, but it would be fabulous anywhere you need a little Christmas pick-me-up, and it is light enough to hang pretty much anywhere relatively dry.   Do you need a bit of Christmas cheer anywhere?

Odds & Ends

 

 

I'm feeling all over the place these days; work is busy, daycare is busy, Christmas is only 39 days away (Yep, I said it.  Whatcha going to do about it?).  Here are some things floating around at the moment:

 

• It snowed a whole bunch.  The weather forecast is for rain this week, which means a lot of melting, messy slush.  For the moment, I'm going to ignore the thought of rain, and enjoy the fluffy white stuff.
• Feed Your Soul - an amazing art project with free downloads.  There is some fabulous work there.
• Spiced candied nuts.  They sound yummy.
• I needed a plan to get everything done this year for Christmas.  Organized Christmas has a Christmas Planner that saved the day for me.  There's nothing I like more than a useful list. 
• A bunch of free printables to tuck into kids' lunchboxes.  Or wherever.  I think it would be fun to stick these into rolled socks when I'm doing the laundry.
• I need a bag like this for holding our handkerchiefs.  Right now they're in a pile in the dining room, which is not ideal.  Do you think I can manage to sew in a zipper?  It seems scary to me.  

 

So - what's floating around in there for you right now?

Soapy Goodness

The kiddies & I decided to spend an afternoon this past week trying out a melt & pour soap kit we picked up at a garage sale a little while back.  The whole process couldn't be simpler, and was a great activity choice, as it was fun whether you were 4, 7, 11, or 32.

I cut up a big chunk of glycerin, meltable soap and put it in a pot.

Once it was liquid, we added about a half dozen drops of scented oil, and a few chunks of soap dye.

The kids each chose a couple of molds, and I poured the pretty smelling green liquid in.  They pressed some dried flowers into the back of a couple, for a "fancy" effect.

A short play-time later, the soap was ready to come out of it's mold, and we all admired our pretty handiwork.

 

One of these days, I plan to make some soap the longer way, but for now, this was unanimously a satisfying way to spend a quiet afternoon!

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?

 

What to do on a rainy, cool morning with six kids wandering around?  Sort buttons, of course!  It's amazing, really, how dumping a jar of assorted buttons out on the dining room table will draw them all in like a magnet. 

Taking my button jumble from the various jars and containers, and turning it into this nicely organized collection kept everyone busy for a good hour - even Liam (who obviously only got to check out the few giant buttons lying around - no matter how hard he tried!).  The rest of the time, he made messes elsewhere, trying out his new sweater:

 

Now that appropriate buttons have been found, I just need a quiet evening to sew them on, and you can get a better look at the finished product.  Finishing the knitting on this, though, made it legal for me to cast on my own fall sweater - always a thrilling enterprise! 

Feeling Friendly

Katie has discovered the joy of friendship bracelets.  It was one of the things on our summer list, that I knew she would love.  She was a bit intimidated, though, until we came across a little instruction book at the thrift store.  Yesterday, Katie sat down and figured it out, and now we're all sporting them!  I remember how much I enjoyed making these when I was her age, and I get a kick out of the look of concentration on her face.

 

The other day, I came across a post at Perfect Sentiment, outlining their Family Rules.  She made up a great little PDF, and framed each rule.  It looks great - I think I'm going to do a set of these, and put them where we can all see them.  If you're interested, do go check them out.  Everyone needs a little reminder at times, right?  Even me! 

 

A Way to Say "Thank You"

With the end of our school year, came the need to express our gratitude to the three teachers in our lives right now.  I had seen, last fall, a blog post all about notebook makeovers, and thought perhaps this was something all three of the big kids could manage, with supervision.

  

We started with a trip to the dollar store, where we found plain composition notebooks, scrapbook paper, plus assorted glue, ribbon, pens and pencils.  We cut the paper to size, and glued two overlapping pieces to the notebooks' covers.  The white glue did not hold well, so I ran out for some Modge Podge - this seemed to do the trick.  After the paper was dry, we applied ribbon around to tie the book closed, and added a couple of pens.  If we make these again, we will definitely use card stock to cover the books rather than paper, and a stronger glue for the ribbon.  Still, it was a fun project; the kids enjoyed the craft, and the gifts seemed to be much appreciated.

 

On the first page of the notebook, the child giving the gift wrote a note to the teacher, thanking them for the past year - it seemed to be a bit hit!