A Blessed Minute

Every once in a while I get a blessed minute of quiet. Today I had a small break from the noise and the daily grind. It was warm (a whoppin' 41) We have all been stir crazy lately, so the older girls took the younger girls outside for a while. It was much needed for all of us. We have been so busy just doing that we haven't taken any time to just be. We've got 16 new baby chicks in a brooder in the living room. We have 8 more expected in March from an order. I've got my living room tore apart because we are going to put down new flooring. (A project now on hold until we can relocate the peepers.) My hall and stairway is multi colored, a paint project in progress....and the rest of life. Sometimes things just get put aside and forgotten, other times they stare you in the face day after day screaming for attention. Our flooring is going to be a plywood floor. Gotta love Pinterest for all of the ideas it can give one to try. Hopefully with the warm spell this weekend we can get it down. I still haven't figured out the timing on how to stain it, and put the protective coating on it...giving it 3 coats with a minimum of 4 hours between applications....with 6 kids, 4 dogs, a cat and life happening all around. As for the multi colored hallway and stairs, that will get finished when I just start finishing it.

As for crafting I have an order of wedding invitations that I will have finished by Saturday. That has taken a chunk of my time lately as well. I will be thankful when those are finished. I have been talking with a lady about buying my jewelry for her store, that would be a blessing as well. I may figure out how to start my crafting as a side business one of these days. I enjoy it and would love to be able to sell it....I just am not a salesperson.

On the homeschooling side of the house it is still like pulling teeth. With me being home full time again it has been different. They aren't liking the more of a daily routine rather than a sit down and do it all at once because Mom is going to check it. I've decided for Little Miss that in order for her to be able to do anything minecraft she is going to have to earn it. That is all her mind is on most days....what she wants to build. I have found some worksheets with minecraft themes which has been wonderful. She doesn't even think it's school. My Littlest Miss is trying to do everything that Little Miss is doing. She is going to catch her if the other doesn't get motivated to learn.

My homestead, mini farm, whatever you want to call it, dreams are alive and well. We have been rebuilding since I was working full time. I'm up to at the moment 31 chickens (including the peepers). That isn't counting the 8 on order. The 8 on order are Icelandic birds. I read about them a few years ago and have been wanting them every since. I am so excited to be getting them. Our turkeys are getting bigger and bigger. I am hoping to be able to hatch some of their eggs in the summer, unless one wants to do it for me. We haven't planned on adding anything else yet. We've been talking about goats, but we are waiting to see if they pass these new Propositions for regulations on them. I would love to have them on the homestead again. I will when it is the right time. So my quiet time is over.

My littles are back and filleting salmon (playdough and imagination) at my table. They are growing up Alaskan. (and I'm loving it!) Have a great day and hopefully you will find a blessed minute of your own.

Time

This week's challenge was a fall theme. Fall means back to school, and as a homeschool mom I am the one who gets to come up with our bulletin board ideas. However we don't have a bulletin board as such, so we make do with poster board when needed. This year I'm incorporating things for my 3 year old as part of school, and so that means more hands on. I also wanted to give the older kids a different perspective on seasons. The fact that with each passing season, time is moving forward....so there sprang my idea of a calendar/clock for the seasons. (That is what my 10 yr old has decided that it is called.) This project literally took me some time. I am so thankful for my gypsy and the weld function....and that I can load up several images from different cartridges at one time. I can't imagine having done this one without it. It's a very simple poster, but it took a lot of time welding, layering, and then some...so here we go...

This is how I laid out one of my sheets for cutting. This is the one for all of the little symbols that I am putting around the clock. This is another reason I love my gypsy...I can lay things out according to the screen on my mat, and not waste paper. I get so much more use from scraps then I ever have. As you can see on this one I have all sizes laid out.

Another tool I used was my heat embosser...another one of those things I love. I had cut out the title of my project on some ugly paper that just didn't do it for me. With the help of some stampendous ink and embossing powder it really stands out...which is good or it would get lost.

After getting everything cut, and starting to lay it all out I realized that I had forgotten a circle. I grabbed my creative memories circle cutter and had one if just a few seconds. (I'm thinking this one should have been on tools.)

Finally here are all of my pieces ready to start placing.

I started with the clock face. I cut out 2 inch strips in colors I thought would represent each month and glued them around the circle. I then added the small circle to the center of the clock to cover the edges.

I embossed all of the months and the title, glittered the numbers, and some of the symbols. After it was all dry I laid it out on the poster board. It doesn't look fancy, but it shows the idea of what I wanted for the kids to realize, that seasons, and months as they go by are time passing by. I want them to enjoy what each one brings, and not keep wishing them away. So each month has some symbol of something to look forward to. I also used the landscape scene from camping critters to give an idea of what the world outside looks like. Here is my finished project and then I will give the whatnots on the pieces.

Ok here we go I hope I don't miss anything:
Cricut cartridges:
Plantin schoolbook for the numbers, title, and months (welded with the gypsy)
George and Basic shapes for the large circle (clock face)
Camping Critters for the landscapes.
Gypsy wanderings for the seasons, seasons shadows, and jack-o-lantern
Create a critter for the turkey
Doodlecharms for the stocking, snowman, valentine, flower, sun, ice cream, and school bus
Sugar and Spice for the kite and umbrella
Independence day for the flag banner

Creative memories cutter for small circle
Stampendous embossing powders, and clear stamping ink
heat embossing tool
glitter glue
a brad for the clock arm.

Have a great day, thanks for looking, and remember to enjoy each month, each season, each day for that matter, because it is all passing time. You can't get it back.....Angie

School Days

We are quicly approaching the end of summer vacation. As a homeschool family we never really quit schooling, just the book learnin' so to speak. We have started getting the older kids school books in already and my 3 year old keeps asking for her school books. So for my back to school challenge I made her a colors and shapes book.

These little books were really easy to make, and she has been carrying them around the house informing everyone they are HER books. I love it!

I used 3x5 index cards for the base pages. Using my gypsy I laid out each page with the words and object. I also cut out a rectangle in the color to cover the lined side of the index card. I put eyelets in the corner, threaded ribbon and it was a book.

The shape book was done generally the same way, except I used a hole punch and a binder ring instead of eyelets and ribbon. Her favorite color is green so I used green ink around all edges to take away some of the starkness of the white. I also dotted all I's with a green self stick gem.

I hope that back to school is as fun and exciting for everyone reading this as it is for my 3 yr old.

*recipe*
DCWV The grade school stack (red with dots)
misc. scraps

cricut cartridges:
doodlecharms- lady bug, popsicle, teddy bear
gypsy wanderings- jack o lantern
new arrival- duck, butterfly
live simply- turtle
george- rectangle, triangle, square, star, diamond, circle
plantin schoolbook- all wording and shadows

self stick gems
3x5 index cards
silver eyelets
binder ring
ribbon
ink