Will's Kindergarten Artwork - Thanksgiving

Will made these adorable Thanksgiving works of art in Kindergarten. He has such an amazing teacher that takes the time to do these things with the class. They are SO appreciated by me. These kind of things are treasures to pull out every year and display of a special time in Will's life.

Thank you, Miss Thibault!

Handmade Thanksgiving Decorations

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

Here are the handmade Thanksgiving decorations that Mom (Bridget) made for our family.

I think this is my favorite holiday decoration of all time that I have made. It is a ceramic Thanksgiving feast. I painted this when we lived in the basement apartment in Provo, UT. It would have been about 1993.

I painted this whole set sitting on the couch and using a lapboard as a table. I love this set and it is a family favorite.

Got this word wood on a summer clearance blowout at Provo Craft. I was so happy because we had no money at the time and Provo Craft did not have sales!

My friend, Mindi, gave me the turkey cookie jar lid and lots of other wood that she had never painted. She was moving from St. George and cleared out so many of her craft items. I still use Mindi's paints and I painted all of that wood! Thanks, Mindi!

Most of the above ceramics were made living in Provo, UT in the basement. So, they would have been done in the early 1990's.

The Indian girl cookie jar lid was done in 1987 when I was attending at BYU at single at the time. I painted a cookie jar lid set for the holidays for me and my mom. It was the first big crafting project that I ever did. (I found the joy of crafting early on in my BYU days at Provo Craft.)

Bret painted the small pumpkin (there are actually two in the set, kids.)

When we moved to St. George, UT and then Ivins, UT, I really took off on toll painting the holiday decorations. I love these three sets of bears (wall hanging, cookie jar lids, and calendar at the top of the page.) My painting skills had progressed and I like the textures in the wall hanging and the cookie jar lids.

They were done in 1997-1998. Robert's Crafts (used to be Provo Craft) became by favorite haunt in St. George. (Ask Holden, he was there with me A LOT!)

I put Suzy's Zoo stickers on magnet sheets and cut them out for the doors.

Tom Turkey is still a favorite. He was made in Ivins, UT - 1998.

Drew - 2009

Will - 2006

Holden - 1998

The Tom Turkey material came with a Tom Turkey on the fabric, just for decoration. I cut that out, put batting behind it and stitched it on a T-shirt for Holden (3 years old at the time). That shirt is still around and in good condition. All my boys have worn it a lot.

We have lots of other Thanksgiving decorations, but this has been the tour of the ones that Mom made.

I Heart Boojiboo!

LOVE their handmade aprons, tote bags, dish towels, etc. So retro and oh so cool!

Click on the pictures to go to their Etsy shop.

LUCKY ME!

I don't think that I have ever won a contest. Now I don't ever have to win a contest again because I won the best present for me that I could ever be given. See Leisel's Blog for the giveaway entry.

I opened my mailbox on Friday and there was a package with this waiting inside for me!



I couldn't believe it!



Great presentation: All bundled up with the sweet orange floss.




It took my breath away and is still leaving me breathless. (Click on the picture to enlarge and see all of the detail.)



This is the back. A work of art, even on the back!

Here are the details: Bright material, bold designs, black binding. If you know me, you know that this is the quilt for me. I am a child of the 1970's and these colors and patterns are what I grew up with in house decorations and wore! Also, I am a black and white girl. That is a usual go-to color combination for me. It is so beautiful. The colors, design and workmanship inspire me to be more of me...more bright, more bold, more fun, more creative, more ME! :)

Here is the back story: When I was 4 years old my Grandma Earl passed away. She is my creative genetic mentor. I had all of these crafting genes donated to me in my DNA from my Grandma and no one left to show me how to execute them. So, I set out on a relentless creative journey since I was about 8 years old. I have taught myself most every craft that I could. Then, I asked favorite people how to do the rest or took classes. Creating has been a serious business for me.

But, there has been one creation that I haven't been able to tackle because I would only want my Grandma to do it with me. That would be piecing a quilt. Legend has it that my Grandma was the best. Always a quilt going in her living room. Teaching others to quilt. (All according to my dad that would lay under the quilt frame and listen to all of the town ladies visit. :)

Leisel, I have to tell you that you have made the exact quilt for me that I would have wanted to receive from my Grandma Earl. It is uncanny how you made just what I needed to fill the void of my Grandma not in my life. The material, the backing, the binding, the thickness of the blanket, the quilting design are all EXACTLY what I would want from her and you made it for me.

So Leisel, you did more for me than quilt me an exquisite work of art to one who appreciates the artwork of crafting. You filled a void of longing for my mentor because I now have a work that she would have made for me. I like to think that you were a team on this one! :)

And you probably thought you were just doing a giveaway! Not engaged in all of this life changing work! Now you can tell Brandon how important you quilting really is. :) You are so talented and the work is magic. Bret even wants to hire you to make him a quilt! He loved the quilting pattern that you did to bind the quilt together. He will be e-mailing you.

So, thank you so much, Leisel. It really was my giveaway to win. :) Read here on Leisel's crafting blog about making my quilt.

As a thank you, you will be receiving something to decorate your sewing/living room when I get a chance to make it, Leisel. I am excited to make it for you. I know you wanted something to decorate your walls.

LDS Fabric

Cute LDS fabric! http://www.ldsfabric.com/

Comes in the following categories: (Click titles to view)
Temple
Missionary
Primary
Young Women
Young Men
Relief Society
Nativity
Bible
Scouting
BYU / U of Utah

Adorable Christmas Book/Ornament Starring Your Child!

I found these cute little books at Wal-Mart for $1.50 each. They also have a ribbon on the top so you can hang them on the tree. They were in the Christmas section on the kids stocking stuffer isle. They have about 5 different hardback pages that star your child's picture.

They turned out so cute that I went back and got 3 more. Yes, Holden's teenage head and Mom and Dad are going to have their own book ornament, as well.

Thanks, Bret, for going to the work of sizing these pictures to the books and putting them together. The saying can be reversed and modifed..."behind every crafty woman is a good man that helps her complete her projects!"

Handmade Christmas Decorations - Christmas Eve Picture

I remember being completely in pain waiting for Christmas to come as a little kid. It was pure torture. I would call it the "Christmas Ball"... a big knot in my stomach full of anxiety and excitement.

I did not consider myself an artsy kid, so I still can't believe that I made this in 2nd grade. I was waiting for Christmas during Christmas break and made this picture. The pieces were carried around by me in a Hallmark bag until I was married and put this picture together.

The window has cotton ball pieces for snowflakes and material for the curtains. I used glue for the mortar in the fireplace, tissue paper (crumpled) for the flames and twigs off of our family Christmas tree. I dyed the cotton balls with food coloring for the stockings. The Christmas tree has pine needles from our Christmas tree. I cut out the popcorn and cranberry garland from construction paper. The presents are cardboard with real wrapping paper glued on.

The little people have dyed cotton ball hair (with food coloring) and clothes cut out of material. The girl's hair is cut and tied into ponytails using string. The teddy bear also has dyed food coloring cotton. I even crocheted the rug that they are sitting on and roughly sewed the circle together on my mom's Bernina machine.

Click on the picture to see the details.

My second grade teacher, Miss Gill, was very creative and we did projects using these ideas in class. I definitely think that she was the inspiration to put my excited energy into a creative project. Thank you, Miss Gill. (She is still teaching in the Las Vegas area by the way!)

These kids are watching the clock and waiting for Santa to arrive, just like I was!

Handmade Christmas Decorations - Stockings

This was my stocking as a little girl. My mom made it in Relief Society Work Meeting. It was held during the day each month and it the equivalent of RS Enrichment now. My non-member neighbors had these stockings, too, because my mom had a lot of the neighborhood moms attending RS Work Meeting each month! The boys had little drummer boys for their stockings.

I loved my stocking! I grew up in the 70's and this the quintessential felt craft look of the 70's! This was the inspiration for our stockings.



When Will was born in 2004, I found this cute frame for him.



I thought that this cute little king in the corner would make the perfect stockings! Just one problem, I don't draw! So, I went to my husband, who is a great artist. I told him that I wanted stockings of all different kinds of little people from this idea.



Viola! I can't believe that he agreed to go to this much work, but he did!!! He churned out some adorable patterns that I requested for each person.



Bret is King of our castle. He even added in a jeweled scepter!



Bridget wants desperately to be a princess. All clad in purple, ribbons and jewels.



Holden is the sports boy.

Will is the drummer boy.

Drew is the artist. Please note below who he is painting.

Our Italian Greyhound dog, Biscuit! Bret was even able to draw him!

I found the stockings all completed at Jo-Ann's after Christmas sale one year. I cut the pattern pieces out of felt and glued them onto the stockings. Bret embroidered everyone's names on the stockings with my embroidery machine that I still can't figure out how to use. Thank heavens for Bret!

Squids are Completed!

Green for Will



Blue for Drew



The two squids officially meeting for the 1st time!

These were a lot more work than I had anticipated. The turning and stuffing of the tentacles, proved to be more time consuming than I thought that I had patience for. But, I am very happy with the results. They were worth the struggle.

The pattern is from Bit of Whimsy.

Cute Crocheted Animals

I have lots and lots of stuff rattling around in this head! Since I was a little kid, I have thought it would be cute to have a little village of crocheted animals (don't ask me why)! But, whenever I have seen patterns they are "yucky, groovy crochet".

Well, I was walking out of Michael's the other day and I saw this pattern book on an end cap. I looked at it and it was the "cute, groovy crochet" that I have seen in my mind's eye for all of these years. YEA! Another thing off of my list, that I want in this lifetime! :)

Click on the book cover above to go to the Amazon link. The whole book was great and worth the nominal price.