Mid-week Miscellaneous

I'm still feeling pretty blah, so this will be short. I've got a large pot of Minestrone simmering gently on the stove and I've been wrapping Christmas presents and addressing cards today, but I thought I'd check in and let everyone know we're still here, although not being terribly productive.


The above is an idea I stole directly from the Pottery Barn catalog. I really really liked the card holder, but really really didn't have the $49 for it, even if I picked it up at the store and not ordered it online. So I did what any other diy-er would do. I went to Lowes, smiled politely at the wire cutting man and asked for 45 feet of small gauge electrical wire. "45 feet?" he asked. "You sure?" "Yes, please" I replied. The next day, with the help of my wire snips, I had made my own card holder for about $6. Now, I'm sure it isn't as straight and as rigid as the one down at Pottery Barn, but for $6 I really like my little card holder and I can't wait to fill it really full in December.

This is Dabney's portrait of herself and Joshua. I just love how she drew him with no hair and curly feet.

My friend Nester wrote a post last Spring about what she calls "Ragamuffin Garlands" and has revisited the post this week. Now I'm a little too practical and frugal to buy fabric, just to cut it into strips and make a garland, but I've been a quilter for many years and have the scraps and remnants to prove it. These garlands are the perfect project to make if you have fabric scraps laying about that you just can't bear to throw away. So since I have nothing else worth saying, go visit my friend Nester, because her garlands beat mine anyday.

Crafty Friday

We really enjoy Fridays around here. I try to make it a fun day by having the big ones do something creative-or help me do something creative-to end out the work week. It's usually baking (for Bible study) or sewing, but recently Dabney got her hands on a watercolor set and has been painting ever since. Yesterday I framed and hung one of her "originals" and she is just loving being an artist.

He fell asleep mid-crawl the other day.

Also this week I've been making my favorite summertime ice cream cupcakes in anticipation of hospitality. They take a few steps with baking and freezing in between, so I can take my time across a few days.



Also, check out my newest window mis-treatments! I'm quite pleased with how they turned out~ and the master bathroom window treatment was free~remember my old homemade roman shade from the master bedroom? Yep. Looks a lot better now, huh?

I finally decided on curtains for the living room. Like them? I'm ordering tassel fringe for the new living room curtains today or tomorrow. And don't get used to the blue walls. But, that's another post.

I really like this one...

A Self-Portrait, by Dabney

(This is also very similar to what she draws when she declares that she will draw a portrait of David, Joshua, Mommy or Daddy.)

To the Great Pumpkin Love, Dabney

My kids love Charlie Brown. While I put dinner together tonight, I let them watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". After it was done, Dabney rushed to the table with her crayons and a little note card set that I let her have. She came over to me later and handed me what you see above, in a note card. "I have to give this meshage to the punkin patch so I could get costumes!" Yes, that's right. It's not for the Great Pumpkin so she could get candy, it's for the pumpkin patch so she could get costumes.