Camping List

Dog days of summer

Our dog Gretchen, the rottweiler, (left) had the weekend of her life this past weekend. She is 9 years old and every year we can, we take her camping where she gets to roam free for 3 days outside. The other 362 days a year she is an indoor dog.

As always she meets up with Spot, the German Shepherd, who is 13 this year. He belongs to my sister-in-law's family. They get along well.

Spot and Gretchen are getting up in their years and I want to remember times like these about them.

This year was a little different because my mother-in-law got a puppy a few months ago. They didn't stay all weekend but visited with Tracker (on the right) for a whole day. They followed the puppy around almost all day and when that lil dog left our old canines laid under the pavilion for hours almost motionless. It was funny, we all knew it would end that way.

BTW, Tracker didn't look that white when he left. Gretchen and Spot love the water and finally Tracker gave it a try :)

My daughter aka Klazane took this photo, and most of my pictures :) Thanks sweetie.

Creek Swing

Every year we try to go camping for a few days on the farm where my father-in-law grew up. There's been a rope with a piece of wood as a swing hanging there for years that the kids use to jump into the middle of the creek. My husband wanted to change the rope this year. We used 25' of natural 3/4" fiber rope. After we cut down the old rope we secured the new one with a bowstring knot at the top so that (hopefully) the loop will expand with the growth of the limb it is secured to.
My nephew was the first to try it out.At the end I made what is called a monkey fist. They are supposed to be made with smaller line and I wasn't sure we could make one 3/4" thick rope. I think it turned out well and we all hope it will be there for many years of fun.

Color of all things in the dining room and kitchen!

I have loved Shabby Chic for a many years thanks to my sister's help :) I didn't know how to add color again and quite liked adding colored accents without worring about it clashing with the walls and curtains in these 2 rooms. My oldest daughter (16) talked me into adding color after my husband ripped out the radiator heaters and we had to repaint all rooms. My oldest also took these pictures and drew the horse on the wall below before we covered it. You can check out her creativity here at Klazane. Everyone helped with the painting and the rooms turned out beautifully :)

Fish Bowl Treat bags for a birthday party

In the name of "use what you have first" before you buy supplies, the girls and I came up with a treat bag we gave away for Lizzy's "sea themed" birthday party. The fish "swims" between 2 pieces of sheer fabric.

I had sheer fabric that I bought on clearance at Joanne's Fabric a few years ago. These are like the tucker bags I posted in June except we used foamy for the back. The sheer fabric is folded in half with the fold side up at the top of the bowl. We tucked a foamy animal inside the fold of sheer fabric, set (yarn) strap in place to be sewed over, pinned it all, then sewed.


Sewing with foamy on the bottom was very easy. We made the stitches very long, which gave the bag a nice look.
After sewing the bags were trimmed with pinking sheers to cut down on fraying.Bags were then decorated on the foamy side by the kids with smaller foamy stickers. While they were eating lunch, some of the older kids filled the bags with real sea shells, taffy, stickers, erasers, and a piece of chocolate :) Our frugal find was finding sea shells at the dollar store.

By the way, I thought I'd let my friends know I'm still alive. We have had alot projects to do this summer which has taken me away from blogging. I've felt a little overwhelmed with them all. I hope to post about them when things slow down, we have pictures :) I can't wait to check out what you all have been blogging about :)