Seed Packets

The girls made pretty seed packets for seeds we harvested from flowers. They turned out really cute. We used a template from Gardens and Crafts.

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 :)

Down Under Tucker Bag

Next week we will be boarding the Boomerang Express and going down under to Australia, (aka vacation bible school) . We are trying to use things that we have at home in order to keep costs down. Klazane and I will be helping with Pre-K and K for the week. We will be giving the kids lil cards with scriptures on them. The teacher's kit came with a brown tucker bag and we could buy them for $1.24 a bag. I say no worries Mate, this is cheaper! I have a good bit of felt and yarn. We made about 45 of them and didn't need to buy anything.

The front of the pouch is 5" wide and 3.5" high in the center. The back & flap is 5" wide and 6.25" high.

Materials:

1 piece of felt

33" of yarn

E18 Code

What does E18 mean? It means your little girl dropped the camera face down with the lens extended. So, we are looking into the Canon Loyalty Program. We found it through fatwallet.com . I don't think Canon advertises this program. It is an upgrading program for refurbished cameras. Klazane has a nice camera, so in a pinch I could borrow hers and we also have our first Canon (2 mega pixels).

Three Things Meme

I have stolen this meme from Kim.

Three

…… places I’ve visited: Puerto Rico, OBX North Carolina, Indiana

.… cars I’ve owned: '64 Chevy Chevelle (that was a cool car!), '78 Impala, '95 Beretta (my husband's cool car from the 90's!)

.… foods I love: chocolate, brownies, mochas (see the theme?)

… jobs I’ve held: Mc Donalds, US Army Mailclerk, bank teller

… authors I love: T Davis Bunn, MacArthur, Beverly Lewis

… places I’ve lived: southeastern Pennsylvania, Virginia, northeastern Pennsylvania

… favorite hobbies: crocheting, sewing, Facebooking

… bones I’ve broken: zero

.… TV shows I watch: LOST, that is all I watch besides Fox news

… songs that make me turn up the volume: depends on my mood

… favorite drinks: WATER, tea, water

… fun board games: Parchessi, Yahtzee, hmmm Parchessi?

… stores I could spend a whole day in: Christmas Tree Shoppe, Williamsburg Pottery, The Crossings

… chores I put off as long as possible: bathroom, dishes, laundry

… chores I kind of like: cleaning the pool, cleaning out the garage, putting the kids to bed, I love that time :)

… things I would rather chew glass than do: argue, ask for donations (fundraisers), getting all huggy and kissy, I'm not usually a physically affectionate person, so if I hug you spontaniously then you know I am feeling the love, ha ha

… reasons I hate attending parties: I don't "party" unless you mean kid parties, and those I don't mind

… favorite dog breeds: Rottweilers, that is what we have, but will probably never get another because she has had many health issues, I'm more of a cat person anyway

… things I just don’t get: my daughter's math homework (calculus), God's mercy and the fact that he forgave me of all people

If you decide to do this, let me know, I'd love to read your answers!

It's June

I remember sitting like this when I was little. It no longer looks very comfortable to me :)

Lizzy received a little book in the mail a week ago and wanted to fill in every page to show how excited she was to get a piece of mail.

It's beginning to feel like summer after 2 months in the 50 and 60s.

Grass in growing where we had work done in our yard. I'm actually excited about that, but then again it doesn't take much to get me excited.

One more week of school left for the girls... tomorrow we're going on a field trip to an amusement park :)