Valentine's Day Sushi

We made "sushi" tonight for Liam to take to school for his Valentine's Day lunch tomorrow.

Blog Hop

Heather over at Open Adoption Bloggers has come up with another fabulous idea!  She is hosting a Blog Hop in order to help introduce folks to new bloggers.

The question everyone has been asked to answer is: "What is your favorite room/spot/piece of art in your home and why?"

My favorite piece of art in our house is a giant piece of paper that Liam and I painted when he was 3. I taped the paper to the floor, broke out the paints and let him go to town.  We painted our hands, drove cars and trains through blobs of paint and just had fun.  The paper is now stapled to the wall in our bedroom and I get to look at it everyday and remember that amazing afternoon.

Be sure to hop on over and check out all the other blog hop entries!

Sun Catchers

I love quick and easy crafts, so Pinterest is one of my new favorite time wasters places.  I came across this Pin and thought I would give it a try.  It was so easy and the results are beautiful.

 1) Buy some plastic beads.  I wasn't sure that these ones would work, but they did.  Just make sure to stand them all up so that you don't have the holes facing up.  Also make sure that it is only 1 layer thick.  Any oven proof container will do, and then you can experiment with different sizes and shapes

2) Put them in a pre-heated oven (400°).  These ones took about 15 minutes each, but keep a close eye on them, since I don't think burnt plastic would smell very good.  As it was, melting plastic didn't smell all that great.  Let them cool before you try to take them out of the container.  They didn't stick and popped right out for me.

3) Tie a ribbon to them and hang!  I was lucky that each of the 4 I made had a ready made space to put my ribbon through.  If they hadn't I would have had to drill a whole which I was glad I didn't have to do.  Once they cool down they have the texture of glass and I worried that I would shatter it.

I think these will make great gifts and plan on making more!

Kirby

Hilary's solution for not being able to find the stuffies Liam wants, or if we can find them but they are just too expensive?  She MAKES them!

Our winter project

I used to be very crafty - knitting, crocheting, cross stitch.  But then my Raynaud's got worse, and I find doing things with my hands to painful.  But I miss having a project to work on (other then scrap booking, which I'm woefully behind in).  I've never been much of a sewer (is that how you spell that?  It looks suspiciously like the thing the toilet is connect to) but Hilary sews.  I've helped in past projects but usually just cutting and ironing. 

We decided that we needed new quilts for our bed, and since we take a European approach to bed clothes, we are making 2 twin size quilts.  We picked out fabrics that complement each other, but are very different.  And I've decided to do my quilt all by myself!

 My quilt will be stripped blocks in oranges, pinks and greens.

Hilary's quilt will be blocks of smaller squares in blues, purples and pinks.

Hopefully we get them finished before winter is over!

Advent Calendars

We don't celebrate the religious side of Advent, but we do count down to Christmas with an Advent calendar every year. Most years we buy the calendars with little windows that open and you get a chocolate.  One year I made a Calendar for Hilary, putting small gifts in numbered paper bags that I hung on our bedroom door.  The year the Liam had surgery the week before and then again the week after Christmas, we filled mini gift bags with Hot Wheels and other small toys.  Last year we splurged and got Liam a Playmobile Pirate Calendar.

This year I decided to make them again.  But I really like having a little chocolate after dinner each night, and we don't need any more toys!  Luckily, Laura Secord sells Advent Calendar Chocolate Refills!  After a trip to the dollar store I was all set.

So let the countdown to Christmas begin!