chirstmas journals

wow, the time has really flown.  christmas has come and gone and  the kiddos are back in school.  this makes me sad.  i really do enjoy having them home and miss them when they are at school.

this year for christmas i wanted to make something special for each of my kids and came up with a "thankful" journal.


i think it is sooo important to remember all the things we have to be thankful for.  i really want to instill that habit in my kids while they are young.



i found some great inexpensive blank journals at barnes and noble and decided to cover them.

 i took some canvas that i had laying around and grabbed a handful of fabric from my stash and started cutting.

and layering

                                                                                                    

and layering

                             

 i sewed each piece on until i had the whole canvas covered.


take note:  one mistake i made, i covered the right side of the canvas so when you take the book out of the cover you see the wrong side.  yes i am ashamed to say it took me several book covers before i realized this.  hanging my head in shame.

i have rolls of this fabric tape and stamped the boys initials on it and sewed it to the front with a inspirational word.

next i laid the book out on the wrong side of the canvas and pinned the flaps in place, forgot to take a picture, and sewed them in place.

now i could have chosen at this point to make it so the seams were on the inside and it was all neat and pretty but i'm to lazy for that.  so i kept the edges raw and used pinking shears to give it a more finished look.

and here it is finished!

the front!

the back!

i also made some for the girls and added little embelishments to them.

i really like them!

i think they turned out great!

 i hope your new year is going great!!  hopefully my little gray cells will start working overtime and i will have lots of goodies to show you soon.

                           enjoy,
                                  cheryl
                                  

lamp how-to

several weeks ago as i was feeding my blog addiction i came across an idea for a cool dining room light.  this totally cool chick took a wooden flower planter and turned it into a light.  i can't remember where it was now, sorry, but it gave me an idea for one of my own.  i love galvanized anything and have a couple of planters sitting on my porch growing weeds. sorry grandma, i did'nt inherate your green thumb.  i told "the hubs" it would make a great dining room light and  this is what we came up with.

 i LOVE it!  the only thing i dont like is black cord, but you have to work with what you have.


wanna know how we did it?  wellll... after cleaning out the planter my brilliant hubby took a bathroom fixture and modified it to fit in the bottom of the planter.

sorry, not a great picture but at least you can see all three lights.  so the hubs installed this bathroom fixture and then attached chains and hung it from the ceiling.  it was pretty cool but was lacking something.  then as i was walking through the home depot is spotted these little gems.

 these are glass covers for outdoor lights and i fell in love with them and had to bring them home with me to live.  forever.


well as fate would have it they didn't fit.  but with the hubs failing is not an option. so he got out his trusty tools and went to work.

 first he took a canning jar lid and with a part of the light fixture he drew a couple of circles on the lid so he would know how big of a hole to make.  the hole was cut so the lid could be placed on the light fixture and the piece used as a template would hold the lid in place.  does this make sense, 'cause i think i'm kind of lost now.

                     next he cut out the inner hole with his saw thingy.         jigsaw right?
after he got the hole cut he drilled holes into the ring so he could use screws to hold the ring onto the glass light fixtures.  they were a little small.

             and here it is fully assembled.  i love the way it looks.  

i hope you all enjoyed my first little tutorial.  we can all hope they will get a little clearer with time.


                                        lots of love


                                               cheryl

Blessings

ah the holidays! what better time to start a blog about family, life, crafting and organizing and anything else that pops into this old brain of mine.  this is my favorite time of year, although it did come a little earlier than usual thanks to the stores.  what's up with that?  it does seem that the real meaning of the holidays is getting lost in all the selling so in an effort to recapture some of that  i want to share with you the many blessings in my life, so here goes....  my number one blessing is definately my family.

my husband jon (hereafter refered to as "the hubs") is always there when i need him, encouraging and challenging me to be my best.  he certainly keeps me on my toes.  he is a preacher, teacher, father, carpenter, fix-it guy, plumber, (um not the kind with the baggy pants and well you know...), but most importantly my friend and the love of my life.
we have four great kids ranging in age from 16 to 10.
taylor and morgaine are our girls and they have been after me to start this blog for a long time.  thanks guys for all your encouragement!  
Taylor loves to crochet and is becoming quite proficient at morphing patterns into what she wants instead of just following the pattern.

Morgaine loves anything to do with sewing. she started at an early age turning socks into doll clothes and likes to make small stuffies and anything else that comes to mind.

Zackary is "ma wee man".  he loves to follow daddy around and learn what makes things work.  he likes to build with legos and play on the computer.

Seth is the "baby" of the family. (although he is bigger than his big brother, shhh) his favorite pastimes are legos, computers, torturing his sisters, and did i mention computers?

anyway thats my family in a nutshell.   just a bunch of nuts!
thanks for joining me, i hope you enjoy reading what the old grey cells come up with.