Some Christmas Decorating

I saw this idea on Pinterest (of course) and couldn't wait to try it.  We have a large picture on our mantle, but it fell a while back and busted the glass and messed up the frame.  We replaced it with the same frame which left us with an empty one that wasn't quite usable but not quite trash either.  I decided to use it for this project.  Basically, you just wrap a big frame or canvas with pretty wrapping paper and stick a big bow and ribbon on it.  I made this bow, but you could certainly just buy one.  The paper and ribbon are taped to the frame and the bow is stapled to the ribbon.  Cute, quick project! 

Yes, Josh and I collect S'mores ornaments.  I think the mantle is a fun place to put them since they're close to the fire :)

This is our 4th Christmas in this house but only our second tree.  We don't give each other gifts and we often travel for the holidays, so we don't always feel the need to decorate.  We prefer live trees; the Fraser Fir has become our favorite.  Someday I'll get around to making a bigger tree skirt.  I made this one back about 10 years ago when we lived in Oklahoma.  Also our Christmas trees never have a theme.  We just use our childhood ornaments that have meaning to us and add a couple of new ones each year.  Nothing fancy, just like us :)

More Rag Quilts and a Tie Onesie

My sewing machine has been getting a workout lately.  Here are 2 more rag quilts I made for babies of very dear friends. 
This first blanket was for Cassia who lives in Malibu.  I get to meet her this Saturday and spend a week in CA with her lovely family!

Smooth side

Rag side

This blanket is for Baby Silas who should arrive in early February.  We go to church with his parents and they also work at ACU.  This may be my favorite blanket I've ever made, but I say that often :)  I decided to try a brick pattern for the first time, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. 

Smooth side

Rag side

Silas also got a tie onesie.  I love making these for little boys!  I use Rit dye and the stove top method  to color the onesies.  The stitching stays white and adds a little interest in my opinion.

I have more crafts to share, but I can't reveal them until they've been given :)

Fun Family Times

We just got back from our annual gathering with Josh's mom's side of the family.  These trips are always too short but lots of fun.  This year we went back to Uncle Joe and Aunt Susan's farm near Caldwell, TX.  I think the pictures are self explanatory- we did a lot of shooting :)

Josh, Jay, Uncle Jay, Britt, and Uncle Joe

Jay, Britt, and Uncle Joe

Uncle Joe

Me

Dixie shooting, others watching

Lauren and Josh shooting

Sniper Lana Jo :)  Also Britt and Dixie

Dixie and her dad, Uncle Jay

Spectators

Time for the shot gun- go Lana Jo!

Kendra looks like a pro!

My father-in-law, Larry, shooting and Uncle Joe throwing

Nana (Josh's mom) with our niece June.  Seriously, what other 6 month old can wear pigtails?!?  Love that girl!

Our nephew, Ben, with his grandpa (Josh's dad)

We did relax a little too

Ben is getting so big!

Jack on the train, Ben with the dump truck

A little love for sister (our nephew Ben and niece June)

Group shot with a lot of squinting

Sweater to Purse

My second autumn craft this year involved taking a sweater and turning it into a purse.  I've got several sweaters stashed away for repurposing, but you could always go to a thrift store and find some cheap ones too.  Of course I saw this project on Pinterest and I've been wanting to make one for a long time.  I basically used this tutorial, but I changed my dimensions a bit and used strapping for the handles.  I also added pockets to my lining for my iPad, cell phone, chapstick, etc.  I considered this a trial run because I have another sweater that I really want to make into a purse.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  You can see my one big mistake- part of my lining is showing the wrong side of the fabric.  Oh well- at least you can't see it from the outside.  This is why I do practice runs :)  Next time I'll make the purse a little bit bigger so my stuff isn't so crowded and make the lining a bit smaller so it isn't so baggy inside.  I did break 2 sewing machine needles on this project due to the thickness of the layers, so if you make this be prepared with extra needles!
I am linking this up to a Pinterest challenge on one of my favorite blogs: Young House Love. 

Neighborhood Farm

When people find out that we live out in the country on ~11 acres, they often ask if we keep any animals on the land.  Our reply is usually something like, "No, but our neighbors have lots of animals, so we get to enjoy them without having to do any of the work."  So I thought it might be fun to share some pictures (and videos) of the animals we get to enjoy around our house.
First up, our neighbors to the west.  We have a field on this side of our property that is about 200 acres.  It mostly has cows, but also 4 llamas and 1-4 horses.  These are the only animals around that have babies that we get to enjoy.  

Llamas- very curious about everything

Cows on the move, a little camera shy

Cows at sunset

Our neighbor to the east has a dog named Pizza, but she also keeps sheep and a donkey part of the year.

1 ram and 10 ewes

Silly Donkey

"Got any carrots for me?"

 Titus especially loves chasing the sheep and making the donkey mad.  We started feeding the donkey grass and carrots this year, so he tolerates us much more.  He even joins us for our evening walks and lets us pet him occasionally :)  Check out these videos.
Here is donkey walking with us and Titus chasing the sheep.  Sorry, it's shaky.  It's hard to walk on a dirt road while filming :)

 

Here's proof that Donkey is starting to tolerate Titus.

 

This donkey will plow through the oak tress to walk with us.  Here's an up close shot for you, Shelly!

Our neighbors to the south are super sweet and have 2 horses: Freckles and Lady.  Freckles is so pretty but can get a little aggressive about her carrots.  Lady is over 30 years old and has trouble walking, but she loves a good neck rub if she is nearby. 

Freckles sticking out her tongue for the camera

Beautiful Freckles

Lady is a little hard to see here, but she is the brown horse behind Freckles.

Our neighbors to the north used to have goats and a donkey, but they moved away.  Josh once had to rescue one of their goats that was stuck in the fence, poor thing.  The new neighbors say they will probably put goats on the land soon too.  Titus will be so excited to have even more animals to chase!

On the wilder side, we had these 6 lovely turkeys hanging out at our house for about 3 weeks last month.  They would hang out in the trees and wander around our front and back yards.  Titus of course chased them as often as he could, but they didn't really seem to care all that much.

We really enjoy all of these animals, especially since we don't have to take care of them!  Hope you enjoyed a little tour of our neighborhood farm.

B is for Brokaw

My first autumn craft this year was a big B.  The stuff for this project had been sitting in my craft room for over a year- oops!  It's just a big letter cutout from Michael's and yarn that I thought would look cozy.  This project took a lot longer than I expected.  I had no idea that wrapping and gluing yarn would take so long!  I like how it turned out, but there were a lot of curves that made things a little tricky.  Here it is on our front porch bench with the pumpkin from our garden.  It will probably end up living on our fireplace mantel at some point.

What My Pinterest Recipes Say About Me!

I recently took the time to sort through my 250+ recipes on Pinterest and put them into more useful categories.  Because I'm a dork, I also took the time to make a pie chart that shows the distribution of the recipes I pin.



I guess you can see which recipes catch my attention most!

Here are some other things you might learn about me from my Pinterest recipes:

Sweets- I like cookies and anything with chocolate and peanut butter or cookie dough
Main Dishes- I like chicken, pasta, and mexican food
Baked Goods and Bread- no real trend here other than I like lots of different flavors in my bread
Sides and Veggies-  I guess it's pretty obvious I love potatoes- any way you can cook them!
Dips, Dressings, and Condiments I like Ranch dressing, a lot :)  And cheese dips are a weakness too.
Soups and Stews- Again with the pasta and potatoes- seriously, I need some help!
Mixes and Misc tips- I have great intentions to stock my pantry with this stuff.
Breakfast- Can anyone say donuts and oatmeal?
Snacks- I don't snack much, and I don't have kids!
Drinks- Evidently I like them pink :)

I'm curious what you think your Pinterest recipes (or other boards) say about you!  Please comment :)

Summer Crafts

Unfortunately, my craft room was used very little this summer.  I did manage to put together 2 extremely easy projects, but that's about it.
Toward the end of June, I made this crib quilt for Josh's sister.  I was supposed to do the sewing and someone else was going to do the actually quilting.  Here's what it looked like last I saw it.

This is a wall decoration made by Josh's sister for their nursery.  I love all these fabrics!  I haven't seen the whole nursery put together, but I'm sure it's super cute. 

Just last week, I made my first pillowcase dress and matching fancy pants for my cousin's daughter who just turned 1 year old.  This was such a fun project!  I used fat quarters from Walmart, so this entire project cost $5.  Plus I have leftover fabric!

 

Posting these pictures makes me realize how unhappy I am with my camera.  I may have to start using Josh's fancy camera :)
So what craft projects have you been tackling this summer? 

2012 Garden- Part 8, Hanging On

I realize I haven't done a garden post in a while, so here's an update.  This is what our garden looks like these days.

We have cut down all the corn, the tomato plants are falling over because they're too heavy for their cages, grass and weeds are taking over, watermelon and other squash plants continue to wind their way all over the place.  Basically it's ugly, but some things are still hanging on.  We got some really great tomatoes a few weeks ago, but since then the plants have been invaded by bugs and they are eating all our red tomatoes.  Okra, jalapenos, green peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, eggplant, and pumpkin are still producing fruit!  Yay- so much better than last year!  We had some good zucchini, but it has recently been destroyed by bugs as well.  Here's some of our harvest from the last month or so.

This meal was taken entirely from our garden- so satisfying!

Honeydew, watermelon, fried okra, squash casserole and marinated tomatoes.  Yum yum!

Anybody else out there still have a garden growing?  We'd love to hear about it!