My Northwest Nest

A Good Read: Learning

2011-07-29T07:53:00.001-07:00

It appears all I am doing this summer is reading. Oh and it's wonderful!! I have been doing a lot more than reading, really. I actually have been working on a couple projects around here I just haven't taken the time to post them. They're coming though. Promise.

My most recent read was Learning by Karen Kingsbury.

The second book in the Bailey Flanigan series. Another incredible book. If you've read any of the Baxter Family series or Bailey Flanigan series you know what I mean when I say this book was incredible. I don't know that any of these books could disappoint me. It's like hearing from a friend after months of silence. I started the Baxter Family series, which includes 18 books, about five years ago. You meet Bailey Flanigan in the last books of that series and the Baxter's show up from time to time in Bailey's series. So it really is like catching up with friends from long ago.

I hope you find a little time to do some reading this summer too. I've already started my next book, so I'm off to curl up with my coffee and book.

Blessings.

A Good Read: Uncharted TerriTORI

2011-07-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

I read Uncharted TerriTORI back in June but never got around to sharing about it. Some may laugh and say "Really?" when I say I love Tori Spelling. I know she's not an incredible Christian author, she doesn't write about grace based parenting or how to be a woman of Christ. Tori Spelling writes about real life. Real life for her anyway. And I love it.

I've also read her first two books, sTORI Telling and Mommywood.

Tori Spelling's books are fun, easy reads. I usually read through one in a day, two maximum. She's funny and so incredibly transparent I can't believe it. I'm a nobody and I don't know if I could be as open about myself as she is.

So if you're looking for a book that doesn't require you to reflect upon yourself or dig deep into your own issues, read one of Spelling's books. You'll laugh out loud at some of the stuff she writes. Enjoy!

Blessings.

A Good Read: Choosing to SEE

2011-07-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman. What a book and what an amazing author. This book tells Mary Beth's story. From being a young girl in Ohio to marrying singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman, to losing their youngest daughter in a horrific accident involving their youngest son.

I love reading memoir's, but this was definitely the hardest one I've read. I found I read right through the first twenty chapters rather quickly. It was the chapter titled May 21, 2008 that brought my reading to a halt. I often had to pause, grab some tissue and get myself together. I just couldn't imagine losing a child, especially in a tragic accident involving another of my children.

The Chapman family is enduring such a struggle but through it all show so much hope and faith it's almost inconceivable. I recommend this book to anyone. Just keep your tissue close and keep reading.

Blessings.

Summer Thus Far

2011-07-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been one month, today actually, since I made any posts. Life has been crazy busy around here and I've been running short of inspiration. We had rainy weather the first couple weeks of summer then gorgeous blue skies and 80 degree temps. So I've been enjoying summer while it's here.

My camera is kind of on the fritz or maybe it's just my SD card. The card/camera only holds about eleven pictures at a time then I have to clear it. Pretty ridiculous. I have been using my phone instead, not great quality but captures the memories either way.

Here are some pictures to catch you up on our summer thus far...

We started by making an hour and a half drive to pick up this cute little Terrier Mix, Piper. She's almost five months old and ALL puppy!

This sleeping beauty turned the big 1-0!!

Grandpa let her pick out a brand new bike! Lucky girl!

We had a garage sale & lemonade stand.

I had to buy some fencing materials to keep little Piper from eating all our lettuce.

We spent some time at the lake.

We're trying to make some progress on this Summer Bucket List.

I scored this pair of solid wood rockers at a yard sale for $20!! I'll be stripping them down and repainting them for our front porch.

Also picked up these lamps at a yard sale. Both for $5. They'll be getting a paint job and I'll be sprucing up the shades.

The chicks and I tried on shoes at Target. It killed me to be frugal and walk away without those aqua wedges. They were $8!!!

And just last night I caught my girls in Piper's crate.

Look at that crazed look on her face. Yikes!

The Tall Man and I have also been playing softball on our churches co-ed team. The Tall Man also got a new to him car. We've named it Gladys. I'll share pictures later and you'll see Gladys is a fitting name.

So that's what we've been up to this summer. I'll try and keep you posted on my projects and what we'll be doing the rest of this summer.

Blessing.

Summer for Sale

2011-06-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Until the last few days the weather around here has not exactly felt like summer. Or spring for that matter. It's felt like February. But inside our house I'm pretending it's summer. At least as far as scents go. The smell of summer is coconut and vanilla or coconut and lime. The other day a friend of mine stopped by for a minute and she said my house smelled good, like the beach. I give the credit to this, Bath & Body Works Vanilla Coconut Wallflower.

I love Mary Kay's Coconut Lime Body Care Set.

I had this Island Colada candle from Bath & Body Works burning for weeks before the sun decided to come out.

Here are a couple more bottles of summer from B & B Works.

And of course the bottle of sunshine that takes me back to my teen years. When we would boat all day long, swim across the lake and jump off the rocks. Back before I had any sense at all and wasn't afraid of anything {like skin cancer.}

Do those scents take you back anywhere? I hope you're all getting some sunshine where you live. We have sun for the first time in what seems like forever so I'm heading outside to soak it in!

Blessings.

Ready for Sale

2011-06-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not alone when I say I get a little overwhelmed when thinking about putting together a garage sale, yard sale, tag sale, whatever you want to call it. Lucky for me {and you} there are several blogs out there who have recently posted their secrets and tips for a successful sale.

So here you go, a short cut to some fantastic blogs with all the stuff we need to know about sales...

Brown Paper Packages has some good ideas & some little chicks selling juice.

House of Grace is SO unbelievably organized when it comes to a garage sale. Heck she appears to be organized when it comes to EVERYTHING.

I wish I could channel some of her energy. I also wish I could shop her garage sale.

All Things Thrifty has her own tips and some pretty eye catching sign ideas.

There ya go. A few great blogs with several even better tips. Now I need to get to work preparing for my own garage sale.

Blessings.

Farm Chicks

2011-06-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday my friend Jamie & I went to Farm Chicks Antique Show in Spokane, Washington. This antique show started in 2002 and is full of vintage goods, handmade loveliness and tons of vendors. We found out about it last year and weren't able to go so this year Jamie and I vowed we were going!

So after church she picked me up, we grabbed coffee and were on our way. It was $7 to get in and you could browse and snap pictures all you want. So that's exactly what I did. I didn't have my camera so I had to use my cell phone.

Here's a little peek at a few of my favorite things...

This birds sign had faucet handles for hooks. Super cute for a garage or garden shed.

Jamie loved these lockers! Perfect for a mud room.

I loved the ginormous letters the Vintage Barn had.

This isn't a great picture but these lights were SO cool!!

Tissue poms made from patterns! Brilliant!

I loved the pink and white of this booth. There are ladders holding up the fabric and twinkle lights. Adorable!

If you haven't been to the Farm Chicks Antique Show I'd suggest you check it out next year!

Blessings.

12 Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

2011-06-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Some of you have already started summer vacation. My preschooler had her last day yesterday, but my grade school chicks still have a week left. That means we still have time to put together more teacher appreciation gifts. I thought I'd share some of my favorite gift ideas for the teachers in your life.

The ladies over at Brown Paper Packages are so creative! They have a few ideas that I'd love to replicate.

A Sweet Gift of hot fudge, you can put an end of the year touch by saying something like "I hope you have a 'sweet' summer!"

A simple Thank You jar filled with the teachers favorite treat is super easy!

I love this 4x4 block for pencils & pens.

Eighteen25 shares a cute way to give those coffee cards.

{BTW I've talked to a teacher or two & I hear these are a favorite!}

Ucreate has another back to school gift that can easily be turned to an end of the year gift.

Write "Hope you have a smooth summer!" on the tag.

Lisa Storms had a cute & thirst quenching idea with these lemonade cups.

Here's s'more ideas from Domesticated Lady

This Crayon Initial by Frugal Life Project is super cute!

And here are the teacher appreciation gifts my little chicks and I have put together in the past.

A Gift for Tea-cher

Caramel Corn Jars easily turned into "For a POP-ular Teacher" jars.

Clipboards for Teacher

And my most recent gift for the chick's teachers, a little thank you for helping them grow.

I hope you've found some inspiration on how to show your kiddos teacher's they are appreciated.

Blessings.

Thanks for Helping Me Grow

2011-06-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. School is almost over so it's time for Mommy to get creative with a teacher appreciation gift. My little chicks have been SO blessed this year with teachers. In the past we've had some... well... uh... not so great teachers. But this year, oh my goodness! Each of these ladies have been absolutely wonderful to my chicks. I would love to go all out and give coffee cards, movie tickets, gift cards for yummy restaurants but when you multiply all that by 3 it equals one broke North West Nest.

I wanted to do something different than last year. You may remember our Clipboards for Teacher. We've also made note pads and signs. The jars of caramel corn and pots of goldwere holiday-ish {seen the "we're gonna be sisters" episode of Hannah Montana?} but you could probably put an end of the year twist on them.

We decided to go with a live plant and a cute little saying. Over the weekend the chicks and I ran to Lowe's {my fave home improvement store} looking for houseplants, pots and potting soil. We saw some cute cactus but I decided they wouldn't be so "cute" to transplant. Then we saw a table of Bromeliads already in a weathered looking terra cotta pot for about $7 a piece.

We thought these would be a great pick because they are a pretty hardy plant that's not going to flower once and die. Bromeliads are also considered an "O2 for you" plant. This means they generate oxygen and will add humidity to a room during dry conditions. So they're low maintenance, requiring only an hour or two of indirect sunlight per day and they purify the air! I think that sounds ideal for a classroom setting!

I used a small foam craft brush to apply a couple thin coats of Valspar's chalkboard paint in a rectangle on one side of the pot. Then used my chalk ink marker to write "Thanks for helping me grow!"

Ta Da! Done!

These will be easy for teachers to keep home during the summer months and bring back for a little color in the fall and winter months. When the Bromeliads grow they'll look like these.

I think they're very pretty and my little chicks are excited to share them with their teachers on the last day of school.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all a happy Memorial Day. I pray you're enjoying time with loved ones. For those over seas fighting for our freedom, I pray for your safety.

Blessings.

A Good Read: Heaven is for Real

2011-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

So I wrote my last "A Good Read" post one day and said I was going to start reading Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. Well I started it that afternoon and finished it the next morning. It is such a good, quick, easy read.

I have a few friends who had read this book before me and they said it completely changed their perspective of what Heaven is like. I have to admit this book brought up a few things that I kind of sat back and went "Hmph, I never thought of that before." I think it will make the majority of people think about eternity a little differently.

I also really like Todd Burpo's {the little boy's dad} writing style. It's like your sitting on a big comfy chair across from him with a cup of coffee and he's actually telling you about his son. I think that's what makes Heaven is for Real such an easy read.

Have you read it? What is your opinion on this book? Please share!!

Blessings.

Gardening

2011-05-24T13:25:00.001-07:00

It's time to start our little garden. Actually it was time about a month ago but we were still getting snow about once a week. Lovely Northwest weather!

Because our weather was so unpredictable through the month of April and early May, we started our garden inside. We went to Lowe's and picked up one of these...

And some of these...

And got to work doing this...
Wow. Right?

Okay so we followed the directions for the indoor greenhouse and planted some of our seeds. We put the lid on and placed the greenhouse on our dining room table, right in front of our big sliding glass door that lets lots of sunshine in. I thought this would be a great way to start our little garden.

I was wrong. About a week into it all of our starts had this layer of white fuzzy fungus all over them. I did a little Googling and talked to a couple green thumb friends and determined that this was normal if the plants were too moist and warm. I should take the lid off the green house and worse case scenario the plants won't germinate.

Well I didn't want to waste a bunch of time and energy growing plants that weren't going to germinate. So our little starts went into the garbage and we started over. This time I left the lid off the greenhouse and the starts are doing fantastic! We haven't had any of that white fungus. Yay!

Here is how our veggie and sunflower starts look right now.

We need to clean up our raised garden bed a little before we can put the starts in the ground. Apparently we were growing rocks over the winter. So once those are taken out and we add a little compost into the dirt we'll be ready to rock. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Blessings.

A Good Read: Grace Based Parenting

2011-05-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

For the past ten weeks or so I've been attending W.I.S.H. (Women Intentionally Seeking Him) at my church every Tuesday morning. There are several different workshops offered, I picked Grace Based Parenting by Dr. Tim Kimmel. Parenting is a HUGE part of my life right now and I figured we could all use a little help in the Grace department.

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Each week we read a chapter and discussed the questions in the back of the book. It was very interesting to get the perspectives of the women around me. Dr. Kimmel really went into depth about raising our children in a home of grace.

Many parts were very eye opening. Such simple things I was doing or saying to my little chicks that could quite possibly be crushing their spirit. Something I NEVER want to do. I learned a lot from this book and would recommend it to any parent who wants to raise their children with the grace our Lord gives us.

Here are a few things I highlighted/underlined in my book:

Kids brought up in an environment of legitimate praise build a strong resistance against the insults and put-downs that often bombard them from our culture.
They need to see us turning to God with confidence when we are afraid, out of energy, out of ideas, or out of money. They need to see how we have trusted Him to overcome our helplessness in every situation.
One of the great factors that determine whether children grow up to be these kinds of healthy adults (i.e., adults who are not dominated and manipulated by their feelings) is how their vulnerabilities are handled when they are children.
Grace-based homes provide and outlet where the children can respectfully voice their disappointment without fear of reprisals.

You can check out more about parenting, marriage and family at the Family Matters website, their blog and specifically grace based parenting, here.

Now I'm off to read the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo.

Blessings.

What They're Doing

2011-05-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks but you may remember my trip to Ikea on Easter weekend. I picked up all these great finds.

Well, I'm finally getting around to tell you what all these things are doing around my house.

My 365+ containers are holding our rice and spaghetti, fettuccine & angel hair pasta.

Three of the JAMKA containers hold cereal and oatmeal, which it looks like we need more of.

The fourth JAMKA container holds our raw almonds. A favorite snack of the Tall Man & I.

The two smaller Sockerart pitchers are up on top of our kitchen cabinets. I'm not completely happy about this is set up but haven't figured out exactly what I want to do yet.

I love what I did with the large Sockerart pitcher. Filled it with tulips from Michael's.

I chose fake flowers because the pitcher is food safe and I didn't want to put real flowers & plant food in a pitcher I may use for drinks later.

So there ya go, that's what I've done so far. The FLYTE magazine files have yet to be unwrapped but I'll get to them soon enough.

Blessings.

A Few Cards

2011-05-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

I may be slacking on my blog, but I haven't just been lounging around eating bon bons. I've been working on a few crafty things, had family in town, softball has started and working on a new business venture for myself. So very far from lounging. With everything else going on I haven't taken the time to actually write posts about the crafty things I have been working on. So here I am, taking a few minutes to try and play catch up.

A while back I decided I was going to spend a day each month and make cards for all the birthdays, anniversaries and special events happening in the next 30 days. So a couple weeks ago I sat down and made Mother's day cards, a couple anniversary cards, wedding cards and a couple blank cards for whenever I feel like just saying hello to a friend.

I used my Cricut with various different cartridges such as Straight From the Nest, George and Wall Decor and More. I also used my stamps from Stampin' Up. So fun! Well, here they are...

A couple wedding cards.

Blank and Thinking of You cards.

And a couple Mother's Day cards.

There ya go, some of the cards I've been working on. I have some more that I haven't taken pictures of so I'll have to share those another time.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths

A Gift for Tea-cher

2011-05-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

I realize tomorrow is the last day of teacher appreciation week but better late than never, right? Ugh. I know, I know, I stink at this. I get these great ideas in my mind but don't bring them to life until it's too late for anyone else to take a stab at them. So I apologize.

This is a pretty quick and easy gift you may be able to pull together for tomorrow though.

I went to Ross and picked up a four pack of coffee cups for about $3 and that's it. That's all I had to buy for this gift. I brought the cups home, gave them a good washing and waited for them to air dry. While they were drying I ran up to my office and used the Cricut and From My Kitchen cartridge to cut out the word tea and the Wall Decor and More cartridge to cut out a cute little teacup.

Then I went through our collection of tea's. We have quite a few different varieties, all Stash. I really like Stash tea. It's individually wrapped so you don't have to worry about it getting stale and it fits perfectly in my little tea tray. I picked out a variety of teas and tucked them inside the tea cups. One for each of my three chicks teachers. Next I wrapped the cup in clear wrap and tied the tag on with some white ribbon. The tag says "To A Great Tea-cher".

There ya go, a pretty quick teacher appreciation gift for all those procrastinators out there.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths

What A Weekend

2011-05-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

What an eventful weekend. I kicked off my weekend by watching the Royal Wedding. I wasn't up at 2 am, I DVR'd the coverage and watched it later in the morning.

I caught a lot of grief about it from some friends but that's okay. Prince William is only a few months older than I am and I find it fascinating, that in his late twenties he leads the life he does. I don't know, something about it just amazes me. It is SO far from the life I lead. The whole Royal family interests me.

Can I just say, this dress is A-MAZ-ING!! Don't you think? I thought Kate Middleton looked stunning!

We spent Saturday morning in a meeting at church and the afternoon at my Mom's house. We were there to watch the Mariners beat the Red Sox. It was a great game, I thought. My Mom was able to play with our little chicks and the Tall Man and I watched the game.

Sunday morning we woke up early and headed out to the Fisherman's Breakfast an hour away, where my Dad lives. Every year the fire department in this small town host a Fisherman's breakfast with pancakes, sausage patties, hash browns, fried eggs and coffee or juice. Can you hear the cholesterol rising?

When asked how many pieces of sausage they'd like our chicks said two, thinking they were getting the puny links they get at home. They were pretty surprised when they saw these huge sausage patties. They ate every bite though.

We came home, worked around the house and yard for a bit then headed out to a picnic at the park with our small group. It was absolutely wonderful! The kids played on the play structure and rode their bikes and scooters around the park. The adults talked and threw a football or softball around. Good times with very good people.

Our weekend ended with the news of Bin Laden's death. Immediately I felt a sense of victory and pride for our nation. I felt a sense of relief for those who lost loved ones on September 11. I felt excitement for the men and women who have fought so hard for our country.

Then I watched coverage of people singing and dancing in the streets celebrating the death of this criminal. I am relieved to hear Bin Laden, himself, is no longer a threat to our country. What he masterminded on September 11, 2001 was absolutely awful. But as I watched my fellow citizens celebrate I thought of the way Osama's people celebrated when our country suffered such great loss. I thought, "Are we any better?" Then I started thinking about what our Lord would think of the way this was all playing out.

Ezekiel 33:11 says " I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live." These words are from God's mouth. This makes it difficult for me to take pleasure in the death of any one.

I realize by saying this I may lose a few followers and that's okay. We are all entitled to our own opinions, this is simply mine. Don't doubt that my American flag still flies high and I am proud to call this country my home. Instead of dancing right now I choose to pray for the safety and future of this beautiful nation.

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Blessings.

Do You Hear That?

2011-04-27T16:57:00.001-07:00

Do you hear that? It's the sound of angels singing Hallelujah! At least that's what I heard when I was at Costco this morning. Here is how this angelic song came about.

I was walking through Costco with my littlest chick, waiting for her prescription to be filled. (Poor little chick has Conjunctivitis in both eyes and a double ear infection.) I was stressing a little because meatloaf was on the menu for dinner tonight but I hadn't sweet talked my Tall Man into chopping onions for me. I very STRONGLY DISLIKE chopping onions. So I was actually considering leaving the onions out when a friend of mine text me and asked if I needed help with anything while the little one isn't feeling well, sweet right? I thought so. Anyway, I told her she could come to my house and chop onions for me. She knows how much I despise this task, she's actually chopped onions for me before. Instead of putting her work day on hold and rushing to my rescue she decided to rescue me remotely. She sent a simple text saying "You could buy the dried ones."

WHAT!?!?! Dried onions?!?! I didn't know these existed. You may be thinking "DUH!!" and that's okay, I won't hold it against you.

I was honestly surprised. I had no idea you could buy dried, chopped onion and they sold them where I was at. Which is kind of like a double rescue, I didn't have to make another stop. Woo hoo! This is where the angels started singing and that beautiful golden light shined behind this bottle.

Okay. That's all I've got. I just wanted to share my good news with you. I will never chop another onion again!!

Blessings.

Ikea Trip

2011-04-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a very happy Easter with the ones you love. My family and I had a great time with my Tall Man's family. They are such an awesome group of people, it's always a good time.

Before all the family festivities we took off for a couple hours to Ikea and did a little shopping. Our little chicks went into the free play land they offer and the Tall Man and I cruised the store for about an hour. It was the perfect amount of time. I could have wandered all day but didn't want to lose my whole day to Ikea. So it was nice to have a time limit enforced by someone else.

So here is what I picked up...

A couple JAMKA food storage containers.

A couple 365+ food storage containers.

A five pack of FLYT magazine files. I have a project in mind for these.

And of course I couldn't leave without these Sockerart vases/pitchers. One in each size, thank you.

Please forgive the bad lighting, I was so excited to snap these pictures I couldn't wait for good, natural lighting.

We did get one other thing. A couple packs of natural wood hangers for the Tall Man. Apparently he was excited too, I didn't even see them downstairs. They were upstairs and into our closet before I realized he had even unpacked them.

While at Ikea we did a little couch testing. I think we've decided on the Ektorp corner sofa.

We both plopped down, sat on it, laid on it, got up off of it and decided it would be great in our living room. I really like the lighter color but Tall Man thought a darker shade would be better. So I think when it's time we may have to get two slipcovers. Or maybe buy the sofa in the Idemo light brown and get a Svanby beige slipcover. I guess, lucky for me I can't buy a sofa right now so it's not a decision that has to be made today. Whew.

I'm sure I'll be back in the next few days to show you what I've done with my little Ikea finds. So excited to get to work!!

Blessings.

He Has Risen!

2011-04-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

"You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here."

Mark 16:6

Happy Easter Friends!

Blessings.

Easter Traditions

2011-04-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday mornings I attend something called W.I.S.H. at our church. It stands for Women Intentionally Seeking Him, great, right? I am reading Grace Based Parenting by Dr. Tim Kimmeland a friend of mine is leading the class to go along with it. In class this week we were talking about Easter Traditions that teach the REAL meaning of this Resurrection Sunday.

The first one she mentioned was Resurrection Eggs.

Have you heard of these? This is something we do in our family and love it! I'll give you instructions on how to make the eggs in just a moment but first I want to say we still have a little fun with Resurrection Eggs. They're included in our Easter egg hunt and our girls know if they find an egg with a number on it they have a special egg. Once we're done with our egg hunt we sit down as a family and ask our little chicks to pull out all their numbered eggs and starting with egg number 1 we go through the story from the last supper through the resurrection.

If you're intrigued by what I've already told you, you have a couple options. You can run to a local Christian book and supply store and pay about $15 for Resurrection eggs or you can make your own for little to no money. When I made ours, I spent no extra money, we had everything on hand.

Now for what you'll need.

12 plastic eggs
egg carton
Sharpie marker, Chalk pen or vinyl numbers
11 items {listed below} to go in eggs along with scripture

In each egg you'll place a special item and you can either include a small piece of paper with the scripture written on it or have a list of the scripture that you can refer to. We include the scripture in the egg because two of our three little chicks can read and I think get more from it if they actually see the reference for themselves. Now for what you'll find in each egg.

1. A small piece of bread & Matthew 26:26.

While they were eating Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. "Take it and eat it," He said, "This is My body."

2. Silver coins & Matthew 26: 14-15

Then one of the twelve disciples, name Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, "What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?" They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him.

3. Purple cloth {representing a purple robe} & Mark 15:17

They put a purple robe on Jesus...

4. Thorns {we used cloves} & Matthew 27:29

Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on His head, and put a stick on His right hand; then they knelt before Him and made fun of Him. "Long live the King, of the Jews!" they said.

5. Scourge {a small piece of rope or thick string} &Mark 15:15

Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed Him over to be crucified.

6. A small cross & John 19:17-18a

He went out, carrying His cross, and came to "The Place of the Skull," as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called "Galgotha.") There they crucified Him.

7. Nails & John 20:25b

Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the scars of the nails in His hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in His side, I will not believe."

8. Sign saying "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" & Luke 23:38

Above Him were written these words: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

9. Small piece of sponge & Matthew 27:48

One of them ran up at once, took a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, put it on the end of a stick, and tried to make Him drink it.

10. Something representing a spear {we use a toothpick} & John 19:34

One of the soldiers plunged his spear into Jesus' side, and at once blood and water poured out.

11. Rock & Matthew 27:59-60

Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a new lined sheet and placed it in his own new tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.

12. Empty egg & Matthew 28:6

He is not here He has risen just as He said.

There you go. A fun way to teach your children the true meaning of Easter. Here are a few pictures of what my Resurrection Eggs look like.

Inside the carton.

Inside one egg.

And the outside of the carton.

I used a piece of scrapbook paper from Michael's and my Cricut for the letter.

You can also try these ideas; Easter Cookies or Resurrection Bread. I have not tried these myself but from what I can tell they are educational and will keep your child's attention. Do you have your own special tradition to celebrate Easter?

Blessings.

Peep Kabobs

2011-04-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

These were super quick and easy to make. My little chicks put them together for their teachers. I picked up a few boxes of Marshmallow Peep chicks and bunnies for about $1 a box. We had kabob skewers at home so I just set everything out on the dining room table and let the girls go to town.

These are terrible pictures. We were in such a hurry to get these put together early because we're leaving town for Easter.

I didn't get any pictures of the final product but you get the idea. I wrapped them in clear wrap and tied spring colored curling ribbon around the bottom. Done.

Quick, easy and cheep... I mean cheap.

Blessings.

Early Spring Branches

2011-04-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

The seasons have changed again in our half bath. That is one sentence I never thought I'd say. However it is true, the seasons have changed yet again in our half bath. You remember our autumn branches and our winter branches. Now it's time for some spring branches.

I had thought about trying to tie in baseball somehow but decided that probably wouldn't work too well. It might not look as pretty either. So I went with some pale pink budding branches.

I used a role of pale pink streamers from the Dollar Tree and a little hot glue. That's all.

I cut the streamers into pieces about two inches long and tried to come up with a specific technique for making the perfect blossom. I wasn't happy with the results when I was trying so hard to make them perfect. So I decided to wing it. I crumpled, rolled, folded, twisted the streamer until I was happy. Then I used just a dot of hot glue to attach the blossom to the branch.

Here's a terrible close up.
I didn't add too many blossoms because spring hasn't fully arrived here yet. Our weather can't decide what it's doing. So these are my "early spring" branches.

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths

Pottery Barn Inspired Eggs

2011-04-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

I think it's pretty safe to say we've all seen these beautiful eggs at Pottery Barn.

If you hadn't before, you have now. I saw these eggs at Pottery Barn when the Tall Man and I were out for our anniversary. I knew immediately I could make them myself. I was really excited because I hadn't seen them in blog world yet, I could possibly be one of the first! Yay!

Then a week passed and I didn't have our spring decorations down from the rafters in the garage. Then another week passed and it was so wet and cold there was no way I could spray paint the eggs. By this time I had seen a few other bloggers making their own version of PB's Easter eggs. I decided I was going to finish my eggs anyway and post about them.

I put a bunch of plastic eggs into a box where they were almost touching {this way the spray paint won't blow the eggs around.} I used Krylon's Fusion for Plastic in Textured Shimmer White Sands. I had to spray one side, let it dry, move the eggs around, spray another side, let it dry. I did that until I had completed three thin layers of paint.

Next I used my Cricut to cut out the word SPRING. I have an envelope full of extra letters from my Cricut, I put my cut out letters in the envelope. For this project I needed the background/frame paper. I used it as a stencil. With a little black acrylic paint and a foam brush I used my stencil to apply one letter to each egg.

If I try this again I will use a round paint brush, I think it would deliver a cleaner letter. My P and G got a little sloppy. I nestled the eggs in a white tray with some Spanish Moss, vanilla candles and little yellow flowers left over from my Spring Wreath.

Here they are as the centerpiece on my dining room table.

Blessings.

Linking to: Embellishing Life, House of Hepworths

Giveaway at How Does She?

2011-04-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

The incredibly talented ladies over at How Does She? are hosting a little giveaway. One I will definitely be entering and I think you should too. They've partnered with The Hip Hostess and are giving away two cute aprons!

If I were to win I would pick this one.

Espresso Swirl

I also love this sweet petite apron, Cherry me!

There are three ways to enter so head over to How Does She? and enter! If you're not the cooking type, keep in mind Mother's Day is next month. Good luck!

Blessings.

Ikea Wish List

2011-04-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Next week our family will be driving to the Seattle area to spend Easter with my Tall Mans family. I absolutely adore the family I married into so I am looking forward to a couple days with them. I also love that my in-laws live about twenty minutes from an Ikea. Yay!! I am really hoping to squeeze in a "quick trip" to this Scandinavian super store. Is there such thing as a quick trip to Ikea? I've never had one but I'm sure someone out there has.

I decided if I am going to attempt a quick trip I should probably have a little list of things I'd like to pick up. I also compiled a list of things I'd love to take home if only I receive a large check in the mail the week before Easter and can borrow my favorite father-in-laws trailer to haul it all home. I thought I'd share with you some of those items.

On my "Haul it Home" list...

The Ektorp Sofa Bed

The whole Birkeland Bedroom Set.

A few Linnarp desks for my little chicks would be nice.

This Nordano expandable outdoor table is perfect for our family plus friends.

And in my "no check" quick trip list...

Raritet Food storage containers with lids. I'd like about 25 of them please.

I absolutely LOVE this Sockerart vase/pitcher!

I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with lakes. This Bild poster is great!

We already have some of these Glis boxes but they're perfect for my little chicks pens, pencils, markers and more.

If you've been to Ikea you know how difficult it was for me to narrow it down to just a handful of things. I could go on for days but I think it's time I stop putting lists together and get things done around here. Don't worry, I will keep you posted as to what actually makes it home with us.

Blessings.

Fuchsia Saturday

2011-04-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, April 9th, Fred Meyer in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, is having their annual Fuchsia Saturday. I've gone to this event once before and it was great! You spend a little money, get your hands dirty and have a beautiful fuchsia arrangement for your home!

Here's how it works, you can either purchase containers at Fred Meyer or bring your own from home. There are ten varieties of fuchsias to choose from. The store provides the potting soil and you can make your own arrangement or get some help from a garden associate making the perfect arrangement. All you pay for are the flowers and they're at a special low price for this event.

Like I said I have been to this event once before and ended up with some beautiful hanging baskets for my front porch. I'm not sure I'll make it this year because you know how everything seems to happen at once? Well, it's all happening here this Saturday. My in-laws are in town, it's Fuchsia Saturday, Lowe's is having a Build and Grow workshop and a local high school is holding a craft fair in their gymnasium. Poop! I can't do it all! Around here family is always first so I'll be hanging with my in-laws.

I hope some of you can make it to one of these events. To find a Fred Meyer near you click here and a Lowe's near you, click here. As for in-laws and local high school craft fairs, you're on your own.

Have a happy weekend friends!

Blessings.

Spring Wreath

2011-04-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone in blog land is sharing their spring wreaths and now it's my turn. I have seen some pretty incredible wreaths out there, like these...

Organize and Decorate Everything

Lemon Tree Creations

Barb Wired

Some are pretty extravagant and I just don't have time for extravagant right now so I'm going simple. I took a grapevine wreath ($6 with Michael's coupon) and one sprig (is that what they're called) of yellow flowers, that cost about $1.

All I did was clip off the individual stems of flowers and stick them in the wreath.
I am still debating whether or not I should add a little birdie or some eggs. For now I'm enjoying the simple bit of spring on this wreath.

Blessings.

Put a Pin In It

2011-04-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Can you name that movie? Coming from me you have to know it's either from a children's movie or something in the romantic comedy genre. Tall Man on the other hand can quote every Jim Carey or equally as "bathroom humorous" movie. This post is not about quoting movies, so let me get back on track.

My refrigerator usually looks like this...

This drives a lot of people crazy, the visual clutter right there for all to see. It's never really bothered me because it was all stuff I wanted easily visible. Our family calendar, school schedules, meal plans and of course artwork by and pictures of my little chicks. Going with the whole spring cleaning theme I decided I really needed to tidy things up on our refrigerator. I have a cabinet right next to the fridge that holds all my teas, coffee filters, coffee grinder, you know all the essentials for a good morning. I thought this would be the perfect place for some corkboard to hang all our extra, but quite important papers.

This really was an easy and inexpensive project. It would have gone even faster had I gone to Target first, instead of Michael's. I picked up a roll of corkboard from Michael's with a 40% off coupon so I spent like $3.

I was so excited until I got home, unrolled the corkboard and as I tried to flatten it, it cracked right down the middle. Not what I was expecting. So I took the roll back to Michael's and they were fantastic! They took the corkboard back and refunded my money without any hassle at all. Very nice!

I took my Michael's refund and headed down the shopping center to Target where I found these.

Perfect! These cork tiles come in a 4 pack and are much thicker than the roll. They are much thicker and super easy to install. They even come with their own 3m mounting tape. The tiles are a little more expensive, I think I spent a whopping $7. Definitely not breaking the bank with this one. After Target I drove home as fast as I could, I was actually giddy about hanging these cork tiles. Seriously five minutes later I was done. Ta da!

The tiles weren't quite wide enough to cover the entire surface of the inside of the door so I just centered them. Two tiles did fit perfectly going vertical. Now our meal plan, swimming lesson reminders, snapshots from Chuck E Cheese and school schedules are pinned nicely inside the cupboard for no one to see! Now the side of our refrigerator looks like this.

(Insert satisfied sigh.)

I could have put our calendar inside as well but then what is the point of a personalized calendar if you're not showing it off? I am very happy with how this $7 project turned out, not to mention I still have two cork tiles left over. Not sure where those will be going yet. Any ideas?

Blessings.

So Long MoJo

2011-04-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today the family and I are taking a little road trip to meet some family half way between our homes. It will be a two and a half hour drive for each family. Usually we would be ecstatic about going to spend an afternoon with my Tall Man's aunt and her family. This trip will be a little different though. We've had some trouble with one of our dogs going potty on our carpet and we've found the culprit. My little Pomeranian, MoJo. This is a new thing for him and we're pretty sure he's telling us he's not too happy. With three little chicks all in school, two adults working and numerous extra curricular activities, we're just never home. I think MoJo has had enough of it so we reached out to family and friends asking if anyone was interested in a new K-9 companion. Tall Man's aunt called right away saying MoJo would be a perfect fit for her mother-in-law.

On Thursday of last week MoJo went in to be groomed. My middle chick said she didn't want to leave the house until Thursday so she could spend as much time as possible with MoJo. So sad. We're all sad thinking we won't have our little guy around anymore. He's been a lot of fun, from his Lion Cut to his amazing tricks (rolling, dancing, speak, etc..)

So here's to you MoJo, we'll miss you but we're sure you'll be so loved and happy at your new home.

Last Christmas Eve MoJo insisted on being in the family photo.

Maybe the only Pomeranian who goes fishing.

His first Lion cut.

And again with me and the chicks on Easter last year.

Thinking about actually eating off the spoon.

Making his way through the snow.

Okay. Enough is enough. I'm going to tear up here pretty soon and be asking for another trip to get my doggy back. So I'm done for now.

Blessings.

Opening Day

2011-04-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the day, opening day!! Woo hoo! For Mariners fans it's more like opening night. But that's okay with me, because the Tall Man will be home and we can kick back and watch the game together! They'll be in Oakland tonight at 7:05, Felix on the mound!! Oooh can't wait!

In honor of the official start of baseball season here is a quick tribute to a few games I've been to.

The view from our seats one time.

This happened to be Ken Griffey Jr's first at bat of the game, which he hit a home run. Did I see it? No, I was trying to get a picture of Griffey batting. Poop!

My Tall Man and I.

Happy baseball season friends!!

Blessings.

A Good Read: Leaving

2011-03-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

I just finished another great book by New York Times best selling author Karen Kingsbury. You know she is my favorite author and yet again she has left me wanting more.

Leaving is the first book of The Bailey Flanigan series. Bailey is a character who appeared in Kingsbury's Above the Line series. There are also members of the Baxter Family in Leaving, the Baxter's are originally from the Redemption series but are such an awesome family they've made their way into series after series.

Leaving is a great read, centered so much around Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Such an awesome reminder. I encourage all of you to read Karen Kingsbury's books. Please let me know if you and what you think of her reading.

Blessings.

A Productive Saturday

2011-03-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

My little chicks started spring break last Thursday and due to outstanding parent teacher conferences, no one is grounded so we decided to be productive this weekend. Saturday morning about 9:30 Tall Man went one way with our three little chicks and I went another way. My family headed to Lowe's to their Build and Grow Clinic for kids.

The days project was a Fortune Teller and from what I understand my little chicks did almost their whole project by themselves. The littlest one obviously needed some help from Daddy but did all her hammering on her own, getting her finger only once.

From what my Tall Man said the people at Lowe's were incredibly kind and helpful with all the kiddos. The little chicks left with aprons, safety goggles, a patch for completing their project and a fancy little fortune teller. They are so excited to go back and build something else in a couple of weeks.

I said I went in another direction Saturday morning. I picked up my sister and we headed to a Stampin' Up camp with my Dad's girlfriend, Sue. I had never been to a stamp camp so I was pretty excited. When I was a little girl Sue always had the coolest stamping stuff and she was very nice, letting my sister and I use all of her supplies when we visited on the weekends.

I was so into my stamping I didn't take any pictures while we were actually stamping. But I set up all my cards when I got home and snapped a few pictures to share with you.

There are some Thinking of You cards...

And birthday cards...

And a gift set of four different cards...

Here they are all together...

I was really intimidated by this card when I saw the example. I didn't know how to pull of the flower from squares thing. It was SO easy! I couldn't believe it.

This card is one of my favorites and my sister won the grand prize for the day, the Big Shot! It's the tool used to make the cards have that embossed pattern. Lucky girl! I told her she has to share with me though. =o)

Do you make your own cards? Or stamp other crafts? I thought this event was so fun I can't wait for the next one!!

Blessings.

Do You Smell That?

2011-03-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Kind of a weird title for a blog post, I must admit. But that's what I've been saying for the past few days. One of these furry lovelies...

...had an accident or three in a corner of our living room! I am very sensitive to smells and noticed a rather funky smell in our downstairs late last week. Over the weekend the Tall Man and I cleaned our kitchen, dining room, powder room, living room, our whole main floor. But there was still a funk goin on.

Then Monday morning I was looking for something in a toy bench for our littlest chick and as I moved a basket of baby toys for my niece I smelled it. If you have animals you know what I'm talking about. That absolutely disgusting smell of animal urine. YUCK! YUCK! YUCK!

My first thought was "Now we have to get hard floors. Darn it anyway." However new flooring isn't exactly in the budget right now so instead I have cleaned the carpet twice with a Bissel carpet cleaner and yesterday picked up some Nature's Miracle from PETCO. I have drenched the carpet two times with this stuff and it seems to be getting better. The smell isn't as obvious and I've been told it may take a few applications, especially because I had already used a carpet cleaner solution on the spot. So we'll see. My plan of attack as of right now is to pull the carpet up in that corner, cut out the pad, paint Kilz on the concrete, drench the carpet in Nature's Miracle again and put in new carpet pad. Sounds like quite the chore when I'd rather be making a spring wreath for the front door or crafting up something cute for Easter. But in the words of my Tall Man, "I feel a blog post coming."

Blessings.

Magnetic Message Board

2011-03-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

If you're a parent you know how hard it is to find a good babysitter. One you can trust to not only feed your kiddos a good dinner but to prepare it with out burning the house down. One who won't be on the phone with a boy the whole time, who genuinely enjoys spending time with your children. We went years only having a couple family members watch our little chicks. Which meant our only opportunity to go out was on a Saturday night.

About a year ago we were introduced to young girl named Jena, she was great from the beginning. Her family attends our church, she actually is a helper in our littlest chicks class, our oldest chick knows Jena's mom because she works at the elementary school, and her mom ended up playing on our softball team last summer. Perfect!

Jena had a birthday last week and we wanted to be sure she knew we didn't forget. If we had the means I would have loved to wrap whatever the coolest present is for a 16 year old {most likely some car keys.} That's a little out of our "gift price range" so we decided to make her something fun for her room.

I started with a metal cow sign from the Dollar Tree, doesn't that just scream 16 year old girl?!?! My little chicks did a little undercover work to find out the colors of Jena's room so we could pick coordinating scrapbook paper to cover the sign & make magnets.

I traced the cow sign on the back of a piece of scrapbook paper. Then using a little Mod Podge wrapped it like a gift to cover the front of the sign. I let that dry for about twenty minutes to avoid any bubbles.
Next I used the pink and white polka dot paper for the mini clothes pins. I just traced them on the paper and cut it to size, then applied the paper with Mod Podge. I didn't make perfect cuts to I sanded the edges down, I like this look better anyway. For the life of me I could not find my little button magnets so I ended up cutting little pieces from a magnet roll to fit the back of the clothes pins.
I used my Cricut to cut a fun cupcake and our super sitter's name.
Lastly, I drilled a couple holes at the top of the sign and pulled a thick magenta ribbon through so Jena can hang it in her room. Each little chick picked out a coordinating nail polish and our gift was ready for giving.
It's not a car but we think it's pretty cute and hope she likes it.

Blessings.

Linking to: Craft-O-Maniac

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it's happened again. Last night before bed the Tall Man and I set leprechaun traps with our three little chicks. But this morning the traps had triggered but no leprechaun's inside. Not only had they escaped our traps, they left their little green footprints all over our walls. They turned our milk green. They turned the toilet water green. They rearranged our furniture, chairs on the stairs, bar stools on the counter. Complete leprechaun craziness!

They were nice enough however to leave each little chick and the Tall Man their own pot of gold.

I found these itty bitty terra cotta pots at the Dollar Tree {3 for $1.} Filled them with Rolo's and mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups and made a cute little label with my Cricut and paisley heart stamp.

After the furniture was returned to it's rightful place I slipped a green cookie or two into my chicks lunch boxes.

Pinned a large green yoyo on my littlest chick's shirt and made a couple hair ties out of the small ones.

Here are my little chicks ready for school, completely pinch proof!

And of course the silly face shot. I love them!

Happy St. Patrick's Day friends!

Blessings.

Luck Bottle

2011-03-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to go overboard for St. Patrick's Day but I did want to have a little bit o' green here and there. My "luck bottle" was really quick and easy to put together. It was also FREE!! You can't beat quick, easy and free!

I started with an empty, cleaned out sparkling grape juice bottle, burlap, green ribbon, Scrabble tiles, a button and some hot glue to put it all together. First I cut the burlap into a two inch strip and hot glued it on.

Next I cut a piece of green ribbon and hot glued it on over the burlap. I glued a green button on the back where the ribbon ends meet up. I thought it looked a little nicer than stringy ribbon ends.

I picked through my Scrabble tiles and found the letter L-U-C-K but there was no Y. So I was forced to improvise and drew my own little clover on a blank tile. I hot glued those on and was done.

Forgive the bad photo but here is my final product. I stacked a couple green books, added my book page bottle with a few Dollar Tree shamrocks and that was that.

Blessings.

Linking to: Someday Crafts

Happy Anniversary Tall Man

2011-03-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

Today the Tall Man and I celebrate eight years of marriage. It has been an awesome journey for us. This last weekend was no exception. My amazing Tall Man planned a night out to remember. First he arranged for our little chicks to spend the night with their Grandma and Aunt. After our girls headed out on their own adventure we got ready and went down to one of the local lakes and snapped a few pictures.

The sun started to go down and we decided to get going on our date night. This wasn't any date night. My Tall Man planned EVERYTHING on his own. It was all a surprise to me! We walked around some of our favorite stores (The Apple Store, Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn.) After wiping the drool from our chins it was 7 o'clock and time for dinner. Not only did he make dinner reservations for us but he reserved The Lovers Lane at The Melting Pot. We had our own private room with a table for two covered in rose petals. There was champagne, wine, music and lots of fondue! Yum!

Here we are at out table. It was the coolest thing, on the wall behind us was a verse from Song of Solomon "I have found the one whom my soul loves." Perfect.

Some how we managed to inhale our first and second courses (appetizer and salad) before taking any pictures of the food. This is our main course. There was duck, NY strip, Fillet Mignon, Ratatouille and goat cheese ravioli and shrimp. Oh and a bowl of potatoes, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. And I can't forget the seven dipping sauces!

For dessert we ordered the Yin Yang fondue. A perfect mix of dark and white chocolate with strawberries, marshmallows, pound cake, brownies, bananas, rice krispie treats and cheese cake.

WOW!

It was an amazing evening spent just me and my Tall Man. I appreciate and love him more than he'll ever know. I look forward to spending all eternity by his side. Happy anniversary Tall Man!

Blessings.

Pots of Gold

2011-03-11T03:12:00.000-08:00

Last week I showed you a few of my favorite finds in blog land. Remember the little pots of gold byThe Crafting Chicks? I told you not to be surprised if you saw them again. However, I did decide to put my own twist on my little pots of gold.

I started at the Dollar Tree, that's where many great crafts start. Unfortunately this one did not start there. I couldn't find the three pack of little white buckets so I continued searching elsewhere. I go to Michael's almost every Monday morning. I don't always buy something, it's a treat just to walk through the store with no interruptions. At Michael's I found little terra cotta pots (I believe they're the 3 inch size.) I decided with a coat of black paint, these would be perfect for what I had in mind.

I bought three of the pots, one for each of my little chicks teachers. I didn't put a water sealer on the pots because they're going to hold "gold" not plants, I just used a small foam brush and applied black acrylic paint.

Next was the hard part. Not like physically hard, like "Oh my gosh that's a lot of yummy chocolate and I can't eat it!" hard.
You've probably seen a lot of St. Patty's treats using Rolo's. I wanted to add a little more so I picked up a bag of Hershey's Nuggets. These are SO good. The perfect combination of chocolate, almonds and toffee. YUM!
I poured all the candy out, mixed it up and filled the pots.
I was going to use the simple clear treat bags to put the pots in but wasn't sure I'd get the right size. I didn't want to buy a pack of bags, get them home and have them not fit. That kind of thing is really frustrating to me. I decided to buy a roll or Transparent Packaging Wrap. It cost less than a pack of 25 treat bags and I used my 40% off coupon, so it was just about $2. Now I have enough wrap to get me by for quite a while.

If you've ever used a roll of this wrap you know it's not so fun to cut. I tried cutting it with plain old scissors and it kept ripping, so I used a pair of craft scissors with the jagged edge (like pinking shears.) This worked so much better. I tried to cut squares, placed a pot in the center and gathered the wrap at the top. Did that make sense? You'll get it when you see the picture. Next I took a little green and white polka dot ribbon and tied a bow.

Here is my finished product. Three pots of gold with Crafting Chicks downloadable label, "I'm LUCKY to have YOU as my teacher."
And a close up.

Here they are from the back, you can see all the yummy gold.

I am SO happy with the way these turned out. I can't wait for the little chicks to take them to school next week!

Blessings.

Linking to: The Stories of A to Z, This Blessed Nest, Young and Crafty, I Heart Naptime, Craft-O-Maniac

R.O.Y.G.B.I.V.

2011-03-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

If you have a little one in kindergarten or teach K-2 yourself, you know what I mean by R.O.Y.G.B.I.V.. Don't worry about saying each letter, it's pronounced Roy G Biv. My middle chick told me what this was when she was in kindergarten.

This acronym stands for:

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Indigo

Violet

The month of March is all about little green men, four leaf clovers, pretty rainbows and a pot of gold. I have been working on everything green and pots of gold (I'll share those with you another day) so I decided to tackle that colorful rainbow.

In my office I have a drawer full of picture frames so I went searching for a white frame. I found a real simple 5x7 wooden frame that would work perfectly. Then I cut a piece of white card stock to fit the frame. Next I pulled out my jar of buttons and poured them onto my craft table.

After I had my 5x7 paper and variety of buttons I started designing my rainbow. I tried a vertical layout and then horizontal. Once I decided on a horizontal layout I warmed up the ol' glue gun and got to work gluing each button into place.

I didn't have enough room or buttons to represent all of Roy G Biv. So I let Mr. Biv go by Roy G B.. Last names can be so formal sometimes.

After all my buttons were glued in place and the hot glue strings were removed I wrote "Lucky..." in the bottom corner.
Doesn't it make you mad when you have a vision of a craft in your head, then you add your own handwriting to it and it's just not like what you imagined? Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. I'm not thrilled with my handwriting but at least I didn't misspell anything, right?

I think I'll put this in our half bath. There isn't any natural light in that room, maybe this will brighten it up a bit.

Blessings.

Linking to: Blue Cricket Design, Young and Crafty, I Heart Naptime

St. Patrick's Day Subway Art

2011-03-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

I think I get all excited and wrapped up in a holiday, craft like crazy then hit the wall the day after the holiday. So I've been in a little bit of a blogging funk for the last week or two. I am doing my best to get out of it. Find some inspiration and a little extra time and get crafting.

To get the crafting ball rolling I did a little blog hopping and saw eighteen25's adorable St. Patrick's Day subway art. I of course had to have one. So I clicked on the link they posted and printed an 8x10 version, popped it in my designated subway art frame and voila. I am officially festive.

Here is how mine turned out.

I don't know how they make these great little subway art. I've tried with my word program and for some reason they just don't turn out as cool. So I'll let the people who actually know what they are doing make them.

Blessings.

Linking to: Just A Girl

Favorite Finds

2011-03-04T06:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't had the motivation to craft up anything this week. So instead of completely deserting this blog I thought I would share some of my favorite finds. I have found plenty of inspiration in blogland for all of us. I'm pretty sure you will see some of these ideas repeated here, they are SO cute!First of all, I think these pots full of gold are super cute and a great idea for teachers and friends. I am 99.9% sure I'll be copying this idea. The Crafting Chicks are so creative!

Everyone in my home is past the stage of needing a burp cloth...Okay, so one might come in handy from time to time. I love ALL things paisley and Little Big Nest's burp clothes are no exception.

I love how there are so many blogs out there that are about sewing. I've never been interested before but when I see cute things like Blue Cricket Design's ruffle t-shirt I suddenly want to sew!!

There ya go, just a few of my favorite finds in this big, big blog world. I hope you have found some inspiration as well.

Blessings.

Snow Days

2011-03-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

I didn't see it for myself but I've been told a certain little ground hog saw his shadow which I thought was supposed to mean an early spring. We must have a different ground hog in the North West and I'm guessing there was no shadow for our little guy. Last week we woke up to this.

Okay maybe we didn't wake up to THAT. This picture was from the winter of 2008-2009, under that pile of snow is the Tall Man's Blazer. We did however wake up to this.

We did however wake up to enough snow to cancel school for the day. It wasn't just snowy, it was freezing cold outside. Like way too cold to play outside and enjoy the snow day, cold. Tall Man headed to work and it was my job to come up with something fun to do inside with our little chicks. We had just had a four day weekend so we had pretty much exhausted all interest in board games, card games, coloring, painting, video games, etc.. It was all up to me to keep them happy.

We decided to do some baking. I thought we'd get a head start on shamrock shaped cookies, maybe a pot of gold or two. But I was wrong. I have this 101 Cookie Cutter Set and was shocked when I couldn't find a single St. Patrick's Day cookie cutter.

Since we couldn't be festive we decided to be a little crazy. For the first time since I got this set (about five years ago) I dumped the whole thing out on the counter and told the girls to have at it. They decided not to do any other holiday shapes but went bananas with the letters, numbers and random trucks, helmets and puppy dogs. I have THE BEST sugar cookie and icing recipes, I'll share later. We also mixed up some colors for the icing.

Keep in mind as you look at my crazy haired little chicks with their fancy dresses, AWANA vests and sparkley Hannah Montana shirts, this was a snow day. A day where Mommy doesn't mind what you wear, we're not going outside so sleeves and tights are optional.

What do you do with your little ones on a snow day? Please, share your ideas.

Blessings.

St. Patrick's Day 2010

2011-02-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

St. Patrick's Day is kind of a crazy day in our home. Actually all the craziness happens while we're sleeping the night of the 16th. Our family wakes up the morning of March 17th to some strange things.

Like chairs upside down on the stairs and little green footprints on the walls.

Green milk for our cereal.
And this is a little awkward, I never thought I'd show my toilet on here but I am. We have green toilet water.
Those leprechauns are crazy little guys, aren't they? This whole thing started when my Tall Man was a little boy. His mom always made sure there was evidence of leprechauns on St. Patrick's Day. We've decided to do the same thing with our girls. It's a lot of fun and I love seeing our youngest chicks face when she discovers something is green that shouldn't be.

This year I'm thinking about going all out. I'm thinking green eggs and pancakes for breakfast, green mashed potatoes for dinner. We'll see, that may be just for the kids not sure I can bring myself to eat green mashed potatoes.

Blessings.

Clientele Box

2011-02-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I don't trust many people with my hair. Not like I protect my hair like JLo protects her rear end. I've just had a few mishaps with my hair over the years. My hair isn't straight but it's definitely not curly either. It's just kind of in between. Once when I was in the 8th grade I was having the front of my hair straightened, well the stylist started chatting it up and forgot about me under the dryer. She ended up burning off a patch of my hair!! It was awful!! Obviously I didn't go back there again.

Through high school and my wedding I had an incredible lady named Shelley who could work wonders with my hair. But one day when pregnant with my second daughter I was informed Shelley had been promoted to salon manager and was no longer doing hair. Boo hoo. Luckily Shelley set me up with another stylist she thought I'd love, Liza. She was right.

That was almost eight years ago. In that time Liza has done my hair every time I've had something done. Except one time and my hair didn't turn out right. Teaches me for wanting instant gratification and not waiting for Liza to have an opening.

Anyway, recently she moved into a house with a full basement where she has her own full salon set up. I wanted to do something nice for her because she has always been so nice to me and well, she just deserves it. There's no way I could get her a new straightener or chair (those things are spendy!) So I decided to make her a clientele box. This way she can keep track of every one of her customers and how they like their hair. Whether Bob wants a 3 or 5 cut? Or does Sue like her hair dyed to a 5 or an 8? I'm not completely sure what all that means, but I've heard it said in the salon world.

I picked up a recipe box from the dollar bin at Michael's and painted the edges with black craft paint.

While the paint was drying I cut out my black and white scrapbook paper to cover the rest of the box with. I used a little Mod Podge to apply it.

Then using my Wall Decor and More Cricut cartridge I cut out an L in bright pink for the front of the box. I applied the L with a little Mod Podge as well.

Then gave the whole box a thin coat of Polycrylic. I figure there is a possibility the box may get a spritz of water or spray gel so I wanted it to be protected. Here is the finished clientele box.

I was excited to give Liza the box that fateful Tuesday afternoon, the day I got my first grey. Ack! She seemed to really like it too. I hope so!

Blessings.

Happy....

2011-02-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Just want to say...

and

Happy Day After Pitchers and Catchers Report to Spring Training!

Blessings.

Valentine Favorites

2011-02-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Valentine's are all ready to go for Monday's classroom parties! Yay me! I thought I'd do a little cruising through blogland and show you my favorite Valentine finds. Here we go, in no particular order.

I absolutely love these "pillow talk" pillows from This Blessed Nest.

Crafts & Sutch printed up this lovely reminder.

I've always wanted to make ice cream cone cupcakes and I love House of Hepworths mini cones.

I've seen different versions of these Valentine's and I think Craft-O-Maniac did great, I'll be keeping this in mind for next year.

I'll be remembering Brown Paper Packages thumb Valentine's too.

So there ya go, five of my favorite Valentine finds. I hope you've found some inspiration in my crafts and the ones I've shared above. Happy Valentine's Day!

Blessings.

Valentine's Tree

2011-02-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

Last fall my sister and brother-in-law were doing some yard work and had a bunch of branches to give me. Thank you so much!! If you've followed my blog for any amount of time you've seen these branches placed in my living room as well as our half bath. The branches from the living room had to go to make room for baby Jesus and friends however the branches in our half bath are still there. And they've changed with the seasons. Remember them in autumn?

And in winter?

Well now it's almost Valentine's Day and the branches are ready. I used my George cartridge for my Cricut and cut out several small hearts.

I used a dark red and ivory card stock. Then of course I had to use a book page or two. I folded each heart in half and used Elmer's white glue to put them together. I used one heart in each color for this craft.I glued two hearts together then before I added the third heart I used a little bit of hot glue to attach some jute to hang the hearts with. Finally I added my third heart.

The final product is a 3D heart hanging from my still sparkling branches.

I'm not sure what I'll do when baseball season officially starts. Hang baseballs? Not sure that would work out so well.

Blessings.

Changing Things Up a Bit

2011-02-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the craziness going on here at My Northwest Nest. I've been wanting to paint my down stairs a lighter color but I can't do that right now so I'm lightening things up here instead. =o)

Please be patient with my indecisiveness. And leave your comments if you see something you like.

Thanks so much!

Blessings.

Valentine for My Tall Man

2011-02-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

We've made Valentine's for my little chicks classroom parties and now it's time to make a little something for my Tall Man. Like I said before, we're not big on Valentine's Day. I know this upsets some people and they think I'm a bit of a grinch but that's not the case at all. I have never been a big fan of the day and I've had some very nice ones. I remember in 6th grade I was "going out" with a boy named Donny, he was the new kid from California, and for Valentine's Day he got me a stuffed animal, roses and a sterling silver ring with an abalone heart. Kind of overboard for sixth grade I think but it was sweet, I actually still have the tiny little ring in my jewelry box. About five years ago my Tall Man surprised me with diamond hoop earrings on Valentine's Day. At least we think it was for Valentine's, neither of us can honestly remember. See, I've had some very nice February 14th's.

We've discussed whether or not we're the bah humbug type and have decided that we like to do all sorts of sweet things for each other throughout the year, we don't need one designated day. Plus our wedding anniversary is just a month later. I have saved nearly every single little note from my Tall Man. Little sticky notes telling me the coffee's ready or he loves me or thank you for supporting him. I have movie tickets, baseball ticket stubs, concert stubs all sorts of little sentimental things. I'm not cold hearted, really.

I did however decide this year I was going to make him something for Valentine's Day. Just a simple card. After seeing Polka Dot Thought's card for a bachelorette party I knew I had to make one for my Tall Man.

Here is the front:

And the back:

Cute right? I love it! I used a plain piece of ivory card stock and folded it in half (hamburger way, not hot dog.) Then drew the top portion of a heart and cut it out. When you open the card up it should look a little like a butterfly. I had to do a little trimming here and there because I couldn't get it perfect, but lets face it, none of us are "perfect" in that department. Don't you wish you could "trim" like this?

I picked out some pink and white scrapbook paper for the bra and panties since this is for Valentine's. I cut the paper into a bra shape, I've decided this is definitely a balconette style bra rather than full coverage. Hee hee. Then embellished it with some thin pink ribbon along the top, for straps and a little bow in front. For the panties I just cut the shape of a thong and glued it on. I also drew a pink heart on the rear, just for fun.

I think this is such a fun and cute way to tell your man you love him. It's not over the top mushy and it's not too racy either. I can already hear my Tall Man saying "bow chica bow wow" when he opens it. Hope you like it!

Blessings.

Linking to: Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, Just A Girl, House of Hepworths

Valentine Heart Crayons

2011-02-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I first told you about making heart shaped crayons with my littlest chick. The Valentine's are finally complete. Believe me I took WAY longer than I should have to finish this project. It really is quite simple. You can look back at my first post/tutorial here.

To finish these Valentine's I put two crayon hearts into a small clear treat bag and stapled it to a piece of card stock. At the bottom of the card it says "Be Mine for 'Crayon' Out Loud!" and "Be My Valentine for 'Crayon' Out Loud!" I don't consider myself to be good with words so I borrowed and tweaked How Does She?'s cute little phrase. Lastly I used a dot of hot glue to secure the red bow, it covers where the staple is.

I am happy with how they turned out and my little chick loves them. She asks every couple of days if it's the day to give her friends crayons. Maybe being prepared three weeks in advance wasn't such a good idea. Oops.

Blessings.

Linking to: Just A Girl, House of Hepworths

Dum Dum Valentines

2011-02-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Every time I hear dum dum I think of Night at the Museum "Dumb dumb, give me some gum gum." My girls love that line.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, dum dum Valentines. I talked to all three chicks about making their Valentines this year and showed them some ideas I have seen in blogland and in magazines. They each wanted something different from the other, so I was super excited. I could create three different blog posts just on making Valentine's. Doesn't every blogger think to herself "This could be a blog post!" when a new project is about to begin?

Instead of three posts I am only making two because my older chicks both wanted to use dum dum suckers. I am sure you have all seen the the little flower Valentines with a dum dum sucker in the middle. I have always wanted to make them for one of my little chicks and this year I actually thought far enough in advance I have made it a reality. So we have flowers, cupcakes and ice cream cone Valentines.

My middle daughter loved the simple flower design so I used my Cricut to cut a bunch of hearts. I used the George cartridge but several cartridges have heart shapes so you could use whatever you want. Next I put her to work using a single hole punch to put a hole about 1/4 inch up from the bottom point of each heart. When she was done with that she took three hearts, lined up the circles and glued them together with a little Elmer's glue. Once they dried we popped the sucker through the center and bent the hearts up a little so they looked more like petals. And we were done. Now all she has to do is write names and hand them out.

As for my oldest, she knew she didn't want the same thing as her sister, however she did want to use the dum dums. I went through my Cricut cartridges looking for something that might work. On the Straight From the Nest cartridge there are cupcakes and ice cream cones with cherries on top. I thought "Well, that might work." So we cut a bunch of cupcakes and ice cream cones, punched a hole where the cherry was and put the dum dum in. Now instead of a cherry on top there's another sweet treat.

They're not real fancy but they're cute, just like my girls and we're happy with them.

Blessings.

Linking to: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie

FanFest

2011-01-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

This weekend in Seattle is Mariners FanFest. Our family has made FanFest a tradition the last couple of years. Tall Man, the chicks and I will go spend a long weekend with my favorite in-laws and check out FanFest for a day.

If you're not familiar with the Seattle Mariners you may not know what FanFest is, well it's a baseball fan's amusement park! Okay, so there aren't any rides but there are so many fun things to do it's like a bunch of rides except your face isn't green when you're done, it's Mariners blue! For one weekend a year baseball fans have access to the whole park. SafeCo field is opened up for guests to check out the club house, gym, dugouts, pretty much everything. You can hit one out in center field (they set up a tee and you can belt one into the stands!) You can play catch in the outfield, catch pop flies, test your speed in the bullpen, sit in the away dugout and run the bases! Holy buckets! There are interviews going on all over with former players, new players, announcers and more. It truly is Disneyland for the Mariners fan.

This year we're unable to make the trip. We're all very disappointed we can't go visit with family and check out all the fun again. So instead of getting our faces painted, sporting our M's gear and "sliding" into third this weekend I'll be looking back on the fun we had the last couple of years.

Check it out for yourself...

FanFest 2010

My favorite mother-in-law, my chicks and I with our faces freshly painted.

Yes, that says Griffey as in Ken Griffey Jr!!

And yep, that's Jay Buhner.

My middle chick and her Papa.

The late Dave Niehaus.

My Tall Man catching a fly ball!

Earlier when I wrote "sliding" into third, this is what I was referring to. Dork!

FanFest 2009

Papa and his girls.

My two older chicks and I.

Me, because if you intentionally take a bad picture, is the picture really bad?

Tall Man, the girls and I by the first base line.

Wishing we could be there but maybe next year. Only eighteen days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. If my blog suddenly stinks, you'll know baseball season has officially started.

Blessings.

ACK!!!

2011-01-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday started like any other Tuesday in our house. Wake up, coffee with the Tall Man, devotional, shower, wake up the little chicks, breakfast, then it was time to actually get ready. I have a Tuesday morning women's Bible study I attend so it wasn't a "put on a hat" day, it was a "do your hair and make up" day. So that's what I was doing. I was twisting my grown out bangs back to pin I noticed something in my hair. What was it you ask? It was this...

At first I thought "Oh my gosh these stinking dogs, their hair is literally EVERYWHERE!" But no, it wasn't a hair from our white and black dog. This hair was actually attached to MY head! So did I embrace this new stage in life and stand proud in the mirror with my sole grey hair? Heck no! I did what any woman would do, I grabbed the tweezers and yanked that sucker out! I carefully examined this hair, placed it against a black shirt so I could see the true color. Let's just say it wasn't blond!

My next move was a text to my Mom. It said, and I quote "HOLY CRAP! I just found my first grey hair!! When did you get your first?" She then writes back she was in her mid thirties, however she has always colored her hair. I on the other hand color my hair every six to nine months. She goes on like any good mother would and tells me I am a beautiful person inside and out, the color of my hair will not define me. So sweet, thank you Mom.

You may be wondering what I did next. Well, I can tell you what I didn't do. I did not cancel the hair appointment I already had scheduled for yesterday afternoon. I went to that appointment and darn it, I had my hair colored! I can honestly say I already had plans to have my bangs trimmed and hair dyed dark again and that's exactly what I did.

I think grey hair can be beautiful. I see some women with their silver hair and hope that one day when I do go grey and Au naturel I will have beautiful silver hair like theirs. But let's be real here, I am 28 years old! I am not ready to be grey. I've always joked that my hair should be turning soon, after all I do have three chicks and a Tall Man with a few surgeries in his past. I guess I didn't really think it would actually happen before the big 3-0. I know this is just the beginning and it will most likely take years before my drivers license lists grey under hair color. And I'm okay with that. I do however think I'll be scheduling my hair appointments a little closer together from now on.

Oh and by the way, my Tall Man, he thinks this is hilarious. He's eight years older than I am and has always been very sure his first grey hair sprouted within weeks of dating me. I used to be his "hot mama" but now he's asked if he can call me his "silver fox!" I don't think so babe!

Blessings.

Like Dandelion Dust

2011-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've shared with you my love for books by Karen Kingsbury. Today I get to tell you one of her books has become a movie and it is for sale on dvd TODAY!!

I haven't seen Like Dandelion Dust yet but I have read the book. Yes, it is an incredible read. My mother-in-law saw the movie when it was part of a film festival in her area, she said it was fantastic. She also got to meet the talented Karen Kingsbury. Pretty cool!

No craftiness involved in today's post. Just wanted to share this with you!

Blessings.

LOVE Blocks

2011-01-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

I mentioned before that I have never been big on Valentine's Day but this year I am really making an effort to decorate with love. Awww, doesn't that sound sweet? The fact that I got to use a 2x4, my palm sander and some paint made this Valentine's project a lot of fun for me. 2x4 projects seem to be like hand bags, you must have one for every season. Or holiday.

I'm still a little apprehensive about using our saw without the Tall Man so every once in a while I'll bat my eyelashes and ask him to cut some pieces for me. I'm blessed with an incredible husband so he's always willing to help me craft. I'm not sure if it's because he really wants to help me or maybe it's because if he's cutting something that means it's most likely going to leave his garage.

Anyway, I asked the Tall Man to cut a 2x4 into some random but similar sized pieces and that's exactly what he did. I sanded the edges with my palm sander, thank you favorite father-in-law, then painted them with some white paint.

I let the paint dry over night and finished them up the next morning. I took a few pages from my designated book page craft book and Mod Podge'd them onto my blocks. If you haven't used Mod Podge before, it's very easy. You simply use a foam craft brush to apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the block, set your paper on the block and smooth the paper out with an old credit card or I use a Pampered Chef pan scraper thing.

I used the Wall Decor and More cartridge for my Cricut for the letters and heart. Have you seen this cartridge? It is quite possibly my favorite. SO many cute possibilities. After my letters were cut I applied them with a little more Mod Podge then used an ink pad to distress the blocks and book pages a little bit. When the ink was dry I put a thin top coat of Polycrylic over the each of the blocks. They look more finished now.

I haven't finished my Valentine's decor so here are a few simple shots of my LOVE blocks and different ways they could be arranged.

Blessings.

Linking to: Blue Cricket Design, CSI

Making Progress

2011-01-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

About a bazillion and two blog years ago, I made a couple posts about laundry rooms. There was my inspiration and a little post that was never meant to be, in the process of working on our laundry room the Tall Man tore his meniscus in his left knee which resulted in his third surgery in as many summers.

Over the past few months I've been working here and there on our little laundry room and I thought I'd update you on the progress. So here is a peak at what it looked like before. So white and cluttered and just blah!

And here it is now. Two different shades of green, the same colors you can find in our home office. The infamous window is hung with a red berry wreath and ivory ribbon. My Tall Man helped again by cutting a piece of wood to replace the plastic coated shelf.

The wall opposite the washer and dryer is where our coat hooks are. These are SO convenient!

There is still a lot of work to do. Touch up work for the most part. Here for instance. I measured for where my paint colors would meet and then ended up having to put the shelf a smidge above the paint line. I had planned on putting a white 1x4 all the way around the room where the colors meet. I can still do that, I just need to get more of the darker green paint and bring it up a bit.

Oh, I also need to replace an outlet cover or two and finish painting around the water hook-ups.

Still a work in progress but we're getting somewhere and that's good enough for me for now. I'll probably finish it this spring when it's warm enough outside I can open windows and doors for some ventilation. I hope I've made you all feel better about your half finished projects. =o)

Blessings.

Linking to: Fingerprints on the Fridge

Valentine's Wreath

2011-01-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

I've jumped on the band wagon. The coffee filter band wagon that is. I have wanted to make something with coffee filters for a while and decided a Valentine's wreath would be the perfect first project.

Now I've seen these done a few different ways. You can use foam wreaths, straw wreaths wrapped in plastic or a cardboard cut out. I fully intended on using a foam wreath but for some reason or another I could not make it to the craft store to get one and I really didn't want to spend any money.

So I used a box from Costco, you know the ones they put all your "smaller" items in? Is using Costco and smaller in the same sentence kind of like an oxymoron? I used my biggest mixing bowl to trace the outside of the circle and a smaller bowl for the inside. Just a little tid bit: It's important to trace your big circle first, then you can center your smaller circle inside. Sounds like common sense and maybe it is, but I had to trace mine twice. See the off center circle on my cut out? Oops.

Putting this wreath together was super easy, I had my three little chicks help. First we separated about 75 flat bottom coffee filters. Next we used the eraser end of a pencil, placed it in the center of the bottom of the filter and gathered the filter up, kind of like a flower. Does that make sense?

This next part was the fun part for my chicks. Remove the pencil, keeping the filter gathered and use red craft paint to paint the edges of the filters. If there was a little too much paint we dipped the paint into red glitter for a little sparkle. This was so nice because my girls could kind of go crazy, I wasn't concerned about too much paint or staying in the lines. They could paint them the way they wanted.

Once the paint dried I used hot glue to attach the coffee filter to the cardboard circle. It helped to put the eraser end of a pencil back in the center of the painted, glittered filter. Then all I had to do was put a spot of hot glue on the filter and press it onto the circle.

After all the coffee filters were in place I hot glued this little glittery, beaded heart in the center.

Here is the finished product. I like how it's a little inconsistent and the sparkle isn't all over so it's not too blingy. What do you think?Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths, Fingerprints on the Fridge, CSI

Laundry Room Hook-Up

2011-01-17T07:44:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying "That's not what I meant, you dirty bird!" Hee hee!

You may remember in July my Tall Man was helping me with a laundry room project and ended up hurt. Believe it or not he hasn't sworn off these projects! He actually helped me with another one just before Christmas.

He measured our little laundry room and cut a 1x4 to fit along the wall behind the doors that go into our garage and kitchen. Then he hung the 1x4 right where my two greens meet up. I gave it a couple coats of paint, the same color as the trim throughout our house. It's just barely off white. After the paint dried, my Tall Man helped again by not laughing at me when I measured wrong when planning for the hooks. This was a big help, believe me. After I realized I was measuring wrong, we remeasured and made a few pencil marks for five hooks to go. Then we just screwed in a brushed nickel hook from WalMart for each member of our family.

Here it is!

And here it is being used!

I love it! Now when my little chicks come in from the snow they can take off their wet clothes in the laundry room and hang them on a hook. Wet clothes used to sit in a heap on the carpet in our living room. Hanging clothes in the laundry room above the linoleum floor makes SO much more sense. Plus I can go in and pop the clothes in the dryer to dry them thoroughly and warm them up in the morning before school. They love it when I do that.

I'll show you the rest of the progress in our laundry room in a couple days. Promise.

Blessings.

Linking to: Between Naps on the Porch, House of Hepworths

A Good Read: The Hole in Our Gospel

2011-01-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

I read this book in the fall with my small group. Actually the majority of our congregation read this book. It's The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. World Vision is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the United States.

The book is not just about Stearns and his journey through life, from childhood to college, marriage and becoming the president of World Vision. It's about his struggle hearing God's calling and obeying His call.

The Hole in Our Gospel is a book that is very much like a face to face confrontation with someone who is basically calling you on your "stuff." After reading this book you definitely have a fire for serving God.

While reading this book our family began sponsoring a little girl from Honduras. Her name is Naomi and she has quickly become a real member of our family. Our girls show their friends Naomi's picture on our refrigerator, they get excited about drawing pictures for Naomi and picking out stickers to send her. I am most proud when I hear "Don't waste water, Naomi doesn't even have fresh water" from my girls bathroom when they're brushing their teeth.

We visited the World Vision U.S. headquarters in November. It was truly amazing to take the tour and see what our monthly contribution is doing for Naomi, her family and even her community. Each of our girls walked away with a new understanding of what millions of children their age go through each day and how truly blessed they are. More than that, my older girls have learned different ways they can help the less fortunate.

I encourage you all the read the 2010 Christian Book of the Year, The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns.

Blessings.

Valentine's Crayons

2011-01-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is over a month away and I'm not a big Valentine's Day fan. I don't have some long, drawn out "got dumped on Valentine's" story. I'm just not crazy about it. In our house it's more like a reminder that pitchers and catchers for the Seattle Mariner's report to spring training. Baseball season baby! Woo hoo!

Anyway, back to Valentine's. I've decided this year I'd like to do things a little different. Less like myself and more like all the lovey dovey's out there. I'm starting by making Valentine's for my little chicks to hand out.

For my preschooler I've decided to make my own version of heart shaped crayons. How Does She? has a great tutorial. Although for these, I don't know that you really need a tutorial, it's all pretty self explanatory. I did enlist some help for this one. These two chicks were great helpers.

All you need are crayons and a mold from the candy aisle at your craft store. I poured our bucket of crayons out on the dining room table and we went to work. Picking every broken crayon out of the bunch and removing the wrapper. Next we separated them by color. I used red, pink, blue, green and purple. Pretty colors that wouldn't melt together to make the color of mud. I picked up a silicon heart mold from Michael's for $6 with a coupon.

Spray the mold with cooking spray and separate your color into the hearts.

Preheat your oven to 250, before you put your mold in the oven place it on a cookie sheet or baking pan. The silicon mold is flexible and you don't want to spill wax all over the inside of your oven. It took about 15 minutes for the crayons to melt in the oven, as soon as they were melted I pulled them out and let the pan cool on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes or so. Once they were hardened they popped right out of the mold. SO cute!

Now all I need to do is come up with a catchy Valentine's phrase and put them all together. I'll show you the finished product when they're... well... finished.

Blessings.

Linking to: Fingerprints on the Fridge, House of Hepworths

Dirty or Clean? That is the Question.

2011-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Let me start this post by saying how absolutely wonderful my Tall Man is. He is an incredible help around the house. He helps with cooking, cleaning, laundry, pretty much everything. I couldn't ask for a more amazing man to share my life with.

With that said in the last eight and a half years I have probably heard the question "Are the dishes clean or dirty?" five hundred thousand gazillion times. I can not complain too much because when I hear that question it's because my Tall Man is going to either load or empty the dishwasher. SO sweet!

I never understood why a person couldn't just look in at the dishes and tell if they were clean or dirty. A while back I actually muttered that awful clean or dirty question. Mistake. After asking the question myself I was forced to find a clean/dirty dishwasher magnet. So the search began and this is what I found. A very cute free download over at Carina Gardner Studio.

I downloaded my free copy and printed it out immediately. Then I cut the red sign out and hot glued it to a juice lid. I put a coat of Mod Podge on top to protect it from potential splashes. After that was all dry I hot glued a small button magnet to the back.

And voila!

No more asking if the dishwasher is clean or dirty. That is of course if everyone uses the magnet the way it was intended to be used.

Blessings.

Linking to: Just A Girl, House of Hepworths

Inspiration Binder

2011-01-06T05:40:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but to me getting organized is a wee bit overwhelming. Like you have to be organized to get organized. Do you know what I'm saying? It's that whole "You need to have money to make money" mentality. Lucky for you and me, there are literally hundreds of different organizing blog posts out there. There is hope for us yet!

I have my list of things, places and rooms that need some serious organization but I decided to start with something small. Well, it will be small when I'm done. Every month I receive four magazines. I get them as gifts every year and I love it!! I receive Better Homes & Gardens, Woman's Day, Family Circle and Parents magazines. And don't forget the occasional catalog; Pottery Barn, Ikea, Lowe's Creative Ideas... the list goes on. Each of these magazines and catalogs are great for their own reason but let's be real not everything is great in every one of these magazines and catalogs is great.

When a new magazine or catalog comes in the mail I get so excited. Maybe that's where my little chicks get it from. If you have little ones you know you can't always sit right down and devour each and every page all at one time. I started dog earring my favorite pages as I read. Then once every couple of months I'll go through every bathroom (we're being honest here) and basket to collect the recent issues. I end up with a pile like this on my dining room table.

Next, I flip right to the pages that have been folded down and cut them out. Then I separate the pictures and articles into categories. Bedrooms, Bathroom, kitchen, organization, cleaning outdoor, crafts, holidays, etc.. I have a three ring binder full of page protectors and little sticky note tabs. I haven't purchased the super cute 3M tabs because I have small post it's that work just fine. I just file my inspiration into the appropriate page protectors.

I always save the paint page in Better Homes & Gardens, you know the page.

I also make little notes on the pages. Otherwise I'll forget what the page inspired.

I love it. When there's a change in seasons or a fun holiday approaching I can pull my inspiration binder out and get some great ideas. Now I have this simple, clean binder instead of magazines spread out everywhere collecting dust. It's wonderful!

How do you keep your inspiration organized?

Blessings.

Linking to: House of Hepworths, Just A Girl, House of Grace

Resolutions?

2011-01-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

It's officially 2011. A chance for a new beginning, a fresh start, an opportunity to do things differently. I find it so funny that just ten days ago every store had aisle after aisle full of chocolate candies wrapped like this...

And now those festive packages have been replaced with this...

They fatten us up then want us to work it off. And only eleven months later they start fattening us up again. Quite the system.

Resolutions. Did you make any? Have you kept them? I have never made a New Years resolution, so I've never kept them. This year however, I am making one, a very important one. I want to be more intentional about the time I spend in God's word. I want to grow and nurture my relationship with Christ in 2011. I consider this a big resolution for my very first one. So I need to keep myself accountable.

Wish me luck friends. I hope you are staying strong and being successful with your 2011 New Years resolutions.

Blessings.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T05:43:00.000-08:00

I remember as a child hearing about how time goes so much faster when you're an adult. I'm sure I was complaining about something taking FOR-EV-ER! when I was told that. I wasn't exactly a patient child. Now I realize everyone was right. Time truly does go faster when you're and adult with a family and responsibilities.

I can hardly believe it's already 2011. Since I haven't been blogging for a full year and can't share my top twelve projects I thought I could share my favorite snapshots from 2010 with you. Here we go...

January: Tall Man tried out skeet shooting last winter. These two chicks loved it!

February: My beautiful little niece, LC, was born a few weeks early and

had to be fed from a syringe.

I got to help. Such a proud auntie!

March: Waiting in line for the Rock & Worship Roadshow with some great friends.

April: My beautiful chicks dancing in their Easter dresses.

May: I loved showing my family where I grew up.

June: My precious oldest chick at her ninth birthday party.

July: We had such a busy month, going to the Mariner's game with my Tall Man, brother-in-law and father-in-law was definitely a highlight.

August: My middle chick and her fish.

September: Are you kidding me? This is total kid happiness. An ice cream cone at the county fair.

October: I have to sneak in a picture of me and my Tall Man. I just really like this one.

November: I love the child like excitement in his face as he sleds down the hill.

December: Of course nothing tops having the family together for Christmas.

I hope you all had a happy and healthy 2010. May you have a blessed 2011.

Blessings.

Snowy Snapshots

2010-12-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't really shared my love of photography with you on My Northwest Nest, but believe me, I love photography. So I jump at the opportunity to take a few snapshots of friends, family, nature, old buildings. You name it, I'll take a picture of it.

A few weeks ago my best friend, Cat, called and asked if I could take a few pictures of her family. Their beautiful baby girl is almost ten months old and they've never had family photos taken. I was honored to be able to take their first family shots. I'm not a fan of the traditional family portrait. "Tilt your head this way" "Say pickles." That's not my style. I like outdoors, different angles, on the floor types of family pictures. Luckily Cat isn't a fan of your average family picture either.

We agreed on outdoor pictures, the ground wasn't an option since it was covered in snow but we were able to capture some pretty great shots. Cat and her husband found a random road blanketed in fresh snow and the baby was sleeping so we hopped out of the cars and snapped a couple pictures of just husband and wife. A nice reminder that even though so much of their life is now all about baby, first they are husband and wife, the best gift they can give their precious little girl.

So here we go...
I love the way her red sweater and his red scarf pop against the snowy background. I was wishing I had a red umbrella for a prop but their red accessories worked perfectly.

This next one is one of my favorites. At least the editing I did, makes it my favorite of the happy couple. If you look at the picture below you see a couple walking down a snow covered road. But...

If you look now you see the deer up ahead to the right. I put the focus on the deer and softened the rest of the photo. I love it! And luckily so did my subjects.

We spend about twenty minutes getting pictures of just the two of them then the little one woke up and was ready for her picture.

Of course I couldn't pass up this opportunity. It was like she was peeking over Mommy's shoulder asking me to take a picture. So cute!

By no means am I even close to a professional photographer, but I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. More importantly my friends are happy with how they turned out.

Blessings.

Around the House

2010-12-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

I just realized I never shared the Christmas decor around our house. Well, now it's time to take it all down so I thought I'd snap a few pictures before everything gets put away. I'll share it with you again next year... before Christmas. =o)

Dining room table centerpiece.

Just a stand on an end table in the living room.

Christmas card display.

The three wise men. One of my favorite decorations, made by a close family friend.

I also have a kitchen full of snowmen and a lantern full of ornaments on the front porch but unfortunately I don't have photo's of those right now. So as my seven year old would say, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

Blessings.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T09:12:00.001-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. I most definitely did. We had a house full of company on Christmas Eve, twenty people filled the downstairs of our home throughout the afternoon and evening. Our house is not a very big one so it was a little crowded but every minute was memorable. On Christmas Eve we had appetizers, presents, a big ham dinner, Christmas Eve service, desserts and "holiday cheer."

Here's a peak at what our house was like Friday. Just imagine five different conversations going on and crazy kiddos squealing.

Lots of family.

And friends.

The whole group who stayed for dinner and church.

Christmas Eve with my best friend from high school. We haven't had Christmas together in ten years. So glad she's finally back home.

Yes, we do matchy Christmas pajama's. Our girls had so much fun with all the family and friends. We kept teasing our middle chick that she had crazy eyes. Too much dessert and fun.

And now Christmas morning, just the five of us.

Our morning was spent relaxing at home in our pajama's. It was fantastic. Just after lunch we packed up and headed down the road to my sister's house. My dad and his girlfriend and my mother and father-in-law met us there for more food and fun.

There you go, that was our Northwest Nest Christmas. We truly enjoyed our time with our families and friends. Now to clean up this mess.... Ugh!

Blessings.

Christmas Wreath

2010-12-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

I realize it's been a few weeks since I said I was going to start my Christmas wreath and share it with you. Well, I'm not a complete procrastinator, the wreath is done. It has been for a while now, I just haven't taken any pictures to share with you. First I want to share with you my inspiration wreath.

I saw this wreath in a Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine (one of my favorite's.)

I absolutely LOVE this whole front door area. The black doors the wreath trio on either side. The simple garland with burlap wrapped around it. The swag on the door handle. L-O-V-E it!!

I've talked my inspiration up so much you'll probably be disappointed when you see my wreath. I can honestly say I'm a little disappointed too. I failed to get the poinsettia flowers to stick in the wreath. So my version is much more simple than Lowe's but you get the idea. So here she is...

My wreath cost a fraction of what Lowe's cost ($34.97.) I had the green wreath from Michael's, they usually cost around $ 5 and the green ribbon I paid about $2.50. The sparkley sprig was a couple dollars, the glittered R is actually a stocking ornament I picked up from WalMart for $1, the green ornaments were from WalMart also, I picked them up for multiple different projects (coming soon.) And I had the burlap in with my craft material. Not too bad. I'd say about $8 out of pocket for the whole wreath. And I didn't glue anything so I can use the everything again on another project.

Here's one more look.

Christmas blessings friends.