Showing posts with label Being Domestic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Being Domestic. Show all posts

Saturday, August 10, 2013

All Things Crafty...

Having the kids away during the afternoon has been hard for me! It has been quite an adjustment! I have tried to embrace this new chapter of my life. I know next year will be even harder when they are gone all day. To keep myself busy, I have been crafting. I have done organization crafts and some Halloween crafts. Halloween has become one of my favorite Holidays and my mantra for Halloween is that one can never have too many Halloween crafts/decor! Here are a few of the crafts/projects I have been doing to keep myself busy and to help me not miss my kids so badly!

 I saw the idea of organizing your kids school work by years and placing them in personalized bins on Pinterest. I figured I better get going on this before the kids get too many school years under their belts. It was a very therapeutic project and very rewarding! It was so fun to go through the kids school work and see what they had accomplished and what they had done over the past few years. The kids were really excited about the bins when I showed them! I hope this will end up being a great way to keep all there school years and projects in one place!

This "Out of Treats" sign I saw on....you guessed it! Pinterest!! I thought this craft was ingenious! We get a massive amount of trick or treaters around these parts and I thought this sign would be awesome to warn them when we are out of treats. I hope this door hanger will work; especially since no one seems to pay attention when we turn off the porch lights when all the candy is gone!


 I have a dead space above my fireplace and it drives me nuts when it comes to decorating it! It truly is a waste of space and I wish that the wall above the fireplace went directly up instead of having an alcove to decorate! I saw this witch silhouette on the internet and knew she would be the perfect addition to add to my Halloween mantle. I am obsessed with all things witch anyways so I knew this "little pretty" would look awesome. She was a lot of work. I distressed a white foam board with antiquing glaze and then traced the witch silhouette pattern onto the foam board and then hand painted the witch in black. I love how she turned out and I can't wait to decorate for Halloween!


These embroidered spider hangers craft, I found in a craft magazine while waiting in line at the grocery store one day. When I saw them, I knew that I wanted to make them. I made a few changes to the pattern because the embroidering knots that it required were a little over my head but I still think they turn out darling! I hate spiders typically, so while making this craft I would catch myself wanting to throw my needle work across the room as I got closer to finishing them because they looked so real. :D I am excited to get "RUN", "EEK" AND "OH, ICK" hung up on my kitchen shelf for Halloween!

These project has been a year in the making. Last year I saw these ghosts on Pinterest and after finding the link, I found out there was not really a pattern for them. So I decided to be brave and make my own pattern and sew my own ghosties! These ghosts were a lot of work and last year when I started making them, I got distracted and never came back to finishing them. This year, while cleaning out my crafting supplies, I found them again and decided to finish them. They turned out cuter than I thought they would. I am proud of myself for finding a project and making it my own.

I am excited with all my projects I have been working on and I am excited to display and use them over the upcoming years!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Home-made Strawberry Jam

There is nothing better than enjoying home-made things! I prefer home-made over store bought any day and I think it is better for you because you know what you are putting into it! I haven't been very good at canning for the past few years. Frankly, we haven't gotten much out of our gardens to really have enough to preserve. However, strawberries were on sale one week while I was grocery shopping and I decided to buy a huge container of strawberries so I could make some home-made freezer jam. I love strawberry jam! I was able to make 6 little bottles and was so proud of my efforts. Unfortunately, they haven't lasted for long. We have already pretty much gone through them. I also made some jam for the sisters I visit teach in my ward. I have given them some jam for the past two years now, and they seem to love it. I feel so domesticated and self-reliant when I can make food from scratch. Canning is a fun past time of mine and I wish I had more time and produce to work with. Since we have gone through most of our jam, I guess I better hop to making another batch of Strawberry Jam!