Christmas in the Country

I have been working (with a lot of help from my wonderful husband, sister, Bekki and my older kids) on preparing for a craft fair. It is in a little, tiny town; but they generally get a good turnout. I am nervous and excited because I have never done anything quite like this. I get a section about 3x4 ft. It is amazing how much you can fit in such a small space.

I heard back after the first weekend, it seems that the sales went really well. I am thrilled!

Most of these items are still available for special order (I can make more!) Contact me if you are interested.














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Quick and Easy Neighbor Gift

The credit for this idea has to go to my friend, Karla. I made the tags; she thought of dressing them up in a frame to make a quick and easy gift for neighbors, teachers or friends.

I stamped the ornaments on cardstock and mounted them on thin chipboard (for stability), backed them with cute scrapbook paper and framed them in a rustic pine frame. Of course, they need a cute ribbon. I think they will be lots of fun to give.

I also love the idea of framing a handmade card.

Quick, easy and cheap. My idea of a perfect gift to give.

If you don't have time to make one (or several) on your own. This design is available in my etsy shop.

My new favorite addiction.

I received a Silhouette Craft Cutter for Mother's Day this year, I was super excited to get it; but then it sat for a couple of weeks. Now that I have really learned to use it, I can't imagine a week without using it. ;)

I used it to create freezer paper stencils for these blocks. I am having a blast with stenciling. I think these blocks would make great neighbor gifts...very quick and inexpensive. Just combine some duck cloth, acrylic paint, upholstery tacks, scrap 2x4's, freezer paper and whatever ribbon you have laying around. Have fun with this.

(these are also available in my etsy shop)

I am jumping on the burlap bandwagon.

I really love all of the burlap projects out there, lately I have been creating some of my own. The only thing that I don't like about sewing with burlap is the fibers. My nose gets so itchy as I play with it. I have started wearing an apron and throwing it in the washer as soon as I finish and this seems to help a little.

My latest favorite project is burlap magnet boards. I love the texture of the burlap, with the convenience of the magnet board.

I created this one with its coordinating magnets after seeing some on blogs, (sorry I don't remember whose) I really wanted cute buttons to embellish the magnets, but I needed to use what I already had. In came the embossing powder and stamps. I love the way it turned out.

(If you would like one, but don't have the time to make it yourself, I have listed some for same in my etsy shop-- warmandwelcoming.etsy.com)

Merry Christmas, already?

Even though it happens every year, I am still surprised at the number of Christmas decorations out in stores already. But rather than be frustrated about skipping Thanksgiving, I am going to jump on the bandwagon ;)

This is a craft that I created for our recent Christmas in the Kitchen activity for Relief Society. Just modpodged cute fabric on wood blocks with ribbon and cardstock accents. I used stamps for the tiny tag and the ornament embellishments and my Silhouette to cut the letters. I love the ribbon, believe it or not, this color was really tough to find. It has a tiny bit of shimmer to it. This really was a fun activity and I am excited to display it in my home this Christmas. I hope you enjoy creating your own.

(If you don't have time to make your own, I have some for sale in my etsy shop.

Storage Cubes?

I have been trying to convert our back hallway into a makeshift mud room since we don't have any room for a proper one. I purchased a very inexpensive bookshelf to store our mittens and hats in the winter and baseball gloves, shinguards, and balls in the summertime.

I have been using dairy baskets (I think that's what they are called) --they are the baskets that gallons of milk are delivered to the stores in-- to store the equipment up until now. The upside is that they are very durable and stack well; the downside is that they are really ugly.

I have been looking for cute baskets to replace them but I haven't been able to find anything durable enough that is also inexpensive. After I saw some recovered storage cubes on a blog that I am sorry I can't find-I'll keep looking and give credit when I find it- I thought that I could just recover these to make them cute.

I purchased some coordinating upholstery fabric and pulled out my handy-dandy glue gun. I wrapped the outside of the baskets in thin batting so the texture of the basket wasn't so obvious and then started cutting and glueing to fit. I didn't use any sort of a pattern but I did line them with the opposite fabric on the inside of the basket. I am still looking for a cute ribbon that will look good on the striped basket.

This fabric coordinates so well with my living room that I was tempted to put them in there instead but I think I will cover some more, and make lids for them to store our scriptures and a few small toys for Addyson.

ADD Relief

My son, Chandler has been diagnosed with Passive ADD. This is different from the more common ADHD because it doesn't have the hyperactivity issues associated with it. Chandler is a super mellow kid that rarely acts out at home or at school. He is generally content to daydream his way through the entire day.

Chandler has struggled a lot lately because we had to take him off Strattera. The medication had been working but he was suffering from a lot of side effects. After we took him off the medicine, he rarely finished any work at school and so this made homework really rotten. He had trouble focusing enough to get his chores done and even had a hard time when he was playing sports because he couldn't concentrate on what the coaches were trying to teach.

I was especially concerned since he was constantly comparing his progress to that of Cortland and Alexis. I know this is a real issue with multiples; but I hated to see him labeling himself as slow or not as smart as them.

I have been searching for a solution that would help him and I think we have finally found it. Chandler has been taking "Centering/Focus" by Deva Flower Remedies as well as an Omega 3 supplement. It seems to be helping. His grades have been steadily climbing over the past few weeks and he has been finishing the majority of his work in class. What a relief to see him being successful again.

I know a lot of other parents are looking for help with ADD and are hesitant to turn to all of the medications that are out there. I hope this post will be helpful to someone; I know I am very grateful to the lady that shared this information with us.