A Christmas Giveaway!

It’s giveaway time! I love Christmas and as a thank you to the readers of my blog and friends in blog land, I really wanted to host a Christmas giveaway!

I know today is the usual day for a Faithful Friday post, and I hope you’ll forgive me for skipping this week, but because of wanting to get this giveaway posted and out before Christmas, I decided to forego it this week. We should be back on schedule with it next Friday though.

Since Christmas is quickly approaching, the deadline to enter the giveaway will be Monday, December 12th at 9:00 p.m. (Central time). Hopefully this way, the winner can get their shipping information to me right away, and the Christmas goodies will be on their way via priority mail the next day, Tuesday the 13th. That’s the plan anyway.

Here’s what’s offered in the Christmas giveaway:

Table bench not included.  :)

The Merry Christmas blocks were cut out by Jason and decorated by me.

The set of six primitive candy canes were crafted by Joy and me. Of course they can be separated, we just bundled them together with some Christmas greens.

The 8 x 10 stitchery was stitched by my good friend, Betty W. and tea stained and framed by me.

The giveaway is open to my US friends only (due to the cost of shipping). So sorry…..I really wish that could be different, but shipping is outrageous otherwise! You can be entered up to four times. Please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for each entry to be counted separately, since the winner will be drawn by random.org.

You will be entered once by leaving a comment on this post letting me know you want to be entered. You will be entered a second time by letting me know in another comment that you are a follower of my blog. You may entered a third time by posting this giveaway on your blog or sidebar (and letting me know that in separate comment). And you may be entered a fourth time by following me on Pinterest (and letting me know that also on a separate comment). You can find the link to find me on Pinterest on my sidebar. By leaving a separate comment, each entry will be counted separately, giving you more chances of winning! 

Example:

First Comment:  I would like to be entered in your giveaway.
Second Comment:  I am a follower of your blog.
Third Comment:  I posted this on my sidebar (or blog post).
Fourth Comment:  I now follow you on Pinterest.

Oh, and make sure you have a way for me to contact you in at least one of the comments!  If I can't contact you, I'll have to pick another winner!

I will announce the winner Monday evening as soon as we have a winner! Again, thank you to each and every person that visits my little corner of blog land! I really appreciate you! And I hope you’re all taking time to enjoy the simple moments this Christmas season.  :)

Favorite Homemade Christmas Ornaments Made By My Kids (And How to Make Them)

As much as I love themed trees and really primitive trees, I can't bring myself to change anything about our big tree in the living room.  It's so full of memories!  It's mostly just things the kids have made, ornaments my mom gives them every year, and special ornaments we've collected or been given.  Each one has a story.  We have so much fun remembering as we're decorating the tree.  There's stories about Colt and Joy, and now Luke will have his own to add to the tree as well.

Today, I thought I'd share some of my favorite homemade ornaments made by the kids with you, and how they were made.

This particular one is really a favorite because I look at it and see a special piece of art work and my kids' interpretation through drawing means so much.  The kids were asked to draw the nativity scene or "when Jesus was born in the stable". 

It's made with 3 craft sticks glued together in the shape of a triangle and a white piece of triangular paper or cardstock glued to the back.  (We didn't use them then, but I'm thinking glue dots would be easy now).  Add a little ribbon at the top to hang it.  Let the kids draw the manger scene.  I think it would be cute done with colored pencils, although my kids used a regular pencil.  Add some raffia or straw to the bottom for the hay in the stable.  Add a stick on star at the top (this one below is missing the star).  That's it and it's so precious.

This one is an old stand by, but a favorite, because it includes a photo.  For this one, you glue 3 craft sticks together in a triangle.  Then glue another 3 craft sticks together in a triangle.  Then place one of the triangles upside down over the other one and glue them together.  Then let the kids cover them with glitter (the fun part) :).  Then crop a picture to glue to the back.  Add a ribbon for hanging.

We've made these lots of times to keep kids busy for awhile.  Save your pringle lids (or other plastic lids in similiar sizes).  Pull out your Christmas cards from previous years and let the kids go through them picking out favorites.  They then crop the cards to fit the top of the pringle lid and glue it on the lid.  Put a border of glue around the edge of the lid on the cropped card and add glitter. Punch a hole in lid (this can even be done with an ice pick or a knife).  Add a hook for hanging or even a small ribbon.

This one is made from a circle cut from a piece of poster board and covered on the back with a piece of Christmas fabric.  Add your child's thumbprint and make a design from it.  Add decorative trim around the edge and a ribbon for hanging.

Salt dough ornaments are always fun for kids too.  They love getting their hands in the messy gooey stuff!  This one was made from a gingerbread cookie cutter and Colt used markers to decorate it like a tiger cub scout during a cub scout meeting.  You can use a straw to punch the hole before baking it.  They then used yarn for hanging it. 

This snowman was made from a plastic spoon and pieces cut from felt.  A face was drawn on the back side of the spoon for the snowman and a hat, body and scarf cut from felt.

And this one is definitely one of a kind. :) His name is Llama Bob.  He kind of reminds me of Squidward of Sponge Bob.  I'm not sure if anyone would ever want to make him and I'm not even sure exactly how he was made, but I had to show him to you.  When Colt got older (and Joy was little and happily making lots of ornaments), I asked him to make me an ornament for the tree.  You know it was during the time that he thought he was too big for such a thing (as boys tend to do) and this is what he came up with.  But it definitely tells a story and was "so Colt", that I love it.

Maybe I'll be back to share some other favorite ornaments, not necessarily homemade, but just some of my favorite ornaments from our big tree.  

So what about you....do you have favorite homemade ornaments made by your kids that you treasure?  I'd love to see them.  We enjoy counting down the days to Christmas and try to do an activity a day.  Making ornaments is usually on the advent list!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great day!  :)

Kids Keeping Busy

Don't faint....it's a miracle! I'm back in only two days! :)

I promised to show you a little something that both of the kids have been up to the past weeks.

First of all, you know how much Colt loves his music and musical instruments. Well a couple of months ago, he disassembled one of his electric guitars. He then proceeded to sand and strip the finish. I wish I had a picture of it before to show you, but it was sort of a sunburst finish. Anyway after much sanding, then staining, and several layers of semi gloss polyurethane, he finally finished.



I love how it turned out!



Here's a closer look:



His girlfriend, Amber, put an inscription on the back for him, which gives it even more character. It says "Remember why you play" Am (short for Amber). I just love her handwriting!



Here's my handsome son with his "new" guitar.



Jason and I picked up new strings for him while Joy was in dance the other night. When we got home with them that night, he reassembled it all, getting all those wires back in place, and not only does it look good, but it sounds good. I love to hear Colt play!

So you see....I have a do-it-yourselfer son too! I was really proud of him!

Also....during the middle of the week that we were having our homestudy visits, Joy begged to go to a local carnival. I don't have much faith in the people that put those things together, but she really wanted to go. SO....one night after dance we stopped in and they had closed early. She was so disappointed, but we decided to try the next night since we were finished earlier. This time they were open. She even managed to have her friend, Cheyenne, meet us. Now I am really glad of that, because Cheyenne saved Jason and me from having to ride the rides! We got there about 8:45 p.m. and stayed until about 10:00 p.m. with them being about the only people there. There were maybe ten other people in the whole place. They rode every ride there multiple times.

My daughter is a dare devil I tell you! Have you ever seen the Moby Dick or the Fire Ball? Oh my goodness, the Fire Ball is the thing in the big giant ring that starts rocking up the track one way gaining momentum until it finally goes completely over making them go upside down. Then at some point, as it starts slowing, they are actually hanging up in mid air upside down. Being a scaredy cat when it comes to heights, it made me nervous watching! I don't do ferris wheels either, so I really loved Cheyenne that night! That ferris wheel was 85 ft. tall! Jason would have had to do the ferris wheel. I would come closer to do the fast things....because they're over with quicker! :) Anyway, we took several videos of them on rides, but I have so much trouble getting those to upload here. However, here's a picture of Joy and Cheyenne at the fair.



I might add that this was the night before our scheduled home visit, when we needed to be home doing last minute stuff, and here we were out on the town! :) It all turned out fine though!

Here's a picture of Joy on Halloween. We went to a Trunk N Treat. They also had a giant blow-up slide. Joy dressed in last year's dance recital costume....she was a groovy girl. (Those dance costumes come in handy at Halloween...I try to get my money's worth out of them)!



My little groovy girl and me...



So you see when the kids are busy, they keep us busy, but one day it will be quiet.

I'm enjoying this life as we know it now.

Americana & a Little Crafting Too

Okay, I know it's ALWAYS decorated prim Americana, but I really never tire of it! It's my fireplace and entire living room. I do want to make some changes in here, however. I'd like to add a picture of George and Abe near my Declaration of Independence that I hung. (Sorry no pictures of that until I actually get George and Abe there). So although I'll be tweaking with things on the mantel and entire living room from time to time, I have no plans of changing it from prim Americana. I love my Americana! I just loved the house featured in the last Country Sampler issue (Cheryl's home, I believe). Loved it!



I did stick this little quilted flag (another GW find that I had tucked away) in the crock on my crates beside the fireplace too. Again, I haven't tea dyed the flag. I still don't know how I feel about it...it's really hard to resist though! :)



I would love to add some Americana type gameboards somewhere either in my living room or on the staircase wall in the foyer.

Speaking of the foyer, this is the decor on the staircase landing. You've seen it before, and the only thing that's probably changed is what's on the floor. I'm forever moving things there around!



My kitchen table has been covered for the last two days with crafting stuff! It kind of makes it hard to eat. We have to push things around, or eat in the dining room. It would be nice to have a crafting room downstairs. I find that I just won't haul everything upstairs to work on it (where I have a table), so it ends up here at my kitchen table, where I can be near everyone else!

I spray painted this candle holder black. I forget what type of candle holder it's called. Someone help me out here! It used to be brass. I have plans for some rose hips to go in the little tray part and a grubby candle. It will probably go in my bathroom (on my new prim cabinet that Jason built me)...Yay! :)



It seems like I'm always painting frames that I find at GW. My kids' friends are used to seeing frames being painted on my kitchen table! Joy's friend, Molly Grace, asked her why her mom was always painting frames! Now, she always comments on them! :)



I have several wooden spoons from GW also, so I was playing around here. One of them I stained and the other has a mixture of black paint and stain.



Does anyone else actually use their kitchen table or do you all have nice little craft rooms where you work? One of these days, I might, but for now, this will have to do!

I love this pantry sign that Becca made me awhile back! I kept passing by and thinking I might add a little stain to it to tone down the off white a little. I did and I love the look even more, especially against the red door. I don't even think Jason has noticed it yet! :)



Oh, and yesterday I picked up this at Gordman's on their clearance rack. I don't know yet where it will go, but for $3, I couldn't pass it up!



I love to pop in there and browse their clearance section. It looks like they're fading out alot of their primitive decor! Sigh! I love buying handmades for the most part, but I can't always afford to buy that way, and so shopping Gordman's clearance section has helped me add to my prim decor!

Some blogging friends have asked about my bathroom. It's coming along! Kindra is making me a couple of goodies for it and I'm adding some finds and makeovers. Jason added a toilet paper holder to the side of the vanity cabinet. I really promise to show it to you soon! Be patient with me as I put all the finishing touches on!

Okay...here's one more little sneak peek. It's the shower curtain. I really really love the pattern of my kitchen curtains, so this was the winner for my bathroom...it's Park Design's Cinnamon.




Well that's about it around here for today! I hope you all stay cool, and have a great Wednesday! :) I'm stopping by GW today so wish me luck!

~ Tammy ~

Pineapple Cutting Board Makeover

The other day I showed you the pineapple cutting board that I found at Goodwill. Well I finally got it finished, along with some other cutting boards. I haven't seen my kitchen table in days! lol! It has been covered in bottles of paint, stain, glaze, brushes, newspaper, cutting boards, and you name it! Thank goodness we have a dining room table (so we can eat). :)

Anyway, here's what it looked like before. I think I paid $2.99 for it. I usually only give no more than $1.99 for cutting boards, but I loved that this was a pineapple one!



And here it is now.



I had it painted the basic colors and had my ruler out to make the lines in the pineapple when Jason walked by and stood there looking it over. He picked up the ruler and started making the cross lines on it. He was making them smaller than I would have and was measuring things so exactly. I was planning on just "eyeing" it and making them about an inch or so apart using my ruler as a guide. I asked if maybe he'd like to look at a picture of one and his reply was, "No, I'm a MAN." lol! So, I let him go for it. After it was done, he said, "I should have looked at the picture." I really was appreciative and told him so, but I really did want those squares bigger. However, I just started working on it with the paints, followed by red oak stain, followed by antique glaze.



In the end, I really liked it. My dad dropped by and saw it on the table and commented on how he liked it, so I guess maybe we did alright. Now I'm tweaking in the kitchen trying to figure out where I want to put it. That will be for a future post, as I'm still moving things around trying it different ways.

And next I have to say, that if my mom doesn't hurry up and get her blue cupboard, she's going to have a hard time getting it! Remember it's over here because she has to wait until all the paint/polyurethane smell is gone because of her allergies. So, it sat in our dining room....until Joy and I moved it, that is. I got to thinking how well it would look at the end of my hall because a cabinet of some sort is on my wish list for Jason to build just for that spot. Now I'm getting really used to it there! I'm thinking the wallpaper in the hall needs to come down and we could paint the hall, and that blue cupboard would be perfect. I'm looking for a good excuse to do that anyway! All I can say is Mama better hurry up, because I sure am liking that cupboard! :)



Well have a great Sunday! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Paint, Antique Glaze, and Stain (My Friends)

Last week when I showed the wooden bowl makeover from Goodwill, I had a couple of people ask about paint and antiquing glaze. I know I'm always curious when I see others paint and distress. I wonder what color they used, what type it is, the method they used to distress, etc..so I thought there might be more people out there interested. If not, at least these two people can see it! :)

I actually tend to use whatever I have on hand when it comes to paint. We have used plenty of the custom mixed barn red/burgundy paint that we used on our back door and stepback cupboard. I have also used the color we painted our dining room (because we had it on hand). But usually when I sit down to work on a crafting project, I pull out the little bottles of craft paint that you can purchase in Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and even Walmart. Personally, I tend to find more colors I like in the Americana or Folk Art Brand, but I also use some of the Apple Barrel ones too. Most of these are about $1.00 a bottle (but this is a small bottle).



Someone asked about the color I used on this bowl. I used Americana brand called Heritage Brick.

I use a combination of two different brushes. I use a regular brush and then the sponge type brush. If I want to see brush strokes or go lightly over something, I use the bristle type brush. Most often, I use the sponge type. I find I can control how heavy or light I want with it fairly easily.



This bowl, after having about 3 coats of paint (because I was painting over that fruit, remember?), was distressed with antiquing glaze. I love this glaze. It tones down colors and makes them more muted, which I think makes them look even richer, yet prim.



We buy it at Lowes and if I remember correctly, it is only about $6 to $8 a bottle. And believe me, this stuff goes a long ways! We have done many projects that include many pieces of furniture, walls, and small crafts and this is only the second bottle (maybe third) that we've used. It is made by Valspar and called Antiquing Glaze:



To apply it, use the bristle type brush shown above. You may dilute it half and half water to glaze. If I'm working on a small craft project, I just get out a couple of Tbsp. and then add that same amount of water. However, if I am working with a dark color, I don't dilute it at all. I use it full strength, or if I want a really distressed look, I do the same.



The trick to this is to put it on the very tip of your brush and use light strokes of the wrist, back and forth.



This is a surprise project that I'll show you in a couple of days when I can bring it in. Jason was working on this one and I was photographing.




Here he even let Joy do it. See how simple it is? I hope this helps. If I didn't make something clear or you have more questions, email me or leave it on a comment and I'll try to make it clearer!

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Another project I tackled yesterday was this old window frame that hangs above my couch. Here's what it looked like. You may remember seeing it from a previous post. (Remember you can click on the picture to view it up closer...you can see just how white it seems when you look closer).



It was really "bugging" me that it was so white, even though it had a little dark distressing here and there. So....again, I used what I had on hand. I didn't want to use the antiquing glaze here because I didn't want it to still look white distressed. I really wanted to alter the color a little. So, I pulled out all of our stains and ended up deciding on the Mini Wax Red Oak. I rubbed it on with a rag over the entire frame...giving it two coats. This is how it looks now!



I just love it so much better! It doesn't look so stark against my walls. It seemed to instantly cozy up that spot behind the couch. It coordinates much better with my couch now, toning down the white and making the muted color that fits in much better! If I could just add some things that are in my mind's eye now and make some prim changes, it will look even better. But until then, this did help out. I love that stain!

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Just to show you a sneak peek at something else I'm working on.....here's what I found at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. I forgot to take a picture then. It's a great pineapple cutting board. As I'm still working on it, I'll show you the outcome in another post real soon!



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And one more thing.......Patty over at Blessed Beyond, posted this wonderful Creamy Cheesey Potatoes recipe on her blog and I made it last night for supper. I have to tell you that we loved it! We had enough left over to go with our meal tonight! It is a crockpot recipe! Thanks for sharing, Patty!



And that is it for today! We're off to a field trip (during our Spring Break)! Thanks to you all for honoring me with your visits and comments! I appreciate them all! Have a great Thursday! :)

~ Tammy ~

Christmas Decorating With Life's Little Distractions

Do any of you out there ever have trouble concentrating on any ONE thing long enough to get it accomplished without other projects distracting you along the way? I'm the girl that starts decorating for Christmas, only to discover that something needs cleaning before I can put that tree there or that decoration up. Then as I'm cleaning, I find something that I meant to complete.....and I attempt to finish that. Anyway, that seems to be my life story these days. I know I've promised Christmas pictures and I really have been decorating! It's just I still want to do a few minor details (but are important to me) before I get pictures. Part of that involves picking up some greenery. I will be going to Hobby Lobby on Tuesday and hopefully tackle the task at hand! I guess some people would call that being a perfectionist, but I can't call it that...because my decorating results will be far from perfect! lol!

In the meantime, I'll share with you one of those projects that distracted me along the way.

Remember these bowls that I bought while in the Ozarks recently? I've had them on my cupboard in the kitchen and as I was decorating a little for Christmas in the kitchen, I decided to stop and paint these.



I painted them red, mustard, green and black and distressed them. Here's what they look like now.



And of course, they found a home on the stepback cupboard.



And I remember Linda writing about finding the healthy balance in our lives with our families, home life, and blog world too. And that is just the sort of thing that has also kept me from doing some of those things I intended to do....but things I wouldn't trade for the world. Between home schooling, extracurricular activities, church, and just daily life, it's a struggle to balance it all sometimes...but sometimes you just have to stop and take a little time to do those things that are important to your kids. So that's another thing we did recently.....Joy made salt dough ornaments and decorated one for each girl in her Wednesday evening class at church so they could add it to their Christmas tree there. Apparently, she "took orders" for what kind of ornament they would like before she made them specifically for each girl.



Then she's wanted to make Christmas presents and her heart was set on a sign for my dad (her pop). If you remember he's always outside in his garage or around there DOING something. As a matter of fact, she's been known to call over there and ask my mom (her grandmama) on the phone if Pop can come out to play. So for Christmas she made him this sign since he "tinkers" around in the garage and outside. She picked these colors because she wanted it to look something like John Deere colors. She's getting a little experience working with paints...and the problems that go along with it! lol!



And that is a trinket box above it that she is making for her dad (don't worry I won't let him read this). It's to keep his keys and loose change in. She plans to paint "I love (well a heart shape) you (actually the letter U) dad" on it.

That's just a few of the crafty distractions I've had along the way while decorating for Christmas. If you'll be patient with me, I'll take pictures and share a room a day with you soon! And I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone else's Christmas decor too! It will be like going on a Christmas parade of homes!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week!