Maybe You Have A Friend Who Celebrates Like This

This was done with scraps and freezer paper stencils for Piper. The shape and stencils were inspired by the birthday bunting in Stitched in Time by Alicia Paulson.

From the Crayon Box- Paper Mache Winter Ball Dioramas

Last Easter we made the Family Fun Easter Egg Dioramas in the Crayon Box. This year, I decided to put a little twist on that project and create winter scenes.



They are very time consuming, but very affordable and adorable!

See how festive hanging from the ceiling!


Here is a close up- super cute!

Here is the quick tutorial- if only the project were as quick...

Supplies:
Balloons -rounder the better
Snowflake tissue paper ( I found mine at the $ store.)
Scrap paper- white/manila is best
Bold tissue paper
Glue, flour, water
White tissue paper
Bottle cap
Silver paint
drill or nail
Pipe cleaner
This paper house pattern
Crayons
White tissue paper
hot glue
Batting- I bought a "snow blanket" at the $ store and it was enough for the whole class.
patience!

Inflate balloons just so they are round.
Cut/tear snowflake tissue paper into small pieces.
Mix flour, glue and water into a thin paste.
Paper mache balloon with a layer of snowflake tissue paper making sure to over lap a lot.
Allow to dry overnight.

When dry, cover first layer with a new layer of paper machae and scrap paper. Overlap a lot and make sure there are no gaps. This is the strength layer. (With 29 Crayons paper mache-ing- I was praying for strength at this point!) Dry over night or until you have the courage and patience to go on. For me that was about a week. Just being honest.

When dry and sane, paper mache final layer of bold colored tissue paper. At this point I had run out of flour and was just using thinned Elmers glue. Dry overnight.

Take a sharp scissor and poke a hole in the center of the balloon. From that starter hole cut out a circle to make the window. Carefully peel out the balloon and discard. Now you can see the snowflake background! Patch the small hole at top with a bit of tissue.

To make the hanger on top, I spray painted milk and water bottle caps. When dry I drilled two holes in the top. Then I took about two inches of pipe cleaner and threaded it through the holes. I twisted the bottoms under the cap and hot glued it to the top. This was the only part the kids couldn't do at all.

Finally, decorate! The kids used white tissue paper to make snowball trims. They printed colored and assembled gingerbread houses. Not pictured are snowmen made from cotton balls that some added later.


I loved having these around the classroom and hope the parents were happy with their little handmade gift. Most of the kids were excited about the project. Red crushed his and trashed it on the way out the door. He's not into art. I tried not to take it personally, but it made me sad. Then as we were leaving the coolest 5th grade teacher told the kids how awesome the project was and that was just icing on the cake.

This might make a great activity for Brownies or some other *small* group during the winter. However, take my word, it's too late for Christmas this year.

Happy Saturday!

Frugal Christmas Decorations 2009

Today is the Frugal Friday holiday edition over at the Shabby Nest. I am looking forward to bookmarking lots of inspiring ideas...for next year.

This is our first Christmas to stay in LA! I am so very thankful to not travel this year. I can not wait to go to my own awesome church for Christmas Eve! Home Sweet Home!

However, somehow I thought that staying here would give me exponentially more time to get things done, not so much. I think I was more efficient with travel plans always on my mind. On the other hand, maybe I bit off more than I could chew. Oh, right, this is also the first in a few years where I havn't been "off track" for November and December. Maybe that's the real interference- work!

In any case, here it is a week before Christmas on the dot and I haven't really finished decorating the apartment, haven't baked and I have not cleaned at all. I have been busy with other fun stuff though, so I am not really complaining- just behind my schedule is all.

On to decorating! With six people in the apartment on and off for a week, I decided to pare down my decorations and go with a "less is more... space" theme.

This summer I met a vintage Santa at every thrift I went to.

For $0.99 or less each, how could I pass them up? My mom is a true believer in Santa and so it is fitting that the apartment is decked out with the jolly old elf.



We decided not to get a real tree this year. After six Christmases on the road, we don't really have a tree tradition and at close to $80 a tree, we decided to stick with my 99 Cent Only Tree from a few years ago. Isn't she darling? This little tree was a real blessing to me. One day I was feeling down about apartment life and wanting more. I happened to be coveting a white feather tree I had seen on a blog. Finding this tree at the 99 Cent Only store was just the pick-me-up I needed. Finding red and white mushroom ornaments half off at Cost Plus was icing on the cake.


Filling in for a tree, the green chairs have assumed the responsibility for present storage. Love them! Love the red and white wrappings paired with the green. Today my cousin in Florida sent me a whole box of presents wrapped in my favorite Target Dollar Spot paper from last year. I have been rationing that paper like like a depression era granny! Now I have a whole chair-ful to enjoy!



Last but not least, my favorite "splurge" of the season...


Skates -$7 at Goodwill, ribbon $2 at Joannes, floral picks $2...visions of the Ice Capades dancing in my head... priceless.

Hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Oh, if by chance you find yourself in Los Angeles for Christmas and you are looking to celebrate in a place just brimming with peace, love and joy, I invite you to join us at- Hollywood United Methodist Church!

Sweet Goodness Swaps- WInter White Swap

This round of SGS had a winter white theme. A bit challenging for me since I am all about color. For a few weeks I was really stumped. But after reading my partner, Ashley's blog I found my inspiration. And, since Ashley has received her goodies, I can now share them here!



Ashley is into digital scrapbooking and has created an elegant shabby chic vibe for her blog. She also writes very eloquently about her faith. So I tried to create projects that would emphasize the reason for the season.


First up,

A trio of altered bottles. I had so much fun making the first bottle that I couldn't stop. Plus all the designers say to group collections-right?


These were fun and I got to try a new product- etching creme. If you click on the picture you can see the etched bottle is the one with the polka dots.


Next up,
A Christmas stocking of course! This is the year of the stocking around here!
I wasn't able to get to a copy shop as planned. So I didn't use Citra-Solv. Instead I made a patch by taping fabric to a piece of card stock and then printing it on my computer. The trim has tiny bells on it. I was thrilled to find this at Joannes after Thanksgiving.
 

I used an image I found in a google search and this quote from Martin Luther:


Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given,
To crown us with the joy of heaven.
- Martin Luther


The stocking was filled with a few goodies I hope Ashley will like. 

An ornament, some nail files, and a few crafty odds and ends.


For the thrifted item, I got lucky and found this little pewter (?) snowman dish. 




Once again the ladies at Sweet Goodness Swaps have organized a fun and creative challenge!

More Graphics Fairy, Stockings & Citra-Solv Transfers

Boze Narodzenie = Merry Christmas in Polish.

My inlaws have enjoyed a renewed interest in their Polish heritage in the last several years. They even got to visit to Poland a few years back. This year they have really been a source of strength and support for us and it means the world to both of us. What do you get people who really don't need anything, but deserve the best of everything? I usually try to go for meaning.

(They don't have a computer and only occasionally read my blog from the public library. I don't think they will see this, but if you are reading this. The stocking is coming soon and it's a small token of my true love and gratitude.)

Mini-Tutorial for Citra-Solv Transfer:
I copied this wreath graphic from The Graphics Fairy into a Word Document and added the Polish. Next I printed it in mirror image. On Cliff's imac that is in the print menu under "paper type and quality" Then I photocopied the picture. (That step is important. The Citra-Solv reacts to the toner in the photocopy.)

Next, I taped the picture (copy sided down) to some thin white cotton fabric.The tape keeps everything from slipping. I applied Citra-Solv with a cotton ball and burnished very hard with the edge of a spoon. My image transferred beautifully! I cut out the stocking shape around the image and sewed it together.

For the lining I used some of this green velvet thrifted skirt. I also padded the stocking with two layers of thin batting to keep the dark green from showing through.

The wreath image came from the Graphics Fairy. For more amazing projects made from her graphics collection just click that button!


I think this is a pretty original design and I did it my self! You know there are tons of ideas at DIY Day!



And, last but not least, it's made from someone's "trashed" skirt.
Reinvented's Trash to Treasure is always a thrifty gold mine.



Have a wonderful day!

Can We Talk about Garage Sale Haggling?

A few weeks ago I stopped at a local garage sale. It had an odd assortment of stuff and was clearly a man's house. Frankly, I didn't know what half the stuff there was. Car parts maybe? Nothing was priced which I don't really like.

There was this one grungy copy box with the lid closed and I happened to peek. It was full of fabric. I riffled through the fabric and thought of offering him a couple of bucks for the pieces I liked. Seeing as I didn't need more fabric, I walked on. But because fabric has a hold on me, I had to ask the price. "$20 for the box of fabric." Twenty bucks! Frankly, if I had $20 for fabric on that day, I would go to Michael Levines and get either 10 pounds of fabric in the Loft or a few really choice yards of fabric that I loved. So I said, "No thanks."

A moment went by and his friend chided him saying, "So what time are we going to start loading all this over priced stuff back into your garage."  He came over to me and asked me what I would pay for the box. I said, "Seven dollars. It's what I have, and frankly, I can get fabric for a $1 a yard downtown.Plus I only want about half the stuff in the box. The rest I will just give to Goodwill."

His friend made the deal and I got the fabric, but not before the homeowner made some kind of remark about how people want you to give everything away for free. He commented that "people" nickle and dime until "they practically think he should be paying them to take his stuff."

I was a bit turned off. Yes, I haggled, but I was honest. I can get cheap fabric downtown. I don't need any of it and I only had $7 cash in my pocket. Besides, it's a garage sale! If I wanted to pay full price- well, I am not sure where I would go. Every place has sales now days.

Turns out, I got a fantastic deal. There was a lot of crap in the box, but underneath there were some gems as pictured above.

So do you haggle? How do you feel about hagglers?

A Cross Bottle Knock Off and A Story of Genuine Grace

There is a tony shop on Montana Ave. in Brentwood that sells Greyfreth Cross Bottles. I have long admired them and thought, " I couldn't make that."  At hundreds of dollars a bottle, I couldn't buy one either.

Oh yee of little vision!

Of course I could make that... sorta.


Here is the Neiman Marcus version:

Just $375 a bottle.




Here is the Dollar Store Version.

 The Starbucks Frapuccino was $1.99 and enjoyed by Cliff.

 The dollar store cross Christmas ornament was silver and quite cheesy. I broke off the loop for hanging and Gorilla glued it to a bamboo skewer. The whole thing got a coat of ivory paint and a bit of distressing.

 

The lid also got a coat of ivory paint and a hole drilled in the middle.

Just because etching creme is my latest craze, I used letter stickers to add  the words "faith, peace, joy" and then covered the whole bottle with tons of etching creme.  The bottle is filled with Epsom salt which inspired the tag and also helps hold up the cross nice and straight.

The ribbon, salt, cardstock, skewer, and spray paint were all part of my stash- free in the moment, but we all know that accumulating that stash costs over time.

I am super pleased with how it turned out. It's so perfect for my friend Ms. M who is truly a God send to me.  Below I am re-publishing a story from my old teaching blog. It is about being present and open to do God's work in the most unlikely places. And since Christmas is all about God doing his work in unlikely places I thought I would reprint it here. I hope you enjoy!

A few years ago, Ms. M arrived at school and learned that one of her resource students had suffered a death in his family. To be honest, I don't know for sure who died, but I think it was a sibling.

Ms. M saw that the child was grieving and went to the Vice Principal to see about getting him some grief counseling. She was given a pretty extensive song and dance about parental consent. She was told there was the possibility of signing him up for an outside counseling program, but the mom wasn't returning phone calls, blah, blah, blah.

Ms. M didn't think the child needed a major program, just a chance to talk to a professional right then, that day. The law is that children can see the school psychologist once without parental consent, but for a whole bunch of excuses Ms. M was told her student could not see the school psychologist.

Undeterred, she asked to talk to the attendance counselor, who has a degree in social work. No luck there. She was busy in meetings.

Later during his lunch, this grieving, ten year old boy came to Ms. M's classroom. Ms. M and her aide, Mrs. C sat down with the child and asked him how he was doing. They talked for a while. Then, from out of the blue, Ms. M asked the boy if he would like her to pray for his family. The boy said yes and held up his hands together. Startled by his actions, she said, "Do you want me to pray with you now?"

"Yes." said the boy.

So Ms. M and Mrs. C joined hands and prayed with the boy for his family. ( Even as I re-write this a few years after the fact, I am choked up by the love of these two women. And the honor it is to know them.)

Ms. M had really only meant that she would include the boy's family in her prayers that evening. She was actually surprised to hear herself make that offer. (I was not. Ms. M is one of the most loving people I have the good fortune to know.) She was shocked that the boy wanted to pray with her. This was truly a spontaneous outpouring of love and support. 

Now I am sure that a preacher could come up with dozens of great sermons with this story. In my reflection, there is one thing that stands out. We don't need to be experts to ease someone's pain. It wasn't the highly educated school psychologist, nor the trained social worker who helped this boy. It was a regular teacher and her assistant. They were the ones who were sensitive to his suffering and he sought them out. They surprised themselves with just the right words. I believe God worked through them simply because they were the two people who saw this child's pain.

I hope this lesson sticks with me. I would like to be the kind of teacher, friend, neighbor who really sees people. And, I would like to be able to offer some words, a hug, a high five, or when needed, a prayer. 

Have a great day!