Seasonal Crafts and Creations Archives

Fan Pulls: for Winter and February

January 29, 2010 By Laura 9 Comments

I have found I enjoy making fan pulls for our home decor, to go with various seasons or holidays. But it was almost the end of January, when I put up our winter-themed fan pull. Reasons being, I had to make it first! Next year, they will all be up right on time, because they’ll all already be made. But for this little craft-session, I also made February’s. A LOVE theme of course.

We’ll look at the winter one first. This one we’ll probably use maybe in late November, if it has snowed, and maybe the first week or so of December. But then we’ll be having our Christmas fan pull up for the rest of December. The winter one here will go back up for the month of January, and maybe early March until it feels like spring. Unless of course I make a St.Patrick’s Day one, although we’re not Irish. But I suppose that’s not St. Patrick’s fault. lol

I’d like to take this opportunity to say . . . fan pulls are very hard to photograph! Maybe I’m not using the right lens, that I don’t have. : ) But I just can’t seem to capture beauty of the fan pulls, in relation to the room, if that makes any sense. So…I do the best I can for you. They are also difficult to crop, being a very thin piece straight down so – forgive me for some of the tall vertical photos that require extra-scrolling. I did get into the photo taking because, they have beautiful detail. So the extra photos are just some art-fun I was having, that I hope you’ll appreciate.

The winter fan pull was easy to make, because I found little snowflakes, already on a chain! So I bought 2 of them, and just connected them. I used 26 gauge wire at the very top and like last time, just sort of balled it, to slip into the catch from the actual fan chain higher up.

You will find I am showing lots of seemingly similar photos in this post, because I want to show you the various displays of color that these throw when the light hits them. BEAUTIFUL hanging there on a sunny day.

See here….blues, purples….
–

… and here….oranges and pinks!
So as it spins or swings some, it’s just lovely with the colors changing rapidly.
–

Here is a closer up of the snowflakes on the chain.

Yesterday when I was making them, it was snowing out!

But it’s gone today. It’ll snow again though.

The gorgeous big snowflake on the bottom, I found separately at the craft store, and added to the snowflake chains.
Love the colors in this one above.

Now look at this! Same big snowflake from a different angle. See?
It’s glass or crystal I think. I’m not sure.
–

Here is the snow flake chain laying on the table.
It is SO much easier for me to photograph them this way, than them hanging in the middle of the room.
Pretty though, huh?

So these are more what they look like hanging up. It’s just hard to photograph that way.

I couldn’t stop taking photos. lol

So…..that’s for winter.

For February, the month of love, here is what I did….

…which again, the photo just doesn’t do it justice. I do want to mention that this one IS threaded beads all the way. And, unlike using 26 gauge wire all the way through as I did for December’s, I found that heavy fishing line works great! I did double it for extra strength, just in case. And THEN, I used the wire to attach at the top. It’s one of those things, like with anything new, you learn a little bit every time, and do better next time. If you recall, December’s has a little swagger, from the wire through the beads. It didn’t hang straight. I SAID I liked it, and thought it gave it character. But I just didn’t want to do it over. ; ) I like the slinky flexibility of heavy fishing line, much better.

So here is a much better and closer look. Red beads in 2 different sizes, some little silver bars, and some diamond-like studded squares. I LOVE them. They did not come with the red beads….I put them all together. They were all cheap-cheap.

But the big heart at the bottom….not so much!! When I found it, it was SO PERFECT and JUST what I was looking for for the bottom of this fan pull. So I looked to see how much it was. $15.00!! It was a cubic zirconia. I almost cried. I mean….I just don’t spend money on such frivolous things. We can’t!! But I REALLY wanted it! Most all of the beads were on sale….so I was thinking, somehow, this one must be too. It was with all of the beads. So {A} brought it to the register to have them price check it. But guess what? It was really and truly $15.00.

I just stood in the aisle…frozen. I couldn’t spend that on it, and I couldn’t leave with out it. So there was nothing else to do, but just stand there. With my whole family around me, who were losing their patience.

So, Michael finally said, “Oh just get it!!. Gosh….every time I pull that fan chain, I’m going to say, “$15.00!! $15.00!!” He really would too. Trust me. Not that I would ever forget myself….but the joy of seeing the beauty of it would help me get past it, in time. But not Michael. Well, I already felt guilty enough. That little announcement would surely tarnish that ‘love’ feeling I would have had going on through-out the month of February. So….when I got to the register, I did what I would recommend YOU ALL DO, whenever you can. I begged for a coupon or a discount! I said, “Please….do you have a coupon hanging around I can use?” And she said promptly answered, “No I don’t. Sorry.” (For the record, she didn’t really sound sorry.) So I said, “But my husband said he is going to say “$15.00″ every time he pulls the fan pull chain!”. THEN she said….“Actually, I guess I do have this 40% off one item coupon in my drawer here.”

See? : ) So then I did the happy dance, let out a “YA-HOOOO!!” through out the whole store, the kids said, “MAMAAAA!“, and then I thanked her profusely, of course.

She said I was welcome, and I believed her that time.

Oohh….Be still my heart! (No pun intended. lol)

It’s a gorgeous piece, is it not?

I think the whole fan pull, is just beautiful. Classy. Gorgeous. It twinkles!

And every time Michael pulls that chain to turn the fan on and off, he can smile and say…

“40% off!”.

“40% off!”

Well Folks, that’s it for this edition of ‘Fan Pulls’!

I hope you found that my crafting, and shopping tips, inspired you!

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Christmas Gift Jars and Baked Good Ideas

January 1, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

For those who have been visiting our blog long enough, you’d probably know that we usually get very crafty for Christmas gifts for loved ones. But unfortunately, some years we were low on both time and money, to really craft as much as we would like to for gifts. Still, we prefer to show our love to our loved ones at Christmas, with more homemade sort of gifts, if we can. So we had the idea this year of sending some Christmas gift jars and baked goods. It would be simple, inexpensive, yet appreciated we were sure. Who doesn’t love food…right?

You should know, this post is not sharing the actual recipes we used. We are just sharing with you the idea of gift jars, and some presentation ideas, as inspiration, for your own gift giving. Gift jar recipes are very easy to find though! You can just do a web search, or….check Pinterest for a wealth of jar recipe ideas! Here though, we just want to show you what we came up with.

So some jars we made up with most of the ingredients to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
All they needed to add was the butter, egg and vanilla!

Most of our gift recipients got a jar just like this, with the measured dry ingredients and directions. But we knew my 2 bachelor brothers, and my Dad, were not going to be baking anything. lol. So…..we baked theirs for them, and filled up the jar with the cookies. Cookies in a jar! So there is another idea for you!

We also gave some people the dry ingredients for this Curried Lentil Soup. What a big project THIS turned out to be. Because the recipe calls for red and yellow lentils. After visiting 6 stores all over town, over the course of a week, we settled for red and green. Maybe you know better where to get them? If not, don’t toss the idea all together, if you like the idea of soups. Again, search for recipes, and you’ll find more than you can shake a . . . . . . a . . . . . . spoon at. 🙂

Initially, we could only find tan, and made some soup ourselves to test the recipe. Not being lentil experts, we thought only the color was different. But ummm….not so much. We HOPE the red & green works out alright for everyone.

We also made loaves of fresh homemade bread (not pictured) , and included those in most packages.

And homemade donuts! : D

We got calls and messages from everyone, and they all seemed to really enjoy our tasty gifts! We think they probably ‘tasted the love‘. But one did tell us the bread and donuts were kind of hardish, or heavy, when they arrived. Now….the bread crust is. You can knock on the loaf, but it’s soft on the inside. It makes excellent toast, it’s great for sandwiches, and it goes well with soup, too!

But the donuts, being fried, we really weren’t sure HOW they would fair in shipping. So I guess they arrived….a little dense. Now, we take these things very seriously. So, we asked ourselves what we may have learned from that outcome, and this is what we came up with:

Don’t share our donuts anymore!!
No, seriously, we’ll be working on our recipe, to make them a little lighter. 😀 For the rare occasion we make them again, because they aren’t the healthiest regular food to eat. But they are a real treat, and that’s in part what make the holidays so special.

Some pretty ribbon on your jars, with an attached tag that shares the recipe or directions, is a very warm and thoughtful gift, for anyone who eats!
Your tag can be hand-written as well. It actually makes it all the more handmade-appeal.

We hope these ideas make your Christmas gift-giving season fun, delicious, and budget-friendly.

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Kids’ Thankful Tree

November 30, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

Like many of you, this past Thanksgiving, we counted our blessings.
And the kids created a little ‘Thankful Tree’.
We are blessed. So very blessed.

We don’t have a lot. Many are surprised at the things we simply do without.

Some is by choice. Much is by necessity.

But we know we are rich, by the simple things.

Because in all of the simple things….

is all of which we need to survive.

All of the things which we would hardly be able to bare to live without….

literally, or by the heart,

are the simple things, indeed.

So the simple things, are all we really need.

And it’s the simple things, that we couldn’t be more thankful for.

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Making May Baskets for May Day Deliveries

April 30, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

Last year we spontaneously decided to throw some May Baskets together for May Day, secretly deliver them, and hope they make someone feel thought of, and smile. The kids had fun putting them together, and even MORE fun delivering them. We only did 2 baskets last year, but this year we thought of 4 recipients that would be more than delighted with such an unexpected surprise, on a seemingly ordinary Friday. Now that the kids learned last year what fun it is, <click link see last year) they’ve been VERY excited this year/week to do it again.

So all week we’ve been picking up the little things we needed, and today we got it all together and made our May Baskets, to deliver for May Day.

I stamped 4 tags, and each of the kids colored them, and wrote Happy May Day! on them. That’s {J} trying to write slowly and neatly. (He prefers to ‘whip it out’.)

On the inside, I did have them sign them the R Children….because in this day and age, I fear no one would dare eat goods left on their doorstep from ‘Lord knows who’. Especially older folks, who have especially truly witnessed the deterioration of society. But this is a CHEERY HAPPY post, so I won’t even bring that up. lol

We baked some blueberry bread loaves, and wrapped those up once they were cooled enough. The house smelled so darned good, it was hard not to eat them ourselves! But, then we’d have to start all over baking again, and there was no time for that! (And who knows if we’d give in again! lol) We also picked up some tea cookies.

{A} got the tags tied on with a pretty little bowed ribbon.

They all made some baggies of sugar free candies, and {O} matched nicely. (This pleases her.) We know at least one of our recipients is a diabetic, and as far as the rest….well, sugar-free candy never hurt anybody. : ) Right? They are pretty good too. Yes, I tried them. One of each color, just to be sure. Got it covered.

{S} got a bunch of decaf tea bags out of our kitchen jar, to throw a handful of those in too.

This year it occurred to me that, perhaps it would be a good idea to include a little history on May Day Baskets. I assume most people know about this age-old tradition, but, you know….maybe not. We don’t want to look crazy or anything. I mean, that’s our little secret. lol

The kids packed up the baskets with all of the goods, and everything fit just right. Huh. We’ve got fresh flowers to stick in in the morning, and we’ll be good to go! With 4 houses to go to, we’ve got some driving around town to do, and each of the kids will take a house. Let us all pray (that means you, too) that no one gets injured trying to boogie back to the van after ringing the doorbell, before they get caught! That’s my fear. Seriously. (That’s normal for a Mama, right?) Weather said this morning that there was a 70% chance of rain tomorrow. But later this evening it’s down to a 50% chance. Maybe SOMEONE is pulling for us. Huh huh? But if not, {O} has got her hot pink raincoat ready, and since the boys do not have one, they are deciding if they want to wear one bad enough to wear {O’s} pink one, when it is their turn to deliver a basket. Because wearing a raincoat is a VERY exciting thing, you know. Just ask our 6 year olds! I can only imagine how they would contain themselves if they knew about the galoshes out there in the world, in all colors! (Please….we can’t keep up with the shoes and boots as it is! Footwear is sucking up our $ and our floor space.)

Soooo….Wish us luck! Wish us SUN! Wish us a band-aid free day!!

We’ll be reporting back to the blog about it all.

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Colored Ice Castles – Homeschooling Science Experiment

January 27, 2009 By Laura 14 Comments

This is how home schooling happens a lot in our family:

Someone gets a cool idea they think would be a fun to try, (in this case, that would be me), and we decide to do it. For fun. So we discuss our plan, start getting stuff together, and as we get to work on the project……….we start to wonder, or predict out loud.

And suddenly it hits me. “Hey! This is a science experiment! Yes….this is going to count for science.”

But ‘the lesson’ was not planned for school. It was just something fun to do. Curiosities arose that we wanted to explore and experiment with. We were just LIVING. Yes . . . . learning often times just happens.

As you can guess by now, that’s exactly what happened with this project. The kids are always watching the outdoors thermometer through the window of our school room. If it’s below freezing, they like to put a bowl of water out, and check it all day to see how long it took to freeze. You know…’just for fun.’ So I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be fun to fill up all kinds of containers, all different shapes and sizes, and then build an ice castle? “ (and continuing to talk to myself in my head….because a lot of conversation happens with myself up there, I said…) “Hey!! We could use food coloring and make them COLORED ICE CASTLES!!!!” Because I am a color freak, I got REAL excited the other day, to tell the kids what we were going to do.

Creating Colored Ice Castles

So we gathered everything we needed, bundled up as best we could, and went out and got to work.

The kids started filling up all of the containers with hose water.
*

And took turns choosing colors, and squeezing drops of food coloring in.

When one of them added yellow to the red, the colors intoxicated me…..and I went CrAzY taking photos from then on.

And I love most all of the photos I took.

So now you’re going to have to see them all. : )

Because I have little control, when it comes to these kinds of things, you know. : )

Just look at the beautiful colors floating and swirling!

Oh….it gets better.

Look at that!!! The kids started adding color to different containers at the same time, which resulted in lots of outbursts of excitement at the same time…“Look at this one, Daddy!” “Mama look at these colors together!! Hurry!”
We were getting dizzy. But it was all good!

I was having so much fun taking photos. I just knew they were going to be beautiful.

Here below, {O and J} swap colors.

THIS ONE, ABOVE, IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!

Honestly, I get butterflies.

And by this time, I was (incorrectly) thinking that we were going to have the COOLEST TIE-DYE ICE CASTLES!

Oh Dear….Unexpected Science Experiment Happenings

About now we start to notice that the 2 colors are mixing and changing to one color.

BUMMER!!

No tie-dye ice castles?? I, personally, might have sulked for a moment or 2 over that development and reality check. But, this is all part of science experiments, and the kids were still excited. They got me excited again, too.

When I saw all of the multi-colors were gone, I thought “Good thing I took photos!!!” lol

They still looked vivid and beautiful, all together.

Now, I did say to the kids at the start, “Let’s try NOT to get food coloring all over our hands. OK?”

Reality check number 2. lol

But you know….I love the colors, even all over my children’s faces and hands. I do!! Even if we’re going out…..going to Mass…where ever. If it doesn’t come off all of the way….OH WELL!! I think it’s evidence of their creativity!

DIRT is another story!!

Watching, Waiting, and Wondering….For Days

So the next couple of days were annoying, temperature wise. It kept being a little warmer than it was supposed to be, and the darn water in the containers would not freeze all of the way!! We knew it needed to be 32 degrees or colder, to freeze. (We’re like Einsteins, huh? Ha haha!) But for how long would it need to be that cold? And how much longer would the BIG containers take, than the small ones? These are the scientific questions we had, and the things we observed and studied over the next few days. We knew…..it was taking a lot longer than we ever wanted it to!!

What’s more….we could see the color really settling to the bottom of the containers.

Why, we wondered?? Which led us to what ‘wondering’ always does. Research!!

The Scientific Explanation

BECAUSE: Cold water does not allow the molecules of the food coloring to break down as easily….or dissolve. So, because it could not really ‘mix’ with the water, being a separate element, it all settled. What’s more, the molecules of the food coloring were so big, that they were not able to freeze all of the way. So the food coloring ended up being pockets of slush, within the frozen water/ice. It was interesting that the 2 elements were able to separate that much in the end, from being 2 colors swirling around each other, when first added to the water.

By this morning, we were done waiting. The big containers STILL did not seem solid all of the way through—-but gosh darn it….WE WERE BUILDING OUR CASTLES TODAY!!

The Results

{S}(on the far right) was excited about the pizza slice container one. He is also very partial to green, because it is ‘his color‘. (As triplets, we had a lot of color coding going on when they were babies.)

TA-DAAAA!!!!!!!

I LOVE this shot of my kids, and their ice creations!!

They had SO much fun doing this!! So did I!! So did their Daddy!!

We built it in the front yard, for the world to see. (You know…the ones who happen to drive down our dead-end street. Ha haha!).

Another lesson learned: We don’t always get what we’re expecting to. But we learn to love what we DO get.

Because it’s ours. Because we made it. Because we created memories together, doing it.
And that makes it all beautiful, to us!

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“40% off!”

Creating Colored Ice Castles

Oh Dear….Unexpected Science Experiment Happenings

Watching, Waiting, and Wondering….For Days

The Scientific Explanation

The Results

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