Our Advent Calendar

So, I got sort of ambitious this year and decided to make an advent calendar to do with the kids. Then I stumbled across the Jesse tree, I hadn't ever heard of that before. I researched it a bit and liked the basic idea but still wanted to include the nativity part of things as well. So I decided to combine the two. I printed out the list of daily bible verses that are read for the Jesse tree and ended up combining a few and rearranging a couple as well as adding the nativity story. Then I wrote the story up in daily doses so that it is more understandable to youngest child. Oldest reads the daily verses as well. There may be some tweaking next year as the first two days of readings were a bit long, but youngest didn't mind so maybe not. :)

I also made felt pictures to go with each day, mostly, but not entirely, based on the traditional Jesse tree symbolism. They were done free hand and I am NOT an artist, so that's been interesting, but I think it'll work. I then made a background and 'path' for the images to go.

Here's a pic up to day 6, way before any people pictures are included. I am not quite willing to put those particular artistic endeavors up on the web yet. ;)

Repurposing barn boots, sort of.

My old barn boots were having some serious second thoughts about finishing out the winter. The foot part was fine, but the uppers, not so much. Every time I pulled them one, pieces would come off, they were getting shorter by the day. I finally bought a new pair, but I kind of hate to just toss halfway good boots. So, I turned them into shoes instead.

Making soap with my new toy

So I've read, many, many times, that a stick blender is awesome for making soap but I've always just stirred by hand. I'm cheap that way. :) However, for Christmas I got a gift card and decided to go ahead and splurge on one, although I did get the cheapest one I could find.

The road to hell is paved with feathers

You know that expression, the road to hell is paved with good intentions? Well, good intentions look like feathers! My husband had a nice feather pillow that he really liked, it was rather firm for a feather pillow but that's what he likes. Anyway, it finally died, the ticking just gave up the ghost. I stuffed the pillow in a bag because I figured there might be a use for the feathers some day. Never throw anything away, right? Yeah....

Waxed cloths for food storage

I just recently discovered waxed cloth for food storage. I like it! Well, not for everything, but for a lot of things, especially my homemade cheese. They have worked well on bread and bowls of stuff as well.

Natural fruit soda

There are sooo many different types of fermented drinks. There are just plain fermenting, using a ginger bug, a scoby (kombucha), water kefir grains, milk kefir grains, and there are probably many more that I don't know of. We've tried all those but the only one we drink enough to bother keeping is the milk kefir. However, milk kefir grains are rather versatile!

Easter Eggs

So, Easter snuck up on my, as usual. Friday I realized that Easter was Sunday. So I steamed some eggs for the kiddos and Saturday we dyed them. Oldest asked if we could tie dye them since we hadn't done that for a few years. Sure, no problem!

It's easy to do and makes some neat looking eggs!

Rhubarb and Rugs

I made the first harvest of rhubarb a couple days ago. 10 lbs! That's a lot of rhubarb! 4 lbs went into a crisp/crumble, the rest went into the freezer. Can't wait til the next harvest, there's jam/sauce, juice and leather to make. If I get enough. :)

And, another rug. I know, I know, but this one is a bit different and turned out beyond my expectations so I'm going to show it off anyway. It made it a whole 3 days before the cat puked on it.

And yet another dyeing project

 A couple years ago we got a wonderful feather comforter for Christmas. However, it needed a duvet cover. When I went shopping for one, I was in for a bit of sticker shock! So, I bought the cheapest one I could find so we could actually get to using our comforter. It was an incredibly ugly cover but the comforter was worth it. The cover faded rapidly where the sun shines on it through the window and it finally became so full of holes that it wasn't worth it anymore.

I still can't stomach paying that much money for a duvet cover (yes, I'm cheap) so I bought another dirt cheap one, but this time a I got a white cotton one and dyed it. And it's purty! It probably won't last more than a year two either, but at least it looks good!

I ice dyed it in a dark navy, dark purple, turquoise and a bit of dark green. Most of the green is lost in the shuffle, though.

Anyway,.........tada!

If my photography skills were half as nice as this turned out, I'd be a lot happier! Oh, well.

Been feeling crafty lately..........

I'm not sure what's up with me lately, but I've been 'making things'. First was those little crocheted goats of the last post. You know you're getting old when doing that just kills the elbows. Made me remember why I don't crochet much anymore, ouch!

Next I made a dreamcatcher. Can't tell you why, I haven't made one of those things since highschool. I'm not really into that sort of thing or decorating. My place is pretty bare and utilitarian. Well, except for all the books. :) Anyway, I got a wild hair and made one with the antlers from my buck I got this season.

I'm not sure I like those feathers hanging down on the sides and, now that I've made the thing, I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. Ahh, first world problems. :D

And the latest is another rug.

I do enjoy making these but a person only needs so many rugs! I wish I could sell them locally, but I have come to the conclusion that I couldn't sell water in the desert. Most of them end up in the thrift store. Maybe they have better luck.

Little Stuffed Goats

So I got a wild, but short, burst of motivation and made a couple of those crochet animals. I couldn't find any free goat patterns, so I winged it. They are sort of patchwork so as to use up some of those 'too small to do anything but too much to toss out' remains of skeins. The kiddos love them and have named them Scraps and Bugsnort. Yes, really, Bugsnort.

More Tie Dying

I cut up some of those flat diapers (unused) into napkins a few days ago and then tie dyed them. This stuff is borderline addicting! They turned out great! They are also for sale if anybody wants any, $20 for a set (4) plus $3 shipping, no matter how many you purchase. They are roughly 12-13 inches by 12-13 inches.


The first set

The second set

The third set. These ones were done with snow. It's better with more than one color, but these turned very nice as is.

And the fourth set

More Rocks

This summer, we took the kids to a summer camp up in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana. While there, we collected some rocks from one of the creeks in the area. I ran them through the rock polisher and most of the turned out beautifully. Some of the rocks had areas of mica (or something similar) and I was hoping (but skeptical) that these would polish up all sparkly. As I expected, most didn't make it through the process, but most of the other rocks turned out great!

I've been experimenting with wire wrapping. I'm not even close to being good yet, but it's still fun and the rocks are pretty enough that they look good in spite of my efforts. The prettiest ones I turned into some pendants.

Above, front and back

Below, front and back

Again, front and back

A type of quartz maybe?

This one is one that had some of the mica (?) and actually kind of turned out. It's sparkly in one side and not on the other.

This one also had little bits of the mica stuff throughout it.

This one looks to have been formed from mud or something. It makes a very smooth, subtle polished rock.

I have no idea what rock(s) make up this one, but it's a very pretty effect.

This one is neat in that it is so different one side versus the other.

 Another two toned sort of rock.

This is another one of the mud ones. Subtle, but pretty.

This one was a bear to get a good (well, sort of decent) picture of . It's another more subtle type of stone.

Well, they were fun to make anyway. All but the first 4 are for sale if anyone is interested. $10 each plus $2 shipping. The $2 is a flat fee for one pendant or all of them. :) This is US only, I don't know anything about shipping overseas.