DIY Archives - Page 8 of 13 - A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living

Crafting with Hope

Back in November, some friends and I got to participate in Project 15 of Craft Hope. I totally forgot to post the finished pictures until someone asked about them the other day. I have to give my friends great credit for joining in one of my crazy projects. Whether they had sewn before or not, these ladies agreed to make a sock monkey none of us had made before and then give it away to someone who had just had their house burned down in Texas.

I have cool friends.

For those of you who don’t know Craft Hope (and Jade who runs it, it is a WONDERFUL organization that reaches out to different suffering areas of the world through handmade projects. It might be a natural disaster or burn victims, but they are all people in need and have had their world tipped upside-down. Each project is directed at a certain need, this last project being sock monkeys for victims of the crazy fires in Texas last year.

Check the site today for a new project! We’ve all been on the edge of our seats waiting for this announcement!

It’s funny how helping can be so fun, isn’t it?

Melissa, Me, Diane, Jessica, Jennifer, and Leah (who missed the group photo. sorry :/)

We worked from 7 until midnight, but only finished parts. Actually, Melissa finished hers (Yahh!). Mostly, we laughed a lot and drank wine which is always a good time. We followed this tutorial which has great step-by-step photos.

A big thanks to my sister for helping to finish eyeballs, ears, noses, and mouths during Thanksgiving to get ‘er done! :)

Our box at its first destination. It’s the one with the blue polka-dots and the sock monkey on the front.

(picture from crafthope.com)

The whole 300+ sock monkeys ready to go into loving arms! It’s SO great to have been a part of that!

(picture from crafthope.com)

It’s my Blogiversary! Woot! Woot!

Craziness! It’s already been a year!

The official time I started my blog was actually back in August of 2010, but I wanted to get things just right on the design end before posting. It’s kind-of a joke when I think of it now because it was FAR from nice and my posts were pretty sad-looking. I knew they were not awesome, but you have to start somewhere, right? I did like my first real banner above, though. I kind-of miss it.

Speaking of design, how do you like my new comfy space? I wanted to go back to my roots with a wood background (my very first wordpress website had a dark wood background) and just step it up a bit. I think it’s pretty cozy. Special thanks to Jay Woolwine for installing the parts I couldn’t and to Erik Weston Homestead for listening to my blubbering about colors, banners, and whether there should be lines separating other lines and other very important details.

1. Be sure to check out the categories to our right which will link you to pages with visual links to all my posts. —————>>>>

It’s SO much easier to use. Yes, it took me a LOOOONG time. If you like it, please let me know. If you don’t like it, keep it to yourself :).

2. <<<<————–I also have a cute new scrabble social bar which you can use to share my page after you read this :).

3. ^^^^Above is my new banner which is hopefully reflecting my handmade style. ^^^^

It’s been a great year for this little space. I started my first month of viewers with just a few of my closest buddies and some obliging family members. Now, I am astonished at grateful at having over 15,000 people visiting in just a single month!! Wow, people! There must be something just a teeny tiny bit likeable goin’ on here.

*blush*

My second year will hopefully bring even better things. A few cool things to come are some useful printables in the name of Valentine’s Day, some embroidery hoop projects and a hoop swap, cool thrifted products remade, some exciting kid’s room redecorating with help from here, a revamped garden with new techniques, things I’ve never canned before are going in those cans, working on a dress for myself, and I’m dragging my friends here to do some of this stuff with me! Sound good?

In honor of this special day, I am sharing a cupcake with you all. Yeah, I kinda thought you would like it too. My sister actually made these back in April for my Miss F’s birthday I just totally forgot to post them. I guess it was meant to be. I saw them on Pinterest and asked my sister to make them and since she’s awesome, she said yes.

Cuties.

I used my neighbor’s freshly cut olive wood firewood for their little perching area.

Thanks for your support and for hanging out with me in this little space.

The community here means a LOT to me.

Thank You, friends!

Twelfth Day: Branch Ornament Display

We have finally come to day 12. It’s sad, true, but that means it’s Christmas, right? I almost had to end on day 11 because a nasty cold came over our household. I even laid down for a bit during daylight hours yesterday which is kind-of a big deal for me. I’m thankful to just have a cold though, as opposed to the stomach flu or something. Ick. I’ve scraped up some late-night energy to bring you this finally piece of Christmas cheer. It’s my favorite of all 12 days so it would be hard to keep me from sharing it.

I love awesome things that don’t cost anything to make. This is that kind of project. I’ve been searching for a way to display my Grandma’s ornaments where my kids can’t ~~throw them around like baseballs~~ accidentally break them. I saw this pin on the very same day I had already decided I wanted to bring some tree branches in from our dead backyard tree. So, I screwed in some hooks to the ceiling, attached some fishing line to the branch and then to the hooks, and shortened or lengthened the fishing line until it was the perfect angle for my taste.

I think vintage ornaments are beautiful, don’t you?

This one’s my favorite. Yellow + polka dots. What could be better?

I can see myself in this shot. This reminds me of those string of Ebay pictures that different people took and posted. The people taking the pictures didn’t realize you could see their reflection and some were naked, hairy, or just weird-looking. Makes a person think twice before posting a photo. Random, yes, but still relevant.

lovely.

I love the mood it sets when we sit down for a meal with it peacefully dangling above us. It’s a an instant mood-changer.

Have any last-minute Christmas projects your working on?

Eleventh Day: Photo Wreath

Whew! It’s Christmastime! It’s been pretty busy around here with Christmas prep and activities. I took a little online break because I think it’s nice to unplug often. Anytime is a good time for unplugging really, but especially during the holidays. Everywhere I look people are on their phones and then the kid’s are on their parent’s phones. I have to admit it makes me feel a little bit like the Grinch. I want to run down the mountain with a big bag and scoop up everyone’s phones for at LEAST the holidays. Maybe I’m the only one that it rubs the wrong way but I’m just so tired of it. If there is a valentine’s version of angry birds, I really might lose it.

Anyway (exit soapbox and the phone Grinch character), there’s been so much going on with us besides Christmas (and a few hitch-hiking colds from recent visitors). We’ve been in the process of doing foster care for a few months which has been so exciting but also a lot of work. I just keep thinking of snuggling those little kids with love which gets me through the harder patches of paperwork during the holidays. We have had a couple of trainings (a 1 day and a 3 hr), our 1st interview, hours and hours of paperwork, fun moments of digging through our past and telling the story of our family and who we are, more paperwork, appointments being made for health check-ups and drug screenings, and various magnetic locks and toolboxes being purchased for our different containment requirements.

With all of this foster care business and talk of our life and past, I’ve been checking out some of our old pictures. Actually, I do this a lot with no reason required but I thought it was a good time to go back and peruse the Nikon archives. I saw this really cute idea on Pinterest involving a display of Christmas cards surrounding an embroidery hoop. I thought I would do something similar but use my Christmas picture archives to surround the hoop. I just took a large embroidery hoop and glued small clothespins around it, alternating which direction they faced (out then in). Then, I selected my pictures (SO HARD TO CHOOSE!) and printed mine with a snazzy vintage action. Accessorize with a bow of your style and hang in the best corner suited for nostalgia.

One of my very favorite pictures of my firstborn and my third-born. They love each other so.

Our almost 8-year-old pug, Leonard, on his very first Christmas. sniff sniff

I love family picture where kids are grabbing at other kids (top). They are so true to the moment. My husband attempting to burn our house and the neighbor’s house down by burning out Christmas tree limb by limb in the fireplace (3rd down). Sweet memories. One of my favorite Family Christmas cookie decorating experiences (towards the bottom).

I’m so thankful to have so many pictures to choose from because I was as crazy-obsessed with photography 10 years ago as I am now. Thank you, Nikon, for some great years in film and now in digital.

Tenth Day: Photo Gift Tags

I saw this idea and immediately pinned it. I thought it was crazy awesome and that’s all there is to it. I added my own twist by printing the pictures onto sticker paper (found here) and just sticking them right on the gifts. I really like the way they turned out once I convinced my printer to print something from Photoshop. I think it’s great for kids who can’t read tags but want to help pass the presents out.

Now…to finish the rest.