Recovery (Fair Review and New Game: Pong Hau K'i!)

Alright folks, climbing back in the saddle after a wild rodeo of a weekend!  But it sure was fun!  As I mentioned before, I've been a bit absent of late prepping for GWMC's first craft fair!  It was very small, but I made a handful of sales and met some really wonderful people!  Thanks to all of you who stopped by or had a hand in the behind-the-scenes work!  I can't imagine having done it without you (certainly not without a few more silver hairs to add to my crown ;)

All in all, I felt pretty prepared (thanks to some Pintrest hints).  Maybe a little too prepared.  I may have diversified excessively, but I think it worked out in the end.  I sold everything from skirts and bibs to notecards to fudge!  One item that caught all the children's eyes were these little game boards with flat marbles as game pieces.  I'll be honest, Josh and I broke them out during some of the slow times, too!  But so easy to make and I wanted to share the idea with you!

You can get these tree rounds at a craft store, but they can get a little spendy.  Josh just took a branch that had been trimmed from one of our trees and went at it with the chain saw!  I was really quite impressed with how narrow he was able to get them!  I'll have to remember that for future projects! =)  After a light sanding, I did some quick straight lines with a wood burner, but I'm sure you could accomplish the same effect with a permanent marker.  Then seal with a layer of matte clear coat!

I'm fairly certain everyone knows how to play tic tac toe, so I'm not including instructions.  Though my four year old and his buddy had a pretty interesting version of it that I'm sure they'd love to teach you if given the chance =)  But I found this other small board game from China called Pong Hau K'i that I thought was really fun!  The idea is that to players each have two pebbles.  They take turns placing them one of the intersections or corners.  They then continue to take turns moving to the open space with whichever pebble can go there by following a line until one player is unable to move.  So you try to trap your opponent onto one side.  Video instructions from "What Do We Do All Day."  I really enjoyed learning something new and simple to play and I hope you will, too! 

KISS Play Dress or Shirt (Keep It Simple, Sweetie)

Pretty sure I figured out (one of) my problem(s) this week.  I often feel like I do nothing well, but I'm interested in doing almost everything.  You've heard the phrase Jack of all Trades?  Me to a t.  It's becoming clear to me as I see the same attitude in my tiny daughter whose favorite phrase right now is, "Me got this."  I got it, I'm good, I can figure this out by myself.  Apparently, from my own mothers stories, my similar phrase at age two was, "Do it by myself."  I'm sure it's quite common among two year olds, but I evidently never grew out of that!  I have this desire in me to figure things out by myself and just be as self sufficient as possible.  And most often this comes out in a joy to learn new skills such as cooking from scratch, animal tending, and homemade utensils and clothing.  But then I'm on to the next thing, often without honing my skills to an adept level, but just enough to get by in a pinch if I needed to. 

Ah, well.  Perhaps expertise will simply come with age?  Speaking of which, is it just me, or has time picked up the pace a little bit?  It seems to be screaming by with a 4 and 2 year old growing in our home!  Wow!  Every day they amaze me!  And every day I'm amazed by which of their clothes no longer fit! =)  Even a non-parent friend of mine commented yesterday how absurd he found it to spend a fortune on a child's wardrobe when they so quickly out grow (or wear through) it! 

And while children's clothes can be less expensive, great deals can be found a thrift shops, and little blessings of hand-me-downs sometimes appear, there's something very satisfying in making something specifically for your child.  While I love knit and crochet, the investment of time alone into the project makes it a precious commodity that I tend to reserve for occasions such as church or the like.  But more often than not, my children live in play clothes.  I've made (refashioned) several simple play dresses for my daughter, but have been hesitant to share them on here because they're not perfect, not well-finished they're just comfortable play dresses that she will outgrow in a couple months!  But for those of you who might have a similar interest and goal, I'll sketch out my quick process.  Usually this dress takes me less than an hour, start to finish.

1)  Select a shirt: I do this from my give-away pile.  Some stains and small tears can be avoided depending on where you place your pattern.  Select a long sleeved shirt if you want your new dress to have long sleeves.

I wanted to put this here because it's often difficult to determine the shape of the sleeve.  You want to shoot for this bell shape where the sleeve will connect to the bodice so that it will hang well. 

2) Trace pattern: take a shirt or dress that currently fits (or mentally add a slight margin if you know you want it bigger), turn it inside out and fold it in half.  Likewise, fold the adult shirt in half. Line up he collar and, after you've determined how long you want the bodice to be, trace arm holes, sides and waist, lifting the sleeves to trace the arm holes if necessary.  Continue the waist cut all the way across the shirt.  This bottom rectangle will be your (already hemmed!) skirt section.  If you need to make it shorter, cut away desired strip size from the waist side.  Then determine how long you need the sleeves to be and line up the top folded edge before tracing it'sbell shape onto the sleeves of the shirt.  Don't forget seam allowance of about 1/4".   

3) Cut pieces: remember to consider seam allowance. 

4) Sew:  With right sides together, I like to start with the shoulders and sides of the top first.  Be sure you sew from the collar side toward the periphery on the shoulder seams so the collar is sure to line up.

 

 

     After this you can do a slight gather on the skirt, but I often just pin the bodice (right side out) to the skirt (inside out over the bodice so right sides are facing) at the quarter marks and then gently gather as I go. 

 

And to finish off with the sleeves, you need to sew the seam the length of the sleeve first, set it into the armhole of the bodice, and (pinned and right sides facing again) carefully sew around. 

 

 

 

 

New dress!  Time: 1 hour, Cost: $0 Ready to play and I won't worry a lick if it gets muddy, stained or torn!  This easily translates into a shirt pattern and you know it's going to fit your little one perfectly!  Though I tend to make mine on the larger side so she can wear it just a little bit longer! =)  I've used this concept for all the tops pictured.  As I mentioned, I'm not much of a sewer (Haha!  "Sewer!"  I mean "seamstress!"), so if you have any questions or I can provide better instructions in some way, I would love to hear from you!

Variation: with this sweater dress, I omitted the waistline and continued my side seams to the original bottom hem.

Variation: Use a men's dress shirt (and keep the pockets!)

Variation: no waist, higher bottom for shirt style that I did have to hem myself

December Dreams + Children's Votive Craft

Good morning, all!  I know I haven’t been posting much lately, but I really haven’t forgotten about you!  Making this blog sure is fun, and I love that it doesn’t have to be something that’s set in stone.  Because the painful truth is that I am not one who does well with rigorous scheduling.  Which is why most of this month has been dedicated to finishing up Christmas presents at the last minute.  You might go so far as to call it procrastination.  Or over-ambition at some point thinking I could make all these gifts for everyone!  I do love to make gifts for people if I can though, but only if it’s something I really think they would want or need.  I love being able to tailor it to their interests and pray for them as I create.  It’s like being able to send a blessing along with a gift! 

This is as close as we get to a nice photo in front of the tree!

How has your holiday season been so far?  Since my daughter’s birthday is in the first weeks of the month, we’ve decided to try to hold back the majority of the Christmas shenanigans until after we have had a chance to celebrate her life.  Although it may seem like an even later start, I kind of like reigning in the chaos even a little more.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like there is a ton of really good, fun stuff going on this year and I just feel like I need to cram it all in!  I love our advent calendar, but I know I could get really carried away with it, too. 

I glimpsed over an article last week that I haven’t been able to find again, but now I can’t get it out of my  mind.  The idea was basically “things you do NOT have to do this Christmas.”  In essence, it was releasing Moms from the pressure to “do stuff” to fill up the month of December with Christmas-ness.  Please don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and I love a lot of the activities that go with it, but I know for me it’s just so easy to get swept away and lose priorities.  And on top of it being so draining for me, I think it can get overwhelming and exhausting for the little ones as well!  I really appreciated the reminder that it’s okay.  It’s okay if we don’t make an elaborate gingerbread house, or see the Nutcracker, or get the perfect Christmas tree or do ALL the Christmas stuff!

I see all of you, my friends, and I am so inspired!  So many of you are working, be it part-time or full-time, have lost a loved one, or have medical issues you’re dealing with, especially with little ones.  Some of you are grandparents or parents of older children and you’ve taught me how the concern and worry for them doesn’t go away, it just changes.  It can be really hard!  And you do so much!  I see you always wrestling with issues concerning your families and fighting for what’s best for them.  I can see how your children adore you, they do (or will) know the effort you put forth, your Christmastime isn’t any less special, and the love is just so evident in your families.  And I feel like, that’s it!  Maybe it’s better to keep life more balanced this month while still putting the emphasis where it ought to be.  I believe traditions are important and wonderful, but I’m realizing for myself that I don’t have to do ALL the traditions, as delightful as they may be.  And even if one of our special ones has to be skipped one year, it’s okay.  It doesn’t mean I’ve ruined all their Christmases forever or even this year. 

THIS is the important stuff: gingerbread with friends

And THIS: exploring with family

 

So much out there is telling us we need to be a certain way (love-hate relationship with Pinterest) but it's just not true. I love how our family is right now, but I just really want this blog to be a place of encouragement. We all have different situations and I guess I just want to reiterate that it's okay.  I know the Christmas holiday's origins were not all about Jesus, but that is what we choose to celebrate now. And He knows our paths, struggles and joys. He loves us right where we are. Sometimes I think He must find it silly the lengths we go to, the unrelated things we do, in the name of His birth. 

So all that to say, take a deep breath, consider letting go of a little bit of holiday fluff and choose to love well!

 

I want to give you one more thing before Christmas, but my printer is still on the fritz and I'm having trouble scanning so I'm going to have to take my own advice and let go of my plan to post printable gift tags. But I will share an idea for a quick craft we did in Sunday School this week.  

We are part of a small but growing church plant here, so we never have more than a dozen kids from ages 1-12.  They all seemed to enjoy this one (though some needed more help than others!)  In trying to keep the activities appropriate for that range, I again decided to revise my original idea of a more intricate votive craft to this rather quick and simple one. And it ended up going even better with our lesson of the three wise men!  

Instructions: Roll a golf ball sized lump of salt dough smooth.  Gently press a tea light almost all the way down from the top.  Smooth out the dough as needed.  Gently press strands or individual beads into the dough.  Allow to dry and enjoy the light!

The idea of light lends to a couple themes in the story: the wise men followed the star in the sky to find young Jesus, the Light of the World.  The jewels remind us of the treasures the wise men brought to Jesus, that they themselves were earthly kings, and that Jesus is the King of kings.  And finally the theme of a gift.  The wise men brought Jesus gifts and Jesus is God’s gift to US!  I’ll let you decide how you want to work those connections in as you direct the craft!

I wish I could give you more, but I do wish you the most blessed and peaceful of Christmases!

 

Spontaneous Adventures: Pros, Cons, and Tips

A friend and I were just laughing earlier this week about being spontaneous when it comes to planning outings.  Instead of specifically setting aside a time in the future to do a specific thing I’ve researched and want to do, I tend to just be going along with life and happen across a patch of time.  Time that maybe should be used doing something productive, but, sometimes we just need to get out there and adventure!  So I’ll say, “Hey!  Let’s go somewhere!” And I’ll either quickly google what’s close or pile the kids in the car and just see where the road takes us.

 

Usually this ends up with awesomeness.  But sometimes we strike out.

We had several strike outs this week as we traveled the central section of the Oregon Coast.  But also had a whole lot of awesome!  While my husband was working out there, we got to join up with him and at least share evenings together.  My parents came down for those couple days, too, and we had such a great time just being together, despite any surrounding circumstances. 

Pros:

1.       Unexpected Treasures: this is how I felt the first day of our trip when we had a little extra time and randomly pulled off at a botanical area.  It turned out that right off the highway was a cobra-lilly (pitcher plant) bog!  The concept of an insect-eating plant was so foreign to the little ones and our eldest thought these gorgeous plants a highlight of our trip!  We also accidently found a great rocky beach, Whale and marine life museum, and pirate village!

2.       Save time planning

3.       No pressure to keep a rigid schedule (Unless that’s your thing.  Then this might be a con!  =))

Eaten by a shark at the Whale Museum in Depoe Bay

Cons:

1.       Really, the main down-side and that is that sometimes things don’t work out.  We drove for miles down a road for there to be nothing there.  My parents nearly couldn’t find a campsite one night. The map apps for phones are great, but often have inaccurate information.  We didn’t make it to a couple places until after they had closed or simply ran out of time to cram all the sights in.

What was down that path?

2.       Wondering what you might have possibly missed

My advice from our experiences would be to plan out where you will be sleeping each night and make reservations if possible for multiple-day trips.  That takes the pressure off so you can just explore the day away.  Look for the brown signs (parks, natural or cultural areas) or quirky shops for a more unique experience.  If you have time, look up what might be around, or grab a tourist map once there.  If there’s something that’s really important for you to see, plan how and when it will fit into your adventures. Veer off the main highways as much as possible.  Don’t stress about what you might have missed and focus on all the good things that you got to experience as well as just the time together.  Even on our dud detours we saw things we’d never seen before and traveled roads we’d never been on before! 

In some ways I feel that spontaneous adventures are more difficult than in the past.  So much has been regulated with specific hours and tolls.  Certain places have become so popular you have to fight the crowds.  As far as camping, you can’t just pull off any old place to stop, it has to be designated and paid for.  But then, there are many benefits to exploring today.  Especially having the internet at our fingertips (so long as you have signal!) and well-marked interest areas.

Hollow log slide at the falls

Can I just share with you what we did end up doing?  Then if you ever get a chance to visit the area, you might remember some things you might want to check out!

1.       Sweet Creek Falls: about 10 miles off the highway on an ever narrowing road.  Perhaps a mile hike in to a lovely little falls.  There are many more surrounding, but we chose to only go to the one. 

2.       Darlingtonia Botanical Area: This was right off 101 and was a very short walk to the carnivorous plant bog.

3.       Bob Creek: small, sandy beach I loved because of how misty it was.  Rocky tide pools to the south were void of much sea life.

4.       Newport Pirate Village: We arrived in town too late for the aquarium, but this pirate village next door was right up our little ones’ alley.

5.       Newport Docks: Our son had been asking to see boats, and I knew we’d find some when I saw the docks sign past the aquarium.  So fun to explore, read ship names, and learn about the different types of boats.  Once (on a past adventure) the captain of a fishing boat let my husband and son on board to explore!  There are often many marine birds around, too.

6.       Echo Falls Detour: this was our major strike out.  Even when we circled back a couple times to see if we could find what the map was trying to show us, the falls (or any type of trailhead) was nowhere to be found.  So we just followed to road to 10 miles to see what was there.  Lovely drive in the fog.

7.       Depoe Bay Whale Museum:  I was surprised how much my kids enjoyed this!  We were the only ones there and the hostess totally catered to the little ones, asked them questions and really got them involved.

8.       Yaquina Head Light House and Tide Pool Beach: this is the only place we ended up going to that had a fee ($7 for a vehicle) to get in.  They have a nice interpretive center, but we moved through there rather quickly since it was nearing nap time.  Before we explored, we parked where we could look out over the ocean while we ate a quick lunch.  While we were sitting there, a pod of grey whales swam past! It was so amazing and the kids were so excited!  Our little guy was trying to tell everyone and exclaimed to me incredulously, “Mom!  All those people over there don’t even see the whales!  They’re not looking around!  They don’t even know what a wonderful thing they’re missing!”  I love it when he just gets it like that!

All this to say, I highly recommend the spontaneous exploration mentality!  I hope this will encourage you to give it a try sometime and take a chance that might result in you discovering a hidden treasure of a location!