Weekly Planner Craft

The weekend before last I had gone to a “ladies night out” event at our church.  Basically, everyone took a craft that they wanted to work on and it was a night to get out and work on something you’ve been wanting to get done, or just come and hang out and chat with other women.  I , of course, had brought my laptop to do some digital scrapbooking, but also brought my pages that I had printed so that I could sit and put them in order and in the right books.  But what I loved about the night was the idea for this next project I completed!  Quite a few of the ladies had made these neat weekly organizer frame.  When I saw them I knew right away what I could use something like this for!  You see, my husband and I make weekly meal plans and hang them on our fridge.  It is normally done with our chicken scratch handwriting on a flimsy little piece of paper that get’s hung by a magnet on the fridge.  In a nut shell I was so sick of seeing all kinds of papers and things on my fridge, that I loved the idea of one less paper that needed to clutter my fridge door!

 

So, I started with this frame that I bought at Michael’s – I believe I bought it for $15 on sale, and it came with 8 4x6” photo spots.  What I did then is pick out the scrapbooking paper that I wanted to use to coordinate with my home.  I also picked out some alphabet stickers to adorn each frame!  It was as easy as cutting my papers into 4x6” papers, and cleaning the frame up and sticking on the stickers for each day!  Great easy project, and I owe it all to the gals at church!  The great thing is, is that if I wanted to change out the papers for certain seasons I could, or if I wanted black and white pictures for the backgrounds I could – so versatile.  I plan on writing each days dinner meal on that day, so we know going into the week what we are having.  I also have room to put down any special things for that day that might be happening!  You just write on it with dry erase marker and it wipes right off.  I hung mine with a 3M hook that can easily be removed, and it is hung right on the side of my refrigerator, facing the dining room, and on the way out to the mudroom/garage, so it’s in a great place for me to see it often!  I also love that it has 8 spots to fill – one I used for the general weekly info, and then one spot for each day of the week!

I hope this has inspired you to do a fun and simple craft like this that may help to organize your life some how!  I know I am so glad I saw the gals working on their frames at ladies night, that inspired me to create mine!

My take on Yarn Wreaths

Pinterest has definitely become a website I frequent!  I love pinning dinner ideas, craft ideas, dessert ideas, home ideas, etc…!  The fun thing about it is that it inspires me to try things I may have never thought to try, to create things I never thought I’d be able to create, and the best part is…I can gather all of those ideas on one site to reference back quickly!  One of the more recent things I have worked on are yarn wreaths.  So far I have made two of them, and love them both!  SO easy and I can make one for every season if I want!

The first one I made was grey, purple and cream.  I am not one for true Christmas colors like red and green, so this one to me was more my style and just “wintery” instead of Christmasy!

The second one I made is actually for our church’s Advent Art Show.  Participants are asked to submit art of any form, with the theme “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men” as the inspiration.  I chose to make a cream wreath with blue and pink felt flowers. 

My favorite wreath is definitely this second one, and I was a little sad to turn it in for the art show!  The pieces of art will be put on silent auction to benefit the organization Poetice International.  So, if you go to Faith Reformed in Zeeland, or if you just like the wreath or anything else you see here on the blog, feel free to bid in the silent auction at Faith in December!!!

 

Anyway…these wreaths are just fun and easy to make!  I think total cost for me per wreath was about $12-$15.  I have bought the green “flower decorating” foam wreaths at Michaels – $4.99 reg. price,  a skein of yarn for each – roughly $4-$5, the felt squares are about .30 cents per piece (I used 2 and three per wreath), and then the adornment pieces on the second wreath were .69 cents each.  Each one took a total time of about 1 hr.  Something you can sit and do while watching your favorite show!  Go ahead…give them a try!

 

Until Next Time,

MandaKay

I’m Here…and I’m bringin’ it!

Hello Hello!!! I’m so excited about the upcoming month or two!  Thanksgiving, Christmas, parties, family time, and I have a lot of blogging up my sleeve!  I’m ready to bring it!!!  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for some crafty stuff, some Christmas ideas, and maybe even a little Christmas gift for my faithful readers!!!  (Oh wait….I forgot to think of the fact that there may not be any faithful readers out there anymore for my blog!  Hahaha!) 

Anyway – you know I’ve got digital layouts to catch up on, so that’s what I am starting off with today.   Of course most of my pages are created using The-Lilypad goodies!  It’s my “digital home” and I just adore all the people that hang out there!  I have been a creative team member at the Lilypad for the whole time they were a store (like 4 or 5 years now I believe), and I am amazed daily by the designers and creative team there – such inspiring stuff!  It’s so easy and fun to work with their product!

So, don’t forget to stay tuned for a little more activity here on the blog coming up here!

School’s in full swing

 

School is in full swing now, and it’s going pretty good.  Braelyn is doing well and likes her teacher and class.  Selah is still struggling, crying every morning, but seems to do fine when she is at school now, so that is an improvement at least.  Gracyn has now been switched to 2 day threeschool which is going to be a much better fit for her than the one day.  She loves school!  September has been moving right along, and next week is Gracyn’s 4th birthday!  We don’t have big plans, but she wants to go to Chuck E Cheese, so I am sure we will be doing that.

Here are a few beginning of school LO’s I have been working on.

I’ve been struggling a lot lately with my work schedule.  The “mommy guilt” of working has really been getting to me lately, and a schedule that isn’t ideal for school schedules and Grandma schedules doesn’t make it easy to get it out of my head.  I am also realizing that the years that my kids are home with me are growing fewer – soon they will all be in school full time – wow – that is scary to me!

Hope you all have a great rest of your week!!!

MandaKay

A Grandma?

I got into a conversation the other day with my girls about how many kids they want to have some day.  I don’t remember exactly how it came up, but I think Selah was talking about being a mom some day – she brings this up a lot, especially when I am making dinner, baking, or doing something that she thinks would be a fun “mom” thing!  All three of them were in the kitchen with Kyle and I , and so we asked each of the girls how many kids they wanted to have.  Documenting this here on the blog is more of a way for me to write it down and get it off the sticky note in my kitchen…hate having too many of those sitting on my counter!  This will definitely become a scrap book page at some point – just need to decide if I want to do one per kid or put all three on one page!

Braelyn’s answer at 7 years old:  2 kids, 1 girl and 1 boy

Selah’s answer at 5 years old:  6 kids, 2 boys, then 2 girls, then a baby boy , and another baby girl.  She was specific about the order and everything!!!

Gracyn’s answer at 3 years old:  4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls

So, potentially someday Kyle and I will be grandparents to 12 kids!  Wow – that is a crazy thought!  I love it!

I think about it.

My blog.  I think about it often.  I try to remember to get on here and post something, and then I run out of time.  The girls and I got talking a few days ago about how many kids they want to have some day, and I need to get their answers down in here so I don’t forget!  The sticky note on my counter will inevitably get lost or thrown away, so if I get it down here I can reference it later.  But for now I am just gonna clean out my layouts folder to share what I have done lately.

Summer is winding down and I think I am ready for the routine of school.  I get a little nervous about all the things that will need to be done each day, but I can tackle them!  We are looking forward to the long weekend of Labor Day – lots of family time!  Hope you all have a great weekend as well!

Fresh Fruit Pie recipe

I love summer fruit!  strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, all of the berries really!  And I love a good fresh fruit pie – almost better than a cooked pie and they are so easy too!  I thought I’d share the recipe that I got from my sister for fresh blueberry pie, which is basically good for any fresh fruit.  Think blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, peach, etc…!!!

 

Crust:  (if you should choose to make it from scratch!  I usually end up buying a Keebler ready made crust - it should be the shortbread kind though and not the graham crust!)
1/2 cup cold butter (real butter only - I use salted when I make it)
1 1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp cold water
-Mix with two forks (hold back to back and cut thru ingredients).  Leave a bit crumbly, press into pie pan, poke a few times with a fork so that it doesn't bubble up and crack, bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool before filling.

Glaze for the fresh fruit:
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
-mix dry in sauce pan
Add 1 cup water (or just a bit less than one cup)
Bring to boil/clear liquid and remove from heat.
Add 3 oz. box of jello (flavored to match fruit)
Chill the liquid by letting it sit for about 15 minutes or so.  Place your fresh fruit in the pie crust, and then pour the glaze over the fruit, and chill in the fridge until ready to eat!

Here is a very bad picture of the pie I made yesterday – doesn’t do it justice, but it’s all I got!

Hope you get a chance to try it!

MandaKay