Silhouette Projects

 

I’ve been spending the cold wintery spring days playing with my Silhouette. It is so much fun. These are a couple of the things I’ve done. Others are still in process and I will show them later.

My downstairs family room is decorated in a woodsy look so my hubby’s deer fits along with my collection of bears. When I saw these pine trees I knew I had to come up with somewhere to use them. I love them.

This on is headed for AZ but I think I may remake one similar for my entry where it will be at home.

RELAX

I am lucky and have a home in AZ along with the one we live in all the time. It is my ‘run away from winter’ home. I have been repainting the main floor and trying to add a few homey touches to it. I want it to be a vacation home and since my favorite vacation place is the beach it is more of a beach house. I painted the dining/kitchen a teal blue and I’m accenting with orange.
Relax is about the cupboards over the oven to remind everyone that if you are here you are suppose to be relaxing and enjoying yourself.

Wooden Conversation Hearts

I hope this finds everyone staying warm this winter. While the weather is far from warm here it gives us time to work on ‘projects’. With Valentines arriving I thought it would be fun to make chunky hearts similar to the chunky pumpkins I did for fall. I had a leftover 2X4 and a hubby willing to go out in the cold to cut them for me. Now I have at least a little bit of Valentine decor in my home.

Painted Pillow Top

January becomes a ‘work on house’ month because of the cold. Who wants to go outside, the holidays are over so I have time to make things for the house. To be honest I usually paint a room or two but I have a couple weeks before I can do that. And I’ve looked at these pillows on many websites but the price is a lot higher than I’m willing to pay so I figured I’d just make my own. I live in a small rural town at the foot of the mountains but my heart is always on the beach. I decided many years ago it doesn’t matter where you live make your house the one you want to go home to. So mine is a beach house.

Painting Snow

I’m sure everyone has heard of using spray bottles filled with colored water to paint pictures in the snow. We have done that but found it was hard for the toddlers to squeeze the trigger and make it spray, especially with gloves on. This year we tried a different and easier way for them.

Snow cones

What do you do when it snows over a foot and the power is out. You make Snow cones!

Luckily we live in the country and have clean air. Not that yucky stuff you can see, so after the first snow storm we start making snow cones. Now that all the kids have moved to the city. Grandma’s house is the only place with ‘clean’ snow so it has become a winter tradition at Grandmas.

No my cup doesn’t have a leak in it. I’m a messy pourer. That's why there is something under my cup.

Wooden Christmas Forest

I’m taking an extra turn this month. Carrie just moved into her new house and has not been able to get internet yet. I’m glad I get to do one of her posts. She is very creative and I’m sure when she is back online she will have some great things to share.
My hubby built me the nicest entry cabinet this past year so I have one more piece of furniture to decorate for Christmas. It has a shelf just off the floor. After making wooden pumpkins for fall I thought I should just continue this look and do trees for Christmas.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES

It’s finally the Christmas season. I will admit I’m one of those that gets excited when the stores start putting Christmas out even though it isn't’ even Halloween. I bought Trudi some ornaments I found the first of Oct. They were perfect for her tree so I had to do it. Then every time I go to a store I go through the Christmas isles again and again. As I cleaned house on the Mon. before Thanksgiving I figured I might as well put fall away and Christmas out as I took things off to dust. I LOVE Christmas!!!!

One of our family traditions is making gingerbread houses. I am going to make them with the grandkids this year. But since they all live a ways apart we will be doing it multiple times. I’m so excited, it will be so much fun.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving and hope all of you did to. There are so many things to be thankful for this year. We were only missing one family this year. This is one of the first years we didn’t have more than just our family. But we had a great day. We thought we would share our dinner with you. Everyone has food assignment that we choose about a month ahead. 

Some items we make ahead and some get made that morning at the home we have it at.

 

 

 

 

 

Appetizers are ready!

Cheese Ball and crackers, Spinach Dip and Sour Dough Bread, Veggie Tray and Ranch Dip, Mini Rolls with Assorted Spreads (Lemon Dill Butter, Cream Cheese Pesto, Roasted Red Pepper Humus).

 

Everyone was chilling’ and watching movies or playing games or munching on appetizers while the main course finished cooking.

 

 

The table is set and the food is ready. We were in Carrie’s new condo and used the counter as our buffet table. As with lots going on that morning the extra chairs were forgot so we sat some at the table and some sat on the sofa in the living room. The little girls loved having their own table.

This year the menu was: Brined Turkey, Cornbread and Regular Dressing, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Cranberry Relish and Jellied Cranberries, Frog Eye Salad, Brussel Sprouts, Homemade Rolls.

We finish up with an assortment of homemade pies, which has been a family tradition for generations. This year we had enough pie for each person to have half a pie each. We had 2 Pumpkin, Cherry, Pecan, Coconut Cream with a caramel nut bottom, Dutch Apple, Key Lime, and Lemon Meringue.  There is no such thing as too much pie.

We hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving Day with family and friends, but I will be honest I can’t wait till Christmas.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I grew up with pies as a main dessert when the family got together. My grandfather loved cherry pie so we were all taught how to make pies. That is where I get my love for pies. I am picky though when it comes to the crust. I love homemade crust. Our recipe for that is included today.

This is one of the easiest pies to make if you do the lemon filling in the microwave. It is also my favorite, I never get tired of it.

Wooden Pumpkins

I love the holiday seasons. I’ve always decorated my home with lots of fun things for the holidays. My style has changed some with my kids growing up. I had a few years where glass became popular in my decorations but now with grandkids the non breakables are a lot more appealing again. There are various versions of wooden pumpkins, this is mine. I paint them without faces so they can be used from Oct. 1st through Thanksgiving.

So if you have an afternoon you can make these. They are that simple.

CARAMELS

As the seasons turn to fall it means it’s time for CARAMELS.  Thanks to a friend (Shannon) I found the best and easiest caramel recipe ever. Actually I make them year around but always for all the fall holidays. It has become one of our families favorite candies.

Goofy Bird Masks

I am a lucky grandma who gets to see her grandkids quite often. We love to play dress up and pretend. I keep a box of dress ups just for those occasions. As the kids are getting older and growing out of the clothes I am doing more just accessories such as masks, hats, capes, etc. I always get to be a vampire named ‘Alice” and they are various other characters. These are our Dodo Bird, Canary, Baby Penguin, and Parrot.
I keep them in our ‘Dress Up’ box to use over and over again.

They are made out of Craft Foam. Gather a variety of colors. They do fit on 8 1/2 X 11 inch size. I like to use the sticky back foam for the eyes and beaks, it is so much easier and the small kids can do it.



Gather Materials: Craft Foam (variety of colors), Glue or sticky back foam, Elastic Cord.


                         
Cut out all the pieces, The Dodo bird and Parrot have longer ‘hair’. Make sure you cut out the eyes. Then glue or just stick the white face of the penguin, whites of eyes, colored part of eye, beaks to mask.



I use a very small hole punch to punch holes for elastic. Measure child’s head and cut elastic about 14-15 inches long. Depending on child’s head size. Trim around the eyes if the layers didn’t match up like you would like.
Be creative and make your own birds. Do a pink one for a flamingo. Just have fun.

Download the patterns below.

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