#Christmas #Crafts

I always try to make time for at least one craft at Christmas time. But they have to be easy. This year, I needed a gift idea for promoting my books and came up with ornaments! Michaels had lots of ornament crafts to pick from... I chose clear plastic balls to fill and added sparkly pipe cleaners, sequins, snowflakes, ribbon, and other items I could fit into the ornaments along with printed pics of my books with cute characters. Here's how they came out:

They were a big hit!

And here are a few other crafts I've done over the years that were easy and came out pretty well.

our family singing xmas carols--
painted tp rolls with mini printed music
and baby sock hats!

sent away for EDIBLE LABELS--
won a prize for most creative cookies!

reindeer cookies

marshmallow mice--I miss these little guys,
they're so big now!

I've also done wreathes, stockings, hats, and more. So, I'd say Christmas Crafts are a tradition for me.

Do you have any cherished holiday traditions? or favorite crafts?
Happy December!

Quick Tips and Ideas

This week was a busy one. College is out for the summer, so all of my boys are home. I also have two graduating this spring--one from high school and one from college. Between party planning and trying to absorb all the boxes and crates moving back home for the summer entails, I've been scattered.

So, for this week, I'm sharing a few quick tips and ideas. Whenever I see something useful or interesting, I usually write it down or snap a picture of it to share here. Let's crack open that idea vault and see what's there!

Tip #1

I have a decorative can in my bathroom that I put hand bands, etc. in. It's getting older, but it has sentimental value, so I'm not inclined to part with it. The problem was it kept leaving rust rings on the back of my toilet where it sat. 

Time to bleach the rust ring again!

The solution? Paint the bottom of the can with nail polish. Usually, I'd use clear polish, but I didn't have any, so I used pink. Left the can upside down until it dried-- problem solved!

No more rust marks!

Idea #1

I saw this idea at a craft store and I loved it. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm seeing all sorts of easy possibilities. You could use almost any shape. Just search for clip art silhouettes on the internet, like HERE. Pick a picture, attach it to your jar or vase or plate...really there are so many options...and then paint. Remove the printed art and you've made a cute craft!

I'm imagining some pretty flowers for summer time!

Idea #2

I LOVE this idea. My niece did these with her little girl. I am so bummed that I never thought to do something like this with my own kids. These are her child's feet, captured for a lifetime, in simply the cutest way.

Baby's feet and hands as art. I love it!

Tip #2

I saw this on Facebook and had to laugh. Personally, I can over-prime completely sober. I love online shopping! I even bought my dog food online last week. I bought it from Wal Mart and went through Ebates first, so not only did I get cash back from Ebates, I didn't have to carry the 50 pounds of dog food up my steps! I'm sure my mail carrier hates me.

Be sure to go to Ebates before shopping online!
No sense passing up cash back on purchases and if there are
online coupons and discounts, Ebates usually has them listed too.

Wandmakers

Storytime!

My husband and I met initially in 2005, but then I left to serve a mission for my church and didn’t get back until June of 2007. When I did return, he was dating someone else at the time but he had learned how to ballroom dance *swoon* and I started crushing on him pretty quickly.

On the night of July 10th, 2007, a friend of mine called to say she had two extra tickets to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I definitely wanted to go, so I took my brother and we went.

At the same time, Husband was in the same building, different theater. While waiting for the movie to start, his girlfriend called and broke up with him. He describes this experience as really weird, because he’s usually very torn up by break-ups, but that night he felt calm. Afterward, we ran into each other outside. We talked about the movie, and I asked where his girlfriend was. He said they’d broken up, and I replied by saying he should call me sometime.

I walked away from that exchange feeling elated. He called me the next day and we met at a dance and went to Sonic afterward and sat and talked until about 2am. The following day we talked on the phone for a couple of hours, day three we went to lunch, and by that weekend we had decided to date each other exclusively.

The rest is history, but I tell this story so you understand the special place Harry Potter holds in our hearts. If it weren’t for that midnight showing, who knows whether we would’ve gotten together. We are pretty dedicated, to the point that we put together a Harry Potter party every year, we have a Harry Potter mantle in our kitchen, and we make wands.

This—the wandmaking—is probably my husband’s biggest hobby, but one that I absolutely love and fully support. He makes the wands, and I do some of the sanding, polishing, and finishing work when I can. We sell them at the movie releases, and via tumblr and etsy. It’s something we love to do, like my writing, and we love seeing people fall in love with the wands.

How did this start? Well, STORYTIME!

Pinterest

In December of 2007, Husband and I were married. Fast forward about a year and a half later, and the next Harry Potter film is coming out. We obviously wanted to attend the midnight showing. My husband already had a character wand (Sirius Black’s) but I really wanted one too. So we saved our pennies and went to his parent’s house to order one (they had internet, we didn’t).

While we were looking and deciding which one to get, Husband’s dad came in to see what we were up to. And he scoffed at those character wands. He’s a carpenter, and he said he could easily make those wands and they’d be better.

When they arrived (we’d ordered Snape’s and Lupin’s) we gave all three to him to see if he could do it. A couple of days later, he came back with three beautiful replicas. Well, we decided to try our own hands at it, and went to his shop to use his tools and make our own wands.

By the time the movie came out, we had made a few, and so we took them with us. To our surprises, nearly all of them sold! And, well, the rest is history.

We took a big batch of wands to each of the Deathly Hallows releases, and just this month took some to the Fantastic Beasts showing as well. The moment when someone picks up the wand that is meant to be theirs? There’s this connection you can’t describe. Some people find their wand on the first try, others have to pick up five or six and wave them around before they really know. But when they know, they know. And that’s why we love making them so much.

Thanks for having me, RRHA, it’s been a blast!

We enjoyed having you, Darci! Thanks for sharing your stories and letting us get to know you!

Darci Cole writes fantasy novels for YA/MG readers, and is currently seeking representation for her work. She is a Gryffindor, a fangirl of many fandoms, and a wandmaker for Colevanders. She loves Dr Pepper, pepperoni-pineapple pizza, and stars.

Follow her on: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram

Crafty Support

I wish I could say I’m a crafty person. I have so much admiration for the bloggers I see creating holiday decorations out of items they purchase at the craft store. In all honesty, I’m more likely to spend the day browsing items on Etsy to buy from some super-talented person. I just don’t have the creative eye for it.

As a child, being “not crafty” is never an option. I remember working with papier-mâché in elementary school and stamping my initials into leather at 4-H camp. I did exactly what the teacher said without ever coming up with creative ways to add to what I was doing.

Then I started middle school home economics class. It was the 80s, so we were still learning how to sew, and I hated every minute of it. I created some horrid 80s-style lavender shorts suit that looked a lot like the dress Jake Ryan’s girlfriend wore to the party in Sixteen Candles. I remember my icky creation every time I see that movie.

Soon after, I made a stuffed animal called Madigan. It was a cuddly dog that I loved. But I only made it through the sewing process because I followed the instructions to the letter. Hugging Madigan always made me feel better, since I didn’t have a real dog to hug.

Once I discovered I could write, I felt as though I’d been set free. I always felt like a creative person, but it didn’t fit with anything else I tried. I couldn’t dance, sing, act, paint, draw, or build things. I could put words on paper, though, and from time to time I even managed to move people with those words.

Would I like to be crafty? Sure. But in an Etsy era, I can just purchase the great crafts everyone else sells and support them. They can keep making their crafts and I can set them out around the house and hand their business cards out when people compliment them.

Stephanie Faris is the Simon & Schuster author of the middle grade books 25 Roses and 30 Days of No Gossip, as well as the Piper Morgan chapter book series. Her freelance work has appeared on NYPost.com, Mental Floss, The Week, and Your Teen magazine.

Top of the Pumpkin Charts

I love seeing how creative people get with pumpkins.

Here are a few I found through Google...

I used to enjoy carving as well. But now that the boys are older, I don't get into it as much... 

Here are a couple of my creations...

yes, a white pumpkin

Halloween is fun!

Hope you're enjoying October!

Bowling anyone?

This third blog post is supposed to be about something fun or crafty. I’m afraid my only craft is cooking. Ask me anything you like about that and I mostly will have an answer.

I have never been an exercise freak or a sports buff although these days we go 5 pin bowling twice a week and love it. Canada is the only country where 5 pin bowling is played, it was invented by a Canadian just over 100 years ago although I understand his original version was a lot harder to play. Glad it has been simplified. My scores are bad enough as it is.

Being a senior, I also go to the exercise classes which are held in our building 3 times a week. I only go twice because one class clashes with bowling – can’t miss that. Not that I am any chicken, but it is incredible to see 90-year-olds doing exercises or bowling. The oldest bowler I ever met was 97. However, that was her last year. When she died she was bowling twice a week, drove her own car, played ping pong and did line dancing. I should be so lucky. One morning she didn’t wake up. Best way to go.

One thing we do like to do is have friends over for dinner when we (mostly I) cook up a storm. I used to do a lot more like printing fancy menus for my guests.  Haven’t done that for a while now. I used to belong to an online cookery group too, where we swapped recipes. I was very lucky to be able to meet many of them at a lunch in England when we went back for a visit.


I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word of Jo's posts and getting to know her better! Just hearing how pleasant life is for her gives me hope. And I agree, cooking and baking isn't what it used to be. But I know many who love the craft. Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Jo and keep bowling!

Jo Wake has been happily married for almost 44 years, originally from the UK, living in Canada now. She's interested in cooking, reading and wildlife conservation.

Her blog is "Jo on Food, Life and a Scent of Chocolate" When she first signed up with blogger, they would not accept her last name for some reason, so she used a family name.

If you need any more info about Jo, a friend wrote a blog post about her some time ago. Although it claims she's interested in gardening, she's not really. She likes to look at gardens, that’s all.

Camping Down-Time Activities

As an adult, I think of camping as down time, but when you're going with kids, that's not usually true. In fact, it can be a bit chaotic. One great thing about camping is the variety of activities to do that you may not usually have access to - like fishing, hiking, or playing in a river or lake. All of which are fun and entertaining, but there comes a point where you need a little "down-time" activity for everyone to do, (or even the kids to do) while the adults are getting dinner ready. (It's probably obvious that my kids are still young enough to need supervision).

In Monday's post I mentioned that my kids are card sharks - yes, even the 6 year old! - and that we love puzzles, but I didn't mention another favorite... ORIGAMI!!! Yes, the Japanese art of folding paper! Don't knock it till you try it! It's not only fun, but challenging too!

A couple of years ago I went on a treasure hunt through Barnes & Noble (one of the best stores ever!) and found origami books with activities for different skill levels. One book I bought was for animals and another for dinosaurs! How fun is that? They even come with paper in all sorts of  perfect patterns to make learning and folding more fun.

Basically, what I ended up with was the perfect down-time activity for any occasion, even camping! My kids love it, and while we sometimes work on our own, or race to see who can finish first... we also work together on the more difficult patterns to help one another and implement that whole 'teamwork' thing people are always talking about. Yay us!

So there you have it! Origami --- Japanese art skills in the great out doors! Give it a try!

Well, I want to run out and get an Origami book - just for me! But I bet my little guy would do it with me. There's still some summer left for us to do it, too! Thanks so much for the awesome tips and posts this week and sharing your sweet family photos!

Leigh Covington is the mother of three active children and a full time student at Grand Canyon University, finishing her Bachelors in Secondary Education emphasis in English. Fueled by Coca-Cola, she spends the majority of her time watching soccer games or gymnastics lessons, while sneaking in a sweet treat to satisfy her chocolate addiction. She also teaches the youth at church and loves spending time reading a good book whenever she can find a free minute.

#crafts and #hobbies

Fri: Crafts/hobbies
All week I’ve been focusing on essential oils. I use them for just about everything. They help focus me in my writing, they make my cooking yummy, and they give me activities to keep my kiddos busy. We like to make our own lip balm and lotions using essential oils. They are a bazillion times better for your skin since many conventional lotions contain chemicals and things I can’t pronounce.

I get my shea butter and beeswax on Amazon, along with cocoa butter, which is occasionally called for in these homemade recipes. The coconut oil, both solid and liquid, I find at the grocery story in the olive oil section. You can even play with the liquid oils until you find one that’s perfect for you. Almond oil, Jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil are some great alternatives.

My ten year old and four year old love to help me with these simple essential oil recipes:

Lotion 1 c solid coconut oil 1-2 T Shea Butter Melt Shea butter in microwave Pour into coconut oil  Whip with hand mixer Add 10 drops or a mix of 10 drops of essential oils. Pour into small tubs. Makes 4 jelly jar sized tubs.

Lip Balm 1 oz beeswax (About 3 T) 1 oz solid coconut oil (About 2 T) ½ oz shea butter (About 1 T) ½ oz cocoa butter (About 1 T) 30 drops of essential oils—your choice (peppermint/orange) Melt all but EOs in double boiler. Let cool 2-3 minutes. Add Eo’s.  Mix. Pour into lip balm containers. Makes about 18.

So, I talked this week a little more about my oil business than I did about my writing, so I’ll give you that part of my life condensed: I write books for teens.

There’s not much to do growing up in a small town in Western, NY, so J. Andersen wrote stories and won high school writing contests. But in college her writing was limited to term papers. While teaching middle school she began to read young adult books and got serious about writing. J now writes full time, volunteers at the town library, helps to run a School of the Arts at her church, and sings in the church band. She enjoys good coffee—read: home roasted by her husband—crafts, baking, running a small essential oil business, and chasing after her children. You’ll rarely see J without a book in her hands, and that’s the way she’d like to keep it.

(author of THE BREEDING TREE)

Website -- Facebook -- Twitter -- Goodreads -- Instagram -- Pinterest

It was a refreshing week having J. Andersen here and learning about essential oils. So glad we had her over! It sounds wonderful to make money doing something you enjoy!

Post Holiday Ideas

Of course you know now is the time to purchase the holiday wrapping paper, Christmas cards, paper ware, and decorations. I mean that's Really Real Cheap Housewife basics. I haven't paid full price for Christmas paraphernalia for over twenty years. I buy it now and pack it away with my holiday decorations.

So, that's the no-brainer holiday tip.

Here's another tip...

I love Christmas greeting cards. The old school, snail-mail card delivered by the US postal service. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but the cards just add a personal touch to the season.

The problem is, what do you do with them after the holidays are over? Tossing them seems like such a waste. Here are a few ideas:

Christmas Crafts The pictures on cards are durable and easy to use on anything from collages to decoupage- which is just a fancy glue that can be used to attach art to anything from wood to ornaments.

Christmas card boxes  Glue the the card fronts and sentiments on an old shoe box, seal with decoupage glue,  and viola- you have a decorative box for next year's gift giving or storage. Cookies in zip lock bags and placed in boxes actually stack better than cookie tins.

Christmas tags Another very simple use of the old cards is to recycle them into tags for the next season. It's as easy as cutting out and taping.

Christmas Count Down Cutting out the pretty pictures on a card and using them to tape to a count down calendar to mark the days left is a fun way for kids to strike off the days until Santa arrives.


Now, what to do with those holiday photos that come inside the cards?

I keep a special photo album just for holiday pictures. I've been doing it for years, so it's fun to look back on all the memories.

Warmest greetings from Frosty and fam!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A CHRISTMAS CARD 

FROM THE REALLY REAL HOUSEWIVES 

TO YOU!

These are a few of our favorite things...

Liz loves to lounge in her jammies!

Ashley loves to get crazy with crafts!

Tara loves to experiment in the kitchen!

And we all love spending time with our families.
Wishing you a healthy happy holiday season!
Love,
Liz, Ash, & Tara

Winter Break Activities!

Oh no. School's out for two weeks! Time to entertain the kids - or let them play on their electronic brain-scramblers. Unfortunately both of those options are not good!

Here are some suggestions to keep those little brains active over the break:

• Crafts - you can find many easy Christmas/Winter crafts in magazines and online
• Volunteer - most kids don't have any idea that others are suffering in the world. We need to show them how good they have it and that we need to give back.
• Read! - Any time is a good time to read.
• Help Decorate - also a nice time to reminisce when the old decorations they made as little ones come out, especially the ones with their cute little faces on them.
• Help Bake - always fun and they get to lick the bowl.
• Help Clean - not fun, but necessary and they should earn their screen time!
• Play board games - I love playing board and card games. Lots of laughter and good times.
• Family movie nights - cozy, cocoa, cookies, and camaraderie.
• Hide the Pickle - a tradition to find the pickle on the tree each day, friendly competition, ha!
• Make a movie - my boys get wild creative hairs once in a while and want to record their inventiveness... dummies on film to enjoy in perpetuity. Harmless hilarity.
• Thank yous - make sure they thank their relatives for gifts!

We are all open to suggestions if you have any to add! Keeping it merry and bright!

Holiday Keeper

Why don't we all dress up in matching jammies
for the family photo?
NO?!?!

Unlike some family traditions that may be too far from conventional to make part of your holiday...this one is a keeper for sure!

No, not the jammie family photo.

This is a way better, way cheaper way to promote family fun and unity.

I got this very easy, very wonderful idea from a writer friend of mine, Jessie Andersen.

Her family has a tradition I wish I had thought of when my kids were little- the holiday table cloth.

Every year Jessie's family gets a white table cloth and they all sign it, draw pictures, or leave messages. Then, the next year, they bring one back out for the dinner table.

How awesome this must be to bring out an "archived" table cloth from years ago and enjoy.

Jessie and daughter, Jemma.