Craft Exchange

Just wanted to do a quick post to show the gift I received in the homemade gift exchange I participated in this year.  I absolutely love it!!  The pic does not do it justice.  I'm already planning a whole elf display for next year.

Love it!

River's snowman

We just got a collection of Calvin and Hobbes books.  Need I say more?  Let's just hope it stops here...

Paint Chip 'art'

Here is the infamous 'art' project.  It was easy, yes.  But not as easy as it looks.  It's one of my favorite crafts I've done lately.  It was fairly easy and very cheap to make.  It really jumps out at you when you walk in the room.  I like mine better than the ones I copied from other craft blogs.  I'm going to layer family photos on the shelf with it.  Will post pics when I'm done.  Hopefully I can finish it up in the next couple days, before the boys' sleepover.  I have frames laying around everywhere just waiting to be broken.  I cringe every time the boys have a nerf war.  I also 'borrowed' one of your ideas, Amy.  I made the candle holder next to it.  It started out a little vase and a plain old candlestick with a chip in it.  I had them in storage.  Now I love them ( I have 2). You can't even see the chip now.  I need to get some larger candles for them.  It's on my list.

My Room

Here it is.  An exclusive look at my little getaway/craft hoard.  I added these because I think my room is on its way to being pretty darn cute (in my opinion) obviously I haven't let you- know-who's opinion get to me.  I just found the bed on Craigslist for $100.  I thought it was the deal of the century.  Brian on the other hand had to be talked into it.  It's nice having our mattresses up off the floor after 5 years!

My Hoops

Here is a craft I was really, really excited about.  Finally, a way to use up some of my scrap paper.  Plus, I've had all these hoops laying around for quite a while.  You can hardly find them anymore.  I got these off Ebay.  They were sold as a 'lot'.  I did the set on top first.  I love the way they turned out.  The set on the bottom, I really despise.  I need to take them down.  Any advice on what I should put here instead???

Crochet

 Part of my yarn stash.  I made the bag using 4 strands of yarn at a time.  It's so thick, it's like a basket.

 An empty Perrier bottle with a hemp string crochet cover.  The kids (for some unknown reason) thought this was really cool.

little crocheted hearts on a branch

My New Purse

My New Purse.  My Fancy New Purse.  I know it's weird to blog about my purse but, look at it.  I actually love this purse.  It is the CUTEST.  I love the clasp and the paisley and the pink.  It  is  the  perfect  purse .   This is a Vera Bradley.  Not that I care in the least about brands but, I like her stuff.  Brian hasn't noticed.  I bought it a month ago.  I don't see any reason to mention it...

Hart's 19th

Hart's 19th.  Not a lot of hoopla... not really any hoopla.  Not even a homemade cake.  This was the first time I ever got a store bought cake.  It was really, really good though.  I used to go all out on birthdays.  In my defense, back in Indiana when the girls were little, it was easy to fill the house with family and friends.  Up here, not so much.  Personally, I like the solitude but, it does make it harder to throw a party.  I'll have to be more creative next year.  I still managed to make Hart's favorite meal- escarole soup.  I just realized I didn't get any pics of Hart opening gifts. What was I thinking???  Oh well, didn't really get her anything exciting.  She's a hard person to shop for.  She's very practical.  She's somewhat of a minimalist but, still manages to be a bit of a slob ;)  She takes after her dad that way. haha

Hand Trees

Here's my version of hand trees. I made these for my room using me and Brian's hands. I need to come up with the perfect quote to put somewhere around it...

Alaska State Fair

We had a great time at the fair this year. I went on 'Kids' Day with Brian and all the kids. It was a ton of fun. First, we went to the kids' games competition. Then a quick run through the craft exhibits. Then off to the midway. The kids rode a ton of rides and played some games. Brian bought them all cotton candy. It's all about the food with that man! He bought corn dogs, crab cakes, shrimp, buffalo burgers, Denali cream puffs, lots of good stuff. We stayed for the closing fireworks. The best firework show I've seen. They were right in your face. It's going to be a yearly tradition for sure.
Once we got home, I realized that I didn't get any pics of the kids with their projects. That meant another trip to the fair. This time it was just me and the kids (minus Hart) I got a ton of pics but, should've taken more. We went through ALL the exhibit buildings this time. Seward Sealife Center, 4H, crafts, flowers, animals, vegetables, and Raven's Hall. I got paint cleaned off my shoes, got lotion massaged into my hands, had a fresh fruit/veggie smoothie made in a vita-mix machine (I want one). We tried all the bizarre foods chocolate covered bacon, deep fried Cajun pickles, elephant ears. I didn't learn til I got home there was something called a donut burger there. It's a yeast donut with a hamburger, fried egg, and cheese on it. Next time perhaps...
I'm hoping to go one more time just me and Hart. I hear there's good sales on the last day. I'd love to get a good deal on a vita-mix!

State Fair Pics

sharing an elephant ear

Fisher enjoying a Denali cream puff.

Fisher with his prize frog

Thatcher with his prize ladybug

winning prizes

River Hart and Leify

Fisher and River 2nd car

Fisher and River

River

Fisher

Fisher climbing the rock wall. He did not make it to the top this year. In his defense, it was raining.

Thatcher at the Seward Sealife exhibit.This is their version of a petting zoo. There were sea anemone, starfish, and sea urchins.

Kids' Day Games

Fisher coming in last in the pie eating contest. He thought it was a contest to see who could eat the most pie. Turns out it was who could eat the fastest. He was all geared up to eat some pie! It's always the skinny ones...

They practiced this every day training for the big day

It paid off! The did it!!! 1st place!! wheel barrow race

three-legged race

2nd place three-legged race

Egg Race

River and Fisher both did the sack race but I didn't get any pics of Fisher.

The Results are In...

Leify- wood burning  Love it!

Fisher in front of his blue ribbon hand tree. There's a terrible glare on it. It was REALLY crowded the day we went so, it was hard to get good pics. We had to act fast. Never go to the fair on BOGO day. It wasn't worth the $16 we saved.

my baby coccoon- red ribbon    2nd shelf-middle

My purse with the big blue flower- blue ribbon The pic doesn't do it justice. It has a lot of texture to it. It's made of all sorts of yarn scraps and has a blue liner. I was happy with the way it turned out   top shelf-middle

My crocheted  'coonskin' cap- blue ribbon   bottom shelf middle

Fisher's blanket- red ribbon? For some reason, the judges gave Fisher a red ribbon and River a blue. I saw one of River's ties had come undone. (I didn't mention that to him) I don't think he noticed.

Leify and Thatcher in front of their projects   Leify's doily flag-red ribbon???!!!       Thatcher's finger painted flag- blue ribbon

River's blanket- blue ribbon

Target plarn bag mine- blue ribbon

River

River's coasters on the left- white ribbon.     Mine on the right- red ribbon

This is not our project but, I liked it. So I took a pic. I'm thinking of making some.

This is not our project. This entry got the ever coveted purple ribbon. Notice the gaps in the stitching. You can actually see the fluff inside! The nose is askew. The arms don't match. I could go on... It's a cute moose but, come on!! Purple ribbon???!!!

River's soap gets a blue ribbon