Melted Perler Bead Ornaments

Already on Day 3 of my Ornament Challenge! I can tell December is going to fly by really fast this year. Our youngest is in pre-school this year and dance. Then there is swimming all around and basketball for the oldest. PHEW!

December...or rather Christmas...is so wonderful in that we are all still busy as ever, but there is a reason to make yourself pause and: pray, reflect, wonder, make some magic, help someone out. The list is endless. I love it!

So today we did a melty plastic project! There is an awesome Perler Bead pin running around Pinterest. The beaded moose. I'm sure you have seen it! Follow the link to a blog titled WOOZ.DK and it's in Danish! Thank goodness for Google Translator!!!

With this Beaded Moose in my head...I flipped out while on a recent vacay in Minneapolis I found a set of cookie cutters with a moose that looked identical to the Pin at Ikea! Grabbed it up! And here is how it turned out:

This was fun and easy! The only change I made from the original post was I upped my oven temp to 300. Maybe that's a Danish/Nebraskan translation??? Anyway...after about 30 minutes on 200 my beads weren't melting at all. Up to 300 and five minutes later and it was done!

We also made a Star!

Elf on the Shelf...or Not!

Well, we've got a busy little Elf at this house! They guy hasn't sat on a shelf ONCE!

This morning we found this:

It seems that Filmore was getting a bit lonely. He gathered up some of his Best Buddies from around our house and sat them all down to read a story!

He got everyone to climb on top of our tubs full of Christmas decorations and sit nice and quiet! Maybe tonight he and his posse can dig out the decorations and put them up for us! And do the dishes. And fold some towels...

These friends are hanging onto every word of this story! And the best part is...Filmore brought back "The Animals Christmas Eve" from the North Pole and we get to keep it! We love new books!!!

Elf in Our Tree

This little Felt Bodied and Plastic/Rubber Headed Elf is making us all insanely excited! Like CrAzY excited!

Last night was our oldest's turn to spend the night with Gram & Gramps. So we let the little two "camp" out in the living room and fall asleep to the soft Christmasey Tree Glow. This morning...a little past the crack of dawn... I hear whispering and some giggles. Then I hear Thump Thump Thump which translates into chubby bare feet smacking the hard wood floor.

Then from the kitchen are squeals of astonishment and delight. "HE'S GONE! FILMORE MOVED!!!!!!!" at the same time as, "OHMAGOSH! Where is he???????" (insane punctuation to enforce the level of Christmas Excitement Spazzyness)

Thump Thump Thump Thump which translates to chubby bare feet scurrying around looking for him. Then, "He's HERE! He's on the tree!!!!!! FILMORE is on the Christmas Tree!!!! He has a SIGN!!!!!"

All for this:

Filmore is perched near the top of the Christmas Tree. And the children spoke the truth...he is holding a sign.

Filmore say What? Only 24 more days 'till Christmas? How will we ever keep track of how many days?

Obviously with the Elvin Sized Mini Paper Chain he made us! Filmore somehow knew our family had an affinity for keeping track of things with paper chains! This baby is staying on the tree and each night we will gingerly tear off a tiny piece of the chain.

Filmore. You Rock our Christmas World!

Crochet Stocking Ornament

For the past couple of years, I've challenged myself to make an ornament a day from December 1 to December 25th! And...somehow...today is December 1.

So here is Day 1 of Ornie Challenge 2012!

How cute is a little Granny Square Christmas Stocking??? Complete with a candy cane! I found the pattern at Eating Out Loud. They work up quick and easy and there is a great photo tutorial to follow along with the pattern.

In fact, the pattern is so fast and fun...I couldn't stop myself!

Then I started having fun and mixing it up!

I was working on these in the back of our church while our oldest was going through some training to be an Altar Server. One of his best buddies since forever came back to chat and he was fascinated by the entire crochet process. "How do you do that? Do you think I could learn? These are so cool! Hey, everyone, look at these!!!" He was so sweet (he's always so sweet) I decided to make one for him. And his little brother. And his two little sisters. And then my three kids. Like I said...I'm addicted...

Love Them!!!

Christmas Linky Love:

Elfish Antics

I'm pretty sure we are the last family in the Universe to jump on the Elf on the Shelf Band Wagon.

Better late than never!!!

This morning our three little grumps woke up to this:

North Pole Breakfast!!!

Santa FINALLY sent us our own Elvin Scout...Filmore!

The Man in the Big Red Suit also sent this letter, introducing Filmore and giving us his brief resume and job description!

That's S.C.'s official signature, people! We're so glad Filmore came with a name, as our children are not the best at picking out names for things: Meow Meow, Pup Pup, and (the most weird) a stuffed Buffalo named Moosey. SO! When Santa says "Filmore" we comply!

This Cute Little Guy made us Breakfast:

Peppermint North Poles with Powdered Sugar Do-nuts, Reindeer Do-nuts, and normal...non-theme-specific Do-Nuts. Hey, even Elves need some sleep!

Close up of a Rudolf Do-Nut. The kids got the biggest kick out of them. And the noses are definitely candy...to they kept saying, "These are candy. Thanks, Filmore! We get candy for breakfast!" It's the little things...

He had hot water waiting to make up some Cocoa in new Christmas cups and a bowl of Peppermint Marshmallows to go with it.

For himself, although he Froze before he had a chance to munch on them, Filmore even made up a tray of Elf Sized Do-Nuts!

For Reals. If the Cooking Network had a show called Mini Do-Nut Wars, Filmore would be BOSS!

Here's John & Katy in a state of Ecstatic Christmas Wonder. They were so in awe of Filmore, they only got a few nibbles and sips in!

Filmore also tricked out our stylin' 1980s ceiling fan with lights, tinsel garland, curly ribbon and giant snowflakes! 

When it was time to get brushed and dressed for school, the tree Filmore chose to perch himself on was gently lifted and placed on top the fridge (where it originally was before this Elvin Madness). It was a great spot to watch and listen from!

 Santa's letter did explain that these Elves like to Make Mischief sometimes and will get stuck in silly situations when the have to freeze every morning. While children can't touch the Elf...if this happens, it's okay for Mom or Dad to "gently" remove an Elf and place him back on his watch spot. For those days when he's wrapped around the gallon of milk and we need to pour some. Or he's mummified on our t.p. roll and someone needs a wipin'!

Oh Silly Filmore! What fun will you get into tonight???

Joining the Christmas Linky Party @

Pony Bead School Spirit

Welcome to September!

Kids back to school, cooler days, crackly leaves, and College Football!

This house cheers for the Nebraska Huskers! Go Big Red!!!

So today I'm going to share our crafty project from yesterday and I'll be linking it up with Sara over at Mom Endeavors. Sara hosts a College Football Tailgate party...a great place to check out lots of fun & footbally (totally a word) ideas!

(and I forgot to mention...Sara cheers for the Huskers, too!)
On to our project!  The Sun Catchers from I'm Feeling Crafty caught my eye and I've been wanting to try it for a long time.Yesterday the kids were all antsy and needing to focus on something and I thought, "Carpe Pony Beadium!" (that is Latin for Seize the Pony Beads)

We got to work picking out Husker colors from our bead stash. It was about this time that I realized I only had a handful of clear pony beads. But we were in GO mode...so we kept going!

I let my little Pony Bead Artists have free creative license with arranging the beads in their muffin tins.

All Right! So you take your beads and arrange them in the design you want in a metal pan or muffin tin. 

Single layer would have been better...but this was a Fly By the Seat of Our pants sort of project.

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and bake your beads for 20ish minutes. 

And you will get awesome melted bead mosaics!

Then my Hubby drilled some holes for me. Feel free to leave a comment about how he needs to stop chewing on his nails...he won't listen to me!

And string them up!

Since ours didn't turn out to be transparent...I went for wind chimes instead!

This is something we will do again with clear beads. I have Visions of Christmas Presents swimming in my head! Taking a little more time to make sure the beads are all flat and in a single layer would make the finished project smooth. But I kind of like our Funky Bumpy Clacky Wind Chimes!

FYI...this did make our house smell pretty bad. I'm not sure if it was the opaque beads or maybe my oven just really needs to be cleaned (blush!). We opened all the windows and let the house air out for about an hour. I see that these are doable on the grill...and I think we'll experiment with that next time!

Back To School Idea

I know we're just on the first leg of Summer Vacation, but I want to share this cute idea for a Back To School Teacher Gift!

Plus it never hurts to think ahead...although it might...I rarely think ahead! This would make a cute Christmas gift, Teacher Appreciation gift, End of School Year Teacher gift...or you might just want to make them for yourself!

Aren't the sweet??? I found them at Little Birdie Secrets! There is a free pattern for the dishcloth and also the link to the Apple Scrubbie pattern at Lion Brand's site. Super quick to work up!

I kept my Apple Slice Scrubbies simple without the stem or leaf.

Mmmmmm...I LOVE green!

You can get them hooked up now so you're all ready to go when August rolls around!

ps...for those of you who caught yesterday's post...here's the Lady Katy New Do Reveal:

Girl-Friend can Rock the Bob!

This morning when it was time to brush her hair it took a nano-second. She just stood there waiting for more. I was like, "That's all. I'm done." It took a minute to soak in and she said, "Well. We have time to make it pretty!" Love my Girlie.

Raising HER Ears!

Today is one of those Milestone Days!

Lady Sassy Pants is having her very first hair cut! Pardon me while I run and grab a tissue...

I'm all a Tizzy. Her hair is so long right now:

Dancing with Big Brother

I feel like such a weenie about making a big deal out of her "first" hair cut when she obviously has bangs! My Mom's been trimming bangs for her almost a year now. But this is her first "in the chair" cut! 

She's about 50/50 on the Hair Fixin'. Sometimes she sits there and lets me brush and braid and primp myself into Happy Mommy Land. Sometimes she fights me like a feral hog.

But, much as I love it, the tips of her hair are still that wispy find baby fluff and the length is really uneven in the back. When I braid or roll her hair there are a million sticky out bits. So we're having them trim it to shoulder length to even it out.

And I'm having all these insane irrational fears like: 

What if her hair stops growing and we can never make it long again? What if the stylist goes nuts and gives her a Pixie Cut? What if she falls in love with the idea of having her hair cut and uses her Mountain Goat Climbing Skillz to get at the scissors and goes Baldsie?

ANYWAY! 

I've been sitting around today looking at pictures of the last two years and how much her hair has grown. And I found a couple of hair clippie photos that I forgot to share with you all.

So...in the long run...today's Crazy Hair Obsession is helping me blog!

This first one was really quick and easy. I covered an alligator clip with green ribbon. Then I hot glued five small white buttons to the clip in the shape of a circle. I centered a larger yellow button and hot glued it on top of the white ones. Voila! Insta-Daisy Clippie!

The next flower clip is my favorite! Of all time!

I found the inspiration (& short and sweet tutorial) at Aly & Ash. 

How Easy Peasy can you get? I had all the supplies on hand. The only difference is I hot glued the button to the lace center and I used an alligator clip instead of a bobby pin.

Love It! I can't believe how much Lady Katy has grown...

Time to grab some more tissues!

Summer Lovin'!

Summer is Upon Us!

For my boys...school was finished by May 17th. We've been keeping pretty busy since then with our Summer Bucket List. I've got ideas everywhere...Pinterest, my trusty spiral notebook, and from an Awesome Master Summer Bucket List Linky over at Little Wonders' Days!

I thought it was high time to get my hiney in gear and put them all in one spot and share them with you!

Catch Lightening Bugs
Visit the Zoo
Play in Sprinklers (and make some of our own!)
Explore a few New Parks
Play at the Children's Museum
Explore Downtown Omaha
Pick Strawberries and Raspberries
Lots of Swimming
Plant Veggies and Flowers
Take a Day Trip to Lincoln
Visit the Farmer's Market
Participate in the Library Reading Program
Work on our Summer Bridge Workbooks
Walk to DQ for Treats
Make Superhero Capes
Weaving (Louie)
Make Pretzels
Visit the Roadside Chapel in Gretna
Make Butter
DIY Bouncy Balls: Version One & Version Two
LOTS of Science Experiments
Make Rain Gauges
Body Paint
Make Dinosaur Soap
Built a Foil River and Sail Origami Boats
DIY Moon Sand
Pour Paint Rainbow Flower Pots
Make LOTS of Popsicles and Snow Cones
Pull Taffy
Make Pool Noodle Light Sabers
Water Pinatas
Crazy Art Projects (Splat Paint, Bubble Paint, Spray Paint w/ Bottles, Ice Cube Paint)
Bubble Experiments
Make Sponge Water Balls
Melted Crayon Art
Fourth of July Crafts
Make Jolly Rancher Lollies
Marshmallow Poppers
Make Father's Day Presents & Interviews
Fence Weaving
Paint Sticks
Make Slushies
Make Suncatchers
Dye Yarn with Kool Aid
Make Cinnamon Pickles (Grandma's Recipe!)
Make an I-Spy ABC Photography Book
Camping Inside

And the Grand Finale of our Summer! Drum Roll....

We're packing up the Van and Driving from Nebraska to Washington State on a Two Week Road Trip!
So I'll also be making a long list of things to occupy our kiddos on the road!

Angry BIRD-Day Party...Take Two!

Here's my second (and final) installment of our 9 year old's Angry Birds Party.

The Cake!

Pretty sad, isn't it??? I usually do a pretty good job (if I do say so myself), but we had some Cake-tastrophes that contributed to our simple and gooey cake: dry & crumbly cakes, cakes stuck to pans, runny frosting (totally blaming the insane humidity on that one). You name it...it went wrong!

But we held our Angry Cake Chins high and plodded on!

The "structure" is made of chocolate wafer cookies. The small stones are CoCo Puffs. I was going to add some Oreo Dirt, but we also had a Blender-tastrophe! And the little figures are right out of the kid's Angry Birds "Knock on Wood" game!

But the Kidlets loved it! And the Grown-ups seemed to like it!

Humid Frosting aside...it tasted pretty yummy!

This is my life, Good Bloggy Friends! 

John apparently didn't get the "Crazy Shot" memo!