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FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties/ Seasonal

May Day Baskets

We have never made May Day Baskets, but have been the recipients of them many times and boy, what fun that is!  My Aunt Linda and her girls introduced us to May Day baskets by sneaking them onto our doorstep in years past, but now we live too far away and her girls are all grown up!   We have a couple friends here that have surprised us the last few years. It is always such a fun thing to hear the doorbell and find treats left behind by someone who loves us.  For those of you who are not familiar with the May Day Tradition, the basket giver rings the bell and runs away.  The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver.  If caught, tradition said a kiss was to be exchanged!

Every year I say I am going to do it, but then do not get around to it.  I saw a few cute ideas online which made me think that I REALLY had to do it this year, so I did!  The baskets we made are inspired by three different May Day Baskets that I found online.

 I started out making holes in the cups with a paper punch, but that made my hand sore, so I used the point of my scissors instead, twisting the scissors to make the hole.  Much easier!

I found some items of clothing that were ripped and not worth sewing back together.  I cut them in 3/4 inch wide strips of fabric and laced it around the rim of the cups.  My lil’ one loved helping me with this part.

The handle was made with wire, glued between two strips of ribbon.  This basket from Skip To My Lou was the inspiration for the handle.  We glued little flowers in pretty spring colors on to embellish, which I found on clearance at the craft store.

I wanted to fill them with treats that are not full of all kinds of artificial stuff.  I know that holidays are a fun time for treats, and we eat our share of junk during a holiday, but I wanted to see if I could find a way to make a treat basket without a bunch of artificial colors and high fructose corn syrup.

I choose popcorn, honeycomb cereal (I thought the flower shape was cute and they don’t have a ton of sugar in them, at least for a treat), dried blueberries, multi-grain cheerios, and to top it off, …a Lindt Lindor Truffle.
My girls are very excited to deliver these little baskets tomorrow. There is just something so fun about ringing a door bell, leaving a basket and running away!
Happy May Day!!
This post is linked to:
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Weekend WrapUp Party @ Tater Tots & Jello
Super Crafty Saturdays @ One Crafty Mommy
Sundae Scoop @ I Love Naptimes
Saturday Is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Made It Mondays @ The Persimmon Perch
Made By You Mondays @ Skip To My Lou
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative

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HOME/ Homemaking/ Seasonal

Decorating For Spring

It has been so dreary and cloudy here in Nebraska, so when I thought about spring decor, I knew I needed COLOR!  I scrounged up what I had, bought a few stems for half price at Hobby Lobby, and got busy putting hints of color around the house.  I chose red, yellow, orange, and green.  I’m keeping it simple, so no big spring decor projects, just happy hints of color.

Here is what I had to work with. Those baskets were filled with pine cones during fall and winter, now they are full of books for my girls to grab and read, while they are sitting on the sunroom swing, or hanging out in the living room.  The yellow picture frame is up but still does not have a picture in it, its on my list!  The box that says “Faith” is for our family prayer requests, we will periodically look in to see what prayers God has chosen to answer for us.

I bought this two- tiered basket for $4.98 the other day.  It looked much prettier with bananas and a green pepper in it, but we’ve been munching around here.  
I love the burst of color these 2 art pieces bring to my dining room shelf. My daughter made them and I wish you could see the details! She used a glue gun and liked how the strands of glue looked so she purposefully made more stands of glue going every which way on top of these, (which you can’t see in the picture).  It makes them glisten and adds another element of interest.  These bits of dried paint are peeled off the top of paint containers from art class.  
Funny story…my brother- in- law is responsible for much of the decor you see, well, at least responsible for where it is placed.  I had them over this weekend, and asked my sister for some decorating opinions.  Bro-in-law jumped in, was not shy with his opinions, and took over!  Who knew he had an artsy side?  He is usually working on cars or doing yard work, so it was quite funny to have him decorating my house!  Thanks, bro!
A touch of yellow in the kitchen, makes me feel cheery.  So does the sun that is shining through the window today- first sunny day in way too long! 
Happy Spring!

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special


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FUN/DIY/ Love/ Seasonal/ Valentine's Day

Going Green Valentine Holders

Going Green Valentine Holders

 I was encouraged by Destri over at the Mother Huddle to do a Valentine version of these “Going Green Gift Card Holders.”  I thought it was a great idea and eventually got around to it!
*I made a homemade template.  I hope the measurements are helpful.

*Trace the template onto the inside of a grocery sack.

*Fold in all 4 sides.

*Punch holes with hole punch.

*Fill it with a lil’ somethin’ somethin’

*Add ribbon and decorate however you desire.

{could make holes bigger and use a pixie stix treat}
A little valentine love note can be placed inside, or a gift card -I personally would take coffee shop gift card over fresh flowers, any day!  I plan on making some for my kids and husband. I’ll let you in on a little secret…ready?
I didn’t make my girls classroom valentines homemade…shhh!
I by no means have enough patience to make 3 classrooms, 21ish kids each, all homemade valentines.  I’ve seen some of you do it, and I am amazed, but it’s not for me. I got our classroom valentines from Target on special 2/1!  Ya know, the boxed ones that come with a treat and envelope? Easy.Yay.
I DO have enough time and patience to make them for my girls and husband.
 My kids will have little love notes and candy on theirs, my husband…hmmm…can you handle another secret?  Like, a Victoria’s Secret? shhh…
 His will contain a gift card to Victoria’s Secret, for me to use, of course!  Quite brilliant in my book. A gift for him that allows me to go out and shop (alone without the kids, yippee!) and in the end make us both happy..I hope!:)  (my parents and grandparents are all closing their eyes and shaking their heads right now..hee hee)

Gotta Love Valentines Day!

7
FUN/DIY/ Seasonal/ Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day Craft Ideas

Egg Carton Heart Art from A Little Hut
I just love this. You could make all kinds of shapes and colors out of these egg cartons. What fun!
Puffy Tissue Heart from Kaboose
I remember making tissue art as a kid. These are cute, my girls could do this craft without much direction from me. Bonus!
Ruffly Felt Rosette Wreath from Domestifluff
I think this is so elegant. You could use any color felt and a heart shaped foam form. These white ones would be beautiful to decorate a winter wedding. Red would be great for Christmas. Brown for fall.
Potato Stamp Art from Cafe Mom
I plan on using the inside of brown paper grocery sacks for this project.
Homemade Chocolate Playdoh from A Foothill Home Companion
This idea almost seems cruel! It smells like chocolate, looks like chocolate, but you can’t eat it!
Sour Cream Container Look-Alikes from Skip To My Lou
I have never seen this craft before. What a great way to package little valentine treats!

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Seasonal

Our Family Christmas Traditions

The number of traditions our family does seems to be growing.  I guess I’m a sucker for traditions! 

Christmas Lights In P. J.’s

We have to be sneaky for this one.  We change the clocks and make sure we get our girls into bed by “8:00” (really 7:00).  After prayers and kisses, we wait a few minutes, then kidnap them from their beds, slip on their robes and slippers, wrap them in a blanket and carry them to the heated car.  They just love it, we fool them every time!!:)  They know there will be bags of treats and merry Christmas music waiting for them in the car.  We hit our favorite, “most lit” neighborhoods.  After an hour and a half of Christmas light bliss, we head home.   It never fails, on the ride home they are full of sugar, tired, grumpy, and have had enough of each other and of Christmas lights!

New Christmas Music
Every year we get a new CD.  This year I downloaded the Surfjan Steven’s Christmas album from itunes.  I love me a banjo!

Christmas Story Book
It’s fun to see our collection growing, we get a new one every year.  “The Nativity” is by far the most unique, but their favorite is “If This Were A Fairy Tale”

Popcorn Tin & Sparkling Grape Juice
We eat popcorn from the tin and drink the juice in fancy glasses while we put up the Christmas tree.  My girls fight for the cheese popcorn, Todd and I are usually stuck with the butter and caramel popcorn.  I love using the tins to store Christmas lights and decorations, we have about 10 of them and they stack nicely.

My cousin, Keeli, has a cookie exchange every year.  At least 8 yrs ago, she had us bring over 15 dozen cookies!  That was the first time I made Andes Mint Cookies, and have been making them every year, ever since!  Click here for the recipe.

This tradition is one Todd started when we were dating.  He suggested we buy an ornament every year to remind us of that particular year.  At the time, he lived in Chicago and I lived in Nebraska, so when we found an ornament with a little mouse sitting on a compass with the words “Across The Miles,” we knew it was the one.  It was so much fun shopping together, we found a tiny little tree for my apartment and it had one little ornament on it.  Looking at our memory tree today, it is amazing how many ornaments we now have!  The girls love choosing their own ornament and I love being reminded of what each girl was “into” that year.  *Hint..if you go 2 days after Christmas, they are all 50% off!

Santa Pic

We eat at the mall food court and then go visit Santa for a picture.  My girls have never believed in Santa, but they (at least the younger two) like pretending that he exists.  I love comparing the pictures from year to year.  This year, Santa was in some CRAZY pajama’s.  I’m not sure where his suit was, maybe he couldn’t afford it due to the economy..

Stockings and Santa gifts
My girls wake up on Christmas morning to 3 piles of presents with a full stocking in front of each pile.  They find their pile, plop down by it, and pretty much don’t move until we are done opening all the presents. (well, maybe to get a cinnamon roll and juice.)  The presents all say “from Santa,” but as they get older they make sure to let me know I’m not fooling them.  My parents always did it this way with us so I guess that is why I do it, too!

Sugar Cookies
We make them every year– it used to be gingerbread houses, but I like simple, so now we are sticking to sugar cookies.  This year it was so easy!  They rolled, cut, frosted, and sprinkled all by themselves.  I just organized it all and had oven duty.  They are getting so big!

The Nativity Movie
This is a new tradition.  We started it last year.  My girls REALLY got into it this year and loved every minute of it.  It was so great!  We had to keep pausing the movie to talk about what was going on, answer their questions, and explain details to them. (there are some intense scenes that were important to talk through)  I really feel like they learned a lot of details that can get missed in our story books.  When it ended, my middle girl said “Mom, I just loved that.  It is my favorite movie.“

We have a bunch of extended family traditions, but I thought I’d stick to what my own little family does together.  Christmas is such a wonderful time to spend time together and teach our girls what all this celebrating is REALLY about…the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

2
Christmas/ Seasonal

Memory Tree

We have a tradition where each family member gets to choose a new ornament every year.  Todd started the tradition when we were dating, and we have done it every year.  It is my favorite family tradition, it is so much fun to take them out of their boxes, reminiscing about years past.  

We make sure we get the Hallmark brand ornaments.  They come with the date on each ornament, they are well made to last throughout the years, and the boxes they come in are great for keeping them protected when being stored.  We shop for them a day or two after Christmas, when they are half off.

Come with me on a tour of our memory tree!

This was the first ornament we purchased together.  Todd lived in Chicago and I lived in Nebraska, so “Across The Miles” was very appropriate.
We were newly weds when we got this one.
My Aunt Linda gave this one to us.  I love it.
Baby’s 1st Christmas–another one from my Aunt Linda
That is our now 10 yr old!  Where did all that
chub-a-lub go?
This one is from my dad.  He thinks I’m the world’s greatest hair stylist.:)  Not sure if he is right, he is judging me based on the few hairs he has left to cut.  (Ha Ha.  Love ya, dad!)
This is another favorite of mine.
My 10 yr. old picked it out when she was 7.  That was back in the day when she loved dance and tutus.  Now she rolls her eyes when taking it out of the box and says “ugh, I hate tutus!”
This one makes me smile.  I bought it the year my youngest was 2.  She had green “feetie” pajamas just like this, short blond curls, and was into everything!
This one is priceless.  My mom made these when we were young.  We sold them at craft fairs and even door to door.  My parents used the money to buy a piano so that we could start piano lessons.
Poor guy lost an eye!
I love, love this one.  I picked it out when my girls were 5, 4 and 2.  My youngest really loved her pacifier, we let her keep it way to long!  These stack into each other and closes into one snowman.
This one is from Todd’s childhood.
My mom gave me this one.  It is beautiful with the light shining through it.
This is from my Great Grandma Jewel.  It is VERY special to me.
She is now in Heaven, she was one of the most amazing people I have ever met.
Give you one guess who picked this one out…
…and this one.  The sports center tv above has a button to push to hear the
sports center theme song.  Todd enjoys pushing it over and over, just to annoy me.
My youngest chose this one last year.  Much of her day is spent coloring.
Once upon a time, there were Dora fans in this house.  No more. (sniff)
My choice for last year.  I really, REALLY enjoy lattes and my cell phone.
The decorating begins!
I can’t believe my baby can reach that high! (is it me or does
that tree look tipsy?)
Hanging out with dad after a long night of tree decorating.
Hello.
Kids tucked in bed, tree finished, another memory made.
It’s a good life.
2
Seasonal

Christmas Break & Christmas YouTube

Today my girls are home from school on Christmas break.  I let them know last night that we would be doing chores in the morning, so we would be able to play and enjoy the afternoon.  We have 4 Christmas celebrations coming up, one on the 24th, two on the 25th and one on the 26th— two are at our house. If we can get the house together today, we will be ready to celebrate!
My goal is to be done with the “not-so-fun stuff” by noon so we can do lots of “fun stuff” all afternoon.
Our afternoon will be filled with fun such as:

*polishing our nails and toes red & green!
*dipping pretzels in chocolate
*making lots of dry pancake mix to have on hand for Christmas brunch celebrations
*working on our Joshua Tree
*working on our Christmas puzzle
*teaching them a new card game
*reading one of our Christmas stories
*watching these YouTube videos



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