November Highlights

Wow, where did November go?! I can't believe it is December 2nd and the weather has been beautiful! Who would think that we would have 60 and 70 degree weather in Kansas this time of year! It does make it hard to get in the Christmas spirit, but hopefully we will have snow soon!

So much has happened at the Woods house in the past month and here is a recap of our month!

The major, most time consuming item....WE MOVED! We are now at a large three bedroom apartment at Four Seasons Apartments. We have been contemplating a move and selling our house for a while now. Finally, the time just felt right. We moved the weekend before Thanksgiving and we are almost all settled and unpacked. It feels like home, very comforting, and that is just what I need right now.

HOWEVER, we still have boxes, and years of "stuff" to sort through at the house. I didn't want to move things that we might toss or donate, so it was left for later. We will need to clean and fix up the house a little to sell and hopefully we can do that in the next few weeks.
We love the new place! We have so much more room and the best part....I have a fully functional craft room! Plenty of room for sewing, scrapbooking, and crafting! We are working on Casey's "man cave" too!

We spent our first Thanksgiving, just the two of us, at our new home. I baked a couple pumpkin pies, we ordered out a smoked turkey and all the fixings from a local restaurant and loved just spending a quiet Thanksgiving weekend just us!


My first made-from-scratch pumpkin pies with frozen crusts. The Libby's canned pumpkin recipe made good pies!

Four Seasons is right next to Jones Park and Harry has loved all the walks in the park! Harry still wakes up early, so I take him out each morning for a walk. Usually, it is right at dawn and the sunrise is beautiful through the trees! We have seen geese on the ponds and squirrels in the trees. Harry loves the juniper trees and smelling everything!!!


Harry has his eye on a squirrel, or leaf, or another dog?!



View from the park of the apartments.



Another view from the park. I love having the park as our "backyard"!



Geese on the pond at sunrise!

 

Sunrise through the trees.



Beautiful sky at sunset.



A full moon rising one evening last week.

This weekend I decorated the Christmas tree! I was so excited to go through all the ornaments, remembering when, where and why we had each one. Our tree if full of memories and I love that it is a hodge-podge of different homemade, whimsical, traditional, glittery, felt and wooden ornaments!


This cute little guy I found at a beautiful gift shop in Lebo, during their Open House last month. I have several new bird ornaments this year! 



Also new this year...looks like he has a sweater on and I had to have him!

Brought him home from our trip to Baltimore in April this year.

I have been catching up on crafting. I made a new Christmas wreath from yarn and and have been crocheting Christmas gifts. Today, I plan to paint wooden signs, also Christmas gifts! AND, I need to do some paper crafting, designing Christmas cards and paper ornaments. I will post more over in our How Crafty Are We blog.

We had a busy month and I am sure December will be just as crazy with Holiday activities! We are looking forward to Christmas and a new year in a new home!

Painted Chair

Studio 11 held their second class this week....painted chairs. They had a stash of old chairs and we got to choose one to recover and paint. By the end of the evening, we had a new fun and funky chair to take home with us!

My chair...before....I love the detail on the back.

Recovering the seat was simple. The Studio 11 girls had taken the seats off already and all we had to do was staple gun on new fabric. I chose a piece of burlap to recover the seat.

After using a dust cloth on the chair, I was ready to paint. The paint is the same type we used last time...a milk paint. It is powder that you add water to and tadah! We created a color and it turned into a salmony pink. I put two coats on the chair, letting it dry in between coats. Then sanded it down until I achieved the look I wanted. Then you coat the chair with a wax polish, buff and you're done!

My completed chair! It is hard to see all the details from the sanding. I really like how it turned out and plan to put it in my craft room. I also want to try adding fabric cut outs or stencils to the seat for something fun!

After working with wood and paint for the first two classes, I have all sorts of crafty ideas pinging around in my head! I brought home scrap wood from work and I am going to have Dad help me cut it down to workable pieces to make signs. I bought red milk paint this weekend and more supplies to start my Christmas projects! Plus other goodies for a few Pinterest ideas!

Sweet Dreams

The past few weeks, I have listened daily to Godspeed, Sweet Dreams by the Dixie Chicks. The song has always been one of my favorites and I knew it would be a beautiful lullaby to sing to my future children. Now, with new meaning, it brings me comfort and peace.

http://youtu.be/AwfaTcBNtWo

Also this week, I took part in Studio 11's first Pinterest Party! Studio 11 is going to start holding classes in their shop and teach DIY, fun projects inspired by Pintest ideas or things they have seen and tried. Thursday night was their first class and we made recycled, hand painted wooden signs. We made snacks and the Studio 11 girls provided the beverages, space, and all the supplies!

You can see more pictures on Facebook on the Studio 11 page. Here are a few of my pictures...



The recycled pallet board ready to paint. Waiting for inspiration to strike...see the wine!

  

Kari helping me mix paint for the sign. We used a milk paint that they sell in the store. It is powder that you mix with equal parts water.


 

Loni working on the letters for her sign.

 

My sign...after paint.

 

Next step, letters. The sign has dried and I used carbon paper and stencils to trace or paint the letters.

 

Loni and Laura working on their signs, the possibilities are endless!

  

You complete the sign by sanding and adding was. All done...just have to add the ribbon for hanging.


I made it in memory of our baby boy and plan to hang it in our future nursery. It was a good night with friends and I am looking forward to future Pinterst Parties!

Crafting and Baking with Lily

Mom, Lily and I had a craft day to make goodies from Mom's co-workers. Mom used my Big Shot (from Stampin' Up) and we cut out treat bags, decorated, and filled them with treats!


Lily ready to work! She helped me run paper thru the Big Shot cutting out all the bags.

The first 12 bags done for her Bunco group!

One bag filled with cocoa, chocolate spoon, marshmallows, and chocolate stick!

I worked on cocoa packet treats while mom glued bags. Lily helped me stamp!

Later in December, Rose, Lily and Mom scheduled time to bake cookies for Lily's class party. I came to help!

Rolling out gingerbread cookies in sugar.

More sugar!


Licking her fingers when all done baking!

Lily's tray of cookies for her class! She was so excited!