Snow, Snow Candy and Crystal Snowflakes...

Day 51

First it snowed here in Albuquerque-or I should say on the west mesa part of Albuquerque where it rarely precipitates at all....so all work and chores were out the window in favor of SNOW related activities

snow baseball...don't know why this picture is staying so small will work on fixing it later

Never seen snow before, he was not really that impressed

Yes this picture did end with a big ball of snow in G2's face

This was a cat rescue, she THOUGHT she would like the snow but once she was out in it she found out she was much more of an indoor cat

Molasses snow candy.....one cup of molasses and one cup of brown sugar boiled to bubbly

flat trays of clean fresh snow....

drizzle either directly from the pot or with a large spoon...does not matter shape or size

they will cool nearly instantly so eat them quickly....they also will get soggy so they can't be kept long so eat'em all up! Instant sugar high WOOHOO!

Crystal Snowflakes.....just for crystal shape comparison here are brown sugar crystals grown over a week or so....

Supplies--food coloring, 2 clean jars, pencils or sticks, pipe cleaners, scissors, borax....

while water is boiling drop food coloring (if desired) into your jars.....and cut and shape pipe cleaners into snowflakes--we also used pipe cleaners to hang them from the chopsticks but you can use string or yarn

fill the jars with water one cup at a time (water is boiling hot so watch little ones) and then dissolve 3tbs per one cup of water into the jars....swirl with a spoon until mostly dissolved (there will be sediment on the bottom of the jar) and Borax is not edible so wash hands and area after this experiment---put the snowflakes into the solution and try not to have them touch the bottoms or sides but really it is ok if they do!

the crystals start forming almost instantly and this is what our jars looked like afterwards...very pretty...like diamonds all over the inside....

Wait 24 hours and then remove, lay on a papertowel to dry.....Here are what they look like after they come out....the crystals grew so quick I had to gently pry them off the sides and bottom but it is just more sparkles

Secure them to a wire hook and hang them from a window for maximum sparkliness!

And that is how we do it....homeschooling style....not much sewing got done but LOTS of family time!

Beginnings of Holiday Decorating 2008

As I sit here I am admiring the glow of the holiday lights that we put up in the loft. They sure do look sparkly against the gold and silver stars and the coffee filter snowflakes just make it all very luminous!

Today we tested the lights, untangled them and sorted as to which will go on the tree and which will get hung in the loft. The girls tied ribbons to the stars and reglued any bits that were coming off the tips!

We fluffed and rehung the lights on our fake holiday palm tree direct from Florida via inlaws a few years ago it is a funny tree that stays out all year in our beach themed loft (I have to have something to remind me of Florida and the beach!)

Tomorrow is the day of the year, my favorite day with a fantastic tradition...what is it you might ask? Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase--perhaps it is the political incorrectness of it all, the tight blue leisure suit, the quote '*&!@@#$'s full' or the dead cat I dunno but we HAVE to watch it every year whilst the tree is being put together and decorated!

Our other recently watched favorite holiday films are:
Elf
Nightmare Before Christmas
Eloise at Christmas
Barbie Nutcracker
Barbie Christmas Carol

(hey man bite me y'all Barbie haters some of those Barbie movies have good music, totally singable and are just good stories...mostly the ones that are retellings of old stories...)

that is all I can think for now I will post more as we decorate...

Of course Menace and Destruction just HAD to help (nicknames for the kittens Sokka & Toph) as I type they are running like wild buffalo on a rampage all over the house batting at lights, trying to get the stars/snowflakes on the ceiling and burrowing under fabric I have on the floor ready to cut. These cats are soo spoiled the entire stairwell is filled with their toys because that is the preferred spot to play and no matter how many times I clean it up they bring them back.



























Did you have a good meal today? We decided to postpone our meal till Sunday when we do our regular shopping and have our regular big meal. We did not have anyone over as we were feeling a tad under the weather so we figured no big deal just wait till Sunday! And we are having recipes from the Felicity Cook Book (American Girl) they are ~American Revolution recipes and we did it last year instead of a turkey and we LOVED IT!

All for now Ta Ta...don't spend too much tomorrow, we will be sleeping in and mostly creating our holiday gifts at home!

Decorating nearly, almost, completely done!

Day 124

Besides sewing like a madwoman trying to keep up with orders we all spent the weekend decorating the downstairs in our holiday style. Holiday style meaning-our favorites, the kids choices and just what makes us feel good....not really into color matching or doing up every little corner just cause I want the decorations where we always are, where we can feel cozy....

....we popped in our favorite holiday movie Christmas Vacation...and went to town decorating....

.....one of my 3 prototype snowpeople that the girls like to snuggle up with, he is standing guard over the girls' wooden shoes waiting for Santa's goodies....

Found this nativity at one of my thrifting outings and although we are not of any particular faith the girls and I wanted to set one up because they are fun to play with and move the people around--this set had extra people in it so the extra Marys are angels

The girls made this tree topper with a random loose garland wrapped around an orphaned embroidery hoop--very sparkly!

The tree garland was made by looping the TONS of Gasparilla beads the girls have amassed over the years and the garland was so long it actually stretched throughout the entire house, we know we tried it and had to spend an hour untangling it after the cats decided to 'help' stretch it out

The first of the coffee filter snowflakes appear on the ceiling... we will add more and white lights which make the snowflakes glow at night--we got the idea when we first saw the movie Elf and it has been a tradition ever since--plus I love snow and we don't see much of it in this part of the Albuquerque desert.

when will the fairies come out? G2 checks every day for signs the fairies are home in our little festive teeny holiday house...

my wooden shoes that I was given when I was 1 years old and have used ever since....although Santa has not put that winning lotto ticket in yet I've been asking for, bummer ;)

I love old worn ornaments and decided to gather them all into a bowl this year, again sparkly, its all about the sparkle!

Can't wait to see more decorations....what will you create today?

365 Challenge- Post 10 of 365-- Shiny Stars & Vintage Fabric

So I was sidetracked today because my youngest saw a picture in an old Mary Englebreight Home Companion Magazine today where they decorated for the holidays in a fairy wonderland...and she wanted the stars that hung from the ceiling so sparkly so lovely--no glitter falling off, no bare spots...so perfect lol....off we went to search the black hole-I mean garage-for the box of glitter thrown out there when we disemboweled the over the door organizer so that it could become a barbie/bratz organizer for G2 (sigh well at least she is putting her wardrobe talents to good use) and I kept meaning to come out and organize the black hole all summer in a marathon weekend cleaning but have decided it is much better to do it in small doses-apparently I have not gotten to the glitter box section BUT BUT I did find a glittery crumpled piece of wrapping paper I had saved for some sparkly craft in the future and well I thought it might be enough to put over lots of stars!

Now on to what the stars should be made of? Hmmmm well that huge pile of MT Recycling might have something and it did it had gift shirt boxes, the thin cardboard kind and a lot of them had holiday motifs on them PERFECT!

Off we went to draw stars on as many spots as we could find, all sizes and cut them out. Then we glued the shiny paper to the stars--some on the silver side and some on the gold side and when the glue dried we just cut off the edges...punch a hole, string some leftover ribbon and voila fairy stars to hang from the ceiling!

We got a little carried away and also added to our 100 or so coffee filter snowflakes that hang from the ceiling every year along with some white lights to make it a winter wonderland--thank the movie Elf for giving us the idea oh so many years ago!

So we will be hanging this mess-I mean THEY will be hanging this mess on T-Day BEFORE we put up the tree-our loving artificial tree who has been around for years and is not ready to retire quite yet--reminscient of Charlie Brown's tree at this point.

I will have to get better pics in the daytime cause they are oh so sparkly for the flash.




















And then I got bored with cutting stars and decided to make an impromptu Yule sign for our wall-there it will stay temporarily cause it looks cool and won the G's stamp of approval



















And yes I even got sidetracked sewing because I found on my shelf the most perfect perfect perfect green with pink flowers (not sure of the fabric it feels silky, drapes well not heavy at all, upholstery fabric?) that I had obtained on one of my garage sale vintage finds with the tag still on it from Denmark I believe. This with the satin matching pink will become a cute holiday dress with bow and ruffle...G2 said it will look good with jeans...little ingrate apparently EVERYTHING looks good over jeans and I now know she got this from some Selena Gomez bit on Disney Channel whose statement G2 is quoting. AH but this is Albuquerque and jeans are dressy here!

Oh but it was soooo cool to come upon this fabric in my stash which I had forgotten about...if anyone knows anything about the fabric let me know as I was unable to figure out any interesting details in my 5 minutes of honest search time

The Spring Cleaning continueth....and projects continue springing ...

Day 154

Our snowflakes are down....the nights are 32 and the days are 70s the 35+ constant winds and juniper pollen induced allergies clue me in to the fact that Spring is officially here in the desert....

...and we are decorating the ceiling with felt cherry blossoms this year....this will be our family's remembrance of the terrible tragedies that the Japanese people are enduring but also a celebration of these beautiful flowers of Spring...

...I had the little G's cutting for hours...this is gonna look very pretty...

...while that was going on during my Spring cleaning I found some fabric sample books I had stashed away BUT had also received more via Freecycle recently soooooo I got this idea in my head since part of my Spring cleaning is either donating, throwing away or finishing up projects that have been stagnating....

....I made this covering over our shoe shelf that is at the front door because I am one of those weirdos who knows that even though it is a hopeless act to try to keep the carpets somewhat clean I make people take off their shoes when they enter the house.....now to convince the cats that this is NOT their new play area, dang felines already took over the world and we are merely servants....anyway I like the colors, designs and the way they fit together here...

better angled picture...thinking I am gonna make a rug from the remainder of these...using up what I have is a good goal!


...ooooo look at these adorable scraps I found while cleaning...so many memories of things I have made for the girls...

More tomorrow.....so what will you create today?