birdsandtrees

For your Valentine...

(image found via)

I've been bookmarking lots of Valentine projects and ideas since last year.  I thought I'd share some of my favorites!  After all, we did buy a house whose former owner did Valentine's Day like no one else!  And in the move, I somehow lost my wax paper hearts.  So I knew I needed to step up my game.  

Let's start with some downloadable ones (the first is an oldie but a goodie, and one of my personal faves) :

    "Je t'aime" cards from Black Apple

A collection of valentines from jones design company

Adorable fruit stickers from twig & thistle

Another great download from twig & thistle

(I'm doing this one for the kids at school this year - they also have this option for a white bag)

And here are some other sweet links for ideas:

- you know Martha has you covered.  Check out these ideas: paper heart wrappings (pic above), doily envelopes, and lots of other crafts to get you inspired

- a handmade fabric card and envelope project

- a simple and quick valentine card idea for kids...here's another example of the same idea

- felt headbands and bracelets

- my friend Marla sent me this link for a heart garland...so cute!

- it doesn't get much easier than this!

- and last...if only I really had my act together, I could recreate something like this for our Valentine's party! 

A book was harmed in the making of this project...

One of the first projects I wanted to make this year was a book wreath.  I saw the tutorial on the jones design company blog (which has some other wonderful projects and tutorials to peruse).  

Now let me just make a disclaimer: I am a huge lover of books.  I have an addiction to books.  So when I'm thinking about destroying a book, it's not a great feeling.  BUT - there are some BAD books out there.  I call them twaddle.  And I don't mind getting rid of those.  I someday dream of the day where we live in a twaddle free world. Sigh... 

So I looked through all my books and found one that I've never read or will ever read.  I think I got it at a garage sale because it was old and looked cool.  And the color of the pages was perfect for the look I wanted.  Once you've picked your book, all you need is a hot glue gun (I ended using 3 or 4 long sticks of glue), a styrofoam wreath form (I found a 12" at Michael's), and a movie or TV show to watch while you mindlessly roll pages and glue.   

Here's a close-up of the wreath.  You can see that it's basically just layers and layers of folded and rolled up book pages.  Now that I've done one, I know that next time I will choose a book that is a bit longer so that I have the problem of too many pages, instead of not enough.  My wreath could have definitely used more layers.  But I ran out of pages!  I'm happy with it, though.  And you better believe I'll be making more!  Just think how cute it'd be on your front door for a book shower or book club party. 

One project down, and more to come!  This blogging thing isn't so hard, I guess...

I'm having some technical difficulties over here...my computer will not let me upload any of the wonderful pictures I have from Christmas.  Like the table my mom set for our Christmas dinner, the Epiphany cake we made at school (like the one last year), a picture of the beautiful calendar I gave students as an Epiphany gift, the snow day(s), and so much more!  Ugh.  It's frustrating.  I feel like before I can just move onto current stuff, I need to cover the past!  Oh well.

So I'm just going to move on!  I have given myself the challenge of making SOMETHING (ANYTHING!) every month.  It's what I love to do and I don't know why I don't do it more.  I've already made something I want to share, and more are on the horizon.  So I will definitely be sharing those soon. 

Thanks for sticking with me.  

Tree and things

 This past weekend we went with some friends to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  The weather was perfect - cloudy and chilly.  Add a hay ride and some hot chocolate, and we were good to go!  Although they had fresh cut Frasier firs at the farm, we all decided to go with one of the varieties they grew at the farm - the Leyland Cypress.  It is gorgeous!  I coudn't wait to come home, turn on my Christmas mix, and start decorating.  Hanging ornaments on the tree is a big deal in my family, and it's engrained in me to hang slowly, thinking and talking about each ornament that you hang. 

For the past few years, I've been trying to make new ornaments to add to the tree.  Last year, I made some paper globes (tutorial here) out of Christmas cards we received (especially with the ones that had beautiful papers), and I'm definitely going to continue to make some of those each year. 

I'm looking for some ideas to make for this year's ornament, so if you have any to share, please let me know!  In the meantime, I'll be waiting, curled up in a chair next to the fireplace, taking in our tree! 

Happy St. Nicolas Day!

Since we include the Christian calendar as an important part of our school year, today we read about St. Nicolas.  St. Nicolas would secretly leave gold or presents for the poor and needy, sometimes in their shoes or stockings.  I knew I wanted to leave a little something for the kids.  So while I was reading the story, Dawn (the other teacher at our school) left these little treats in their baskets to find! 

I've seen these Candy Cane Mice on Martha for a long time and thought this was the perfect opportunity to finally make them.  They were simple to make and the kids loved them!  

Next Monday is St. Lucia Day - we'll be making these for the kids to wear.  I'll be sure to share some pictures of them! 

Currently loving...

- Nigella's Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins, found in her new cookbook.  I've already made them twice and will definitely be making them again. 

- This AWESOME idea for kids at Thanksgiving time...I'm making it for our Thanksgiving party at school tomorrow.  I can't wait to see how it comes out!

- This beautiful Thanksgiving paper chain (via Twig & Thistle).  We had the kids fill them out at school today.  They should make a lovely decoration in the classroom, or in any place for that matter. 

- Advent Calendars - I want to make one for our house someday.  In a lot of the ones I see online, you can't fit much in the box (other than a peppermint candy or extra small trinket)...so when I saw this Advent Calendar, I was really inspired.  I love the fabric cones! 

- fort & field's Etsy shop.  So much goodness in one place. 

___________________________________________

James and I are headed to St.Louis for Thanksgiving tomorrow, so I'll be back here next week. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone! 

The Courage of Sarah Noble

   

We recently just finished this book at school - The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh, and I had to share it with you.  I had never read it before, but had seen it on many book lists (and on the Newbery Honor Book list as well, so you know it's going to be a quality book).  We've been studying the genre of historical fiction at school, and this book fit perfectly.  Combine that with the fact that it goes nicely with Thanksgiving, we had ourselves a winner!  It would be a great read-aloud to ones as young as 3 or 4.  And it's short, so it's a book that you could finish reading in a week or two - just right for now until Thanksgiving.

    It's the story of Sarah Noble and her father, trying to find a place for thier family to live.  They begin building their home and have adventures with the Indians and wildlife that surround them.  It's such a sweet story, and one I'm glad to have found. 

    Here's a passage that I loved...

    "That night Sarah slept warm under the quilts.  On a peg near by hung her cloak-and she did not need it.  She had kept up her courage and it was something that would always be with her.  Always - even when the cloak was all worn out. 

    Tonight the pictures in her mind were comfortable ones - home- family - the fireside and a door securely fastened.  The light from the fire made pleasant patterns in the darkness.  Sarah lay quietly, and the wind in the trees sang her to sleep." 

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We're now reading The Cabin That Faced West by Jean Fritz - another lovely book to add to your collection!

Penguin does it again...

Penguin Books has come out with another set of beautifully covered books, and this time they're right up my alley because they're children's books! You can find them at Anthropologie, of course.  These just got added to my Christmas list.

Here are some of the individual books:

  
(images found via Twig & Thistle)

A Basement Turned Schoolroom

When we were thinking about buying this house, the basement was a huge selling point for me.  There aren't many houses where you could imagine using one of the rooms as a school.  But this basement had potential, and I could see it.  And it was huge.  But it took some work.  A lot of work.  And it's still not done - but I thought I'd go ahead and share what we've done so far!

Here are some of the before pictures:

The basement is broken down into three different levels, with a bottom level that you can enter from the backyard.  It has the laundry area and a bathroom area.  Then it has a middle level and then a level in towards the back, with a storage room in the back as well. 

We took up the carpet, added some half-walls to the middle level, made walls to go around the bathroom (including a curved wall that you will see in the afters), and also added walls around the heater/AC unit.  We also enclosed the stairs to make them a bit safer for everyone! 

Here's some in progress shots:

You can see the very back level of the room to the left of these new walls. 

After all the "construction" stuff was done, James painted the walls (he wouldn't let me include that picture), our handy neighbor sprayed the ceiling so that all the duct work and everything just blended in together, and my awesome sister-in-law helped us paint the floors.  We had lots of friends, family, and neighbors help us and we couldn't have done it without them! 

Now keep in mind that we're still working on it and it's REALLY hard to get some good pictures down there - let's pretend you came in from the backyard, to the lowest level:

We put in a new door and then added this curved wall, with a bathroom inside. I'm not sure how many people include pictures of bathrooms on their blogs, but I want this forever documented!  This bathroom has come a looong way, my friends. 

The laundry area is on the other side of the bathroom...I'm not done with that part so I am leaving that out.  Too messy and not photo-worthy.

Here's the middle level - the main gathering place for school and my craft area:

See those books on the wall?  They're  in rain gutters!  $5 for that and they work perfectly.  I love having the books face out - kids are always more apt to choose them.  I would put them on every wall if I could.  Here's where I got the idea.  Closer look:

And my craft/desk area:

And then some of the middle-to-back area:

And to the back! 

 
I have a table around the corner there where we do a lot of our studies. I couldn't get a good picture of it though!

   So there you have it.  Our schoolroom/laundry room/craft room.  We've come a long way, baby. 

In the kitchen...

I know I said I'd share photos of the classroom, but it desparately needs cleaning and that takes some time! So I promise the photos are coming...just not quite yet!  I thought, in the meantime, I'd share what's going on in our baking and cooking world.  Because we've had some really good things going on. 

Like....

1.  I made this chocolate cake this past weekend for my friend's baby shower.  It's Beatty's Chocolate Cake, and the icing is the dark chocolate icing from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.  It was delicious - if you need a chocolate cake recipe, definitely try this one out!  Because I made the cake I was able to use my sweet little cake bunting that I got from this store on ebay.  I bought the kit (which is cheaper than buying them already made)...I see me making many more of these in the future!

2.  Butternut Squash Soup: I've made four batches of this soup in the past month and I'm still not tired of it!  Next time I make it, I'm going to put some in bags and freeze them.  With some homemade croutons and a dollop of sour cream, life tastes pretty darn good.

3.  James just recently made roast chicken with vegetables.  He put some of those leftover homemade croutons (from our soup) at the bottom of the roasting pan, and all the juices of the chicken ran into them.  SO good.  We loosely follow this recipe for what to stuff the chicken with, and then we just use whatever vegetables are in season.   

4.  Caramel Popcorn with Vanilla and Cinnamon: I don't remember how I found this recipe, but I've made it three times now, and it's really good.  I make plain popcorn, then mix in this mixture of brown sugar, maple syrup (the real stuff), vanilla and cinnamon.  Then you bake it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Next time I make it I'm going to add some cashews to the mix.  It's a great snack for a special treat in the fall. 

Up next in the kitchen this fall: Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Cupcakes for school next week, some curry recipes, Shepherd's Pie, Steak and Guinness Pie, and Beef Bourgignon.  Ooh and maybe a Winter Panzanella.