Happy Easter Week and it is the Hodgepodge

 

A little craft project. Using Mod Podge creating fun Easter eggs out of old sheet music. Using the old sheet music, colored paper and silk flowers to create butterflies to add to a spring basket.

 

Happy Easter Week my friends and it is the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. March is rolling on out of here. Sum up your March in ten words or less. 

March weather added excitement to an already full calendar.  

 2. Are you afraid of heights? When was the last time you found yourself dealing with a height, and did it make you nervous?

I am not.

Below is a photo of Sears Tower ~ Chicago, Illinois ~ my sister and I had a fun adventure in the city and we had great fun exploring Sears Tower.  

  3. What's a word you struggle to spell on a regular basis, and sometimes need to double check before writing it down? Use the word in a sentence that tells us something about your April calendar.

Miracle  

Oh this word gives me trouble. 

We will be celebrating our first son's birthday in April. It was a true miracle and blessing when he arrived in this big world. It was a difficult time getting him to come on out into the world, a difficult labor indeed. Ha!

Fast forward today, he is a leader to several other young men and women. 

He sends me photos of his deployments and trainings. 

In this one he simply said, "Hi Mom"

 

 Happy April Birthday Sam!

 

 4. Love 'em or hate 'em, with Easter comes the sweet treat known as Peeps. So... do you love 'em or hate 'em? Speaking of peeps, what's your favorite way to have chicken? 

No, I am not a  fan. 

I have used them for decorating my Easter cakes.

I love grilled chicken breasts. My husband makes up his secret sauce, he soaks the breasts in the sauce overnight before grilling. 

 

5. This week's Hodgepodge lands on the first day of April, which happens to be National Poetry Month. Do you like poetry?  Share a favorite line or two from one of your favorite poems. What makes this one a favorite?  

  I do like poetry.

In Flanders Fields ~ John McCrae

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

 

It is a powerful poem. 

It is a favorite because my dad memorized this poem in grade school. My dad did not like school and I have many stories about his shenanigans as a school boy.  He did work hard to memorize In Flanders Fields as a young boy, even though he did not like school, that makes it even more special to me.

 

 6. Insert your own random thought here.  

 

Please join me in praying for our troops.

 ♥

 

 

Crafting and Making and Designing

 Hello Friends, it is a crafting, making and designing post.

I wanted to make some garlands for our home for the holiday. I wanted something simple and old fashioned. I decided on paper-chains and dried oranges. 

The fragrance of the oranges drying in the oven adds to the fragrances of the holiday season.

I had some old sheet music I purchased at a library sale. I used the old sheet music to create my paper-chain and snowflake.  

 

A few weeks back I mentioned my husband designed and made a new coat rack for us. He asked me what I would like for a design. I asked for oak trees, leaves and acorns.

 

Have you been up to any crafting, making or designing?

 

When it is Below Zero

 

Our 2024 Northwest Wisconsin Winter has been strange.

No snow.

Mild Temps and when I say mild, 50 degrees.

Yet, we had one week of BELOW ZERO weather. And what does one do when you have negative temperatures?

You make luminaries and sun-catchers.

 

 

Fill your bucket with water, toss in your decorations.

 I used  pine boughs, pinecone, cranberries and oranges.

We taped another container down into the water to have it make our area for the candle to sit after freezing.

 

The sun-catchers are made by filling a pie tin with water. Place your string in the water, I placed an orange slice to hold my string in place to freeze. Again I used pine boughs, pinecone, cranberries and oranges to decorate my sun-catchers.

 

Below are photos of the finished luminaries and sun-catchers. 

 

 And at night...

 

 

 And then the warm temperatures arrived...

 

 

 ❤

Carla

 

Joy is not in things, it is in us.

Benjamin Franklin

 

My mom's handiwork.. is Penelope approved.

 

 

The new rug for the guest room, looks to be Penelope approved.

I asked my mom if she could design and create a fun rug for our new guest room using the color grey. She did a fantastic job matching the colors. I like the design.

 

My mom is a seamstress and master at crocheting. The rug is crochet.

 

Penelope's colors match as well. 

 ♥

Countdown to Christmas

 Hello Friends,

Today, I want to share with you a countdown for Christmas that we made for our boys and Sam's girlfriend Catie. 

I got this idea from Kris Junk Chick Cottage

Thank you, Kris, for all the great ideas you share on your blog. You are inspiration!!

Kris did visit Target to help her create her countdown. We do not have a Target close by. I needed to tweak the idea Kris shared.

I shared the idea Kris shared with my husband. He thought we could make a countdown using cardboard and paper.

"with Tuppence for paper and strings.."

We cut out 24 days and used an envelope on the back for the big day.

 The Magic of Christmas!

 We used candy, candy canes and money as the gifts inside each day.

 

We were pleased with how they turned out.

And I am so happy our boys appreciate the magic of Christmas. 

I think we all need it this year 2020.

May you never be too old to search the skies on Christmas Eve.

Tribute to the Troops 2020

 

 

Hello Friends,

Our Wisconsin Governor, Tony Evers and First Lady Kathy Evers have announced that the "Tribute to our Troops" holiday tree ~ a tradition that began with Governor Jim Doyle ~ will continue this year.  A message from our Wisconsin Governor..

"While others across our state celebrate the holidays, Wisconsin's service members continue to serve both at home and abroad." 

"This year, in particular, we owe them a great debt of gratitude as they serve through the pandemic, including our members of the Wisconsin National Guard who have stepped up time and time again in our state response helping local governments, working as poll workers, and assisting in our testing efforts."

2019 Tribute to the Troops 

 We participated in the 2019 Tribute to the Troops. We had the opportunity to tour the Executive Residence in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin. The exciting part of last year was, we had the opportunity to hang our ornaments on the Tribute to the Troops tree. This season there will be no holiday tours due to the virus.

Click on the link above to join us on our 2019 tour and to see the tree dedicated to our troops.

 

 

This season I made up two handmade ornaments. 

I made one with a photo of Sam and Marv together and a fun message on the back..

Two Army Buddies

Korean War and Active Wisconsin National Guard

The other ornament I made using a photo of Sam in his COVID19 testing suit.

I also cut out photos of the special pins he earned while deployed during the global pandemic.

I appreciate this tradition and thank our Governor for continuing it. It is a special way to dedicate a loved service member.

Pressing Flowers

 Pressing Flowers

I almost forgot.. but my cousin Kris continued to remind me. And my friend Angie stopped with her dear friend Sharon to tour my garden, and Sharon also mentioned pressing flowers.

After Angie and Sharon left, I said to myself "you have to press flowers this season."

 I went out and picked a bouquet of flowers to press.

 

 

Lavender 

Cosmo

Sweet Pea's

 

Purple

Pink

Green

 Now I need your help. What ideas do you have for what I should do with my pressed flowers after they have dried?

 ♥

 

Artisan Easter Eggs

 Using paper, decoupage medium, hot glue and embellishments

 my son and I created these fun eggs.

 Using Paper Mache  eggs was my original plan. Sadly, I could not find any in our local craft store. I did find an assortment of decorative eggs By: Ashland. This ended up being more fun because we had three sizes of eggs to work with in this assortment.

 

 Strips of old sheet music, strips of fun fabric and pretty paper were used to cover the eggs.

We used stickers, pearls, flowers, buttons and ribbon to decorate our eggs.

I tried to make a butterfly with a strip of sheet music and wire.

 This was a fun project. It does require a day for the decoupage eggs to dry before you can decorate with your embellishments.

Easter Eggs

A symbol of new life in many cultures throughout the world.

Supply List

Eggs .. Click here to see the assortment I used

Decoupage Medium

Paint Brush

Hot Glue Gun

Embellishments ..

butterflies, ribbons, buttons, pearls, stickers and flowers to name a few. 

 

 

Midwest Boy and Hurricane Florence and a Little Crafting

Leinenkugel's .. Bucky Badger .. Wisconsin National Guard

Hello Friends,

My plan was to post a new eggplant recipe.

Here I am giving you another update on Sam. Never did I think of a Hurricane as we prepared to have Sam head off to Basic.

Sunday was the last time we actually spoke to Sam. He was able to call and say goodbye to us, share his mailing address with us and off he went on to Basic. 

On Monday morning at 2am in the morning Sam called one last time to say they were heading out to Basic. " Love you mom, see you at graduation!"

 

We are Midwest folks. Tornado's are in our vocabulary, not hurricane. I have no idea. I have been looking at the map, tracking the storm and praying. Our nation does not need another storm.

On Wednesday the National News had on that South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia were in a State of Emergency with some counties needing to evacuate.  

Fort Jackson is located two hours from the coast of South Carolina. 

I started to wonder .. alright .. worry .. just what will Fort Jackson do?

I saw that Fort Jackson had cancelled all events for the upcoming graduating class for this weekend.  I also read a report from the Commander on Base explaining what preparations where being made for the soldiers, citizens and trainees on Base.

Wednesday night we received a call and text from Sam. 

I appreciate the military letting the trainees call parents and give us an update on  preparations for the hurricane.

 

 

So this Midwestern boy sends his parents the above text ..

and all the necessary preparations have been made for us to survive.

Yep.. that is my boy!

We are praying for all in the eye of storm.

 And a Little Crafting ..

We visited a Military Surplus store and I found the following patches. The following patches are the ones that Sam will have on his Wisconsin National Guard Uniform. 

I wanted to make up something for family to put on the fridge, use for a bookmark or put on the bulletin board to remember to pray for Sam.

 Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for letting me share these little updates with you. I am blessed with this world of blog friends. I appreciate you letting me share my stories with you.

 ♥

 Carla

 

A Jingle, Jingle Table Place Settings

Using burlap, glitter snowflakes, candy canes and jingle bells I created these fun place settings for our Christmas dinner table.

 I found the jingle bells at Wal Mart.

Everyone will be ready to play Jingle Bells for Christmas!

 

Hello February ~ It is the Hodgepodge

Valentine Paper Craft

 

It is Wednesday and it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 1. Can you believe it's the end of January? What was the best day of January 2017 for you, and why?

No, I can not believe we have a month already in the books for 2017!

My best day of January 2017 was the 1st, we celebrated Christmas with our family.

 2. What sounds make up the background noise in your life?

Teenage boy sounds.

 3. I read on the Power of Positivity website a list of ten things to drop from your life right now. They are-

anger outbursts, people who put you down, regret, negative self talk, being a people pleaser, the notion you need to be perfect, the past (but keep the lessons learned!), gossip and judgment, comparing yourself to others, and the word hate (focus on what you love instead)

Which thing on the list do you most need to drop? Are you trying or will you try?

I will be honest, I struggle with the notion I need to be perfect. I have been doing better about not beating myself up when I make a mistake. I continue to work on it.

 4. What is sacred to you?

My family.

 5. January is National Oatmeal month. Are you a fan, and if so how do you like it?

With worms of course! 

I did this to the boys for April Fools. 

Yes, our family of four enjoys oatmeal. I like to add maple syrup, raisins and walnuts.

 

 

6. What feelings does twilight stir up in you?
 

  Go chase and catch lighting bugs. 

7. Something you're looking forward to next month?

GET READY for another frozen trek across Lake Superior from Ashland to Washburn at the 21st annual Book Across the Bay, to be held on Saturday, February 18, 2017!

We will ski across Lake Superior at night, by the light of candles leading the way. We start in Ashland and ski to Washburn. It is beautiful. 

One year someone made a huge snow sculpture of a dragon. They released Chinese lanterns from the dragons mouth. It is always an adventure and we are excited to see what 2017 brings.

 8. Insert your own random thought here. 

A few more fun paper Valentine crafts to make with your sweet Valentine.