Bits & Pieces

From April to July I just looked longingly at my book supplies wishing that I had time to make a few. But I forced myself to stitch and stitch only. After I finished that project I wandered around the house for a week wondering what to do with myself and then I got crafty.

I have been wanting to try a buttonhole stitch book for awhile. So instead of making one I made three. I also decided that I would make these books into gratitude journals with quotes and scriptures like this scattered throughout the book.



And I really wish I could show you the books, I really do. They turned out so nice. But, these books will be gifts and I would hate to have the recipient see the entire book before the gift is even given. So I will just show you bits.

This is my girly book. I love it. The beading on the spine was fun to do.



I like that I can walk down practically any aisle in a craft store and find something to use on a book. These beads came from the jewelry section. Don't they match perfectly?



And when you really want to go out on a limb you make your own bead. Sure it won't hold up to everyday wear and tear on clothes, but with some PVA and varnish, it works beautifully for a book.



I really can't decide which one I like the best.

ps Has anyone seen my card reader? It has somehow disappeared and I have to use my camera on my phone until I find it. I've got my suspicions on Chasey, but he isn't letting on that he knows anything.

Braces

Yes, it is hard to believe he is old enough to already have these on. Back in my day, you didn't see the orthodontist until all of your permanent teeth were in and were a mangled mess. Then you would get your braces on and wait for years until your teeth became untangled. That is old school. Now they prefer to do it in phases.

In Taylor's case, where his teeth are going to be mangled to the max, he will wear braces for about a year to make room for the rest of his permanent teeth to come in. Then the braces come off for a year or two and are replaced by a retainer. When everything is in he will get braces again to finish the straightening. This will reduce the amount of time he will need them, especially when he gets older and wants them off.

He was so excited to get them and he loves showing them off! Well what ten year old wouldn't right?

Finished!

And a month early at that!






And now I will officially announce that I am retiring from cross-stitching for the rest of my life. I'm done.

How good can syrup be?

While I was up at girl's camp I overheard one of the leaders excitedly saying that one of the other leaders brought up her syrup. Syrup? Syrup is good but how good can it be to drag it up to camp? I found out. We had it on french toast and on crepes. I was practically licking it off my plate. I have since made it at home just to see if it really was that good or if it was the sleep deprivation that was messing with my taste buds. It really was as good as I remember. You know how eating muffins is just a sneaky way to eat cake for breakfast? This so-called syrup is really like caramel sauce. But you can't have caramel sauce for breakfast without feeling guilty, so we call it syrup.

So if you are looking at making something special on a Sunday morning, give this a try. I promise you won't regret it.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. Buttermilk
dash of salt

Combine and boil for 1 minute. Watch carefully so it doesn't boil over. Remove from heat.

Whisk in
1 t. vanilla flavoring
1 t. maple flavoring
1 t. baking soda

When you add the baking soda, the amount of syrup triples so watch it carefully.

Great Quiet Activity

Now that Scott has to sit on the stand during sacrament, it is up to me to try and keep 4 boys relatively quiet and still for 65 minutes. That is impossible. I find myself hauling out Owen and Chase between 35-40 minutes after the meeting starts. That is my limit.

The other day I was thinking that maybe I need to update my diaper bag with new toys that will hopefully keep them occupied and quiet a little bit longer. I then remembered years ago seeing a kid using flannel board Gospel figures on the back of the pew that was right in front of him. They stick to the fabric that covers the pew and there is a fair amount of surface area for a lot of figures. Genius I tell ya.

So I start looking around on the internet for these figures. I found some for $15 a story. No way am I paying that amount. I will figure out how to do them myself. After a few more minutes looking I found 2 blogs that tell you how to make them and they have the figures that you can download too. Isn't the internet wonderful?

So I went to Walmart, spent about $10 and now I have enough stuff to make 6 stories. Genius I tell ya. I took some to church today and Chase was quite entertained hanging them up. I got a whole 8 more minutes out of him! Plus as an extra bonus I can use them for FHE.

Here are the 3 that I have done so far.





And here are the links to make them. Have fun!

http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2007/11/flannel-board-stories.html

http://alittleofthis---alittleofthat.blogspot.com/2010/01/felt-figure-fun.html

July

Can I just say Wow! July was crazy! I don't think I could have fit anything more in if I tried.

Week 1: Camping at Ponderosa Pines with the family for Chasey's birthday. Little sleep, lots o' dirt. Really what more could you ask for except for someone falling into the creek.



Wait! That happened too, except it was Scott instead of one of the youngsters. Those rocks can be pretty slippery!



Week 2: Girl's Camp
Yep, I had the ummm great opportunity to attend girl's camp this year. Honestly I was not looking forward to it. Camping...bad...giggly girls...bad...no sleep...bad bad. But I survived with earplugs and a plethora of sleeping agents available to me. Our Ward has a tradition of doing a gangster walk after testimony meeting. Say what? So they invited me to do my "gangster walk" down their catwalk lined with all the YW by chanting my name relentlessly until I did. I am proud to announce that I have been labeled the whitest girl at camp. Thank you very much.

Week 3: Camping with the Larsens
The following weekend we took off down to Fremont to do a little camping and Razoring with my parents. I have labeled it the dirtiest, but fun camping trip ever! See pictures in previous post!

Week 4: Camping with the Kimballs
And just to make sure that I get my camping fix for the month, we went camping again with Scott's side of the family. Have I told you how much I adore camping? Thanks to Aunt Linda, queen of all things cub scouts, the boys were entertained by

making bracelets and boondoggles



using marshmallow shooters and making rockets



performing skits that included props



building an enormous sand city with the cousins



and just hanging out with the family.



I found a slightly less dirty spot, stitched away and watched the entertainment. All of this within a 24 hour period.

Week 5: Hiking to Stewart Falls.
Scott and I loaded up the boys on Saturday morning, took them up to Sundance and hiked up to Stewart Falls. The weather was still cool, the waterfall pretty and the hike was just the right distance for little kids.



Welcome August. I predict it will be just as busy with slightly less camping....I hope.

Dirty = Fun

I think last weekend was our dirtiest camping trip yet. But we also had a great time, despite the whole camping thing. We went with my parents down to Fremont Indian State Park and rode on the Paiute ATV trail.


Scott after riding behind one of the Razors on a dusty road. Scott, you must remember to stay further back and let the dust settle!


Chase spent his entire trip rolling in the dirt, playing in the dirt and stomping in the dirt. When we wasn't doing that he entertained himself by falling into the fire pit full of (cold) ashes and playing with the metal grate.


They don't look that dirty do they?


Here's a close up. Streaks of dirt on his face and down his arms.



And when they weren't playing in the dirt they thought it was pretty funny to get whipping cream on their face and pretend they were rabid squirrels. Huh? Apparently I missed that high quality movie.


And on a completely different vein, have you ever seen a modesty tag on a pair of jeans? Well now you have. This isn't the first time I have seen this tag do its job.



It takes a pretty good photographer to get a shot where most of the people in the picture are looking at the camera. But is takes a highly trained photographer to get all the bodies, but not one face.



Note to self. Must get out from behind the camera once in awhile. Dirt and all.