keepsake

Storing Little Ornaments

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Have you seen the Shining, with Jack Nicholas, when the family gets snowed into the hotel in Colorado and all go stir crazy??? Well we are not quite to crazy yet, but let me tell you we are shut in and staying, if you have not heard on the news, Facebook, or from friends and family Minnesota is in an “arctic vortex” or “arctic hurricane”. Today without the wind-chill we are sitting at a steamy 1 above zero, yesterday it was -45 with the wind-chill. The kids are home from school and we are staying put!
We are cooking and crafting and putting away all the last straggling items from Christmas and New Years Eve.
We have quite an eclectic collection of ornaments from over the years, honestly I am not sure where they all have come from, some were thrifted for projects that became leftovers, some were gifts and some just given to us, regardless we have boxes to put away each year.
I had pinned an idea about plastic cups glued to cardboard for safe and neat ornament storage which is perhaps some of the inspiration for this idea.
Super simple and maybe it has been done before, but I decided to reuse our egg containers, with 6 of us we go through a lot of eggs each week with breakfasts and snacks, so I had a few cartons laying around waiting to be recycled.
Here is what I did:

Egg carton ornament storage @patchworkreality

They fit perfectly, although we are avid recyclers, reusing is almost always better:

Egg carton ornament storage @patchworkreality

How happy does that little snowman look?  See you next year little dude!

Keeping Pace on Running Bib Numbers

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It is amazing how good intentions and great ideas can be waylaid by life.  I can’t even express the awe I have have for some the bloggers who have families like ours, some even way bigger and have regularly fresh and inspirational posts.

I still have the ideas and posts in my head, and often when I go to bed I think I should have jotted down a little something.  Another goal…right;)

Anyway, I am a runner, an avid runner, it is my freedom, my Prozac, my therapy and time I get just for me.  I do not have a running partner for training, but I do have a racing partner.  When I go out run it is ME time, but when I race I love to share the experience with someone else, and maybe the hotel fee.

I have not blogged much on here about my running, I like to share more of the projects we work on, but it is a large part of my life and as the weather warms up will become more so.  I will probably back blog some of my race info and results, for my own personal record.

I started running after baby 3 was born, for the same reason most of us to…weight loss, but I am an athlete at heart and love to set and achieve goals and running became a part of me.  Since then I have completed 3 full marathon, 4 1/2 marathons and so many other races I do not have a count.

Here is what I have done as inspiration and a tribute to myself, I have saved every bib number, and on the back I have written my age, the date, the length of the race, (if it was not noted on the bib), and my pace for that race.  It is like a 3D journal plus when I run a race that I have previously run I can look back and see what my time was and try to better it.Image

I have yet to decide what I am going to do with my medals. Anyone else have a system for their racing momentos?

Growth Chart…Done!!

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Let me just say that as often as I think…oh I can do that….often it takes a lot more work to  make something than a person would think.  I am proud to say that from start to finish RAiven and I completed this DIY growth chart by ourselves.  I posted about our start here and yes just the girls with our power tools, oil based stains, paint, brushes and girls abilities completed this project.

I had the board in the garage from another project,  I bought a vinyl tree decal from Target, but thought it was too heavy so I painted an outline round the vinyl, then we stained the whole board in our chosen green stain.  after the stain had set but not completely dried we peeled the stickers off.

Then we added the numbers and lattering….we distressed the stain and hand painting a bit and then did an all over clear coat.

To hand it I did the pop tab hangers, I saw this on pinterest and thought it was a great way to reuse and the price was perfect…free!

So now we have it hung on the wall and everyone measured!!

The black splotch is where I took out our last name..it does not really look like that.

I have updates coming on the fireplace and the garden plot.  Plus I am working on a narrow farmhouse table inspired by Anna White , so I will post pictures when I am done.

Snowed In Reindeer Craft

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In case you have not heard, those of us residing in Minnesnowta have been pretty much shut in by a recent blizzard.  Even better is that the forecast claimed that we may reach a high of around zero degrees today!!!  Oh the joy.  So here kids is 4 feet of snow but with the wind-chill dipping to an excruciating -30 your chances of playing in all that great powder are about as probable as today’s forecasted high.

This is where my job becomes, fun.  time to plan activities that everyone will enjoy so that the house is not completely torn apart at the end of the day. 

So here is what we made today, “snow-deer”  sometimes called reindeer, but let’s face it, if it was rain we would have been splashing in the puddles.

The bonus to this project is that we can save it to remember each child’s foot and hands from this year.

I had them all gather a shoe , trace it and cut it out. 

Then I helped them trace each hand and cut it out…these are the antlers.

Next I got out my jars of buttons that I bought at a local antique sale that happens annually in a small local town and they all chose buttons for eyes, nose and of course an earring or two. This also led to discussions of how old the buttons were, and we imagined what person or outfit might have gone with these buttons.  We found one dated from the 1800’s.

Then Jon and I had a turn making  one, his had some lines on it from another project which he turned into a proper tribal tattoo.  I love how all of them reflect each person’s true self in a small way.

We also made bread, meatballs, and those little pretzel chocolate melts with the M &M’s what a great day!