In the Wrong Season...

I swear I always take on crafts for at least 2 seasons away from the current one, then once the current season is about to its end, THEN is when I start thinking about stuff for that one.  *sigh*  I'll just called myself "Well prepared" for the next year.

As for my current project.  I undertook a very time consuming one.  This one is for Christmas.  Here is a picture of the "Idea Sparker"...

I love it.  It is made with craft pearls.  I didn't want mine to be exactly like it, but I didn't know what I wanted it to look like...  I dragged a friend to Hobby Lobby to buy the supplies.  Come to find out, craft pearls are pretty expensive when you need a lot of them.  So.... I needed another way of doing it.  Hobby Lobby is "Well Prepared"  like me, thank goodness!  They have their Christmas stuff up already.  *Ah yeah!*   So wandered through that stuff for awhile.  I thought about a red wreath but it just wasn't really striking my fancy.   Then I saw blue, and my brain wheels started turning...  The image that came to my mind was The Snow Miser.  If you don't know about him, or need a refresher, here is a video of him....

Trust me to find a most weird inspiration.  ;)  So I knew what color palette to follow.  Now the craft pearl problem.  I found this Christmas pearl garland and got the idea to cut it apart.  Instant pearls!  Here is a collection of pictures of it from beginning to (Almost end).

First off, you need a foam wreath form.  Then you wrap ribbon around it.

 Then you take three or four nights to cut apart 3 containers of this pearl garland.  I used 2 clear, 1 silver, and 1 dark blue one that was not this big of a container.

 I wanted ice sickles so I bought these plastic ones and broke them to the sizes I wanted.

As for the finished product, I spent about 3 night hot gluing all the beads on.  So here is the (almost) finished product!!!!

Ta Da!!!

 

I say (almost) finished because I can't figure out how I'm going to hang it.  The ice sickles make it almost impossible to hang with ribbon from the middle...  So hence, almost, finished. I'll get something figured out.  Also, the lighter blue pieces are actually Christmas vase filler they had.  

P.S.  This thing weighs a lot.  Just a warning if you ever want to make one.

Blue Bird Cafe Concert Series

Houston and I were lucky enough to get tickets to this event, pretty much thrown in our laps.  Houston's mom has a friend who works at Sundance and asked if we would like to come.  I didn't really know what we were going to, but we didn't have anything else planned so... why not!? :)  It was up at the Sundance Amphitheater.   We showed up way early, which just meant we got to pick wherever we wanted to, to sit.  Come to find out when we got there, it was a country concert.  They had three female singer/songwriters from Nashville there to perform.    For someone who is not a huge country fan, it was really awesome.  I could go to a concert like that again for sure!  They each sang there own songs, told stories, and joked around with the crowd. 

The ladies are as follows....

Gretchen Peters, Matraca Berg, Marshall Chapman

These ladies are so awesome.  They are more in the background when it comes to popular country music.  These are the ladies that write some of the hits for bigger named singers.  For example, Matraca Berg co-wrote the song Strawberry Wine.  There were some other bigger hits they all sang, but (me being not so knowing of country music) I can't remember what they are called.  

You know these ladies really love music when they can play a small amphitheater as if its a stadium.  Kudos to them for sure!  Here are some other pictures we took while there...

The amphitheater

Our tickets!

Some more photos of them :)

And last...  I had to take this picture.  We went to the bottom, and are going to the top in August!  I LOVE The Sound of Music!  It will be awesome!  For as much as I dislike Robert Redford... Sundance is making me happy this year!

 

 

The Rodeo and The Rain...

My goal every year is to get to the rodeo.  We have not been to one since we've been married for one reason or another.  awe finally made it this year!  We went to the Lehi Roundup.  It was some good old fashioned American fun!  Here's some pictures of the girls there...  The boys weren't as keen on having their picture taken.

I lied, here is Houston there too. :)

And the cool motorcross guys that performed!

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As for the rain....

2 nights ago we were just hanging out downstairs, like usual.  I checked facebook and a guy I'm friends with said something about a storm.  Where we live, you can't hear much from outside, so I started to listen for it.  I could hear the thunder and a very quiet rain from the living room so I walked to the bedroom window to hear it better.  The window well had a little puddle, but nothing to write home about.  So I walked back out the the living room and almost at the same moment decided to go back to the be bedroom to read.  I headed back to the bedroom and was surprised at how loud the rain was.... Well, not only was it pouring outside, it was pouring in through the window too!!!  I scream for Houston and ran and flung garbage from the bedroom garbage can all over to use it to catch the water coming in.  Houston, in the mean time had run outside and was at the window well with a bucket shoveling the water out of it.  (Think of what it looks like when people fling water out of a boat... Same thing)  The water wasn't coming in anymore but I could hear it loud still... So I walked to the bathroom and it was coming in there too!!!  So Houston moved to that window.  I grabbed all the towels we had and threw them on the floor and ran outside with my trusty garbage can.  The reason the water was coming in was because the rain gutter right between the 2 windows was plugged.  Houston, being a total crazy person, got onto the roof to clean it out.  Mind you, it was a crazy thunder storm!  He got it clean and got down.  *Sigh* The water was running where it was supposed to so we went back inside.   I spent the next 20 minutes tiptoeing on towels to get the water up.  

Houston was outside for maybe 15 minutes, and I was out there for maybe 10.  Houston's mom took this picture.....

Anyone for going swimming....?  Or looking like it anyway.  I also had grass ALL over my legs from kneeling down at the window wells.  Lucky for us, that's over.

Bird Rescue 101

So, we had some friends over to my parents house on Saturday night.  Grilled up some steaks... roasted marshmallows, that whole thing.  My parent's have a small "Fire pit"... well, not really a pit, but it's a thing you put fire in.  Ha ha!  We had moved that thing out onto the lawn and were all sitting around it watching Sam eat the biggest smore I have ever seen!  We called it the "Big Mac" smore.  Which consisted of, 3 full graham cracker, 2 jumbo marshmallows, and 2 big squares of chocolate.  It was huge!

My dog Maggie was out in the yard as well. She spent most of her time just lying down by the group, but she would get bored and wander the yard every once and a while.  I happened to be watching her as she headed over by the west side of the house.  I see her pick something up and begin trotting back out into the middle of the yard.  She dropped whatever it was she had.  I thought to myself, "That's pretty big... what is it..?"  Then it moved!  It was trying to get away from Maggie and she was following close behind and picked it up again.  Don't worry, by this time, I'm running, screaming and waving my arms, to get Maggie to get away from whatever it was.  When I get close I see that it's a baby bird!!  I'm freaking out now.  I don't want a bird to die at the hands of my dog!  I turned away to chase Maggie away and when I turned back I couldn't find it....

I ran frantically around the area searching for the bird, which I finally found over by one of the big trees in the yard.  It's left wing was kind of open out sideways.   I feared the worst.  I was going to pick it up but I was afraid of hurting it, as well as getting some weird disease. Cameron came over and said that I could just pick it up since it was still alive.  I yelled to Houston to go grab some gloves anyway.  When he got over I just let him do the catching, as I held the flashlight. 

Lets just say, this bird was not very happy about getting picked up.  It started squawking, and flailing.  Houston ended up dropping it.  It was trying to get away with Houston in hot pursuit!  Maggie saw it again.  "I'm gonna get it this time," was the look on her face.  I start screaming and chasing her away.  I ran back to where the bird was.  Not only was the bird in a panic, so was it's mother.  She was flying all around and making the most frantic noises.  I finally got the idea to grab a bucket and try to get it into that, but by the time I got back, Houston had gotten it safely into his cupped hands.  P. S.  Sam, Cameron, and Justin  had gotten Maggie into the house after I chased her that second time.

Now what to do with it..?  I knew where it's nest had to be because I had seen Maggie staring up into the tree it was in with that frantic sound coming from above.  So we headed that way.  We couldn't get it back to the nest, but I figured we could at least set it on a branch so Maggie couldn't reach it. When we got it onto the branch we checked it out and that wing that I thought was broken wasn't (Thank goodness!) 

I was so worried about it.  I didn't want the bird to die of stress or something.  I had to let the dogs out again before bed but I was not about to let Maggie find the birds location.  So my plan was to stand over by that end of the yard and not let her over.  When I let her and Hanna out, sure enough, Maggie goes running for the tree where we had found the bird during the chase.  She followed the scent of where the bird had gone while Houston was trying to catch it.  Once it got to the point where it was picked up she got really confused.  She had lost the scent.  I did check to see if the bird was still there, and it was. 

Yesterday morning was kept wondering if I should feed it or something.  I should mention that it wasn't a tiny baby.  some of it's big feathers were coming in.  So, I thought maybe I could find a worm or something and feed it.  I decided to look it up.  Good thing I did!  This is what I read....Help.... I Found A Baby Bird!

This was perfect!  The bird was a fledgling.  So I felt pretty good that we had got it pretty much back the spot where Maggie picked it up, and that it's parent's would continue to care for it.

 ^^^ It looked like this ^^^

Yesterday I came back over to check on it.  It had jumped from the tree and was over by the fence, bad spot in my opinion, but I kept Maggie away so it would be safe.   Then last night when I came back over to stay with the dogs (my parents are in California)  I went to check on it.  I couldn't find it at all.  Worried...Yes. 

I searched the area for about 10 minutes and couldn't find it. :(  I figured it was just because it was dark so I headed to bed and would check again in the morning.  This morning came and I went to check.  I couldn't find the baby, but I saw the mother overhead chattering with something on the ground...  So I figure it had to be somewhere...  Then I saw the mother fly to another branch and something flew in swiftly behind her.  To my happiness it was my baby bird.  He had learned to fly in less than 2 days of being on the ground.    My worry was over and Maggie could roam the yard freely again.

Everyone I told this story to thought that it wasn't a big deal that the baby bird almost died because it happens all the time.  I must be weird, because I don't feel the same way.  I'm so glad the bird lived and is up in the air where it should be. 

So if you ever find a baby bird,  go to the link above and it will tell you everything you need to know. :)

A Murder of Crows, Scarecrows, and Fall in General!

Today I needed to run to a craft store to get some paper for a Halloween decoration that I wanted to make.  The paper had to look like old parchment paper.  So, I drove to the new Hobby Lobby in town.  Do you think I was able to get out with only the paper...?  Absolutely not, would be the correct response.  They actually had some fall decor stuff in already... I couldn't resist.  I ended up finding some things that made for a quick and easy centerpiece for Thanksgiving, for that matter all of the fall season.  So, here are my step by step's of both projects.  (The paper craft and the centerpiece)

I do have something to say about Autumn/Fall decor first.  Most of it really looks like.... "Going to grandma's"  Ha ha!  Sorry everyone, but that's really how I feel.  So I was really trying to find things that were not so much that.  I feel that I succeeded today!

First off!

Paper craft!

This is for Halloween, Go figure....  I found the image online. It needed something extra, so I added text.  And here is from there to the finished product...

I love scarecrows! (Perfect for me Right!?)  I printed it off on white to get it the way I wanted it.

 Enlarge this picture and you can see how pixelated it is.  Problem..? Yes!

Solution...

 A Pen!

 Here is it printed on the paper I bought. (Now is when you use the pen to fix the pixelation)  Even with that fixed, I still wanted it to look older.  So, I used this stuff.  (I love it!)

Distress Ink and a tissue.  The ink can be found at any craft store and comes in quite a few colors.  I used Walnut Brown.  

 Then the picture looks like this!  Much older looking!

And for the finished product in a frame...

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Now onto the centerpiece!

All the pieces were bought at Hobby Lobby.  All were 50% off!  SWEET!

Project includes, 4 wooden Acorns, 1 wooden pine cone, 1 basket, 1 fall garland, and a bag of Autumn toned jewels.

First!

 Roll up the garland into the basket.  (fix the leaves however you want)

Second!

Add the acorns and the pine cone in a decorative way..

Third!

Add the jewels to add some sparkle and also to fill in the spaces.

And.... Your done!

If that wasn't the easiest 2 projects ever!  We can skip July and August right..?  Fall can come right now.  No really, I mean it!

But do you think I could get out of there with just that... Nope! Ha ha!  As I have said before, I really like Crows.  So, in passing through the fall aisles, what do I find.  CROWS!!!  Their are 3 in the set, but they were all priced individually... yeah,  but here they are!

So cute right!?  I loved them. <3

Okay, this is really all I bought, but can you believe I got everything above, minus the frame and Distress Ink,  for only $30!?  I was pretty impressed with myself.

 

2 Years!

Houston and I have been married 2 years as of yesterday.  Here is a brief outline of what we did for it....

First off, it was off to The Cheesecake Factory.  We spent a lot on food, but it was really good.  I swear this is one of the only places that people are more likely to get dessert than not.  Really, how can you leave without some yummy cheesecake..?

Then it was over to "The Sam's" house to watch Game 4 of the NBA Finals.  Go Mavs!

So, I saw this idea on Jana's blog.  Then I saw the movie Tangled.  So to celebrate the event we launched 2 Wishlanterns.  It was slightly more windy than it should have been but they both made into the air safely and we got to watch them clear until they went out.... REALLY far away.

That was pretty much it.  We had fun though.  Now it's on to year 3. ;)

Another Project (slowly) in the Making...

So, everyone has seen those collections of photos that are of random objects that resemble letters.  They are expensive!  Well, I wanted to make one of our last name, and not spend an arm and a leg.  These photos were actually taken last year, but I think it's about time to get them into some sort of attached frame.    I don't have great architectural buildings to take my letters from, so here is my very humble version...

I had to make up the last one. ><  Don't tell. 

Soon these will be put together. For now they will sit safely on my computer.