In His Grip

The Fingerless Glove Necessity

With the use of touch screen cell phones for texting, checking email, and surfing the web, the need for fingerless gloves has become a necessity.  You have to have your fingers exposed, but also keep your hand warm. I started out this winter with my first attempt at such a project and they turned out great. I wear my fingerless gloves everyday and I love them, but they do lack the individual fingers.  Being a self taught knitter, I look at project like this and assume I will get stuck and will not be able to go on.  But with the encouragement of my sister and the sales gal at my favorite store, Urban Arts & Crafts, I decided to attempt some fingerless gloves with individual fingers.  After all, Janet bought the yarn with the promise that she would receive the finished project. 

 
The yarn Janet chose is awesome.  It is a silk/wool blend and oh, so very soft with a green/yellow/gold variegation.  This yarn is some of the best I have every worked with and because it is sold in a shank and has to be spun into a ball at the store, I do not have the label of what brand of yarn it is.  Dang!

 
I will definitely be looking for more silk/wool blend yarns to work with again and make myself a pair of these cool fingerless gloves.  This pattern was not hard to follow and I just need to remind myself not to read ahead and only do one step at a time.   I do wish these knitting patterns would offer more pictures of the projects as you go.  Being such a visual person, I depend pictures a lot to get me through, often times not even reading directions at all.  But I have realized in knitting you have to read and not just look at the pictures. 

 
I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Its So Very Cheri, Making The World a Little Cuter, Between Naps On the Porch, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today/s Creative Blog, All Things Heart & Home

Three Word Thursday

He commands missions . . .

 

Love My Boots

These are my boots.  I have had them for over a year now and they have to be one of my favorite pairs of shoes.  They weren't even that expensive and in fact I got them on sale after Christmas last year.  There is just something about seeing that squared off pointy tip sticking our from underneath my jeans that gives me that, "I can accomplish anything" sassy kind of attitude.  Maybe its the fact they are kind of cluncky sounding on the wood floor, so you know when I am coming.  You can hear if I am in a hurry, have a determination in my step, or trying to sneek out of church to go back up and join the worship team to sing the closing songs.  They do have a bit of a heel on them, so maybe its that additional 2 1/2 inches or so that gives me a different perspective.  I am not sure what it is but there is just something about them that gives me confidence that I don't otherwise have when I am wearing ballet flats. With Spring fast approaching, maybe there is a sandal out there that could do the same thing for me, hmmm.  I'll let you know.

 

Panda Cake Pops

I have been seeing cakes pops all over the internet and have never given them a try.  For Christmas Lindsey received a cookbook all about cake pops with some great creative ideas.  So for Valentines day she and I decided to make some cake pops for our valentines.  They look kind of difficult but with the right ingredients and the help of the Cake Pop Cookbook it was a lot of fun.

 
Because some of the cake pops were going to Anna we picked a Funfetti cake mix, her favorite.

 
The process is a bit messing.  But really all you do is bake the cake as directed on the box and let it cool.  Once the cake has cooled you just crumble it up and mix in 3/4 of a can of ready  made frosting.  Believe me when I say not to add too much frosting as the cake pops will be too soft.  Then all you have to do is form the mixture into balls and place in the fridge to cool.

 
Once the cake pops have cooled for about an hour they are ready to dip into candy melt coating or almond bark.  This is where you need to have all of your decorating ingredients ready to go as you want to work while the coating is still wet.  One more tip from our little experience is that with cake pops, bigger is not better.  They will be too heavy for the sticks and as the coating starts to set up, it will crack.  We think this happen also because we used a little too much frosting in the cake mixture too.

 
We used pink candy melts to make hearts for Anna as well as pressed the cooled cake pops into a heart shaped cookie cutter.

 
Lindsey made hers into cute little pandas for her valentine and used one of the heart shaped cakes pops for her message.  You can see that a couple of them have cracks but that did not affect the taste or the message.

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Dittle Dattle, Boggieboard Cottage, The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Smple, Skip to My Lou, Pinkapotamus, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Miss Crafty Pants, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, All Things Heart & Home, Nikki's Nifty Knacks, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Its a Hodgepodge Life, It's Fun to Craft, Tidy Mom, The Shabby Nest, Simply Sweet Home

Not Too Close, Please

I have to say, there is a small group of people that really know me and I think that they would agree that I really know them.   Some are in my family and others are people that I have chosen to be a part of my "family".  When we allow people to be close enough to really get to know us, they can tell by our expressions and body language what we are thinking and feeling.  This can be a good thing when you are in a group, someone else is talking, and your spouse gives you a look and you know exactly what they are thinking about what is being said.  Or, you and friend can be walking in a crowd, you pass someone, you both look at each other and just crack up knowing exactly what they are thinking without saying a word.  I love having people in my life that I can do this with.  However, there are people that never allow others to get too close.  They have walls up for whatever reason and just don't know what they are missing out on.  In fact, they may feel they are not missing out at all and wonder what the big deal about "living in community" is all about.  I want others to experience a close circle of friends that they can depend on in good times and bad.  Although, I am not the kind of person to give up easily, I do respect, "not too close, please" when I see it.  How can I make a difference to that "not too close, please" person?  Something I have been thinking a lot about lately.

Three Word Thursday

Valentine dinner tradition :o)

 

Easy Valentine Ideas

Here it is the day before Valentines day and what if you have not done anything for the one that you love?  Well, it is not too late and here are some great, fast, and easy ideas to make your Valentine smile.  I cannot take the credit for these adorable paint chip valentines.  My niece, Judianne, made these for her classmates.  What a creative idea for some unique valentine cards.  You just go by your local Wal-Mart or Home Depot and pick up some pink and red paint chips, use some stamps and glitter pens and there you have it some super cute valentines.  But wait, you need to have a sweet treat to go along with you card.

 
This is so easy to make and I love the way it looks.  This treat just screams happy Valentines day.  All you do is spread some pretzels on a foil covered cookie sheet.  Melt some white chocolate almond bark and drizzle it over the pretzels. Using your choice of Valentine candies and sprinkles, you just sprinkle them over the almond bark.  Let the bark harden and break it up and put in cello bags and attach you paint chip cards.  I got this idea from My Computer is My Canvas. 

 
This is so easy even a two year old can do it.  I had the privelge of having a play date with my little friends Payton and her brother Colton last week and we enjoyed making some of this Valentine bark for our families.

I am participating in the following link ups: Between Naps on the Porch, Skip to My Lou, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simle

 

DIY ~ Cute Cast

During our snow storm last we week when we were stuck in the house, Lindsey and I were bored and needed to come up with something creative to do.  She had just had her cast replaced and it was just plain white.  Empty space means a place to be creative.  Grandma was working on a quilt and she had some scrapes of fabric hanging around.  So we had the idea of Mod Podging Lindsey's cast with the quilt scrapes.

 
We began by cutting out the flowers from the scrape fabric.

 
Then using the Mod Podge and a sponge brush we started to cover the cast with the flowers being careful to smoothe out the fabric and overlap as we went.  We coverd the whole cast leaving the inside of the palm clear. 

 

Lindsey then used a blow dryer to set the Mod Podge.  We then put a second coat on just to make sure that all of the edges of fabric were well secured.

 
And there you have it a DIY cute cast.

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Its so Very Cheri, Skip to My Lou, Today's Creative Blog

Frigid Weather Casualty

Are you freaking serious?  Who killed my herbs?  I have been growing these inside my back door since the first freeze and they have been doing so good.  I have basil, thyme, and sage growing in this pot and I use them all the time.  They are in a perfect spot where they get nice sun, I have fed them and have treated them, oh so, nice.  But yesterday afternoon I walked in the kitchen and this is what I found.  Really?  How did this happen?  It took me a while to figure it out.  But remember my Three Word Thrusday picture yesterday?  I took that cute heart picture right out side my back door, WITH THE DOOR OPEN.  Needless to say the tempature yesterday morning was 2 degrees with the wind chill well below zero.  I had no idea the damage that would do to my percious indoor herb garden.  The hybiscus tree that they sit under suffered no damage, so I am going to try to bring these guys back to life, but I will not be using fresh herbs in my cooking for awhile.  Dang, dang, dang, double dog dang.

 
 

Three Word Thrusday

A beautiful heart . . .

 

The Blizzard of 2011 @ My House

This is as far as we got this morning shoveling out of our big snow from yesterday.  I don't know how those people do it who live in places where they get this kind of snow on a regular basis.  These piles of snow on either side of the driveway are about 3 to 4 feet high.  Jeff and I started at 6:00 am and worked for over an hour and we still have another 1/3 of the driveway yet to do.  We got enough shoveled for Jeff to get out this morning, but I am not going anywhere as the center of the culdesac has at least 18" to 20" as the snow blows from the burm and stays in the middle of our street.  Until we get a plow in here, we are stuck.  During the last snow a week or so ago, it took until around 3:00 pm for the plow to make it to us.  I am not hopeful for today.  However, the sun is shinning and there is nothing better or brighter than snow shinning on a new blanket of snow.  My yard looks like it is filled with diamonds.

 
This was the front porch yesterday afternoon.  This moring the gorilla (yeah, Pittsburg State) and the snowman were covered in snow.  All I could see was the head of the snowman and poor Gus was totally buried.

 
 
At the height of the blizzard, we could barely see across the back yard.

 
My Mom and I had a bet going, she thought the snow would cover the wagon and only the handle would be seen.  I have to admit she was on the way to winning, as at one point the snow was up to the writing on the side, but with the wind blowing through, you can even see more of it today.  Sorry, Mom I win :o)

 
Because I work at home, this is what I call snowed in, too bad it just does not keep me from working.  Now I cannot see out, I cannot drive out, I am feeling a bit claustrophobic, I may need recusing by the end of the day.  If I start feeling sweaty and my legs start twitching I'll call for help.  Does 911 come for a self-employed gal going stir crazy?

Bird Watching + Star Gazing = Empty Nesters

Forever, Jeff has wanted a telescope.  So when a friend of ours offered to give him this refurbished telescope, he was over the moon, ha, ha.  Just so no one gets any weired ideas, this window does not face any houses, but into a field across the road from us,  so there is no peeping going on here.  Our kids are so making fun of us saying that we started out with just a bird feeder and watching the birds that gathered in the yard and now we are looking at the stars.  This is really an empty nester kind of thing.  Next thing they know, we will be booking our Fall foliage tour.  But looking at the stars is awesome.  Although we do live on the edge of town, there still is too much light pollution to see very much from our house.  But the other morning we were able to get a great look at the moon.  Soon we are going to pack up our new telescope and take it out to the country and do some real star gazing.  Maybe a little wine and cheese, sounds like a date to me, not an empty nester thing:o)