My New Creative Outlet

I like to Create.

Anything.

Everything.

Whatever whim floats across my mind.

I am not devoted to any one particular medium- I just LIKE to create! I've dabbled in a lot of things over the years and enjoyed them all. Cooking, Sewing,Writing, Painting, Decorating, Beading, Crocheting, Glass Painting , Photography, Quilling, Gardening, Basket Weaving, Nail Art, and any number of a hundred other things that don't immediately come to mind. I'm not claiming to excel in all these endeavors, but I like to dive in nonetheless.

Lately I've been wanting to get back to sewing. I took lessons when I was young and classes in Middle School and High School, but haven't done much with it since- that is until I found a simple little project that I wanted to do. I didn't have a machine, so I borrowed Aunt Viv's portable machine. I had such fun with that one little project that I started thinking about getting myself a portable machine and taking on more projects that started flooding my mind.

Then, as the perfect answer to my need, Aunt Viv called me one day and said they were redoing Grandma and Grandpa's basement and wanted to know if I wanted to have Grandma's old sewing machine and the cabinet that Grandpa built for it.

YES!

I found the perfect little nook for it at the top of Mom and Dad's stairs (If my trailer wasn't parked here at their place, I would never have had room to put this kind of machine in my 5th Wheel).

So let the creating begin!

I saw a version of these aprons on a craft blog, but they had only used half the placemat and made little waist aprons. I thought, what's the point in that- my kids are messy from the neck down when they spill! I gathered up a variety of placemats at the thrift store and ribbon at the dollar store and made up a bunch of these on Thanksgiving morning so that the grandkids that were eating here that evening could wear them (even a few waist aprons for the older girls, if they wanted them). They were a real hit with the young ones.

Seth is a much neater eater and only wears his once in a while when he is wearing something nice I don't want to get messed up, but Ellie wears hers almost every meal (and truly needs it!). I had only made 2 for her and just couldn't keep up with keeping them clean in time for the next meal, so I hit the thrift store again the other day looking for more.

Perfect!

This time, knowing how much she wears them and loves them, I splurged on some cute ribbon at the craft store- spent a whole $2 on this roll :o)

I also tweaked it a little to better fit her small frame. I put the waist ribbon just above the halfway mark and contoured the top to eliminate the gap at her neck she would occasionally loose food down.

Much better fit and too cute to boot!

Next came about a project because Ellie got a baby bed for Christmas for all of her baby dolls. It was a cute bed, but didn't having any bedding with it. I started thinking of the box full of fabric sample books I had drug home a couple of years ago for free from a yard sale. Looking through them I found a book full of children's prints.

I pulled out all my favorite pink prints and cut them into random size squares and rectangles and puzzled them together until I found a result I liked. Because I'm not above cutting corners when it's ok to do so, I then fabric glued them into place and zigzag stitched over each raw edge. Then put some soft fleece on the back, zigzagged at each fabric square "corner" and put a binding around it.

Ellie loved it so much I used all the remaining children's print samples to make a quilt for her.

Seth didn't like being left out, so we went and picked a special blanket the two of us could make just for him.

All winter long I have been looking for a bathrobe for Ellie (we had found one for Seth at the thrift store and she wanted one too). Apparently it is nearly impossible to find a robe for a two year old- I should note that I finally found one, and I do mean only one, at Macy's for over $30. I refuse to pay that kind of money on something a two year old will grow out of next time I turn around!

So when I went looking for a soft fleece to back her quilt with, I decided to get enough to make her a matching robe with. I could only find a pattern more sized to a four year old, so not having a clue as to what I was doing, when I cut out the patten I took it upon myself to downsize it.

Proof the Lord even blesses fools- it fits perfectly!

Thank you so much Grandma for the sewing machine and Grandpa for the beautiful cabinet it sits in. I am having a blast!

Arlington Stake Nativity Festival

This last December our Stake (a group of LDS congregations) organized and put on our

First Annual Nativity Festival.

We had a committee of about 20 people working on the plans throughout the year, everything from the advertising and the electrical, to the set-up and the structures. I (Sheri) was invited onto the committee late in the game, after some of the others had to drop out for one reason or another.

I was part of the decorating committee, we were in charge of everything in the entryways, hallways, cultural hall, and cookie room. We divided up the duties and I worked with 2 other ladies on the cultural hall.

Wow- what an overwhelming and awesome task! We ended up with 46 tables, 60 cinderblocks, 40 bricks (THANK YOU Dad and Joel for all the heavy lifting!), 30 christmas trees, 160 huge poinsettias, 48 small poinsettias, over 200 battery operated tea lights, votives, and pillar candles, and over 500 nativities on display. We all put in 10 hour days, Monday through Wednesday and half a day on Thursday, along with countless other drop-in helpers, getting ready to open the doors to the public starting at 6pm on Thursday. It ran until 7pm on Sunday and them we spent 13 hours on Monday breaking it all down.

One of the Entry Foyers were people were greeted and offered a map to the building.

The Cultural Hall full of beautiful nativities, trees, and poinsettias.

Our members displayed nativities they had collected from all over the world.

It was more subtly lit than my pictures show- my camera enhanced every bit of light it could find.

The whole room had such a beautiful feeling about it.

We had the curtains open to the chapel and someone playing the piano or an instrument during all the visiting hours to add to the feeling of celebrating the birth of Christ.

At one end of the Cultural Hall we also had a live (still) nativity display. Families could sign up to stand in for 30 minutes at a time. With the beautiful backdrop that one of our local families painted and the bright star, this became a real focal point.

Down the hall we had a room dedicated to "The Life of Christ"

They did an amazing job!

Another popular spot was our "Cookie Room"

I failed to get any pictures of it, but we also had a "Children's Room" full of nativities the children were allowed to touch and play with as well as a craft the children could do. In the corner of that room kids and whole families could dress up in costume and have a family picture taken in a stable. My kids wanted to bee-line it to that room every time.

This turned out to be one overwhelming and exhausting week, but more rewarding than I could have imagined. What a privilege to be a part of it. I couldn't think of a better way to start the Christmas season!

We've already had our first meeting talking about next year! Hope you can all come see it!!

Make up post- Girls Trip

Earlier this fall Janice and Ellie and I took a two week trip to Nauvoo and back.

We decided to make an interesting stop or two along the way and see some things we didn't get a chance to see while flying through the year before with our husbands.

We enjoyed a few hours stop at Wall Drug in Wall, SD.

Check out walldrug.com

One of the reasons we went to Nauvoo was to help Mom and Dad get a jump start on packing and cleaning as they prepared to leave in another month. While Janice and I went to work, Ellie had a great time playing dress up and getting Grandma and Grandpa's undivided attention.

It wasn't all work, we took a bit of time each day to go and visit the sights in Historic Nauvoo. Ellie just had to sit back and ride in style (as long as she held on tight in our ginny-rigged contraption).

On the way home we stopped over at our cousin's house in Colstrip, MT. While we were there she and her husband took us on a tour of the cole mine where he works.

Those big machines sure make you feel small.

On our final home stretch we had the joy of getting a little flat tire that set us back about 24 hours while they had to overnight new rims from Portland, the only place this side of anywhere that they had them in stock to replace the one of a kind ones that came on Janice's van.

Love road trips, love girl trips, and loved spending two weeks with Janice and Ellie!

A few updated pictures

Since it's been so long between posts (picture posts that is), I just thought I would throw a few updated pictures of the kids out there from the last few months.

Halloween

Our first snow of the winter

There is no question our Ellie is all girl, she loves to accessorize and "mother" the heck out of her dolls and stuffed animals

Seth loves to help in anyway we let him: cooking, cleaning, fixing things, mowing

And he loves dressing up in his suit, just like dad

They are growing up fast!

Weekend at the Ocean

Last weekend Janice invited me, my two little ones, and our niece Laney to go with her back to Long Beach, WA to play and see a sand castle building contest they had going on.

We took my brothers tent trailer, that Janice and Matt had also borrowed just the week before.

But unlike the previous week, this time we decided to take Janice's van so we would have more room and the kids could watch movies to help pass the time. Unfortunately when we went to hook-up we discovered that the electrical at the hitch was not compatible. When we ran down to the auto parts store and 3 different RV parts stores with no luck, we had to accept that they just didn't make what we wanted. The nice guy at the third RV place took pity on us and told me what I was going to need to make one. So with parts in hand, Janice and I sat down with the color code chart and the wires and went for it.

Aaand....... Success! Oh yeah, we've got skills.

And our happy crew was ready to hit the road and eventually the beach.

7 1/2 hrs., and a whole lot of traffic latter, we hit town, dropped off and set up camp

AND THEN HIT THE BEACH!

That evening we decided to do it up right and build a fire where we roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows

The next morning we set out for a long day at the beach and messing around town-

but we did it in style!

SAND CASTLE BUILDING:

Down on the beach they had areas cordoned off for professional, intermediate, beginner, family, and children's teams to do their stuff.

The early stages

After seeing all the work in progress down on the beach, we headed into downtown for a look around. In the town square they had these sand sculptures that had been done by professionals.

Then on to the good stuff.

(The redheaded mermaid seems to have a little head/body proportion issue.)

(What would a trip to Long Beach be without a visit to Marsh's Museum and a little quality time with "Jake" the alligator man)

Then it was time to head back to the beach to see the final sculptures before the tide washed them away.

The tide was coming in fast and we just about missed getting back in time to get some pictures.

To end our day we climbed into the van and took a short drive down to Astoria, Oregon. Just so we could say we did.

Finally it was time to head home- but we weren't too happy about it :-)