Queen Anne's Lace in Color

I grew up in the country, as in fields and cows and not many neighbors. I remember picking Queen Anne's Lace in the field behind our house. My sister and I would fill vases with colored water to place the flowers in so that the white lacy heads would turn color. I saw some Queen Anne's Lace this summer and realized I had never shared this summer activity with my own children. I guess we are more "town folk" now because we actually had to ride our bikes out of our weed-wacked, well mowed neighborhood to find some Queen Anne's Lace!

We filled disposable water bottles with different colored water...going for a rainbow of blossoms. I tried to explain that the color change would be subtle, just a tinge of color. I didn't want the kids to expect bright, brilliant flowers.

The colored water looked so pretty, we were so excited. We waited...a few hours later, no change. The next morning...no change. Two days later...no change and some wind picked up and blew all the bottles off the table and all over the deck. Hummm...a rainbow deck? Interesting but not really what I was going for! I couldn't figure out why this didn't work.


Looking at the picture above I can tell why this probably didn't work, I think the stems were way too long. I don't think the water ever made it up to the lace!

Fast forward to try number two...

Smaller vases and shorter stems, way shorter stems. And what do we have here? Is that some color in those lacy flowers? Success.

Have a happy, color filled week!

Linking To...

Lulu's Sizzlin' Saturday... Strawberry Soup

Oh hey folks Lulu here! I am 13 years old and going into 8th grade. For the summer I have decided to have my own posting day... Saturday! Something you should know about me is that I L-O-V-E food and easy recipes... who doesn't? Every Saturday I will try to present a fun recipe easy enough to be made by a young "Chef in Training".☺

Today's Recipe: Cinderella's Strawberry Soup (This is what Cinderella ate after she became a princess... before that she only ate broth and stale bread.☺)

Random Recipe Rotes... I mean Notes: We first tasted this heaven-in-a-bowl at the 1900 Park Fare restaurant in the Grand Floridian Resort at Disney World. This turned out to be the BEST part of the meal... well, except for when my dad broke the ice cream machine and got ice cream all down the front of him and on the floor and the staff members had to come out and clean it up.☺


The Best Time to Serve this Dish: Tea parties, girlie lunches, baby showers, bridal showers... Or as my 10 year old brother requested, ladled into his water bottle for soccer practice!☺ 


On with the show!... the recipe...

Cinderella's Strawberry Soup

Two 16 oz. containers frozen, sliced strawberries with sugar

16 oz. heavy cream

2 oz. light sour cream

3 oz. plain Greek yogurt

fresh strawberries for garnish

1. Thaw frozen berries in their juices.

2. Blend all ingredients except the fresh strawberries in a blender on low until smooth (All of this did not fit in our blender. You may need to blend in batches and stir together in a large bowl.)

3. Chill, stir before serving, garnish with fresh strawberries.

Fancy Pants Add-on: Strawberry Fan Garnish

1. Cut a strawberry in half length wise through the stem. 

2. Take one half and make two length wise cuts from just below the stem to the pointed end.

3. Spread the sections apart forming a fan making sure all pieces stay attached at the stem.

Viola! You have a beautiful strawberry fan to garnish your delicious Strawberry Soup!

Now enjoy and don't forget to eat like a princess!! ♥

Cute Easter Basket Goodie....

Here is an simple and cauuuute idea for your kids Easter Basket.....   

Spring Chick Bird's Nests

SUPPLIES:  

White Chocolate Wafers

Thin Pretzel Sticks

Jelly Beans

Peeps (chick ones, not bunnies...)

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate wafers....

 

                                    

     Once melted... 

Stir in pretzels and place "globs" onto a cookie sheet...   

Decorate with Jelly Beans

Place "chick" peep on the very top.....

EASY as 1..2...3.....  

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son:  

That whosoever believeth on Him

should not perish but have ever lasting life."

John 3:16

How to Beat the Winter Break Blues

 Whenever winter break arrives my girls act like they have cabin fever. Now for the most part I will send little L outside to play, but sometimes the weather is too wintery for little girls. So what on earth can we do! After we have baked cupcakes, played dressup, tea party, coloring, I keep scratching my head, think..think.. So this is what I came up with on this blustery wintery day! PUFF PAINT. Gotta love it.

Little L had a white tee shirt and a fabric pen and I let her draw away, anything she wanted. Then I helped her go over it with the puff paint. It turned out so cute and if it is clean it's the only shirt Little L wants to wear. It was a simple way to keep the girls busy and have lots of fun in the meantime! I hope you can beat the winter break blues just like we did!

MAN-made Crafts

It is Pinewood Derby time for the Cub Scouts and the Mayor (my husband) and CJ (my ten year old son) really, really get excited about this! If you do not have the pleasure of being acquainted with the art of Pine Wood Derby cars, it goes like this...men and boys take a plain block of wood and magically transform it into a vehicle. Then they spend an afternoon racing these vehicles against one another. (grunt like Tim the Toolman) It is actually very cool what the boys come up with and the Mayor never ceases to impress me with his car carving! CJ decided that a hot pink Corvette was the flavor of 2011, Barbie would be proud. I offered to paint the Barbie logo somewhere on the car but he declined. The Mayor decided to recreate the Ecto-1, the car from Ghostbusters! It came out very cool, complete with white-wall tires. (Go ahead, hum the Ghostbusters theme song, you know you want to) ☺ They both spent a good deal of time shaping, sanding and painting and I realized...the boys are doing CRAFTS!! (Squeal!) Man-crafts!

                                                                       
As we were driving to the event on race day, CJ and I were talking about his car and how great it came out and how lucky he is to have a dad who gets excited to do this with him. His response was that he was glad his car looked good because he never has the fastest one. Well, this year he did...he won first place in his den and had the third fastest car overall for the whole Cub Scout pack! Cool-ee-oo! So, came home with two big trophies and an even bigger smile! And...the Ghostbuster mobile was a fast one too, the Mayor came in first in the leaders race.

Yea! for the man-crafters!

 

Ummm, hey, we've done a lot of crafts but I don't recall getting any trophies! It must be that men do crafts so infrequently they need to be rewarded for their efforts! Heehee!

Dollhouse Revealed

Finally, one week before Christmas, I finished the dollhouse for little L. I think I was more excited that she was to open it. But then again she had no idea what it was until she opened it. All she could do when she saw it for the first time was gasp! And she just stood there staring at it.That was the best reaction a mom could hope for. Then came all the giggles and shrieks that little girls do when they are in utter amazement at their good fortune. I'm so glad I got it all on film. All the hard work and glue gun burns on my fingers were all worth it in the end.

This is a view from the front of the house. I modpodged between the shutters to give the outside a little bit of pattern.

This is a full view of the house, all set up. This is what little L saw when she opened it up.

These are the little babies in the attic. All the furniture and bunnies are from calico critters. Which are so adorable and all the furniture came with all the little accessories.

This is the little girl and boy room. I painted the stripes on the walls, made the curtains with stitch witchery, lollypop sticks and beads, made all the pillows out of felt and crocheted the rugs. Everything else was courtesy of calico critters.

A little close up.

This is the master bedroom. I modpodged the back wall, made the curtains and used a crocheted granny square for the rug. In this room I also made the bedding because the other bedding didn't match my decor :)

...the living room...

... and the kitchen...

This project was so much fun, and I am so happy that our family tradition will live on in my little girl. I hope she loves it and passes it on to her little ones in the future. (like S will be able to do).

Christmas Mini Mall

Happy one week until Christmas Eve!

That picture is for J who wondered how my "thrifty decor chick" Walmart jars and ornaments turned out. What do you think J? Was it worth that crazy trip to Walmart that neither of us really had time for, yes? You can find the original idea here. LOVE it!

I forgot that I was excited to tell you about a really cute ministry at my mother-in-law's church called the Mini Mall! Her church has been putting on the Mini Mall for years and they have it down to a science. This year Lulu, her brother and I were available to go and help...we were Elves, how cool is that??
All through the year the "mini mall committee" meets weekly and makes crafts (aahhh, our dream come true, to do crafts weekly...) and organizes all the donations. Donations can be anything really...stuff you are getting rid of or new items. Too many mugs? Too many votive candles? Kids books? Stuffed animals? Picture frames? Christmas ornaments? Send them all to the mini mall. The ladies of the church will take a mug and fill it with golf balls and tie a ribbon around it for a "dad gift". They do a great job.
On the day of the mini mall, all the items are displayed on tables in the church, there is punch and Christmas cookies and in come the children! They usually take about 100 children through the mini mall to shop, it is controlled chaos! Here's how it works...
1. Kids come in with parents and get a number, they sit at tables and mom and dad help them fill out tags for all the people they are shopping for.
2. When their number is called they go shopping with an Elf. The Elves see how much money the child has and how many gifts they need to buy and help them keep track of everything. We make suggestions to help them choose gifts..."Does your mom like candles? Does your little sister like books?" When they make a selection the Elf tapes the tag to the item and puts it in the basket they are carrying.
3. When the kids are done shopping they go to the "check out" table and pay for their gifts. Most mini mall items are 50 cents or one dollar but some kids come with $10 and a list of 15 relatives! So cute!
4. All paid up, now they proceed to the wrapping room where the ladies from the church take all the gifts and wrap each one and attach the tag to the wrapped gift.
5. The children are delivered back to their parents with a big bag of wrapped gifts for everyone in their family. And let me tell you these kids are thrilled!

This ministry is so awesome for these families, it takes all the focus off "what am I getting for Christmas" and instead these kids are so excited to pick out little surprises for their loved ones, it is really so sweet. It is lots of fun being an Elf, some of the choices the kids make are hilarious. I helped a 3 year old little girl shop and she picked out a hot pink stuffed poodle for her mom! She'll be surprised for sure!!
It was a fun Christmas-y day for us and made us feel good to see smiles on all those little faces.

Nel's smile for the week: Craft night and cookie exchange tonight! WOOHOO!!
Nel's frown for the week: Wish I had a dollar for each time I have fixed the Christmas tree skirt, my cats LOVE to play under it and mess it all up!

Naughty wild animals!

Lulu's smile for the week: She made the cute magnets from E's post and gave them to all her friends to use in their lockers! They loved them!
Lulu's frown for the week: We thought sure there would be a snow day this week...no such luck! BOO!

Lulu's Count Down to Christmas

I had to smile when I read E's post on Tuesday asking how we encourage our families to be thankful because Lulu did this for our family, all on her own, with a very sweet count down to Christmas project.

First, let me say that Lulu is a twelve year old with a sweet spirit beyond her years and I don't think I had much to do with what an awesome young lady she has become. I only say that because there was a point when she was about four, I think, that the Mayor and I looked at each other and thought who's child is this??? She was very bossy and quite difficult and we weren't sure we liked how her personality was turning out! But never fear, oh ye with young children, we made no adjustments to our very limited parenting skills and voila! she is kind and responsible and now only bosses her brother around! So there...go us...it is nice when the first child turns out good, then you kinda look like you know what you're doing!

Anyway, all weekend Lulu kept mentioning her secret "project". She told me it was a Christmas project that she thought of while she was laying in bed. She spent some time on her computer and finally revealed it to us after dinner. She presented each of us...Mom, Dad, brother and herself with five strips of paper. Each paper said the date, how many days until Christmas and the had a phrase for us to fill in. The phrases were, "I love my family because...", "I'm glad...", "I'm thankful for...", "I love Jesus Christ because..." and "My favorite thing about Christmas is...". So sweet!

So, after we each filled out our answers, Lulu taped the strips together to make a count down to Christmas chain. We hung it up and now each day we cut off the "link of the day" and the author gets to share what they wrote!



Awesome idea Lulu and something I hope our family will look forward to doing each year!


While I was trying to take a decent photo of one of the strips of paper, the large, black, fluffy animal who lives with us decided that he needed that strip of paper. He took it and immediately had to make it his own by laying on top of it. Good job Oreo, you conquered the paper strip! (He looks pretty serious about this accomplishment!)


This is the cat who thinks he is a dog...I honestly heard him growl at the mailman today when he left a package by our front door! He growled and then ran to the door! It was hilarious!
Oh, and that is totally an optical illusion for all of you who thought it looked like perhaps that wild animal is actually up on our table...J is having heart palpitations right now! Heehee ☺

Lulu's smile for the week: Sitting by the Christmas tree! ☺
Lulu's frown for the week: Too many tests!

Nel's smile for the week: I love getting Christmas cards in the mail! ☺
Nel's frown for the week: Both of the lights on either side of our front door went out which wasn't very Christmas-y looking so I changed both light bulbs in the freezing cold this morning, it involved unscrewing these little gold balls...6 on each light!! My fingers were like popsicles...I miss summer...

doll house re-do ♥ part 4

!!!doll house frenzy over here at sevensisters!!!

so here is my last and final post about this doll house remodel then i'm on to other exciting things...
i have to say i'm super excited about how everything turned out...my plan was to "simply" (uh-huh)...(huge eye roll) redecorate this little doll house find a table for it somewhere (like target) put it in my daughter's room and be done with it....
42 hours later....765 dollars in the hole (exaggeration) here is the final deal...
i never found a table i quite liked for a price i quite liked :)...but it ended up being my favorite part of the whole project, i love the way this table looks with the house...much thanks to my aunt who taught me how to sew this band/skirt for the table :) thanks aunt P!!
♥ • ♥ • ♥ • ♥ • ♥
i've now discovered i love Modge Podge and it works on anything & everything and you really can't goof it up, hardly at all, not much...too much...unless you're a free spirit/tinkerbell-ish type person :P (giggle)
so here it is...thank you everyone for following me on this long and indecisive journey (pink or teal? paisley or gingham?) i don't know where i'll go from here, but i think pear honey, leg warmers & items of the Christmas nature are calling my name...


...Stools ♥ Tutorial...

Materials needed:
wooden stool (got mine @ joann's)

fabric, batting, foam, ric rac,
craft paint, acrylic sealer or mod podge,
foam brushes, staple gun

...cover sides and underneath with craft paint
(something the kiddies can help with!!)...

...cover with mod podge, let dry 15-20 min between coats ( i did 2 coats)...

.

...layer material, batting and foam to fit around top of seat, leaving enough for folding under and stapling...

...staple under lip of seat...

...glue ric rac with hot glue gun...

...as promised...some cool pics of the purple lumpy room...♥

...my fav crochet pattern person...ana paula rimoli...check out her blog...

♥ verse i found this week...Isaiah 40:11♥
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
he shall gather the lambs with his arm,
and carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young.