let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

 i just love greenery in my old wash tub.  and this sled has many memories of winters from many years ago.  including chipping my tooth.

peeking at the spruce trees thru our weeping willow covered in some of the thickest frost i have ever seen.

i also love pictures when you can catch the snow falling.  someday i want to do family pictures on a beautiful snowy day.  

and now for the craft portion.  i made this winter bunting the other night.  it was SO easy.  the hardest part was doing a bit of math to get the correct length for some drape.  trust me 10" will be perfect (i thought it should be 16" too much)  i used my pinking blade on my rotary cutter on the triangles & did a simple zigzag on the sides.  i then cut a strip about 1/2 to 3/4" wide of the left over burlap i had from the table runner.  i zigzaged on 1 side of that to help stop the fraying.  i then kept with the same zigzag to attach my triangles.  tied a knot in both ends and hung it up.  

christmas 5 of ???? (i think this is the last of them)

this might be my favorite gift that i made this year.  this beautiful burlap and lace table runner was for my sister in law.  i am pretty sure that it was my plan 'b', but i dont remember what plan 'a' was.  the hardest part was finding the right lacy trim.  wonder what r thought if she saw my mother in law measuring her table.  

this is what the runner looked like on her table for a christmas dinner they had.  made my day to hear that she loved it!

christmas 4 of ???

i love my nephew, he is SO full of energy.  and he is really into the avengers.  i found this cotton online and immediately thought of him.  but i wasn't sure that a cotton would hold up with this 'all boy' kid.  so i lined it with another slightly thicker/stiffer cotton.  if i do it again i think i'll just go with another cotton.  but it was pretty easy to make.  hopefully he can get good use out of it.  

christmas 3 of???

way back when (i think pry 2002) i decided to make a quilt for my nephew & niece.  i wanted them to each have something that they can say 'aunt kelly made that for me'   she got a cute ladybug & flower quilt, he got a farm themed quilt to remind him of grandma & grandpa's place.  as i got more nephews they each eventually got a quilt for christmas.  there has been a husker 'n' quilt, construction quilt, sports quilt, and a railroad quilt.  last year it was a fun circle quilt for my niece. 

this is c-dub's quilt.  number 8 of 11-so far. 

christmas 2 of ????

each year i make an ornament for my kids (all 6 of them now), my nephews & nieces (SO happy i get to say nieces now not just niece) and other family members/friends.  its something that i remember as a child my great aunt doing.  it was always so fun to see what we got each year.  i think that many were homemade, & many were a moose-her maiden name was moose! and each year mom would write down on sheet of paper in each of our ornament boxes who gave us each ornament for the year.  now that i have my own family, i have my list so that i can add to it.  i have also started a list for each of my kids & their own ornament box.  some day i hope that they do the same.  

christmas 1st of ???

wow.  it has been a while.  i promise i was busy.  but when you are making gifts for christmas and people who are receiving these gifts read this..... i dont like ruining surprises.

i dont know what i was thinking when picking out the hardware for our kitchen.  maybe that is the problem, i wasnt thinking.  too many decisions to be made!  but i didnt pick our drawer pull that you can wrap your hand around.  so for the past four years we have had to deal with all dish towels falling off of the dishwasher & oven handles.  stinks having to pick them up all the time.  big a really doesnt like it.  i am sure i had seen these before and dont know why it took so long for the light bulb to go off.  i got some towels and tried some for our house 1st.  it was awesome!!!  and was pretty sure that some people in my family had the same issue as we did with the drawer pulls.  the hardest part was finding nice kitchen towels. 

a little yard work before winter

i never really wanted the black plastic stuff to separate the rock around the house and the grass.  i dont like it.  but at the time, i didnt have much of a choice.  limited on time and i didnt know for sure what i wanted.  fast forward 4 years in this house and pinterest.  i found the perfect thing to separate them.  but again time was an issue.  so i had a local guy come and do most of it for me.  i just had to move rock away so that it would be easier to dig.

  this picture doesnt show, but we also have a rock bed FULL of spanish moss roses.  i love them, i dont ahve to water & they give some color.  the kids love picking the flowers for me too.  but i was liking having to step on or around them to get to the water spouts on the house.  so off i went to town to get me some flagstone.  this should work nicely i think!

but my FAVORITE part is the gutter down spouts.  we have a dog (used to have 2) and said dog(s) like to chase rabbits.  (we have them more now that there is a bit of shelter for them to hide in with the shelter belt we have started) rabbits like to hide after they have ran for a bit.  and what better spot than up my gutters??? did that stop my dog(s)??? NO NO NO.  and these werent just any gutters.  my grandpa cut some heavy duty galvanized big boys for me. off came the gutters to get those dang rabbits.  there are teeth marks in them from dog(s) chewing trying to get to the rabbit.  plus we had to have them staked down with the lovely nebraska winter winds.  so when i saw this idea on pinterest i knew it was perfect for us.   sorry bunnies.

and while i had someone do the BIG project around the house, i figured i could do the little one around the water hydrant.  and i did!  and after 3 long years and i dont know how many loads i finally killed the river rock pile in the driveway.  all but 2 loads i moved around the house.  that was a lot of rock! by the end i sure got good at backing the trailer behind the mower so i could dump.