Christmas Notebook

menu plan monday ~ august 15, 2016

August 15, 2016 – 4:47 pm

We have had a very busy week with a couple of big events going on. First of all, my Dad has been in the hospital for eight days. He is now doing better and may go home tomorrow, but it has been a hard week and he has gone through a lot. My sister and her husband live with Dad and she has stayed at the hospital with him 24/7. They are both weary of being there! We are praying he will indeed be able to go home tomorrow. Here is a picture, taken a few years ago, of my Dad and my children and two dear-daughters-in-law.

Secondly, our church is seeking a pastor, as our long time pastor is retiring. Saturday evening, we hosted a dinner at our home for the pastoral candidate, his family, the elders, deacons, the search committee and their spouses. That adds up to 26 people. We were busy during the week preparing for the event. It turned out to be a wonderful evening, as we had hoped it would be. Lots of laughter and lots of talking. The pastoral candidate preached on Sunday and after church there was a church dinner so everyone had a chance to visit with them. It was great to meet the candidate and his family and we look forward to their next visit in September.

So we’ve had a week of two big, but entirely different, kinds of events. I am looking forward to this week, which should be much more relaxed…until Friday when my baby goes off to college! That may be a tough day…

At the end of the week before last, I was working on more spool ornaments.

I hope to finish those off this week and get them listed in my Etsy shop ChristmasNotebook.

Saturday, DH spotted a box turtle in the yard. We keep pictures of the box turtles we find and it’s always fun to see if ones we find in the current year have been spotted before. This big boy looks like a new one.

Sunday afternoon was definitely a day of rest. Even for Clark and Winston, who joined us in the library where we visited with Older Daughter who was home for the afternoon to give her best to Youngest Daughter who leaves for school at the end of the week. Clark had to be shaved earlier this summer because of fur mats. His coat is finally beginning to grow back in. Normally, he would have longer fur than Winston.

Down to business…here’s the menu for the week.

Monday
Marinated Chicken (leftovers from Saturday evening)
Corn on the Cob
Sliced Garden Tomatoes

Tuesday
Chicken Tacos

Wednesday
Mongolian Beef in the Crock Pot
Brown Rice

Thursday / Requests from Youngest Daughter before going to college on Friday.
Fried Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Green Beans
Baking Powder Biscuits
Gravy
Chocolate Cake / Ice Cream

Friday
Fridge Food

Saturday
Turkey Sandwiches
Sliced Tomatoes
Pretzels

Sunday
Spaghetti
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Garlic Bread
Sweet Corn
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

You can find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (0)

glitter test

August 10, 2016 – 7:56 am

I’ve been emailing back and forth with an online friend who is making her own little glitter houses. She is having a problem with glitter loss after the houses are done.

My friend did some experimenting with different kinds of glues and glitter, but hasn’t found a solution yet. I decided to do a glitter test on my own Putz houses to see if they would lose glitter, too. My houses aren’t sprayed with any kind of fixative, clear coat, hair spray, etc.

The little yellow house before testing.

I held the house and faced it down toward the black paper. I gave it a gentle thump on the paper. It didn’t lose very much at all.

This is what it looked like after two heavier thumps. Not bad.

I tried another house and got similar results.

Before any thumping.

After a gentle thump.

After two heavier thumps.

Not bad. It lost a very small amount of the larger glitter that I use on the “snowed” areas, like the roof, the tops of fence posts, etc. It didn’t seem to lose much of the fine glitter that is used on the house and those portions of the roof without snow.

Here’s a shot of the roof of the yellow house. The pink roof has been glittered with Martha Stewart Fine Glitter. The snow has been glittered with Sulyn Crystal Glitter.

These are the results of rubbing my finger along the roof of the house. Some glitter loss, but not much.

Yellow house…

Blue house…even less loss from rubbing the roof with my finger than on the yellow house.

To paint my Putz houses, I use a mixture of acrylic paint and white glue, equal parts, more or less…I don’t measure, just pour and stir together. Then I add a sprinkle of clean white sand to add some texture. After I paint the house, and while the paint is still wet, I sprinkle on the glitter. Perhaps the glue in the paint helps it adhere well.

I was happy with the way the tests turned out. The houses didn’t lose much glitter, which is good to know. And nothing else fell off, either, which is good! LOL!

These houses are two of the thirty little glitter / Putz houses available in my Etsy shop. Stop by and see what else is in the shop. As always, all proceeds benefit ministry to those who live in one of the largest slums in Africa. Thank you for your support! ChristmasNotebook

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (1)

menu plan monday ~ august 8, 2016

August 8, 2016 – 6:15 pm

It has been a busy few weeks! We had the grands here the last week of July for Bible School. It was structured as an art camp. On Sunday evening, VBS hosted an art show so the children could show their parents the work they had done. Everyone was asked to bring snacks, so we made “art cookies.” We dipped graham and Ritz crackers in white candy coating and, when they had hardened, the girls drew pictures on them with food markers. Fun! And a hit at VBS!

Our church’s youth camp was last week. DH is the director and he was very busy there. I put together a twenty page “yearbook” for the campers each year, using pictures Middle Daughter takes during the first three days of camp. So those days were pretty much yearbook, day and night. By the time I had that done, my eyes were very tired of looking at the computer screen! I could have used a quiet day at camp overlooking the lake! The campers weren’t there for quiet, though! DH came home tired, but grateful for another wonderful week of youth camp.

We slid through last week without a menu plan. I don’t really want to do that again! So here’s what we’re looking at:

Monday
Fridge Food

Tuesday
Chicken Quesadillas with Avocado Sour Cream
Mexican Chopped Salad

Wednesday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Honey Mustard Pretzels
Sliced Tomatoes

Thursday
Crock Pot Mongolian Beef with Broccoli
Brown Rice

Friday
Ham or Turkey Sandwiches

Saturday
Dinner for Twenty
We’re making the meat. Our guests are bringing sides and desserts. Thank you, all!
Alton Brown’s Pot Roast
Delicious Marinated Chicken

Sunday
Fridge Food

You can find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (0)

new spool ornaments

July 30, 2016 – 12:14 pm

I finished a few more spool ornaments. I plan to take proper pictures and post the ornaments to Etsy today.

How do you feel about snow like the red one has? Yes, please? Or, no, I like them better without?

The bead stars I used on my previous spool ornaments were blue like on the spool of blue thread below. The blue star didn’t look good with the colors I was using this time around. I looked through my bead collection and found little flower beads that work well as stars. The silver looks good with the spool colors.

I use miniature ornaments, bells, and charms to dangle from the bottom of the ornament. Most get a bead of some kind to add a little bling.

Purple, anyone?

I trimmed this spool with a little wired chenille. Extra sparkle.

I’m working on more of them today, though I need more bottle brush trees. I have those ordered and they should be here on Tuesday. More soon!

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in ornaments | Comments (2)

menu plan monday ~ july 25, 2016

July 26, 2016 – 9:24 pm

Just for fun, I thought I’d show you my spool jars since I mentioned them in this post – spool ornaments. All this stuff came from my mom’s stash. I am happy to have it and to use it to carry on her creative efforts. I got my artsy genes from her. Thanks, Mom!

After I uploaded the pictures to flickr.com, I noticed one of the jars had a little slip of newspaper in it. Had to fish it out, of course. It was obviously saved for this little poem. BTW, Carlinville is where I grew up.

I took a look at the back to try to date it. It says “Lanius to Be Interviewed By McNamee” which dates this to May 1941. That little slip of paper took me on an interesting journey. I found out that Charles Lanius was a news journalist during World War 2. I also tried to find Garet Sten, the author of the poem, but had no luck tracking him down. I did find one more poem by him, though. I also learned about the Helen Hayes Theater and about radio station WBBM, which was founded in 1911 and is still on the air. Probably more than you want to know…but it was fun solving the mystery.

I’m a day late with my menu post, but better late than never. Especially for me and a menu plan. I hope you will give menu planning a try. I find it SO helpful to have an idea of what we’ll be eating for the week ahead. I can have all the ingredients on hand and meals ready to go, no stress, no fuss. A lot of times the menu is juggled and doesn’t come out the way I plan it, but that doesn’t matter. We can adjust it to suit our needs.

Monday
Fridge Food

Tuesday
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken and Veggies
Garden Salad

Wednesday
Hamburgers
Homemade Buns
Corn on the Cob
Tomato and Cucumber Slices

Thursday
Slow Cooker Broccoli Beef
Brown Rice

Friday
BBQ Pork Steaks in the Oven
Caprese Salad with Fresh Corn

Saturday
Zucchini and Herbed Ricotta Flatbread

Sunday
Spaghetti
Quick and Easy Spaghetti Sauce
Garlic Bread
Sugar Snap Peas
Garden Salad

Afternoon Snack
Crock Pot Apples over Ice Cream

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (1)

spool ornaments

July 26, 2016 – 12:20 am

I noticed on Pinterest that my spool ornaments, and the tutorial for the same, get a lot of pins. Since they are popular, I decided to make some for my Etsy shop ChristmasNotebook.

BTW, here’s the link to the tutorial:

ornament tutorial: bottle brush tree on a wooden spool

If you make any, I’d love to see some pictures! This is what I made.

You can’t see it in this picture, but the blue thread is embellished with fine silver glitter. Very pretty!

I also made this one with some snow on it.

I used some of the spools of thread that I brought back from my parents’ home after my mother passed away. I have three one-gallon jars full of wooden spools from Mom’s stash. Some empty, some with thread on them.

Some even have the price on the label. When’s the last time you found a spool of thread for 15¢?

The tutorial covers the process, but I thought I’d point out a few things. In the tutorial, I used empty spools and wrapped them with paper.

This time, I used glitter glue to glam up the thread and the spool.

This is the glue I use. Sargent Silver Glitter Glue.

I noticed on amazon.com that it doesn’t get great reviews from some people, but I have never had any trouble or complaints about it. It’s a fine glitter in a clear glue. It can be spread over something without obliterating what it’s covering. I think I’m on my third bottle of the silver. It has always been more “clumpy” than the other colors, and it doesn’t squeeze from the bottle very well, but I just take the lid off and squeeze a clump into a small dish and spread it with my fingers. Works for me. The other colors I’ve used come out easily through the nozzle (gold, blue, opalescent, red and green).

When spreading it over the spool, take time to clean out any that gets inside the holes. They need to be open so a thread can be placed through the holes to hold a dangling miniature ornament. Or a bell. Or a charm. Whatever floats your boat.

The next step is to add the dangle. I use these kinds of miniature ornaments. They can be found at stores like Hobby Lobby, Walmart stores with a large craft department, Michaels, etc. Hobby Lobby has an aisle dedicated to miniature Christmas trees and items to decorate them.

A bead added to the string before pulling the gold cord through the spool adds a little extra bling.

A dab of hot glue holds the cord down to the top of the spool. When the glue hardens, the cord can be trimmed close to the glue.

Time to decorate the tree. I like to use the small strand beads. They come in many colors and are a nice size for the little bottle brush trees. I dot a little hot glue where I want to start the strand, wind the beads around and fix them with a dot of hot glue half way up and again at the top.

Next comes the star for the top of the tree. I used a bead with a hole large enough to pass the wire through the bead twice. The tutorial shows how to make the tree topper.

The tree is glued to the spool and we’re almost done.

I used my fine point tweezers to add some silver beads to the tree. They do a good job of covering up a little blob of glue or filling a hole in the branches.

A sprinkle of glitter over the tree and it’s done.

I added red beads to this tree.

They are a lot of fun to make. I’ll be adding more to my Etsy shop soon.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in ornaments | Comments (5)

putz houses and making tiny tinsel trees

July 23, 2016 – 9:48 pm

I have finished the second set of Putz houses for this week. The first one is a two-tier house in blue and green, which is my favorite color combination for these little houses.

For this house, I made silver “trees” from 3/4″ wide, wired, silver tinsel roping.

I cut the wired tinsel to the length that I wanted the tree to be.

I cut the tip into a point.

Instant tiny tinsel tree.

I topped off each little tree with a vintage mercury bead, using a dot of hot glue.

A little hot glue held them in place. I propped them until the glue set, so they wouldn’t lean.

I’ve done the same kind of trimming on individual stems from artificial Christmas trees and other artificial greenery. An easy way to make little trees for Putz houses.

I added an iridescent tinsel tree in front of the two silver ones. I like the way they look.

I also finished this little blue and brown “ski slope” house today.

I kept it fairly simple. This house is one of my favorite designs.

I hope you have enjoyed the little glitter houses. I will be working on a custom order this next week. I also plan to put together a tutorial on making picket fences for the Putz houses.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (3)

two finished putz houses

July 22, 2016 – 10:57 pm

I have enjoyed getting back to crafting after a week or so of sorting, organizing and rearranging my craft room.

The first house I finished is a small yellow one. It’s a simple design that reminds me a lot of vintage glitter houses.

I used some vintage mercury glass beads to decorate the front yard.

The little brown house was at this stage when I took it up again yesterday.

I really like the way it turned out. The tree is decorated with a string of vintage red mercury beads.

I used a little bit of foliage and ribbon from an old thrifted ornament I took apart to decorate the roof of the house.

Both houses are now listed in my Etsy shop. ChristmasNotebook

I’ll be working on two more houses tomorrow. This design I call the “ski slope house.”

I also want to embellish this one which I am planning to keep for myself. I love this little house. The fence is made by using a hole punch to punch half circles from the top and the bottom of the fence at regular intervals.

I hope you are finding time to use your God-given talents and creativity! Happy crafting!

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Putz / glitter houses | Comments (0)

why i haven’t been crafting this week…

July 19, 2016 – 9:30 pm

I have had a lot of issues with my legs, especially my left leg, over the past few years. One of the things it has kept me from doing is climbing the stairs to the second floor where my wonderful craft room is. The ceilings in our house are twelve feet high and that makes the staircase very long. I’ve seen a lot of improvement lately and am now able to go up the stairs again. Here’s Clark waiting for me to climb the twenty-two steps. He sat like that for about five minutes while I wound up the courage to make the trip! It’s still a little daunting for me, but I’m doing better all the time.

Anyhoo, while I couldn’t go up the stairs, DH brought my craft tools and supplies down to the “music room” and I happily crafted there. (Crafting in the music room.) Now he’s carrying it all back up! But one thing I needed to do before I could really use the craft room as I wanted to, was rearrange and organize it.

DH set up an 8′ long table on the east end of the craft room and I started pulling everything out. Youngest Daughter helped. All that went on, under, and around the table. Here’s the scary side of the room. Did you notice that you can’t see the table??

I sorted through every box and container. I pitched a lot, organized a lot, and put away a lot. After a few days, I began to see progress.

It may be hard to tell, but this is more progress.

Once done, I decided to keep the long table in the room. I have all my Etsy stock stored there right now.

The other side of the room is looking better, too. The room was a second story porch at one time. It’s 27′ long and 11′ wide with an 8′ ceiling.

Just to the right of the cabinets in this picture is the door to the hall. BTW, a friend of ours made the custom cabinets for me. Love them! You can see the process of renovating the porch into a scrapbook/craft room here: Scrapbook Room Renovation

On the counter to the far right are my fridge, microwave and toaster. On the counter to the left is the ice maker, which I love having in the craft room. I can pack a lunch and stay up here all day.

Lined up on the counter are the Putz houses I plan to work on tomorrow while my dear friend Marsha comes to visit. She plans to work on her family tree. I may do some of that, too.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that DH did carry a few boxes out of the room for me. They are stored until I have time to go through them. Some of it is scrapbooking supplies. Some of it is paper. And more paper. I need to go through it, but much will be thrown away. And I also have to confess that I did not go through the upper cabinets. I need one of the girls to help me with that. A job for another day! But all my Putz supplies, Christmas crafting supplies, etc., are in the lower cabinets and drawers where I can access everything. I’m ready to craft again!

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in crafting, organize | Comments (2)

menu plan monday ~ july 18, 2016

July 18, 2016 – 2:03 pm

I’ve spent several days working on rearranging my craft room. Still have a ways to go, but have a good incentive to get things done. My dear friend Marsha and her husband Paul are coming to visit on Wednesday. MJ and I will spend the day crafting. Our husbands will spend the day catering to our needs. And anything else they find to do. Jane and I are just going to have fun!

Marsha and I went to high school together, but had different sets of friends. I didn’t know her well then. Imagine my surprise at college, when I turned a corner in the dorm and there she was! We became BFFs in college, shared apartments, had the same friends, etc. We met our husbands at college, too. Paul and Marsha have been married forty years. DH and I will hit forty next summer.

MJ and I will always be best friends! I love it when we can get together. We spend the whole day laughing! She always gives me a lift! Here is Marsha several years ago, when we made Putz houses together.

I don’t know what we’ll work on this week, but I know it will be fun! Here’s the menu for the week. I’m trying a new recipe for BBQ chicken in the crock pot for lunch on Wednesday. Something easy for company. I can make it ahead, serve it whenever we’re ready, and there will be leftovers for another day. Sounds good to me!

Monday
Carry Out: Roast Beef and Pepper-jack Subs

Tuesday
Crock Pot Pork Chops
Boiled Red Potatoes
Garden Salad

Wednesday
BBQ Chicken in the Crock Pot
Homemade Buns
Pretzels
Fresh Fruit

Thursday
Fridge Food

Friday
Tacos

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Spaghetti
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Corn on the Cob
Sugar Snap Peas
Garlic Bread
Garden Salad

You can find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (0)

Christmas Notebook

menu plan monday ~ august 15, 2016

glitter test

menu plan monday ~ august 8, 2016

new spool ornaments

menu plan monday ~ july 25, 2016

spool ornaments

putz houses and making tiny tinsel trees

two finished putz houses

why i haven’t been crafting this week…

menu plan monday ~ july 18, 2016

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