Christmas Notebook

menu plan monday ~ may 23, 2016

May 23, 2016 – 12:13 pm

It was an exciting weekend! Our youngest daughter graduated from high school. We estimated we have had children in grade school and/or high school for 33 years! On Saturday, we hosted an open house to celebrate. Thanks to all who came to enjoy the day with us. Youngest Daughter graduated with honors on Sunday afternoon. We are very proud of her and all she has accomplished. We thank God for the gift she is to our family.

After the busy weekend, it was relaxing to do some work at my desk. I made bases for eleven Putz houses I have ready to decorate. The next step will be to paint the bases. More about them soon.

Down to business… Sometimes it is hard to come up with an appealing menu for the week. When I ask what they want to eat, everyone says “I don’t know…” Good thing about that? No complaints allowed about the menu when it is all left up to me.

Monday
Omelettes
Toasted Sour Dough Bread

Tuesday
Sushi for my birthday!
Strawberry Shortcake

Wednesday
Hamburgers with Smoked Cheddar
Tangy Buttermilk Cheese Buns
Stir Fried Napa Cabbage with Garlic

Thursday
Chicken Parmesan
Steamed Green Beans
Garden Salad

Friday
Mongolian Beef with Broccoli
Brown Rice

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Rosemary Ranch Grilled Chicken
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Sliced Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Asparagus

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

~~Rhonda
ChristmasNotebook at Etsy

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in menu | Comments (4)

ten Christmas shadow boxes

May 17, 2016 – 7:58 pm

Middle Daughter went through the craft room upstairs and found ten Christmas card shadow boxes that I made last year. I was able to get them listed in my Etsy shop today. ChristmasNotebook

This one features a polar bear. So cute!

I love how different all the Christmas cards are. It’s fun to go through my collection of cards, choosing the ones I want to use for new projects. Many thanks to everyone who has given me their old Christmas cards!

The snowy, trimmed-in-white ones are my favorites.

The deer by the lake…

Skating by the old mill.

People either like this one a lot or they don’t like it at all. I like the way the greenery rings the shadow box.

Another wintery white one…

Little girl in gold…

Country church…

Looking through the toy store window.

It takes a while to get items ready to post to Etsy. I have to groom the craft item to remove lint and hot glue strings, take pictures, edit the pictures and then post them to Etsy. It took a good part of the afternoon to get these ten items listed. I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look.

If you are interested in making shadow boxes yourself, you can take a look at my tutorial. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

shadow boxes from Christmas cards

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Christmas shadow boxes | Comments (0)

menu plan monday ~ may 16, 2016

May 17, 2016 – 11:05 am

I’m a day late with the menu. I spent all day yesterday sorting and organizing the downstairs craft room. It’s overflowing with supplies and finished projects. I was so caught up in the work of cleaning things up that I forgot about putting up the weekly menu. It follows below if you are interested.

I’m happy with the progress I am making with my craft space. I’ve made a lot more room on the desk for work space. It may be hard to tell in the picture, but most of the items will be put away when I’m done and that will be a good amount of rescued space.

Behind the desk, it’s a mess at the moment. But it’s not as bad as it appears. I’ve sorted through everything, got rid of some, organized the lot, and it’s just a matter of deciding how I want to store everything.

Looks worse in the picture than it does in person, I promise. I think the reorganization of my supplies will make my work proceed more smoothly. I have a lot of Putz houses made and ready to put on bases and embellish. I also have eight more shadow boxes ready to list. I just need to take pictures and get them posted to my Etsy shop. ChristmasNotebook

Now the menu…

Monday
Fridge Food

Tuesday
Asian Chicken
Wild Rice
Steamed Green Beans
Green Salad

Wednesday
Pan Seared Tilapia
Baby Baked Potatoes
Roasted Cabbage with Maple Bacon

Thursday
Chicken / Veggie Stir Fry
Brown Rice

Friday
Chef Salad

Saturday
We’re hosting an open house in the afternoon to celebrate our youngest daughter’s graduation from high school. Easy meals are on the menu for today.

Lunch / Ham or Turkey Sandwiches
Pretzels
Fruit Salad

Supper / Omelettes
Sour Dough Toast

Sunday
Roast Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Asparagus
Carrots

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

~~Rhonda

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

two-tiered putz

May 14, 2016 – 11:45 am

Today I finished the other two-tiered Putz house that I had ready to embellish. The house is yellow and blue. I fiddled with it for quite a while before I settled on a scheme I liked. I used gold embellishments and two green bottle brush trees.

Do you like the puff of smoke? And the lights…I think they make the house come alive.

The two-tiered house is a fun one. I want to make more with curved roofs. I like the lines.

There are more pictures of the house in my Etsy shop. ChristmasNotebook

If anyone has questions about making Putz houses, please feel free to leave a comment and ask. I am happy to help.

~~Rhonda

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

dead laptop, new putz houses

May 13, 2016 – 11:14 am

I have been without my laptop for almost a week. It is an inconvenience to have to sit at one location to use the computer. DH did kindly move the big computer to my craft desk which is really nice! I do appreciate that. Thankfully, my desk is large enough to hold the printer, the computer and all my must-have-at-hand craft tools, while leaving me a work space.

I’ve been using that space every day. As far as I can tell, I have put five more Putz houses in my Etsy shop since I last blogged about a listing. ChristmasNotebook

Unlike some I’ve embellished, this one seemed to need a simple touch.

I used a strand of small silver beads to trim under the eaves.

A light transforms this little blue Putz house.

This little white house with a yellow roof and a yellow fence is embellished with gold accents.

Lights shining…

How cute is this? It would make a nice church, too. I’d like to make one like this with a nativity displayed in the large window.

Again, a simpler theme.

Sweet.

I love this one. I trimmed the roof line with a fine tinsel chenille stem.

A small house on a small base.

This is the house design that inspires me to try to make some Dr. Seuss houses. Wouldn’t a Christmas village of Seuss houses be cute?? I want to pursue that idea when I have a little more time.

Next Christmas I want to light all my Putz houses!

To see more pictures of all these houses, including what they look like from the back and what the bottom of the base looks like, visit my Etsy shop.

ChristmasNotebook

I have one more little glitter house to finish today, then I plan to work on some diorama ornaments.

~~Rhonda

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

menu plan monday ~ may 9, 2016

May 9, 2016 – 12:53 pm

The irises and peonies are blooming. I love this time of year.

The yard looks so lush and green.

Menu Plan Monday has rolled around again. It always catches me by surprise. We grilled for Mother’s Day and made plenty of extra, so we’ll be having that for supper tonight.

Monday
Fridge Food

Tuesday
Turkey in the Crock Pot
Steamed Green Beans
Garden Salad

Wednesday
Asian Beef with Mushrooms and Snow Peas
Brown Rice

Thursday
Chicken Parmesan
Brussels Sprouts
Corn on the Cob
Garden Salad

Friday
Tacos

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Roast Beef
Mashed Potatoes
Sauteed Snow Peas and Cherry Tomatoes
Garden Salad

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

~~Rhonda
ChristmasNotebook at Etsy

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

finished the little blue Putz house

May 9, 2016 – 11:13 am

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Four of our five children were able to be here yesterday and I received a nice call from Younger Son. He and his wife live too far away to come home often. Older Son and his wife and the three grands were here. As always, a lot of fun. DH grilled dinner, including ears of corn (so good!) and Older Son made two pies. I requested peach/raspberry pie and he also made an apple pie. A sweet ending to our visit.

After our company left, I finished the little blue Putz house. We had left it like this.

Doesn’t it look great with a light in it? Tiny LEDs are perfect for these little houses. I like these I found on Amazon.com. Mini LED lights

Here is the finished house.

You can see more pictures of this little house in my Etsy shop. Little Blue Putz House

I have two more houses ready to embellish. One has a pink fence. The other has a yellow fence. I’ll have pictures to share later today.

~~Rhonda

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

two more putz houses

May 6, 2016 – 10:50 pm

I have a drawer full of Putz houses that I cut from poster board last year but hadn’t put together yet. I pulled a couple of those out last week and put them together. After they had been painted and glittered, I pinned them to cardboard so they would dry straight. The poster board absorbs a lot of moisture from the paint/glue mixture.

Window and door frames came next.

And then window panes. Then roofs.

The other house didn’t have a roof with it, so I drew a new pattern and made the roof from poster board.

After painting “snow” on the roofs, I made a base for each house.

After letting the bases dry overnight, I glued the houses down, added snow all around and glittered the snow.

Fences next. I enjoy making the fences and adding them to a base. It makes the Putz house look much more complete to me.

Fence posts. Aren’t they cute?

I am loving the pink fence. But am wondering if I should have painted the fence posts pink as well.

The stepping stones are down, but not painted yet. But I wanted to show you how sweet the house looks with a light inside.

And the other house…The lighting makes the roof and fence look very, very pink, but they are really not that dark.

I have three more houses to show you, but will do that in another post. I hope you enjoyed these!

~~Rhonda
ChristmasNotebook at Etsy

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

back to putz houses

May 2, 2016 – 11:51 pm

Today I began working on two little Putz houses. After I painted and glittered them, I pinned them to cardboard so they will dry with straight walls

The green roof is for the little house in the back. As are the white window frames.

I will have to cut a roof for the other house and then make the window frames for it.

When I get these done, I will need to start making more from scratch. Time to pull out the pattern book.

My exciting news…I sold four Putz houses today! I am very grateful for the order. Tomorrow I’ll be packing them for shipping. I’ll be sending off my favorite house, but I have the feeling it and the others are going to a good home.

~~Rhonda

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