Refinished Nativity

I think I've mentioned before that I have a beautiful Willow Tree  nativity that I love.  It was given to me in pieces over the years by my in-laws and one of the pieces included an unfinished wooden stable.  I've used it as is for a couple of years but this year I seem to be on the hunt for craft after craft but I don't have a ton of supplies on hand.  I did however have everything I needed to finish this project.

Here's what it looked like when I got it.  You can see I'd already started to stain the stand for the angel.

I quickly sanded any rough spots and then used a foam brush to apply a thin coat of stain.  I used the same stain I used on the top piece of our headboard so it didn't cost anything.

Here's the after.  I felt like it needed a little colour so I made this quick little pennant banner out of paper.  I think it makes it all pop a little.

Here's the entire set

What Catie Wore Wednesday #61

Lots of cute pictures this week

I've had this dress for a really long time and now it finally, almost fits.  Looks great with her boots.

Cuddling with Daddy after church.

I was an awesome Mommy this week and despite my hate of snow I still took her outside to play.

She got really mad every time she fell down but otherwise she loved her time in the snow.

I couldn't quite capture the moment but she wore Daddy's gloves and tie around the house.

Later in the day, carefully lining up her dishes with a penny on each.

We finally set up our Christmas tree and it went so much better than we expected.  Catie was a big help hanging the ornaments, she spread them out really well.  After it was done she walked around and around the tree.

I look forward to lots of Christmas pictures this month.

Regular to Skinny Jeans

So it's no surprise that it's now winter which equals snow and I've quickly realized that it's far easier to put Catie in boots than regular shoes.  Boots require skinny jeans though.  Catie has one pair but they're kind of distinctive so I feel like she can't wear them very often.


I didn't want to buy new jeans so I pulled out a pair of her old pants that fit except they were a little short.  I forgot to take a picture so here's an old one of when they did fit.  You can imagine they'd be super dorky too short but skinny jeans are acceptable if they're a tad short.

I used her new skinnies as a guide to turn those old jeans into these.

Now they look like this

They're kind of extreme skinnies but they look great with her boots and if I hadn't had some tension problems it would have only taken 20 ish minutes.

They turned out so cute and were so easy I may just make another pair. 

What Catie Wore Wednesday #60

Every once in a while I think of a fun activity for Catie and this one was a real winner.  I gave her a little bit of rice and a bunch of different containers and some measuring spoons to pour and scoop.  It was really messy but so much fun that it occupied her for at least 45 minutes.

I think this was right before bedtime.

This picture doesn't do the dress justice.  My sister-in-law made 5 dresses for all the girl cousins and 4 matching vests for the boy cousins.  They all wore their outfits to a Christmas Party, they made such a cute, easy to find group.

We recently took a trip to Ikea and Catie was thrilled with the beds to climb on.

She also loved this cute little chair.

Playing with Daddy.  He pretended to sleep so she could say "boo" and wake him up.

And to finish it off, one crummy but cute iPhone photo.

Noah's Ark Quiet Book

Since I posted my Quiet Book Templates I've had a couple people ask me to make them their own and normally I turn them down flat because they're such a ridiculous amount of work.  But when Jan asked me to make her one I was feeling especially poor so I agreed.  Once we got down to specifics I was even happier to make a book, she only wanted the Noah's Ark page.  The finished book is super cute and hopefully Jan loves it.

The cover page with a cute vintage button.

You open up the cover and see a title page (cutting these letters out were a pain, it made me wish I had a Silouette).

Flip open the next page and you have a landscape scene that will have velcro dots for all the animals, I'm just having a hard time finding some.

The next page includes the ark with a pocket to slip in the animals.

The animals.  I blanket stitched them all and hand sewed everything using cute little black beads for the yes.

One more photo of the animals.

The back cover looks the same as the front.

There it is, a Noah's Ark quiet book.  I shipped it off, hopefully she'll actually get it before Christmas.

If you want to see the rest of my Quiet Book pages then take a look here.

Sarah Slean - Land and Sea

I don't listen to the radio in the car very often but lately my music selection seemed slightly stale so I switched to the radio and I'm just surprised at the really poor quality of music that's popular.  It seems that every song is filled with dance club, synthesized beats so that they all sound the same.  The lyrics can't even begin to be called poetic or intelligent, also is it just me or do they only play the same 10 songs?

This crummy radio selection only proves the quality of real artists, like my favourite, Sarah Slean.  I've mentioned her many times on my blog but not recently and since then I have lots of new US readers.  I figured most of you are unaware of this Canadian gem.

Her music is sometimes quirky but always so musical and beautiful.  The lyrics are heartfelt and intelligent and to see her in concert is really something.  Brad and I recently had that opportunity.  She came and played and we were once again awed by her brilliance.

She has a new album out that everyone should listen too, it's a perfect mix of slow and fast and I thought I'd link to a couple songs for you.

She recently did a series for CBC with an orchestra and performed some of the songs from the new album, this was my favourite.

Napoleon


Land & Sea would make a great Christmas present so listen to these songs, be inspired and then purchase the album.  There are tons of her songs on youtube so if you need more convincing check some of them out.

What Catie Wore Wednesday #60

Allright, I'm aware that these pictures are getting worse but she really does dislike having her picture taken.  It's getting more and more difficult to take a decent photo.  Also, it gets dark so ridiculously early these days.

It's hard to tell but this sweater is so cute.  It has serious pink ruffles that are adorable.

She loves her hat.

MyMemoriesSuite Giveaway Winner

Guess what I forgot to do yesterday, pick a winner for MyMemoriesSuite Giveaway.

It appears this isn't something very many of my readers are interested in so ladies, the odds were in your favour.  I had five whole entries :)

I went old school and wrote your names down on pieces of paper (sometimes twice, depending on how you entered) and then I mixed them up and pulled one out.

JoDana, you won!
Send me an email and I'll give you instructions on how to download the software.

If you didn't win don't forget about my discount code to get you $10 off.

STMMMS87059

Black & Blue Quilled S

I'm embarrassed by this project.  I started making it at least 3 months ago and it's taken me this long to finish.  I would see it sitting there and just push it aside.  To make things worse it's not even a project for me, it's a gift for a friend (a very belated gift).  This two weeks of posting commitment was a great motivator, I needed a post for today and it was the project closest to completion so I pulled out the mod podge and finished.

My friend Janine asked me to make her an S and since I hadn't made it to her wedding I said I'd love to make it as a gift.  She said she wanted blues and black so went out and found this awesome blue frame and some pretty paper.

I had planned on using some damask paper to frame the letter but it just wasn't quite right so I went with the colour stripes on the side and I love them.

This is the second S I've done and because of the swoops in the letter they're kind of a challenge.  It's easy to lose the shape of the letter.  I'm really happy with how it turned out though.

If you want to take a look at the other quilling I've done go here to see.

(By the way, the glass proved very reflective making for sort of crappy photos, it's real pretty in person.)

What Catie Wore Wednesday #59

I didn't realize just how few pictures I'd taken this week until it was time to get this post ready, sorry but this week has included a lot of potty training and I can only take so many pictures that look like this.

I hadn't planned on using this picture at all (she'll love me for it later hey?) but there were just so few I figured I'd better.

Dancing with Daddy

Look at that sad red nose, she's had a cold this week with also contributed to the lack of pictures.  

She sneezes and then runs to the box of Kleenex, grabs one and brings it to me so I can wipe her nose.  She was in the bath one morning and I'd gone to the other room for a minute.  She sneezed and then repeated, "tissue, tissue, tissue" until I got back.  It'd be much cuter if her nose wasn't so raw and painful.

A do have a video to add but it's not from this past week, it's from when I was in Utah.  Grandma taught her the crocodile song and she loves it.