tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87890892512519283682024-03-12T16:08:35.680-07:00HamburkeCrafting through it all.hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-55029114525320796232016-09-16T08:20:00.003-07:002016-09-16T08:22:50.929-07:00Cookies ShortcutHave you ever seen break apart cookie dough and wondered if you can do it from scratch?<br />
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I did and am so glad I didn't have to pull out my rolling pin for all the cookies I made!<br />
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What you need:<br />
a square or rectangle pan that is smaller than your freezer bags<br />
parchment or wax paper<br />
your favorite cookie dough**<br />
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I made my friend's mom's spicy molasses cookie dough. I picked this one b/c the recipe is for A LOT of cookies! I always forget to half it until I get to the flour and go "that's a lot of flour...oh yeah - this is their Christmas Plate cookie recipe and it makes 12 dozen (albeit small, thin) cookies." I made this recipe so that I could try out a few options. The one thing that I did not try out is cutting and cooking them immediately - the spices need to meld with the dough.<br />
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So anyway, I lined my small aluminum baking pan with waxed paper (I'm out of parchment) and pressed 1/8 (by weight) of the dough evenly into the pan which gave me about a 1/4" sheet of dough.<br />
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Then I experimented a bit:<br />
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Option 1: the dough sheet<br />
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I pulled out the waxed paper and dough, wrapped it up and put it in the gallon sized freezer bag. When I took them out to bake, cutting the cold dough cracked it a little bit. It is a dry dough though - same thing happens when I roll out the cookies.<br />
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Option 2: pre-scoring the cookies<br />
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I pulled the dough sheet and waxed paper out of the pan, cut about 3/4 thru the dough, wrapped it up and put it in my gallon sized freezer bag. This way actually worked out better - the squares pretty much broke apart without much chipping and cracking or crumbs.<br />
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Storage Option A: Fridge<br />
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The store bought ones come refrigerated and my rolled dough recipes all include chilling 4+ hours in the fridge. This option went as expected.<br />
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Storage Option B: Freezer (cook straight from freezer)<br />
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This also went as expected - longer cooking time, a bit undercooked in the center.<br />
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Storage Option C: Freezer (thaw and cook)<br />
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The only problem with this option is that I did this in the humid summer of Virginia - I set it out to thaw and there was a lot of condensation so the dough was a bit soggy... oh well... It will be fine to do in the winter when it'd dryer or maybe put in a towel into the freezer bag to collect the dampness - I'm up for other suggestions!<br />
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**Note - this works better for a dryer cookie dough. I did try it with the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe and it was more difficult to push into the paper-lined pan, broke when I cut it and stuck to the paper. However, I have now looked up how to make shaped chocolate chip cookies and will be trying these recipes:<br />
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1. use less or no leavener (baking soda or baking powder) so it won't spread as much. They will rise a bit anyway because of the egg. I'm not sure that's helpful here as it still has a wet dough.<br />
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2. cut down on the liquids (1.5 sticks butter instead of 2, 1 egg instead of 2) and reduce the leavener (3/4 tsp baking soda instead of 1 tsp, no baking powder) (http://www.education.com/activity/article/chocolate-chip-shape-cookies/)<br />
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3. experiment with your own recipe!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--CVnzcHcRog/V9wNtYerx5I/AAAAAAAAPII/GGbJYh755xc5gN5V4EZzEvHXzvXa48G-ACLcB/s1600/FullSizeRender%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--CVnzcHcRog/V9wNtYerx5I/AAAAAAAAPII/GGbJYh755xc5gN5V4EZzEvHXzvXa48G-ACLcB/s320/FullSizeRender%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Funny Square Cookies!</td></tr>
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-35601796033884048742016-04-22T07:11:00.001-07:002016-04-22T07:11:20.740-07:00April Bulletin BoardI had so much fun with this bulletin board! I decided to set it up like one of those fabric memo boards with the ribbons pulled across and held in place by buttons. It turned out great!<br />
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The events that we were advertising were:<br />
Earth Day<br />
Field Day<br />
Library Night<br />
Author visit<br />
5th grade program<br />
Kindergarten Registration Day<br />
Special Olympics Little Feet Meet (not pictured - they had some tee shirts that we stapled up a few days later)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wdycjPyNA5o/Vxos5GmyKuI/AAAAAAAAN7M/8kA35sg_S0AlXtVf1WzvTMerogdY4M--wCLcB/s1600/IMG_2713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wdycjPyNA5o/Vxos5GmyKuI/AAAAAAAAN7M/8kA35sg_S0AlXtVf1WzvTMerogdY4M--wCLcB/s320/IMG_2713.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The (mostly) finished product</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zapfR-Sc_sQ/Vxos9aX20_I/AAAAAAAAN7U/dMRwxw7vRekPd-9zrL1sjsRHkn63VvU2gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zapfR-Sc_sQ/Vxos9aX20_I/AAAAAAAAN7U/dMRwxw7vRekPd-9zrL1sjsRHkn63VvU2gCLcB/s320/IMG_2638.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It started from here - measurements, planning and placement! I love that I have these grid sheets left over from teaching!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qjay5oPkxvM/Vxos9Mg2yCI/AAAAAAAAN7Q/ifjiwXF1U-c6O41H_DMH1OThw_qjusAlQCLcB/s1600/IMG_2639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qjay5oPkxvM/Vxos9Mg2yCI/AAAAAAAAN7Q/ifjiwXF1U-c6O41H_DMH1OThw_qjusAlQCLcB/s320/IMG_2639.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I forgot to photograph the homemade stencil (a poster board frame with clear contact paper cut out in damask stencil) but here's the work it did - I let it dry over the break and put up the rest when school was back in session.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t0s4z0LmKnc/Vxos9MTqALI/AAAAAAAAN7Y/T1dZHptaxUU7zk6yKVI5RucAfWpdIQ9pwCLcB/s1600/IMG_2687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t0s4z0LmKnc/Vxos9MTqALI/AAAAAAAAN7Y/T1dZHptaxUU7zk6yKVI5RucAfWpdIQ9pwCLcB/s320/IMG_2687.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Field Day sunglasses and pennants and the "buttons" for the memo board - old Earth Day poster themes!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-me9Hf7YoNTo/Vxos9hSLMbI/AAAAAAAAN7c/IJnfAr-i7aIH80plW1cGJGUENATZoRkZgCLcB/s1600/IMG_2688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-me9Hf7YoNTo/Vxos9hSLMbI/AAAAAAAAN7c/IJnfAr-i7aIH80plW1cGJGUENATZoRkZgCLcB/s320/IMG_2688.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kindergarten registration - what's more fun than crayons?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ru1admEJmsA/Vxos9yqtDTI/AAAAAAAAN7g/CmfgzWNhr20pnmy72ibyFeRDtCdBh7u4ACLcB/s1600/IMG_2709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ru1admEJmsA/Vxos9yqtDTI/AAAAAAAAN7g/CmfgzWNhr20pnmy72ibyFeRDtCdBh7u4ACLcB/s320/IMG_2709.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Library Night theme was a campout!<br /></td></tr>
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I have been working on my Etsy shop too! I created 2 new bonnets of my own pattern (one was to match a pair of booties someone had received and has been sent out and the other hasn't been photographed yet - my craft room is a mess so I haven't had room yet!), made some custom requests for various customers (sloth scarf, anybody?) and this <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/120064898/crochet-baby-bonnet-baby-hat-with-satin" target="_blank">bonnet</a> and <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/200883849/crochet-button-flap-ankle-booties-for" target="_blank">booties</a> set!<br />
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-35860433380954555322016-02-29T09:38:00.003-08:002016-02-29T10:09:34.087-08:00New Bulletin BoardI did not plan any of these events so I don't have a break down of how-tos but I did design the bulletin board this month (our PTA bulletin board coordinator has left the school).<br />
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So March is a busy month - sort of... there's basically 10 days of being busy in the middle of the month! I'm already planning next month's to go up before Spring Break. I think I'm going to do like one of those fabric covered cork boards with the ribbons...<br />
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So, here are the events represented:<br />
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March Madness Boys Night Out at SkyZone (Mar 10)<br />
Lucky Clover 5K and Fun Run (Mar 12)<br />
Scholastic Book Fair (kicking off at the 5K - Mar 12 to Mar 18)<br />
Yard & Bake Sale benefiting our SPED team (Mar 19)<br />
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The bulletin board that the PTA decorates is 8'x8' - that's a lot of space to cover and it needs to be eye catching and informative.<br />
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Out of all of this board, the one piece that has the best story (and has already gotten the more compliments) is the RAINBOW! When I was in the beginning planning stages of the board, I woke up in the middle of the night with a great idea - and woke my husband up to tell him about it talking a mile a minute! Here's my directions:<br />
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1. Cut 3 inch strips of bulletin board paper.<br />
2. Fold just the short edge into 3rds and glue to a strip of cardstock or poster board. I put a weight over the edges (ok, a rectangular trivet upside down) to hold into place while it dries.*<br />
3. When the glue is set, twist the paper into a tube, fold the edge into 3rds and glue onto another strip of cardstock or poster board remembering to make an arc (the bottom color - blue/purple - will be shorter than the top color - red). Place a weight on that side until the glue is set.<br />
4. Cut 2 clouds to hide the glued edges.<br />
5. To hang it up, staple the cardstock down and then adjust the twists in the tubes so they are even. Open up one of the twists in the center of the rainbow and staple the back side, readjusting the twists to hide the staple. Repeat for each color. Depending on how big the rainbow is, you may need to staple in several places to make it secure.<br />
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*You can always substitute staples for glue<br />
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The shoes are kind of a hit as well! I knew I wanted shoes on the 5K part so I searched for a "sneaker template". I found this template on <a href="http://inkablinka.com/2013/01/stand-in-holy-places-new-beginnings.html" target="_blank">an LDS crafting blog</a> but it was highly applicable once I got rid of the religious part. Actually, the whole blog has fantastic simple crafting ideas that can be applied to a variety of events!<br />
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I'm looking at this board and realizing how I could have done it better - isn't that always the way? Anyway, doing it again, I'd put "March Madness" across the top on one line and bring the SZ logo behind the brackets. I would have then had room to move the yard sale sign up a bit and for it to be more of a square (we decided book fair needed a bit more room than originally planned so squashed the yard sale square a bit intentionally). This would give me a little bit more room to have the yard sale sign. I had originally planned to have the other side of the brackets be the teachers names (they're written on smaller cardstock) but it didn't look right when I got there - better to over plan than under plan...hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-66305328490161105122016-01-07T12:09:00.002-08:002016-01-07T12:09:31.463-08:00Revisit the Bulletin Board<i><a href="http://hamburke.blogspot.com/2014/01/bulletin-board-ideas-movie-night.html" target="_blank">see my previous post about movie night here</a></i><br />
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Two years later and I'm still using the same bulletin board materials! I got some film boarder and changed the movie but it's still the same foam projector and curtains!<br />
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Here's a problem I had and the solution I came up with - how do you hold on the foamboard projector? It kept falling down. We tried staples, pushpins and last year (don't tell the office manager) duct tape... This year, I brought florist greening pins and a pair of wire cutters with me. I cut about 1/2 of the length of the pins off which made them about double the length of a staple but the gauge is not much thicker than a pushpin. I tapped them in with the wire clippers and the projector is really stable! What are your tips and tricks for bulletin boards?hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-58407228515472284172015-04-22T15:04:00.002-07:002015-04-22T15:04:45.313-07:00Top 10 List: Things This Mom Does that Nobody NoticesAbove all the other jobs I have, I am a wife and mother and run our household. My husband has grown to see the advantages of the way I run the house (phone alarms, baby! and lots of them!). My kids are getting older - growing in independence and wisdom like they should - but seem stunted in ways that they can help care for our home even though I have a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151505833694871&set=a.10150356176049871.369088.749519870&type=3&theater" target="_blank">chore chart</a>. Last summer, I came up with a chart of what was expected of them every day and every week before they were allowed to do what they wanted/request an activity or before we left the house for whatever activity we planned (pool, library, kidsbowlfree.com). Here is the list:<br />
Daily:<br />
Empty Dishwasher, Sweep Kitchen, Tidy TV Room, Bring Down & Start a Load of Laundry, Tidy Upstairs Bathroom, Tidy Hallway, Turn off Bedroom Lights, Plan Dinner, Eat Breakfast (yes, I did have to remind them to eat breakfast - this is not a problem during the school year as it's part of the routine but over the summer, there's a looser routine)<br />
Weekly:<br />
Clean Toilet & Sink (2), Sweep Entire Downstairs, Vacuum Bedrooms, Mop Kitchen, Mow Lawn (it's really small and since we have a man-powered push mower, even the little one can do it), Bi-Weekly: bring recycling to curb (trash is backyard service)<br />
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As you will read on, a lot of these chores are on my list of things that nobody notices. I thought having the kids do them would help them see them and the value of them but, alas, it did not help.<br />
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TOP 10 LIST<br />
1 - Sweep the kitchen. Yes, it is a chore that I have technically delegated to my children but they never do it without a significant amount of nagging or picking fights while doing it (dishes person is in the way of the sweeper, they fight and BOTH LEAVE THE ROOM!). Also, we picked up a couple of evening activities - soccer, Tae Kwon Do, cub scouts, girl scouts, PTA, volunteers - and it leaves less time in the evening. I'd also rather not start off my morning with nagging so I've taken to sweeping after they leave for the bus. I could totally make this an after school chore but that would mean spending the day stepping on crumbs and dirt (shoe-free house). I have the kids sweep on Sundays when we're doing the rest of the deep house decluttering. One actually said to me, "Mom, there are way less crumbs on the floor than there was last summer." SMH<br />
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2 - Pick Up the Trash That Doesn't Make it into the bin. Really, do I have to explain this further? Sometimes, unnamed people leave trash on the counter next to the bin. Sometimes they are adult unnamed people. There's no top on the trash can and I'm usually pretty good at taking the trash out before it gets too high so there's no explanation for this. I understand the paper/plastic trash that sometimes falls on the ground next to the bin - static, funny air currents and such - but on the counter next to the bin is just as much, if not more work. This doesn't count the trash that's left willy-nilly around the house.<br />
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3 - Recycling. This kind of goes with trash but I find it an entirely different category and my husband is pretty guilty of this. I try to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible. We actually don't often have a lot of trash (this month is an exception b/c of all the tissue use with allergies) as I buy in bulk to reduce packaging, bring my own reusable doggy bag, use <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/hamburke?section_id=11970368&ref=shopsection_leftnav_7" target="_blank">fabric sandwich bags</a>, compost and recycle as much as can be recycled. I used to have to do it all but I moved paper recycling indoors to the laundry room and after considerable effort and nagging, everyone helps with that. But plastic and glass recycling have not been<br />
4 - Clearing the Breakfast Table. Along with sweeping, I end up clearing the breakfast table after everyone gets on their buses. I'm the only one home during the day so the one one it will bother for 7 hours (x5 days per week - that's a lot of time to build resentment). My 8 year old cereal eater is the biggest offender since he is decidedly not a morning person and struggles to get out of bed, chose clothes (we've tried picking out clothes the night before and a week at a time and there are tears of "but I don't want to wear that now" - please, Chesterfield County, decide that <a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/this-why-highly-successful-people-wear-the-same-thing-every-day.html" target="_blank">uniforms are a good thing!</a>) and get downstairs in time although the girls and hubby often leave their plates out too.<br />
5 - Find the Dirty Dishes that Missed the Sink. I have a "No Food or Drinks Outside of the Kitchen" rule that's so rarely followed that I put up signs and caution tape last spring. I was tired of finding plates, cups bowls and silverware, not to mention packaging trash, in the living room without anyone noticing. The kids do the dishes and will sometimes even miss dishes that are on the table or next to the sink so I walk around the downstairs and bring all dishes to the sink while the dishes are being done. I should walk around hubby's office b/c I've noticed that we are missing quite a few drinking cups since he started this online class...<br />
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6 - Gardening. Did you know that you actually have to do some work regularly in the garden to keep it looking like it does? The big projects they notice, like the brick that I laid recently, but not one noticed the 30 bags of mulch I put down or the fact that I weeded and mowed the lawn and planted that huge flat of annuals that will probably die before the summer heat really hits. I need to buy a wheelbarrow...<br />
7 - Sweeping outside. As I've mentioned before, we live in a heavily treed neighborhood. We get tree litter (sticks, leaves, seeds, "helicopters", acorns, gumballs, flower petals, etc) constantly and the dense squirrel population likes to dig in planters year 'round so I sweep the porch, side steps and deck often - at least one of those a day. It helps keep inside cleaner b/c they're less likely to track stuff in. The other day, I asked my kids to sweep the side steps before it started raining and they said, "but we just did that a couple days ago!" SMH<br />
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8 - Maintaining the Calendar. Other than the fact that it's necessary to maintain a calendar if you have to consider another person's schedule, it's thankless anyway. The kids don't notice that I maintain it, and make sure that they get to their activities, that I get to things that I need to get to for them, that hubby and I get to places for us (think doctors and dates).<br />
9 - School Supplies. I maintain the bucket-o-supplies. It's actually grown from one bin to one bin and a box. I make sure they have paper, pencils, and erasers. No one ever tells me when we are running low so I have to consistently look at supplies that I do not use!<br />
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10 - Planning, Shopping for and Making Dinner. No one notices those parts, they only remember when I don't do those things...<br />
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Visit my Etsy Shop at <a href="http://hamburke.com/">Hamburke.com</a> where I can make any number of baby hats, sweaters, blankets, fabric sandwich bags or hairbows!hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-76026964033289796022015-04-07T10:28:00.003-07:002015-04-07T15:06:04.453-07:00Can it be Spring Break Yet?uh...yes...in fact, it IS Spring Break 2015! OOPS! I didn't plan!! GAWK! This is where friends and family come in really handy.<br />
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Day 1: visit an amusement park with my sister. I'm not really a roller coaster rider so I don't think about going to amusement parks - which isn't to say that my kids have never been but it's usually with my husband and usually to a park that specializes in shows - but my sister LOVES them! It was her daughter's last day of spring break and the only day the kids breaks overlapped so we took them to Kings Dominion outside of Richmond, VA (hey - it's right by my house, everyone I know has season passes including my sister who lives several hours away!). I haven't been there in 15 years. Paramount is no longer a sponsor so the "Scooby Doo" roller coaster is no longer called "Scooby Doo" (it's the Woodstock Express) and the Rebel Yell doesn't run backwards anymore (those are the 2 that I ride) and what happened to the Wayne's World area? Plus there's like 3 roller coasters I'd never heard of. Anyway, I've apparently raised kids who don't like roller coasters either so I think we bored my sister and niece! But I did the spinny rides that my sister can't stomach with my niece so there's a tradeoff. I think we'll go back some day!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the end of the day when sis and niece had run for one last ride on the big roller coasters</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My little guy driving like a pro!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2/3 of my crew - my sis took one of my kids on the roller coasters while we explored the less "thrilling" areas of the park</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">all 4 kids got a seat together on the carousel but had to go again b/c one didn't go up and down :-(</td></tr>
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Day 2: Bowling with friends. It's wet and rainy. I'm sore and tired from the day at the amusement park. I had a Living Social Deal that expires at the end of the month - 2 hours of bowling for 6 people. Add in friends and $1 hot dogs - totally awesome day!</div>
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Day 3: Clean rooms, shop at Costco. Okay, this is boring but needs to be done<br />
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Day 4: Meet Daddy for lunch and the art museum. We're members of the VMFA so I got us tickets to their special exhibit: <a href="http://reservations.vmfa.museum/state/Info.aspx?EventID=51" target="_blank">Van Gogh, Manet, and Matisse: The Art of the Flower</a><br />
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Day 5: ??<br />
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Weekend: SOCCER!<br />
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So anything that you guys can think of for that last day? HELP! I only have a couple days until then!<br />
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News in the Shop:<br />
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I have a couple of RTS (Ready to Ship) items available. I made these so that I could take photos.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">large preemie - 11" head circumference https://www.etsy.com/listing/227352306</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">0-3 mo https://www.etsy.com/listing/227352306</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">3-12 mo https://www.etsy.com/listing/227352630</td></tr>
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-62706371230500995082015-03-25T19:34:00.000-07:002015-03-28T06:37:19.430-07:00Spring Gardening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I live in <a href="http://laurieberkner.com/music/cds/under-a-shady-tree.html" target="_blank">Under A Shady Tree</a> - well, actually, lots of shady trees...</div>
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This makes it hard to grow grass...</div>
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We have moss and some of this pretty stuff! </div>
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(I wish I knew what it was called because I'd plant more)</div>
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So I focus on the garden beds.</div>
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Last year, I worked on the back yard - I laid a brick border in part of the yard and transplanted liriope to edge this garden space. This is where we have the most grass so I had to put of a folding fence so we wouldn't mow the monkey grass! Did I mention that we have a lot of trees? Ignore all the leaves - they work as cheap (free) fall mulch for the beds and keep the backyard from being a mud pit all winter. </div>
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This year, I started on the front bed. I have A LOT of <a href="http://www.michiganbulb.com/product/Liriope/Other_Sun_Perennials?p=0819680&utm_medium=shopping_engine&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=google&CAWELAID=1847538255&gclid=CjwKEAjwotmoBRCc6LWd2ZnkuBYSJACyt2quymuvgBhksh2YVZy4TruglfS6c7a7dbvWuYEQbu1sYhoCqrLw_wcB" target="_blank">liriope</a> (monkey grass) that really is beautiful and it spreads quickly so I thin it out a bit before it really starts growing.</div>
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I transplanted it to the shade garden under the front yard trees.</div>
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It doesn't look like a lot right now but liriope is one of the easier plants to transplant and takes very easily. Next year, it will be as full as the backyard edgeing (which was thinner when I planted it).</div>
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I also updated the brick raised bed on the other side of the driveway.</div>
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The 3 layer brick was constantly collapsing so I tore it down and put up a taller paver that is only a single layer - far less chance of stray bricks. In order to do this, I did have to grade the area a little bit. The bed was mostly empty - it gets some sun so it's where I plant my bright flowery annuals - so I made it a little bit smaller. Unfortunately, the plastic edging material was cracked in several places and I was unable to reuse it but I got some nice composite material and I'll be reusing the bricks in the back yard for edging material on the other side of the yard! Or maybe on the far side of the front yard - I haven't done much there yet...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">or here (other side of the front yard)?</td></tr>
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I'm unsure of what I want to do in this garden bed at the top of my driveway. I was cleaning it out the first year we moved here and I accidentally picked up a small brown garter snake thinking it was a stick - that was the last time I did anything in here, as you can see. It's full of vinca vine which is really pretty this time of year with it's purple flowers (but that spreads like crazy), lined with liriope and has a host of daylilies that don't bloom b/c they don't actually get much sun here come summer (shady trees, remember).</div>
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EDIT: I made a decision on the bricks - I put them in the front yard and will put irish moss seed down next week. Here's a photo of the bricks:<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fgcMRlUsQ98/VRatH8d45MI/AAAAAAAALyI/OXNmXY9UKoo/s1600/IMG_0467%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fgcMRlUsQ98/VRatH8d45MI/AAAAAAAALyI/OXNmXY9UKoo/s1600/IMG_0467%5B1%5D.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-5809164427940748172014-12-17T05:45:00.003-08:002014-12-17T05:45:34.656-08:00A Very Pinterest Holiday 2014, pt 3One successful, healthy Pinterest Project - the Salad Fixin's Tree:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--uHg4nx_Dko/VJGIBBuV58I/AAAAAAAALeg/E9e2l55JMKA/s1600/photo%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--uHg4nx_Dko/VJGIBBuV58I/AAAAAAAALeg/E9e2l55JMKA/s1600/photo%2B1.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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One not-so-successful, school treat that I went all "Semi-Homemade" on:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cookies on the rack are snowmen, duh!</td></tr>
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FYI - Pillsbury refrigerated cookie dough is not a roll-out cookie dough, even if you knead in more flour...<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-15384773116411726512014-12-10T11:11:00.002-08:002014-12-10T11:25:19.699-08:00A Very Merry Pinterest Holiday 2014, pt 2Saturday there is a bake sale for the school at 5 Below. I Pinterested up my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe (spicy molasses cookies) to sell. Whatcha think??<br />
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More ideas here: http://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/holiday-seasons/christmas/gingerbread-reindeer/</div>
<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-88669266981326475142014-12-08T12:27:00.000-08:002014-12-10T11:11:35.393-08:00A Very Merry Pinterest Holiday 2014What is it about the holidays that makes everyone - crafty or not - run to to <a href="http://pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest </a>to craft or bake *SOMETHING*? I'm no exception.<br />
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Last Friday, the first Friday of December, the Friday after Thanksgiving weekend, the Friday before the big PTA Holiday House that I help organize, I was feeling very Grinch-like. No holiday spirit whatsoever. I forced myself to go find my Santa baseball hat and work on my best Cindy Lou Who attitude and go decorate the school.<br />
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This is what I got:<br />
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Holiday House is a big festival complete with Breakfast with the Holiday Characters, Santa Photos, Silent Auction, Elf Shop, Mistletoe Market - that's my event, and free International Holiday Games. It went off beautifully even though I set my alarm for PM instead of AM and woke up 5 minutes before I was supposed to be there (good thing I only live 3 blocks away and had packed my stuff the night before - one of the vendors was there before me though). My introvert husband volunteered to help make the breakfast. My 13 year old daughter spent most of the day volunteering by either babysitting the children of adult volunteers or working at one of the game stations. My 10 year old ran around the school with the 7 year old and they had a blast!<br />
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Well, come Sunday, the Holiday House was over and cleaned up, I slept all night long and after a leisurely breakfast, we cleaned the house that's been ignored for 3 weeks while I worked on orders and Holiday House and PTA treasurer stuff and stressed about selling our townhouse which finally closed just before Thanksgiving (original closing date was Nov 4). I finally felt up to even addressing the tree.<br />
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Now, our tree is tiny. It's 18 inches wide. We bought it b/c we lived in a 12 ft wide townhouse with 3 kids; anything bigger just takes up too much space. I love our tree and I don't want to clean up anything bigger! My husband set up the tree and we decorated it together.<br />
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Now, back to Pinterest. Today, I'm in an even more holiday mood! I decided to tackle a pinterest project that I had bookmarked months ago - Peppermint Ornaments. I don't really like peppermint (love the smell, eh the flavor) so I can take or leave candy canes but there's always a few that don't get eaten when I take the tree down and I end up using them to make peppermint ice cream in the summer. I wanted something fun and I came across <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/208784132700940262/" target="_blank">this pinterest photo</a> when I was looking for ideas for our <a href="http://hamburke.blogspot.com/2014/08/summer-vacation-diy-art-day-camp.html" target="_blank">summer art camp</a> and bookmarked it.<br />
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It looks easy, I said! Cookie Cutters, Peppermint Candy, cooking spray (??), a toothpick! No problem! I even bought some more non-painted metal cookie cutters this fall. Okay, so it took a while to find the peppermint candies. I like a particular brand and no one carries them anymore. Oh well!<br />
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So I follow the <a href="http://hello-homebody.com/2013/12/20/peppermint-candy-christmas-ornaments/" target="_blank">directions</a>:<br />
pre-heat oven to 350 - check<br />
spray metal cookie cutters with cooking spray for easy release - check<br />
fill metal cookie cutters with peppermint candies - check<br />
put into oven until candies melt - huh, no time listed...<br />
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I picked 5 minutes arbitrarily since cookies bake in about 7 minutes.<br />
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The first batch turned out ok but there were a few mishaps - a missing mitten thumb, an armless snow man, a curvy light bulb.<br />
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No problem - I'll just add a couple extra candies to those ornaments for the next batch. But the layered one weren't melted so I put them back in WITHOUT SETTING A NEW TIMER! oops! When I pulled the tray out, the sugar was boiling... well, the back looks kind of fun!<br />
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I watched the next 2 sets and they turned out great! The hardest part is putting the hole in them. Even with cooking spray, the toothpick stuck to the candy a lot.<br />
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I put them on the tree - they are WAY cuter than the candy cane crook!<br />
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What's this year's holiday best seller at Hamburke's? <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/hamburke?section_id=15042350&ref=shopsection_leftnav_5" target="_blank">Coffee Cup Cozies</a> - specifically, this guy!<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-14391791225400484802014-10-22T06:06:00.002-07:002014-10-22T06:06:41.850-07:00Busy Autumn, Best AdviceMost of my lovely listeners know that we moved just over 2 years ago and house prices being what they were, our townhouse was not breaking even and was not approved for a short sale (boo!). We got some good renters in there and were biding our time until the market turned. It did late this summer - the DC Metro (subway) came through almost all the way to our house driving the home values up. The house went on the market, went under contract in 5 days and we're closing very soon!<br />
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On top of that, the autumn has been extremely busy - I took a volunteer job as PTA treasurer not realizing the sheer volume of hours that it involves to do a good job without prior bookkeeping skills and Hamburke's has been very busy with mostly local orders (yay for local!) and the kids have activities that overlap. I've neglected to write, well, for a while, so today, I'm going to pass on my very favorite crochet tips.<br />
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Get a GRIP! If you have the regular Boye or Bates hooks that are just a thin piece of metal, you may have noticed that your hand hurts after a while. I've been switching over to Clover over the course of the last year and I can go for so much longer! After I found the Soft Touch, I stumbled upon the Amour hooks and love them! Crochet Dude has some great ones as well. I'm faster and can crochet much longer without a break for my hands to uncramp or stop tingling.<br />
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<a href="http://michaels.liquifire.com/michaels?set=ver%5B2.0%5D,viewer%5BMagnify%5D&source=url%5Bhttp://images.michaels.com/cms/michaelssa/www/Sites-MichaelsUS-Site/large/Node:IOGLO000030000900001000040000H0001M0001L0000E000020000J0001Y000020120F.ViewAsset%5D&scale=size%5B1000%5D&scale=size%5B75%25%5D&sink" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://michaels.liquifire.com/michaels?set=ver%5B2.0%5D,viewer%5BMagnify%5D&source=url%5Bhttp://images.michaels.com/cms/michaelssa/www/Sites-MichaelsUS-Site/large/Node:IOGLO000030000900001000040000H0001M0001L0000E000020000J0001Y000020120F.ViewAsset%5D&scale=size%5B1000%5D&scale=size%5B75%25%5D&sink" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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More than anything else, sizing crochet is a challenge without the wearer right there! I've spent more time taking out hats than getting them right in one go after adjusting a pattern. Last spring, I came across a blogger, Anne Granger, that had made a chart to help - "size/age", head circumference, hat circumference, crown circle diameter and top of hat to bottom of ear - and it's EXCELLENT! I haven't had to pull a single hat out for sizing problems since I measure the crown circle! I printed out just the <a href="http://anniespictureperfect.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-properly-size-crochet-hats-chart.html" target="_blank">size chart</a>, put it in a sleeve and tucked it into the front of my patterns binder.<br />
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Speaking of my patterns binder, ORGANIZING my patterns is huge. I buy or acquire most of my patterns online rather than from books or magazines and for portability, I print them out. Reading patterns on my phone just gives me a headache! That's a lot of paper, folks, and I'm kind of a reuse-reduce-recycle nut so I try very hard to only print them once. So I take care of that paper - I have multi-page capacity sheet protectors that I slip the patterns in and have them in a 3" 3-ring binder organized (with tabs) for hats, booties, sweaters/cocoons, blankets and "other" (this tab has the viking hat with attached beard my husband wants me to make). I also write the name that I sell the product under as I often rename an item to sell it. Listen, folks, I have 3 very different hat patterns called "The Elizabeth Hat" and 2 "Everyday Soaker/Diaper Cover" - if I went with the pattern name, I'd be even more confused and confusing!<br />
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Hooks - I don't have a special crochet hook organizer with slots for the different sizes. Instead, I have a smaller, zippered makeup bag that I got for 50 cents on clearance at Target. I think a zippered pencil pouch would also work well and might be prettier (yeah, there's a reason it, and all of it's twins, were on clearance). I also keep stitch markers, a pen, nail clippers for cutting yarn, tapestry needles and a small retractable tape measure in this case.<br />
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Projects - I keep the plastic bags that my yarn comes in inside the box to use for organizing projects. They're just simple clear 2mil open-top bags (think ziplock sandwich bag quality plastic but produce bag size and shape) but I use them to store unfinished projects. I put all of my yet-to-be-used yarn in them along with the pattern and if it's an order, the printed packing slip. I reuse them until things fall out of them.<br />
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Yarn - this is something that I need to work on. There are a zillion-trillion ideas out there for organizing yarn. I keep mine in clear plastic file boxes organized mostly by yarn weight and use (sport weight cottons are in one, worsted weight cottons are in another and kitchen cottons are in a third. All else is in my ottoman) and scraps (anything less than 10g) go in a plastic shoe box to be used for embellishments. I found out today, though, that I'm not as organized as I wish I was as I pulled out a worsted weight cotton from the sport weight bin... oops! and that's the one that's over flowing so I'll have to clean it out again and track my inventory better.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Finally, I know that I don't know it all - there are very few
people who do. My first go-to when I don't understand a stitch is YouTube and I
look for well known crochet v-loggers who tend to be concise and not overly
chatty (it's distracting when I'm learning something new). Sometimes a stitch
sounds complicated on paper or is poorly worded or mis-named by the designer. Last week, I was working on a pattern that called for a
V-stitch - no problem - that's a dc-ch1-dc in the same stitch, skip the next
stitch but the pattern wasn't working out like I expected it would. The
designer had put in her own definitions of a V-stitch - dc2 in the same stitch
- in the notes and I hadn't noticed it b/c I just skimmed that part (even worse - I was
working with black yarn so it was hard to see what I had done). This is a
simple example but there are a bunch like it - <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Crochet Street</st1:address></st1:street> blog just published the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://crochetstreet.com/2014/10/what-is-the-difference-between-bobble-stitch-popcorn-stitch-and-puff-stitch/" target="_blank">difference between a bobble, popcorn and puff stitch</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>using Moogly blogger Tamara Kelly's
videos - you'll see how words and video are so excellently paired! I watched
Tamera's 3 videos yesterday and I cannot tell you today which one is which
(wrong side, right side or drop and pick up). My second go-to resource is my
mother-in-law when she's in town - she's been doing this longer than I have and
can sometimes sort out what the designer is saying better than I can.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So - review of pro-tips: find a comfortable hook (don't be saddled
with grandma's arthritic handmedowns), learn or reference sizing, find ways to
organize your crazy crafter space and don't be afraid to search out help!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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So - review of pro-tips: find a comfortable hook (don't be saddled with grandma's arthritic handmedowns), learn sizing, and find ways to organize your crazy crafter!<br />
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I'm leaving you to gaze upon this cutie patootie in a custom request knit-look crochet hat that will very soon be on <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/hamburke" target="_blank">my Etsy page</a>!<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-59850873000443985932014-08-22T14:53:00.003-07:002014-08-22T18:55:34.765-07:00Summer Vacation: DIY Art Day CampI love arts and crafts (obviously) and this summer, I wanted to share with my kids. I came up with the idea for Art Week after visiting the VMFA (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts) downtown with out-of-town friends (hey - who knew that it was free?). I brought up taking the kids to the museum over the summer to a couple local friends and when they were receptive, I sprung the week-long DIY Art Day Camp idea on them! We picked 2 or 3 activities for each day that we anticipated would take 2-3 hours for the kids to complete (we underestimated how long kids take on some projects - most were done in 20 minutes).<br />
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Day 1<br />
Monday, Aug 18<br />
Drawing<br />
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We got a late start after a sleepless night but our resident artist let us in on the secret to drawing (psst - it's finding the simple shapes in an image)<br />
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Day 2<br />
Tuesday, Aug 19<br />
VMFA Day<br />
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We made it downtown without getting lost and over an hour in the museum before the younger kids started melting down.<br />
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Day 3<br />
Wednesday, Aug 20<br />
Painting<br />
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I think this was the most fun! I taught them a little bit about watercolors (I set out a still life but mostly, they painted minions) and we did a Michelangelo style painting (they painted the papered-over underside of my dining room table).<br />
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The little kids had fun too with Paint With Water books!<br />
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Day 4<br />
Thursday, Aug 21<br />
Tie Dye<br />
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BYO Shirt! It's so humid here though that these are still hanging in my shed (it rained last night and this afternoon).<br />
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Day 5<br />
Friday, Aug 22<br />
Kid Craft<br />
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This one kind of fell apart. I had a couple things that had to be done in the morning and my friends have kids who nap but I did one of the activities anyway!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is ribbon embroidery done on paper</td></tr>
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I also finished this lovely Christening/Baptism/Dedication baby gown and booties (both will be listed soon!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.hamburke.com/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JkJ3zSsVkdA/U_e5gsbQrVI/AAAAAAAALU0/Isz_0yj4xA8/s1600/DSCF0631.JPG" height="149" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/200863027/crocheted-baby-heirloom-christening-gown" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RoV_zkraHb0/U_e5Y1xaibI/AAAAAAAALUs/cDH5yd_7Ffw/s1600/IMG_1098.JPG" height="200" width="165" /></a></div>
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-78485059827669474632014-08-06T16:41:00.002-07:002016-10-17T19:37:58.516-07:00Baptism Blanket - free crochet patternI had a request last night for the pattern for this blanket:<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/156926321/crochet-blanket-heirloom-baby-blanket" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AuAQJGDSLOA/U-K7WWspFfI/AAAAAAAALRY/S6ltVbYZVuo/s1600/DSCN0652.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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Truth is, I made it up and used my KAL (knit-a-long) creation skills to create the image. (eh - I'm not a big knitter -it takes me forever and I make a lot of mistakes - but I have fun with washclothes with pictures on them). Instead of the purl replacing a knit stitch, I used a ch1 space to draw the picture, dot matrix style.<br />
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I make this rectangular. Typical sizes I get asked to create are 24x30 (baby) and 32x40 (toddler)<br />
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So here's the pattern:<br />
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generally, I use a 5.5 mm hook with sport weight yarn (my fave - knit picks shine sport).<br />
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Row 1: dc foundation chain row (how to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWEMdyQL3XE" target="_blank">HERE</a>) made to the desired width minus double the height of a dc (that's the trim)<br />
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Pause -<br />
1-Since gauge is not that big of a deal for this pattern, count your stitches here - it just needs to be an even number. I make various sizes of this blanket and have never written down the number of stitches. The toddler blanket shown has about 100 stitches across. My gauge is generally around around 3-4 stitches per inch.<br />
2- Grab some graph paper. Using your number of stitches, draw out your image using 1 square across = 2 stitches (double crochet) and 1 square down = 1 row. For the toddler blanket, I use 10 holes (20 stitches) as the width of the vertical portion of my cross (width of stipes) centered on the blanket, 10 holes (10 rows) including the top row down to the patibulum (crossbar), the patibulum is a total of 56 stitches wide (10 holes out on each side including the last hole that makes up the stipes). The stipes continues down an additional 19 holes/rows for a a total of 38 rows down. Yours doesn't have to be the same as mine.<br />
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Row 2 & 3: ch2 turn, dc in the same stitch, dc across, dc, ch2 turn<br />
Row 4: assuming 100 stitches (use your graph if you got something different or have a wider or narrower stipes), dc in same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times, dc 40, ch2 turn<br />
Row 5-12: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, ch1, dc 18, ch1, dc 40, ch2 turn<br />
Row 13: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 20, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times (the last ch1 should be under the ch1 space), dc 18. *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times (the first ch1 space should be under the ch1 space in the row above), dc 21, ch2 turn<br />
Row 14-21: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 20, ch1, dc 56, ch1, dc 21, ch2 turn<br />
Row 22: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 20, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times (the last ch1 should be under the ch1 space), dc 18. *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times, dc 21, ch2 turn<br />
Row 23-40: dc in the same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, ch1, dc 18, ch1, dc 40, ch2 turn<br />
Row 41: dc in same stitch as the ch-turn, dc 39, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in the next stitch* repeat from * to * 9 times, dc 40, ch2 turn<br />
Row 42 & 43: ch2 turn, dc in the same stitch, dc across, dc, ch2 turn<br />
Row 44: ch2 turn, dc in the same stitch, dc across, dc, ch2 do not turn<br />
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Pause -<br />
Starting trim rounds here - you can do any trim you want. I kept this one simple with 3 rounds. You can pick a different one that you like better if you want.<br />
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ROUND 1- turn the blanket so that you are working down the side of the blanket, sc in the same stitch as the turning chain, sc down the side putting 2 stitches in the side of every dc. At the corner, ch1 and sc in same stitch. sc across; at the next corner, ch1, sc in same stitch, sc 2x in the side of each dc; last corner now, ch1, sc in the same stitch, sc across except the final stitch where the ch 2 is. Join with a slst in the ch2 space. ch4 do not turn<br />
ROUND 2 - dc in same stitch as chain, working down the side of the blanket, *ch1, skip a stitch, dc in next stitch* across. At the corners, ch2 and dc in the same ch1 space. join with a slst when you get around. ch1, do not turn.<br />
ROUND 3 - In the ch2 space, sc-ch1-sc2. sc in each dc and ch1 space. In the ch2 space of the corners, sc2-ch1-sc2. join with an invisible join slst bind-off.<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/156926321/crochet-blanket-heirloom-baby-blanket" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8i0ahiZ1u6k/U-K7ncCz51I/AAAAAAAALRg/29NFLdvDugA/s1600/DSCN0654.JPG" width="368" /></a></div>
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I don't write a lot of patterns. Please let me know if you have any trouble with it or find a mistake. Thanks!<br />
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Don't want to make it? I can make it for you! Check me out on <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/156926321/crochet-blanket-heirloom-baby-blanket" target="_blank">Etsy</a>!<br />
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<i>update: I was asked for a pattern for a throw-sized blanket. I use math to expand this so I don't know if it works quite right but here's the throw sized version: </i><br />
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<i>the typical size of a throw blanket is 50”x70”</i></div>
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<i>If you’re using the same materials I used and about the same gauge, doing the oh-so-fun ratio math, your blanket will be 156 stitches wide x 90 rows long which is a little longer than a traditional throw but it makes for some easy math with the cross!</i></div>
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<i>to turn all these rows, I ch2 and the first stitch was in the same stitch as the ch2</i></div>
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<i>R1 - foundation chain dc 156 stitches <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R2-5 - dc across <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R6 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 20 times (40 stitches), dc 57 stitches (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R7 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip one (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc in the next stitch, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until you have one ch-space left, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R8-24 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip one (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc until you are at the ch-space, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R25 - dc 10, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 24 times (48 stitches, the last ch-space will be under the previous row’s ch-space), dc 37, ch 1, skip 1 (the ch-space), dc in the next stitch, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 23 more times (24 ch-spaces total), dc 10 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R26 - dc 10 stitches, ch 1, skip 1 (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc in the next stitch, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until reach the center section, dc in each stitch until you read the next ch-space, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until you have one ch-space left, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 9 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R27-44 - dc 10 stitches, ch 1, skip 1 (will be directly under the ch-space), dc until you reach the ch-space, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 9 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R45 -dc 10, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 24 times (48 stitches, this will line up with the top ch-space), dc 37, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 24 times, dc 10 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R46 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip 1 (will be directly under the last ch-space), dc in the next stitch, dc in the ch-space, dc in the next stitch until you reach the next ch-space left, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R47-84 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip one (will be directly under the first ch-space), dc until you are at the ch-space, ch 1, skip one, dc in the next stitch, dc 57 (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R85 - dc 58 stitches, ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch 20 times (40 stitches), dc 57 stitches (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R86 - dc across with a dc in the ch-spaces (156) <br style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em;" />R87-90 - dc across</i></div>
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<i>I like to add a border but you don’t have to. There are whole books written on different blanket border patterns! The one pictured is a simple border: sc around once then ch 1, skip 1, dc in the next stitch and then sc around again. A picot would also look nice or something more elaborate like pineapples would also look great!</i></div>
hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-24256754560168390472014-06-23T15:02:00.002-07:002014-06-24T10:39:13.912-07:00Manuscript & Cursive - our summer projectI'm kind of a stickler for handwriting. I think it teaches more than just letter recognition and formation but organization and planning - and I'm not alone! <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=1">This article</a> talks about some differences in brain patterns associated with manuscript, cursive and typing (favorite quote: "When the children composed text by hand, they not only consistently produced more words more quickly than they did on a keyboard, but expressed more ideas."). <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/">This article</a> talks about how taking notes by hand is a kinesthetic learning activity which requires cognitive processing verses on a laptop where students tend to take notes verbetum. And<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-hand-could-make-you-smarter"> this article</a> talks about the benefits of cursive (spoiler: functional specialization that leads to efficiency). There's more but these are a good place to start.<br />
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I have 3 kids in public schools here in Virginia and only one of them ever spent time learning cursive (ok - the youngest is just going into 2nd grade). That one had a 3rd grade teacher who is much older. I looked into whether is was still included in the curriculum and it is - it's under English SOL 2.10 and 3.8 but since it's not tested, very little time is spent on it. Studies say that most classrooms (nationwide) devote an average of 1 hour per week to handwriting. I remember spending 15 to 30 minutes each day on handwriting AND my papers always got handwriting grades - I don't know if this was the case with my peers as I went to Catholic schools and hubby went to DOD schools.</div>
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So, this summer, I decided that we should work hard on cursive since they weren't getting it in school. I bought 3rd grade lined paper and a cursive handwriting book (from the makers of Handwriting Without Tears - it's not as formal as the cursive I learned and is very - um - vertical - rather than italicized but it's also taught in a verbal manner (for example, "magic c, up like a helicopter, keep going, slide down the pole, bump the line and travel away" is lower case d) which works for my kids, especially my son. I do a week's worth of lettering with dates on the specially lined paper and put it in the workbook for them to do in the morning before they can do what they want.</div>
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I recently made this solid elf hat for a neighbor! Visit <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/hamburke" target="_blank">Hamburke's</a> on Etsy for more styles and colors</div>
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-26211265892998188842014-06-19T13:43:00.001-07:002014-06-19T13:43:46.606-07:00Yes Day - a success!Several years ago at a Scholastic Book Fair, one of my children chose this book:<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yes-Day-Amy-Krouse-Rosenthal-ebook/dp/B006VXXKLG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403121984&sr=1-1&keywords=yes+day" target="_blank"> <i>Yes Day</i></a> by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld<br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510VlwlWAkL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510VlwlWAkL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
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They read it and wanted to have a Yes Day of their very own. So we had one - ice cream for breakfast, their cousin over for the day, some now-forgotten activity that I would typically have said no to without quite a bit of planning, a lot of junk/fast food, a late afternoon trip to the pool and staying up "late" (my kids idea of late is not equivalent to others experience - I think it was 8:30). I picked the day after school got out b/c it seemed like a fun way to kick off the summer and gave them a mini-break between school and summer vacation (who doesn't need something to make transitions fun?). And thus began our summer vacation kick off tradition!<br />
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This year was no different except that I turned the tables on them and asked them to tell me in advance what they wanted - they planned breakfast, lunch and dinner, they decided they wanted to go to the pool with friends and invited them and they even shopped for it (I paid, of course). I love that we have moved to a community where it's safe to lets my kids run around independently and have the confidence to plan something like this.<br />
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So on to the rest of summer - summer bridge workbooks, summer reading list, some minor household chores and LEARN TO COOK! Maybe with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-YUM-Secrets-Raising-Eaters-ebook/dp/B00BATKZ2I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403210503&sr=8-1&keywords=karen+le+billion" target="_blank">this</a>:<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-46460650127878383982014-06-05T06:24:00.000-07:002014-06-11T06:47:45.701-07:00Water, Water Everywhere but not a drop that I'm drinkingI need to drink more water. I know I feel so much better when I do but I got out of the habit (again). Recently, I noticed that I was taking some ibprofen before bed and in the morning for a dull headache. I've been kind of lethargic and unmotivated. I've been losing my train of thought, forgetting things and being unable to judge length of time passed (I'm not all that great at this to begin with). I've been hungry and no matter when I eat, it's not satisfying. And I've been going thru the $20/tub of lotion at break-neck pace.<br />
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One day last week, I did drink a lot of water and had an epiphany - I wasn't drinking during the day! I found that I wasn't even finishing my first 16 oz cup (that's about 1/2 a L - I bought these huge cups 3 or so years ago specifically to drink more water). A little background - I don't buy juice or soda for the house and I don't drink alcohol regularly so my drink choices around the house are water or 1% milk. I'd have my mug of coffee in the morning over breakfast with my husband and then pour a glass of water from the Brita pitcher in the fridge. It would proceed to "sweat" next to me while I drank sips here and there but the majority would still be there 6 hours later when the kids got home from school. Sometimes, I'd have a mug of hot decaf tea in the evenings too.<br />
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So I posted on my facebook timeline also joking that I should set alarms (since I am constantly using that feature on my phone). Among the suggestions to find my favorite bottled water to put water bottles in the fridge to ecofriendly reusable bottle alternatives (honestly, guys - having water available isn't the issue, it's actually drinking the cup sitting next to me), one friend said "There's an App for that..." So here I am reviewing water drinking iPhone apps. There are 2 kinds of drinking water apps - the track your water consumption apps and the find free drinking water apps. I'm looking only at the track consumption apps today.<br />
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The one that kept coming up in searches first is <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/waterlogged-drink-more-water/id352199775?mt=8" target="_blank">Waterlogged</a> Drink More Water, Track Daily Water Intake, Get Hydration Reminders by Daily Water, Inc. It has a nice user interface. The home page tells you your daily goal (which you can easily change by tapping it) and how far you have to go to meet that goal both visually (a water bottle or glass that fills). The scientist in my loves that you can easily switch to metric (which I have). You record when you drink something either by the 16.9oz/500mL bottle or 8oz/250mL glass (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full) or by entering a volume. You can see what time you logged the drinks by clicking "Edit Drinks" and see a graph of daily water consumption to compare days. It's integratable with FitBit (which I don't have). But the one thing that is missing from the free version of the app is reminders. With the free version, you can set a single "time reminder" (such as everyday at 10:30) to remind you to drink but to set more, you need to upgrade (I can't figure out the price - lifetime subscription is $2.99, unlock reminders is $3.99 so I do have to purchase both?).<br />
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The second app that shows up in searches is<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/daily-water-free-water-reminder/id466387763?mt=8" target="_blank"> Daily Water Free</a> by Maxwell Software. There are some things that I like better - the ability to set you serving size, free notification settings - but I don't generally like the home page. It's a grid of 9 glasses (unchanged if you change your goal) which toggle checked (for drank) or unchecked and I'm sure I'll accidentally check or uncheck something. And there are ads that hide your goal too. The other thing that's difficult is that you can only set a single serving size and it's all or nothing unlike Waterlogged where you can enter a volume or choose a portion of a serving. You also can't see what time you logged your serving.<br />
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Day 1's results: 2500 mL consumed and I remembered what we needed at the store last night (bread for sandwiches and milk) and made banana bread this morning after drinking my first 500 mL of water this morning.<br />
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I'm going to try these out for a couple more days before I move on to App#3...AppCrawlr - you are my best friend!<br />
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ShopTalk - these <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/191877428/baby-cowboy-booties-baby-slippers?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">cutie booties</a> are available in an assortment of colors and appliques.<br />
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UPDATE: Week 1's progress via Waterlogged (I think I'm going to figure out what each price point means). It's before 10am on June 11, so I'm doing good so far today.<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-50605187037673934132014-04-23T05:50:00.003-07:002014-04-23T05:53:09.511-07:00Marshmallows!So I was up late one night and saw Kristen Bell promoting both Disney's Frozen and the Veronica Mars movie! It's on Amazon Prime Instant Video and I'm hooked and it turns out, I missed way more than I thought of the series - 22 episodes per season and 3 seasons... oops! Well, I'm thru season 1 and 1/2 thru season 2 (Duncan just left). When the kids are at school, I can watch on the big screen while I work but when they're home, I'm on earphones on the laptop. I can work while I watch on the screen but the headphone cord gets in my way!<br />
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Last week was Spring Break for my kids. We went swimming at the neighborhood indoor pool, bowling (with my daughter's boyfriend - when did she even grow up that much?) and on a Family Scavenger Hunt at <a href="https://www.maymont.org/" target="_blank">Maymont Park</a> in Richmond. I also made a new product - my first for sale garment - a Christening gown!<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-89146050247688216982014-03-26T07:56:00.000-07:002014-03-31T11:04:59.604-07:00Bunny ears crochet patternI had the opportunity to make a fuzzy bunny hat for a <a href="http://www.carriecarpunky.com/" target="_blank">photographer </a>recently. I found some really great bulky fuzzy yarn (<a href="http://shop.hobbylobby.com/search/?keyword=yarn%20bee%20cameo&perpage=12&match=AND&F_Sort=2" target="_blank">Yarn Bee Cameo</a>) - it's soft, it has fluff and fuzz - it's great except...it's super bulky (<a href="http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/weight.html" target="_blank">6</a>)...I love sport weight yarn and often use it (with a size larger hook) when worsted weight is called for. It's light and lacy. But bulky and then some? Yes, it works up faster but it's just so big! No problem though, I'll have to find a pattern that calls for bulky yarn. um... yeah... so...<br />
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Well, a beanie hat isn't hard to make. I loosely followed <a href="http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/bunny-hat" target="_blank">Red Heart's Bunny Hat pattern</a> for the beanie - I love the dc row amid the primarily sc rows. Granted, the pattern was written for a worsted weight (<a href="http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/weight.html" target="_blank">4</a>) so I had to make modifications - I switched to my largest hook (M) and cut down on number of rows. but even then the ears didn't really work - they were too stiff with the bulky yarn.<br />
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I went looking for another pattern. I couldn't really find one that would work with bulky yarn or gave me the look I was going for so I made up my own!<br />
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Inner ear (crochet 2)<br />
with sport or worsted weight yarn (I did white with the pink hat and cream with the tan hat) and a I hook, leave a longer tail and ch 21.<br />
R1: sc in the second ch from hook, sc 18; in the last ch, 5sc. working on the other side of the ch, sc 19 to the end, do not join, ch1 turn (43)<br />
R2: sc in the same sc as the ch1, sc 18, 2sc in each of the 5 turning stitches, sc 19, ch1 turn (48)<br />
R3: sc in the same sc as the ch1, sc 7, hdc 3, dc 10, hdc, 2sc, sc-ch-sc, 2sc, hdc, dc 10, hdc 3, sc 9, ch1 turn (52 including sc-ch-sc)<br />
R4: slst in the first stitch, slst 5, sc 19, in the ch1 space, sc-ch-sc, ,sc 19, slst 6, bind off leaving long tail (53 inclusing sc-ch-sc).<br />
using the longer starting tail, sew up any gap made by crocheting on both sides of the ch.<br />
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Fuzzy Outer Ear (crochet 2)<br />
using the super bulky yarn and the M hook, ch 13.<br />
R1: sc in the second ch from the hook, sc 10, sc 5 in the last ch, working on the other side of the ch, sc 11, ch1 turn (27)<br />
R2: sc in the same stitch as the ch 1, sc 10, 2sc in each of the 5 turning stitches, sc 11, ch1 turn (32)<br />
R3: sc in the same stitch as the ch 1, sc 10, hdc, dc, 2dc, dc, 2dc, dc-ch1-dc, 2dc, dc, 2dc, dc, hdc, sc 10, ch turn (38 including dc-ch-dc) do not bind off<br />
weave in the starting tail<br />
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*here come the tricky part - joining the inner and outer ears together. You'll notice that they aren't the same size and don't have the same number of finishing stitches and that the M hook will not fit in the I hook space. I switch to a J hook. I use 3 removable stitch markers (safety pins) to hold them together temporarily. The first one is placed in the ch space at the turn for both inner and outer ear. The other 2 attach to the top of the ear for both parts of the ears. As the next row is worked, there's a bit of "easing in" that goes on - the stitches with stitch markers are the only ones that have to match up.<br />
R4: holding both part of the ear together, insert the hook with the fuzzy working yarn still looped under the first slst of the inner ear and thru the same stitch as the ch1 of the outer ear, draw a loop through both pieces and make a sc. Do the same for the rest of the slst and the sc on the inner ear (24 st) to the next stitch marker - some of the outer ear stitches will have 2 stitches in each stitch but not all of them (this is the easing in part). In the ch spaces, sc-ch-sc. sc in each of the inner ear sc attaching it to the outer ear - remember, some of the outer ear stitches will hold 2 of the sc - use your best judgement. bind off leaving a long tail.<br />
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tuck the starting tail of the inner ear between the layers and use the long tail of the inner ear to sew the top closed with a whip stitch, I knot it and weave in ends. Using long tail of the fuzzy yarn, sew the ears on the hat where and how you like them. Weave in the ends of the fuzzy yarn, put hat on a baby - adorable!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/181375536/hopping-down-the-bunny-trail-floppy" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--XT1VX_t-wg/UzLpgPqeRDI/AAAAAAAALEw/ZbnC3bWSat4/s1600/DSCF0490-watermark.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hopping Down The Bunny Trail fuzzy bunny hat at hamburke.com</td></tr>
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-52556714111095475202014-03-04T07:31:00.000-08:002014-03-05T06:23:01.955-08:00Sewing with KidsLast week, Joann's Fabrics had a McCall's Pattern sales - 5 for $7 and with pattern prices creeping up to $20 a pop, I JUMPED on this! I picked out some patterns that I could possibly do with my girls (I'd do them with my son too if he had any interest whatsoever but it's not Legos so he doesn't care). My 12 year old learned to sew in Home Ec this year and has asked for a cape pattern for fleece (I had one, where did I put it again? oh well, $1.40 and I have a new one). I've been promising my almost 10 year old a ballet bag with an Andover Fabric At the Barre fabric panel (purple) and coordinating striped fabric I bought for her years ago now (2008? 2009?).<br />
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My oldest was less than thrilled at the pattern I picked up for her (<a href="http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6196-products-12421.php?page_id=487" target="_blank">McCall's M6196</a>) b/c it's a poncho, not a cape...so I started with my dancer. She wanted one with a spot for her water bottle - I get that so I picked out<a href="http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6297-products-13600.php?page_id=104&search_control=display&list=search" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6297-products-13600.php?page_id=104&search_control=display&list=search" target="_blank">this one McCall's M6297</a> and she picked out View D (the big on in the back) with the pocket on the inside:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rBqdq1KHIR0/UxNiEbf9PTI/AAAAAAAAK_A/ZUgYOVHMA9Q/s1600/IMG_0490%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rBqdq1KHIR0/UxNiEbf9PTI/AAAAAAAAK_A/ZUgYOVHMA9Q/s1600/IMG_0490%5B1%5D.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I have no idea how I learned to sew with a pattern - my mom's not really a sewer and I made a lot of stuff before my friend's mom taught us the basics. I know things came out less than perfect for a LONG TIME but I found out that my little girl can't cut a straight line even slowly with my super sharp scissors. This was also NOT a simple pattern! I really thought it was going to be a "sew the bag, sew the liner, sew together, add the pocket" pattern but it was more complicated than that (LOTS of stitch the ditch type instructions) and I ended up taking over completely - she ironed the fusible interfacing on... oh well! she has a fun bag now! I'll find something else to teach her machine sewing - maybe a pillow or blanket...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AWTE-CnUiRs/UxczJuOosWI/AAAAAAAAK_g/sf0pQl1s-o4/s1600/bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AWTE-CnUiRs/UxczJuOosWI/AAAAAAAAK_g/sf0pQl1s-o4/s1600/bag.jpg" height="320" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oops - forgot to add the photos!</td></tr>
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Shop talk: I'm really excited to be adding this bunny hat to my collection! It's made with <a href="http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/cream-marble-cameo-bulky-yarn-270959/" target="_blank">Yarn Bee Cameo Bulky yarn</a> to give it that fuzz!<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/181375536/hopping-down-the-bunny-trail-hat-fuzzy" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KDIG2aTcS4Y/UxUD6lsjDPI/AAAAAAAAK_Q/LmcE2QYxr-c/s1600/DSCF0490.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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GIVE AWAY - Check out <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HamburkesBows" target="_blank">my facebook page</a> to enter but here's the details:<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 18px;">GIVEAWAY TIME! Today is Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday - whatever you call it, it's the day before Lent, the countdown to Easter, starts. I'm giving away a blue and white mini crocheted Easter Basket filled with a </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 18px;">yummy <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=157365357856&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/SweetasticDesserts" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Sweetastic</a> soft-serve fudge! I'll ship it anywhere in the US or to APO/PPO. All you have to do is like or comment on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HamburkesBows/posts/10152207008529192?notif_t=like" target="_blank">this post</a> and I'll be choosing a winner using Rafflecopter's Facebook Flash Giveaway app on Monday, March 10, at 9pm.<br /><br />You're welcome to share this status update on your page or group but it won't increase your chances of winning (sorry - it's Facebook rules).<br /><br /><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/giveaway" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">#giveaway</a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/handmade" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">#handmade</a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/fudge" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">#fudge</a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/easter" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">#Easter</a> <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/win" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">#win</a><br /><br />*legal stuff: this promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.</span>hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-58081044182798381202014-02-26T12:44:00.001-08:002014-02-27T17:26:20.676-08:00Children's Books Re-written for Moms<span style="font-family: inherit;">A few weeks ago, my friend sent me a real-life rewrite of<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harper-Collins-Publishers-Mouse-Cookie/dp/B005JW9RSK" target="_blank"> If You Give A Mouse A Cookie</a> (with a tip of the hat to the DirecTV commercials) based on a weekend day home with her hubby and baby boy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If You Give Me A Bathroom to be Cleaned...</span></h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">...I'm going to bleach the entire shower and let it soak all day.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then I'll go to church with my family....</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">and then we'll come home and gag on the bleach fumes that have permeated through the house...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then i'll decide to bake something to cover up the smell...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then I'll start making chocolate chip cookies...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then I'll realize it's lunch time, but I don't have enough rice to eat with my more than a week old leftovers...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...so then I'll start cooking some rice before realizing I haven't finished my cookies...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and I'll mix the flour into the dough and wonder why it's crumbly instead of gooey...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then I'll consider mixing in oil or applesauce to make it right...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...but that's a CRAZY idea, so I'll press it into a 9x13 pan to make it a "bar" cookie...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then we'll have lunch until it smells like the cookies are done but not quite burnt yet...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and then I'll stare at the pan wondering what I did wrong before realizing...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">..."1 cup stick butter" is not the same as "one stick" butter!!! Doh!...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...but Hubby eats one, so I eat one...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and realize that my mixer really didn't crunch up that hardened pebble of brown sugar...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...but my teeth did...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...and maybe it will taste less sweet with plain yogurt...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...but it doesn't...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...so now we need vanilla ice cream to offset and save the cost of the ingredients...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">....but I'm only going to be able to go to BJs today, and I don't need a tub of vanilla to feed the entire city...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">...so I guess I'll either buy the tub or go without or maybe mail them to all of you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't clean your bathrooms.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I, of course, laughed and set it aside...until this past Monday...when I had a morning like that...</span></span><br />
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<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If You Give A Mom a Chocolate Stain... by Karin Wallace</span></span></h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">If you give a mom a chocolate stain on an off-white table cloth that's set in overnight,</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">...she takes everything off the table.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if she takes everything off the table, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...she'll notice that you've hidden rainbow loom rings under the centerpiece.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">And when she goes to pick them up, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...one will fall on the floor where she'll discover your pile of Legos</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">And when reaching for your Legos, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...she'll find where you left your watercolor art pencils that you cried about someone taking last week.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">And when she goes to put them away, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...she'll knock over the hiding spot for your Girl Scout projects</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">And while she's picking up that, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...she'll notice that every single shelf in her sideboard is filled with crumpled papers and half finished art projects and board games.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">After she gathers up everything that you've left in the dining room, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...she'll remember the chocolate stain and go get the spray.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">On her way to get the stain spray, she'll trip over your sandals from the unusually warm weekend and catch herself on the chair with your dance clothes and soccer ball on it.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">After spraying the tablecloth and starting the laundry, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">...she'll remember to take the leaf out of the table. Your shoes and daddy's tool bag will be in her way when she's putting the leaf away.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">When picking that stuff up, mom will notice the pile is too big to carry upstairs and take a picture to send to her friends!</span><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xi4QjqGYV7E/Uw3xr7R0tmI/AAAAAAAAK-c/VWLucP8COKk/s1600/IMG_0476%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xi4QjqGYV7E/Uw3xr7R0tmI/AAAAAAAAK-c/VWLucP8COKk/s1600/IMG_0476%5B1%5D.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">MORAL OF THE STORY</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">: do your taxes instead of cleaning up a chocolate stain!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">But I did spend the rest of Monday making this for my daughter's teacher who's having her baby tomorrow! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-abNT0PVVM/Uw4CSnLAOTI/AAAAAAAAK-s/AOqlZisKtnM/s1600/DSCF0434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-abNT0PVVM/Uw4CSnLAOTI/AAAAAAAAK-s/AOqlZisKtnM/s1600/DSCF0434.JPG" height="267" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Beanie Hat available <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/180607741/crochet-baby-beanie-hat-beanie-with?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">here</a> </span></td></tr>
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-12264615521848782942014-01-24T13:08:00.002-08:002014-01-24T19:04:44.301-08:00Snow/Ice Dyeing - An adventure in the winter wonderland!My friend Cathy Nault from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/OrangeOctopusStudio" target="_blank">Orange Octopus Studio</a> does beautiful things with ice dyeing!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/OrangeOctopusStudio" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MG7G00H-Shk/UuLFKfgIbrI/AAAAAAAAK7M/1Toy90_GElU/s1600/OrangeOctopusScarf.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by Cathy Nault</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/OrangeOctopusStudio" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L-Ik2v7tFoQ/UuKxLVC4PtI/AAAAAAAAK6s/ude6yZoW2sk/s1600/OrangeOctopusScraf2.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by Cathy Nault</td></tr>
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She mostly does cotton and silk scarves for sale. She's one of my #EtsyRVAWearableArts friends so we see each other almost every month at our #meetup. Her craft fair tables look AMAZING too! She's the one who told me to buy the canvas drop cloth as a cheap tablecloth for the 6x3 table I use for fairs. Which leads me to this crazy project!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k-BpmQ1Hf6g/UuLGMSCNmCI/AAAAAAAAK7U/DKgM6S_VrDY/s1600/IMG_0066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k-BpmQ1Hf6g/UuLGMSCNmCI/AAAAAAAAK7U/DKgM6S_VrDY/s1600/IMG_0066.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nNdQRLhtFhg/UuLNp35zDEI/AAAAAAAAK8E/7l9BqvuarpY/s1600/IMG_0230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nNdQRLhtFhg/UuLNp35zDEI/AAAAAAAAK8E/7l9BqvuarpY/s1600/IMG_0230.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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I love my canvas dropcloth tablecloth for fairs - it piles at the bottom and does a good job at hiding the boxes I bring my stuff in - but I wish it was colorful! I decided to try ice dyeing because it gives interesting patterns and texture plus it looks like it's really fun. I googled "how to ice dye". <a href="http://dylon.com.au/IceDyeing.htm" target="_blank">Dylon has instruction on their website</a> and AC Moore carries the powder. I picked Dylon Bahama Blue and I thought about how I was going to do it - crush up ice in my Snoopy Snowcone Maker? buy the circle ice? use ice maker ice?<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_TWaWcElR6I/UuLNsbtU-LI/AAAAAAAAK8M/iDPpISi1CBY/s1600/DylonMachineDyeColourChartTemplate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_TWaWcElR6I/UuLNsbtU-LI/AAAAAAAAK8M/iDPpISi1CBY/s1600/DylonMachineDyeColourChartTemplate.jpg" height="261" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then it snowed and Cathy posted this: SNOW DYEING<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zWo3GfpRffk/UuLHLCC0gEI/AAAAAAAAK7c/l-vpW3ioR9s/s1600/CathySnowDyeing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zWo3GfpRffk/UuLHLCC0gEI/AAAAAAAAK7c/l-vpW3ioR9s/s1600/CathySnowDyeing.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by Cathy Nault</td></tr>
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I was intrigued! I thought - this will be the best time to ever try this. I spread out my dropcloth/tablecloth in the back yard. I swept the snow off the deck and spread it in a thin layer over the cloth. I opened the dye pack and sprinkled...uh...word to the wise here: the powdered dye is very very lightweight (the packaging might actually weigh more than the crystals) and blue dye crystals look EXACTLY LIKE SNOW until they get wet...so the wind took a lot of my dye and made my backyard blue (it keeps getting bluer as the snow melts and refreezes) and then I didn't have enough for the other half of my project. No matter - I'll fold it in half and it will be fine!<br />
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That was Tuesday afternoon... It didn't get warmer, the snow was not melting and I decided that I had to do something because we have lots of wildlife and I had a feeling I would have a <a href="http://www.janbrett.com/bookstores/mitten_book.htm" target="_blank">Mitten </a>situation if I left it out. So I dumped a plastic bin, put in one of my cookie racks, folded up the snow filled drop cloth and dropped it into the bin. This is where things started to go wrong -<br />
1) we never raked the leaves up this fall (the vacuum truck was coming on a busy weekend for us and the leaves really hadn't fallen until that week so we only raked the front yard) and there were now a bunch stuck to the now frozen drop cloth. No matter, it will just leave more interesting patterns, I said!<br />
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2) cookie racks are not designed to hold 9'x12' 10oz drop cloths filled with now and it collapsed. It's just to let the liquid drip out and how much water can be in this anyway - it's just a dusting of snow, I said!<br />
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Okay - some of you may know this, but I'm a chemist by education. I've taken and taught A LOT of science classes and calorimetry is an absolute favorite experiment of mine. I know what the R is r-value for insulation means (thermal resistance) and how to test for it in different materials. AND I watch SurvivorMan and know that igloos offer excellent insulation... why in the world did I think that snow wrapped in canvas would melt overnight? When I went to bed, 5 hours after bringing the bin inside and setting it by the floor vent, there wasn't even condensation in the bin! When I woke up, there wasn't a drip in the bottom! It wasn't until a full 24 hours after bringing the bin in that I noticed a bit of blue water in the bottom. Better suck that up so that the table cloth on the collapsed cookie rack doesn't sit in it and not give me cool patterns!<br />
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By bedtime on Thursday, I had sucked out a total of 45 cups of water! Waiting for me on Friday morning were another 6... it's been 60 hours inside, I don't see it dripping anymore - I think it's done! I go to rinse it out - the center is still filled with snow!! Regardless of whether the process is done, I'm done, so I take the cloth outside and shake the remaining snow out hoping to also shake off the leaves. It's 18 degrees outside and my damp dropcloth freezes in less than 2 minutes. Leaves are still stuck to it, snow balls - both Bermuda Blue and icy white - are still stuck to it.<br />
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I get off what I can and toss the whole thing into the washer with cold water and vinegar. I pulled it out to clean out the leaves and it looks pretty good. We'll see when it comes out of the dryer!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QPLXPeifDXQ/UuLM2-MfWTI/AAAAAAAAK78/9ya87sJEI4M/s1600/Ice+Dyeing1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QPLXPeifDXQ/UuLM2-MfWTI/AAAAAAAAK78/9ya87sJEI4M/s1600/Ice+Dyeing1.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think I'm going to leave this craft to Cathy but here's what I've learned (and should have applied from learning them in all of my other crafting fiascos):<br />
1 - you're supposed to use multiple colors of dyes when ice dyeing<br />
2 - start small<br />
3 - do this craft in warm weather<br />
4 - canvas is a good insulator<br />
5 - read a variety of instructions before you begin a project (soaking in soda ash or salt solution might have been more vibrant)<br />
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<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-7406969918793499672014-01-06T17:06:00.000-08:002014-01-06T17:34:39.221-08:00Bulletin Board Ideas - Movie NightYou may know that I like the PTA and that I organize PTA events. I did the Mistletoe Market vendor fair last month with great success and this month, I'm organizing Movie Night. Movie nights are great community events - they're pretty cheap to do (I ask for a $600 budget but it's mostly pass-thru for pizza and snacks) and the point is not to make a profit. Here's a how-to to organizing movie night for an elementary school:<br />
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1 - get to okay from the principal and PTA board.<br />
2 - choose a movie. Most schools like G movies but let's be real - good G movies are rarely made these days. I usually check <a href="http://www.movieinsider.com/dvds/" target="_blank">DVD release dates</a> for movies that come out close to my movie night date and then check what <a href="http://www.commonsensemedia.org/" target="_blank">Common Sense Media</a> has to say about the movie (I like to pick movies that green light age 6 and get 4 or 5 stars from parents).<br />
3 - apply for a one-time event/one-time viewing license. It's usually best to not charge admission - it changes the type of license you need. We make up the cost of the license on concessions just like the movie theaters do. Betwee<span style="font-family: inherit;">n <span style="background-color: white;"><span class="il"><a href="http://www.criterionpicusa.com/markets/k-to-13" target="_blank">Criterion Pictures</a></span> that represents both 20</span><sup style="background-color: white;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white;"> Century Fox and Paramount Pictures which includes Dreamworks Animation and Blue Sky Studios and <a href="http://k12.movlic.com/" target="_blank">Swank Motion Pictures</a> which represents basically everything else including Disney, New Line and WB, you only need 2 email addresses and you can show any movie you want!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">4 - get your ducks in a row - got equipment? projector, screen, dvd player, speakers (and no, computer speakers are not cool)? ask the local theater is they can donate anything - movie passes, popcorn, etc, call pizza places to find out how much it costs for the pizza (PTAs often get a discount b/c they are a non-profit) and decide how much you're going to charge for it, buy drinks and candy at Costco.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">5 - advertise! flyers, reservation/order forms, posters and bulletin boards. The good news is that with your site license, they allow you to use the name and official artwork to advertise your event internally (you can't do that outside of the school community though - no radio spots, no billboards, not even the sign outside of the school). My reservation and pizza pre-order form has student name, teacher name, number attending and pizza order info but the most important words on this form are this phrase, "</span></span><span style="font-family: 'MV Boli'; text-align: center;">For the safety and security of all who attend,
children must be accompanied by an adult."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, for what you're all here for - the bulletin board! This huge bulletin board is in the foyer of my kids' school. It's for the PTA's use. This month, we are advertising 2 events - the Barnes & Noble book fair fundraiser and Movie Night.</span><br />
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I did not photograph this as I was doing it, so you're getting the mock up.<br />
Materials:<br />
1 Movie poster<br />
1 yd of cheap black cotton fabric<br />
1 yd of champagne colored tulle<br />
1 sheet of Steam a Seam<br />
1 sheet of black foam board<br />
1 sheet of bright yellow poster board<br />
1 sheet of white poster board (doing it again, I'd go with 2 yellows)<br />
1 Rainbow Loom band (don't tell my kids - I found this one on the floor)<br />
1 black bingo stamper<br />
clear contact paper<br />
popcorn bags<br />
yellow crepe paper<br />
3 different sized round things to trace (I used a demitasse saucer, a regular saucer and a small plate)<br />
scissors, xacto knife, stapler & staples, pins, iron<br />
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1 - Make curtains for the poster "movie screen"</div>
I remember when movies screens had curtains and they'd open at the beginning of the movie and close at the end - this was before the oh-so-fun movie trivia was shown when you get in there, of course. After a trip to the Byrd Theater last week to see a preview of Downton Abbey's Season 4 Premier, I decided to make my bulletin board look like an old fashioned move theater (not gilded and grand but, similar). I bought a landscape poster to be the screen. I cut a strip about 4 inches wide of the black fabric so that I now had a 32 inch piece (curtain) and a 4 inch piece (valence). I then cut 1/2 inch strips of the steam-a-seam sheets.<br />
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Using the steam-a-seam strips, I "hemmed" the valence piece under.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJR5VrKLYvc/UssTyWjkG3I/AAAAAAAAKxk/1xaABcW4xCk/s1600/IMG_0294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJR5VrKLYvc/UssTyWjkG3I/AAAAAAAAKxk/1xaABcW4xCk/s1600/IMG_0294.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Make sure to measure the poster when doing this step - the valence should be about 3-4 inches smaller than the poster. I cut the curtain piece in half along the fold and sewed both sides to the valence piece with the selvage edge being on the inside of the curtain - this is the only sewing I did and looking back, I could have gotten away with just using steam-a-seam but I was worried about it falling apart on the bulletin board. Press the seam so that the curtain edge is flat. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ClVh5GNvThY/UssT07X1FMI/AAAAAAAAKxs/SVavR0qWmqk/s1600/IMG_0295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ClVh5GNvThY/UssT07X1FMI/AAAAAAAAKxs/SVavR0qWmqk/s1600/IMG_0295.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Next, make a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVYbVjMo6I8" target="_blank">knife pleat</a> in the curtain section. For the big version, I made 3 outward-facing skip-1 knife pleats. Here on the mock up, I only had room for 1.</div>
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I was going as no-sew as I could and used two 1 1/2 inch strips of the 1/2 inch steam-a-seam strips to tack the pleats in place. I removed one side of the paper, ironed it where it needed to go, removed the other side of the paper, refolded the fabric over it and ironed it again</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8BRZ4o6fPIg/UssT2dTMbcI/AAAAAAAAKyA/V20gIxX8LRM/s1600/IMG_0297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8BRZ4o6fPIg/UssT2dTMbcI/AAAAAAAAKyA/V20gIxX8LRM/s1600/IMG_0297.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4WeYT4DQqCM/UssT3CpnwRI/AAAAAAAAKyE/dbYRtDRplY0/s1600/IMG_0298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4WeYT4DQqCM/UssT3CpnwRI/AAAAAAAAKyE/dbYRtDRplY0/s1600/IMG_0298.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d2YoJ8ZJ0lY/UssT6y0-MXI/AAAAAAAAKyc/mcYDy4NE2oc/s1600/IMG_0299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d2YoJ8ZJ0lY/UssT6y0-MXI/AAAAAAAAKyc/mcYDy4NE2oc/s1600/IMG_0299.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkFrxiztinE/UssT53rdExI/AAAAAAAAKyM/h1k0pOpuOEM/s1600/IMG_0300.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkFrxiztinE/UssT53rdExI/AAAAAAAAKyM/h1k0pOpuOEM/s1600/IMG_0300.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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Finally, I folded down, pinned and pressed the top "seam". I did not sew or use steam-a-seam on this one - it's where I hid the staples when I attached it to the bulletin board! I brought it to the school with the pins in it!</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U6v8MrTkLpU/UssT63-JFGI/AAAAAAAAKyY/S4kVEBOBaFk/s1600/IMG_0302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U6v8MrTkLpU/UssT63-JFGI/AAAAAAAAKyY/S4kVEBOBaFk/s1600/IMG_0302.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The final (mock up) project!</div>
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(Landscape works better for this theme but if I could only find a portrait poster, I would have cut the valence from the width rather than length but I think it would require about the same amt of fabric).</div>
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2 - The Projector</div>
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I went looking for free clip art to help me design my projector. I found at lot in my <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=movie+projector+clip+art+free&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=cTzLUq6jLITEsASV9YD4DQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1163&bih=616" target="_blank">google search</a> and was reminded that even though it comes up in a google search, doesn't mean that it's actually free or that the person listing it has the copyrights to it... oh well! I came up with a good design based on a lot of the artwork.</div>
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On the black foam board, I placed the largest of my round objects (the regular plate) at the top center - maybe a little off to the left of center - and traced. I put the medium sized round object on edge of the board on the right so the center of the plate was at about at the 3/4 mark and traced. I found the center of the smaller circle and made that the "corner" of the main part of the projector. This should cut thru the bottom of my larger circle. I finished up the front of the projector and cut it out using the Xacto knife (getting clean lines on foam board is HARD). So my extraneous pencil marks wouldn't show, I flipped the now-cut-out foam projector. I used some of the white poster board to trace the medium (saucer) and small (demitasse saucer) round stencils and cut into sixths. I rounded the edges and then pasted 5 of the 6 white pieces in the center of the reels (I spaced them better than the diagram below - I think I need to install my really old version of Illustrator so I can make my diagrams look cool again). I (ahem, my husband) cut the large and medium circles out of clear contact paper and put them over the the reels to hold them better and give it a bit of glossy definition (really - it shows up).</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r3AYfr3RQqk/UstKTZ7XtSI/AAAAAAAAKyw/aBo00Zu1duU/s1600/projector.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r3AYfr3RQqk/UstKTZ7XtSI/AAAAAAAAKyw/aBo00Zu1duU/s1600/projector.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">drawing/cutting diagram for the projector</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "MV Boli";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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I found a for-real-free clapboard image and used Paint.net to add the name of the movie, showing date, time and fact that we're selling concessions - print that, trim the edges, paste and cover with contact paper that too!</div>
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3 - pulling it together</div>
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I was sharing the board this month with another chairperson - B&N bookfair - so we did a bit of over the phone coordination so that we wouldn't step on toes when we got there. It worked fine b/c we both had a very loose idea of what we wanted it to look like. Both of us also forgot how HUGE this bulletin board is! It's 2 "standard" sized outside of classroom bulletin boards butted up to each other in portrait orientation - GI-NORMOUS! Neither of us planned for the space we had... So after I put up the poster, curtain, tulle light and projector, I ran out to Dollar Tree to get popcorn bags, crepe paper and a bingo stamper and grab the poster board I had at home (my initial plan for the light from the projector now replaced by cheap tulle). I stamped the letters to give them the "Marquee" feel. I filled the popcorn bags with yellow crepe paper and stapled them on the board. It looked done. I felt that if I did any more, it would be over done. I'm happy with how it turned out and I hope you have a successful movie night at your school too! </div>
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Keep warm and cozy as the temps dip into the single digits here overnight!</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/163197138/striped-hydrangea-crochet-blanket-tweed?" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cN6vlKZXcfk/UstSy_xAdnI/AAAAAAAAKzA/SpVEbKm-KlQ/s1600/IMG_2591.JPG" height="258" width="320" /></a></div>
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-21108840437967716372013-12-12T10:01:00.003-08:002013-12-12T10:05:37.438-08:00Another Easy Crochet Pattern Share - snowman coffee cup coozyI do a lot of socializing at Starbucks and I meet a lot of people by simply crocheting in public. It's an amazingly simple marketing/networking strategy. Here's an easy-peasy pattern that I use to draw attention to myself!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4TWvLsh686I/Uqn5VbnK3lI/AAAAAAAAKuw/tFVL19RcWvE/s1600/DSCF0289.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4TWvLsh686I/Uqn5VbnK3lI/AAAAAAAAKuw/tFVL19RcWvE/s320/DSCF0289.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I like to use a J hook but you can adapt this to any hook you like to use.<br />
I used 2 strands of yarn for most of the coozy (<a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/All_Knit_Picks_Yarn__L300198.html?showAll=yes" target="_blank">Knit Picks</a> Cotlin DK for the scarf and hat, Knit Picks Shine Sport for the face). I really think that 2 strands, no matter the weight, makes it look better.<br />
scraps of black and orange - both of these happened to be Shine Worsted.<br />
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ch - chain<br />
sc - single crochet<br />
sc3tog - single crochet together<br />
hdc - half double crochet<br />
dc - double crochet<br />
slst - slip stitch<br />
sk - skip<br />
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I like to use a no-chain single crochet foundation row b/c it leaves such a pretty edge. Here's a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dY9qrH_fbo" target="_blank">video tutorial </a>which I totally think is necessary if you've never done a foundation row before.<br />
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Foundation Row: 29 stitches or 9 inches, being careful not to twist the row and slst join, do not turn<br />
R2: ch1, sc in the same stitch as the slst, sc around, slst join<br />
CHANGE YARN HERE to white for snowman face<br />
R3-6: ch2, hdc in the same stitch as the slst, hdc around, slst join<br />
CHANGE YARN HERE to hat color<br />
R7 and hat: ch2, hdc in the same stitch as the slst, hdc 17, TURN,<br />
ch1, sk next stitch, sc in the next stitch, sc 7, slst in next stitch, TURN,<br />
ch1, sk slst, sc in next stitch, sc7, slst in last stitch, TURN,<br />
ch1, sk slst, sc in next stitch, sc5, slst in last stitch, TURN,<br />
ch1, sk slst, sc in next stitch, sc 2, sc2tog, slst in last stitch, TURN,<br />
ch1, sk slst, sc in next stitch, sc2togslst in last stitch, TURN,<br />
ch1 sk slst, sc2tog, ch1, sc down the side, hdc in the same space as the last stitch before the first turn, continue hdc around the round, slst join<br />
R8: slst around R7, keep going thru the hat portion, not around it, join and bind off. I do the seamless join with this that I learned from The Lovely Crow - pull the end thru the last slst so there's a loose end on the outside; with a yarn needle, thread the loose end, then go under the first slst in the round and back thru the last slst so you can't find the join.<br />
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Scarf end<br />
I only use 1 strand of the scarf color for this so it lays down nicely. Leave a long tail (8 inches or so) at the beginning.<br />
R1: ch4, sc in second chain from hook, sc to end<br />
R2-3: ch2, hdc in same stitch, hdc across<br />
R4: ch1, slst across<br />
use 4 strand for fringe, slst on. I wanted to use 3 section but I only fit 2 on. I also tucked my end into the closest fringe - that's my favorite part of fringe - no weaving in ends!<br />
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PomPom<br />
I really don't like making pompoms but...IT'S JUST SO CUTE! Here's a <a href="http://www.hookedonneedles.com/2008/12/how-to-make-pom-pom-quick-and-easy.html" target="_blank">tutorial </a>- I only used 2 fingers for this since it's a mini.<br />
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Eyes (make 2)<br />
10 sc in your magic ring (complete with cheesy music, here's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLUaywX0-WE" target="_blank">Planet June's video tutorial</a>), invisible join and bind off.<br />
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Carrot nose<br />
ch4, slst in second chain from the hook, sc in next stitch, hdc in last stitch, bind off.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6AiCdPKcrs/Uqn5VlkyisI/AAAAAAAAKu4/jviMN9QXv4g/s1600/DSCF0292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6AiCdPKcrs/Uqn5VlkyisI/AAAAAAAAKu4/jviMN9QXv4g/s320/DSCF0292.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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PUT IT TOGETHER: Use the loose ends at the bottom to finish that edge - I pull it thru the bottom of the last stitch and<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhEUqBSgwjI" target="_blank"> tie it off</a> like I do a sewing stitch. Weave in the ends including the ones from the bottom. Using long tails, sew on the scarf, eyes and nose. Weave in those ends. Fold down the hat and sew on the pompom through both the tip of the hat and the coozy. Weave in those ends and VOILA! Enjoy your yummy drink (butterbeer anyone?)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5VBn8La2MU/Uqn5Vi8v2NI/AAAAAAAAKu0/cUAQ6HbBMGY/s1600/DSCF0294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i5VBn8La2MU/Uqn5Vi8v2NI/AAAAAAAAKu0/cUAQ6HbBMGY/s320/DSCF0294.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nah - this one's better for the Butterbeer!</td></tr>
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(This pattern hasn't been tested by others, just by me. If you find a mistake, send me a message or leave a comment)<br />
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Also - Introducing PRINCESSES! to my fabric sandwich bag repertoire!<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/172762029/princesses-fabric-sandwich-wrap-reusable" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fs6F9Y1AAZs/Uqn5PVohx8I/AAAAAAAAKuo/aRsvvMJDIQA/s320/DSCF0296.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-48213665480269927192013-11-13T11:54:00.003-08:002013-11-13T11:55:28.847-08:00Photo Organization<span style="font-family: inherit;">I need a photo genie. Earlier this week, I went looking for a baby picture of my son for school only to realize that my photos are (a) a mess and (b) mostly digital and (c) limited by the time I got to child #3. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am excellent at organizing my digital photos. They are organized by year, month and event (YYYY-MM - event). </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HSawGLJBjAk/UoKlgQye3NI/AAAAAAAAKsI/QshWPvGxENI/s1600/file-org.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HSawGLJBjAk/UoKlgQye3NI/AAAAAAAAKsI/QshWPvGxENI/s320/file-org.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's magical because I can just search by any of those things and making our annual MyPublisher/K</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">odak/Shutte</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">rfly/who-ever-has-the-best-coupon-code</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">p</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">hoto</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">book is a cinch because I take 3-5 photos per month or special event and drop them into the book editing software, add a little text and SHAZAM! send that to the printer! </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZlXzkya_es/UoKli8c8qmI/AAAAAAAAKsQ/5mDXS1W8ewQ/s1600/IMG_0116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZlXzkya_es/UoKli8c8qmI/AAAAAAAAKsQ/5mDXS1W8ewQ/s320/IMG_0116.JPG" width="203" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">not all coupon codes are created equal and I would highly NOT recommend <br />
canvas bound photo books when you have young children (2004),<br />
even paperback is risky (2005-2010)...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, my pre-decent-digital camera photos are stored in a cardboard box, actually 2 cardboard boxes... </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DP6mZ9UYnvA/UoPLwKl2d7I/AAAAAAAAKso/mpdK3l6DmXQ/s1600/IMG_0119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DP6mZ9UYnvA/UoPLwKl2d7I/AAAAAAAAKso/mpdK3l6DmXQ/s320/IMG_0119.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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I forgot to take a before shot - the one on the left is now organized and full of baby books, some large unframed photos, frames without photos, my graduation caps (white was high school, black was college), BS hood and a soccer jersey from my travel team. The one on the right had the frames you see which are family portraits (not hanging b/c we rent this place and where I'd like to hang them is wallpaper), our wedding album, wedding photo proofs, all the photos from the disposable cameras at our wedding (really, Kevin?), 2 photoboxes of photos, more photos in envelopes, professional and school photos and more photos just tossed in there.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FnFSSMiN7-w/UoPLv8TCX1I/AAAAAAAAKsw/FZ_h6pAUucg/s1600/IMG_0117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FnFSSMiN7-w/UoPLv8TCX1I/AAAAAAAAKsw/FZ_h6pAUucg/s320/IMG_0117.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of the boxes of photos - 9x12" full of my photos before I met my husband - <br />
that one on top is my 18th birthday party that I had 4 days before heading to college!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm ready for some organization... photo boxes are purchased and labeled by person, family and other people (okay - so it's mostly Really Awesome Photo Greeting Cards).</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F038BbiobBE/UoPLvNpNM2I/AAAAAAAAKss/tv0qSLtZjyE/s1600/IMG_0118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F038BbiobBE/UoPLvNpNM2I/AAAAAAAAKss/tv0qSLtZjyE/s320/IMG_0118.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">and now they fit in the larger of the 2 boxes and I can just pull out a box when I need a photo of someone or have a new photo!</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fiiCmM1AoY/UoPLyErtDeI/AAAAAAAAKs8/wYIg5r9j2cE/s1600/IMG_0121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fiiCmM1AoY/UoPLyErtDeI/AAAAAAAAKs8/wYIg5r9j2cE/s320/IMG_0121.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Any tips for staying </span>organized<span style="font-family: inherit;">? what do I do when I need a box for some other project?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'll leave you with this adorable hat that I haven't listed yet. Don't forget to visit <a href="http://www.hamburke.com/" target="_blank">Hamburke's</a> and become a fan on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/hamburkesbows" target="_blank">facebook</a>!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.hamburke.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gm-tY9gN0m0/UoPY7jXF2SI/AAAAAAAAKtU/3tq6ERVoNTY/s320/IMG_2604.JPG" width="250" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8789089251251928368.post-65075285417736234042013-11-04T12:17:00.002-08:002013-11-05T19:52:12.740-08:00Crafting for the HolidaysThe exciting craft season really starts at the beginning of October with Halloween Costumes. I usually spend the entire month planning, creating, scraping and starting over on frivolous but fun crafts (Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once!) that make me feel warm and fuzzy about the holidays! I just couldn't get into the spirit of Halloween this year for the longest time! But my husband more than made up for it! He spent the entire month of October working on a MOVING magical eye to be Allister Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter! (I have a video but have no idea how to post it - I'll have to get Chris to set that up for you to see!)<br />
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The kids were easy this year -<br />
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A was a cat (black leggings, a leotard that's still too big for her sister, a length of craft marabou, a cheap flexible mask and velvet over-elbow gloves handed down from an older dancer friend),<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_yaFBdP9ymM/Unm6b26EIxI/AAAAAAAAKrA/VBEpOy0m2u0/s1600/IMG_2625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_yaFBdP9ymM/Unm6b26EIxI/AAAAAAAAKrA/VBEpOy0m2u0/s320/IMG_2625.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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E was the Greek Goddess, Artemis, from <a href="http://www.percyjacksonbooks.com/" target="_blank">Percy Jackson</a> (It was her vision too - we had the bow, Goodwill for the tunic, Chris made the bracers and leg guards out of foam sheets and I made the cape)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-luUz4BuBKw0/Unm6b2GIl5I/AAAAAAAAKqw/VEu1he9SwqU/s1600/IMG_2629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-luUz4BuBKw0/Unm6b2GIl5I/AAAAAAAAKqw/VEu1he9SwqU/s320/IMG_2629.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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and M was Luke from Percy Jackson (jeans, tee, foam sword painted bronze on one side and "steel" on the other for BackBiter and a foam chest plate also made my Chris).<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-naLjG3dyALg/Unm6cNm9-OI/AAAAAAAAKq0/S5pbDJXSM5I/s1600/IMG_2630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-naLjG3dyALg/Unm6cNm9-OI/AAAAAAAAKq0/S5pbDJXSM5I/s320/IMG_2630.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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I jumped in at the last minute with a "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE" target="_blank">What Does the Fox Say</a>" costume (why do I love that song so much?) - Most of it was already in my closet and I made the mask with glitter and craft feathers the night before the annual party we attend. I actually spent more money on make-up than I did on my costume since I wear so little of it to begin with!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tn_O55mfH30/Unf-bATGkyI/AAAAAAAAKp4/reinCVdiJdc/s1600/halloween-karin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tn_O55mfH30/Unf-bATGkyI/AAAAAAAAKp4/reinCVdiJdc/s320/halloween-karin.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Finally, I got into the mood and made The Pumpkin Hat by <a href="http://www.crochetbyjennifer.com/" target="_blank">Crochet by Jennifer</a> and listed it in my Etsy shop. Turkey clippies and Santa hat are already there so I'm all ready for the next 2 holidays!!<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/112274496/thanksgiving-turkey-hair-clippie" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/154475110/santa-hat-crochet-tailed-baby-elf-hat" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKfipiXozxY/UngAXGTs-SI/AAAAAAAAKqc/tr-b1qOHJxQ/s1600/IMG_1513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKfipiXozxY/UngAXGTs-SI/AAAAAAAAKqc/tr-b1qOHJxQ/s1600/IMG_1513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKfipiXozxY/UngAXGTs-SI/AAAAAAAAKqc/tr-b1qOHJxQ/s200/IMG_1513.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r4dLvVR2nu0/UngAJ0-2-cI/AAAAAAAAKqU/AXrSJYLMnIk/s1600/IMG_2391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r4dLvVR2nu0/UngAJ0-2-cI/AAAAAAAAKqU/AXrSJYLMnIk/s200/IMG_2391.JPG" width="197" /></a><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/167567793/crochet-baby-pumpkin-hat-crochet-beanie" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zQv2JayqBh8/Unm7vlvBQKI/AAAAAAAAKrM/AbngjOqR-kY/s200/IMG_2623.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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Let's hope that the crafting spirit stays for a while! I have a lot to get done!</div>
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hamburkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03953405992631372956noreply@blogger.com0