Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! My gift to you this year is a Christmas "find it" post!!
I truly hope that each and every one of you has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!
I'm going on a blog vacation and should be back to posting on January 4th.
Happy Holidays!!
 
 
An Angel with wings, a silver snow flak, the beginning of Merry, four Santas, a little bell, 450, a fuzzy outfit and a blue candle. 

 
Boy this one's gonna make you look!
Five white churches and one red, a reindeer, a stool made of spools, two camels, the number twelve, five bottle brush trees, a candy cane, a red truck, a snowy scene and three pine cones.
 
 
Getcha zoom out. 
A lava lamp, MLK, four mirrors and a star, a wooden bowl, a silver bow, children kneeling in prayer, a hand in a cup, a clock with no hands and eight old photos. 

 
Wow... I could just keep going with this one...
Two dolls in blue dresses, a gold star and a key, a kissing angel, the dating game, a bunch of daisies, two horses lying down, a gold Santa, eight suit cases, a silver Christmas tree, wrapping paper and "owl really" three times.
 
 
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Tuesday, December 22, 2015

A Barbie Oasis

This is what I did today outside of watching kids, cooking and cleaning at the day care.  I've had it in my mind to create an "outdoor" space for the Barbie house since I started this.  MyFroggyStuff on youtube has a lot of instructional videos on many how to's of the Barbie world.  I got this from the Secret Garden video.  Here are my pictures along the way today.
 
You take your glue gun and blob on "rocks".

 
I decided I probably didn't have enough glue sticks to do the whole box so I cut out windows to save space and glue.

 
Some of her videos say to line the edges with paper and glue sticks for a finished look... so I did.



It literally took me all morning long, including stopping for kid stuff, to make the glue rocks and my hand was taking a beating from it!



During naptime I got to work painting.  Gray first to get the mortar and base coat on the rocks.


Then dabbing of neutral colors and whites around the windows.



And leftovers for lunch.



I placed the faux grass astro turf that I got from my sister in to check the look.


For my window filler I decided to print off pretty pictures of the sky until my printer ran out of ink.  So I broke open the Lucky Charms box and painted my own.


I bought this vine bundle at Hobby Lobby along with the spray of tiny pink flowers.



I just duct taped the scene in each window.  Oh And I got a stick from outside for the tree. 



Not everything is beautiful from the back view.


Up close of the painted "rock".
 
 
And the finished product... until I have time to make some outdoor furniture.  Enough for today!!


 
YAY Barbie Oasis!!!
 
 

Monday, December 21, 2015

2015 most popular posts

What a fantastic year!  I scanned back through my blog posts during 2015 and picked a few that ranked top in number of views.  I plan on being pretty scarce over the next couple of weeks and taking some time off from my job and blogging to spend time winding down the year. 
 
 
Coming in at number one with almost 500 views... wow!  This is when I made curtains from scrap fabric for our bedroom.  These aren't the best pictures in the world but they do show what I made.
http://peppysis.blogspot.com/2015/01/around-here_19.html
 
 
 
My clothesline that I can put up and take down with each use at the day care. 
http://peppysis.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-makeshift-clothesline.html
 
 
 
The Oasis... ah I miss it already.  I've taken it all down and brought the plants in for winter.  It will definitely be back next year. 
 
 
Awe my little greenhouse.  A place where my garden begins each year.
http://peppysis.blogspot.com/2015/04/greenhouse-life.html
 
 
 
The herb hike held on our farm was the absolute best thing!  I think they are planning on doing it again this next year.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ExkF2wJj6UXb7p5g-kPsHtUTsT0azEyLB-JEnsLCB27mbp7wO-JTOt0iNwsbIoX7ik7aGCmFeUVySdWef-phfYQSSsfD9LlpczSkKNQaherkpa5g5s8GZrvKo07Hi74ozJ67Q5D_iwJE/s640/DSC_1858.JPG
 
 
Camp Arrowhead ROCKED!  I planned and carried out "camp" at the day care.  We took walks, made lots of things,  had a faux campfire and told stories.  So much fun.
http://peppysis.blogspot.com/2015/07/camp-arrowhead-day-two.html
 
 
I do lots of these library posts but this one houses the best book I read all year... The Girl on the Train.  I have recommended this fast and good read to so many people.
 
http://peppysis.blogspot.com/2015/07/literally-on-ther-library-hold-shelf.html

Friday, December 18, 2015

Barbie Affliction

I swear y'all I think I have found my calling with this Barbie stuff.  I promise I do have days when I don't make anything or even have time to think about the Barbie house... maybe just a couple of days.  You would think this Barbie house has been in there forever instead of just a few weeks.  I find myself remodeling all the time.  The contact "wall" paper that I had on the bottom floor I was not happy with so yesterday I redid it in wood grain which I LOVE.  I have moved the kitchen from the top floor to the middle floor.  And now I want to redo the wallpaper on the top floor.  I play in this house more than the kids at the day care do but that's ok right??  I don't really play so much as play "fix up" or "house" which was always mine and my friend Mandy's favorite part. 
 
So one thing that has been bothering me is bedding.  I have one little quilt that doesn't fit the beds (no offense to Mom who I think made it).  It just lays there... doesn't drape down the sides, and even falls off when the Barbie is covered up.  So I have wondered what to do to give my Barbie house bedrooms a more modern feel.  I looked all over etsy yesterday (Wednesday) and found quite a lot.  Some of them were expensive and some looked great but most of them fit the same way I am talking about.  And the crochet ones... YUCK!  Barbie houses were not meant for large loop crochet.  I hate when things look too big for the houses... now that I am grown up that is.  Used to we'd make beds out of wash rags and loved it.  Lo, if I'd have had sewing skills back then... we'd have been dangerous.  I took the two beds home with me Wednesday, went through my stash of fabric and made two comforters and throw pillows in under an hour and a half.  I only quit because I was getting tired after a long day.  But I had so much fun and it was seriously stress-free crafting for me.  So enjoyable.  I have made much more for this Barbie house that I will share soon.  It just keeps getting better and better!
 
 
This first picture is "before bedding" but after new wallpaper.  There is a light socket that is covered up in the top right corner, hence the bubble.  Some things you can't help.  Also I made the windows, picture on the left, standing pictures on the dresser, rug and plant.  The plant is the top off of a Downy bottle.  The sea horse is out of that tea I posted about a few weeks ago that has the prizes in it and the bed is just... blah.


And this is "after" with bedding.  I used some outdoor fabric that I made pillow out of for our porch six years ago and drop cloth for the sides.

I fringed the pillows, just by pulling threads of fabric out after it was sewn, which I think gives it a more "size appropriate" look.  Rather than human sized trim or fringe... which a lot of people use.


And this is the other bed.  It is a hard, pink plastic bed with no character really so I decided to cover it totally too.  I used fabric that we cut off the bottom of my craft room curtains when they turned out too long.  It was already stitched on two sides with a backing so I stitched up the other side, put some polyfill in it and sewed over the top to give it some coosh and comfort, like a quilt.  The blue jean pillow, that I added lace to, is my favorite I think.  Maybe because it was cut from my rainy day jeans that I finally let go of and knew I'd wear again with my toosh hanging out if I didn't cut them up.  I love the fringe on it too.  The chicken is a Christmas ornament I found in my sewing stash but it fits perfectly in here!


I do plan to put a small hand stitch in the top corners of the bottom of the bed to make them lay down better.


Too cute huh?!?!


This wardrobe and dressing room is on the bottom floor also.  I made the wardrobe from a youtube tutorial.  It's not my best work and may not last long with four years olds and it wasn't easy to do.  It works though!  I made the coat hangers from large paper clips... also from youtube.
 
I have got to tape those lights up!  I made the peace rug, and the multi colored one from the other picture, out of that plastic cross-stitch stuff that I found in Mrs. Brust's sewing stash that I got.  I cut the pictures from magazines and made the frames from cardstock.  I'm not real happy with the white rug so something else will probably be there soon.  It's just a piece of felt.  Oh I made the jewelry too.  Necklaces and bracelets with beads that I have had forever and tiny elastic string that I bought at Walmart.  There's a bunch of it in the top drawer there.  Too much fun!
 
This is what wallpapering the Barbie house looks like.  And I spilled my water so my jeans were wet from sitting on the floor.
 
 
And this is what I look like in the Barbie house.
I just love the new bedding!


Oh and I LOVE the new wardrobe and jewelry!
 
And this is me in Florida with my family last year.  Not everybody in the family got to go but I sure had a good time!
 
I think the affliction is there regardless of the Barbie house.
 

 
 

Thursday, December 17, 2015

image inspiration

Inspiring Images of handmade Christmas trees that could be made in a snap with common (in my household) things. 
 
 
I love this little handmade nativity scene found on soulemama.  The trees, I think, are made of coffee filters and probably rolled up paper or something a little more sturdy.  So sweet.
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2015/12/handmade-holiday.html
 
 
 
I adore this little felt Christmas tree.  It looks like it would be so easy to make with just a little sewing machine time or hand sewing time.  The base would probably involve the hubby but it gets the creative wheels turning doesn't it?  I originally found it on hazelandscout but the tree can be purchased at Nordstrom for pretty cheap too.
 
 
 
Oooh this one has a "how to"!  Although I despise times when I have everything here at the day care except for one thing for a craft and it's at the house.  I own it I just don't have it on me when the mood hits.  Ugh!  The agony of having two houses.  I really like these fluffy trees and they are made with a piece of paper and crepe paper... oh and glue and accessories.  But the accessories are optional and they are still really pretty!  Found on creativechaos.  Click the pic to see how they are made.
2010 December Craft 036
 
 
 
For the kiddos.  I found this on pinterest but always like to link to the correct source if it is possible.  This easy for kids to make tree is from creativefamilyfun.net and will most likely be made today at the day care!  I have a lot of pompoms!
Kindergarten and Mooneyisms:
 
 
And since my newly found "old" Barbie love I have found and totally enjoyed myfroggystuff on youtube and here she shows us an easy way to make a doll house Christmas tree that doesn't necessarily have to be used in a dollhouse y'all.
 
 
 
 
And I love this picture and the thought behind it for Barbies.  So easy to do for miniature things!
http://tinyterminiatures.blogspot.com.es/search/label/Preparaci%C3%B3n%20para%20el%20montaje%20de%20%C3%A1rbol%20de%20Navidad