Poking my head up...

I've been trying to post for like a week now, but I'm sick, and it just seems like by the time I finish all the necessary tasks like feeding the kids and putting on pants, I have nothing left in me. It's nothing terribly serious, just a sore throat, but I'm on antibiotics now, so hopefully it's on its way out.

So here's what's happening. We have a contract on the house. Yay us! Actually, we had a contract before this one, but the buyer backed out because the inspection turned up some foundation damage. Boo! BUT, we are getting it fixed in 10 days, with a lifetime transferable warranty, so it shouldn't be an issue. Even with that, the first buyer didn't want to stay on board. Fortunately, he'd been in a bit of a bidding war with another buyer, and they were happy to take his place with the assurance that the foundation work is being done.

So now the race is on to find our next house. We found one that we really liked, but it sold the day before the contract went on ours. And we've since found one that we really love, but there are some issues with it that would have to be resolved for it to be an actual option for us. It's all very much up in the air from our viewpoint, but God has definitely been moving and providing, so we will see what happens.

So as far as crafting goes, there's been a little bit. Not much, but a little. And I don't have any tutorials for you right now, but here are a few things I've made.

Back in July a little girl at our church had a birthday, and I made her this fun candy colored paracord bracelet and earrings set. The bracelet actually ended up being a little small for her, so I made her a bigger one and she sent this one back to Lily.

My friend Melissa just had her gorgeous baby girl MacKenzie. Her nursery is done in gray and yellow with accents of teal in an elephant motif. So back in August for her baby shower I made her a few gifts. First was this paper banner with bows made using my Sizzix Bow Die.

I found this yellow and gray photo box at Hobby Lobby to put it in for gifting, and she can use the box in baby girl's room.

I made her a couple of curved burp cloths out of white terry cloth and this super soft cuddle minky.

And I also made her a faux chenille blanket. I'll be honest, I wasn't entirely happy with how the blanket turned out. The blue looked more teal in the store, and I should have used it as the one of the chenille layers and not the base fabric on the back. I should have sewn the lines half as far apart so the chenille strips would have been more even and stuck out less from the blanket. But it's still super cuddly, and she said she loves it.

My mother-in-law Brenda's birthday was also in August, and I made her this card.

It's very simple, but I like it. I'd really like to get into making cards on a more regular basis. I've got stamps, stamp pads, and embossing folders for days, but not much of a place to do it right now. And most of my stamps and ink pads are in storage right now anyway. When I get a craft room one of these days I plan on making up a bunch of different elements and having my girlfriends/sisters in law over for a card making party.

I also made Brenda this pretty patchwork zipper pouch.

The mint fabric was a duck cloth remnant from Hobby Lobby I think, and the coral polka dot fabric was from a pair of pants in the giveaway pile. I made my Mom a very similar one for her birthday in July.

Inside the pouch for Brenda I included this simple bead and chain set I made with these awesome metal filigree beads I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

We also had another Walridge Baptist Church Ladies Craft Meeting last month, but that one deserves a post of its own.

We could really use your prayers that God will show us to the house He has for us and that everything will go smoothly with the sale/closing on our own house. It looks like the timing may end up pretty tight on it - for us to close on the new home the same day as we close on the old home we will have to find the right house and have an offer accepted in the next week or so. Exciting times, people!

Camp Craft - Paracord Bracelets

This is not a tutorial - there are a ton of them out there for these bracelets, for instance here. This is just a bit of a recap of what we did at camp.

We don't usually have crafts of any sort, which we (my crafty church sisters and I) felt was a shame. So we decided to have the kids try their hand at making paracord bracelets. Right now with kids camps and VBS looming on the horizon, Walmart has a ton of these paracord kits in stock for a little under $5 (not an affiliate link).

Source

So I stocked up on enough to make 54 bracelets, thinking that would cover what we needed. Then we ended up having more campers than we thought, and including workers we needed at least 76, so I went back and bought enough for 30 more bracelets. THEN the kids totally mobbed us and begged and pleaded to make more than one, so we ended up having to go back AGAIN to get 3 more kits just so the adults could make one too, because let's face it, paracord bracelets are just cool!

This was a crazy huge hit with everybody, and I've already started buying up more paracord for next year. Hopefully by the time camp rolls back around again I'll have enough stocked up for everyone to be able to make 3 or 4 bracelets if they want. I also found a great deal on flat side-release buckles, a must if you want your bracelet to be reversible, and they will also cut down on that fun oops-you-put-half-your-buckle-on-backwards moment we had to work through with about 15 kids. :)

Why yes, there are indeed two kids wearing a watch and nothing at all on their wrists.

It was really neat to see them enjoy creating something so much, and I loved how almost all of them wore the bracelets nonstop. We even made one for this big guy.

I'm so glad they had so much fun, and I can't wait to do it again with them next year!