june photos

Okay, so I'm a little late for last month's pics. It's been a busy summer! Every one of these is from our trip to South Haven, Michigan, in all its delightfulness:

water

trip

summer food #1

summer food #2

endings (end of the pier at the end of the day)

bonus (no accidents in Michigan!)

shapes (heart rock collection at the rental house)

sport/game

blue

flag

clouds

little hearts

vintage hankies

I found this hankie in my collection, and thought it would make a perfect pillow. I might have to do more of these!

Other vintage hankie crafts I've copied are a table runner:

and in simple square frames:

mazes and ice cream

Some of my earliest memories with my dad are made of drawing and coloring books. He taught me how to shade. He drew elaborate mazes for me and my brother and sister to solve. He was very busy at work while I was growing up--but that didn't deter him from being creative.

He was an ice cream maker (a long-time family business), and had to be creative with flavors. He once devised a way to infuse carbonation into ice cream with Pepsi and Mountain Dew flavors. He sold crazy flavors like dill pickle and even prune (which was named, "Gentle Persuasion"). A great seller, though, was Frozen Explosion, which was a colorful ice cream with Pop Rocks candy throughout that exploded in your mouth.

A couple years ago, after a long-time desire to carve an ice cream cone out of wood, his dream came true. An employee had a big stump to get rid of, and my dad jumped at the opportunity. Imagine my mom's surprise when she came home one day to find a giant stump dropped off at the end of the driveway! That winter, he educated himself on the art, borrowed and bought some tools, and started cutting away like Edward Scissorhands (or so I imagined him). The neighbors even noticed. Finally, it was finished, and they shipped it to Atz's Ice Cream Shoppe on North Anthony Blvd. in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where you can go see it today.

It's fun to see him drawing, coloring, and making mazes with my children now. Last night my kids and I came to visit my parents for a couple of nights. He looked at me with that "idea" look of his, and told me he had some cardboard boxes he wanted to bring home to make a huge, walk-through maze for the kids.

feb photo list

I'm still focusing (get it?) on my camera skills. Here is what I shot for the 12 Months of Photos project for last month:

Red

 

Favorite Gadgets

Loved Ones

Hands

 Party

Valentines Day

 

Books

My Home

grandpa's woodworking

My grandpa was the king of DIY long before I knew what DIY even meant. Need a book shelf? Grandpa could make you one. Need a stool? Grandpa could make you one. A doll house? A deck? A screened-in porch? A shed? A roof repair? Any other conceivable repair? How about a box with a heart-shaped hole, which is also conveniently the perfect size to hold all your dubbed cassette tapes? He's got it covered. I have several Christmas memories that involve Grandpa pulling out a cardboard box from a side room, wide-grinned, ready to give every grandchild a one-of-a-kind, hand-made-with-love wagon, sled, piggy bank, or bird house.

The best thing about Grandpa is that he loves to create, loves to fix problems, and loves to help. I'd like to think I've gained these qualities from him. And if I would tell him that, I know he'd squeeze my hand and smile in loving approval.

salt dough hearts

We're getting ready for Valentine's Day! This was my first time making salt dough ornaments. It was so much fun! (even though I had to keep convincing the kids that they were not cookies.) I got my recipe here. I thought I would give my letter stamps a try in the dough. I liked how they looked in the dough, but I'm not sure I would do it again, just because the end product (after baking and after painting) was unpredictable. 

pinterest party!

Everyone brings a craft and a recipe, as seen on Pinterest. It's lots of fun, great ideas, and delicious food!