Party Time

I am nearly 19. crikey. And my next youngest sister is nearly 16. One of the best parts about having a birthday so close to my sister’s is that the party lasts from the end of February to the middle of March. So this year, to prepare to celebrate our consecutive birthdays, we made tissue paper pom-pom things and hung them from the various tall places in our house. And I do have to say, they look simply lovely.

and in case you were wondering, yes, that second to last pom-pom was made by the boy, and since it was smaller, we put it on a stick in a flower pot. love!

Were these hard to make? Not at all!

Here’s the instructions we used:

(Thank you to Audrey from Oh So Pretty for the instructions!)

Here is what you'll need:
+ 10 sheets of the same color tissue paper (Most people suggest 8 sheets but I found they turned out best with at least 10 sheets.)
+ Scissors
+ Monofiliment or fishing line (for hanging the poms)
+ Bendable wire (I used 24 gauge)

And here are the simple steps for pom making:

1. Stack 10-12 sheets of tissue paper. I bought paper at Paper Source on the plaza. If you haven't been there I suggest you check it out...tons of great stuff to choose from!

2. Make 1 1/2-inchwide accordion folds, creasing with each fold.

3. Wrap your wire over center of folded tissue; twist until tightly secured. With scissors, trim ends of tissue into rounded or pointy shapes.
4. Separate the tissue layers, pulling away from center one at a time. Once pulled apart evenly, fluff the sections until you are happy with the fullness.

5. Tie a length of monofilament to wire for hanging.

TIPS:

+ I found the poms look better when you cut the rounded (or pointy) shape pretty deep instead of just the ends.

+ The first pom I made was a dud. I made it too big and didn't cut the rounded ends very deep and it turned out poorly. I made some adjustments on my second pom and they all turned out great after that.

+ To make a smaller pom follow the same steps but simply cut down your tissue paper to a smaller rectangle or square.

+ I made a multi-colored pom using 4 sheets each of 4 similar colors (a fun alternative to a solid colored pom).

So really, all you need are these 4 things:

And wa-la! So pretty!

 

 

To top off the afternoon, my amazing mom made cake. Carrot cake. Yum-o!

Party on!

Painting the Laundry Room

When we moved into our house nearly a year and a half ago, every single wall was either a neutral beige color or a simple brown. This was a bit of a change. The house we moved from in the city was many times more colorful than the beige: we had purple, blue, orange, green, and pink on the main level, and blue and brown in the basement. My mom and dad worked really hard when we moved in to get some color back into our home. So far, we’ve done two bedrooms, the kitchen, and the staircase walls all in some beautiful colors. I came home from play practice to find a beautiful surprise and a very happy mom.

An orange laundry room! How amazing is this??

My dad rocks- he put up shelves and painted while we were all running around that morning.

Now, the laundry room is not only much much sweeter, but thoroughly functional as well!

 

 

We hung a 2” wooden dowel along the hooks on the shelves, making more space for us to hang dry our clothes. It looks so charming!

 

 

We are all just a tad bit in love with the laundry room right now :)

and how could you not be? :)

 

-jk

Homestead News

Hey y’all!

Life has picked up as summer starts to roll into our life full force, and I am so excited to see what adventures God is going to take us on this summer!

Our first weekend in June was spent moving lots of plants, adding some details onto the chicken run, playing in the garden, and lots of bike rides on the cool afternoons.

Dad and Ruthie have been hard at work these past few days putting the pretty new roof onto the chicken run. We had a long week of hard rain that nearly turned our chickens into ducks, and they decided that it would be a good investment to put a roof onto the run. It’s hard to see on the pictures, but the roof is slanted so that the water runs off and not into the run. And do you see the new vent on the back door of the coop? Yep! Those gals needed a bit more air on the warm nights (and cool ones) so after some Pinterest inspiration, my dad put in a vent on the back door! I thought it was perfectly genius of them.

 

Those sweet faces we love so much are still keeping us hopping- especially that little white one :) You can read more about our latest escaped with Piper the puppy here. She recently discovered that we do live on a pond, and decided to try it out. My oh my was she a mess! It was very funny to watch her get hosed off afterwards though- her face just glared at us, and I could see that she was rethinking the pond jump.

The drills haven’t been the only machines hard at work these past few days. Our sewing center was recently rediscovered as all three of us gals plunged headfirst into some exciting spring projects. Lillie  (who just recently started a new blog! did you know? she’s going to let you know about some great books she’s been reading: the Hobbit, some Historical Fiction, and some great funny reads too! Check it out over here!) made a purse out of fat quarters and it turned out so cute that the Ruthie decided to make one too while Lillie makes another one for Mom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While my sisters are cranking out some darling purses, I’ve started another quilt! I am very excited, as this is the first quilt in which I’ve used triangles to make wonky stars. (isn’t wonky a fun word? :) )

I found precut squares by Moda fabrics at my local (Christian!) quilt store, and am so excited by the sheep, chickens, and flowers that I could hardly stand it. I am using the pattern called Starry Eyed off of the Moda Fabrics blog, Moda Bake Shop.

 

Hooray for spring!

More news to come later this week as our neighborhood starts to fill up!

Blessings!

jk

back by popular demand :)

oh me oh my, how time does fly!

(just a little poetry for your morning ;) )

But despite my quirky poem, time really has flown by these past few weeks.

But oh how good the times were!

for starters, the last few weeks have included the following:

- tomatoes in the ground

- seeds starting to come up in the garden

- baby chickens integrating into the flock of big chickens

- finals… a perfect name for the FINAL things I needed to do to finish High School

- spray painting chairs… love love love the colors now… I love homeschool projects :)

- and loads more coming in more posts this week… get ready, folks!

To Move a Coop

This past year, my sister has acquired a new name for herself: The Chicken Mama. It has been a blast to see her build a coop, raise 6 chickens from 2 weeks old, and now, to move them outside.

My grandpa and grandma up north helped her to build the coop, and it was housed in our garage for a few weeks. The older chickens (who are now 4 months old) moved into the coop in the garage, while the younger ones (now 10 weeks old) took their place in the large rubbermaid container in the basement.

Now that the weather has warmed up, we were able to get the chicken coop to it snew location in the backyard. If only we could lift it all the way back there (the coop weight at least 150 lbs).

To save our arms and backs from pain, my parents devised the idea to back our minivan up and into the garage, then lift the coop only the 12 feet to the back of the car.

And praise God, it worked!

this picture below is a photo of the new area where the coop will be going. It looks much cuter now, as we have put up the fence, black metal gate (so charming!) and strung grapevine along the fence to add some sweetness. This summer, my sister Lillie will be putting in 4 raised garden beds in this now fenced area.

To say the least, my dad is a great driver, and managed to back the van across the vacant lot next door and into the chicken area- great work, Dad!

A few minutes later, we lifted the coop off of the van and onto its stand, connected to the run. These chickens are living in high style with a beautiful coop and nesting boxes, and a large run to, well, run around in.

We are so excited to start getting possibly 3 eggs a day (about 21-24 eggs a week!) from our girls, and are so so happy to have them outside and all settled in.

In case you wanted to get an inside view of “Ruthie’s Rhode Island Red Resort,” here’s a photo of the interior of the coop:

The stick-on tile is attached to a board that slides out for easy spray-off cleaning :)

And the nesting boxes attached to the left there.

Who knew that we would get chickens? It still makes me laugh some days…

Owl Cupcakes

Because really, who wouldn’t want to try and make these adorable cupcakes?

So we waited patiently while they cooked and our mouths watered as they cooled on the counter.

Then after lunch, we dove into the Oreos and M&M’s with the happy excitement that comes with making delicious baked goodies that look cute too…

And I think we did very well.

Here is our little flock of owls, all googley eyed and adorable!

Each of us gals got to make three, and here are our favorites~

first, L’s favorite…

googley eyed and sweet… and funny! :) made us all giggle!

then Miss M’s… isn’t this just look like her?? :) Ha! A surprised owl!

and her other one, the shy owl…

And my fav- a cute little one…

Too sweet!

And while we were busy creating our flock of birds, Mr. R was busy with the M&M’s creating one big happy smiley family-

 

Yum!

(and thanks to Anna from Young and Married for the idea!)

 

Have a blessed day on this gloriously cool fall afternoon!

Kaye and family :)