claudelle69@hotmail.com, Author at Yearning to Create

Easiest Quiet Book – Ever!!!

Made this quiet book for Kat when she was almost two, and now it’s being enjoyed by another child. We personalized it for Kat, but Mac doesn’t seem to mind that at all – she just enjoys looking at sisters book.

It’s the easiest thing ever and you can get your other kids involved in helping too.

First you have to buy an album – dollar stores are great for this!

This album is the size that fits one standard size photograph per page. My album is pretty thick (80 pages) because I wanted lots of original pages for her to look at. Hopefully we’d be half-way through church before she was finished it!

And now for the fun part – get creative and make pages! Dig out photographs, chop up old books, magazines, calendars, use the computer to prints pictures, phrases or quotes. Add coloured papers, stickers, stamps, die cuts. Tons of fun!!! I’ll share some of our pages to get your creative juices flowing . . .

You can see that she decided some artwork was needed inside the covers!A page autographed by Daddy!

I love the four cousins a few months apart!!!

Warning: Animal pages can be noisy if your child starts barking in the middle of church!!!

Or meowing!!!

Sisters in the various seasons.

Pages for all the colours. I chopped up a kids sticker book after they had finished it – had great clear, coloured pictures.

A page for each letter of Kat’s name.

I hope that gives you some ideas. We made this book and gave it to Kat for Christmas.

And if you want the truth, this Quiet Book keeps more than just the baby occupied in church!!!

My “Word” for 2013

It’s New Years Day!!! Time for me to craft my “word” for the year onto a block of wood that will sit beside my bed.

You can read more about what this means in last years entry (find it here).

It took me longer this year than it ever has before to choose my word. Usually they just jump into my mind, weeks before New Years. But this year, I even had to ask my FB friends for suggestions, and here’s what I got:

Rest, Joy, Love, Peace, Fun, Bacon, Stand, Create, Faith, Trust, Cleave, Cherish, Chocolate, Quest, Discernment and Laugh (hmm . . . this one’s from my daughter!)

Lots of great ideas! I was leaning towards the words Cherish, Love and Treasure (although Bacon and Chocolate ranked right up there too). But I also need to have Fun and Laugh more too! So when I found this word this very morning, it was like a lightbulb going off in my head!!!

So without further delay, my “word” for 2013 is . . .

. . . Savor! (or “savour” depending on your spelling preference!)

The verb means “to appreciate fully; enjoy or relish”, and this could apply to anything – like each day, or people, or events, or life. So to me it basically means to find joy in everything and love and cherish everything.

The noun refers more to flavour, like in the scripture Matthew 5:13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

When I chose “savor” I was thinking more of the verb, but I love how the noun ties into the bacon and chocolate words, which are indeed some of my favourite things! And I think that when I’m eating a Lindor chocolate, I’m experiencing both the verb and the noun!

I included this quote by John Wooden on my block because I think it’s a good reminder. Whatever happened yesterday, today is a new day – make it a masterpiece; savor it all.

And to remember my past words (yes, I’m still working on them!) . . .

2010 – Patience

2011 – Delight

2013 – Courage

2013 – Savor

One other thing that I especially like about the word “savor” is that it looks a lot like the word “Savior”. When I glance at my block, it not only reminds me to savor everything and everyone each day, but also to appreciate fully, enjoy or relish my Savior, and all He has done for me.

Conference Project Time Again!

I love General Conference weekend, and it’s almost here! It’s an opportunity for us to listen to our living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and other Apostles as they lead and guide us in these latter days.

Do you remember “my Conference Project”?

This is how much was finished after the last conference six months ago. I love to work on this cross-stitch called “Lost No More” by Greg Olsen during conference. I find that my brain listens better when my hands are busy. When I’m looking down at this picture of the Savior, rather than at the distractions of what others around me might be doing, I absorb the messages of our church leaders better. But that’s just me! I’ve never been able to master the art of taking notes – I miss what they’re saying while I’m writing what they already said!

Anyway, I’m sure looking forward to this opportunity of attending Church with the whole world!

Hamburger Casserole

Here’s a casserole that our family enjoys. This dish is called Hamburger Casserole – very original name I must say!

I know you’re wondering why I’m making two.

Well, the smaller dish contains gluten free noodles for my Jo.

And the larger dish contains the cheaper noodles for the rest of the family.

I’ll give you the exact recipe – which I never follow. I just throw things in and hope for the best. I think I used too many noodles this time – not that the little kids would complain. They’d be happy with only noodles to eat!

Hamburger Casserole

2 cups cooked small egg noodles – spread in bottom of casserole dish

1 lb. ground beef – scramble fry until brown, drain grease

– add the following five ingredients and simmer gently for 15 minutes

1 cup chopped onion

1/4 tsp. garlic powder (or minced garlic clove)

2 – 7 1/2 oz. cans of Tomato sauce

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

– pour meat mixture over noodles in casserole dish

1 cup sour cream – spread over meat, smoothing level

1 cup cottage cheese – spread over sour cream layer

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese – layer over top to cover completely

– bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

From this picture you’ll notice three things:

1) Cheddar cheese works just fine too!

2) I cook it for more than 30 minutes – we like the cheese crusty!

3) I actually have a set of matching dishes! (and they even have lids)

okay, and bonus item . . .

4) I need to clean my stove!

Hamburger Casserole has a mild lasagna flavour.

Darn – it doesn’t look like there are going to be any leftovers! Jo’s the lucky one – she gets another meal from her dish.

It passed the two-year-old test – she likes it!

And there’s the faithful Lacie, waiting and hoping for a crumb to fall to the floor. Sorry Lace – we like it too much!

Gangsters and Win-A-Lot Game

Craziest sight ever!!! I walked out of my office to find these characters had taken up residence in the family room!

For some reason, some of my girls decided to dress up rather like gangsters from the 20’s, complete with fat bellies and moustaches.

(Hope you put all dad’s clothes back girls!)

One of our gangsters looks rather like a hippie!

The reason for all this? My eighth grader was learning about the Stock Market and wasn’t quite getting how it worked. So my older girls decided to help her out by playing a Stock Market game called “Win-A-Lot”. It’s similar to “Stock Ticker” but I like it better.

My mom had her old NZ edition of this game which was very ancient. I don’t even know if this game even exists anymore, but one Christmas my talented sister made us our very own version.

The game is pretty simple. There are four commodities – Silver, Cotton, Pearls and Zinc – which you buy and sell each round, hopefully at a profit!

At the start of each round, you are each dealt one of these cards:

So the card you are dealt will determine your actions, and by watching what others players do, you can follow their leads too. Obviously if I have a Zinc Up 4 card, I’m going to buy Zinc now and sell it later (and hope someone else doesn’t have the Zinc Down 4 card).

Notice in the top left corner there is a Bear card and a Bull card, which either make everything go up or down.

After everyone has done their transactions each turn, the cards are turned over and the little tokens on the board are moved up and down. Then on to the next round.

The homemade money.

Here are the rules:

So at the end of the game, our gangsters have dressed down a little!

They’re holding up their fingers indicating which place they finished in.

So the eighth grader finished last, but at least she understands a little better how the stock market works!!! Oh, and this is a good math game too – lots of buying and selling at different prices!

Now I feel like playing! Any one up for a game?

Conference Project

General Conference was over a week ago now, but I’ve still got lots of the wonderful messages floating around in my mind. When my Ensign magazine arrives next month, I’ll attack it with a highlighter pen. But if I need to review something sooner, I just go to this General Conference site and read or re-watch all the inspirational messages. Anyway, here’s how much I got done on my cross-stitch during conference!

I have taken it out of the hoop, so anything that is outside of that circle line is new. The sheep are appearing!

For some reason I was drawn to working on the purple flowers – must be a spring thing!!! The purple is all one colour, but do you know how many greens there are? Me either! But a lot of them were: one strand of this colour and one strand of that colour, put together to make one colour. I sure like that the background scenery is just a half cross-stitch – goes so much faster (not that I’m in any rush, I just like it to look like I have done something!).

I watched four sessions of conference – two on Saturday and two on Sunday, and they each last for two hours. Intermixed with the speakers is beautiful singing from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It truly is a spiritual feast!

So back to my project . . .

I have reached the edge by the purple flowers!!! But look at the finished picture and see that I have many years of conferences left to work on it! And look at all that thread! and all that space on the cloth!

But . . . on to a new conference topic . . .

Look at this cute little treat my Visiting Teachers dropped off before Conference.

And this one that Jen’s Activity Days Leader dropped off!

Such a cute idea! Such thoughtful people!!!

“Decide now to make General Conference a priority in your life. Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that are given.”

Make Your Own Stencil

Not every project always turns out the way you hope it will! So just ignore my end result and instead, learn how you can make your own stencil.

Here’s a natural coloured wicker basket I got from a thrift store. It’s a nice sturdy box and the perfect size for holding library DVD’s and remotes. I spray painted it Almond and it looked great, but I wanted to add a little more. I really like stars so I decided to paint a little star on one side.

I didn’t have any star stencils that I liked, so I decided to make my own. The first step was to google star clip-art and find the star shape and size that I wanted.

You need Con-Tact paper for this job. I like to get the clear stuff, but any kind would work (this is the type of paper that you would line a drawer with – it’s sticky on one side).

Cut off a small piece so it’s easier to work with.

Put your con-tact paper over your star (or whatever) and trace it on the paper side.

Cutting it out would be the next logical step.

Now, when you peel the paper off the sticky side, you’re left with something that resembles this – a stencil!!!

I stuck my stencil to my basket and then wrapped the blanket all around so I wouldn’t get my dark spray paint on the wicker.

And then I sprayed it Oil Rubbed Bronze – a couple of light coats.

When I peeled away the blanket and the stencil, I wasn’t too thrilled with the results.

The lines weren’t as crisp as I had hoped, and somehow I got dark paint near the top of the basket (didn’t I put a blanket there?).

So then I thought of a new plan . . .

. . . using the inside piece of my stencil.

I put it over the dark spray painted star, and proceeded to spray paint the basket again – using the almond colour! Pretty brilliant I must admit.

And how’d that turn out?

Can you find it?

Let’s zoom in a little . . .

. . . and there it is, not looking too too bad. I could always turn it around, or I was thinking I just might attach a rusty metal star to it.

In our last house we built a beautiful wall unit – cupboards below, TV spot, and bookshelves on each side. Alas, it was attached to the house and had to stay there. But we have something similar in mind for this wall. In the meantime we make do with our $10 dresser that was sturdy enough for the TV and DVD’s. But it will be years before we tackle that wall unit – I think even just some new knobs would make a big difference! Those fancy brass things just aren’t making me happy.

So the star project turned out okay – not great. But now you know a simple way to make a stencil to paint anything on anything!!! Just remember, if you’re doing words or letters, figure it out so nothing is backwards. And obviously, spray paint can get under blankets! I think my problem was simply that the basket weave was too loose so the spray paint could easily get under the stencil because I couldn’t press it down firmly.

New Look for Lamp

I’ve had this lamp for a few years – I have absolutely no idea where it came from! My guy may have got it from a garage sale or something. It works – it provides light, but I’m really not loving the brass anymore. It used to be fine hiding in a corner of the family room, but now, not so great.

(Please imagine a lovely stone fireplace in the left side of the photo – someday that black paper and wire mesh will be covered!)

Close up of the details before I get happy with the spray paint.

Now, this marble base I really like.

So I got busy with masking tape because that’s all I could find. I taped of every last square millimeter of marble. Then off to the garage to spray paint with my Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze – took about 3-4 coats from various angles.

While the paint was drying, I tackled the lamp shade. I’d like to get a new one, but for now a good vacuum of the shade worked wonders!

Then I took some natural polished hemp twine and started wrapping it around the edges of the lamp – top and bottom. Hot glue gunned it on every few inches. I used four layers to get my edges covered nicely. No burned fingers for this glue gun expert!!!

Ready to see my “new” lamp?

Oh so much better!!! And don’t you love the marble base? And I even remembered to spray paint the little finial at the very top.

Darn! Should have spray painted the cord!

And here are the detailed parts. No brass is showing through – it just looks that way with the flash.

And finally, a shot with the light on.

I love how the edges of the lampshade look so dark when the light is on. Yup, I’m certainly lovin’ the new look of my lamp. And if someday I get tired of the dark base, I’ll go search for a new colour of spray paint!

Ambrosia Fruit Salad

In our house we call this fruit salad Ambrosia. According to Webster, ambrosia means: 1) the food of the Gods, and 2) anything that tastes or smells delicious. This fruit salad qualifies!

It’s an especially pretty salad for spring because of the pastel marshmallows. This one has some white marshmallows too – I was using up opened marshmallow packages! The truth is, I actually prefer using opened packages in this salad – the marshmallows are a little harder and last better, especially if you’re not eating it right away.

It’s super easy, delicious and has coconut in it! And I usually always have these ingredients in my food storage, so it’s easy to whip one up.

Here’s how you do it:

– 1 can pineapple tidbits (drained)

– 1 can mandarin orange pieces (drained)

– mini marshmallows (as many as you want)

– coconut (I like the long shredded stuff)

– sour cream (a couple of large spoonfuls)

And just mix it all together. If it’s too dry, add more sour cream. If it’s too wet, add some more marshmallows or coconut.

(Now, be sure to enjoy a pre-dinner drink of your pineapple/orange juice that you drained out of the cans! Or add it to your punch.)

If you want, you can easily add more fruit to this, like grapes or bananas, peaches or apple chunks. Strawberries might be okay, but I wouldn’t use kiwi or any other soft fruit that might break apart. Another option is all white marshmallows with coloured coconut. The sour cream seems to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallows and makes whatever you put in it taste great.

It tastes best if you eat it pretty soon after you’ve mixed it, although it can wait in the fridge for an hour or two if necessary. Just stir it first because the juices settle.

Napkin Holder

I made myself an apple napkin holder quite a few years back – it’s just two pieces of wood cut the same, with another small rectangular piece nailed between – you can see the three nail holes at the base of the apple.

It’s a very handy apple to have around – just holding those napkins for whenever you need them.

But alas, the red apple just didn’t look right in my new house. I was still using it because I still needed napkins, but it was bugging me!

Until one day, I had a light bulb moment! I realized that apples can be green too! And since I originally painted the red one, I could repaint it green!