T'was a Blur

T'was a blur and my pictures are too.

Oh my, did we ever party this Christmas!  It was one after another and they were all fun, all involved good food, fun games and a lot of laughing and talking.  We started with the Dykstra party.  It's fun because there are little kids.  Don't get me wrong, the adult kids are fun too but oh my, the littles! I love them.

 Big Max and little Max played hard in the gym, so it's a sweaty shot.

 Cody and I planned the next party while we were at the Dykstra party.  We took a selfie and texted it as our invitation to the next party.

It was a Cody, Max, Braden reunion with their parents at Kulshan Brewery.

Kassie and Angela came too.  And Reagan, of course.

 It's dark there so the pictures are bad.  It was a fun night with pizza from Coconut Kenny's and Christmas cookies.

 Next up was game night on Christmas Eve eve.  We played a fun game with cards and hats for the winners and the losers.  Enough said.

 On Christmas Eve Sam and Max were with their girls.  We went to candlelight service at our church with Max.  Hubby and I enjoyed a turkey dinner.  It was just Hubby and I and since we make the rules, we decided to each open one of our gifts and then watch A Christmas Story, Elf and Christmas Vacation simultaneously. Perfect!

One expects a bug bite at a summer holiday picnic.  One does not expect a bite on Christmas Eve while relaxing on the sofa watching movies.  But if it could happen to anyone, it could happen to me.

You may want to skip this next bit, it's ugly.

 It got very sore, red, hot, itching, huge, blistery.  I got very uncomfortable.

Hubby worked on Christmas, and then we had dinner at Jeff and Kathi's at five.  It was delicious, except I didn't feel very good.

 The day after Christmas, Danny flew in to Seattle, Max went to pick him up, I went to the doctor and the pharmacy and to an ice pack. The professionals aren't sure if it was a wasp, hornet or a spider bite.  I took drugs and went to bed early.

On the 27th I felt better and that was a good thing as we were having Christmas with our family.  We had breakfast and then opened gifts just as though it were December 25th.

 

 Laura arrived from Seattle.  Settlers of Catan, Anomia and air soft battles commenced.  Laura brought appetizers for the afternoon. 

 We enjoyed a standing rib roast for dinner with ranch potatoes, a green salad and snow salad.

 On Sunday we  watched the Seahawks game, had more air soft battles  and games. In the evening we went to my parents for Christmas.

 It's not an ugly sweater party, Hubby got a kitten mitten sweatshirt from Max and Kassie.  It's from his favorite brewery.

 We are so blessed to have Christmas with my folks.

 It seems like yesterday that all of the grandkids got toys and pajamas from Papa and Nana.

Derek was missing this year, he lives in Arizona.

 We had a fun game of Left Center Right.

 Kassie won this year.  There are a lot of people so it's a lot of moolah!

Then Max bought a pickup on Monday and went back to the farm.  Sam went back to JBLM. We did not get our family Mt. Baker day this year.  Danny's friend, Aaron drove up from Portland and they went skiing.

Aaron is a great guy and we all had fun with him.

 Then it was New Year's Eve.  Hubby's Mom, Esther came for a visit, Sam came back and we all went for dinner at Kulshan.

Sam and Danny put their fingers up or on their noses to ruin my pictures, showing a lack of maturity and kindness to their Mum.  Oh well, it's all I've got so here they are picking their noses.  Stinkin' guys!

And now everyone has gone back to their homes, I still have Christmas up, I still have a big mess, and it's the New Year.  My intentions are good so I'll keep you posted.  You know the drill, diet, exercise, organization, budgeting, blah, blah, blah.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Projects

Ohhh my!  I am a little behind on the blogging and the laundry and  LiFe here at the Stone House.  Let's begin getting caught up.  I'm going to start with the Christmas projects I did for two friends and for our guys and their gals this year.  I had made reference to some projects angst.  And there were definitely problems but in the end everything got fixed and finished.

I made two wreaths for friends.  One was for a lifetime friend and one was for a new friend.  These went to together pretty easily and I enjoyed thinking about and praying for these friends as I worked on their wreaths.  One got shipped to Iowa and arrived without any breakage.

The projects for my family started because I knew that Sam and Angela liked our monogrammed silverware.  Remember I had a set done for Hubby and I last year?  I had purchased a set at an estate sale this summer with the intention of having it engraved for them.  Then I started thinking about Christmas and one thing led to another.  That is a fairly common problem with me.

 I wasn't very good about taking before pictures and after pictures but there are enough that you'll get the idea.  The wood silverware chest was pretty beat up and so I sanded it, painted it using ASCP, distressed it to bring out the wood and then combined some stencils I had to create a monogram on the chest top.  Angela likes the color green and since the existing hardware was gold I went with the green.  I brought the silver to an engraver, the same one I used last year for my set.

This is where things went badly.  They called me that it was ready, I went in so excited. Everything was coming together and on time too!  This is when everything went sideways.  They had engraved every piece upside down!  It still makes me sick to think about it.  Long story short... They kept promising to fix it, I kept following up once a week.  They thought a jeweler could buff it out.  Then after five weeks they told me it couldn't be done!  Hubby and I ran to Penny Lane, purchased another vintage set and I went in the next morning.

Deep breath. Standing up for myself is hard for this introvert. I stood my ground, they paid for a part of the new set, engraved it at no cost and it was done in 24 hours.  The new set didn't fit in the case I'd refinished but Hubby made a few changes with a little saw and voila it fit.  The case that the second set came in was in tough shape and if I'd had to refinish it I think I may have tipped over.

 To say that Angela was excited is an understatement.  Sam opened it she was a little teary and incredulous.  Her Mom had a set and she had always wanted one of her own.

 I also painted a frame with ASCP in apple green for their kitchen and Hubby cut me a piece for a chalkboard.  Now they can leave each other love notes or honey do lists.

For Danny, our traveller, I found a vintage globe at Island Chicks and planned to personalize it.  I borrowed Kathi's Cricut.  I had planned to order vinyl through the same place I had the engraving done but decided to just do it myself.

 I used my sewing tape to measure the globe around the equator, laid the tape on the table.  Then I made the lettering for John 3:16 using white scratch paper.  I knew it would be a close fit but it was really the best way to see what would actually fit.

 Once I saw that I had a little breathing room I mixed in other fonts at different sizes.  I chose a metallic gold card stock.

 I chose a loopy font and added EXPLORE.

I used mod podge to put the lettering on the globe and then added small gems to the places Danny has visited.  We still need to add the places I missed.

Max has a good eye and takes some beautiful photos of farming, he posts them on instagram.  He has a house now and doesn't have much to hang on his walls.  I wasn't sure it would work but I took screen shots of his instagram pics.  I edited their size and ordered 8 X 8 reprints from Costco. I had nine done so they could be hung 3 x 3 on the wall.  I found 8 X 8 canvases.  This wasn't without angst.  I had a hard time finding enough of the same ones.  I ordered some online and had a fail.  But try, try again!  I painted their edges with ASCP using graphite and then mounted the pictures using mod podge.

 The photos turned out better than I could show with my photos of the finished project.  The colors and clarity are good.

 All of the photos are of farming except for the one he took with snow boarding at Bluewood Ski Resort.

 I could tell when Max opened his gift that he loved it.  I love his appreciation for the land and farming.

For Kassie's gift I got an idea at Island Chick's show.  Kassie was there with her Mom and I saw her admiring some artwork that I thought I could copycat.  Hubby helped me by putting together some old siding from my parent's 1890's house.  I ordered a stag stencil from Ebay and got busy.

 The Martha Stewart metallic paint was my base and then I added highlights using a gilding paint from Martha Stewart.

 I added a leaf wreath using a stencil I had.  You may recognize it from my drop cloth chair project or from the silverware chest.

 I did sand the siding a bit before painting.

 I painted the edges with the gilding paint with a tiny bit going over the front edge.

 I didn't get picture of Max and Kassie with their gifts but I think both of them were happy with my our projects.  Hubby did help me a long the way.

 While I am not going to make gifts every year.  It was fun for me to come up with something for them.  And aside from the engraving (the only thing I outsourced) it was an enjoyable process.

Hubby's Grandma taught me that while you're making something for someone it is a good time to pray for them as you work.  She was a creative inspiring woman and I also thought about the blessing she was in my life as I worked.

More Christmas coming up soon.  I'm busy enjoying family and friends this week.