Holiday Snowball Fight Video

My goofy sister put together this funny jibjab video for the holidays that is just hilarious. I just had to share it .lol. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

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Crochet Hunting/Ski Mask

I spent the majority of today writing my own pattern and crocheting this hunting/ski mask for Homespun Creations.

I found a pattern online for the base of my pattern, but it was for an infant. It would not work at all for the adult men's mask I aimed to create. Infact when I created the mask using the pattern alot of it was wrong and it just didnt look like it should. Soooo... after writing the pattern out myself once and crocheting the mask and miserably failing because it was super gigantic and could probably fit an elephants head... lol... I had to take it all apart and rewrite the pattern again, recalculating everything.

Finally on the second try it turned out like you see. It was actually a challenge but a fun one. I am really pleased with the finished product. I'm going to be taking custom orders for these masks in any colors... soooo if you are interested please comment here or email me at tasince00@gmail.com or the shop at hmspncreations@gmail.com ....

You can visit the shop any time to check out all the goodies we have to offer. Tomorrow morning we will be adding Christmas Stocking caps, and doggie sweaters! We will be taking custom orders for those also! Its been a busy but super fun month for us! Hope everyone has a nice night... its 2 am and Im beat!

Thaw Out- NOT!

So I think I spoke before I should have about thawing out .lol. Its snowing here again. Last night it was snowing but we only had about 2 inches and this morning when I woke and looked out there was about 6 inches, and its still coming down. I had a First Place meeting at church last night and it was snowing but not too bad. I drove down and everything was ok, until I got out of the car in the parking lot at the church and then I was slip sliding everywhere! When we came out of our meeting it was coming down hard and the roads were getting slushy. So I was worried but I took my chances on getting home and drove up our drive. Luckily it wasnt too bad yet. Thankfully Tim's truck is 4 wheel drive so he's ok, but he still parks at the end of our drive and walks up because he doesnt want to chance it. I'm glad I dont have anywhere to drive today. lol.

Tonight we have church but I honestly think it will be canceled because its snowed a ton more since last night and I know its going to be dangerous for older folks and kids to walk in the parking lot tonight if it was last night. Im sure no one wants any one to get injured. I'm hoping the road crews come and take care of our drive tonight. They've been stopping and taking care of it for us because we do have a street sign and its paved so its technically a private road... Im thankful for that! We still walk because we dont trust the incline and the black ice but its so much easier for the walk when we dont have to crunch through a foot of snow and we know where we are putting our feet .lol.

These are just a couple of pictures that I took this morning and wanted to share. :)

[This is the view from our porch]

[And this is the icicles hanging from our porch. I took this picture so that you could see how big and long they are!]

Wishing everyone a blessed day. I'm going to totally revamp my studio today. I think I may even paint a mural as well :) yay! I'll share pics soon!

Thawing Out... sort of

Today was the first sunny day we have had in at least a week. So we did get to thaw out a little today. I took this picture of our driveway this afternoon. In 36 hours we had some crazy weather. We were under a winter weather advisory for ice/freezing rain/snow then it changed to a flood warning and we had tons of rain and then it changed back to ice/freezing rain/snow! Eesh. The ice developed on our driveway in those 36 hours and was as you can see about a 2 inch thick solid sheet of ice. It was pretty much our entire yard and driveway like that. We have to park at the end of our very long and steep driveway and hike up & down it to get to our car. It was really difficult with the ice instead of snow. Very difficult! Luckily it was sunny enough for it to thaw at least on the drive and we could drive up and down it. It looks like we are going to be getting another batch of snow however either this weekend or by Monday. Dont get me wrong I love snow and the colder weather. But I really dread the amounts we have been getting and all of the ice. The ice is the horrible part. How is everyone else's weather?

Just thought I would randomly blog about the weather lol. not sure why lol.

have a great weekend all!

BRRR!

That pretty much says it all. I know most everyone in the midwest and north have been suffering from this deep freeze and WV is no exception. Man! I had to share this picture I took today of Cooper. The poor baby went outside to go potty and came in freezing. He went right under the blanket and he wouldnt come out from under the blanket for anything .lol. Thats how I feel! We have snow on the ground and since we live on a hill when there's snow on the ground we have to park at the bottom of the hill and hike up. Soooo.. in below zero weather at 10 last night we were hiking up our driveway w/ all of our groceries in hand. I was not a happy camper. I dont mind the hiking at all, it was the frigid temps! It was actually painful to breath deeply. Anyway.. I thought this pic fit the occassion and just had to share! I think Im going to go cozy up with him .lol! STAY WARM EVERYONE! Praying for the ground hog to see his shadow in a few weeks!

Winter Love Gothic Arch Ornament

In Art-and-Crafts we had a swap for Paper Christmas ornaments but I was a little late on getting mine out because of the things that have happened in my life. So instead I made a valentine/winter themed Arch decoration. It has a cord for hanging and everything is hand painted with watercolors. I really like the blue against the red and the hearts with the snowflakes. The snowflakes are actually embossed, and the edging of the arch is in red sparkles but it doesnt show well with the scan. *Hmpf*

[Click pics to enlarge view]


Here's another view with the tag moved back to see the arch itself.

Neglecting my blog :(

I know I've been MIA for a while. I cant believe its been almost a month since I've really posted anything and I have all these pictures of things I have been wanting to share but no time to do it! Sheesh! It seem's like December is always so hectic, theres no time for me to work on anything or blog really. Me and my husband are really active in our church, and so its just been super crazy busy there. We are in the Christmas Play, and thats this Sunday! Tim's helping the other men at the church today to get the Christmas food baskets together for all the needy families in our community. Tomorrow night is the 36th anniversary Christmas Caroling at the church and Tim and I are going to join the carolers! I've never done that but it sounds like a blast and I cant wait! Then Sunday morning is our special Christmas sermon and secret santa gift exchange and Sunday night is our Christmas play. Then Monday Tim are high tailing it to N.C to spend time with my family and then we are high tailing it back home on Wednesday to spend time with his family .lol. Its insanium in the cranium!! I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining where I've been and why I'm so busy. I did sit down today and update the look of the blog because I forgot to after Thanksgiving and was shocked to log in this morning to turkey's LOL. Then I also updated the look of my etsy shop. I actually sold 2 items in the last week, and got a special request on my shop and then got a request at church last night too-woo hoo!- I was on the verge of throwing in the towel with that. In all honesty I felt like I was wasting my time. I dont know what else to do to really get my shop out there and more active. I would love to add more artwork but I have noooo idea what I should create.... I know what I like and what my family and friends like but when it comes to whats popular and what would sell.. I havent got the slightest idea. But I feel like there is still hope for my shop and I'm not going to give up yet. I'm just gonna get back into the game and work my butt off. Maybe not so much this week and next week... but after the holidays I'm all in!


I did want to share a few things that I have been meaning to...



I made this ornament a few weeks back and thought I would share. I actually used the inchie cube template but enlarged it so that my cube was 2 1/2 inches. I used the same rubber stamp on all sides and colored them with colored pencil, but I used different background papers and embellishments. I made a template for this but Im not sure how to do the whole adobe pdf thing, so I'm at a loss with that .lol.

I made this little guy for our Thanksgiving center piece :) He's made of 2 styrefoam balls that I painted brown and hot glued together. Then they were covered in brown and black buttons of various sizes. After it dried I took 4 fabric leaves and glued them beside one another and placed googly eyes in the center. I took one more fabric leaf and folded it in half for the beak and gobbler ;) Then I added different colored feathers, green fiber and a round tag for a necklace. :) It was really easy and would be a GREAT craft project for kids to do.. [just dont let them use the hot glue gun alone! :)]

And finally... I found this great plain white ceramic plate at Michaels on sale for a few bucks and thought it would be really neat to try and alter it :) I had some really pretty wallpaper of The Sistine Cherubs by Raphael. Its one of my all time favorite paintings and when I saw the wallpaper way back when I HAD to have it. The entire painting would not fit so I cropped it so that at least one would fit and I glued it to the plate with E600. I used the handle of a paintbrush to make sure there was no bubbles or anything. After I allowed that to try I took tacky glue and gold leaf and very carefully edged around the image so you wont have to see where the image ends and the plate begins. It sort of covered the crease and everything and added a pretty sparkle to the plate. After that I just clear coat sealed it and let it dry for several hours before adding a second coat of sealer. :) I was so happy with the way this turned out that I decided to keep it. I am seriously considering creating more of these decorative plates but with other themes as well. If anyone would be interested in one in any sort of theme please contact me by commenting here or emailing me at redrose4384@aol.com and let me know. This could be a new item in my shop if I get enough positive feedback etc. ;)

Thats all for now. I truly hope that everyone is having a blessed Holiday Season. If I dont post until after the holiday, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

God Bless,

Completed Christmas Mini House Book

[click to Enlarge]

Yesterday I finished up the House book I blogged the pages for previously. I thought it would be simple and cute to bind the pages together by using wire and spiral binding it. Sort of like a notebook. I thought it might be decorative but also give the pages space and everything since they are thick and embellished. I didnt want any of the pages to bend because there wasnt enough room for them to open up correctly. After I bound the pages together, I had fun finding all my little doodads and fibers/ribbons and adding some pizazz to it .lol. I found this gold key that I have had forever and didnt know when I was ever going to use it on anything. These great Tin stars that I purchased last Christmas, and even a large and small golden bell! It was fun :) I really love how this turned out and I sort of grew attached to it haha! Go figure! I think today I might work on Christmas cards, and a few ornament idea's I have rattling around in my brain. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

"Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling." ~Edna Ferber

Christmas Mini House Book Pages

In the group LetsMakeSomething we had a Christmas Mini House Book mingle. Where you take a mini-house template and create a front and back cover, and 4 front and back decorated pages in a Christmas theme, then you bind it all together into a little book. They make GREAT keepsake Holiday decorations! Today I put together the cover's and the pages. This is what I came up with. I plan on putting it all together into a book tomorrow. I was so excited for the pages that I couldnt wait to share :) Tomorrow I will blog the pictures of the completed book :)

Thanks for taking a gander!

1st Card of the Season!

Yesterday I began my journey into Christmas card making! Oh boy! This is the first year that I will be handmaking all of the cards that we are sending out for the holidays. So I am a bit nervous and hope everyone doesnt laugh hysterically at my first attempt at this. This is the first card I created. I learned of a website through the Red Cross called Holiday Mail for Heroes where you can send cards to be distributed to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world.

My sister and I are trying to spread the word to get those that are interested to send at least one card this holiday season. Soooo since I was inspired yesterday with this, I went ahead and created my card which I will be sending tomorrow. It really is something nice to do for all of those that might be serving right now and can not be with family and friends for the holidays.

"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put
it into words is all that is neccessary." ~Margaret Cousins

Handpainted Cardinal Star

This is another wooden unfinished item from Michaels. I added a suction cup to the top so that I could hang it in a window, but it can be replaced with a ribbon if you chose to hang it elsewhere.

The background is dark blue with lighter blue swirls. Then of course the cardinal as the focal point. The stars and the edging is in gold sparkles. The back is also painted but in solid gold. It took me a bit longer to complete this project because of all of the details and the little additions I kept adding *lol* I wish the photo was clearer but with the clear varnish the flash put a glare on it :( Here's another view, not sure how much better it actually is lol.

Snow wooden sign

I found these great wooden signs at Michaels on Discount and I just had to grab a ton of them. This is the first one that I finished. You cant tell in the picture but the snowflake and the white stripes and circles on the letters sparkle. And the crystals on the snowflake are pink, green and clear. :)

My lil sis liked it so much that she requested one in red and green :D So I finished one for her and the crystals are in clear and red. And the white parts sparkle as well, you can see it a little better with this picture but not as much as I was hoping. I hate how pics and scans never show all the details *lol*