Flower Hair Clips!

Sorry I haven't posted lately! There is no excuse other than school, life, and obscene laziness! But after putting a little craft together tonight, I had the urge to blog about it. :)


I'm going to the Grierson Annual Winter Gala on Saturday, and after my BEAUTIFUL sister Sarah sent me a GORGEOUS dress, I knew I HAD to make some more stuff for it! Sarah was too kind, she took a skirt she said never fit right, put a new waistband in it, and made me a bertha! Its absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I made some jewelry for it, which I'll post about later, and knew I NEEDED something for my hair! I wanted flowers for my hair, as was a custom in the Civil War, and initially planned on just slipping some artificial flowers in my braids.


As I first browsed Hobby Lobby, which had a less than thrilling selection of artificial flowers, and a worse selection of St. Patrick's day items for Adam's sensory box, we went to JoAnn Fabrics. THAT is where I had my brainstorm! The winds picked up, the ladies lazily shopping through the store had their hair blown, glasses, shattered, and fabric attacked innocent bystanders! Ahem...It wasn't that bad of a brainstorm in reality. ;) I decided the best idea to do this would be to hook them to hairpins! Not only would the flowers stay better, but the extra pins would help "anchor" my braids better!


I was off! I sifted through the shattered dreams and rubble...whoops, sorry, I digress! I hunted down the flower isle, finding a few pretty flowers, and hauling what I found to the jewelry department. I'm fairly certain I got some funny looks as I held flowers up to my head, and gazed at my image in the middle of piles of beads! Satisfied with a spray of Daisy's, I made my way to get something else I needed. I went back to the flower area and searched for Stem Wrap Tape. With this, and some ribbon I "hope" to braid into my hair for the ball, I headed out and mom and I went home. When I was able to sit down and start working, I grabbed my jewelry making kit, it holds ALL my nifty pliers, and I grabbed some hairpins.


Step one: Grab some hairpins, any brand and color that you like.

Step two: Take the flowers you chose, I picked Daisy's.

Pretty close up of my Daisy's!

Step three: Grab the stem wrap!

I wasn't thinking, and didn't take any pictures of the actual "making" BUT I can describe it!

Step four: Take a hairpin, and set it to the side for use.

Step five: Take a flower from the sprig that has been chosen, and clip the flower to be used. Make sure to get at least a decent amount of the stem when cutting the flower.

Step six: Hold the hairpin upright, and place the cut flower alongside the pin. Make sure the pin and flower are both standing upright, and that the flower is at the END of the hairpin, where it doubles over, not where it is inserted into the hair. Sorry if this sounds basic, but I was taught make sure any instructions are idiot proof! Better to over-explain, than under.

Step seven: Take a piece of the stem tape. Now I'll give some advice here, I didn't realize just what stem tape was like until I started using it...I figured it would be like regular scotch tape, smooth on one side, sticky on the other...I was wrong. Its more like the stretchy "tape" that sticks to itself, but not skin. This next part is the most ANNOYING part of the entire thing...Hold the flower and pin together, try not to crush the flower, and carefully tape the flower to the pin. Wrap the whole thing together a few times to make sure everything is tight.

Step eight: Trim any excess "bits" from the stem, if left it will catch in hair! The stray bits can be folded over and taped into the pin/flower, but I found it was just as easy to snip the parts that could snag hair.

The finished product!

Side view. This was my "sloppy copy" sloppy braids, and the pins WILL be in farther when I go to the ball.

Other side.

Top.

My little flower clip! Our camera SUCKS at close up stuff, so bear with me on the blurryness.

The top of the hairpin.

Side, showing composition. Those little green stragglers are what need to be trimmed off. 

 There you have it! Rather simple, the hardest part isn't THAT hard, just tedious! Very cute, and very fun to make!


Love,
Christina

Goodwill Goodies!

This semester sees me going to Springfield twice a week for classes. Sadly there are about four hours between my classes on Tuesday...On the upside, I have time to travel to the local Goodwill! I spent at least an hour browsing today alone! I found a TON of amazing stuff, and lots of books! I spent about ten dollars on books that would retail at least seventy-eight dollars! Anyway, I've also decided to dip my toes into attempting to home make, and prepare for my future family by growing in faith, and learning HOW to be a good wife and mother. The following are all of my goodies! Enjoy!

A Victorian Book of Days. Yes, I know its from 1983, BUT the pictures are BEAUTIFUL! And the information is timeless!

The cover of A Victorian Book of Days.

In my pursuit to become a good wife and mother, I decided to focus on natural cures and remedies, and child-rearing. This fit in PERFECTLY! I've been so interested in learning how to use natural elements in the home. :) 

Night Light for Parents: A Devotional. I chose this for insight into parenting BEFORE I'm a parent. I hope to use the time I have before marriage, and children, to better myself. This book has a religious tone to it, and appears to have some really interesting information! I can't wait to start reading.

The Joys and Challenges of Motherhood. This book is BEAUTIFUL! Each page is a different color, and made of crisp, slightly rough parchment paper! Filled with beautiful words, and pictures, this promises to be a great read!

A dear friend who CONSTANTLY inspires and pushes me to be my best, loves this book! I decided to check it out for that reason, and the fact that there was a T.V. show when I was young based on the books, and I LOVED it!

A Daily Devotional: Lest We Forget. This book appears to push the reader to remember that God is our reason for existence, and that we can not forget His magnificent works in our life! It appears to be based around the Civil War era, which REALLY piqued my interest. :)

Everyday Prayers for Women. This small book has many interesting prayers, and messages for women from ALL walks of life. Its NEVER to early to start being a wife in waiting and mommy. I hope that through growing in Christ, I'll be a better helpmate, and lifemate to whatever CRAZY guy is gonna marry me. :)

A Treasury of Baby Names. Now HOW could ANYONE resist baby names?! Plus the names all appear to be more period style names! It just looked too good to pass up. :D

This is a wee prize! Its modern made, but WILL be used for my impression in reenacting! When I bought it, I wasn't sure how to incorporate it. I know that I want my impression to be based around my grandma, Kathleen, who was a teacher in a one room school house. At first I wasn't sure who I would "say" this girl was, and then it hit me! She would be my little sister! It fit perfectly as my grandmother has a younger sister who is about ten years younger than her! I was so excited when I realized that!

In for a penny, in for a pound! I couldn't resist this little picture frame! I LOVE celestial items like this. :)

Another non period prize! Sorry for the blurry photo...The piece appears to be acrylic but has a BEAUTIFUL dress that is meant to look as though it is on a dress form. There were TONS of these all dressed in civil war/post civil war era fashion. I had to get at least one...

Or two...Did I mention how CUTE these were?! There were some ADORABLE green ones, but I couldn't resist the blue ones. :D

When my grandma lived in her old apartment, she had some small curtains in the tiny window of her bathroom. I always admired the curtains, and then today, I found this little tablecloth! They match the curtains EXACTLY! I fell in love and had to get it. :)

Detail of the tablecloth. When I came home and unfolded the cloth, I realized there was a small black stain, THAT will be another project to remove! :D

All in all, I think today was a HUGE Goodwill success! I couldn't be happier with what I have found, and I can't wait to get back there. :)

Love,

Christina

The chameleon quandary...

As I read other blogs, and while I folded the myriad of clothes at work today, I had a minor epiphany...I've always considered my chameleon quality to be an asset...Now you may be wondering, what does she mean chameleon quality? Does she eat flies? Are her eyes on the side of her head...? If so why hasn't she been in the National Enquirer?! I wanna see the Chameleon Girl!...But I digress...My chameleon quality is that I can blend with almost ANY group of people. I can be the country girl, I can be the rocker girl, I can be the hippie, the good girl, the Christian girl who speaks no ill, the tantrum maker, or the pixie...The only problem is NONE of these are the complete me...They're just different aspects that come out under the right circumstances...The me you see at any given time, is a carefully choreographed Christina, you see what I WANT you to see...Well lately I've realized this isn't so great...It has led me to have no idea who I really am...See when you have a chameleon side to you, you can understand and sympathize with ANYONE...Yea, that gets ANNOYING! Just once I wish I could say, I like this and that's all it is..but no! I see every side and I can understand every side...I HATE IT! Who the heck am I anyway? I'm not really THAT funny, I'm not that smart, not that athletic, not that creative...I'm just "decent" at most things...Sometimes I wish I could be completely compelled to feel one way and only one way...Heck my thoughts on even issues I used to feel strongly about, have waned as I can see BOTH sides of the issue...Lately I've seen so many different ways to parent, live, or teach and I'm so lost as to what I want to do...Well I'm a realist, and I understand only about three people read this, and rarely comment so I'm not really looking for help, just venting. However, being a bit insane and neurotic as I am, if you feel compelled to reply, please do...I could use help...


Love,
Christina


P.S.
I hope to write more, but lately things have been busy, I've been lazy, and VERY blocked...

Adventures in home care giving!

Many people may or may not know that I am a child care giver. I take care of five VERY active children at their house twice a week. Though the oldest four are all in school, the youngest at age four and INSANELY active, is still at home. I've spent most of this school year thus far, trying to figure out ways to entertain Adam as well as teach him. There are SO many fantastic blogs out there about preschool, and daycare, but I found it hard to find anything for ONE child that IS NOT mine that didn't cost a boat load to do...After reaching out to another preschool teacher, I was given the advice to continue teaching TO the child. Find out what HE likes and incorporate that, as well as play with him, which I do already. I believe seriously in teaching a child as an individual, doing things the child enjoys doing. Some of the tips were just AWESOME! And I had a few ideas I had wanted to implement. After class today I went to Dollar tree to get some items for an activity from a blog post called a Mandala, this initial need led me to gather MORE goodies for work! I hope to include more of my day's and adventures as a caregiver here, with pictures and posts! Below are the goodies I bought and some ideas of what we will be doing. ^.^


My plan is to bring a wide variety of things for Adam to choose what HE wants to do that day, rather than what I think we should do.

The picture above is of my home made light box! I'll be adding another light I believe, but this will work for now. Light boxes are AWESOME for exploring the world around an active toddler or child. The lights allow the child to see the difference between clear and solid objects, as well as making some really neat colors glow! I got this idea from another blog, I took a clear plastic box, bought a little push LED light from Lowe's, put a piece of paper beneath the clear box so as not to destroy the child's eyes with the LED, and voila! I have a light box! I spelled "neat" above with the little glass beads. ^.^

These are Dollar Tree foam pages that we can use for activities, or our Mandala's. Each of the colors came in sets of two, so we can use one full piece of an activity and the scraps from the Mandala, for other activities. ^.^

Teachers LOVE mixed media! I am one of them! This is my box of somewhat mixed media. I chose to put blue and green clear rock ornaments, and I chose rough multi-sized river or stream rocks. I'll likely add to this as well, but we take what we can get!

This is another basket that WILL be added to! I'm trying to work TO Adam's interests, and he LOVES dinosaurs, lizards, and frogs, he's a total boy. I chose these for use with our Mandala's, play in general, or our light box. ^.^

Cups! What good classroom is complete without a set of cups? These are for measuring, scooping, pouring, and understanding how much can go into an object before overflowing, offering LOTS of exploration!

This is ANOTHER super fantastic idea I got from a blog! They used a sand/magnet board for theirs, but I chose a white board as it was less expensive, and easier to use. The game is simple, spot the difference. I used this with Adam yesterday and he LOVED it!

My survival pack!

Two reed baskets for our Mandala/mixed media play, and our light box!

My basket of treasures! Inside are the foam pages, white board, sidewalk chalk, mixed media items, and cups.

Mandala's have traditionally been a religious item, but as another fantastic blogger pointed out, these little circles foster not only religious meditation, but learning. By picking a color mat, and placing whatever the child wants on it, this allows the child to be creative and unique, as well as help to relax and concentrate them.

Floor view of my own Mandala. ^.^

Above is the board I put together for Adam! I made this, and took it to the house, back in September. The blank area below weather is where I put the kids birthday announcement cards at the beginning of their birthday month.

I ain't gonna lie...Not a big fan of this guy, BUT as a teacher I think it is INCREDIBLY valuable for a child to be able to identify their president, I also believe it is important to have a picture of the president in the classroom.

I believe EVERY classroom in America needs an American flag. This is our American flag. ^.^

This is the weather section. Adam checks to see what the weather is like, and picks the proper weather icon to place on the board.

This is the calendar. I put this together so Adam could be included. I put Velcro tabs on the board so the numbers can be easily removed and reused, plus Adam can put them on which is important. ^.^

These are the envelopes that hold the date numbers, months, weather icons, and birthday cards.

Here are our weather icons. Rainy.

Snowy.

Windy.

Sunny.

Again, not an artist! I have different month slips for each month, this allows us to change the month and stay accurate!

This board is partly my idea, partly from the preschool I did my clinical at, and partly from a blog! Adam enjoys being able to add the days, and the weather. I believe it is valuable to allow the child to be involved in classroom duties. Some may not believe it, but kids are SO eager to help adults, and to feel needed, these are easy tasks that he can do. He LOVE pushing the pins down in, I place the pin so it doesn't fall, and he gives it a list little push to keep it in place.

Hope EVERYONE enjoyed!

Love,

Christina

"My life is like a lemon drop..."

I know its been a while since last I posted, but the creativity had left me...Well, redistributed. I've been working on my book recently so the creativity has transferred to that. I figured today I would post a song I just LOVE! I'm going to be using this as my battle cry as it were, or my inspiration for life.

Lemon Drop by Pistol Annies

"My mufflers tied on with a guitar string

I owe 7,000 dollars to a bank machine

before this car is ever really mine

And some fine day I'll drive her downtown

Get a burger and fries and a royal crown

Thanking God I'll never 

have to pay another dime

My life is like a lemon drop

I'm suckin' on the bitter to get to the sweet part

I know there are better days ahead

I got dirty shirts and worn out jeans

I owe two dozen quarters to a washin' machine

Before these clothes will ever really shine

But I got me a man, that just don't care

If his little darlin's got underwear

I know someday I'm gonna be his wife

My life is like a lemon drop 

I'm suckin' on the bitter to get to the sweet part

I know there are better days ahead

I got thrift store curtains in the windows of my home

I'm payin' for a house that the landlord owns

Bought a T.V. on a credit card 

It'll take me ten years to pay it off

But some fine day I'll be drinkin' a beer

In a big back yard I own free and clear

All I know, there's better days ahead

So I'll play my hopes, and play my dreams

Just like two coins in a slot machine

Sing "Glory, Hallelujah" if everything works out fine

My life is like a lemon drop

I'm suckin' on the bitter to get to the sweet part

I know there are better days ahead

Lord I know there are better days ahead

Thank God!"  

May all your days be CIRCUS days!

This post was started several weeks ago...but alas, I lost my inspiration in it...


Several Wednesday's ago I had the pleasure of enjoying one of the BEST days I've had in a long, long time! Yesterday, in the cool early morning light, Carson and Barnes Circus rolled into town! With the passing of my uncle last month, my sister and I were eager to watch the circus set up, something we did when we were young with our dad, and uncle. We thought that would be a PERFECT way to remember uncle Mike. Michele took the day off easy, but for me its not as simple of course, but either my sister or mom had the idea to take the little boy I babysit to watch the circus set up! The plans were set, the T-shirts dug out, and I went to bed excited for the next morning! 


The morning started out normally enough, until we hit the circus! After finding Michele, Adam and I settled in to watch the circus set up! Slowly I saw the tent raise, the workers climbing the scaffolding, the tent, and attaching odds and ends before the tent roof gained its life force! Slowly the poles began to roll around, forcing the roof of the tent to tighten and wave in the cool breeze of the September morning. Adam was excited to bits about the opportunity to see the great elephants! We would often step away from the excitement of the tent being stretched into its giant form, to visit the elephants and the other animals. With the tent nearly finished, the announcement went out! There would be a tight rope show! That excited all of us to no end, and when the time came, we watched the workers scale the tent, tighten a wire on top of the tent, and then the fearless performer scaled the scaffolding to the very top of the tent and to the wire hanging sixty feet above the earth! With what seemed to be otherworldly skill, the tight rope walker scaled the wire one way, on the way back though, he slipped, whether this was for effect or a true mistake, I will never know, but it elicited a gasp of shock and fear from all watching! With the crowd behind him, cheering excitedly, he attempted his journey again, this time with no difficulty!


Our next stop was to watch an elephant demonstration! The greatest part of having a wee one with me, was being able to quickly walk to the front row for the elephant demonstration. Michele took her spot beside us, and a few treasured green apples were disbursed between the school children that lined the gate of the elephant pin. The massive, graceful creatures were each introduce, Asha, Libby, and Opal, I do hope I spelled the first one right...Our first elephant, Asha was our feeding elephant! She walked to each of the children that held the treasured apples, and with the signal "take it" her long trunk would search out the sweet scent, and gently remove the treat from the child's hand and pop it into her own mouth! Her trunk would later travel very close to Adam and I as she searched for another apple.


After our elephant viewing, we sat in to watch a juggling demonstration. One of the workers/performers showed some of the children how to juggle, using delightful demonstrations with the children being involved including random moments of juggling balls being tossed to children to let them "try" to juggle. To the joy of the children, he even chose to juggle a few other items, a water bottle, and even a cell phone! We wandered a bit more, and saw the hippo as it began to lounge on the crispy parched grass. Toward the end however, Adam became a bit fidgety, which was to be expected as he is so young. Once everything was set up, and the demonstrations were over, Adam and I left the circus, Adam was of course thrilled to be going, again, he was going stir crazy haha! With two short trips, meds for me, a trip to the music store for his older sister, by the way I found one of the few circus posters in that music store! I also asked that they hold it back for me, its currently hanging out under the plastic on the dinning room table to protect it from "accidents".


Finally we were going to the place Adam had been asking about all day, in fact he had asked SO many times I told him to stop asking or we wouldn't go, we went to McDonalds! We huddled inside and made our orders! With food in hand, we made our way to the play room, and might I add, the person who made it INSIDE in the new McDonalds is a GENIUS! I never noticed the heat or nastyness of the playplace outdoors as a child, but as a sitter I'm grateful for the comfortable booths, and CIRCULATED air, no old foot odor! Adam parked us at the smallest table, but being a not petite gal, I had to move myself to a real booth or I'd get stuck at the seat! Adam kept eating and I sat at the booth across, eventually he was worried about not being able to play so I told him he could play, and come eat between. That did the trick! We moved his food to the booth, and he ran off, putting his shoes into the cupboard, and diving into the tubes! There were several of the classic, "hi Tina's!" from the tops of the playplace. The best part had to be the fact that when I said it was time to go, there was no screaming or crying! He was completely content to head on home.


The rest of the work day went along as usual, and in time, it was time for me to go home and prepare for the circus! When I arrived at home, I chatted eagerly with my sister while we both waited for mom and dad to return home so we could all go to the circus. We looked at bed and breakfasts to stay at while in North Carolina for a cousins wedding. In time, mom and dad made it home and before long we were hurrying to the grounds for the circus! When we emerged from the cars, the air was crisp and slightly chilly, and the wonderful food smells drifted on the wind as our eyes met the twinkling lights of the midway. We entered into the whimsical other world, filled with elephant and camel rides, toys and souvenirs, ticket sales, pony rides, an inflatable slide, and food vendors. We had arrived through the almost magical tarp portal of ticket takers into this bright beautiful world! In time we made our way into the big canvas tent, and were escorted to box seats in the front of the ring. After settling in the lights dimmed, the ringmaster made his approach and the circus was off to its exciting start!


Before the main acts began though, the current owner of the circus, and friend of my recently passed uncle, made her way to the center of the ring. She greeted the audience, and then said something that to this day makes my heart swell with gratitude. She spoke of how the circus had lost a fantastic friend in Mike Sorrill, my uncle. That it would never be quite the same, and that they, as a circus, were dedicating the shows in Jacksonville to the memory of my uncle. She told us all to have fun, and cheer a lot for my uncle who could no longer be there. Her speech brought a tear to my eye, and the circus had new meaning again. In the past I would have likely criticized my own future over zealousness, but it fit this time. I clapped like a five year old at her first circus, laughed til I cried at the antics of the clowns, savored the delicious buttery taste of the popcorn, and nearly held my breath, for the first time in years! as the acrobats did their acts of daring! 


In honor of our fallen family member, my sister and I had vowed that the next circus we went to, we would get an elephant ride! When we were young, we rode the elephants at every circus, but we hadn't done this in years! Well, when the halfway point of the show came up, Michele and I proudly marched to the ticket box, bought our ride coupons, and climbed onto the back of a large beautiful elephant! We laughed as we felt the great animal move and sway below us, and the memories of those childhood elephant rides were revisited. We both had a twinge of self consciousness, but it soon faded as we reveled in another recaptured childhood moment! We bought coloring books, laughed when we heard the tell tale "first time ever!" speel about the peanuts, and eventually clapped our last as the masterful wonders of the circus came to an end. The costumes were splendid, gilded in sequins and adorned with feathers, the clowns in their floppy clothes and wild antics had us in stitches! Tight rope walkers, elephant riders, dog trainers, and the tell tale acrobats all made for a magical time. 


With our circus time drawing to a close, we had our coloring books signed, I bought some cotton candy, and we wandered the midway a few seconds. Dad being a bit cheeky, decided to grab my cotton candy, but when he did, it came off the stick, cotton candy, bag, and all! I was mortified and couldn't stop laughing at the same time! We all laughed, and I got a few good whacks with my cotton candy stick, before I tried desperately to put the dilapidated candy floss back on its stick. We laughed our way off the midway and back to our cars, where we all parted, Michele and Nick to Springfield, my parents and I home. 


In all, it was probably the best circus time I've had in many, MANY years. I felt my uncles spirit with us under that big top, and my dad had a good laugh off my aunt, Mikes widow. He said she hadn't changed at all! As we watched the tightrope act, she had her mouth agape in fear, and hand over her mouth. So many circuses and she still gets sweaty palms watching the tightrope. I do love my family, quirks and all, they are the BEST family to have, and I love them all to bits!


Love,
Christina