End of the Year Silver Linings and Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 562

What a long, strange, trip this year has been. My husband and I kicked off 2020 at a Roaring 20's party and shortly afterwards everything roared to a full stop. While it is all too easy to focus on the boatload  of the bad things that happened this year, for my sanity and mental health, I'm trying to focus on the few positives I experienced:

- I did a lot of projects on my Do It Yourself Honey! list. DIY, craft, and otherwise. As a result, I got  new and repaired clothes, household items, home improvements, and cleaned out a bunch of my fabric stash and scraps. Yay!

- A Christmas gift from my mother in law inspired me to relearn how to crochet. Something I haven't done since my grandmother taught me as a kid.

- Zooming all over the country to see friends, family, and performances regularly instead of the once or twice a year we normally do in real life.

- Having the free time to shop at farmer's markets and can a boatload of end of season sale tomatoes.

- Lacey is absolutely thriving with both of her people being at home 24/7 (although her people have gone a little stir crazy at times being home 24/7.) 

Hey Lisa, if you are looking for a project how about filling my treat jar with some homemade dog treats? It's looking pretty empty in there!

What good things happened to you this year?

Time to show off your creative recipes, projects, and ideas for the last time this year!

Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 561

Time to show off your creative recipes, projects, and ideas!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

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If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

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Happy Hanukkah and Linky Party Week 559

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah! I hope you start your holiday off right and celebrate happily and safely. 

Time to show off your creative recipes, projects, and ideas!

Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 558

It's December and I did an early deep dive into my favorite time of year - CHRISTMAS! I normally don't decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving but this year I made the exception. Christmas lights and decor make me insanely happy especially when almost all of our decorations have a memory or story attached like the little Santas shown below.

My husband and I adopted one of these rolly polly guys when we visited a Christmas store during our vacation several years ago and he has made me smile ever since. What are your favorite December traditions?

Time to show off your creative recipes, projects, and ideas!

IKEA Christmas Decoration Shopping Haul and Friday Favorites Linky Party 556

Most of the time our Christmas decor usually favors our combined UK heritage and how we met as Elizabethan entertainers. I have some decorations that need to be retired/retired themselves. It wouldn't hurt to add more of my Danish heritage to our Christmas celebration since it will just be us at home this year.

So I went to IKEA and bought the place out. 

Shopping with my gnomies!

I should say I was very, very tempted to buy the place out because it was filled with cute gnomes. In the Scandinavian countries many of their Christmas decorations are gnomes (the Danish and Norwegians call them nisser and the Swedish call them tomte) because all these little ones ask for their service of protecting the family (and help take care of the animals if you live on a farm) is a bowl of rice porridge with a pat of butter on top at Christmas. Nisser are particular about what they want and how it is given because, well, they are just being Danish😃.

Here's what my cart looked like as I waited in the socially distanced line at checkout.

There's a whole lot of happy in this shopping cart.

Many Danish families still decorate Christmas trees with real candles that they light for a few supervised hours on Christmas Eve (that's when Danish families open presents.) As much as I love burning candles, I'm leery of putting a lit candle on a dry tree. The glass clip candle ornaments are the best of both worlds - traditional candle look without the potential fire hazard.

The heart ornaments are another Danish Christmas decorating tradition in addition to the gnomes. This year has been a series of one thing after the other. I figure we should show a lot more love for each other and have the protection of as many nisser as possible.

I used the gnome Advent calendar bags to make a Christmas tree Advent calendar I'll add to the link party below. 

The most exciting score is the ceramic Julebuk (Swedish Yule Goat)! The Julebuk used to deliver presents to Swedes before Santa hit the scene. Most Julebuk decorations are traditionally made of straw but I really like the clean modern look of the IKEA Yule Goat. I look at it as a trade off since I never had a chance to buy IKEA's iconic Dala Horse decorations (another Swedish tradition.)

Time to link up your best projects, home improvements, recipes, and creative ideas!

Funny Christmas Sweaters and Friday Favorites Linky Party 555

The Ugly Christmas Sweater trend is fun for the holidays, especially now that there are so many over the top so ugly they are kitschy fantastic sweaters out there in shopping and DIY land. 

But I don't have one because I hate the way busy prints look on me.

And honestly, I'd rather have a funny or clever Christmas sweater or shirt than an "ugly" one.

So I made one for my store  LNWCreativeGifts! Instead of writing Ho Ho Ho like regular people, I put in Santa's super short scientific notation of Ho cubed. You can get my funny Christmas Ho Ho Ho shirt here on your choice of many different t shirt and sweatshirt  styles for men, women, and children. How cute would this be for a family Christmas card photo? (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)

Funny Christmas Ho Ho Ho T Shirt
by LNWCreativeGifts

Time to link up your best projects, home improvements, recipes, and creative ideas!

DIY Fall Pennant Banners and Friday Favorites Week 548

It is officially Fall! Itching for a project to do that wasn't so involved that I could finish it quickly if any of the major items I need to start my big involved projects finally come in after many Covid related delays.

It's a little too early to go all out and decorate for Halloween (or at least according to my Husband) so I poked around in garage and decorated the porch for fall with festival drop cloth pennant garlands on the windows and porch railing that I haven't used in quite awhile.

Instant fall flair! I will add my quick and easy fall banner tutorial to the link party below.

I showed you my project! Let's see your fantastic DIY projects, crafting, recipes, and tutorials!

Easy Fall Wreath And Friday Favorites Week 545

This weekend we celebrate Labor Day Weekend in the United States which we consider the Last Day of Summer, even though the real last day of summer is September 21st. Why? No clue. I don't make the rules. I just live here.

So I guess it is time to take down the summer decor I never put up and start replacing it with fall decor that I might put up. Or not. It's been that kind of crazy year.

I made this fall grapevine wreath by randomly hot gluing dollar store flowers and pumpkins on a plain thrift store grapevine wreath. A super simple way to make a big wreath to fill a blank outdoor wall.

Give me some inspiration! Let's see your fantastic DIY projects, crafting, recipes, and tutorials!

Friday Favorites Link Party Week 542

My living room is the Room of Many Boxes as my husband and I impatiently wait for the one thing that will allow us to start our bathroom remodel - the floor tile. 

Waiting is the hardest part.

In the meantime, I've keeping myself busy sewing and soaping like a madwoman. My lastest projects are in the link party below!

Time to link up your fantastic and creative craft and DIY projects, recipes, and ideas!

Let's Party!

Never Underestimate a Small DIYer Driving a Small Car and Friday Favorites Link Party Week 541

I got a text that our new shower doors for our upcoming bathroom remodel are ready for pickup. Happily I emptied the trunk of our car, put the back seat down and zipped off to experience contact free pickup.

Home Depot guy comes out with my order (these exact shower doors swoon!) (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience,) looks at my Ford Focus hatchback, and said it wouldn't fit.

Oh yeah? Well, I say never never underestimate a small woman in a small car who really hates her shower doors and will move Heaven and Earth to transport the new one to her house.

Especially when she has a long history of transporting oversize color guard props in tiny cars - sometimes across state lines.

My view from the passenger seat transporting 20 ft streamer flag poles in a Ford Focus sedan. They run diagonally from the end of the trunk to the end of the dashboard but they fit! (Never doubt me husband. Ever.)

Soapmaking and Friday Favorites Linky Party 538

Well, there is one thing I have to say about our social distancing summer, I'm getting a lot of projects done that I've been putting off (repeatedly.) For example just this morning I finally played that game of Sock Concentration (although you may call it  matching up and reorganizing your sock drawer) in a desperate attempt to find a pair of matching no show socks to wear today.

Although I briefly considered wearing a pair missing mates, because no show socks, amiright? But hey, it's done, I'm wearing matching socks (also I'm wearing an actual shoe that requires a sock) and in a Marie Kondo fashion that I revised after the first go round to work a little better for me - I hope.

My last batch of liquid hot process soap came out with the consistency of Flubber and I've been putting off trying again since its failure. Projects have been keeping me sane since this whole mess started and soap making was the only thing left on this list. Also, the summer heat in the garage already melted my coconut oil for me and since melting my oils at too high a temperature was Step 1 in my last comedy of errors, I gave it another go.

Soapmaking is easier when the summer heat melts your oils for you!

Three Dollar Patio Vegetable Garden Tour and Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 535

Gardening in a condominium can be a challenge given the Home Owners Association rules and compact space. Add a pandemic that doesn't allow for a lazy afternoon wandering my favorite garden center for whatever catches my eye and the challenge levels up a bit more. 

I was happy to find that plants in five of the ten pots I planted last year came back because most of my  perennial herbs (minus my chocolate mint) are decimated by winter weather. The rest of the planters I filled by sprouting vegetables scraps which lead to this year's nickname - Our Garbage Garden. 

 

Save this small space vegetable and herb garden idea to your Pinterest Boards for later! 

Share it with your friends!

In the photo above we have golden oregano in the front, followed by chocolate mint, winter savory, cabbage and romaine lettuce sprouts. I've never grown romaine lettuce before. It is supposed to look like that? The other romaine lettuce I planted is much lower to the ground.

Red, White, and Blue Face Masks and Friday Favorites 530

 I've been doing  a deep dive into my fabric stash and sewing reusable cloth face masks for family and friends who do not sew. I've been sitting on some white and blue star fabric someone gave me and figured with the Memorial Day and the Fourth of July just around the corner, it would make a cute mask.

I made this one with ties but I can also make masks with elastic if you like.

After all that sewing, I had to take my workhorse sewing machine in for repair and  my backup sewing machine when it decided it wanted to break too. Oh no!

DIY Mental Health Jar and Friday Favorites Week 529

While cleaning my craft room I came across the word of the year memory jar I made by painting a recycled salsa jar with stained glass paint (there are several types of glass paint here,) repainted the lid from a project where I broke the jar, and decorative stickers and bits from my craft room. (I am including affiliate links for your convenience.) For awhile I wrote down the little and big moments that made me feel happy, warm, or cozy (the loose English translation of my Danish Word of the Year Hygge) with the intent on reading the contents of the jar on that year's New Year's Eve but it fell by the wayside as the year went on.

After one too many social media conversations about being disappointed about upcoming plans, events, and whatnot being cancelled due to Covid-19 (and then feeling guilty afterward for being sad over something so trivial when so many people around the world are going through much, much worse) I started to think that for my mental health I should try to focus on what little good things are happening around me instead the daily mountain of bad.   

I took the ribbon and label off the jar to repurpose it for my Mental Health Jar.

Photo courtesy of my food blog Lazy Budget Chef

No good or happy event or moment is too big or small for my jar, because let's face it, things are so weird that I road the happy until the wheels fell off the day I ordered Instacart groceries and the original delivery date was a week away until I added my product substitutions and the delivery date changed to later the same day of the order - which hasn't happened in a very long time.  Kinda silly, I know, but at least it points my head in the direction of complimenting rather than complaining.

I showed you my project. Now you show me yours!

Elizabethan Chemise (Shift) and Friday Favorites Week 528

I'm trying to be productive during our quarantine lock down by sewing the personal historical costume projects that got pushed way down my To Do List when paying gigs came my way and took precedence. My latest Quarantine Costuming project is a square neck linen Elizabethan Chemise which is also called a Shift.

Historically women of all social classes wore a chemise or shift as their first layer of clothing to keep the more expensive to replace and difficult to clean layers (namely their corset and dress) from getting dirty more quickly from sweat and body oils up until the end of the Edwardian area. This is long before washing machines and when Laundry Day took ALL. DAY. LONG. to do. So if you want to take a quick reading break to go hug your washing machine - go for it. I'll wait.

Welcome back!

The necklines and sleeve length of chemises changed with the fashion of the time. In Elizabethan England square necklines where all the rage and arms where covered to the wrist although most historical performers including myself, where a rounded German style gathered neck like the one below because it is easy to make. Last season, after spending fourth months quilting a new jester costume I made do with a shift I already had. The short sleeves aren't period but I can get away with it because I'm a jester and as an ad for one of the faire's vendors. Also it is stinkin' cute!

3 Quarantine Bottle Cap Crafts and Friday Favorites Week 527

Doing DIY and craft projects keeps me from going stir crazy during quarantine. I figure it was a good time to dip into my bottle cap collection stash and use the time to recycle it into  the trinkets and favors I trade with children on that glorious day when we all will safely be able to gather in groups and my little jester character will once again perform at a renaissance festival.

Here are the three recycled bottle cap crafts I'm making. They are very easy to make for children or better yet, make them with your children!

How to Make Bottle Cap Lady Bugs

How to Make Bottle Cap Bumble Bees

Allergy Free Trick or Treat Idea: How to Make DIY Bottle Cap Halloween Pumpkin Pins

I showed you my project. Now you show me yours!

Mini DIY Ceiling Light Makeover and Friday Favorites Week 526

I've been keeping busy with a bunch of quarantine mini makeover projects.

Because quarantine mini makeover sounds so much nicer than bunch of nagging DIY projects I put off forever and need to do something to keep from going stir crazy in lockdown so I'm finally getting around to it.

Ahem.

My late project is getting rid of one more ugly builder ceiling light in the in our upstairs hallway. I installed this industrial beauty while my husband was making dinner. One more light banished - 2 more to go!

You can buy a similar semi flush mount ceiling light here (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.) 

The thing that made my heart sing "this is the ONE"are the Edison style bulbs (you can buy Edison style light bulbs here) because they work with tapestry and pendulum clock. Best of all you can buy LED Edison bulbs so I get the energy saving LEDs I like and my husband gets the warm yellow light of an incandescent light bulb he likes. We both win.

I showed you my project. Now you show me yours!

Friday Favorites Week 525

Time to link up your fantastic and creative craft and DIY projects, recipes, and ideas!


Let's Party!

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter FB | G+ Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Lauren at All About That Mommy Life - Pin | Inst

Jennifer at Busy Being Jennifer - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!

Homemade Cloth Face Masks and Friday Favorites Week 524

Projects keep me sane during stressful times and while I'm a little grateful for the distraction I wish my latest sewing project wasn't so desperately needed right now. The cloth face masks I'm making are not surgical grade, N95, or medical PPE. They are type the CDC has asked everyone to wear when they are outside to keep our (potential) germs to ourselves.

The Game of Thrones fabric is my favorite.

A family member asked me to make her some and the ball started rolling from there. I guess saving every scrap of leftover fabric has its advantages in an emergency.

Time to link up your fantastic and creative craft and DIY projects, recipes, and ideas!


Let's Party!

Cute Quarantine Dogs and Friday Favorites Week 523

How are adjusting to our new normal of self  isolation and social distancing? 

My husband is working from home again. Lacey got a promotion from Office Manager to CCO - Chief Cuddle Officer.

Lacey really need to work on the distancing part of social distancing though.

Ohio closed pretty much everything down earlier than most. We've had a a stay at home order in place since the first week or so of March.  My spring allergies have had me home and inside for longer than that and all I have to say is thank goodness for  library ebooks, social media, and streaming media while I start that long someday I want to do this project list. I've hit the point when I need to unplug from the 24/7 news cycle in the evenings and focus on something completely unrelated. What about you?

Time to link up your fantastic and creative craft and DIY projects, recipes, and ideas!


Let's Party!