No singing or crafting today...

This week I won't be making my house sing. I won't be sharing craft projects. Honestly, I won't even be trying. Nope, this week I am playing the role of Florence Nightingale aka "Doctor Mom". Yep, you guessed it. My house is an infirmary this week. Buttercup is sick, Valiant is sick, even Superman is sick. I'm doing everything I can to get everyone better. Me? I'm doing everything I can to fight it.


The house is a wreck from the weekend, however, as sickness didn't stop us from racing the against the weather. (The nighttime temperatures dropped into the teens this weekend.) The adults were pruning back the plants that we'll see again in the spring, ripping u the vegetable gardens and turning the soil, rescuing the potted plants by getting them into our new greenhouse (which Superman was racing to finish) and getting "milk house" heaters set up in it. We've still got to get the sprinklers blown (today!), as well as getting the windows sealed up for winter (which will wait until later this week). In between all this, we found ourselves telling the kids things like, "What are you doing outside with/without a jacket/shoes/shorts/flip flops? You are sick! Get back in the house." The kids, in the meantime, felt well enough to challenge all efforts to keep them warm, dry, and calm. Thus, they wore themselves out and are both feeling quite poorly today.

We probably didn't help ourselves by hosting Game Night again on Saturday, but, as always, it was super fun and all the neighborhood kids have colds, so it really seemed pointless to try to separate them after the fact.

So, if I just hum along while the rest of you sing today, I hope you'll understand. Head over to Momstheword, cheer her on as she gets ahead on her cooking, and see what everyone else is doing this week to make their homes sing.

P.S. If you do a Google Search to find a cute picture for "Nurse Mommy" you get the weirdest images! A sexy pregnant nurse?! What is up with that?

Make It Yourself Monday - Metal Stamp Edition

It is Make It Yourself Monday, the time I share with you the ideas I've had for making hand-made gifts for Christmas this year. I know some will fall flat, but some will turn out really well and in the end, I'll have made myself proud and, hopefully, made my friends feel special by giving gifts from my hands and my heart.

If you read Little Birdie Secrets, maybe you've already seen this clever idea for a gift. She calls it a gift idea for guys, but I know a lot of girls who'd like to have personalized dog tags (with sayings or nicknames or whatever) for key rings or pendants or whatever. So, I headed out to Harbor Freight with Superman (who thought he'd died and gone to heaven) and bought my own set of the metal letters (1/8") for $8.99. Superman couldn't believe I had a craft idea that was right up his alley and immediately started playing with the stamps and some sheet metal.


What do you think? Pretty sweet, isn't he? (After he did this, we realized that instead of an "E" and a "3", our set had two "3"s and we needed to exchange it. Our next step is to hit the Army Surplus store for some blank dog tags.



See the "E" in this washer? It looks like a real one! (Yes, this is a simple washer from Home Depot...Superman had it and was still playing) Wouldn't this be cute on a long chain? (I'm thinking the words would have to either go completely around the circle or just be on the bottom half or 2/3s so the chain would get in the way. Obviously, this will take a little bit of practice to get the letters aligned properly and the ink in the letters to show, but I think we have the makings of some neat gifts here. What do you think?

(Do you have an idea for Make It Yourself Monday? Let me know and if we have enough, I'll add a Mr. Linky to this post.)

P.S. Did you know there are only 87 days until Christmas? Even if you're buying your gifts, it is really time to start planning!

(Oops...I scheduled this with the wrong date, so you didn't get to see it. Sorry!)

Make It Yourself Monday (Tootsie Time Edition)

Well, we're having a "Monday" kind of Monday here at the Nagle5 house and I can't get focused on anything of a creative nature right now. It is Make It Yourself Monday, however, and ideas are bouncing around in my head. Since I can't get to them right now (I homeschool, remember?), I am happy to report that Tootsie of Tootsie Time is geared up and ready to go (actually, she was ready last night!) and has an awfully creative use of potpourri. Seriously. Now, if you're like me, you can't imagine "creative use" and "potpourri" in the same sentence, but I'm telling you, Tootsie made it work.

(Tootsie's potpourri wreath!)

These natural candle wreaths could also go around a hurricane lamp or be the base for a small candy dish or nut bowl, couldn't they? I think I'd like them with a short, stocky candle. (Hey, Tootsie, I do have candles that should have had the cellophane removed a few years ago, too!) I do have some old potpourri that I'll be transforming this week, following the step-by-step tutorial Tootsie provided. What do you think? Wouldn't this be a neat gift with a candle that matched your friend's house? Wouldn't it be a cool addition to your own Fall decor? (Oops, did I just admit that I was thinking of making this for myself? No way!)

P.S. One of the things I have bouncing around is making up seed packets from some of your best annual color plants and gifting those to your friends and family who've not known where to start or don't/can't spend money on flowers. A few flower pots, some gardening gloves, and that would be a terrific gift. Want to know how to get the seeds from your own plants? Tootsie has PICTURES to show you how. HERE is her awesome tutorial!

Make It Yourself Monday (Tuesday Edition)

Sorry about missing the day...I had this post as a draft, but it needed a few tweaks before posting. However, Valiant needed me more yesterday. So, here I am with another Make It Yourself Monday post - the Tuesday Edition.

I saw this post at Can't Stop Making Things and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Look at this "Message Tile" Gail made. She was even kind enough to give a tutorial here. I was intrigued, but I couldn't see a need to for "message tile" at my house. Maybe Superman's team would like them? Hmmm...
Then, Buttercup came home from Mrs. M's house with this little treasure and I knew it was meant to be. When Mrs. M came up with this project, she had the kids add feet to their tiles, so they can be used on furniture without fear of scratching...smart thinking, Mrs. M! Buttercup featured her hamster, Biscuit, on her tile and wrote her own name across the top (which I then obscured for this post)...I think it is super cute.



So, whether you think you need a "Message Tile" or a hot drink trivet or maybe a special paperweight, this is definitely a do-able gift idea. Emergency numbers just sitting on the counter for the kids or the babysitter. Drawings by each child creating a set of hot drink trivets as a gift for relatives. Team logos for a sports fan. The possibilities are endless and my mind is whirring.

So, what do you think?

Make It Yourself Monday

Sorry for the late post today, but I'm getting us ready for our last camping trip of the season. (In fact, we're pulling out in about 15 minutes, so this one needs to be quick!) Also, don't forget to head over to Momstheword to see what she and everyone else is doing for Making Your Home Sing Monday. Even though I'm not participating, I love to be inspired by the ideas to make our homes better. Nan's post this week is about making your actions and stated priorities line up. (Oh, she says it is about time management, but really, to me her post is about consistency with our true priorities.)

Ready for another Make It Yourself Monday gift idea? This one is an idea I used for the first time last year and this year I'm going to do it again. Just remember to think of your recipient. As Sewducky pointed out, not everyone wants things for their homes...so unless you know the person well and know their taste, be cautious in giving gifts for the home. Of course, that isn't stopping me from sharing my gift idea and letting anyone who receives gifts from me know this might very well be part of my gift to you this year!

Last year I made these cool little bar towels (found on the clearance racks!) with seasonal fabric. I liked the idea that they helped add festivity but the recipient could use them, wash them, and put them away until the next year. I like holiday decor, but I like to put it all away, too!


They are super easy, you just cut out a piece of fabric in a band a bit wider than you need and longer than the towel is wide, iron in a fold on each edge, and use your zig zag stitch to sew them on the towels. These towels had weird white striped bands that I covered and the odd colors went beautifully with the holiday fabrics I had.

So, this year I'll be making more of these little bar towels if I can find inexpensive towels to embellish, but I'm also going to make matching oven mitts and hot pads! Confession: I made oven mitts last year, but they ended up being so small, I gave them away to the neighborhood children. Now I know you can use a tutorial or trace an oven mitt you like and add 2+ inches to the tracing! The layers of batting and heat shielding plus the two layers of fabric take up a lot of space when you turn that cute little oven mitt. Then again, if I'm sewing for children, now I know how to get it just right! Good lesson...seriously.

A few questions:

Anybody want or need tutorials?

Someone suggested making this more fun by adding a Mr. Linky on Mondays so we can trade ideas. Will you trade?

P.S. Not all my ideas are sewing...this is just where my head is right now because sewing projects need to be started well in advance of the holiday.

"Make It Yourself" Monday

Last month, I told you I was already thinking about Christmas presents. Yes, it was July, but if I'm going to have any chance of having a hand-made Christmas, I've got to start working now. Truthfully, I'll probably be doing a lot of thinking, planning, and plotting this month. I don't see myself having a lot of time for sewing or crafting before September, but I really want to have a plan.

To that end, I'm designating Mondays as "Make It Yourself" Monday. Every Monday I'll share with you the ideas I have for something I'll be making for Christmas. Yes, it seems early, as Back to School hasn't even happened yet, but last year I started just too darned late and didn't want to sacrifice participating in the holidays to keep sewing. This year, I'm determined. Hopefully, you'll find a few ideas from my ideas (even if they're ideas for things you can buy for people on your list) and maybe you'll even have suggestions as to how I might make an idea even better. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

So, without further ado, here is my first frugal, hand-made Christmas idea:


See these tablecloths? I got them on clearance at Target last year for $6.00 each. Each tablecloth measures 60 x 120 inches. So, what am I going to do with these tablecloths, you ask? I'm making holiday napkins! Have you ever priced cloth napkins? Seriously. $2 a napkin? Oh, come on! I knew I could do better than that and when I saw these tablecloths it all clicked together. At 20" square (a nice size for a napkin), each tablecloth will yield 18 napkins. You can't beat that price for the fabric alone! Some clever seasonal napkin rings (make them yourself ideas to follow as I find them!) and you have a few nice gifts or a terrific addition to your own holiday place settings.

Never thought about making your own cloth napkins? Skip To My Lou has an easy mitered-corner napkin tutorial if you need a little guidance. Otherwise, napkins are a pretty easy sewing project. Another idea for inexpensive yardage would be to get a flat sheet in a fabric you liked (clearance priced, of course).

So, there you have it, my first Make It Yourself project suggestion. What do you think? If someone who knew you and and knew your tastes gave you some table dressing for the holidays, would you like it?