Give Thanks Calendar!!

Have you seen this AWESOME calendar???

I think that it is SO GREAT that I just have to sing it's praises to you!

The Give Thanks Advent Calendar is a GREAT tool to use in your family, with a class or group, or even with a study group. The way that we have used this in our family is each day at dinner time we go around and say what we are thankful for that day. We wrote down our answers on a small card and placed the card in the pocket of the calendar. At the end of the month I complied all of the cards and put copies in each child’s scrapbook, that way years later they can see what they were thankful for! I have also put prayer points in the pockets, and each day we have prayed for the points on cards. Another thought I had, but have yet to do, is to put acts of service on cards in each day and teach my kids how great doing an act of service can be! As you can see there are TONS of great uses for this wonderful hanging.

*This IDEA is not my own, I have seen many of these, but this kit is my own personal spin on it, and my way of letting you make this project YOUR OWN!*

Since we enjoy our calendar so much and I think it is such a GREAT teaching tool with kids, I have put together some for my Etsy shop! There are two ways that you can make this yours RIGHT NOW, just in time for this years Thanksgiving season (although we use ours all year long at various times!)

The first way that you can make this yours is to but a KIT that has everything you will need in it to create this with YOUR family!

Kits are READY TO GO and can ship out TODAY Priority, so you would have it JUST in time for this year! If you would like to purchase a kit, go HERE!

Each kit includes:

~A background piece that is 24 x 34, with a 1.5 inch rod pocket already stitched across the top.

~30 pre-cut pockets, and one rectangle for the title area.

~Pre-cut letters (give, THANKS) and numbers (1-30) in the colors shown in the pictures. (The numbers and the word give are on self-stick felt, the word THANKS is not)

~the “treasures” shown in the second picture (or VERY close to those exact treasures, no kit has less, some have slightly different items than pictured)

~detailed instructions on how to complete your calendar

What you will need to provide:

~Glue (I suggest E2000 or FabriTack)

~Imagination

~I dowel or ribbon to hang the finished hanging

*OPTIONAL: each calendar CAN be made with just glue, OR you can sew the pockets on like I did. I like sewn pockets for longevity to use it year after year, but this project CAN be completed as a no sew project if you like.

 The second way that you can make this yours is buy purchasing a pre assembled wall hanging! I have do all the work and you just have to ENJOY your calendar!!!

The soonest I can ship out the pre assembled wall hangings is MONDAY, but I will still ship them Priority so you should have them very quickly! And you will be able to hang it right up and start using it NOW! If you would like to order a pre assembled wall hanging Give Thanks Calendar go HERE!

*As always, if you are local and want to pick up instead of paying shipping, please convo me to arrange it!*

AND I will have a booth at OctoberFest here in Los Osos TOMORROW, and these will be with me there too! Hurry quick, before this year's kits sell out!!

Tuesday Treasure Sale at Simply Soares Creating 4 Care!

Shameless plug to follow... but hey folks, I gotta figure out how to pay the bills!!!

Did you know that I support myself and the kids through my creative skills and a business I run from home??

No? Well I do!

If you hop on over HERE you will find out all about Simply Soares Creating 4 Care!

One branch of this endeavor is the custom sewing and alterations that I do from the house, and I have been HOPPING busy this summer. Which is great, but it is also HARD since the kids are home from school and I don't get much uninterrupted creating time!

Another branch of this endeavor is my Etsy Shop that is sell already made creations in. I have some fun stuff over there, and if you havent' checked it out before you should hop on over there and see what's happening. Even if you have checked it out before, you should still hop on over, because things change around there A LOT! (Can't turn my creativity off you know!)

With all of the odds* stacking up against me, I think it is time to promote the HECK out of the Etsy shop and find some treasures new homes! So I though we would try a Tuesday Treasures Sale! Each Tuesday I am going to feature one of the items in my Etsy Shop and put it on sale. You can find out about each weeks Tuesday Treasure Sale either on the Creating 4 Care blog or on our Facebook page ! Sign up to follow on one or both of those to keep in the know!

Wanna be in the know for what is featured today???

Queen Size Quilt, Purple Pin Wheel Pattern

Isn't it beautiful??? I think so! And I think it would make a great addition to some one's home... know someone who would love it? PLEASE pass on the sale information!!!

If you made it this far THANK YOU!!

We love you and your support of our little struggling family!

**(What odds you ask? Well I live in a state that keeps chopping away on services for special needs children, I am hearing rumblings of our SSI getting attacked if the silly lawmakers can't put on their big kid panties and figure things out, the cost of medical supplies keeps going Up Up Up and the father to my darling children hasn't paid full child support in over 8 months... things are getting TIGHT around here and I am NOT liking it! But I still get to write the check for medical supplies and rent on the first of every month no matter what (and those checks are pretty much even to each other!) )

Teacher Appreciation!

I KNOW I am WAY behind on blogging... but you know, life happens first!

We have been having such a FUN summer around here,

and the BUSY fun should start next week.

So I am working on clearing off my camera memory cards for

Mega Sports Camp

Project Surf Camp

Audrey's Dance Recital

AND
Rock for Surf

ALL next week.....

Hopefully I will be posting lots this weekend so I can start this crazy week with a clean camera card!

At the end of the school year this year I wanted to do something fun and unique for my kids teachers....

So I searched my brain and I looked around online...

And then I remembered this printable from The Best Part of Believe

And then I remembered that I had some cool cloth bags left over in my stash from Butterfly Boutique....

And then there is Carole that can sublimate anything onto fabric for me....

So I personalized the subway art some....

Had Carole sublimate it for me....

And added some ribbon from the $1.00 bin at Micheal's....

And came up with these totally cute end of the year book bags for the teachers in our life this past year!

I was thrilled with a cool, usable gift for under $5.00 each!

And since the theme of this post is Teacher Appreciation I thought I would include the cards we made the teachers for Teacher Appreciation Day.

Our school did a little one things a day for a week project....

The first day was to write a note.... but we didn't get them done on the first day!

The second day was to take your teacher a flower... so on day two they got their note with a "flower"

Now I personally love fresh flowers, but I thought the teachers might be getting a lot of those that day. So I had the kids pick out some flower pins or clips out of my stash and give one to each teacher. I think they might last longer that way!

Of course on the last day of school I also remembered the bus driver.....

Good thing I have a cupboard stocked with home made jams, jellies and butters and a Cricut that I can whip up cute cards in a matter of minutes!

Jesse, our fabulous bus driver, had a great gift too!

So what do you do for the teachers in your life???

Mountains of Fun!

I feel like I haven't blogged in FOREVER!!!

And I probably haven't.....

My friends are even commenting on a lack of writing on my part!

I have been INCREDIBLY busy! I feel like I can't catch my self no matter what I do... But it is all good, and we are doing great!

I thought I might give you a quick look at one of the MANY things I have been busy with...

My mom and I entered the quilt challenge at the California Mid State Fair this year. Then my grandma got REALLY sick, and we sort of got busy taking care of her, doing end of school year life, and just living, and the suddenly the deadline snuck right up on us!

Have you ever done a quilt challenge before? Well, if not, it is where the group hosting gives you a piece of fabric and a theme (and some other rules) and you get to create a quilt using those guidelines. Thankfully, this challenge is for a small quilt (24x24 minimum to 30x30 maximum), unfortunately the fabric they gave us was UGLY!!!! (see picture above!)

The theme this year was "Mountains of Fun". In thinking about an appropriate quilt piece, I could not get "Maynard's Mountain" out of my mind. Maynard's Mountain is this really cool waterfall in the center of the fair grounds at Mid State Fair. I sent my dad to take pictures of Maynard's Mountain for some inspiration. This is the one that jumped out at me from the group he brought me.

With the picture as my inspiration, and the ugly fabric to incorporate, I jumped into creating last weekend at craft day. I decided to cut the ugly fabric up into color blocks, then use in in aplique to create a picture of Maynard's Mountain.

After craft day, my mom took the square to do some of the applique stitching on it (it was supposed to be a joint effort you know..) and I forgot about it until last night when Faline called to remind me it was due TODAY!!

I went to grab it last night... and it was NO WHERE near where I thought it would be...

After pretty much an all nighter last night, I had this this morning:

That just left a few SHORT hours to detail and quilt it before it was due in Paso Robles (an hour away from my house!) by 2 today!!! Ahhhhh....

I worked on it pretty much non stop all morning, and when Faline got off at 1030, she came by to help until she had to go back to work at noon. Over all I am REALLY happy with the final product...

The quilt finished at 110, for my parents to drive it to it's destination by 2... and they JUST made it!

Some up close details..

Those trees are a FUNNY story in themselves... oh my the LAUGHS we all had over those trees! Mom, Faline, Josie and I all made trees, and I used them all... even Faline's CRAZY tree!.... But I LOVE that there is 3 generations of family in making those trees!

From inspiration to quilt, using insanely ugly challenge fabric....

So what do you think??