Busy Weekend

Oh, it's definitely the Holiday season. In addition to the obvious (Christmas songs playing on the radio and all the decorations in the mall) it's the rush-rush-rush of our schedule that tells me the big day is not too far away.

Friday night was the middle-school play. Son No. 1 had the lead role in Who Poisoned His Meatball? It was a hoot! The audience was laughing the entire time (oh, and it WAS a comedy by the way). The kids did a fantastic job. Crafty Mom and I were especially proud of the young man who had the role of Luigi.

Middle School Play - "Who Poisoned His Meatball?"

Take a bow! You did a fantastic job kiddo!

Saturday Son No. 1 spent the entire day at a rehearsal for Honor's Band. He was selected as a top musician from his school to join 17 other area schools for a concert on Sunday afternoon. It was phenomenal. Those kids played their hearts out and played music that was at a skill level that .... I don't know. My wife and I were in high school band back in the late 70's and we never played music like that. They did a great job and received a standing ovation.

T.G.I.S.

Yes. Thank goodness it's Saturday!

Crafty Mom and I are getting ready to head out to Kohl's and Michael's then later we'll be taking a van-load of 'stuff' to Goodwill. It's such a good feeling to de-clutter a space. Last night we spent a good amount of time in the cedar closet and sorted through old clothes and other miscellaneous items. Geez, it's amazing how much 'stuff' we've accumulated.

Hope you have a great day.

Do something crafty. With the Holidays just around the corner, there's no better time to get the creative juices flowing and to c-r-e-a-t-e.

Something fall-ish from the Crafty Dad photo gallery:

Take care,

Chicken Soup for the Sewing People

I love it when a plan comes together.

It seems almost zen-like when you are so "into" a project. Like the one above. There are so many steps to the process. And when you're done (and ... assuming you got the results you expected) there's a sense of elation, accomplishment, a 'whew that went well' moment.

This pair of slacks turned out nice too:



Do you experience that with your projects?

Happy Veteran's Day

I am THANKFUL for my freedom.

From all of us at the Crafty Dad household: A big 'thank you' to all the members of the armed forces (past and present) for keeping this the land of free and the home of the brave.

Hungry? Dinner is Served

It's a pasta casserole that Crafty Mom put together.  Yumilicious!  That's the best word to describe it.

Thanks honey!

My good friend:



This little baby was VERY busy a couple of weekends ago. And it's going to become busy again. I have some Christmas gift ideas for some special people on my list.

Oh...and did I tell you? I've added another machine to my inventory of "tools"? Yes indeed. I bought myself an early Christmas present. You can see it here.

And, although it's not a super-duper-commercial-grade machine, it works a lot like this one:



Am I a crazy, crafty maniac? I think I am!

But hey, there are lots more pants that need shortened, so this blindstitcher (some people call them blindhemmers) will be a big help.

Wow! An Actual CRAFT Project

Yesterday was Hannah's 11th birthday party.

My latest craft project.
The Cricut and I had fun with this one!

Some scrapbook paper, cardstock, a few white buttons

and a little bit of pink thread turned into a fun project

And...(I didn't tell you, but last month, on the 22nd, was MY birthday) I used my new toy (cough, cough, I mean TOOL) to help me create a birthday card. Yep, I bought a Cricut and I LOVE it. What a fantastic little machine.

Hannah is a big, big fan on Hannah Montana and she was ECSTATIC when she tore the gift wrap off the Hanna Montana Back Stage Pass book from Disney. Wow...that girl was jumping up and down on the sofa like a kangaroo. She devoured every page.

Inside the book was a door hanger. I told my oldest son that I should have one like that for my cubicle at work. He rolled his eyes (he's 13, so that happens frequently these days) but he did assist me in the photo op. What do you think?






And a very yummy chocolate cake too:

Hannah's mom cut out a paper plate and decorated the top. Pretty nifty, huh?

I was good: only one piece of cake and one scoop of ice cream.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Kitchen Poetry :: 5

Wrapping up the week, I took these shots last night at the dinner table.

Hope you enjoy. This has been a fun little project. Thanks to Toni for the inspiration.

Going fast!

Ready for dinner

Pizza bread-- fresh out of the oven

Kitchen table runner and pumpkin

Have a great weekend, bloggers!

Kitchen Poetry :: 4

The photo journal project continues with these:

Summer time produce. Nothing better.

Simple summer salad. Yum, yum, yum!

Clean. Soap and a sponge.

Enjoy your day!

Kitchen Poetry :: 3

Hey bloggers! Not much time to post today, but wanted to share these recent photos with you.

Join Simple Sparrow's Kitchen Poetry photo week here.











Have a great day!

Kitchen Poetry :: 2

Like most of you, our kitchen is the room where we spend most of our time. Not only do we use the kitchen for meal preparation, but we use it for doing homework, hanging out with the boys, eating our meals, etc. My wife uses the kitchen as her 'home base' when she telecommutes. The kitchen table makes a great work surface for all her paperwork.

And...sometimes the kitchen is converted into a craft/creative space (as evidenced below). Most of the time we use the table, but sometimes the floor is the best place to camp out.

Here's my Little Guy having some creative time with his clone trooper book, sketch pad and crayons. I'm lovin' it!

What's going on in your kitchen today?

Kitchen Poetry :: 1

I've joined Toni in her "Kitchen Poetry" photo journal and have this to share with you.

A new recipe (I made it up) and a new (vintage) casserole dish from the thrift shop. It was easy and the presentation wasn't too bad either. My family loved it.

Visit Toni's blog and join the fun.

Weekend Update

Hey bloggers! Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend.

I spent a few hours at the office on Saturday and then made a trip to Michael's and spent almost $50.00 on card-making supplies. They had paper on sale and rubber stamps were 40% off, and I found some great bargains in the clearance bin too.

Saturday afternoon was spent cleaning up leaves in the yard. They are very late coming down this year. But..the wife and I took care of those that were on the ground and we also chopped off the sea grass for the winter. Wow...that stuff was tall and the blades of grass are really sharp too.

Sunday morning was church then brunch at the Elk's. Yum-yum! They had a great selection of food. Then...it was time to tackle a job that's been on my list for quite some time.

The pile of "to-be-shortened" pants has been growing since we did some back-to-school shopping back in late summer. And...my wife and I have found some great bargains on slacks recently too. Unfortunatlely, our family is somewhat vertically challenged (read: short).

Since I have the skills and the tools (boy, do I have the tools!) to get the job done, it's my responsibility to mark, cut, press, sew and press again. So...that's what I did yesterday for a few yours. Wow! How nice it is to have that task checked off on my to-do list.

Here's what I was up against:

Eight pairs of pants and a button to replace on Son No. 1's shorts.

After a few hours (with a few short breaks), here's what happened:

Wow! A pants-shortening marathon. And everyone is a winner!

The little bunny on the pillow is from a pattern

I bought many months ago from Hillary over at Wee Wonderfuls.

BTW: I'm planning to put together a little "pants shortening tutorial". I'm sure you all have your own way of doing it, but I found a couple time saving tricks that work well and I thought it would be nice to share it with you. I took tons of step-by-step photos as I was working yesterday, so I think I'm ready to roll. Stay tuned.

Saturday Sunrise

Sunrise on the way to work 11-1-08
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

This was the view I had as I exited the Toll Road this morning on my way to work. Yeah, working on Saturday. It's not so bad! I'm VERY thankful that I have a great job and that I get to work with some really cool people.

Speaking of "thankful", Thanksgiving is on the way, bloggers. So make sure you can find your roasting pans and the turkey baster!

Have a great weekend.

P.S. I'm headed to Michael's after work today -- scrapbook paper is 4 for $1.00! Sale ends today. I recently bought "The Enveloper" and I'm going to try it out this weekend.