102 in 2012

I've seen this done on my friend's blog and thought I'd do it too. I figure that maybe I'll actually be able to get all of these done because I've got my readers to keep me accountable! ;-) (Read my friend's post HERE)

1.       Read my Bible Everyday

2.       Grow closer in my walk with the Lord

3.       Do a better job of keeping my room clean

4.       Spend a week away from the computer

5.       Get outside more often

6.       Do a really fun photo-shoot

7.       Spend more quality time with my family

8.       Get 3 books finished/published

9.       Get 10 children’s books written

10.   Make Donuts

11.   Exercise more

12.   Become a better Actress

13.   Get my Nursing home group together

14.   Play at the nursing home at least 7 times

15.   Write more letters

16.   Finish up school

17.   Get my horse trained

18.   Go on trail rides

19.   Come up with different styles for my hair

20.   Wear a ribbon, or flower in my hair everyday

21.   Train my dog

22.   Decide if I want to set up an Etsy shop

23.   Finished editing the drama performances

24.   Get a video put together

25.   Do a better job at posting on my blog (posting things I say I’m going to post)

26.   Go someplace I’ve never been before

27.   Go ice-skating again

28.   Make dinners special by adding fun touches

29.   Cook dinner every night for one week (by myself)

30.   Make a historical costume

31.   Set up a dance

32.   Make Marshmallows

33.   Read 5 books (trust me, that is a lot for me)

34.   Keep my journal more faithfully

35.   Get a better schedule for my day

36.   Expand my homemaking skills

37.   Make 5 aprons

38.   Finish my current knitting projects

39.   Buy a camera

40.   Buy something off of Etsy

41.   Memorize 25 verses of the Bible

42.   Do a better job at doing laundry

43.   Go through all of my clothes and get rid of the ones that don’t fit or I don’t wear very often

44.   Make a point to do little things to bless people

45.   Work on not being bossy to my brothers

46.   Pay for someone else’s food

47.   Get together with my friends more often

48.   Make it a point to thank a soldier if I see one

49.   Possibly start teaching fiddle

50.   Record some of my fiddle/piano/guitar songs

51.   Learn 20 new songs

52.   Go shopping and walk around in Santa Fe downtown (very cute historical part of the city)

53.   Make cookies or bars for my dad to take into his office

54.   Do a better job at praying regularly on my own

55.   Make out prayer lists for my friends and family and ask for specific requests

56.   Do a book or CD giveaway on my blog

57.   Do a better job at keeping the house clean

58.   Help out more whenever I’m needed

59.   Meet someone new

60.   Shoot a coyote

61.   Finish this list

62.   Try 15 different recipes

63.   Make bread on a regular basis

64.   Tell my family that I love them every chance I get

65.   Take the time to stop and enjoy the little things

66.   Build fence

67.   Do a lovely flower/herb garden again

68.   Landscape the front yard (nothing too fancy, but just so it looks nice)

69.   Do some canning

70.   Get my driver’s license

71.   Get my own computer/laptop

72.   Do more embroidery things

73.   Do the Writing Series on my wordpress blog

74.   Finish learning “Fur Elise” the piano

75.   Learn “Ave Maria” on the piano

76.   Learn 5 new chords on the guitar and play them easily

77.   Write up a drama play (script)

78.   Write my own song (lyrics and all)

79.   Expand my sewing skills by sewing up something I’ve never done before

80.   Play my fiddle at least 3 times a week

81.   Learn to drive the horse and buggy

82.   Train my own horse to pull the buggy

83.   Organize underneath my bed, once again

84.   Organize and really clean out my dresser

85.   Dig a ditch for the road

86.   Actually post about the things I’ve crossed off of this list

87.   Make a movie (If the Lord allows)

88.   Make 3 batches of fudge (at different times)

89.   Have at least one sale if I set up my Etsy shop

90.   Help repaint the living room/dining room

91.   Repaint the bathroom

92.   Make a camouflage skirt (just for around the house and for doing chores in)

93.   Start my ministry at the Children’s Hospital

94.   Walk/jog a mile at least once a week

95.   Have lunch with a good friend at least twice

96.   Do the 30 day challenge on the Pilates exercise program

97.   Make THIS recipe

98.   Have a ladies tea

99.   Make 3 freezer meals

100. Make This

101. Get a group together and do a free concert at the Park

102. Do some painting

Whoo hoo! I actually completed this list! (Ha, that's one thing crossed off already!)  Any how.. this really made me think about what I actually want to get done this year!

Do you have any goals you want to reach?

As an update, be watching for the photography winners post! I've got it written but, but I'm working out a few details. :-) So, it's almost here!

It is just beginning to snow... argh.  Usually I would have LOVED the snow. However, we still haven't gotten rid of all the snow from before Christmas. The problem is that our mile long driveway is more like the ditch in the road than an actually ditch.  So, all the snow that the grader pushed up on the side has just been running into the road.  Talk about a MUDDY mess. Ick. It is absolutely awful!  So, I was hoping we'd get it dried out and get a ditch dug along the sides of it (Joshua's and my project). Oh well.  Hopefully it will at least freeze so mom and dad can get down the road.

They went away for the weekend to just spend time together.  Nice for them, and we've had a blast. ;-) *evil grin*.  Ok, ok, we've actually behaved ourselves quite nicely.  We cleaned house and didn't do anything too drastic.. except for the fact that the boys are building weapons.

If that last paragraph concerns you, please don't let it. For one thing, they aren't totally dangerous weapons.  Josh got a book for Christmas called "Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction.".... hmm... ok, you're right. That should scare you.  Especially the look on his face when he opened it! AHHH!!!!!  Ok, I'm calm now.  Then, Caleb got three books. "Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things", "Sneaker Uses for Everyday Things", and "Sneakiest Uses for Everyday Things."  Don't those sound fun?  Certainly not as destructive as Joshua's! ;-)

I hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far!

In Christ's Service,

Sarah

P.S. Sorry for the weird paragraph formatting. I finished typing my list on here, but started in a Word doc. Somehow it messed up the blogger format or something....

The Thing to do this Summer so You can do Something this Winter: A Tutorial

Ok, if that title wasn't confusing enough, let me confuse you a bit more.  I am doing a little tutorial today.  However, you won't be able to do it until this winter, yet you have to start now.  Now are you really confused??

Ha-ha! I do love confusing people... Just kidding.


My tutorial today has to do with flowers.  Flowers, paper, printers, and picture frames. Even more confusing?
I don't really know what this is called.....

So, let me gather my thoughts here so that y'all can follow without your brains spinning and your eyes lolling.

Pressed flowers. 

That is what you need.  If you do not know how to press your own flowers, let this simple tutorial help you out.

What you need:

A stack of heavy books (dictionaries, encyclopedias, phone books, etc)
Paper towels
A box of tissues
The flowers you are going to press.  (*note, if your flowers have a very large catalyst-the part that holds all the petals together at the base-, try to trim the stem as close to it as possible.  These will also take a while longer to thoroughly dry.)
A lovely cup of tea, cocoa, or coffee. (A true necessity, in my opinion!) 

Once you have gathered all of these things, here's how to put them to good use. ;-)
Take one of your books and open it towards the back.  Put down a layer of paper towels, being sure to cover the whole area of the page.

Then do the same with the tissue (the tissue is smooth and therefore will not leave imprints in the flower's petals.)

Next, begin laying out your flowers, being sure to leave a bit of room for them to lay out flat (don't crowd them).

(These are some petals from my Vinca plants.  Aren't they lovely? I love the white ones with the dark pink center best.  Also some other low ground cover plant with delicate purple flowers... Broacha or something..)

It's also great to get some leaves to press as well.

After you have laid all the flowers down on your tissue, gently press each one with your fingers so help them begin lying flat.

Now, take some more tissues and lay them over the flowers. Do the same with another layer of paper towels.  Put your hand on top and press downward to get them started.

Now, take a good portion of pages from the front and flip them 'backwards' (as if you were reading the book from the back to the front) on top of the flowers.  If you have more flowers to press, continue the process.

(if you love history stuff or just learning things in general, you might want to go with a phone book so that you don't start reading the pages and forget about the flowers!)

Once all your flowers are pressed (or your run out of book), close your book gently, making sure not to upset any of the layers of flowers.

Place the rest of your heavy books on top of the book with the flowers.

This will add the weight you need to get the flowers flat.  Now you just need to leave it for a couple of weeks.  (on larger flowers, or ones with large catalysts, leave for a month or two.)

So, now what do I do with my flowers?

As soon as your flowers have dried, you may now do an assortment of things using this simple technique.  Now, I say you can do this this winter because you might as well let your flowers dry that long, and it gives you something to do if you happen to get snowed in or something. :-)

One of the prettiest things I have seen done with pressed flowers is arranging them on a piece of paper.  Typically the piece of paper has a little saying or perhaps a hymn or Bible verse printed on it.

For my Diddly (as I just named this little project, though I know it probably has a proper name... "Ellie??? Help?!"), I chose one of my favorite hymns, "What a friend we have in Jesus".

I have printed it slightly off center to give it a more interesting look.

All you need to do now is arrange your flowers along the border of your paper.

 (A lovely rose petal and a spray of baby's breath against some leaves)

(I chose a large red daisy for my top left corner, and then some smaller things along the other edges.  See how just leaves can make it look lovely? It adds character as well as gives a softer color for your eye to rest on)

Once you have arranged them, there are a couple of options to make them stay there.  I used a hot glue gun for mine, but I have also seen them kept in place with some laminate.  Doing the laminate is slightly harder, so you'll want two people for that, but it is also the way to do it if you are making cards or something else.

Ok, so after my flowers were glued in place, simply place it in the frame, put the back on, and voila!  All done.  Now display your piece of work. :-)

(I will more than likely find another frame for this... probably one made of 'rustic' wood or something to compliment the flowers.  Personally I think it looks too 'stiff' in this one, but I only borrowed the frame for pictures. :-) )

Other things you can do with this are:

Cards
Book marks
Scrap books
Etc.

When doing these, though, you will need to laminate them.  For the scrap book pages, I don't think you would need to, especially if you are putting the pages into a sleeve. If they are exposed pages, though, you would probably want to laminate them.

There ya go!  I hope you enjoy going out and finding some lovely flowers to press (though it might be a bit late for the seasonal ones, you can always find a few hidden here and there!)  And weed flowers are great, too, because they will lose their smell after a long time of drying.  Also get some leaves! Green leaves, pretty leaves, even leaves that might not be perfect will add character to your Diddly.  Then, get some lovely red, yellow, and gold ones this fall.  Leaves don't take as long to dry and will definitely be done by the time you are ready to sit down and do this.

In Christ's Service,
Sarah