A Fun Start On My Christmas Shopping

I have been looking forward to this week ever since I knew that we were moving back to Arkansas this year. Its the week of the War Eagle Fair in NW Arkansas!! Before I moved to Alabama for three years, I went every year. And how I have missed it. I haven't found anything to compare.

War Eagle is a tiny community near Fayetteville. You have to drive way off of the highway on this picturesque little road until you get to these huge cow pastures where you park:) There is an old grist mill there beside the river with an old bridge. It's gorgeous in the fall, with the leaves turning their many colors.

my sister & me

I have no idea how many vendors are at this fair each year, but there have to be hundreds. They have everything imaginable: decor, jewelry, pottery, antiques, gourmet foods (I think I hit every sample-heehee)... Its just so much fun! It always gets me in the holiday spirit and I even got a small start on my shopping for this year. I took my mom, sister and aunt with me and we had a total blast! Lots of laughter all day long!

my mom and aunt

Today I just wanted to share a few of the little treasures that I picked up. I won't mention if they're for a special person, just in case that special person is reading this. By the time Christmas rolls around, maybe they'll have forgotten. LOL

a handpainted Christmas frame

a handpainted Christmas plaque

an inspirational wall hanging

another plate for my collection

handmade burp cloths

the best spicy relish I've ever tasted!

I realize this is a very small start to the holiday shopping, but a start is a start, right?! Have you started shopping yet?

This post is linked to Show & Tell at My Romantic Home.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Making Notebooks

Recently I tried out a new craft idea~and it was SO much fun!! And extremely frugal, too. That's always a bonus, right? So here we go: 1. Take your basic composition notebook (purchased at the back-to-school sales for .99 each). 2. Go to your craft supplies and get your Mod Podge ready, along with a good paintbrush. 3. Look through all those scrapbook papers you've been randomly collecting and choose some. 3. After choosing your paper for the cover of your book and trimming it to fit, start *painting* the cover with the glue. Next, give the back of your paper a good coat of glue, too. (I left the binding uncovered so that I could use a contrasting paper there later on). 4. Glue it on! Remember to smooth out any air bubbles under the paper. 5. Flip the cover open and make a few cuts on the corners so that they will fold over nice and neat, then add a little more glue to the edges of the inside cover and a little more to the paper edges. 6. Fold them over and press...

my blessed life

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