Dad's Craft, too!

Hey, blogger land!  Long time no see!  Maybe we'll start posting here again.  I'm feeling nostalgic for traditional blogging. :)

This Christmas our family was surprised by not one, but TWO homemade gifts.  From our Grandpas.  Awesome!

The first is this plaque my father-in-law made for each family of his favorite saying.  Not only is it beautiful, but also sentimental.  He made it from a walnut tree cut down from his Mom's historical home in Manti, Utah.  I love sentimental gifts.

The second was the big shocker.  My dad made each of us our own walking stick.  My dad hardly does his own Christmas shopping let alone MAKE his own gifts.  He found these great sticks on different camping trips/outings with my mom and their friends.  He did all the work, including almost all of the bead work.  (My mom did have to show him how to do the beads. :) He was so excited to show us how unique each stick was and the beauty of each piece of wood.

Dads really are the best. :)

Larcie Bird

I have decided that I don't want to re-name Twiddle Thumbs. Instead, I have decided to create my own blog.... Larcie Bird. So, I will now be posting at....

Larcie Bird

Please come on over and follow me... and update any links or short cuts you may have! I will be slowly changing things on the blog and creating a button and such! -Anisa

Stuffed Mushrooms

I made these for a family party this past weekend and they were a big hit!!! Stuffed Mushrooms

Whole Mushrooms (about 6 packages)

1 lb. country sausage

Turkey Stuffing mix

8 oz. cream cheese

Brown sausage. Add stuffing mix and the amount of water that the box recommends (do not add butter because of the sausage grease.) Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Spoon mixture into washed and de-stemmed mushrooms. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

-Anisa

Burp Cloths Re-visited

Do you remember this blanket I made for my nephew, West? Well, I planned on making him some burp cloths to match... but I ended up making these burp cloths for my friend, Rachel. Well, West is in town (and sadly I don't even get to hold him because I'm sick), so I had a deadline to get his burp cloths made. It was so fun to do the owl thing with boy stuff! I added a little ric rac and that turned out cute. And yes, I know the owls are sideways, but that is all of the fabric that I had left over. And I am just loving applique right now. -Anisa

I'm a "Stylish Blogger"

Thanks to Krista over at Mom's Mish Mash for the Stylish Blogger Award! It's always nice to know I'm loved! Along with this award, I am supposed to list eight things about myself. So here it goes......

1. I am a mom of 3 boys... I am the only daughter with 3 brothers... My husband comes from a family of 7 boys and 1 girl... We are a "boy" family.

2. I am a very simple gal... I prefer to wear t-shirts and jeans, I don't wear jewelry or accessorize at all.... kind of funny that I like to make accessories, I just don't like to wear them. The hat is a new accessory because I don't like my hair cut (see #7) 3. I don't listen to music... I find it to just be one more noise... I'd prefer total silence.

4. I don't like to exercise, but I do it so I won't weigh over 200 lbs. again.

5. I have a bit of a temper...

6. I used to be very blond as a kid.

7. I have to have a hair cut where I can tuck my hair behind my ears... it is too short to do that right now and drives me crazy! 8. I am super picky about my purses. have to have a purse that slings over my whole body... I don't want to hold it in my hand or carry it.... I also like it to have the perfect pockets. I had the perfect fossil purse and it fell apart... I bought a cheap replacement at Target, that only worked okay... My sister in law found me a super great Fossil purse for me at a consignment store and I bought a Relic purse at Kohls... I'm giddy with new purses!!! I also get the opportunity to award a "stylish blogger award" to other sites I enjoy.

1. Nanny Goat ...Super cute ideas...

2. The Coffee Shop Blog... Free Photoshop Elements and photography tutorials.

3. Prepared not Scared... this is some ward blog that I happened across, but they have great games for kids.

4. Make it and Love it... the name says it all!

5. Studio Calico... I'm too cheap to buy their kits... wish I could... but I still love all of the inspiration!

6. U Create... who doesn't visit this blog often... always where I go to find inspiration.

7. Ana White... love all of her furniture plans... still haven't built anything yet, but I promise I will some day!

8. Maggie Homes... I always nominate Maggie! She used to be my neighbor and she is so cute and creative... I love her scrapbooking style (I scraplift her ideas all the time) and I love her photography!

To claim your award, save the "Stylish Blogger Award" to your desktop. Post eight things about yourself and give the award to eight other blogs you like.

-Anisa

Quick Valentine's Card

Just thought I'd post a quick idea for a Valentine's Card!

(I'm just too cheap to spend money on cards at the store:)

I just simply used my heart punch to cut out scraps... I glued them on first, then sewed stitching through!!!

-Anisa

A few crafts for my classroom

I am a teacher by profession. I taught highschool French and Chemistry for 3 years and Jr. High Science fo 5 years. I took a break from teaching to have kids. When we moved to St. George, I decided to try to find a teaching job. I was too late to find a job teaching science, but I found an opening as a study skills teacher.... which I love! My students told me that my classroom was boring... so I thought I'd take care of that!!! I made this adorable bunting to hang across my boring chalkboard... It's always top priority to count down until summer break... ... and no classroom can be complete without a calendar. The dates are laminated and attached with velcro so that I can use different dates for each month. ( I have loved having a laminating machine at my disposal)

I used my Cricut a little, the old-style Ellison die cut machine at the school, and a pair of scissors to create all of these crafts! It was also a fun way to use some of my papers that I didn't think I would use on my scrapbook pages.

-Anisa

Home made Wheat Bread

I am in no way a food storage guru. But I am trying to work on getting my year supply of food storage. I believe that food storage needs to be used and rotated. My kids are good at using and rotating our brownie mixes, but we need to work on using the wheat and beans and things like that. When we moved my parents a few months ago, we moved laundry detergent, toilet paper and wheat (among other things) that they had in their food storage for 40 years.... not so good at rotating their food storage. I also found a brand new Kitchen Mill Wheat grinder that had never been used. So, a couple of days ago, I decided I was going to grind up some wheat! With the wheat grinder, it was a piece of cake! All I had to do was scoop the wheat in and the machine did the work.

Look at this beautiful wheat flour!

I used this recipe from allrecipes.com. I love allrecipes.com. I love that people leave their reviews with their suggestions. I know there are a lot of other things you can add to your wheat bread that make it fabulous... like gluten. I did not have any on hand... and I made this bread on a whim. I even used more wheat flour than the recipe called for and it turned out fabulous! Isn't it pretty? I totally want to have some as a snack right now!

-Anisa