Projects

Anyone who knows me knows I have a tendency to be crafty. Well, I have discovered that I really start to get an itch to do crafty things in the fall. This fall was no exception. In fact it might have been a little worse this year. Point being, I felt the need to write about it.

Grandma Despain's Scrapbooks! This was a HUGE undertaking and I am happy that they are finally done! I started them 4 years ago when we moved to Arizona. My original thought was that I could take all the photos that were, then in the little albums that hold 100 photos or so, and organize them in chronological order. Then I would place them in scrapbooks for each person in the family. That way Mom and Dad can give each child a small picture history of their lives. If there were pictures of Ryan they would go in Ryan's book, if there were Casey's they went in Casey's, etc. Then there was a book for Dad and Mom and the family albums. Organizing the photos alone was crazy. It took hours, weeks, months! Then came putting them into the albums. You can tell which ones I did first. The albums of Mom and Dad when they were growing up are pretty cute. Out of the kids, Michi's is the best because her's is the one I did first. The more albums I did the less "decorated" they are. SORRY! But I can finally say they are all done! They are organized as close to chronological order as Ryan and I could determine, and they are DONE! When it was all said and done there are 22 albums. Two for each child. I am sure there are mistakes and there is a TON of journaling that could be done, but it would need to be done by someone that was actually in them.
I sometimes wonder what I was thinking! I am very happy with the results though, plus I was able to see so much history of Ryan and his family that I would not have otherwise. I really do love my in-laws!

Here is a quilt that I didn't actually piece together, but a friend in the ward was making it for her granddaughter and couldn't finish it because of arthritis. It made me think of my grandma and her quilting so I told her I would finish it. I only had to tie and bind it. It was a super heavy and big quilt. Almost King size. her granddaughter is apparently expected to be 6'8" tall.

I went a little crazy with hats! I crocheted 7 in all. I finally stopped because honestly, how many hats does my family need. I still have so many others I want to try but I am forcing myself to wait until Ani's head grows and these ones don't fit.

I made two little white dresses for Elise's girls for their uncle John's wedding in November. Here is Ani modeling the dress (I need to get a picture of Elise's girls in them). The ribbon was actually a Navy blue but we used this ribbon just for the picture.

These necklaces were super easy to make. I made them for a Super Saturday in Relief Society. They are made from washers and scrapbook paper! Love them!!! I need to make more:)

Meet Boo, Count Jarcula (C.J.), Jack, Tut (He's not saying much), and Frankie

I saw a tutorial online for the pumpkins, ghosts and other Halloween friends that I just had to try. They are made out of regular glass jars! You can put white lights or candles in them. I am sad I don't have a picture of them all lit up but they are super cute and the kids LOVE them!

Witches shoes. Another project from Super Saturday.

Love these Christmas blocks. Yet again from the Super Saturday.

Christmas Advent Calendar. It has 24 little boxes, one for each day before Christmas. This year we put something we needed to do each day to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas. We watched Christmas movies, did secret services, Family Home Evenings, and many more (24 to be exact).

I Spy's. Candi actually helped me with these when I was in Utah in October. I just finished them up. My boys love to play with them during Sacrament meeting. Plus they are quiet.

Bow board. My wonderful Papa cut me a board that I covered and made "cute" to hold all of Ani's bows for her hair. The plus side of this board is that I can see all of her "pretties" quick and easy, and when she is older she can use the board to hold pictures or notes.

Bows!!! Some patterns I found online, some we did for Super Saturday, and some I just played around with. They are made from all sorts of things like zippers, ribbon, buttons, fabric, etc. They were so fun. I want to make more but I only have one little girl and she only has one head:)