Back in February of this year my family had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a family retreat by an organization called Inheritance of Hope.  The purpose of these retreats is to minister to families that have a parent with a life-threatening illness that have children under the age of 18.  My step-daughter is 12 and son is 6 and they have had to deal with my illness for the past 4.5 years with extreme graciousness and maturity that is far beyond their years.  Even in the few days that we were there my family had the opportunity to actually process our feelings and emotions in a productive and lasting way.  Each month they feature a family that has attended a retreat and for the month of May they chose our family.

The link below is for the article they wrote but I challenge you to explore the site and learn more about this wonderful organization.  Also if you know of a family that would benefit from a retreat like this please share the information with them as well.  There are so few resources for a parent to help their children process and understand what their Mom or Dad are going through and this helped each of my kids understand and express their feelings in a healing way.

Inheritance of Hope: Meet the Blevins

Have you ever tried a pin and it just doesn't come out as perfect as the pin that caught your eye in the first place?  This is my most recent experience with the creation of my son's First Grade Teacher gift.  After 'consulting' my pin boards to find some inspiration I decided on a crayon art project.  I enjoy the crayon art where you use canvas and a hairdryer and after seeing a variation with an initial I knew what I wanted to do.

My first inspiration came from here: Whatever....
Then I saw this Initial inspired creation: Dilly-Dali Art

So in my mind I figured this was a simple project and after reading both blogs I set out to make my own creation. I now know the result of mixing two similar pins with different processes; you get a third completely different result.

Here is MY process and result.

First I started with a 9 x 12 canvas that I purchased at Joann Fabric (you do not need to use your weekly coupon on their canvas because it is already discounted to at least 40% everyday so use the coupon on another pin project).  Next I purchased a box of 96 Crayons but in the future I will probably purchase a couple of boxes of 24 because it gave me too many that I couldn't use for this project (but we do make new crayons out of broken ones so these will just be added to the box). It will take 26 crayons to cover the top of the canvas of this size.  I hot glued the rainbow to the top of the canvas and was careful to keep the logo to the front and since the bottom of each crayon is not the same size I did my best to keep it lined up by the swirl mark on the paper.

My next step was to cut a T out of scrap vinyl with my Cricut and place it on the canvas (this is where the conflict ultimately occurred because the initial project used foam core and painters tape).

Now the fun begins.  With my two kids (6 and 12) close by we began to heat it with the hairdryer. Be aware these projects will spray melted wax simply because you are using a hairdryer on high heat.  We used some of our white craft paper that the kids use for the art easel and I made sure our laps were covered from any spray from the wax.  You will also want to cover the floor underneath with newspaper or a drop cloth especially if you have carpet.  In the future these projects will be done outside or in the garage just for the melting wax.  I learned to move the hairdryer back and forth evenly and not straight (like a gun) because it will cause the colors to mix from side to side instead of moving straight down (pin and learn). As we initially started warming the crayons I noticed that the vinyl was not sticking well to the canvas and was blowing around at the top of the letter.  So before the wax started to drip my quick fix was to place a piece of blue painters tape across the top of the T just enough for the painters tape to be above the vinyl and try to get it to stick well at the top and form a barrier.

Thanks to my husband for getting this "action" shot.   

close up of the action shot

After we felt that there was a sufficient degree of melting we stopped and let our creation dry for about 5 minutes and then with great anticipation we peeled off the letter to see the white canvas underneath.  To our dismay it was not white and a small degree of wax had dripped beneath the vinyl.  My heart sunk because my attempt was no where near what I had expected it to be.  But I'm not one to be defeated so we discussed it and came up with a possible solution.

Using some tools from my Cricut we used a small ruler for a straight edge, the tool that looks like the pick a dentist uses, and the small spoon/scraper tool to create what we think is a masterpiece.  I think a small spoon and a pairing knife would also work just be careful to not slice through the canvas with the knife.

  

My husband took the ruler and the pick and scraped/retraced the outline of the letter. Then we took the scraper and scraped off as much of the crayon as possible.  Something to the effect of taking away the excess and leaving behind the stain of color.  It took a while but I am very pleased with the final result.

I guess this is how you take lemons and make lemonade....  Hope his teacher enjoys it.

Quick Yummy Dinner Idea

One of the recipes that my husband brought to the marriage was something he calls Beef Manhattan.

It's a quick and easy dinner that you could even use with leftover mashed potatoes or instant ones.

This is one of those meals I will show my 11 yr old how to make next time because it really is that easy.

You take sliced roast beef (a lunch meat package is sufficient for a family of 4) and beef gravy (bottled or in the powder form both work just make the powder according to the package directions) and heat it in a skillet with the brown gravy.  I cut up the meat into little squares and just stir it into the gravy while it warms.

Next you can make homemade potatoes or instant for the number of servings you need.  I like to make extra  potatoes when we have meatloaf or something and then use the leftovers a couple days later on this recipe.  I have even faked out the kids and mixed instant into some leftover homemade potatoes if there's not quite enough (my kids aren't fans of instant....I've spoiled them).

Once the potatoes and meat are ready you take a slice of bread, spoon on the potatoes then the meat and gravy.  We also add a vegetable but I 'plated' this for the picture and added my veggies later.

I have also made this with turkey lunch meat and turkey gravy.  I would also like to try it with grilled chicken and chicken gravy sometime.

Hope you enjoy this as much as our family does.

Here goes nothing...

So now that I'm addicted to Pinterest I guess I should start a blog so I can share some of my favorite things.

With my first post I will post about making my first Holiday B for the front door.

On Pinterest someone posted a D covered in tiny berries and now that Christmas is over I moved on to the next holiday which is Valentines Day.  I went to a craft store and and purchased a large B.  I was going to cover it in the conversation heart candies but when I found the adhesive foam hearts I was all about making it super easy.

So while I was sitting in the carpool  line to pick up my son I started creating my masterpiece.    Not many crafts you can complete while sitting in your car.  Of course I was one pack short so after I picked up the kids we stopped and got one more pack of hearts.

What a fun and easy project.  I'm excited to work on the B for next month which will be a birthday month for my daughter and Saint Patrick's Day.  So I will get to create the reusable Birthday B as well as the Holiday one.  Easter will be a great one too.  

If you would like to become a member of the Monogram of the month club just email me at jarsrose@gmail.com and we can get you started.  Each letter is $25 with $5 shipping.