After 25 days we were all able to complete the 5 min plank.
Since it was Christmas we were all tasked to compete the plank on our own and then on Dec 27, when we were all back at work we would do it again.
Some thought it wouldn’t be possible to hold a plank for 5 minutes, but we did it.
Here are some of the pictures I posted of us planking:
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Come January we will be starting a push-ups challenge if you would like to join me I will post the schedule on Jan 2. It’s a 30 day challenge, and since Jan 1 is on a Sun, we decided to start the Mon we all come back to work together.
I hope you all found planking as great as I did and see you in January!
I can make anything with paper, but vinyl still scares me.
What about you? Do you vinyl?
If not here is your chance to try! I have teamed up with some other wonderful bloggers to give you a chance to win a gift certificate to purchase some vinyl and other awesome Silhouette goodies.
T-Ball is over, which makes me a little sad. This year I volunteered to be the parent that took care of getting a thank you gift for our coaches.
I collected money and went out and purchased gift certificates for a self-serve frozen yogurt store. I used sketch pens in my Silhouette Cameo to write the sentiment and dollar amount on the gift certificate.
Looks way better than my own hand writing! I of course had to make envelopes out of fun baseball paper to hold the certificates.
I used my Cameo to cut out the envelopes and I also cut out “Thanks Coach” and glued it to the front of the envelope.
Of course being the over-achieving-silhouette-owner that I am, that just wasn’t enough.
I recently talked about my new love of glass etching and thought how awesome it would be to etch a picture frame with the word “Coach” and have a spot for the team picture and a spot with some baseball subway art.
I made up the subway art in a horizontal 5×7″ size, as our team pictures were also 5×7″. I thought I could find a frame with two horizontal 5×7″ spots, but in a vertical orientation.
Boy was I wrong! All the pre-cut mats for horizontal pictures were horizontal, making a long picture. That just would look good with what I had in mind.
I found these (buy one get one free!) frames that had a horizontal 5×7 and lots of blank space. And I realized I could do the subway art with vinyl!
I used vinyl as a stencil to etch the word “coach” in the glass. Vinyl is such a great etching stencil, it gives nice clean edges so none of the etching cream leaks under the stencil.
I had to do an offset of the text, to get the look I wanted. I etched it on the inside of the glass, so the outside is all smooth.
The colors of our baseball organization are blue and yellow, so I used blue vinyl for the subway art. It was so easy to apply, and it gives it a look that says “this is the way I purchased them at the store.”
I forget how easy vinyl is to work with, my mind always first goes to paper. What can I make out of paper? Maybe now I will ask “Can I make that out of vinyl?”
I can’t over how easy this project was! Although, if you notice in the bottom left corner it just says “base” with a blank space before it, I did have some difficulty with fonts. It really says “1st, 2nd, 3rd” but the font was too thin, so I had to redo it in a different font. But that was just a minor flaw, and was quick to fix.
I also made some cupcake toppers for our end of the season party, to go on the cupcakes my sister made. (but they are made from paper)
The frosting on the cupcakes looks like grass, cause you know, that’s what the field is.
Ian and his trophy at the end of the T-Ball season
Now it’s your turn to make something!
I’ve teamed up with some amazingly crafty women to allow you a chance to get some vinyl, from Expressions Vinyl and My Vinyl Direct, and other goodies including a fabric blade and interfacing. There will be one grand prize winner and three runners-up.
Enter below for your chance to win a gift certificate for some vinyl and a whole bunch of Silhouette goodies!
You only have to enter on one of our blogs, but be sure to check them all out.
Use the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway
I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones. I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.
As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.
Our Zoo does a light display that runs from Thanksgiving through the first weekend of the new year. There is no holiday theme to their display, it is of course about animals.
Typically we go see the Zoo Lights before Christmas, but that didn’t happen this year. There wasn’t as much time between the two holidays and Christmas came before I knew it. There was one week where we had time, but it was wicked cold out and thought of taking the boys out in that weather did not sound fun.
We kept saying ‘if the weather is nice we will do it tomorrow.’ Then tomorrow came, and we had no time. So we ended up going after Christmas. It was cold, but it was dry and there was no wind, so it wasn’t that bad.
Sid was mesmerized by the lights and the people. Ian loved the lights, but was disappointed the animals were not out. On the way home he said “I only got to saw one monkey. He climbed for me, an stayed up dat one night.”
I love the displays that look like the picture is moving. You know, the ones where the lights are on a timer and turn off and on down the line.
But my favorite thing about Zoo Lights is that they take in old lights. They used to use the lights they took in after determining what was wrong with them. Our zoo now only uses LED lights, but they do recycle lights strings. If you have lights that don’t work, or tangled, or you just want new ones, take them to the zoo. Don’t throw them away!
I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones. I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.
As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.
Christmas Crafts! Part Two
It is no secret I love hand and foot print art. Last year we made these Mistletoes plates. We gave them to some family as gifts. I had thought we might make them again, but decided I wanted to do something different.
We made salt dough ornaments with the kids fingerprints to give to family.
OK, admittedly, I am not as pleased with them as I was with the plates. Mostly because you can’t tell the difference between Ian’s & Sid’s thumb prints.
They are really easy, and I could make a lot of them all at once. Ian is much more cooperative with these projects than Sid is. So I needed something that I could quickly make a lot.
To make these Christmas Tree Fingerprint Ornaments you will need:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water (+/-)
rolling-pin
cookie sheet
paint (or food coloring)
ribbon
thumbs belonging to your favorite kids
Preheat oven to 250°.
Mix salt and flour together, add water a little at a time until a dough if formed. If using food coloring to color ornaments add to water prior to mixing with four & salt. Knead until dough becomes elastic, smooth and stickiness is gone, adding little bits of flour as needed.
Roll out dough to 1/4″ thick on a greased surface. Use Christmas tree cookie cutter to cut out ornaments, I was able to make about 15. Poke a hole for the ribbon at the top of the tree.
Have kids use finger/thumb prints to make ornaments on the cut out trees.
This is a good assembly line project. Ian just went through and put two prints on each one. I did have to tell him not to put them on the edge.
Little guys might need some help or persuading to get their thumbs on there. Sid was not very enthusiastic about this.
Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 2 hours. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool before painting. I used whatever craft paint I had on hand. One was acrylic and one was enamel, both worked fine.
Thread a length of ribbon through the hole and tie in order to hang up.
There is no ornament on a tree better than the ones your children make. At least, according to me.
I Tri and Craft 