Journal for Jaryd

Hello!

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are

having lovely weather where you are.

Today I have a journal to show you.

My son, Jaryd, said he could use one for work.

He's a boiler tech and works on industrial heating.

He often has to write down specifications and parts that

are needed either for a job, or to restock his truck.

Sometimes, Jaryd can be absent minded and writes things

down and then misplaces the notes.

Thus the need for the journal, this way it is not

just jotted down on a piece of scrap paper.

He will have the information and can refer back to it.

He gets very dirty at his job, so wanted something

that could easily be wiped clean and would be durable.

I got a piece of sticky backed wall paper from 

The Dollar Tree.  It's self sticking, durable and 

has a kind of plasticized feel and can be easily cleaned.

I made the cover with chip board and covered it with the

wall paper.

Inside I hand stitched all the signatures and stitched them

into the spine of the book.
Inside the cover I used some coordinating card stock,

then made a "belly band" covered with more of the 

wall paper.  This was used to hold a note pad

that I also made from scrap papers.

This pad can be removed and replaced when it runs out

of paper, as it just slips over the band behind it.

Inside the back cover I made a corner pocket,

with a small gusset, to give a little extra room for

notes, business cards, etc that he may want to keep.

I was very happy with how this journal turned out

and so was Jaryd.  I think it will last him a good long time.

I love making things for others and sharing them with

y'all.  I hope you've been inspired in some way and

maybe you'll make something for someone soon.

Hope to see you again very soon.

Until then,

enjoy the journey. 

 

Sensory Toy

Hi everyone!
I hope you are having a lovely day.

Thanks for stopping by.

Today I have a little gift I made for my grandson, Asher.

Sara sent me a picture of something similar and said

she thought I could easily make one.  So I did and it went

into his Easter "basket"

I actually made 2 of these, so he'd have one here and one

at home.

This is a simple thing to make and a great sensory 

toy for little ones.
I used fleece and ribbons from my stash and inside I

use a cleaned and cut up potato chip bag to give it

a crinkle factor.

If you make something like this, think about how it

needs to be sewn, my first one, I screwed up a couple

things and had to redo them.
Sorry I didn't take pictures of the process.

Just remember:

Lay fabric right side up,

place ribbons facing the center of the 

square of fabric,

then the other fabric right side down,

and then the chip bag.

Sew together,

leaving a space to turn it right side out.

When you turn right side out, the ribbons will be 

out the sides and the chip bag will be inside.

Sew the edge that was left open.

I used fleece which is very soft and double

sided, making it easier to put together, since there is

no right and wrong side to the fabric.
Be sure to use lots of different textures and 

colors for the ribbons.
This can simply be thrown into the laundry when

it needs to be washed.

I'm glad you stopped in today and

I hope you have been inspired in some way.

Come again soon,

you never know what you'll see at 

Kristie Kreates.

 

Play Dough

Hello crafty friends!

Marie loves to play with play dough,

what kid doesn't?
Ours was getting pretty old and needed to

be replaced.  So Marie and I decided to make some.

G-Ma made a mistake with the recipe and 

added too much water, so had to add more of 

everything else and make a double batch, so now

we are well supplied.

We made 5 different colors, she told me which

colors to make.  I have to say, it's hard to get a nice

purple, but she doesn't mine, to her it's purple and that's

all that counts.

As soon as I got a color made, Marie started playing with

it and had a lot of fun, as she always does.

We store it in air tight containers and it lasts a

long time, several months.

Here is the recipe that I use if you are interested in 

making some.  It's very simple and lasts a long time.

Play Dough

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup salt

1 teaspoon alum

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

food coloring 

Boil water, add the oil and food coloring
(I wait to add the food coloring, because I split it into several colors)

Combine the dry ingredients and add to the liquids.

Knead the dough on a floured surface.
(be careful it's hot, too hot for little hands)

After it is well combined I split into

balls and add the food coloring.
Knead until well combined.

No need to refrigerate,

store in an air tight container.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you have learned something and been inspired

in some way.

Come again soon.

until then,
play with a little human.

 

Spin Painting

Hello and welcome!

Today I'm sharing some crafty fun I had with 
Marie.
I recently saw someone post this salad spinner on

my Buy Nothing group and was fortunate to

receive it.  I've been wanting to give this a try, 

but didn't want to spend the money on a new salad spinner.

Marie was very intrigued with what we were going to

do with it.

I cut card stock into card sized pieces and

taped them into the bottom of the spinner.

She then chose 2 or 3 colors of craft paint

and squirted them onto the card stock.

We put the top on the spinner and turned 

the handle and gave it a good spin.

When we opened the spinner, we had a pretty

cool abstract design.

This one she chose purple and orange,

as they are Auntie Kelsie and Uncle Brad's

favorite colors.

We tried several different color combinations.

We got lots of different results, but loved them all.

This one and the one below were the first couple

we tried, but we didn't tape them down.
The card stock "flew" around the spinner

and had a totally different look.

This was our first one that we taped down,

I wasn't thinking and put the tape on the sides

of the card stock.  You can see where I pulled the

tape off.  After that we put the tape on the bottom

of the card stock.

All in all we made 8 different spin paint backgrounds.

These are the cards I put together for her to give as 

Valentine's cards.  She's a bit too young to 

cut them etc. but she picked what pieces she wanted

for everyone.
This one was for Auntie Kelsie and Uncle Brad.

This one was for Mommy.

This one was for Daddy.

She was very excited to be able to give

them all cards along with the 

brownies that we made together that

afternoon.  She loves baking and doing

"arts and crafts" and making

things for those she loves.

Of course, they all loved what she had to give them.

This is definitely a craft we'll be doing again.

I'm glad you stopped in today for a look see.
I hope you have been inspired in some way and

maybe will give this spin painting a try.

You never know what designs you'll create.

Come again soon.

Until then,

give it a spin!

 

Marie's First Hair Cut

Hello crafty friends!

Today I have a layout to share with you.

This is my granddaughter getting her first hair cut.

She was getting close to 3 yrs old and it just needed a nice

trim and shaping.

She was so good and loved being pampered.

She looked adorable, of course.

The following pictures are of her

when she got her 2nd cut in March, 2023

She decided that she wanted "bangies" 

this time.  She looks so happy and confident!

She's loving her new style!

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

do something for your self to make you 

feel good!

 

2023 Maynard Egg Coloring Contest

Happy Easter!
A few weeks back I shared our 2022 Egg Decorating Contest.
Today I'm sharing our contest for this year.
We had a wonderful afternoon together coloring and decorating
eggs for Easter last Sunday.
We all met up at Jaryd and Sara's house,
had egg salad sandwiches for lunch, very appropriate,
I thought.  Then we got down to business.

Brad and Jaryd were taking their designs seriously.
We all had up to 6 eggs each to decorate,
but had to choose only one to enter in the
contest.

Here I am concentrating on one of my eggs.

Even little Asher got in on the fun. He didn't
color any eggs, but he sure liked eating them.

Kelsie lettered the eggs for my title for the contest.

Here are all the eggs we colored.

Jaryd's 
"He's got the whole world in his hand"
30 votes

Brad's
"Clawing his way out!"
9 votes

Dave's
"I'd rather nap."
17 votes but 10 were laughing, so technically
he got 7 votes.

Kelsie's
"Shoot for the stars"
45 votes

Kristie's
"You crack me up"
27 votes

Marie's (3 yr's old)
"Amazing egg of many colors"
48 votes

Sara's
"Crackodile"
15 votes

Zoe's
"Love you a Minion"
17 votes
I posted the pictures on Facebook for our family and friends to vote
for their favorites for a whole week.
The voting was brisk and the winner is
3 yr old Marie with 
Amazing Egg of Many Colors
with 48 votes.
Marie now has bragging rights until next Easter.
We have so much fun doing this every year.
Not only the contest, but the being together and
decorating, looking up ideas and being amazed at some of the ideas
that everyone comes up with.

Thanks for stopping by, 
I hope you have enjoyed your time here.
Do you have any kind of Easter tradition with 
egg coloring or anything else for that matter?
I hope you'll come again soon.
Until then,
Happy Easter
and enjoy some eggs!

 

Monkey Business

Hello! 

 I hope you are having a crafty day.

Today I have a layout to share with you.

My granddaughter, Marie, loves spending time

with her Auntie Kelsie and Uncle Brad.

They always have a lot of fun together.

These are a few of my favorite pictures of them

being goofy and having fun.
The monkeys, the words and the letters for the

title are all fussy cut.  I'm known as a lover of

fussy cutting and I find it very relaxing.
Many of my cards and layouts have fussy cut pieces

on them.  The names were done on my label maker,

I've just started using it for some of my crafts.

Until now, I've only used it to label things in my

craft room, but I'm liking it on some of my

layouts.  Especially to add the date.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you will come again soon.

Until then,

monkey around with someone. 

 

Salted Caramel Sauce and Fresh Bread

Hi everyone!

Today is a little different post.

Every week I host a family dinner and have

my kids over.
For their birthday's they tell me what they want,

entree, sides and dessert.
For my daughter, Kelsie's, birthday, she chose 

apple crisp with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce

for her dessert.

I have to say I do make a delicious caramel sauce.

I found the recipe here and it's soooo good!

It starts out with just sugar in a pan on  medium heat.

Gradually it begins to melt, but you do have to 

stir it constantly.

It can be very clumpy, but it gradually gets smoother.

The color gets a nice caramel color as the sugar 

dissolves.

Eventually, you have nice smooth melted sugar.

Be sure to stir constantly, so it doesn't burn.

Yes, your arm may get a little tired.

Then the butter is added, be careful, it bubbles up

very quickly and may spatter.

Stir it until all the butter is melted.

Then you add the cream.

Keep stirring.

Then it has to boil for a minute.

Mix in the salt and you have a delicious 

Salted Caramel Sauce.

Now keep in mind that I made a triple batch.
I used some for family dinner, gave some to the kids

and will freeze the rest.
It doesn't freeze hard, so you can take a bit out

at a time and heat it up in the microwave.

I also made some nice fresh baked bread for dinner.
I've been really getting into bread baking lately

and the kids love when I make it for them.

These little loaves are great for gifting and

for when you just want a little bit of bread

and butter.

With these goodies, we also had

what I call Mayo Chicken,

skin on mashed potatoes, scalloped pineapple

and peas. 

Everything for Kelsie's dinner was a big hit,

now to think of what to make for the

next dinner.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you have enjoyed your time with me

and have been inspired in some way.

See you next time,

until then,

try a new recipe!