Jedi Art

My boys have a bedroom which is dominated by Star Wars.

When we moved into our new house, my mom bought the boys Star Wars comforters for their bed, so in their eyes, the rest of the room had to follow suit.

I told them I would try.

They turned to me and said, “Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.”

“I’m just worried you won’t like it.”

To which they said, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

OK, so maybe they didn’t say it in so many words.

They didn’t have to. They’re Jedis and I read their mind 🙂

For the art work above their bed, I used 6 IKEA frames, a printer, and some material.

Four of the frames are simply Lego Star Wars minifigures printed out.

We goggled their favorite characters and found pictures which would enlarge clearly. Each minifigure had their own space thanks to the picture divider included with the frame.

The other two frames have, “Jedi Alex,” and “Jedi Andrew,” made out of left over material from their window covering.

First, I wrapped the frame in burlap. Next I used the Star Wars font to print out their names on card stock. Next, I cut out the cardstock letters and placed them over some thin denim. I held each letter in place while I cut the denim around the letter. For the space inside the letters I glued different material on top of the denim.

Across from the beds are the chicken wire frames I shared last year.

The Lego minifigure containers sit next to the frames.

Here’s one more look at the art.

May the crafting force be with you!

7 Years?

Studies have shown that owning a dog can add as many as 7 years to your life.

Apparently, owning a dog helps lower your blood pressure and relieves stress.

I think those scientists must have been on crack.


Lasagna Roll Ups

In an attempt to lower our monthly grocery bill, I have frozen a few extra meals in order have them ready to go on days I don’t feel like cooking.

One of my favorite meals for freezing is Lasagna Roll Ups. I got this recipe from a Contadina cook book a long time ago.

*not my picture, obviously – I have never and will never take the time to garnish our plates

Lasagna Roll Ups
1 pound Italian sausage
12 oz tomato paste*
1 2/3 cups water*
1 chopped onion
1 clove garlic (I always use more)
Basil and oregano to your liking
1 egg
10 oz frozen chopped spinach
15 oz. Ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
10 cooked lasagna noodles
* I usually skip the tomato paste and water and use tomato sauce

 

Directions

1) In large skillet, crumble sausage and cook. Add onion and garlic. Cook until no longer pink. Drain.

2) Stir tomato paste, water, oregano, and basil in sausage mixture. Bring to a boil.

3) Reduce heat to simmer.

4) In medium blow, beat egg lightly. Add spinach, ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

5) Spread about 1/2 cup cheese mixture onto each noodle. Roll the noodle up and place seam down in baking dish.

6) Pour sauce over the rolls; top with remaining mozzarella cheese.

7) Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes or until heated through.

Enjoy!

*Due to printer issues the laundry room printables are not quite ready – hoping the printing issues are solved by next week*

She Wins

I put my daughter down to sleep in our bedroom over Christmas due to family staying in her room.

I put her to bed at 8:30.

At 8:45 she opened the door and I told her to go back to bed.

I didn’t hear from her again.

Roughly 12 feet away from my bedroom, my family and I continued to watch the Saints football game on tv.

At 10:20 I got up to go to bed and discovered this….

So at 10:30 all three of us ended up doing this.

At that point, why fight it?

Caroline 1, Mommy 0

Growing

I bought my nine year old these pants 4 weeks ago.

When I purchased them, the pants were at least two and a half inches longer.

Amazing what a steady diet of mac n’cheese and peanut butter sandwiches can do for the body.

Celebration List – It’s a Printable!

I am the world’s worst person when it comes to remembering birthdays or anniversaries.

My entire family and group of friends are all nodding their head in agreement right now.

I have two friends who I have known since birth and I only know that their birthdays are at the beginning of November. The 6th? The 12th? The 14th?

I don’t even know my sister-in-laws anniversary. I know it was sometime in the summer since I was wearing a sleeveless dress at the ceremony –  July? August?

Sad. I know.

Well friends, I’m going to remedy that situation in 2012.

I created a celebrations page which allows me to write down everyone’s birthday and have them all in one place. Yes, this is something that could be on a computer but I wanted a hard copy to keep by the fridge. After all, I go by the fridge 16 – 20 times a day, I’m bound to see it.

For those of you who have a birthday on the 29th, 30th, or 31st let’s just get your feelings out there. Yes, I had to combine some dates in order for all 365 days to appear. That’s just the way it is. Would you have preferred I take them off completely :)?

If you’d like a copy of this 2 sided document, click here.

Please consider becoming a follower of Big D & Me if you decide to download

Now to friends & family – EMAIL ME YOUR BIRTHDAY & ANNIVERSARY INFO NOW!

Tuesday To Do Party Todays Creative Blog

Singles

We have a sock monster in our house.

We must, because I don’t understand how we have so many single socks waiting for a partner.

After having a rotating pile of socks on my bedroom floor for a year I decided enough is enough – We gave the socks their very own space in the laundry room.

It’s always amazing to me that five or six of these socks will find a match during the week yet the numbers never dwindle due to new socks being added.

Needed: frame without glass, string or wire, staple gun, clothespins

We simply stapled the string to the frame and called it done.

A little peek at the laundry room art I created.

The artwork matches the complete failure of an ironing board cover I made.

Come back next week when I share all of the downloadable laundry art I’ve been working on.

A New Addition

Remember my post “A Hairy Christmas?”

It could have been considered hairy for an entirely different reason.

We got a dog.

Now to be clear, I never wanted a dog.

Ever.

In my experience, they are stinky and their hair gets everywhere.

But this kid changed my mind.

My son has always loved animals and desperately wanted a pet.

When he was four we got him fish.

When he was four they died.

Not quite the pet he was looking for.

Before my husband and I went out looking for a dog I made a list of the type of dog I would welcome into my home.

1. Dark haired dog.

2. Short haired dog.

3. Medium sized dog.

Instead we came home with Sophie.

She’s got white fur.

She’s got long hair.

She’s 42 pounds as a puppy.

She only met one of my requirements.

She makes my son happy.


Thank You

My husband and I are trying to raise our children to be well mannered, considerate, and respectable young people.

Emphasis on the trying.

They’re not walking around wearing white undershirts and smoking but some days I worry if we’re making any progress.

Thank you cards are big in our house.

I believe it’s important for kids to learn how to write them and send them each time they receive a gift.

So everyday for the past week, our kids have written a thank you card to someone who gave a present to them over the holidays.

I’m fairly sure my 6 year old’s thank you card proves we’re not succeeding in our goal.