Cookie Exchanges? Pshaw! Ornament Swaps are So This Year!

Here is a confession... I've never done a cookie exchange. I've always thought it would be fun but apparently that is an old fashioned idea I guess as no one in any of the crowds I've been around would have thought twice about doing one.

So I was thrilled when Erlene at  My Pinterventures suggested and orchestrated a holiday ornament exchange. I knew exactly what ornament I was going to make and to make it easier, my partner, Jamie and I are twin souls I think as she decorates her tree blue and silver and I love those colors for the holidays! To me, blue represents the crisp blue December skies and the twinkling of the silver, the sparkling snow.

Erlene partnered with over 80+ bloggers to exchange ornaments both handcrafted and specially chosen to represent the joyfulness and specialness of the season. Over the next 14 days, you'll be treated to unique ornaments designed or specially sourced to delight your eye and start the excitement of the season!

Knowing what I was going to do, I decided I'd jump right in and kick off the festivities with the other festive ladies in Group 1 which includes:

 DIY Adulation 

Tastefully Frugal           My Sweet Things

For my ornament I decided we'd revisit a previous post, the Moravian Star because it's simple, beautiful and can be created in one night for a lifetime of enjoyment.

As we've previously gone through the steps to make this, we'll do a quick synapsis here and I'll point you to the original post here for more indepth instructions.

Quick Directions for the Moravian Star 

1. Make a small triangle pattern for your points.
2. Mark out 12 of these. Remember, glass doesn't have a grain line so whatever pattern looks interesting to you, you can cut it. 
3. Using your pistol grip cutter, cut all pieces.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. If necessary, grind your edges if you have a grinder or sanding cookie.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Foil triangle pieces.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Flux and tin all the points
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Lay out four of the pieces with the points together, flux and tack soldier the points together.
   
   
   
8. Once together solider more firmly.
9. Take two more points and flux/solider them at one point.
10. Flux two areas of the star and solider this on.
11. Repeat with the other two.
12. Cross the remaining four pieces across these points.
13. Let cool.
    
    
    
    
14. Smooth any solider lines you can without causing issue to structural integrity.
15. Polish, take some fishing wire through the top. Hang or gift. You are all set.

There is still more than a little heft to this so you'd have to have a sturdy branch.

This is coming your way Jamie so no peeking at this post until you get it!

Stop by Erlene's blog for more ornaments throughout the holiday season, and if this is your first visit here, you are invited to look around and stay turned for some new projects to keep you busy during the upcoming winter months. Stop by next week for a wonderful basket project that you'll make again and again!

The "Chickery"

• 8 Exhausting weekends
• 3-5 People each time
  
• 3 Gallons of primer
• 1 Gallon of paint
• 12 cans of spray paint
• 4 rolls of hardware cloth
• Lots of expensive lumber
• 2 scratched fingers
• 1 old screen door found in the rafters of the garage
• 1 can of old stain found in the garage
• 1 messy house that hasn't been cleaned in 8 weeks properly
• Several chores that have been put on hiatus

For six chickens.

At this point I figure I have the most expensive eggs in the world.

But finally, the chickery is done.

I typically post every week but there has been a lot of silence on the blog as of late.

Every waking moment has been dedicated during the weekends to this project.

And not a moment too soon. As I was painting it, snowflakes were falling!

Yeah, those are automotive stands holding up the bottom of
the nesting box after it fell off. At one point the entire nesting
box came off!

It became readily apparent as soon as we got our coop together that we bought on Amazon, that  it wasn't going to last the summer let alone get through our hard western New York winters. It started falling apart before we even got finished building it.











There are pieces of it all over my yard..









I bought this book.

 

We decided to make the coop a bit bigger because the initial plans were for only four birds and I had six. Then our friends who had offered to help (and had much more chicken experience then us) pointed out that we would be creating a death drop of a run if we simply made more house than coop.

 

 

 

 

It was never supposed to be this big.

Before we started I called my local village enforcement office . As long as the coop was less than 10'x10' we didn't need a permit I was told.

This coop measures 4' x 10'. We figure we could get about 18 birds next year.







Steve working on the door.

Every weekend found us working on the coop.

This weekend we put the final touches.

There are still some cosmetic things I'd like to do, but at this point the girls could move in.



Or I could  rent it out. It's about the size of a small apartment in NYC.... Maybe recoup my investment?









Our friends originally anticipated that it would take 1/2 a Saturday to build a coop. Six weeks later we were still building this.




 This weekend we finally  put up the ramp and the handle on the door.



I had a mishap with the primer..
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 





The heat lamp is clamped down tight high up and roosts are built.

It got so cold this weekend the paint wouldn't even adhere to the door.














But this week is supposed to get a bit warmer so I can finally get that done and move the girls in.



I feel like we've all been through the wringer but we all feel better that the girls will have a permanent home over the winter.


And I won't have to worry about "Chicksicles".






They grow up so fast...

Back in April

Now

All buckled down for a long winter.

 

 

 

 

Destination: Play

     Time for some visual candy....

If you think back, what was your absolutely favorite toy? Maybe a toy you couldn't be without or one that you received as a birthday gift or that Santa left under the tree?

Maybe you still even have it. I know I still have some of my childhood friends.

http://www.toyhalloffame.org/

This past weekend our friends and my family visited one of the most entertaining and unique museums out there. The Strong Museum started with the collection of it's founder, Margaret Woodbury Strong. Mrs. Strong had a lifetime collection of household objects and toys at one time having collected well over 27,000 dolls. What began as a collection in her Rochester Mansion later became the Strong Museum and, beginning in the mid-nineties, focused on toys.





This is a fun place that we are so lucky that it is basically in our backyards....



Every year the museum inducts a new toy to the "Toy Hall of Fame". And before you think this is just manufactured toys, realize that past inductees have included bubbles, balls and in 2005, the cardboard box. This past year's inductees included Rubik's Cube and Little Green Army Men.

Here are some past inductees:

 





For the kids, there are things go climb, toys to play with and the entire upstairs is video games throughout the decades. Plan to spend hours here. There is a child sized grocery store (clever marketing Wegmans!) a ship and I know where Sesame Street is, it's here!

I LOVED my Little Professor!

Adults aren't bored either. What you hear as you walk through are exclamations of, "I had that!", "I remember playing with that!" and "I always wanted that!" It's a trip down memory lane for the above ten set.



There are also things you haven't seen and the history of games and toys you've never heard of... and some you have.

This was a homemade round Monopoly board designed to fit on
a round table.

 




















As a doll collector myself, I was amazed at the doll houses and love the old dolls of Mrs. Strong's collections. Originally these doll houses were for adults not children according to the display.

 

The attention to detail that these wealthy women put into these houses are unbelievable. I especially love the flapper. These little doll houses freeze a moment in time so we can see how people lived or wanted to live.

I'm totally ready to move in...

Baby is asleep...

Sister is waiting for her paramour...



Madame in her boudoir.



The butler or is that dad waiting on his little Miss.

 

One of these days I'm going to make my own doll house. Apparently it has a pedigree.....
Although wealthy I'm not!

Tea is ready.

Sister is ready to go out on the town....

Love the flapper!

Servants in every room

The parlor maid.

Time to make the breakfast

 I so wish I had some of these beautiful dolls! 

Can you imagine being a child and waking up to a doll that was the same size as you were? The perfect playmate.

And a Kewipee doll with the
"Goo-goo-googly eyes"....

Love flappers! And these are porcelain!



The Dionne Quintuplets.

Shirley and friends. I think that's Charles Lindbergh!



Did you have any of these? Hey, there is Skipper!
What ever happened to Skipper and Frenchy? Huh?



Toys even became patriotic during the war years!

Beam me up Mr. Scott.

 

Kids of all ages love video games ....

 

 

 

 

From those of us who were the first generation playing our Atari's and Commodore 64's...

PONG! Who can forget PONG!
Such strategy! Such skill...













I've got Mad PONG skills!










Don't forget pinball! Love me some pinball...

 

 

It's just a great time to visit some friends from the past and reminisce. If you find yourself in Rochester, NY, take some time to visit the museum with your kids or grandkids. You'll be glad you did.

 

Pacman, Inky, Pinky and Clyde