Hammered Flowers

This is the perfect summer craft, even for those of you that may not be especially craft inclined, like myself.   And it's fun for any age!

You'll need:

Cardboard 

 (My husband just pulled apart a box.)

Thick Watercolor Paper 

 (That's probably not the technical term.)

Masking Tape 

 (The wider the better.  We only had thin.)

A Hammer

(or two)

Flowers

First, send everyone on a flower hunt!  If you don't have flowers, leaves work just as well, even weeds!

Next, tape the corners of a sheet of paper to a piece of cardboard.   Place flowers face down on paper and completely cover with tape.  Now hammer away!

Here's a picture of my Mom helping Mase.  We forgot to tape the paper down this time, but it's much safer for your digits if you remember this step.  Some kids may get a little crazy with the hammer.

Finally, carefully pull off the tape and behold your beautiful creation. 

Some flowers will work better than others.

We didn't get so creative, but you could even make an eye-catching design out of the flowers. 

My mom learned to make hammered flowers from a man, who learned to make hammered flowers from a man, who makes and sells his hammered flowers for a living.  Our masterpieces are not for sale, as my daughter decided to decorate our aphid-infested plum tree with them. 

Grateful Mom Goal of the Day: Appreciating my lovely artwork.

Welcome to Our Hall of Fame (Children's Artwork Display)

My first name is Janae, but as a child, my family nickname was, "Fast Nae."  Everything I did was not only fast, but rushed, and often sloppy.  I'm still working on that.  And now, I have been blessed with my own mini-me.

My 6 year old is a bright girl, but has not only inherited my fast trait, she has mastered it.  She's started bringing home loads of sloppy work from school and my husband and I have been racking our brains, trying to come up with some ideas to help her.

We know she's always motivated by candy, but in an effort to lower our family cavity rate,  I thought we should try out some different forms of motivation.

Here's one idea I came up with: The Davis Family Hall of Fame

To make this, I bought (4) 14x14 in. frameless bulletin boards and a pack of very stylish push pins at Walmart.  Then I found some fabric to cover the boards and giddily purchased my very first staple gun-oh the power!

I just stapled the fabric to the boards and hung them in our hall.  This was so easy, even for my craft impaired, slightly ADD self.

I thought the brown would be cute, but now I'm thinking I might redo these with more colorful backgrounds.

We plan on using the boards for artwork, stories, tests, or any project my kids really make effort on and try!  As a family we will be taking fun guided tours of our Hall of Fame regularly so the kids will know that we are proud of them and will, hopefully, want to do their best.

Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Tell each of my children how proud I am of them.

The Bumps of our Magnificent Money Pit

our adventurous abode

Why didn't anyone tell me!?!  I had no idea that owning a home could be such a potholed endeavor?  Is this normal?

Our home is 10 years old, only 10 years!   We bought the home 5 years ago, but, since then, we have had multitudinous (yes that is a word) home--bumps.

This is our newest investment bump--we found out the water heater is corroded--"that's normal --water heaters nowadays only last an average about 10 years" my plumber neighbor told me.  That's normal!  

Our woeful water heater

On an exciting tangent, I did make a grand windfall off my blog ads yesterday--$3.13!   That's way up from my normal penny a day average. Despite our impending water heater investment, I am throwing caution to the wind.  I am planning to make a lavish trip to the dollar store and spend, spend, spend!--at least 3 dollars.


Back to my money pit.

Here is a sampling of our latest home adventures:
Our newly finished basement has flooded-- twice!-- due to a rebellious window well that we just can't seem to fix.  The first time it happen was amazing!--I have never seen the kids so excited in my life!  Our basement had become a splash pool--what could be more fun!?!

Then there was the time we found out our back cement patio was floating--really floating!  Almost all of the ground underneath had receded and there was a vast cavern of empty space.

And, our fridge recently gave up the ghost, spoiling all of the food.  Then, as you would expect, our new fridge also died two days after we bought it and all of our new food spoiled.  There is a bright side to this story--I now am the proud owner of a refrigerator ice maker--this has been the highlight of my year!

Oh the bumps and benefits of home ownership. 

And another tangent, there is my sad barren home interior.  A contractor recently visited our house for the first time and and commented, "Did you just move in?  Because it looks like you just moved in?  There's just no decroations-anywhere"  I have been meaning to decorate the house for the past 5 years, but our funds always seem to be needed other places-repairs, kids, kids, kids.

And, this may shock a lot of people, but--I AM NOT CRAFTY!  Maybe it's just a Utah thing, but everyone here is crafty--really crafty.  I would like to be and I do try my hand at a good kids level craft every now and then, but usually my ADD kicks in after 20 minutes.

 Over Christmas I went a little crazy and had my first decoration splurge ever--I bought this lovely homemade craft on etsy.  Doesn't it look like I expertly made it myself!--that was my secret plan--now I fit right in with all the crafties.

Look how crafty I am

And now I conclude today's rambling by adding that I am sincerely grateful to have a home.  I am grateful my husband has a job right now that can keep us in the home.  For all of my grievances, nothing could ever put a price on the joys, laughter, and happiness we have experienced here.  A home that is a true place of unconditional love...usually.

Grumpy Mom Goal of the Day and Every Day:  Count my blessings.