KellyStewart.org » Crafty

Happy Birthday To Me…

Kelly — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:10:06 +0000

For my birthday, my sweet Dad made me a beautiful dining room table… I am so in love with it!

I picked out the plan from Ana White. She is amazing…I mean who doesn’t like a girl who can use power tools and gives you step by step plans on building knock off furniture that looks like Pottery Barn?

My dad and I picked out the wood, screws, and stain (Minwax Ebony Stain), Polyurethane and he got to working! I did do a little to help, mainly staining and applying the poly, so I feel like I contributed a little.

Here is the final product…

We were in the middle of getting the room set up when I took this picture…I will post more of our final table, soon!

I went with a whitish leather/pleather chair…I am loving the final result.

Jason and Dad also made a bench to match, which I helped stain, as well….I will post pics of it when I take them!

It was so nice on Christmas Eve to be able to seat 10 adults comfortably around our table…I love that we made it, and I know I will have it for years to come!!

We makeshifted our lighting because there is no existing overhead light, but honestly, I am totally digging the lights on the ceiling!

After 2 years, my dining room is back….and better than I expected!

Easter Ideas…

Kelly — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:14:18 +0000

As we get ready for an Easter weekend, I thought I would share some ideas we did from our Easter family night last year….the day of the Tornadoes!

You can read about Resurrection Buns and Writing on your Easter Eggs here.

I also plan on doing Empty Tomb Cookies this year. Here is the Recipe and Scripture references for those….

Begin this recipe on Saturday, the day before Easter.

1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie wooden spoon or a wooden meat hammer
duct tape or packing tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300*F.

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon or hammer to break them into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 teaspoon of vinegar into the mixing bowl.

Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life.

Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste. Then put your pinch of salt in the bowl.

Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’s followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing! Add 1 cup sugar to the bowl.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know and belong to him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 10 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks form.

Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheets.

Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’s body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape to seal the oven door.

Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.

Leave the kitchen. If you’ve been making these cookies just before bedtime, GO TO BED!

Acknowledge that the kids are probably sad that they’ve worked hard to make these cookies, and now have to leave them in the oven overnight. Explain that Jesus’ followers were in sad when Jesus died and the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Ask the kids to notice the cracked surface. Have them bite into the cookies. The cookies are hollow!

Explain that on the first Easter morning, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.

Resurrection Eggs are also a great craft idea to make with your kids. My kids have made these at church and at school and we are going to be using them this weekend, as well.

Here is a video to show you how to make them or you can go here to read how to make them!

Hope these ideas help you celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus this weekend!

Family Night…Snow, Snow, Snow

Kelly — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:27:40 +0000

On Thursday night, we had another Stew Family Night with a snow theme. I had been planning this one for a while, just looking up what we could do and let me tell you…there are endless possibilities with building a night centered on SNOW!

For decorations, I painted some branches white and hung some snowflakes from them and switched out all the red in my kitchen with blue and white.

You can see that we all wore white shirts to celebrate our snow night!

On Wednesday, I started making these cake pops with my handy assistant, Emery Kate. She loves to help out in the kitchen.

This was my first attempt at these, and let’s just say….it was pretty obvious!

We started out dipping the snow pops in the chocolate and it pretty much went downhill from there…

I had major chocolate melting issues for some reasons and wasted about 3 bags of white chocolate.

So, I ditched the idea of making them look like a snowman and settled for snow pops!

Or Snow Balls!

Either way, they were amazing to eat!

Working with the kids was interesting as well…can you tell who did which ones???

This is the reality of doing family nights. Sometimes our efforts in creating a fun, happy night end in disappointment at times. Things don’t always go as planned or hoped.

This was one night, that at the beginning, I was ready for bedtime! Just the way it is sometimes!

For dinner, we had Potato Soup or melted snowman soup!

After dinner, Jason talked to the kids from Psalm 51:6-7

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

We talked about sin and the holiness and purity of God. We also talked about the cross and how Jesus

watches us clean, like snow. Such an amazing picture of salvation that the kids could understand…at least somewhat!

Next, we did a little craft. My kids love to paint and do crafts, which is fun, stressful, and messy!

I bought some votive candles and we went to work creating our own snowmen candle holders.

Their personality traits are

so evident when we do things like this. Parker, the perfectionist, can get caught up in getting just right. Emery wants to do it a little differently than

what we have suggested. Bradley just jumps in and has fun doing it!

Bradley managed to cut his hair twice with the scissors…I told you it was one of those nights…

Bradley creating his masterpiece…

Emery putting some finishing touches on…

Bradley’s completed craft…the face only a mother could love!

We were going to play a game and “build a snowman” by wrapping them in toilet paper and scarves, but

it got really late, so we headed to bed.

And the next morning it started to snow……

Look what a dollar will do…

Kelly — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:33:44 +0000

So, I found these at the Dollar Tree….

So I decided to make them a little cuter, by using this

I took the paper out and cut it to size

And played around with the fonts, until I found what I liked and printed

an example. I discovered my paper was tooo dark, so I improvised and ended up with these….

It was easy and I knew I could make some even cuter using my mother in laws Cricut machine!

SO i went back and bought 10 more!

If you happen to get one of these, forget that it only cost $1 and love how cute it is!

I am linking up at A Soft Place to Land, DIY Day!