What I'm cooking up...

in the kiln, of course.  

If you know us, you know that Jaime does the cooking and is amazing at it.  We gave him a house dress to formaly induct him into cooking greatness.  You know, like he cooks just as good as grandmom.  We also got him matching house slippers. Insert evil giggle here.  For what it's worth, I can cook, I just prefer baking. :)

When it comes to crafting, my first love is glass, so let's take a look at what I'm cooking up...

Here's my baby, my Paragon Glass Kiln (please excuse the messy basement).  I was lucky enough to win this baby in a National Stained Glass Contest (I came in 2nd place).   Shout out to Warner Stained Glass, woot woot.

All prepped and ready for loading

The ingredients; a wine bottle and clear glass blanks.



  

All set and ready.

OOOh, that is hot. :)

I'll be posting this weekend the results!

The Force is Strong with this craft...





   Resist, you cannot.... ok, bad Yoda joke but true for all you Star Wars fans.

I came up with this fun little craft while preparing for Michael's Lego Star Wars 4th Birthday party.    I wanted a craft that would entertain a bunch of sugared up 4 year olds, both boys and girls.   And if I know my four year old, if you can glue it and use markers, the craft will be a giant hit. 

I have to say, this did not disappoint!  The kids loved it and I have to admit, most of the dad's did, too.

I got the idea from this pic. I figured I could make an easy "glue it yourself" craft.   I used the same template for each of the characters and just tweaked it for Yoda, Chewbaca (my fav) and R2D2.

Template:

All the pieces cut out of construction paper and ready for the kids:  I cut out enough pieces for 10 of each character.  My hands were like claws after that.

I set up a table with elmers glue, googly eyes, markers, crayons and colored construction paper pages.  Yes, I am a brave woman, especially with my white carpet.   We thankfully had no accidents.

And here are the kid's Jedi Master-pieces.  Yes, that will be my last Star Wars pun.

Hil.ar.i.ous.   I giggled every time I walked by these little guys.



 
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A Veteran's Day Thank You.

Thank you to all of the service men and women who serve and protect us daily.

A special note to "our" dear veterans...

Jaime's father, Emilio.

Jaime's nephew, Matt.

My uncle Sam.

Also a thank you to my aunt Celeste.

Fall Inspired Entryway

I normally do not decorate for fall. I mean, I decorate for Halloween and Christmas, but somehow Fall/Thansgiving kind of falls (no pun intended) by the wayside. It's like the brief hiatus between two larger holidays in our family.

This year, with the help of Pinterest, I found some inspiring pieces and actually put together a nice and simple Fall Inspired Entryway. Even better, it was super easy to put together and cost $1.50. {SCORE!} Please ignore my unfinished cabinet, I have lots a good ideas for that puppy.

The frame was something I had on hand, cost $1 at a yard sale. The beautiful quote was a free download from Pinterest found here. I added some orange construction paper to give it chunky boarder and voila!

I have been wanting to make the bookpage pumpkins since the first time I saw them, again on Pinterest. I made 3 different sizes all from a $0.50 book I got at Goodwill. Can I give a shout out to Goodwill? I know all are not alike, but I puffy heart mine.

Here's a close up. I gave it just a hint of color. Again, puffy heart.

The wreath, candles and leaf garland were all things I had on hand, but never really used.

There you go, a simple entry for $1.50! Oh, and if you haven't been on Pinterest, you NEED to go. It's ah.maz.ing.



Linking up to these great parties!

Life Happened.

It has been almost 2 years since I have updated my blog. It seems like only yesterday I took a break to focus in on work. Where did the time go? Poof! Wouldn't it be great to be able to rewind?

All has been well with the Montano's. Thankfully we are all happy and healthy. I plan on updating some fun things that happened since we last spoke. You know, birthdays, crafts, home updates. Basically rewind, catch up and move forward.

I can't wait to share!