Clover Lane

I took all my Christmas decorations down.  My house looks so empty!  I loved it for about 5 minutes, and then I thought…January is a long month,  I’m not a lover of winter, and Valentine’s Day is a long ways away.  I decided instead of  “getting through” this long month, I will embrace this winter season and all it’s beautiful, freezing cold, white, glistening, snowy glory.
I went to Target and bought some wintery, clearance Christmas decorations and made a garland for my kitchen windows.  Snowflakes, ice skates and mittens, snowmen…bright colors.  Abbey and I created a winter scene with glittery snow and trees (clearance again!) and little forest animals (tree decorations I didn’t put away). I found a beautiful white blooming hydrangea plant for my dining room table and set it in a glass salad bowl. I love the mitten garland above my chalkboard, but it’s a little too Christmasy for me.  I’m going to attempt to make a new one with felt and ribbon and rickrack, using some different colors. And all these winter touches worked like magic…I feel cozy and warm in my sweet little house.
I forgot all about:
Putting boots and mittens and hats and scarves on thousands of times.
Stepping in slush left all over my kitchen floor.
Having chapped hands.
Freezing my bum off going sledding.
Shivering in the car.

At the same time, I was also desperate to find something original AND durable (picture boys sliding down full blast) to decorate my stairway bannister.
Somehow those two little thoughts collided in my tired brain and I came up with this:
Every year’s photo is on one side of this little plaque, and the other side has the year in order (1-17)  and the date (1993-2009).
They are VERY inexpensive and easy to make.
What you need:
1. Scrapbook paper (NOT the really thick kind) and plain card stock in co-ordinating colors.
  2. These little thin wooden boards that you can find at Michaels or Hobby Lobby....99 cents! 3. Decoupage stuff and a wide sponge brush. I like the matte kind..(not gloss like the photo shows)...matte or satin finish hides imperfections better.4. A whole puncher and some kind of stencil and cutting tool to cut circles. (an Exacto knife works too if you have a steady hand!) I bought this kit at Michaels.5.  Ribbon to hang your ornament with. Step by Step Instructions:
1. Make copies or use your printer to print out whatever photos you have chosen.  If you know how, print them out at the exact size as the wooden plaques, 5 x 6.  I just printed mine out as 5x7’s and then cropped the 7” to a 6” because I’m not that computer literate.  I also just used plain old printer paper...nothing fancy!  I printed them all as black and whites to make them more uniform looking.  
2. While you are on the computer, you can make the numbers…I used white card stock and Bookman Old Style font at the 72 size for the middle number and 18 for the outer date.  You will cut these numbers into circles later so leave plenty of room between them on the paper. 2. Take a drill and drill a hole in each wooden plaque so you can insert the ribbon.  Remember that some of your photos may be the long way (vertical) or the short way (horizontal)…so put that hole on the long side or the short side of the plaque! 3. Next cut a piece of scrapbook paper for the wooden plaque and make sure it’s about 1” bigger on all sides.  Trace where the hole you drilled is on the paper and use a hole puncher to punch that paper. 4.  Get out your Modge Podge and your brush.  If you’ve never decoupaged before, don’t worry…it’s so easy!  (I hadn’t either before I did this, believe it or not!)  Take your sponge brush and brush that piece of scrapbook paper on the plain white side all over with the Modge Podge.
5. Place the plaque carefully and centered on that sticky paper and then wrap it on the other side like a present.  Smooth out the wrinkles. 6. Now take your photo (that is either the exact size of the plaque or a little smaller), and mark with a pencil where the hole should go…punch that out with the hole puncher.  Now use your sponge to coat the wrong side of that photo with the Modge Podge, and stick it on.
7.  I made a few bigger circles to place behind it to add some color.  Use Modge Podge on the back of those circles…get them all stuck together and then stick them on the back of your wooden plaque. 8.  Now you are going to coat each side (wait till one side dries till you do the other) with the Modge Podge and your sponge brush.  This gives a very sealed, shiny, protective coat.  9.  Look we didn’t even get to # 10 and we’re done!  Insert a ribbon through that hole and WALLAH!
And just so you know:  Mine are FAR from perfect.  Some look a little (or a lot!)  messy because I had to finish them in the 5 minutes I had before all heck broke loose.   They still look cute though and hanging all together no one notices (or tells me they notice!) the imperfections.  Mine are also VERY simple…I know you scrapbooking goddesss’s out there can kick my butt on this one as far as design goes!  
Have fun!

And how her sacrifices were so different from what most of us consider sacrificies today.
Which also made me think of two neighboring moms I grew up knowing.

A Rut or Funk: A feeling of general uneasiness, lack of vitality; an unwillingness to do what you know is best for yourself, (ie. not eating chocolate for breakfast); a tendency to be easily annoyed at the stupidest things like husbands breathing loud or kids making a mess; a persistent stubbornness and resistance to change from a grouch into someone who has an optimistic, cheerful mood; a tendency to dream about trips to the tropical beaches and/or large additions to your residence.