Wooden Animal Toddler Gift

I am in love with these little animals. Isn't it funny how *proud* of yourself you can feel for something so simple to make?? I love the look of these....that watercolor wash that still lets you see the grains, the simplicity of the patterns. What I love most of all is that these toys encourage imagination without all the bells and whistles of modern toys. I've tried my best to fill my house with toys that are simple and inspiring, rather than overwhelming with all the technology. 

 These toddler toys were made for my nephew for Christmas (sorry for the preview Sis!!). It only took an evening to finish it all!! So easy. I found the pattern/tutorial for the bird HERE. The rest of animals were made in the same way, but based on sketches I found online and blended with my own drawings. They've got a great folk art feel to them. 

Someone is in love with Kangaroos right now. :-)

 I used watercolor paints to color them and a coating of beeswax to seal them. 

Of course, I picked my Nephew's favorite animals....minus a cow, which split in two during the scroll saw step. Well, everyone else turned out fine. Phew!!

I shared this post at these fabulous Linky Parties:

Frugalicious Friday

Three Or More Tuesday

Works For Me Wednesdays

Blue Sky Scrubs

When I spent a few days in the hospital (years ago) for an attack of appendicits, I got a chance to get look at the health industry and what makes it tick. My doctors were great, but fairly unavailable. The people who helped me the most were the Nurses and CNA's. They made me so comfortable and they were all so friendly and helpful. It really made me ponder on the work that they do and how they are truly the "heart" of the hospital. I was so thankful that I had them during my stay. The same goes for my visit to the hospital when our child was born....they weathered every thing I handed out to them (and believe me, I did my share) and afterward, they were so understanding and so knowledgeable. Every time I saw a pair of nursing scrubs coming through the door, I let out a sigh of relief because I knew they could help me answer any questions I might have. I couldn't thank them enough. 

To work as Nurse or CNA you've got to be dressed the right way. There is a great site called Blue Sky Scrubs that provides great scrubs for anyone in the field of medicine. Nursing uniforms, lab coats, and even surgical hats can all be found at this great site. Scrubs for men or womens scrubs...they've got it all!! 

 They have got some really great patterns for surgical hats too!! Here's one I found that would be perfect for this time of year. It's called Kris Kringle:

Isn't that lovely?? I'd like a yard of that fabric!!

This post was brought to you by your friends at Blue Sky Scrubs!! All opinions in it are my own. 

Using My Quilting Skills for Christmas Ornaments

Guest post written by Esther Norman

My mother taught me how to quilt way back when and I think that ever since then I've constantly been working on one quilting project or another. But right now the project that I'm working on is making some quilted Christmas ornaments to give to my family and friends as Christmas gifts.

I was trying to get some ideas for a new quilting holidays project by looking at a lot of arts and crafts blogs with our Clear tv bundle. I wanted to do something that was a smaller project because I've been doing all kinds of other holiday projects and things like that, so taking on an entire quilt wasn't what I wanted to do.

I found the quilted ornament idea and knew that that was exactly what I had in mind to do. I'm working on a couple of different ones and it really isn't taking hardly any time to do each of them. I'm giving them as something a little extra in the gifts that I was already going to give.