Wordless Wednesday: July 4th Colors at the Cabin

These are pictures from last year on the 4th of July of the sunset, the campfire "Mystical" colors, and the fireworks we bought and lit.

Paper Plate Patriotic "Banner"

Aren't these just so cute! There are four of us in our family and we each made our own design to hang up at the cabin. All you need is one paper plate for every 2 you want to make. Cute them in half and have fun painting. We made these while at the cabin and while we are there we like to get crafty but don't have quite the arsenal of craft supplies there like we do at home, so fun and simple things with minimal supplies is definitely something we can do while we are there. Try these out!

DIY Cabin Sign

I made this cute sign to go inside of our cabin. We have some other moose decor and so I chose to continue with that. I used my Silhouette machine to print off sticky vinyl and place it on top of a canvas that I had painted. Then I lined the outside of the painting with black gaffer tape I really like how gaffer tape finishes off the outside of a painting

Last Minute DIY Christmas Gift Idea: Loom Knit "Bear" Hat

You could easily make this hat for a bear, a doll or some other stuffed animal. All you need is the small blue Knifty Knitter circle, or whatever color is the smallest knitting circle in your set. It is the size you would make an infant hat with. These make fun little hats that you can give to go with their favorite stuffed toy or doll to dress them up. Or kids can make them by themselves. My daughter made this one for her bear at the cabin.

This would also make a great last minute homemade Christmas gift as it should take you less than an hour.

DIY Puffy Paint Christmas Table Runner

 This was a fun and easy project that the kids and I did at our cabin 2 decorate our kitchen table and have some seasonal decorations at our cabin.

Our inspiration came from having this exact size piece of blue dyed burlap left over from a different project I did. It seemed to be the right size for a table runner and because it is burlap it wasn't a sewing project at all just cut and decorate.

I have done puffy paint projects with the kids in the past but didn't have a whole lot of the colors we needed left over so I did have to go bye some more coffee paint. It is pretty inexpensive and you can pick it up at Walmart for about a dollar a tube.

The nice thing about using the puffy paint on burlap is that it doesn't soak through like it does on other Fabrics. With a little puffy paint and time we made a fun and easy table runner for about $5 and the kids can look at it and know that they helped create something

Cheers to Labor Day Weekend

It is our final holiday weekend of the summer. Happy Labor Day!

It's easy to make your drink look festive by throwing in some blueberries and raspberries in some white wine, or some lemon-lime soda and you'll have a fun red, white and blue effect.

Weaving with Nature

My daughter thought this was such a fun activity to do at the cabin. We had some landscaping to that needed thinning and we used some jute twine to tie between trees and weave flowers and ferns and leaves and stems through it.

Camouflage Toothpick Holder

This is a gift that my son made for his dad for his birthday. He used an old K-Cup as the template and mold around which to make this. It's hard to tell from the picture because of the reflection coming off the glaze but he used a pattern stamp of fish scales. Then he painted it with green and brown underglaze and I dipped it in clear glaze before the final firing.

My husband likes his toothpicks and this was the second toothpick holder we have made for him out of pottery. I made this one for him. He has that in his office. The one my son made him is at our cabin. I do think we need to make one more for him to have in our house because I hate the plastic container we have them in now because it is always being knocked over.

* we don't actually use K-Cups really, I did a couple reviews with some but we don't make it a practice of buying them. We have a reusable K-Cup that we put our own coffee in that we typically use.

Cabin Rules Art

My daughter made this for her father for his last birthday. This hangs in our cabin. I think she did a great job!

Cabin Decor: Popsicle Stick Snowflakes

My daughter and I had fun creating some wooden popsicle stick snowflakes as decorations in the cabin. As you can see one of them is created with all the same style of stick and the other uses 3 different types of craft sticks.

To make them we laid out cardboard on the table to protect it from hot glue drips. We laid out all of our sticks how we wanted them and then started to hot glue them together after our design was created.

Simple and creative fun!

DIY Pottery Nativity

I am SOOOOO pleased with how this turned out. After last Christmas, I knew I wanted to make a small nativity scene for our cabin. We have 2 different nativity scenes with stables for our home (one is quite large and was made by my great grandpa) but I wanted something at our cabin as well.

Joseph in this display is only about 6 inches tall and about 4 1/2 inches wide.

I started out by slab rolling out some clay. I cut out my Joseph body first (I did it free hand) and then shaped it. I set it aside nearby so that I could use it to figure out my Mary size. I allowed the body pieces to harden a bit before I attached the heads (which are just rounded balls).

To make Mary, I cut a section of clay to the height I wanted her body to be, then I turned the clay in a circle to find out how much I needed to make the size around I need and then cut it while laying flat. While it lay flat, I fut the slanted side. I cut a circle that I would mold in to the bottom circle body that would be her lap.

I started out with a round flattened piece of clay for baby Jesus and placed the circle head about a 1/2 inch inside the circle, then I just shaped the clay up and around the head to look like swaddled blankets.

Finally, I attached the ball heads on the other 2 pieces.

When it came time to glaze the pieces, the colors I used were Navy Blue and Firebrick Red (they are currently 2 of my favorite glazes we have at the Art Center; I am also very fond of Metallic Green.)

Painted Landscaping Bricks at the Cabin

Here is a fun and thrifty idea. We did this as an extended part of my daughter's Art Birthday celebration and did these with family at our cabin. The ones pictured here are all of ours and are at our cabin. We each did 2 of them and helped brighten up the entry path to our cabin front door. We didn't really have a clear path before so we tore our a bush that had overgrown it's spot there (I replanted it somewhere else with more room.)

So, you can see we have an eclectic grouping of painted bricks (they are pretty inexpensive) that we painted with acrylic paint. My husband painted a boat and lake scene and then his name with a fishing bobber. I painted my name and an American flag. My daughter painted her name and then the "Cabin" brick (she painted everything but the word, which I did). My son painted the truck and let me paint his name one which I did in Minnesota Vikings colors and style of letters. I think they turned out great!

Wordless Wednesday: Minnesota Flowers at the Cabin in Late Spring

We looked at our cabin the middle of summer and didn't get to take possession until Labor Day weekend, so we never had a chance to see what kind of flowers we have there in the Spring.

#ad GIVEAWAY & Review: Divine LED ultra Bright LED Headlamp

My Thoughts:

I had the chance to review the Divine LED Ultra Bright LED Headlamp:

So, what sets this headlamp apart from others that are cheaper is the quality of the materials used. The elastic in the band is thicker and seems to have a high degree of durability, plus it also has adjustment points so that you can make sure that you have it fit perfectly on your head and it will not move. The type of elastic used seems so durable that I doubt it will stretch out like we have had happen on cheaper headlamps.

The plastic on this headlamp also seems highly durable. With cheaper headlamps I have found that with use and changing batteries the plastic is more apt to crack and this type of plastic does not feel like it would do that. 

The other point on this headlamp that you can tell it is a higher quality headlamp is in the switch. I can't explain it but there is just a way that some cheaper headlamps allow you to feel the push of the spring more as it pushes on the button, which is not the  case with this headlamp.

Buy a Divine LED Ultra Bright LED Headlamp on Amazon!

Product Description from Divine LED:

The XE Series Headlamp offers a lightweight headlamp with adjustable elastic strap for a snug and customized fit every time. A dimmer and multiple modes allow you to adjust the light strength to suit your task-at-hand. And speaking of hands, both are free for use when you rely on XE Series Headlamp . This automatically results in 50% greater efficiency when compared to performing the same task using a standard flashlight. Made from military-grade materials, this headlamp is guaranteed to work as hard as you do! And at $27.97, you can afford to have one in your car, in the basement, on the boat, in the RV… everywhere you currently have a bulky handheld flashlight. The XE Series Headlamp is great for camping, hiking, biking, running, boating, home improvement, reading… and much, much more. This headlamp will make a great gift for Dad, Grad, and even that person who is impossible to shop for.

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I was sent the above product for the purpose of reviewing it on this blog. All thoughts, opinions and photographs belong to me. No monetary compensation was received.

#ad Review: Yorkshire Mayfair Flannel Sheets

My Thoughts:

These flannel sheets from Yorkshire Mayfair are wonderful to have at the cabin. They really help keep in the warmth and are great to snuggle in. They have extra deep pockets, which is necessary if you have a tall mattress like we do or you have a pillow top. Our mattress is not as tall as some other mattresses out there and there was still some of the side pockets that wrapped around and secured with elastic under the mattress. If you mattress is very thick this is definitely a sheet set you want to get.

They sent me a random color to review (this color is called Burgundy) but it happened to be the same color they sent me in the Microfiber Sheet Set they also make and it works perfectly at our cabin.

We have washed and dried these a couple times already and have not had any shrinkage and the elastic is staying taut.

The set is both a flat and fitted sheet and 2 pillow cases, as you expect. You can buy them on Amazon and right now they have them listed as $39.99 for the set at the time of this post, I think that is a decent price to pay for these, but Amazon has them as a list price of 5x that amount, which I think is crazy.

Buy Yorkshire Mayfair Flannel Sheets on Amazon!

Product Description from Yorkshire Mayfair:

• 100% Cotton
• Extra Deep Pockets
• Machine washable and dryable
• 190 gram flannel weight
• Breathable and Comfy

I was sent the above product for the purpose of reviewing it on this blog. All thoughts, opinions and photographs belong to me. No monetary compensation was received.

#ad Review: Yorkshire Mayfair Microfiber Sheets

My Thoughts:

I had never used microfiber sheets before and wanted to try them since I love my microfiber towels. I was excited to be able to review the Yorkshire Mayfair Microfiber Sheets. We were not disappointed. They are very soft and silky feeling, much like you would get from a very high thread count of cotton but not with the high price tag of a high thread count cotton. My husband says that this is his preferred way to sleep. We put them on the bed at our cabin since the color sent to us best matches there. I love that I can sleep in flannel pajamas with these sheets and I don't "stick". I am going to have to buy a king size set or two for our home now.


The package says that this set has deep pockets and they really do. This set would be really great if someone has a pillow top mattress set because there is plenty of extra fabric on the sides to fully cover the sides. If you don't have a pillow top or it's not a high pillow top (like ours) then you just need to make sure your fitted sheets is fully tucked around the sides. The elastic is strong enough that it helps pull it in to keep in place.

I love that they are wrinkle resistant because I just don't have time to deal with wrinkles. I do love the color they sent me because it works awesome for a log cabin. I will be soon sharing a review of flannel sheets from the same company and they happened to send me the same color.

Buy Yorkshire Mayfair Microfiber Sheets on Amazon!

Product Description from Yorkshire Mayfair:


Made of the highest quality heavy-weight, high-gram luxury microfiber
•4 piece sheet set includes a flat sheet, fitted sheet and two pillowcases
•More durable than cotton,Hypoallergenic and wrinkle resistant!
•Extra Deep Pocket Fit


I was sent the above product for the purpose of reviewing it on this blog. All thoughts, opinions and photographs belong to me. No monetary compensation was received.

Hand Made Pottery Fishing Wind Chime

Here is the second of the wind chimes that I made. I made this fishing one for my husband to have up at the cabin. I slab rolled out the clay and cut out a variety of different. I varied them in size shape and texture. I tied them all to a piece of fishing pole with fishing line. It is almost warm enough to have it hanging outside the cabin.

Next week I will share with you the Moon and Stars Wind Chime that I made.

Pottery Leaf and Fish Candle Chargers / Platters

Today I want to share with you a couple of candle chargers or platters that I made. I used the same mold for both of these, which is also the same one as the Pottery Candle Charger I made as a gift as well. 

I made the fish one for my husband and it is at our cabin. The leaf one I made for myself (I do occasionally make something for myself) to have at our house. The fish pieces are from clay cutters I bought and the leaf prints are from a push in clay mold I purchased. These were a fun experiment to see how I could use these fun new tools

3 DIY Wreaths for Only $6

Let me first start off my saying that the reason it was possible to make 3 wreaths for only $6 (plus tax) was because I was re-using wreath forms. So, this year as you discard your wreath, think about if there are parts you can save to make a new wreath next year.

If you look at the picture in the upper right you can see the 3 forms that were a large grapevine wreath, a foam green wreath (you could get something similar at the Dollar Store) and a straw wreath (which only sell for a few dollars at Wal-Mart.)

All of these wreath forms were left behind at the cabin we bought, so I just went to Dollar Tree and bought some supplies (6 items worth) and got some yarn from my knitting bag and used some hot glue I had and cut some branches off of an evergreen outside at the cabin.

My daughter decorated the straw one, while I did the others two. I laid out the pieces on the forms before gluing or tying them in to place. I am pretty happy with how they all turned out and we have 2 newly decorated wreaths at the cabin (plus a third one I told you about last week) and one at home.

No Cost Wreath Design

Are you looking to decorate for the holidays but don't have a big budget for decorations?

Try looking in your own backyard and garden to create your own holiday wreath without spending any money.

Do you use chicken wire around your garden to keep out animals? Well, chicken wire bends easily and can be formed in to a wreath shape easily. Also, the great thing about chicken wire is that it has these awesome holes to shove in evergreen pieces, which is what I did. I just looked to the yard to find trimmings that I could use to make an evergreen wreath that now hangs outside the garden shed at the cabin.

I spent no money to make this beautiful wreath. What can you make just by looking around to see what you already have?