Blog Has Moved

Hi!

Thanks for stopping by.

This blog has moved.

I will be gradually moving files and links.

Please visit me at my new address:

Pawpaw Holler Home

I'm Still Here

I'm still here! :)

I'm just about to get my site the way I want it to look but I still have to transfer all my links.

Sneak Peak

I'm going to leave this blog up here, too.
It was too much trouble trying to import everything.

I'll be posting again soon! Watch for last update. :)

No More Posts Until Site Launch

Hi everyone.

I took a couple days off, had some things to do.
I've also been cold for three days and my computer is at a drafty window (keeps the computer cool).

Anyways, I will be working on getting my site up and this is the last post until I do, I'm going to have enough to move to the new site without adding more. :)

Hopefully it won't take too long.

Stay tuned. :)

Homemade Toys And Gifts

Homemade is big right now.
I can't imagine why. :)

Here are some ideas for homemade toys and gifts for children.


First, from TennZen, homemade marshmallow shooters.
These look really neat, we'll probably make a couple for our children.


Make Baby Stuff.com has several tutorials with patterns for sewing to woodworking and more.

Wooden toys:
Homemade Birdie Toy Tutorial

Wooden Puzzle Instructions

Doll Cradle Plans

Wooden Memory Tile Tutorial

Make Wooden Building Blocks

Sewn toys:
Doll Pattern & Instructions

Soft Blocks Sewing Tutorial

Felted Sweater Mouse Puppet

Waldorf Doll Instructions

Recycled toys:
Cardboard Playhouse Plans

Recycled Wallpaper Blocks

Even more toys:
Homemade Playdough

Kool-Aid Dyed Playsilks

Homemade Stickers


All Free Crafts has quite a few ideas for sewn, knitted and crocheted toys.

Teddy Wolf

Stuffed Hound Dog

Crocheted Frog

Amigurumi Bunny

Corker Knitting Spool


This next one is not a toy but a book on toy making for children, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day.

"Home-Made Toys for Girls And Boys" (available today only)


Finally, if you're like us and think children have too many toys, I have an idea for you.

You can buy plain canvas totebags, purses, and aprons from Hobby Lobby (or make your own, but last year I paid less than $2 for a pack of three).
Decorate with fabric paints; freehand, with stencils or rubber stamps.

I have also used acrylic craft paint in place of fabric paint, it just has to be heat-set with an iron before washing. Be sure it's dry (it takes about 24 hours), use low heat and don't put the iron directly on the fabric, copier paper works well.

You can also use this idea for your children to make "handprint" T-shirts, pot-holders, or aprons for their daddy or grandparents.
We made my husband a T-shirt one year with both our children's handprints on it and "We love our daddy" written in freehand.

Happy crafting. :)

Website Update

Good morning!

I can understand why people pay someone else to build their website, it can be very confusing to "newbies" like me!

When I bought my hosting they gave me a choice between Windows and Linux and I thought that meant the type of operating system I have. I have Windows, so that's what I picked.
I even went with GoDaddy over my first choice, HostGator, because they had Windows and HostGator didn't.

Come to find out, it's the host's servers they give you a choice on, not your computer's software. I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't know that.

Anyways, I wanted to use WordPress on my site and you can't with GoDaddy if you pick Windows. Thankfully, it wasn't too much trouble to switch to their Linux server, which has a WordPress plug-in, it just took an awful long time to do it. GoDaddy is VERY slow once you log in to your account, it takes about 30 minutes to load a page! Of course I do have dial-up, which is slow anyways, but 30 minutes is ridiculous! Thankfully, I only paid for two months of hosting so I can switch to HostGator, if GoDaddy doesn't work out.

I did get WordPress installed, which was very easy, and now I can actually start building my site. With WordPress you can work from your site itself, not your hosting account, so maybe it will go a little quicker.

Well, that's my progress so far and I'm going to try to work on it some today. Stay tuned for further updates!

And all you techie people out there, go ahead and laugh. I am! :)

Thank you Penny Raine for your help. :)

Book Giveaway

I just had to tell you all about a new book giveaway.

Renae, over at Life Nurturing Education, is giving away a beautiful, hardcover book, "O Holy Night", full of stunning photographs of the land Jesus traveled, poetry and hymns.

Comment by 11:00PM Friday, December 5 to enter.

Free Holiday Recipe E-Books

Good morning!

Here are some links to free holiday recipes e-books.

The first two, "Classic Christmas Cookies" and "Classic Christmas Candy and Fudge", are from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, and you can only get them today!

Next on the list is "Healthy Christmas Recipes Mini Ebook" from Free-EbooksOnline.com.

Would you like to have a cookie-exchange party but don't know how?
Partybluprints.com has a free e-book, "The Holiday Giving Party Cookie Exchange", with instructions, recipes and tips on how to host one.

And finally, another free e-book, "Recipes and Writing 2008", can be downloaded from Gregory A. Kompes.
This free e-book is full of holiday recipes, stories, essays, and poems from nine authors.

Happy cooking!

Free Gift-In-A-Jar E-book

Thanks for stopping by.
This link has been moved to Gift In A Jar Recipe Links at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Gift-In-A-Jar Recipe Links

Thanks for stopping by.
These links have been moved to Gift In A Jar Recipe Links at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Free Christmas Audios

Here are three Christmas audios to download, all in mp3 format.

Download an audio of the story of the song "Silent Night" at Homeschool Freebie of the Day.
Don't forget, you can only get this today!

Join Homeschool Radio Shows for week one of their "Dickens Christmas Festival". This week's audio program is "The Cricket on the Hearth" by Charles Dickens, originally broadcast on December 24, 1945.
Available for one week.

Another old-time radio show episode, "Christmas Party" from Gene Autry's "Melody Ranch", can be downloaded from OldTimeRadioFans.com.
You can get this one anytime.

Enjoy. :)

More Giveaways!

Good morning all. :)
I found some more giveaways!

$500 Kmart Gift Card
Chris Brogan at Dad-O-Matic is giving away a $500 gift card from Kmart, with 2 ways to enter!

1. Comment on his blog and include a description and SKU or item numbers of items on your holiday wish list that total $500 or less.

-or-

2. Use Twitter to tweet the message found on his blog post. (a lot easier than #1)

Deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. EST on December 16.


Dirt Devil Kwik
During the Dirt Devil 12 Days of Cleaning Sweepstakes enter each day for a chance to win a Dirt Devil Kwik, the desktop vac for electronics that charges from your computer!

To enter, go to dirtdevil.com/12daysofcleaning/ each day through December 12 and complete the form.

Thanks go out to Wendy at Shopping Gems.


Free Domain
Wendy also has another site, Twitter!Tweet!Win!, with a great contest from NameCheap, The Great NameCheap "Twitter Trivia Contest" 12/1/08 - 12/25/08.

NameCheap will be posting a trivia question every hour on the hour starting on December 1, 2008 until December 25, 2008 on Twitter.

The First three people to reply to the Tweet with the correct answer will get a $9.69 credit to their NameCheap account (a free domain). To make it fair, each contestant can win only one domain per day.

At the end of the contest, the three tweeters who have posted the most correct answers will win an iPod Nano.

Thanks again, Wendy. :)


Avon
Beth at Tea and Thee is giving away a set of Avon's Liiv Botanicals skincare products.

To enter, leave a comment telling what your favorite Avon product is. You can also Twitter and blog about the contest for extra entries.

This contest is open until 11:59 pm December 7, 2008.

Thanks Beth. :)


Well, that's all for now. I'll post more as I find them. :)