Back to my church crafts

The children's church program started up again and I have been making new craft samples. You know me; I'll be posting some of them soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

So excited to see 2011 and all I look forward to the wonderful creative projects that are sure to come forth in this year!!!

Fruitcake

I absolutely ADORE fruitcake!! I know I can't be the only one! My Dad gets one for me every year from this place called Collin Street Bakery.



To me these are the very best fruitcakes - they are moist, sweet, sticky, and have just the right balance of fruit, nuts, and cake. Truly a work of art! They don't last long around me! I got mine just before Thanksgiving this year, and it was gone before the end of the following week.

Busy Knitting (of Course)

I have been quite busy with all my knitting projects as of late. But one day I was coming home and I saw this creature on my garage door:

I had read about walking sticks and had seen them in pictures and on tv, but it was nice to actually see one in person. Had it not been on the garage door I probably wouldn't have noticed it, thanks to it's excellent method of camouflage. It was about 4-5 inches long. I pointed it out to my daughter and explained to her what it was. She seemed fascinated by it. I didn't think they had a habitat in NJ. But then again, I've seen many strange looking insects and spiders living in the garden state.

Church crafts part 3

I'll probably post a few more of the church crafts I'm working on, and then that will be it. I'm making the same crafts that I made last year for the most part, but some of them I didn't post last year. Here are this week's crafts:

Peter's Valley Craft Fair!!

This past weekend my family and I went to the Sussex County Fairgrounds and walked around the 40th Annual Peters Valley Craft Fair (http://www.petersvalley.org/) . According to their website, "Peters Valley Craft Center is a national center for fine craft education where people’s lives are enriched through the exploration and execution of fine craft. Located in the Delaware Water Gap Peters Valley offers two to five day workshops in blacksmithing, ceramics, fibers, fine metals, photography, wood and special topics including printmaking, books & paper, drawing, and glass." Every year they have a craft fair. We had never been before, and I had seen a show about Peters Valley on the local PBS station. So we decided to check it out. Great choice! It was only $8 per adult ($7 with $1 coupon), and children under 12 are free. It was so much bigger than I imagined! There were 6 long buildings,

and each one was filled to the brim with vendors selling all kinds of handmade creative items.

Clothing, jewelry,

ceramics,

fiber arts,

sheep,

beautiful flowers made out of clay (!!!)

roaming musicians,

even wood carving.

In fact, the artist in this picture was carving little items out of wood for passers-by. We just happened to be standing there and watching when he had finished a small item for a lady nearby. When he was done, he said, "Who's next?" Naturally, my daughter chimed right in, "Me!!" Much to my surprise. I didn't think the items he was making were free, but he set to work making a 3-dimensional butterfly. He made it seem so easy the way he used his tool with skill, as he described the process of making the butterfly. In moments, he gave my daughter the finished item below:

She promptly said thanks and we gave him a small donation. She was delighted with the little butterfly, and so were we!

There was also an area where artists from Peters Valley were demonstrating their crafts.

Many of the vendors had delicate items, so we cautioned our daughter not to touch them. However, there was an area for the children to create their own crafts, so my daughter spent some time there coloring and cutting.

It was a pleasant day, the weather was nice, and we enjoyed ourselves.

More Church Crafts!

Here are a couple of the ones from this week:

Octopus

Jesus walking on water

I had one more that I did but I didn't finish it in time to take a picture of it. It was a baby Jesus in a manger, made with straw and popsicle sticks. I guess they are starting the Christmas story early this year.