Just a little Corny

I tend to be just a little corny, but that is okay. I like that sometimes  most of the time I am the only one who thinks I'm funny. This post is about another kind of corny...crafty corny. I made these beautiful centerpieces using things I had here at my home.

First you will need to find some dry corn. I got this from the field in front of our house RIGHT after it was harvested. Since harvest was early (and pretty dismal) this year I was able to get these before school started so I had plenty of time to think over this year's crafts.

 If you are looking in a freshly harvested field for corn make sure it is still on the cob as shown here

 Some may not be in the husks and that is okay, do not eat this corn or allow children to eat it as most corn planted in fields (not gardens) is treated with pesticides. This also is not good corn for popping as it has an extremely low moisture point, that's why it is great for cow food , and less great for people food.

Some cobs may be different colors they are also good for crafting if you want...I'm not really into corn cob crafting so I just pitch these after taking the kernels off.

 

To remove kernels you should just press them to the side with your fingers, twisting them between your hands works too but you get a lot of silt and dust that way. 

OR...you can press each row down ward and work around the cob in a circular motion. 

 

I have two crafts going and since the corn harvest was not so good this year, after shelling the corn I only had about 5 cups of kernels from my basket full of cobs so...to save space I put an upside down measuring glass in the bottom of my large clear vase. I am not a photographer, sorry, my pictures stink.

After filling the vase, and topping it with a candle I was ready to put Carly down for a nap and fold the laundry. She obviously is into crafting...just look at that face!

While Carly was down for a nap I decided to get out my fall stuff. (and I didn't do the laundry, I just put it in the bedroom so the pictures looked nicer)!

If you think the picture of Carly and Maggie on the right side is cute you should check out my friend Jessie Hoag at www.jessicahoagphotography.com I hire her to do all my family photos. She is an amazing photographer and so good with kids, animals and husbands.





Second Corn Craft: Vase, yeah I get it...why turn the vase into a candle holder when you could just use the vase....as a vase. Because it's more fun that way!

 

Get a cute jar or bowl or vase or something. I chose an old Ball Ideal jar because I'm from the country and I like it that way. (song lyric pun intended)

Then I searched for some things around my house that I thought might fit in the jar and hold water. From left to right: Duplo mega block, insert from a small Pampered Chef Measure-all, glass cup, one of Carly's sippy cups. 

The Pampered Chef Measure All insert fit except for the top part, so I cut it off.

JOKING!! Mom, you should start breathing again, I promise I didn't cut any PC apart!

The sippy cup was too wide to fit and the glass fit but was too tall. This is beginning to sound like a nursery rhyme. 

 The block cylinder did fit, I put it in upside down so it would hold water. Please disregard Carly's full sippy cup. She was trying to help but really just playing dress up and wrecking the house with the left over corn parts. Can you see her below in her pink and leopard print coat and hat? She is also wearing red sweats, and her mud boots. She has her mother's sense of style that's for sure. 

 Put your had over the opening of whatever you found to fit in your "vase" and pour the corn in around it.

If the corn doesn't cover all the way it is okay, you will cover it in burlap or a ribbon or something. 

 This is what it looks like from the top. Even a seasoned corn crafter occasionally gets a few kernels in the wrong place.



















Now it is time to make them pretty!

Measure your burlap or ribbon or whatever you are using. I had some left over burlap from another project so I cut some into a thin strip and measured it around the vase/candle and cut it so it met up perfect.

Then I followed along where the corn and candle meet with a little white school glue. I always use glue that dries clear, you could also use hot glue but white glue peels off easier and you typically won't melt your fingers off.

I pressed it on really well all the way around and applied an extra dab at the end where the ends met up.

I did the same with the jar/vase except I wanted it to look less perfect so I frayed the ends and tied it in a loose knot then glued it down so it would stay.

If you get too much glue or it doesn't look just perfect don't sweat it. If someone comes to your house and checks your home made vases to see if you did it to THEIR standards you need to find new friends who are less critical of awesome crafts made by real people. 

  

Add a few sunflowers from the driveway and you have a nice looking centerpiece!

And then there was another flood

Back when I went to college there was a basement, that flooded when it sprinkled out. Thankfully in said house there were some pretty crafty people who could run a sump pump in a 5gallon bucket and a garden hose like nobody's business. This I call the Great Clovia Flood.

Now there is the Great Flood of 2012. Only this time there were no squeals as girls slopped through water and made a bucket train out to the street. This time there was a very pissy teacher with a wet classroom and a very pissy science teacher, whom also had a wet classroom.

Guess where the flood originated? Oh yeah, my room!!

Oh dear, I hope nothing got ruined.

No, nothing got ruined except my mood...and the mood of the football coach.

Did you yell at him? You made an ass out of yourself didn't you!?!

NO...No, thankfully there were students in the classroom when he came to see me about it. My look conveyed my mood just fine as well as my angry washing and the fact that the students were being vary studious. He apologized, and left me a jersey to fix for one of the football players. What a sweetie.  I told him to not hold his breath on the jersey.

How did this happen, I don't understand. Did some pipes break?

You see, the washing machine and my west sinks drain out the same pipe which isn't so bad...except it's 1 inch pipe!! (way to freaking small for a billion gallons of nasty clothes ...or in this case football uniform water...to go through)

When the washing machine is running and then rinses the water can't all go down the drain at once because of the tiny pipe so it backs up into the west sinks. This is usually not a problem...except when the plugs are in the sinks because when the water tries to go down it can't...the plugs are doing their job and PLUGGING THE SINKS!

Then the next time the washer rinses and drains the water backs up again...only this time (because the sinks are full of water already ) it flows out of the sinks, down the front cabinets, into the drawers, under the cabinets and refrigerator, under the wall and into the closet and classroom next door.

Back up...football uniforms? Why do you have to wash the football uniforms?

Excellent question, I don't the football coach does and after FOUR YEARS of training him he still freaking forgot to check the sinks!!!!! He did turn on the vent to pull the lint out, he did change the settings on the washer back to normal, he did fold all his clothes, he did take the uniforms with him. HE DID NOT SEE THE GIGANTIC FLOOD.

How it wasn't noticed I am not sure but it wasn't. Sigh......so I mopped and washed and rinsed and dried out cabinets and put up a sign.

Oh, did I mention the football team now has their own washer and dryer. They didn't yet have hoses.

Rest assured, they do now ;)

How to be a Princess

Find this exact shirt at www.shirtofun.com

Back in "the day" I was into the princess thing- not Disney style princess, more like Claire's and cheap accessory store princess. I had a blue shirt with a glittery Princess! and a pink shirt with Princess: noun, see: ME, and....you get it right?

I was not overly conceited, I just liked princess stuff. No one ever called me princess, or treated me like a princess, in fact I despised dresses and often wore jeans and tennis shoes to school....and every where else.

Then I went to college, had a great time and forgot all about the princess phase.

Fast forward 8 years to this morning - 6:45 am, hair is wet and not brushed, make-up is half on, under eye bags are super baggy as I wrote 1 paper and re-read/edited another for masters classes last night, shirt untucked, pink skirt is wrinkled from being left in the dryer over night, no deodorant, teeth not brushed.

Carly comes careening into the bathroom giggling, hair wild, one shoe on the other in her hand, and stops to look at me.

We make eye contact and I lead her to the living room, set her on my lap to put her other shoe on. She pats my disheveled skirt and says "Mama pretty, Mama princess" and smiles at me then slips off my lap before I can give her a hug.

Way better than any t-shirt.