I made these Earring Frames for my sisters and sisters-in-law for Christmas, but held off on posting the “how-to” until now…because I STILL haven’t given my sister Katie her present. I didn’t want to give away what it was. But, I’ve waited long enough. I’ll finally be seeing her soon, and if she sees this first – oh well. : )

How to:

1. The Frame:

You can use a pre-made picture frame or make your own frame. If you want to make your own frame:

A. Get yourself some thin pieces of wood for framing

B. Use a miter box and saw to cut the corner of 1 piece at 45 degrees

C. Measuring from the tip of the corner, mark the wood at 15 inches.

D. Cut opposite corner using miter box and saw. Make sure the angles are correct according to the drawing!

E. Repeat for 1 more 15 in. piece and 2 11 in. pieces

F. Sand Edges

G. Your Pieces should line up like this:

H. Paint the wood!

I. Use some super duper strong glue to glue the pieces together

After I made 2 or 3 of these, I realized that you can just buy a cheap picture frame, and it is WAY faster! But, it can be just as fast and easy to make it yourself if you’re only making 1 and you already have the wood (as was the case when I made one for myself…before I decided to make 4 more as gifts…).

2. The Mesh:

I bought screen material…which is meant for repairing/replacing screen doors. You can use any kind of material that holds its shape well and has mesh openings about the right size for earrings

A. Cut the screen into a 15in. X 11in. rectangle (or whatever size matches the picture frame you have)

B. Spray paint the screen!

3. Putting it all Together

Oops, I only have pictures of me putting the screen on the store-bought picture frame, but it’s pretty much the same for the homemade frame too.

A. Use hot glue to put the screen on the back of the frame. These picture frames had a cardboard lining around the edge, so I glued that on top of the screen edges to make it look more finished.

B. Put some earrings on the frame, and admire. : )

A view from the back of mine:

Tim and I drove out to Arizona for a cousin’s wedding this past week. On our way (okay, so it was really out of our way), we made a stop in Sedona for some mountain biking. We planned to camp in the bed of our truck the night we arrived, then head out to the trails in the morning. Very unlike California, you can drive a certain distance down any forest service road and camp…but the waist-deep snow around Flagstaff wasn’t plowed on those forest service roads, so we found a nice cozy hotel and actually got to shower after our ride. : ) We focused more on riding our bikes than taking pictures, but here are some that we did stop to snap:

This was the first time I had been biking on a “real” trail…and it wasn’t exactly meant for out-of-shape beginners (that would’ve been boring anyway!). Tim was nice enough to stop for a rest here and there to enjoy the scenery and catch our breath.

There were a couple creeks to cross, and we figured that carrying or walking our bikes across was the good way to go. : )

Our self portrait with the camera sitting on the ground on a little flat rock : )

I did a good job of avoiding the cactus, but more than once, I poked my backside on these plants that look like agave (?) when I crouched down to take a picture…so Tim thought it would be appropriate to take my picture sitting with them…?

These purple cactus looked so pretty against the red dirt and green shrubs…a great display of God’s artistic handiwork. : )

I can’t wait to get back to Sedona some day and spend even more time exploring all the different places to mountain bike with my wonderful hubby!!

Lily, Barbie, and Heather:

While scrounging for stray marshmallows on the sidelines of a marshmallow-gun fight, Lily showed me her dancing skills:

And here she is in a tickle-fight with Uncle Tim…still in her tutu and leg-warmers : )

Daphne was more interested in chewing on her shoe than posing for her auntie, but she’s still adorable in her little Christmas outfit: : )

Watch out for a tutu-how-to coming soon!

The lion on the front is a copy of the Finnish national emblem, but Carter was excited that it looked just like the flags from Narnia. : )

A rare moment of sweetness between the slashings of the sword:

Carter went out in the backyard and trained on a trash can. He may only be 3 1/2, but I have never seen someone so ready for battle before.

Here’s his “pretending to die” series. He let me know that he can’t actually die, because the “chainmen” (chain-mail) protects him.

The End.

Here are a some picture of the process of getting it all together…

Tim gets all the credit for this lovely stick person…

Voila! The finished product on the wall above our kitchen table : )

First was Karen and 9 of her family members at Heritage park:

Remember Randi and Andy from their maternity shots? Here they are with their adorable little boy, Brooks:

The Christmas tree at Fashion Island in Newport made a nice Christmas-y background for Brandon, Stefanie, Aspen, and little Brody:

These pictures of Daniella and 10-year-old Felix were taken the day before he donated over 1 foot of his hair to the childhood leukemia foundation. Pretty cool, right? We had to capture his super long locks before he chopped it all off!

Merry Christmas!!

We didn’t get to spend much time in Eureka, but we tried to make the best of what we had. Mindy suggested that we drive down the “Avenue of the Giants” on our way back, and I’m glad we followed her suggestion!

The “Avenue of the Giants”  is a portion of old Hwy 101 in Humboldt County. It’s a very pretty scenic detour from the new Hwy 101, and there are some nice spots along the way to get out and wander around. Click on the map to see a zoom-able version from the original website. : )

Redwoods are pretty any time of the year, but this drive was super gorgeous with the yellow, orange, and red autumn leaves- not to mention the recent rain, which made  everything glisten with dew.

It would have been worth the drive even if we didn’t get out of the car, but Carter wanted to go lizard hunting, and we all needed to stretch our legs…

These trees are soooo tall…

We came across a cool tree that was missing most of the inside, and Tim told Carter and Lily that if they passed through it, they would step into an imaginary land…

Carter asked, “We will be in heaven?!?!” After clearing up the misunderstanding, they stepped through the tree-hole and proceeded to find lots and lots of old dinosaur bones. At least this is what I’m told…I was too busy taking pictures of everything. : )

Tim and I stole Carter and Lily from their parents and took them to visit their baby cousin, Leanna way up north. They’re all pretty goofy and very cute.

Leanna wasn’t so sure about these “big kids” and their shenanigans in her crib…

…but, she soon joined in the fun.

Carter may be one of the craziest boys around, but when he gets around babies, he definitely knows how to slow down and soften up.

Lily learned how to make goofy faces since the last time I saw her. She thought she was pretty funny.

Carter learned that Lily’s pigtails make for the perfect horsey reins to hold onto. Lily was the giggliest horse I’ve ever seen.

Model baby

I told Lily to do something goofy, and Carter didn’t really approve. He put his arm around her and explained that I shouldn’t tell his sister to do things like that.

I’m glad we stole them, even if they did eat all of our food and make us buy more every 10 minutes…