Tag: fireplace

  • Trapped bird

    Trapped bird

    What do you do when your house starts making strange noises? I was convinced we had burglar in our back yard this morning! I even got up the bravery to go check it out. After the noises continued through out the day I came to the conclusion they were coming from the wood burning stove.

    Yep there was an animal in there alright! Before Mark got home, I bravely opened the doors to it, fully expecting to be mauled by an angry raccoon (I don’t even know if they live around here, lol). Thankfully for me nothing came out. So I left it for Mark, and then completely forgot to tell him when he got home, until he asked me if I knew there was an animal in the stove. I told him, that yes actually I did know, and it had been there all day.  So he got to work, and finally got that poor raccoon bird out.
    Once he managed to get it out of the pipe, the bird decided to lodge itself behind this back piece of metal. It just couldn’t find it’s way out. Granted it had been there for a good 12 hours almost, I’d probably be disoriented too. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the birds flight out the open back door, but if I had, you’d have only seen a blur. It’s stories like these that start making our house more like a home.
    Fly home birdie, fly home!
  • The Stockings Were Hung – DIY Cardstock Chimney

    The Stockings Were Hung – DIY Cardstock Chimney

    When you live in an apartment, or even a home for that matter, without a chimney – it’s pretty simple to DIY it for the holidays. 
     
    We have lots of little kids, but back when we only had three girls – all under 4 – it seemed important to have a place for Santa Claus to get inside. Thanks to popular rhymes and stories, Santa NEEDS a chimney. 
     
    This DIY Cardstock Chimney is so easy, anyone could come up with it on their own. This is more to show you how we brought the magic of Christmas alive, despite our modest living conditions at the times.
     
     
    Our 2010 cardstock Chimney
    A little card stock, marker, and creativity can go a long way!
     
    What you’ll need for your DIY Cardstock Chimney:
    Cardstock – red, orange, yellow, black
    Black permanent marker
     
    On the red cardstock, draw lines to create bricks. Tape the Black Cardstock to your wall. Fit read brick cardstock around the black.
    Cut flames out of orange and yellow cardstock. Attach to the black. 
     
    Hang your stockings with care and wait for St Nicholas to appear. 
     
    The tradition has lived on, and in 2018 Rosalina took it upon herself to turn our Piano into the chimney.She even included the logs and a few presents on the side. 
     
    Modest homes can still have Christmas magic with a DIY cardstock chimney. Our 2018 DIY chimney was made by 7-year-old Rosalina.