She's Crafty!

As the Beastie Boys say... "She's crafty!..." I won't quote any more after that because the song quickly defines what the Beasties really meant by "crafty"- and sadly (in this context) it doesn't actually involve art projects.

Anywhoozit. Everyone knows we Braun babes are quite the craftsters. Not to downplay the craftiness of our male brethren, but let's face it, the ladies are standouts. From knitting to sewing and spinning to painting, we all have our crafty hobbies. And there's the more artistic "crafts" like photography and graphics represented in the familiy craft pool as well.

So I've been exploring my own craftiness lately and trying to push myself to try crafts that I've avoided in the past- quilting being one of them. And I think its fun to teach others, explore things we don't know and create something. So very soon I will be unveiling the full extent of this challenge I am issuing myself and the others in the family (the boys are invited too!). But here is the general premise:
-Each month I'll announce a craft project. It may be a sewing project, it might be jewelry making. It might be something very vague like "Make a set of notecards" in which case you can utilize any number of craft methods. There might be very specific rules like "using only the color green..."
- If there is a family member that is a "Pro" at this particular craft, they will be called out as a resource. I'm going to try to make sure that everyone gets to be a "pro" so we're all forced to try something that someone else in the family enjoys. Feel free to send me ideas.
- At the beginning of the the craft month (I can't promise it will follow the lunar calendar- I might start on the 6th of the month or whatever day work slows down enough to do some planning), I will announce the project. Everyone will have two days to tell me whether or not they want to be involved in that craft.
- Each participant will then be assigned another participant (i.e. Mary has Jennifer; Jennifer has Kelly). They are not to tell other people (unless otherwise specified) who they are paired with.
- At the end of the month (yes, there's a deadline), they have to send their FINISHED project to their assigned person. That means you have to finish it (ahem, Mom).
- That also means that at the end of the month you will be getting a package in the mail that isn't junk. Or maybe it will be junk- but if you say that out loud, you'll be disqualified from future involvement.

And that's it. I just think it will be a fun way of forcing us to try something new, get and give a little gift and learn more about each other. The projects won't be too expensive or difficult (no fancy equipment necessary, etc.). And I think the boys can try to be creative in interpreting the rules so they can play without feeling like this is super girly (a guy friend of mine told me recently about how he learned to latch hook and when he could only find kitten patterns at the store, he made his own Grateful Dead skull pattern). So I hope you'll join me. And I hope you'll fill the comments section with loads of enthusiasm.

Trip advice

I'm headed to NYC and Boston over the next month, so I was looking for input on what I should see and do.

Happy Birthday Jennifer

The BIG 25 how old we are all getting. Hope you have a fabulous day.

The Gang

Happy Birthday to youuuu!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!

You are so good at sending other people birthday cards, so here is your birthday card via the world wide web :) 

Hope you had a grrrrrreat birthday! We think about you often.

Love, 

Us Braun's 

Goodbye Falcon

21 :)

today is ricky's 21st birthday!! we are very excited, but i think he is more excited. now he can drink beer with my dad....HAHAHAHAHA, we'll see how that blows over :) 

elf scene

a day at the beach

It's Snowing in Georgia!!!!!

What a cheap thrill!

ready steady go

Check out our latest Cache Find

Melissa and Stephen went Geocaching with us yesterday and this is one of the treasures we found. Melissa took this finger puppet and we left some Terrapin Labels. This was a fun hunt, it took us on a two mile hike through Sweetwater Creek. We had to find 3 caches with clues to find the final treasure.

I am adding a picture of John at another cache.

Biasotti's on the beach NEW YEARS

Happy New Year!!

This is is how we celebrated, how did you??!!

Wii Champion

santas escape

Happy Holidays from the Sullivans

Hope you're all having as much fun as we are

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.  If you are going to the Sullivan's Gala, have extra fun for us!  Make sure grandma gets in the sauce, and Neil wears his one piece PJ ensemble! If you will be staying home for the holidays, relax and enjoy yourselves!

Take Care!

We Miss you All!

Love,

The Braun Family

where are you?

what's everyone been? What's new? what are you doing? We are going to Finland on Saturday for the one day. We are visiting LAPLAND. This is the north pole, where santa lives. I tried to include a link if you want to see it. We will do reindeer rides, husky sledge rices, snowmobile rides and snow games as well as a visit to santa.
They will even provide us with outter clothing because they say we would not have clothing warm enough it is SO cold there! http://www.magicoflapland.net/lapland_winter_collection.htm

Goofen off on Thanksgivin...

Wish you were all here....