HOLIDAY HOOPLA

I love Christmas time! It is my favorite time of year. We get to be with family, shop and more shopping, eat lots of good food, feel the spirit of the season (hope and joy and kindness), party and... just... everything about it!

My sisters and I met up for lunch and some shopping one day.

 The ward Christmas party is always a tradition. This year was fun. Santa even came to visit! I haven't been to a ward party with Santa for a long time. It was awesome! Princess P sat on his lap and when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said, 'I want my braces off.' He quickly responded, 'Braces make you more attractive to boys.' PERFECT!

Ward party with Little C singing with the youth.

This year we held our first ugly Christmas sweater party. It turned out fun! I bought some old, cheap sweaters at DI because I couldn't find any cheapies anywhere. I actually like they way they turned out. I just used stuff I had on hand (felt, rick rack, and a glue gun), sparkly pom poms, bells, and felt cut-outs from the dollar section at Target. Easy peasy.

Homemade Christmas sweaters.

FAMILY ORNAMENTS

We traditionally make an ornament every year for Christmas. The kids really love it and the craftier, more creative the project, the better. I like our ornaments this year. We modge podged paper onto styrofoam balls. Everyone chose the paper they used (except for the missionaries- I did theirs with maps of where they are) All of them turned out fun!

This is A's. His paper is equalizer bars since he's so into electronic music this year.

Big C used blueprints of house plans since he's a builder.

Princess P used candy paper, because that's all she will eat.

S's paper is a map of southern Florida, but it's hard to tell.

Mine is pictures of places I visited in Italy and France this spring.

Little C is way into Spiderman and his turned out awesome!

D's is a map of Northern England. Maps are hard.

CHALKBOARD ART & CRAFTINESS

Chalkboard art is so trendy right now and I love it! I have always been obsessed with lettering and fonts and some of the chalkboard art I've seen does such a great combination of the two. I decided I needed one to do my own art on and I have loved it!

My new chalkboard from Hobby Lobby.

Here is my Thanksgiving chalk art. I don't come up with them all on my own, I find one I like online and then make it work on my board. I really love doing them!

We just got a new craft store in town that specializes in the cut out letters. I went when it first opened and bought a Thanksgiving set since I don't have very many decorations for that holiday. 

My version.

I have A LOT of scrapbook paper and it was easy to make. Very fun!!

SHENANIGANS WITH PRINCESS P & AWESOME A

Princess P is a very creative girl (like her sister before her). I just love the things she comes up with. She went to the pumpkin patch on a field trip with her class and came home with this pumpkin, telling me that she was going to make it into a witch. I love the way it turned out! She's awesome!

The green witch (notice the wart with the hair on her chin) and Princess P.

 This past week was Red Ribbon Week, so Princess P and Little C had to dress up everyday. They loved it. I don't have any photos of Little C (he takes off so fast I never got a chance), but here are two of Princess P.

Nerd Day and Crazy Hair and Sock Day.

A is a wild and crazy kid. Here are some photos to prove it... 

A loves his calculus homework. If that isn't crazy, I don't know what is.

 He has a great sense of humor, even about himself. Here is proof! Not many kids would even think to laugh about a missing finger, but he came up with this one.

That is actually a Body Parts gummy candy. hahaha! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

MESSENGER BAG MADNESS

I thought it would be fun for my Young Women in church to learn how to sew something useful, so we set aside two weeks to make some messenger bags. Unfortunately the girls weren't as excited as I was to make them. Only one girl finished hers. Sad. I thought they were really fun and made a few.

Princess P decided she needed to learn to sew too, so we took a few hours yesterday and sewed. She really liked the way her bag turned out and I do too. It is SO cute and she did such a good job! She sewed every stitch herself, I just told her what to do. This is the tutorial we followed. SUPER simple, even if you don't sew that well. Watch out though, it is addicting.

Princess P and her peace bag.

CREATIVE KIDS

 S, along with Little C and Princess P, made some bead animals yesterday. When they started to take photos of their creations, they couldn't stop and giggled and goofed for a half an hour making faces and being silly. This is only 1/3 of the photos. I just couldn't resist sharing.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I've decided that subconsciously I love to make my life complicated. Valentines' Day is always a fabulous example. I always feel the need to do something different and wonderful (if I can talk my kiddos into it). WHY? Why can't I just have the kids write their name on store-bought Buzz Lightyear and Hello Kitty cards, attach a piece of store-bought candy and call it good??

Instead, I spent ALL DAY yesterday making these heart-shaped crayons. Yes, they are cool and yes, they turned out cute, but they took FOREVER! Bake for 15 min. and cool for 20 min. with a tray of 6 to make 60 crayons? Yeah, I was ready to be done. Then we still had to make the cards to put them on. Blah. Why do I do that to myself? I don't have time!! (On a side note: my kids did love them and so did all their friends- except the kid that took a bite out of his, so I can console myself that at least it was time well spent).

Here's Little C's cute monster box (see the Pinterest theme in my Valentine's Day yet). He did such a good job. He had his Dad help glue on the teeth and he did everything else himself. The one eye is my favorite part!

I made these bar sugar cookies to take around to family today, except mine had pink frosting and were only half that thick. I need to find a new recipe. I'm just glad tonight has come and I have NOTHING TO DO! Heaven.

SNOWMAN FAMILY

Okay, this is the last Pinterest post for a while, I promise. But these snowmen turned out so cute I just had to share.

I got together with a couple of friends on Saturday and we made this cute snowman family. I got the info from Pinterest, but we changed them to fit what we wanted. Here's the link if you're interested...

CRAFTINESS

Pinterest strikes again! I pinned these covered light switches on Pinterest and thought about doing them. Then, I saw that my sister had some in her home and they looked SO cute. She bought them at a local store and my decision was set in stone.

Last night I got busy and did almost my whole upstairs. Here are some of my favorites. I am SO thrilled with them. My kids were even impressed and they aren't easily impressed by crafts.

The key is to find cute scrapbook paper. I have TONS in my stash, so that part was easy.

(Sorry about this crappy photo- I'm too lazy to take another one). The other key is to use spray glue. The website I looked at said to use mod podge or paste, but spray adhesive was SO much easier. I tried them both ways.

At the end, you Mod Podge over the top to keep them from getting too dirty too fast and VIOLA! You've covered over 18 years of cracked, stained switch covers and added a fun decorative element to your room. I even used a recipe card one for my kitchen. Will the cuteness ever end?

PINTEREST

Yes, it is true. I have let Pinterest into my life. (If you don't know what that is, here's a link). It has actually been a great help for me too. I do love finding photos and putting them into categories (helps me feel like at least one part of my life is organized :), but I have also found it is a great place to discover new recipes and craft ideas. Here are some of the things I have made:

Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos. I made these little masterpieces for dinner last night and they were a hit! Major, super yum! Here is the link for the recipe. They were pretty easy to make too because I just used canned chicken from my food storage!

Pumpkin Pie Crescents. I actually made these last night too for a little get-together with friends. Not as yummy or as easy as I had hoped, but I just had to try... Here is the link if you'd like to make them though.

Macaroni and Cheese. I don't usually make homemade macaroni and cheese because Big C isn't a fan, but it sounded very yummy so I did it anyway. It was VERY good! If you don't have an amazing recipe for it, use this one.

Pumpkin Blondies. These are A-MAZ-ING! Very easy and very yummy! Here's the link.

Corner bookmarks. I made these for book club a few weeks ago and they turned out so cute.

I didn't make the monster ones, mine turned out more like this (with a flower and button), but they were easy and cute, especially if you're using double-sided scrapbook paper. Here's the link for instructions.

Happy Pinning!

BOREDOM BUSTER BACKFIRE

I am hearing, 'What can I do?' way too much this summer. So I saw this cute idea to make garden markers out of rocks and thought it would be a perfect way to fix the boredom blues.

Princess P helped me paint the base coat of 3, but then she got bored of painting and left me to it. I had all the stuff out, so I thought I'd just finish.

They turned out cute, but I ended up doing them all but one and that wasn't the purpose of the activity. Princess P did come back out to do the green beans. I need to clear coat them and then they'll go in the garden. So much for my bright idea of keeping kids busy
.

FABRIC FLOWERS

I have seen rolled fabric flowers all over everything lately and I LOVE them. I decided to try to make some, so I googled some tutorials (click for link) and found lots of different ways to do them.

I think I am going to buy some pieces of fabric today and make some in the exact colors I want. They are fun and fast and best of all- NO SEWING. I can sew, but it is so much more immediate to just hot glue.

PAPER WREATH

A few years ago I saw these printed paper wreaths in a Pottery Barn Catalog and knew I had to make one. I LOVE BOOKS- reading them, making them, collecting them... I just knew this wreath was for me.

Last night I got around to making one. As I said, I collect books. If I go to a thrift store I come out with a least a few old books, so I had some to choose from. I also found some old sheet music for cello and piano. The old copy I had of my favorite book added some sheets to the wreath as well (just got a new copy on Amazon).

Does anyone have any feedback for me? I am going to do the ribbon as well, I just don't have it yet. Does it deserve to hang on a wall in my living room or does it still need work? I'd love some comments.