Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Advent Event

Yesterday I decided that I better get to crackin on that Advent Calendar I had been planning to do.  I mean I started planning this a few weeks ago thinking that I had PLENTY of time to make it.  Well, December is slowly sneaking up on me!  I started off with the idea that I was going to sew it using Christmas material.  I sketched it out and had a plan ready.  Problem was, I didn't have any Christmas material.  Solved that problem when we visited family in Ohio over the weekend and went to a Joann's fabric there.  They had some Christmas fabric for $2.50/yard!  I couldn't pass it up!  So I purchased more than enough to make the Advent Calendar. 

I had Monday off and was all set to make the calendar.  However, I was tired.  I mean really tired.  I laid my fabric out, got out my cutting equipment, had my sketch and notes by my side and was set to jump in.  But I was tired.  Did I say that already?  I thought, there has got to be a quicker, easier way to do this.  Then I thought about a family calendar I made last year using a cookie sheet, scrapbook paper and magnets.  Ah ha!  This would be easier AND the kids can help (which may or may not be quicker).  I was excited about my idea, searched Pinterest for ideas - there were a few but nothing I was excited about, threw my clothes on and went shopping for supplies.

As I finished up shopping for my supplies and searching for some sparkly dress shoes for myself, I was getting excited about having the girls involved with this craft.  While they did their homework I set up our work station.  Dinner was in the crock pot so I didn't have to worry about that. 

The girls totally didn't get my explanation of what we were doing but they were eager to help.  Armed with scissors, scrap book paper, clear stones, stickers and glue I got them started on making the numbers.


They worked really hard . . .


Were very quiet . . .


Didn't argue or fight . . . 


And were super cute while doing their job.
It went really quickly!  The girls did a great job with their part and I got the rest of the board ready.  Before we knew it we had it done! 


 The girls put number stickers on pretty paper . . .


glued the numbers to the back of a clear stone . . .

 

I hot glued a magnet to the back of the finished stone . . .


we added some extra stickers . . .


 tied a pretty bow . . .


And there we go!!  Our finished Advent Calendar :)

It's not perfect but it's ours and I think it's lovely!  The girls are very excited about it.  The funny part is, I haven't even printed the activity cards for each day yet!  They don't even know they will have something fun to do each day counting down to Christmas :)

BTW . . . anyone know where I can get sparkly flat shoes for myself??

Monday, November 28, 2011

A Very Special Visitor

Ruby is back!!  That's right, our elf on the shelf made her appearance this morning.  She's here from the North Pole to keep an eye on the girls in these days leading up to Christmas.  We have been gone since Wednesday and got in late last night so I know Ruby worked really late into the night and was up super early this morning getting a very special breakfast ready for the girls.

They have been asking when she was going to come back and wondering where she was going to show up.    

Before breakfast they had to break out of their room . . .
She covered their door with red crepe paper.  Silly elf!




They had no clue what was going on.  I had to make them come out of the room!

 Ruby set the table and was waiting for them . . .


 She brought snowballs (powdered donuts), Reindeer tracks (white chocolate covered pretzels), and frosted mini wheat cereal for breakfast.

  

Ruby also left new Christmas place mats and bowls along with a little gift of Christmas socks and a pack of Santa tissue.


They were so excited!!



 Look at those happy faces!
 She even left a special note to remind the girls that she will be watching and reporting back to Santa every night how they behave :)



We'll get to read the story tonight . . .


Welcome back, Ruby!!! 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

It has a story . . .

I love vintage things and old things. Things with a story and a history. I love nostalgia. It makes me feel good. I love becoming the steward of precious things passed down from generation to generation and look forward to the day I can pass those things down to my children. I am hugely sentimental! My husband keeps me on track as far as keeping the "keeping" down to a minimum though. He is a thrower away-er (not really a word, I know). I am not.

This was my Grandmother's typewriter.


It. Is. So. Heavy.

I'm sure there is a story that goes along with this typewriter. It starts with where my Grandmother bought it and when. It continues with what she typed on it and why. The details of the story? I wish I could know. At least my story can begin with "This was my Grandmother's . . ."

I wanted to type my 30 before 31 list on this but it needs a new ribbon. Anyone know where I can get one of those? The girls have been itching to try it out!



I can't wait to get my "craft room" finished (which by the way I will refer to as my studio from now on :)). This typewriter, along with a few other passed down items will find new homes there.



This is a keeper.

Remember when there were door to door typewriter salesmen? Neither do I!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

That was "Peary" Delicious


I love Fall! I love the colors and the weather and I especially love fall fruits. My favorite being pears. My husband loves apples. A favorite dessert around here is apple crisp. But I wanted a dessert made with pears. I bought a bunch the other day and they have been screaming at me to cook something up with them. So, pear crisp is what went into my oven this evening. Oh, it smelled soooo good as it was cooking and the family keep asking "What are you making?" and "When will it be done?".



It.
Was.
Wonderful.



Fruity.
Sweet.
Warm.
Crunchy.
Perfect.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

. . . around here anyway. Today I set a goal and accomplished it. The girls went to Oma and Opa's house to do crafts with them so I took full advantage of the situation. One of the things on my list of 30 before 31 is make my own Christmas decorations. So I set out to do just that.

Having stocked up on supplies for this particular occasion (and making my husband crazy in the meantime), I was ready to jump in. I put some Christmas music on and prepared my work space for Holiday mayhem! I started with some Christmas tree ornaments.


I want to do my whole tree in these!




I made 10 of these. There are 2 more glass balls waiting for adornment which I hope to finish up tomorrow. As my ornaments sat drying with their coat of mod podge, I finished up my wreath. Well, can you call this a wreath?



My front door decoration!

Believe it or not, the hubby helped pick the colors! Oh, the possibilities with this "wreath"! The color combinations are endless! I have tons of ideas for the changing seasons :)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

That was fast!

I have had an empty picture frame sitting on my desk since this summer. My intentions were to make a message board with it. Today, I was getting ready to print some things for Christmas ornaments and the frame was sitting on top of the printer (where it has been since this summer). Being me, and easily distracted, I got side tracked and whipped up this little bugger instead.

I used an 8x10 photo frame ($5.00 at Walmart)
2 pieces of white paper
Some yellow polka dot fabric from my stash
And a glue stick


This was super easy and really fast! First I had to cover the board behind the glass with white paper so it wouldn't show through my fabric. Next I cut the fabric (an inch bigger than the board on all sides) and glued it to the board. Then I popped the now fabric covered board back into the frame. Ta da!

The really fun thing about this is that when I get tired of the yellow fabric I can switch it out with some different fabric. Or even fun scrapbook paper. Ooooo, I could change it with the seasons or birthdays . . .

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

30 before 31

I like to make lists. Lots of them. They give me an idea of what shape my day will take on and a sense of accomplishment when I get to mark something off. It doesn't matter what kind of list, I like them all! Grocery list, book list, Christmas list, what to pack when we travel, daily to do list. . . You name it, I'll make a list out of it.

Last year I decided to do a 29 things to do before I turned 30 list. I started late in the year but felt I could do most of what was on my list. I thought about all the areas of my life and what I wanted to change, improve, or embellish upon. Those areas were family, home and self. I made my list and posted it on facebook. In the weeks to come I noticed a few of my facebook friends doing the same thing! I love goals and I love to accomplish things so I was thrilled to see other people making their own lists and setting goals for themselves.

I turned 30 in June. I didn't get all of my list marked off but had said in the beginning that I had no problem transferring some things to my next list. It just means that I didn't have time or the opportunity just wasn't there. I knew some things may take more time . . .

I'm a little earlier with my list this year! I have been steadily working my way to cross off some things. Yep, I can even go ahead and mark through some of them. But I won't just because I don't want to mess up all that hard work I put into it!

A few things off my list

The other day I was trying to mark some things off my "to make" list so I started with the easiest of the things on my list. The first thing I did was make a Tooth Fairy pillow for the girls. Ava has already lost several teeth and I had been meaning to make her a pillow. She has a loose tooth now and I know it won't be long until Adrianna looses a tooth so I thought I'd better get it done quickly. I just made one so I hope they don't loose a tooth on the same day!


Here she is :)



With a little pocket so the Tooth Fairy can leave some money!


I also finished up the orders I had for the rice heating packs/cold packs. These are so wonderful! I love to warm mine up in the microwave then put it in bed to keep my feet warm :) They are great! I also have one in the freezer as a boo-boo pack. This is great because it's ready to use, you don't have to wrap it up (my kids can get it out on their own for bumps or bruises, microscopic boo-boo's) and they don't melt. I've been using one as a wrist rest at my key board as well. So many uses!

Aren't they lovely! They would make great teacher's gifts!

Monday, November 14, 2011

blueberry muffins anyone?

Friday was Veterans Day. This meant no school for the kids. The plan was to sleep in. However, my body decided to wake up at 6:00 a.m. Of course on a day that held no time schedule and no appointments I would not be able to sleep. So what do you do when you can't go back to sleep? Why, whip up a batch of blueberry muffins from scratch. What else? I have never made blueberry muffins from scratch so I looked for a recipe online and found an easy one. Luckily I had all the ingredients I needed. I woke my oldest daughter up with the noise I made in the kitchen and when she saw me mixing, pouring and making a mess she thought I had lost my mind.

The muffins turned out great and the kids loved them! Since then I have made another batch of them but added a few ingredients. I really love Cream Cheese Blueberry Muffins so I added some vanilla and cream cheese and came up with a great recipe. I still want to do some tweaking but when I get it perfected I will post the recipe. Meanwhile, here is a picture of what we enjoyed on Friday morning . . .





With a crunchy streusel topping.

Yummy!





Sunday, November 13, 2011

get busy!

So my plan for this weekend was to make stuff. All weekend. Well, that didn't happen but I'm not complaining!! My sister decided to come for a quick visit this weekend! She doesn't get to see me often so she was very excited to visit :) Okay, okay, I was very excited to see her. She brought her baby girl with her so I got to spend some time cuddling with her. I have to say baby girl really likes her auntie Natalie! We were able to spend some sister sister time together, go to a movie and hang out with some friends for a little bit. She left just a little while ago and I dropped my kids off with my Mom so I thought I'd catch up on some things I had planned to do and blog a little.

My goal for this afternoon is to finish up rice bag orders, make a Christmas wreath, work on some dish cloths and drink my hot chocolate (which I will enjoy drinking in peace and quiet). Maybe I'll get some stuff done . . .

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Hello!

I have decided to start a blog . . . I am not new to the blogging world. About 3 years ago I started a blog just about family life and the funny things that go on around my house. Now my blogging interests are leaning more towards my crafty things and lately cooking! Although I think I will have a good mix of family life, craftiness, and food on my blog.

I had originally started working on a website for my crafty things but thought I would be limited to what would go on the website and I wouldn't be able to tell my little stories about the things I make. Plus, I don't usually have a surplus of things I make to put on a website. So, a blog it is.

Oddly enough my first post is about food. If you know me at all you know that I do not like to cook! At all! I hate the mess it makes and the cleanup involved and I'm really bad at coming up with meals. However, recently I have become addicted to a website called Pinterest. If you haven't heard of it, check it out. Anything and everything you can imagine is on there. I have also discovered that I LOVE my crock pot!! So, with the help of Pinterest, my creativity, and my crock pot, I enjoy trying new meals and planning what we are having for dinner.

Tonight's menu: Crock Pot Meatloaf and Homemade Baked Potato Chips.

For my meatloaf I used:
2lbs. lean ground beef. (You could use ground turkey which is what I would usually do but the ground beef looked better).
2 eggs
3/4 c. bread crumbs
1 can diced tomatoes - drained a little
1 small onion chopped
1 packet of Lipton onion soup mix
mix all together, form in bottom of crock pot, squirt ketchup over top, cover and cook on high in crock pot for about 6 hours


For the Homemade Potato Chips:
I used 3 large Idaho Potatoes, peeled
I sliced them using my Pampered Chef Mandolin, spread them in one layer on a cookie sheet, dabbed with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and baked about 20-25 minutes on 400 in the oven.

This was a hit!! The whole family loved it:)