New Front Door

At some point during the summer (yes, summer) we planned on getting new front doors. After many, many very unexpected bumps in the road (an odd sized door and a small entry way) we finally got new doors this week! Sadly, they weren't even close to what we had originally visioned. Before we knew that we would be confined to a very small option of doors, we had picked out these gorgeous craftsman style doors with windows. We were both sad to let those go, but happy to still have new much prettier ones.

Old doors from the inside.

 New doors from the inside.

Old doors from the outside.

 New doors from the outside.

They will look even better when we paint them black. 

Hopefully this summer the whole house will get a new coat of paint as well.

 They had so much fun watching the door being put in.

Sewing Kit for Kids

I made these sewing kits for our two nieces (ages 5 and 7) for Christmas this year. I wanted to come up something different and special for them that was craft related. I stumbled upon these on Etsy and knew I had a winner.

These bags were the perfect size to fit all their sewing goodies in. Including a big bag of stuffing to complete their projects with.

I made 7 different sewing projects for each kiddo using felt. Each project was put into a baggie along with any additional items like buttons. The projects included: bird, flower, circle, butterfly, star, heart and cupcake.

I also included this little note in each one:

Sewing Kit

Supplies:

• 2 dull tip needles
• 2 spools of thread
• Various colors of needle point thread
• 7 projects
• Large bag of stuffing
• Measuring tape
• Scissors

Each project bag has a cut out felt item to make. Some have buttons to sew on and some have additional felt pieces to attach.

Instructions:

1. Use either a backstitch or a whipstitch to sew your items.
2. Sew on buttons on additional felt pieces first.
3. Then sew most of the felt piece together, leaving room to add the stuffing.
4. Finally, sew up the last hole from where you put the stuffing in.

Yay!!! You are learning how to sew!!!

I hope the girls have a blast with their very own sewing kits!!!

Linking up to:

Santa Visit 2011

Shane was SO excited to see Santa this year. He was going to ask for an airplane, but at the last minute changed it to a camera. We had "coached" him the few weeks prior in order to make sure he asked for one of the items we had already purchased him. So far at this house "Santa" brings you what you ask for. We had both items on hand, so no harm done with the last minute change.

Adalyn was kinda 50/50 on the whole Santa thing. The first two pictures she was crying then the last one she was okay. I purchased the none crying one for her future sake as an adult looking back on these pictures. 

Isn't he the BEST Santa ever.

Santa Visit 2010

Santa Visit 2009

Wordless Wednesday -- Blueberries

Linking up to:

Play-dough Fun + Recipes

I made play-dough from scratch for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. I needed to make a double batch of green playdough for Shane's preschool. They gave me this recipe and I really liked how there was vanilla in it.

Play-dough Recipe 

• 2 cups flour

• 1 cup salt

• 2 cups water

• 2 tablespoons oil

• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

• 2 teaspoons of imitation vanilla

• food coloring (optional)

Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in a saucepan.

Add water, oil and food coloring and stir until smooth.

Cook over medium heat until play-dough is nearly set and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Add vanilla and stir until blended.

Remove from heat and knead until the stickiness is gone. (That was my favorite part...warm play-dough was so fun to play with!)

I thought it was funny because I had just purchased a brand new set of stainless steel cookware and this was the very first thing I "cooked" in it. I was cringing the whole time wondering if I would ever get the play-dough off my new pot. It came perfectly clean and no harm was done to my brand new pot. Phew!!

Last week I made Gingerbread Play-dough for Shane. I really liked this recipe, too. It smells fabulous! I printed him out these gingerbread house play-dough mats and he had lots of fun putting "candy" on the houses and making cookies with his play-dough. We've never used play-dough mats before. I thought they were a great resource to add to the fun of play-dough play.

 I had planned on letting Adalyn in on the play-dough fun. She really didn't want anything to do with it. I'll try again soon and see if she is interested then.

Menu Monday + Linky Party!!

Monday -- leftovers (odd for us on Monday, but that is the way we are going to roll this week)

Tuesday -- Salmon and rice

Wednesday -- Kenny's Work Holiday Bowling Party

Thursday -- Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake

Friday -- leftovers

Saturday -- Baked Penne and Turkey Meatballs

Sunday -- leftovers

I'd love it if you would link up your menu plans for the week here. Then we can all get inspiration for next week's menu. 

Wonderland Swap + Holiday Party

I recently attended my 1st holiday party of the season with my CTMH team members. We each brought a homemade gift to exchange white elephant style, a treat to share and a Wonderland paper item to swap.

I brought Pumpkin Cookies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. 

The cookies were good, but man I just LOVE that frosting. 

My gift that I brought to exchange were these JOY blocks. 

They were "exchanged" a handful of times. 

Always feels nice when people are "fighting" over what you brought.

You can check out my NOEL blocks and my BOO blocks, too.

And finally here are the awesome swaps people brought:

 Isn't he adorable?! By Tracie

  I love how the wreath is wrapped on this card. By Carla

 Christmas Popper By Cindy

This is a brilliant gift card holder. By Michele
You can find directions here.

 My snowflake card.

 Snowflake card cut out using the AP cricut cartridge. By Lalia

O Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree you were decorated twice this year.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree you really weren't the problem.

What are you talking about you ask?! Our Christmas tree has been through a lot this year and I am hoping he can hold it together and make it until Christmas for us.

He joined our family on Sunday, November 26th. He was adorned with lights and decoration that very same day. Shane started to get horse and sick that day as well. By Wednesday Shane was coughing and not feeling good at all. We decided he was allergic to the Christmas tree (we had had this issue before a couple years ago, so the timing made sense to us).

We undecorated the tree and stuck him outside hoping that we could come up with a solution and be able to bring him back in. Kenny washed the tree off and then applied a vegetable wash to him (after doing research online about mold/Christmas trees/allergies). He came back in to rejoin the family a week later. Five days later he is FINALLY completely decorated AGAIN.

During this past week Shane got better and Adalyn got worse. She was (and still is) working on 3 molars and she is the worst teether ever. Her symptoms seemed to point to teething. She started to get horse....weird that was what Shane did, too. It can't be the Christmas tree now, right?!?! We were SO confused. She started coughing and Wednesday night she did not sleep well at all. She appeared to be waking up and not breathing well.

I heard her cough Thursday morning...it sounded like a barking seal. I ran to the computer searching Croup. I quickly realized that she just might have Croup. That afternoon I took her to the Doctor. Yep, Croup it is. Where did she get it from?? Her Big Brother, who also had Croup and WAS NOT allergic to the Christmas tree.

The Doctor gave her a liquid dose of steroids because she most likely had one more bad night to go through the cycle of Croup. She slept quite well Thursday night and woke up sounding and breathing a lot better. She is quite behind on sleep and is still pretty crabby but she is on the mend.

What a couple interesting weeks we've had. I hope that things will settle back to "normal" for the rest of the holiday season.

I've linked up at Life as this Mom knows It.

Fleece Scarf

Our local elementary school had a craft fair recently. I had some shopping in mind to do. When we got inside we were surprised to find out it was a kid make your own craft "fair". They had about 10 different booths set up where kids could go and make crafts as holidays gifts or just for fun. They were super organized. You purchased punch cards ($2 per craft) and got your card punched when you picked your craft to make. We let Shane pick to crafts.

After walking around seeing his choices he knew right away he wanted to make the fleece scarf (and we thought it was the best choice out of them, too). He picked a nice pattern and then I helped him put beads on the end. (If you are making this on your own, make sure to get beads with big holes and you can use a skewer to help push the fabric through.) We did very simple beads on his, but you could embellish it so much more. 

It was seriously so darn easy to make and he is in LOVE, I mean in LOVE with his scarf. He gets compliments on it where ever we go. Which makes him like it even more.

What a perfect inexpensive, easy gift for your kids to make for their friends, right?!?!

Christmas Tags

One of my November workshops was Tags and Bags. We made 10 Christmas tags and 3 bags using the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. We mostly we used the December 25th stamp set.

Everyone had their own favorite of the night. I didn't get around to taking pictures of the bags before they got used. But that amazing Art Philosophy Cartridge did all the work for us. We just had to adhere them together.

If you are interested in owning your very own CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge visit my website.

Felt Snowman Kit

My newest craft love is felt. My head is full of felt ideas. This love all began with a snowman kit that I saw on a blog. It is hit or miss what Shane will enjoy, but I thought this would be fun. I purchased some felt (which runs .29-.34 cents a piece....not bad for a quick craft project).

Isn't he just so cute. I used the template to cut most of my pieces. I also added a few things to allow for more options and more time spent making different snowmen.

I am in the process of working on a felt Christmas tree kit and this snowflake busy bag using felt.

I brought it out for him tonight after dinner. He really had fun using it. Which made the time I spent cutting out all those little pieces all worth it.

Wordless Wednesday -- New Favorite Toy

Christmas Countdown Chain

We've been on a countdown chain kick (Halloween, Thanksgiving and now Christmas) around here. I had plans on doing a Christmas chain countdown for Shane at the beginning of the month. It helps for the million times he asks how many days until Christmas. I can say go count your chain. Which generally ends the conversation at that point since he won't walk into his room and count them.

Anyways....I stumbled upon the idea of adding prayers to the tradition. Shane prays at school before snack, but we don't do any praying at home. Neither Kenny or I grew up praying at meal time or bed time, so I think we just don't even think about doing it. I thought this would be a helpful way to get us started.

I cut out strips of 12x2 inch CTMH Believe paper. Then I asked Shane to tell me people he would like to pray for at bed time. I wrote a name on the back of each slip of paper and then stapled the loops together. You can download the star top at here.

Christmas (and Thanksgiving) Blessing Mix

I am again late in posting this for Thanksgiving, but right on time for you to make some for Christmas.

The adults played a game at Adalyn's recent 1st birthday party. I wanted to reward the winners with something special. I stumbled upon this Thanksgiving Blessing Mix and knew I had just the right prize. I also used it as a neighbor gift. 

I made it with one cup of each of the items below. It was VERY difficult to find bugles. When my Mom finally found some at Walmart they didn't have plain ones, just fancy flavored kinds. Which ended up working fine in this mix. I had enough for 3 large take-out containers.

Thanksgiving Blessing Mix

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.

Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy corn: Sacrifices. Food was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Marshmallows: The Pilgrim's first winter brought cold and snow to the Pilgrims.
Nuts: Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.

Pumpkins: Representing a bounteous harvest.
Dried fruits: Thanksgiving is the celebration of the fruits of the harvest.

M&Ms: Memories of those who came before us to guide us to a blessed future. 

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone, but guess what....you can make a Christmas Blessing Mix as well. Here is the cute little poem to go with it. I think these are just perfect and unique (as well as yummy) for teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, friends gifts, etc. Or just as a yummy snack on Christmas day.

Christmas Blessing Mix

Bugles: Bring us the joyful message of the Heavenly Host, announcing peace on earth, good will to men.
Pretzels: Symbol of a mother's loving arms; as Mary wrapped her Son in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.
Red Hots: Red berries that decorate the holly plant, a reminder of eternal life and Christ's redemption.
Nuts or Seeds: Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruits: Remind us of the rich gifts brought by the Wise Men.
M&Ms: Memories of those who came before us to guide us to a blessed future.
Hershey's Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

Candy Canes: Represents the shape of the shepherd's crook, used to bring lost lambs back to the fold.

Menu Monday

Kenny has some suggestions for dinner this week, which helps me so much!!

Monday -- Mac and Cheese from Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious. It's one of my top favorite Mac and Cheese recipes. It has cream cheese in it and it's so creamy and flavorful.

Tuesday -- leftovers (I have my MOPS holiday party. I'll leave room for all the yummy treats there)

Wednesday -- Tortilla Pizza's (these are quick, easy and yummy)

• Flour Tortilla's with pizza sauce and cheese (plus what ever other toppings you would like).
• Bake in the oven at 325 degrees until the cheese is bubbly (5-8 minutes or so).

Thursday -- Baked Cheesy Chicken 

Friday -- leftovers

Saturday -- Baked Burrittos (another insanely quick and easy meal)

• Mix a large can of re-fried beans with a jar of salsa and a 1.5 cups of cooked chicken.
• Wrap the mixture in flour tortillas and bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

These are perfect to make a double batch and freeze the extras for an easy meal out of the freezer.

Sunday -- I have my Craft Club Holiday party. Kenny and the kiddos are on their own. I'm sure there will be plenty of leftovers for everyone to survive on.