Christmas name plaque

My mom found candy cane letters at Jo-Ann's last year. (I looked yesterday and they don't have them this year...yet?). So yesterday we went to Goodwill to find a frame, then to Jo-Ann's to get a background (scrapbook paper), and the process began!

Goodwill find:

Painted it:
Glued down the background:Glued the letters

Viola!

Halloween Decor

Halloween decorations

I saw this:

photo courtesy of Ladies Home Journal

and made this:

White pumpkin, black pipe cleaners, hot glue "ouch", and sparkly spiders!

Happy graduation!

Happy graduation from preschool, kindergarten, 8th grade, high school...you get the picture.

How cute are these!
Go to Bakerella for the how to!

Hoppy Easter S'mores!

I saw these via Tip Junkie:

Linky Love

I followed Hilary's changes but smooshed my dry ingredient mixture behind the bunnies. I also used different colored peeps (only one's that matched the m&m's of course) AND had to try the recipe out before I gave it away ;-).

Before:

After:

Happy Valentine's Day

Christmas ideas...

So, I have seen several variations of this idea on different blogs. Some people used vinyl lettering but I used scrapbook paper and mod podge.


Your basic glass block (courtesy of Home Depot $4 and change):



add initials (I printed out letters, traced them onto the paper, and cut out. Viola!):


or silhouettes (Ditto):


or multiple layers:

These are a few of my favorite things...

BooMama, Tip Junkie, AND Kimba are all having Christmas tour of homes.

Welcome friends!

I don't have much horizontal space for decorating so my TV hutch gets most of the attention. I love putting up previous Christmas pictures (I'm always searching for red frames).

Love these blocks that I got from Lillian Vernon. (Six sides: six different holiday messages)

My Willow Tree nativity. It's taken me several years to collect all the pieces.



How cute is Mr. fuzzy reindeer (and cautious 3 year old with Santa)?

My mom made this wall hanging for me. I no sew :-).

And what would a party be without some yummy cookies? Enjoy!

• Peanut butter cookie dough (in the cold section of Publix)
• Chocolate chips for eyes
• Red m&m's for nose
• Chocolate covered pretzels (Snyder's brand, in the chip aisle) for antlers. A little bit of white icing to help them stick.

Christmas. Christmas. Time is here.

Time for toys and time for cheer.

Can you hear the chipmunks singing? Yesterday while I was out shopping, a guy (driving a minivan with no kids) was blasting the chipmunks song throughout the parking lot. I guess it's just that time of year!

Thanks for coming by. Sorry, no cookies this time. here's your link back to BooMama, or Kimba, or Tip Junkie...

NOT a holiday post...sort of...

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Just remember this little ditty when the "Holiday time" gets a little hectic! :-)

A Blessing Mix

No picture for ya'll because...we already ate it all!

J got a blessing mix snack bag from school that was very cute. All the ingredients were mixed together and then this label was on the ziploc:

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: The sacrifices of the pilgrims' first winter. Food was was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts & Seeds: Promise of the future harvest, one we will reap if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruit: Harvest gifts from our bountiful land.
M&M's: Memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future.
Kisses: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

My pilgrimage.

So I don't have much to contribute to the Thanksgiving festivities because I'll be here on Monday:

and here on Thursday:

But don't worry I'll be thinking about you and your traditional Thanksgiving dinner, really, I will!

Here is my Thanksgiving contribution:

Photo and recipe from Taste of home

Happy Halloween

Because I KNOW you all have been checking everyday just waiting for my update, here's the run down of my week:

The infamous snacks:

Witch's hands (popcorn, candy corn for nails, and a spider ring all stuffed into a plastic food service gloves).

Mummy cup cakes. Got the idea from here.

Fabulous treat platters. Got the idea from here, which I totally love!

So don't be surprised if you all get something hand made for Christmas!

(Edit: Spider has since grown correct amount of legs)

Hope you all had a spooktacular night with your monsters!