Minivan Express

Over at my other blog:
Desiring To Be A Domestic Diva (click on the name to take you there), I've posted some info about the Minivan Express! I know a lot of you crafty ladies out there are Moms or Grandmas and think you'll get a kick out of this idea! It's the newest tradition we're starting in our family! :)

Christmas Ornaments

So awhile back I showed some clear ornaments that I'd bought and put rub-ons around the outside to decorate it and I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do to the inside. I thought about using some of our CTMH papers and cutting thin strips and folding them accordian style in the inside to give it more color but then I got to thinking that would take forever! LOL With all the other crafts and things I've got going on I couldn't add one more lengthy project to the mix. Maybe next year I'll give it a whirl! My co-mom (that's what I call my stepson's mom) and I exchange gifts for our children and for each other every year and this year she made some really cute ornaments for Tatym & Keegan (my kiddie pies). Here they are:



Aren't they cute?! Then I remembered that I actually have a few packages of tinsel that I've had for years and years and it would look cute in the ornaments that I'd been needing to finish! Thank you Marly for the idea! So, here are my finished ornaments! I'm going to be wrapping them up and taking them to our church's womens' night out party Thursday night. We're having an ornament exchange! Remember that if you click on the picture it will enlarge it so you can see the details better! The ornaments say Peace and Faith. I had Love and Joy but they broke! *sniffle* I better go snatch up some more packages and make some more!

Reindeer Cards

For those that don't know, I'm a homeschooling mom and we're involved in a christian homeschool co-op that meets the first 3 Fridays of each month and has field trips the last week of each month. All moms (and some dads) have 2 teaching jobs, either lead teaching or assisting along with an administrative job. My teaching job is lead teaching the hands-on PreK/K class and I LOVE it! PreK'ers are my FAVORITE age group! They are just too stinkin cute and I love, love, love arts & crafts which most of them love to do also! Anyways, our co-op takes a break in December after our Christmas party and then does swimming lessons in January and then meets back up for classes in February! It's a long break and I'm gonna miss my PreK/K'ers so I decided to make them each a Christmas card and mail it to them so they get to feel extra special getting their very own card from the mail! I made 16 of these cards and my wrist hurts but it's all worth it! They are a great group of kiddos!!

Making some head-way!

Tonight I managed to cut out all 24 stocking shapes for the advent (see previous post). I've decided that since my sewing machine hates me and I'm not willing to take the time to make up with it, I'm going to hand sew each little stocking. I'm just folding over the edges so it looks a little nicer (notice, I said "little" nicer because yes, I'm the sewer so it still looks like a kindergartener made it). *SIDE NOTE* I notice that to write sew-er it is spelled the same as sewer, ya know, the place where poo and pee go. It's weird to me that they would be spelled the same so I think from now on I will use the dash between sew and er! LOL I'm a nut job! Ok, back to the subject...I managed to get three of the stockings sewed up and then I pinned them onto the base of the advent. Still deciding whether I want to have a couples therapy session with my sewing machine and try to see if we can improve our relationship or if I'm just going to shove it back in my closet and pull out my new BFF, the ironing fabric adhesive. We'll see how I'm feeling once I've sewn up the 21 remaining stockings! :) Here's a pic from my work tonight:

I wish I knew how to sew!

I have always been envious of the ladies that can sew and that make really neat things! I never took Home Ec in school and my mom never showed me how to sew. I mean, I've sewn buttons back onto pants or shirts and I've repaired holes in our couch cushions and blankets but it's never anything fabulous. I can't even sew a stinkin straight line with a sewing machine and it drives me nuts. I'll admit, I'm not very patient when it comes to much of anything. When I start a project I want to finish it and finish it SOON! I think that's why I don't end up very happy with a lot of my cards or scrapbooking projects because I rush through them just so I can get them done. I have a hard time starting something and not finishing it or setting it down for another time. For some reason it just drives me crazy! So, with that said, don't ask me why I still feel the need to attempt to sew things! I get this bright idea in my head to make something and shortly after starting I realize that I'm just torturing myself but yet again, I can't stop once I've started a project! I'm a freak! LOL!! So yesterday I posted a picture of the advent that my MIL had bought for my hubby back in like 1984 at a craft fair and that I was going to attempt to make some of my own.
Here is the pic of the original:


I found this pretty sparkly Christmas material at JoAnns and quickly snatched it up.


I chose this green with white polka dots for the edges.


Now THIS is my new best friend! I started out hand sewing around the outside of the base fabric and quickly (or not so quickly) realized that that way would take FOR-EV-ER! It seriously took me 2 hours to measure out the batting, measure out the fabric and then hand sew about 5 inches. I ended up having to put it down because I had to go somewhere and busted out my sewing machine today to attempt to finish it. After busting the thread a good million and one times I have now resorted to using this:


So now I've gotten the base done and the border around it and I don't have time to finish it today (it's torture). My son is really excited about it so that's making all this work, worth it!

Gotta love Christmas countdowns!

Last year I decorated this to use for our countdown to Christmas. Each box is pretty much only big enough to hold one piece of candy like a Hershey's Kiss or something but my son LOVED it!



This is a one that my MIL had bought in the early 80's at a craft fair. For some reason my stepson's mom ended up with it and had been using it for the past 8 years or so (my hubby didn't know she had it) but out of the blue she asked if we wanted it back so now it's at our house. I thought it was super cute and although I don't sew but maybe once every million years I'm going to attempt to recreate it and make one for each of my kiddos! Shouldn't be too hard *fingers crossed & knock on wood* to figure it out! :)

I LOVE craft fairs!

Yesterday I made the 2 hour drive over to this big craft fair with my kiddos and talk about being in heaven!!! I'd never been to this particular craft fair and was blown away by just the size of it! It was held at the fairgrounds and took up 4 HUGE buildings, wall-to-wall! Praise the Lord my kids were super good (until the end when my 17 month old daughter decided to have a meltdown). We spent about 2 1/2 hours walking around and I kept trying to take mental notes of all the projects I wanted to attempt to recreate on my own. I wanted desperately to whip out my camera and just take pictures but figured that would be pretty rude! I did take out my notebook and take some notes of things so that maybe it would jog my memory when I got home and I could visualize what I wanted to do. Seeing the booths made me want to have my own booth...maybe in a few years when my kiddos are older! I could totally make a lot of that stuff and even more things that no one else had! The funny thing is to see how many booths were so similar! I can't even count how many booths had the dish towels with the crochet tops that you can loop around the fridge door handle of the stove handle or the no-sew blankets (which I love to make and give as gifts too) or all the beaded jewelry booths! So many!!! I was given strict orders from my hubby that I was to "be good" which coming from him means that I wasn't to spend any money. I figured I could buy a few things but told myself I wasn't to spend more than $80 which is how much cash I had on me. I'm happy to report that I only spent about $50 on crafts. My son was rewarded with a pop gun for being such a big help to me and for being so good. He also got a water balloon yo-yo thing. Here are pictures of my other purchases:
This is my favorite find of the day!! And yes, I totally had one of those "I can make that myself" moments but since I don't have a Cricut (YET) I went ahead and bought it ($10) and it will look great in my scrapping area!


These are some leggings I bought for my daughter. I don't sew very well or really, hardly ever at all so I thought it was ok to spend the $8. They look so cute on her!!


These are so stinking cute! I'm sure almost everyone has seen these before. You put the candy in the clear cup and seal it up and it's an ornament! I got the Santa, Snowman, Gingerbread Man and the Ornament, each for $2.99 and will attempt to recreate them for next year!


This is another favorite and yes, another one of those "hey, I can make that myself" purchases. I just couldn't help myself!! It was $12.50 and it will go nicely in my living room, right above my fireplace!