In His Grip

Christmas in February

Our family finally was able to celebrated Christmas with Ryan and Paula last week.  It just seems hard to find a time when we all can be together.  Of course my fantasy as a mother is to have all my kids live close to me the rest of my life so we will always be able to spend every holiday and family event together and live happily ever after.  {Pop} goes the fantasy bubble and real life is where I am forced to live.  Darn!  Although, I cannot complain, Ryan and Paula only live in Lincoln, NE, just 3 1/2 hours north of us, its not like they are in another country.  But that distance, at times, feels too far.  The time we do have as a family is very precious to us and I will take all that we do get. 

 

 

To say that the wait for our Christmas presents was worth it would be an understatement.  Ryan and Paula out did themselves with their creative, craftiness.  Look at these great tables/foot stools/benches/what ever you want to make them, repurposed vintage suitcases they made for Lindsey and Anna.  Seriously, they are awesome and in super shaped on the inside too.

They made this fabulous “S” to hang on our front door.  They could not find an initial that they liked that was big enough so Ryan cut one out of styrofoam and then Paula decorated it.  Oh my heck, just look at those handmade flowers.  Does this gal fit perfectly into our family or what?  Not only that but she whipped up some homemade shower scrub as well.  She is a gal after my heart, I just have to say.  Making things pretty and smell good too, who can go wrong. 

We also received this set of tile coasters that they made using their wedding pictures.  I was trying to figure out how I would display a bunch of their pictures without making it look like some kind of Ryan & Paula gallery.  The girls already accuse me of having Ryan as the favorite, so a bunch of pictures on the wall, shelves, etc. would only perpetuate such a myth.  But coasters, now that is something that is very useful and if they display eight different wedding shots so be it. 

Look how perfect this looks on my pink front door.  I thought that I would be changing the color of the door soon, but who am I kidding?  This “S” just made the decision, the door is pink for now at least through Summer. 

Burlap Valentine Bunting

Once I made my newest valentine sign last week, I realized that my valentine garland was no longer the look that I wanted to go with this year.  Seeing all of the burlap decorations out on blogs, Pinterest and the internet.  I figured that I would make a burlap bunting that would be just the look that I wanted.  The rough look of burlap with a splash of color is everywhere.  A designer that I work for, Brenda of Picture Perfect, told me that the burlap/linen look with a splash of color was everywhere at the Atlanta market that she went to two weeks ago.  I have been watching that look for a while now and even made some things last fall with burlap.  Burlap is a great way to give your home an updated look with very little money.  I purchased a yard of burlap for $3.99.

I cut the flap shapes out of the burlap and then doubled them up and stitching them together using red thread not only for a contrast but to add a boarder as well.  Doubling up the burlap helps give the flags a bit more somethin', somethin', and burlap tends to be loosely woven and a bit see through so this helps with that.

Using my handy Cricut machine I cut a heart and used it as a stencil.  Then stenciled a heart on each flag.  I used a light pink, bright pink, red and white color paints to do this.  Here is a free hint, make sure you put plastic or scrap paper under your flags as you stencil them.  They will soak through to the back.  I just know these kinds of things, no need to ask me how.   

Using hot glue, I folded the flags over some red and white bakers twine and secured the end over the back.  

The burlap bunting addes to my valentine look for next to nothing in cost.

I am participating in the following link ups: Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me, Sew Country Chick

 

 

Valentine Sign

Earlier this week I was browsing around Pinterest and found this wonderful Valentine sign.  I absolutely love the saying on it and decided that I was going to make it.  Because I have been called a "creative hoarder", I had all of the supplies right in my studio already.  No need to go to the store and besides it has been freezing cold this week and who wants to get out in the cold if you don't have to.  

Here is the sign that I orignally look at.  Landee See, Landee Do, is a great place for inspriration.  I have just recently found her blog and I really like her style.  As you can see I changed my sign up a bit by doing the pink thing instead.  You know I always say, "When in doubt pink is always the right choice." I am sure it is not shocker that I went with pink.  

One thing that I do like about Valentines is that you are able to put pink and red together without it being wierd.  Needless to say, I take very opportunity to do just that.  Pink and red for everyone.  

I was so excited to use my bakers twine that I recently purchased off of Pick Your Plum.  Pick Your Plum is a daily email that sells one craft type item each day for super cheap.  I am talking anywhere from $2 to $6.95.  I am pretty sure I have never seen anything for more than that.  Let me just warn you, if you are a "crafty" this email is dangerous.  It is hard to pass up these deals.  Seriously I could spend money everyday with Pick You Plum.

I used a 1 x 8 for my board, but I do think a 1 x 10 would be better as you can make the lettering bigger.  Using my handy Cricut machine I cut the letters out of a piece of adhesive vinyal.  Super easy project and the results are awesome.  

I am participation in these link ups: Today's Creative Blog, One Tough Mother

Tile Coaster Set -- How To

Because you have not heard from me in a while, you would think that I have not been up to much.  Well, actually the exact opposite is true.  I did take time off for Christmas and New Years to hang out with family and friends to just enjoy the season.  A gal is entitled to that every once in a while, right? However, my creative mind has been on overdrive having time to browse Pinterest, and plan some very fabulous, creative, wonderfulness for my home in the coming year.  It is this time each year that I get the urge to do something to my home. This year it started with the dinning room and then will move to the living room, and of course right on up to the now three guest rooms.  Oh, how sad to say I have three kid rooms that are now called "guest rooms", really this cannot be true.  

Today I am showing you this easy, fun, and inexpensive gift idea I made for my friends this year at Christmas.  I started out at Lowes and purchased 3x3 tiles.

I really liked these that had a bit of texture and some imperfections around the edges.  They happened to be some of the more expensive tiles, all of 33 cents each.  But you can get them for as little as 8 cents a tile.  

Picking out the scrap booking paper was fun.  I wanted the four different patterns to coordinate but have some contrast in color as well.  I cut the paper into squares that were about a 1/2 smaller than the tile so the coaster would appear to have a boarder all the way around.

Because the tiles had a rounded corner, I used a corner rounder paper punch and rounded all of the corners of each square of paper.  This also helps prevent any corners that might want to pop up when Mod Podging later.  

Laying all of the tiles on a piece of plastic, I Mod Podged each tile with probably 4 or 5 coats allowing to dry in between.  Once you have decided you have enough Mod Podge on your coasters let them dry over night and then take a piece of super fine steel wool and a bit of water and sand each one until smooth.  This takes all of the brush marks or bubbles out of the final coat.  Once that was dry, I sprayed them with a clear coat sealer to make them water resistant.  For the final step, I glue a piece of cork to the bottom of each one.  Sorry no picture of that, but really there is a piece of thin cork on the underside.

I made 12 sets of these and gave them to my friends, designers I work for, and one set went to a gal that invited me and my girls for a tour of her home which was a Christmas wonderland.

I tied each stack with a bit of twine and there you have it a handmade gift that everyone can use.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

Christmas Cash

At Christmas time it seems everyone needs little more cash and the church is no exception to this rule.  This year at my church I was the project coordinator for our "Christmas For The Kids" effort.  What this means is we partnered with the school where we meet, Wheatridge Middle School, and they provided us with the information on 72 students in their school that needed some help at Christmas.  Now you need to understand, at our campus we maybe average 80 -100 folks on a Sunday with kids included.  This was going to be a huge challenge.  Our goal was to provide two outfits, underwear, socks, gloves, and a hat along with food to help make it through the two week Christmas break.  In cash, that meant around $70-$80 per student.  Being part of a two campus church, we asked our Olathe campus (600 a sunday) to take 21 students for us which they did, but that still left our little gathering with over 50 kids to help.  We then started asking our folks to step up to the challenge and cover these kiddos as well as other groups we work with.  Wow, can I say Christmas miracle!  Last year our campus supported 5 kids.  Yes, I said 5 and this year we will support 51.  Way to go Indian Creek Community Church Gardner!  As I am not an usher, and have never accepted a cash donation for the church, imagine my surprise when one of the groups helping us with the "Christmas For The Kids" handed me $303 in cash to help cover the project.  Needless to say, my heart is very full this Christmas.  

Candy Cane Stir Sticks

Once again, I am posting about a great idea that I found on Pinterest.  I know it is very simple, but the results are more than I expected.  Because I like to add a little something extra to my holiday parties and gatherings, I thought what a great idea to make these peppermint stir sticks that you can use in any hot holiday drink.  In my pursuit to make these fancy stir sticks, I came up with a couple of hints on how to go about this project.  First of all, I cut the hooks off of my candy canes with a sharp knife.  I did this at an angle which made for a great point to stick into the marshmallows.  

At this point my stir sticks would stand up but once I dipped them in the white chocolate and coated them with the sprinkles they kept tipping over.  Big problem, I wanted them to be even all the way around and not lopsided.  So I came up with the idea of poking a hole in the bottom of a styrofoam cup and turing the cup upside down to poke the candy cane through to help support the sticks while they dried. Wala! Perfect candy cane stir stick drying holder.  

One more little tip.  In the pictures on Pinterest where I saw these stir sticks, all of the sprinkles were white.  I looked everywhere for a jar of small white sprinkles but could not find any, so I went with the festive red, green and white.  Well, good reason for the all white.  When you put the stir sticks in a hot drink the colors melt off and your first couple of stirs are a mix of red and green, which if you ever mix red and green together you know they make a weird brownsih color.  That soon melts away and you are back to wonderful peppermint stir stick fun.

Come on over for a hot holiday drink at my house and you will get one of these candy cane stir sticks to help keep you drink all mixed up.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

Candy Cane Hearts

Pinterest has become one of the first places I search when I am in need of an idea to make something either as a craft, recipe, or home decor.  So when the opportunity came to make some treats for a ministry at church for the holidays, Pinterest was my "go to" place. When I spotted these cute little candy dane hearts I knew that they would be the treat that I would donate.  Jeff happened to be with me when I was in my search of the small, mini, candy canes and could not figure out why I needed five boxes of 60.  I had promised 60 treats, but I wanted two hearts in each little treat bag.  So four boxes right?  I knew that there would be some broken ones too so that's why I purchased the extra box.  Jeff was like, "what is it you are doing with all those candy canes?"  I patiently (because that's just the kind of gal that I am, wink, wink) explained to him the candy cane heart concept.  He was very sceptical that this little project was going to work out.  Being the engineer type, I suppose he wanted me to try a prototype before purchasing all of the supplies and then find out it just was not going to work out.  This engineery way of thinking is just not the way that I roll.

Truly the hardest part of the whole project is getting the candy canes out of their little cellophane wrappers.  I then laid them in the shape of hearts on a cookie sheet covered in foil.  

I melted chocolate almond bark in the microwave in a large mug and spooned the chocolate into each little heart.  I only melted a little bit at a time because it is very easy to over heat the chocolate in large quantities, don't ask why I know this, because the waste of supplies is not well taken by the process engineer that I know and love, Jeff.  So this is just knowledge that I acquired with no record of how, ha, ha.  

Using the broken candy canes, I chopped them up and sprinkled them on top.  This is super easy and the finished product is so cute.  

I love it when I find a project that turns out like I had it in my head.  Pinterest is just the place to get the inspiration for just about anything.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick, 5 Minutes Just for Me

$2.00 Nativity

Look at this great nativity scene.  Since I have begun doing a little bit of traveling to different countries, I have started a nativity collection from different parts of the world.  I have one from, Haiti, Mexico, and Costa Rica as well as my orginial Precious Moments set.  I have not been able to get one from India quite yet but am working on it.  The gals at 10,000 Villages are looking for one for me.  One of the women that works there has a daughter who has been living in India for a year now and she cannot find them anywhere.  I thought it was just me, but I guess a nativity scene is not important to a prodomantely Hindu country.  This particular navitey scene was made in China and I purchased it after, the after Christmas sale at Wal-mart for about $2.00.  I know, what a great deal.  However, it did not start out looking like this.  I purchased it knowing that I would help it out a bit and make it look just a bit better.

This is what the nativty started out looking like.  It was less than okay in my opinion.  The painting of details was very crude, but the shapes of the figurines were good.  So, I got out my trusty spray paint and gave it a couple of coats of white.  Boy, doggies, what a difference a couple squirts of spray paint can make.  

Here are the three kings, although they are all white, the detail shows up just enough to make them the elegant, distiguished men that they were.

This is the shepard and animals as well as the Holy family.  Okay, yes, I gave baby Jesus a bath in white gold glitter, but after all He is the one that the whole celebration is about. Jeff is still a little unsure about the "sparkley" Jesus, but I like him anyway.  The baby Jesus I mean.  I still like Jeff too, even though he just shakes his head at my spray painting shenanigans.

I glittered the roof of the stable as well.  So now I have a navity from China although I have never been there. It is now proudly siting amoung my other nativities, holding its head up high even though it was only $2.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

 

Christmas Stocking Challenge -- Post 3

I have finished the knitting portion of my Christmas stocking.  You can read about how this challenge started here then post 1 and post 2.  Wow, this has to be the most challenging knitting project that I have ever attempted.  But with the help of the ladies at the Knit Wit store, and the great notes that were taken by Barb, I has able to turn the heel and make the gussets as well as do the decreases for the toe.  Yeah!

 

 

 

Now I just need to sew the seam down the back, finish up the top edge, and put Paula's name on the Santa side of the top cuff.  Then there is the blocking that will need to be done as well.

This is my first sock ever, I am not sure that it really counts as it is very large compared to the socks I have half completed to the point of turning the heel.   I cannot wait to do all of the finishing work and show off the completed project and the challenge conquered.

Christmas Lighting in Gardner

Last night marks the fourth year running for Indian Creek Community Church, Gardner handing out free hot chocolate at the Mayor's Christmas tree lighting.  This is one of the events each year that I just love.  Not only is it the marking of the beginning of the Christmas season, but if you want a midwest, small town Christmas event, you cannot go wrong here.  Bubba Starling, the local star athlete pulled the switch to light the tree, Santa arrived on the fire truck, and fireworks are just a few things that you can always look forward to at Christmas in the Park.  The elementary children sing Christmas songs and one of the high school's ensemble groups are dress in old fashion costumes and singing Christmas carols.  This whole event is very Norman Rockwell-ish.  Commemorative ornaments are handed out by Santa and this is the newest one to add to my "Christmas in the Park" collection.  

Not only do we hand out hot chocolate on a cold night, but we add the extra touch of offering a little squirt of whipped cream too, yummy!

Our table this year was right up near Santa's workshop so we were able to give out more hot chocolate than ever before.  In my estimation, we passed out over 420 cups of hot chocolate.  This is the first time we actually ran out, so I am thinking next year we need to come with at least two more five gallon containers full.  Sometimes serving our community in such a simple way is just stinking fun!  Heres wishing your Christmas season will start out with this much delight.

Santa's Boots Makeover

In January of this year as I was browsing through our local Goodwill store I found these cute Santa boots for 99 cents.  I loved the way that they are so short and chubby and knew that I could find a great use for them in Christmas decorating in the future.  Forgetting about my purchase earlier in the year I was so excited to find these as I unpacked my Christmas decorations.  Although they are cute just as they are, I figured a little bit of pink and sparkle were just the thing to make them fabulous.  

Finding this pink spray paint in my studio, I figured it was just the right color for the transformation.  The boots are about the size of a flower pot and knew that they would fit in perfectly with the pink theme on the front porch as bases for my little trees that were going out there.

I used Mod Podge to paint around the sole of the boot as well as the cuff and then sprinkled with bright pink glitter.  I use Martha Stewart brand, there are a lot of colors to choose from including several hues of pink.  

We filled the boots with sand to make them heavy enough to withstand the strong winter Kansas winds and then placed the plaster paris based Christmas trees down into the boots.  There we have it a perfect pink tree stand.  

There are three silver painted Christmas trees on my front porch this year, thanks to Grandma Sturman for remembering me when I said you never want to get rid of a Christmas tree.  Last year I experimented with spray painting Christmas trees and have found that the metallic silver paint gives a you a vintage look that I just love.  You have got to try it.

 

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

 

 

 

My Christmas Stocking Challenge

These are the Christmas stockings that starting hanging on our mantel 29 years.  Ryan's was made by one of my husband's best friend's mom, Barb.  I remember the box coming in the mail and being so excited that someone would take the time to make such a special stocking for our baby.  We proudly hung it from a shelf in our first home as there was no fireplace.  When Lindsey was born, again I received a box in the mail that contained her stocking as well.  Since the birth of Ryan, Barb had lost her battle with cancer but her sister took up the tradition of making a stocking for our babies and then made one for Anna two years later.   Hanging these stockings have been part of our holiday tradition and one that my kids still look for every Christmas season.  The stockings have Santa on one side and the Christmas tree on the other.  If you look closely at Anna's, Santa has a couple of moth holes that I have been meaning to fix for a couple of years.

Now that we have a new member in our family since Ryan's wedding, I was thinking I needed to make a stocking for Paula too.  I started searching the internet and books for patterns that would be similar or maybe the same one, but no luck, so I contacted, Barb's son to see if by chance they had a copy of the pattern for the famous Christmas stocking.  He said they did and would bring me a copy of it.  

First of all the copy right on the pattern is 1948 and looks very complicated for my self-taught knitting self, but call me crazy, I am going to try.  As I have found in the past with knitting, you just start and work one row at a time and try not to freak out by looking ahead.  

What was really crazy about the pattern was the pages and pages of Barb's hand writen notes that she took on the pattern as well as a page of all of the names of the folks that have been a recipient of one of the precious stockings.  There are 163 names listed as well as the hand drawn graphs of each name.  Wow, I think I really just might be crazy to think that I would even attempt to knit like Barb.  But this is my holiday challenge of the year.  I will keep you updated as to my progress and we will see how this goes.  Today I am headed to my local yarn store, Knit-Wit, to pick up my supplies.   I might not get finished this year, but I am determined to do this.  

Trunk or Treat Celebration

Once again, Indian Creek Community Church, Gardner held our annual Truck or Treat event.  This year we wanted to make a change to have our event the night before Halloween so that we could be in our neighborhoods on Halloween night.  The last couple of years the Indian Creekers' doors have been dark because we were doing Trunk or Treat.  In order to serve our community and be present on Halloween night we decided that October 30th was the night.  We were not sure at the time of the decision to make this change how it would affect the turn out.  Well I am here to tell you that we had more folks this year than ever before.  There were 300 in the first 30 minutes and we served 770 children total.  This number does not include all of the adults that came to escort thier kiddos.  I just counted only trick or treat bags.  At one point, I was not sure that the candy would hold out, but it did and boy doggies was I glad about that.  I was not sure how it would go over if we had to turn people away.  This is one of the most enjoyable events that our church puts on. 

We had to do some coaxing to get Mom to dress up, but I think she makes a great kitty.

You gotta have friends that come out each year to make sure our event is a success.  Thanks guys, if I can't be at the same church at least we can serve together.  

Jeff dressed up as a suburban guy passing out candy at a truck or treat event.  Wow, how original. 

Funfetti Sandwich Cookies

Funfetti cookies have become my family's favorite. Not only are they easy to make, all you do is use a Funfetti cake mix, add 1/3 cup of oil, and two eggs, but they are good, good, good.  At first all I did was frost the top and add sprinkles and then I got to thinking if one Funfetti cookie at a time is good, two at a time has got to be fabulous.  The idea of Funfetti sandwich cookies was born.  Since this new inspiration, I make two batches at a time in order to make sandwiches.  I frost the wrong side of one cookie and then place another on top, smooshing slightly so the frosting oozes out and lastly roll in sprinkles.  These are so good and there are Funfetti cakes mixes for every holiday. That means Funfetti cookies all year long, yeah!  

Here are couple of need to know tips.  If you use two cake mixes, you will use all of two cans of frosting.  I put the frosting in an icing bag and use a huge tip making for a much faster frosting process.  You will use a whole jar of sprinkles as well.  You may as well buy two jars because you would hate to run out, at least that what I always do and you can never have too many sprinkles, right?

See, don't these cookies just make you happy whatever the season.  I am already keeping my eyes out for the Christmas Funfetti cake mixes to come out in the grocery stores soon. Yes, I will buy several so if the store nearest you is out, I just may have been there before you :o)

Trick or Treat Banner -- Free for the Printing

Here is a Trick or Treat banner that I created for some Halloween events that Indian Creek Community Church will be putting on through out our community on the 31st. The idea is to  "live out" the love of Christ in our neighborhood by having a great trick or treat house that not only passes out candy but is there to greet folks and have a great time.  Each house participating will be giving away a $25 gift card to Amazon.  The house events range from giving out candy along with some kind of raffle for the gift card, to having the TV outside on the driveway so that the Dad's trick or treating can get an update on the game.  Some folks will have their fire pits in the driveway and offer fixings to make s'mores and hot coco.   We wanted to make a banner for folks to download and print that they can hang from the porch, garage, etc.  You can access the file here print and hang the banner in your house.  There are two sizes.  The large size has each candy corn printed on an 8 x10 sheet of card stock and ends up being approximately 100" long with the candy corns 10" high.  

The small size prints two candy corns per page and ends up measuring around 50" with each candy corn 6" high.  

These Halloween events are not so much about the day itself, but giving each of us the opportunity to get to know those we actually live around.  Halloween is the only day of the year that it is expect to ring every doorbell in our neighborhood and people not only smile but give us a treat.  Let's make our houses a welcoming place and one that folks just might want to hang out for a while and get to know each other.  Happy trick or treating!

Participating in: The Thirfty Home, Blue Cricket Design, My Grilish Whims, Sew Much Ado, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Passionately Artistic, Someday Crafts, Momma Hens Coop, Seven Thrity Three, Sweetpeas and BumbleBee, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Monivore's Dilemma, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home, Finding Fabulous, Its Fun to Craft, The Shabby Nest

Creme Brulee French Toast

On Monday mornings for years now I have attended a women's bible study.  I look forward to spending time with like minded women in order to grow in our faith together.  Women getting together in the morning would not be any fun unless we shared treats as well as some great coffee.  This week was my turn to bring something to share in the treat department so I decided to bring my Creme Brulee French Toast.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com some time ago and it has become one of our family favorites.  This is a great recipe that you prepare the night before and then just stick it in the oven in the morning.  Needless to say, this is a recipe that we often have on Christmas morning, or other holidays when little preparation in the morning is what a gal needs.  Several of the gals asked me to post the recipe on my blog so here it is:

Creme Burlee French Toast

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

French bread slices to fill the bottom of baking dish

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups half & half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon brandy-based orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

1.  Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Mix in brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Pour into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

2.  Arrange bread in the baking dis in a single layer.  In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, vanilla, orange brandy and salt.  Pour over the bread.  Cover and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.  

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room tempature. 

4.  Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes, until puffy and lightly browned.  

 

 

Bowl of Twine

This is my most current creation.  A bowl of twine.  I made this similar to how I made the globes of string for Ryan and Paula's rehearsal dinner decorations.  As I began to dream about a natural kind of Autumn decorating, I wanted to have some containers that looked natural and did not cost any money.  This limited my choices to making something with things that I already had on hand or were super cheap.  This led my mind to this idea of bowls of twine.  I already had the fabric stiffener from the rehearsal dinner globes, so the only thing I had to purchase was the twine.  I knew we had some somewhere but could not put my hands on it, so shopping in the good old Wal-mart one day, I purchased a couple of balls for $2.19 each.  Cheap right?

I chose a large mixing bowl from my cupboard and covered it with plastic wrap. For the globes, I used different sizes of balloons.

Using the twine, I cover the whole bowl with the stuff.  Making sure to not to leave any large spaces and changing directions often.

This is the messy part.  You will need to cover the surface that you are working on, and this opened up plastic grocery sack is not enough, believe me.  I covered the twine with the fabric stiffner that I had watered down a little bit.  This helped the stiffener soak into the twine.  I really think that you could use school glue for this and it would be cheaper, but I used what I had on hand.  This will need to dry completely which will take at least 24 hours.

Once the bowl is completely dry, I used some kitchen shears to cut the top off.  This is hard work as the twine is pretty tough.  You don't have to be that careful as you will trim it again once you get the mixing bowl out of the way.

This what it looked like once I trimed it nicely.  You could leave it just like this but I wanted my bowl of twine to have little more finished look.  So I glued several rows of twin around the top to give it a more finish look as well as a little for stability.

This is just how I had it pictured in my mind.  I love it when things turned out how I plan.  There are a couple more ideas cooking up in my head, so I am thinking I will make a several more "bowl of twine" designs.

I am participating in the followng link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff, Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog, Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy

Burlap Table Runner for Fall

One of the things I really love to do is to change the look of my home for the seasons.  I don't really decorate for Halloween any more as I don't have little ones at home, but more of a fall harvest theme.  That way my decorations can stay up clear through Thanksgiving.  Last year I made these great birch bark pumpkins and wanted to display them with a more natural look so I decided to make a burlap table runner for the dinning room table.  Burlap is cheap, cheap, cheap, but kind of icky to work with.  It is so scratchy and makes me sneeze. 

I cut my table runner the width and length that I wanted.  In this case it is about 17" wide by 72" long.  Next I stitched a row of stitching all the way around about 1" in.  This will stop the fraying once I start making the fringe along the sides.  I used masking tape to outline a stripe a couple of inches in and about 1/2" wide.  Then using a stencil brush I painted the stripe a soft black with acrylic paint.  

Once the stripe was dry, I cut the words "fall harvest" out with my Cricut machine using the adhesive vinyl and place it about 1/2" above the line and painted it as well.

Once the lettering was dry, I began pulling the threads of the burlap to create a fringe all the way around the edge. (Don't look at the mis-matched chairs, one of my chairs broke beyond repair so until I find a replacement this little old thing will have to do.)

I love the way this turned out and how it works so nicely with my birch bark pumpkins.

I am participating in the following link ups: Between Naps on the Proch. Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Its so Very Cheri, The DIY Showoff, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today Creative Blog, Fabric Bows and More, My Girlish Whims, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Blue Cricket Design, Sugar and Dots, Sew Much Ado, The Thrifty Home, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Sew Woodsy, Its So Stinkin Cute, Primp

 

Pinterest -- My New Addiction

Over the weekend I joined a new creative social network.  And boy doggies, I am totally addicted.  The website is Pinterest.  You can browse around without joining, but once you join, that's when the fun begins.  All you do is basically bookmark or "pin" things that you see on the internet that you like and then others respond by "like" or "repin" your "pin".  I knew something was up somewhere on the internet as there were several of my older posts like Bed to Front Porch Bench, Pink Christmas Ball Wreath, and Homemade Peppermint Bath Salts that were coming up with a tons of hits.  Now, I know that someone had "pinned" them on Pinterest.  I am just warning you now DO NOT even get started because you will not be able to stop looking at Pinterest.  I just think of it as a little vacation throughout the day. But BEWARE your time will fly away on Pinterest.  Happy pinning :o)

20 Something Egg Hunt

What do you do when you have no little people in your family anymore on Easter? Well I will tell you what you do, you have an Easter egg hunt for 20 somethings.  Some of my kids' fondest memories of Easter are the egg hunts that we had for them when they were little.  Lindsey wanted to bring back the "good ole days" and have a real egg hunt.  Jeff had a good time hiding the eggs around the yard.  Just to make it more interesting three of the eggs had gift cards in them, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Chili's.  We had eight 20 somethings at our home for dinner and they had a great time being a part of an egg hunt again.

 
Needless to say, some of us were a little more competitive than others.  Lindsey happened to find the most eggs, but failed to get a gift card. Ha, ha, ha.

 
Sunday dinner was a lot of fun and I enjoyed having the girls actually make their own dish to share.  I love this new season of life as it brings its own kind of fun.