oh christmas tree...

I love Christmas. I love decorating for Christmas. My dream is to one day decorate my ENTIRE house for the Christmas holiday, right down to the towels in the bathrooms and the comforters on the beds. It may never happen, but a girl has to have a dream, right?



So, in the meantime, I made this cute tree. I love it. I really really loved it until I downloaded the pictures I took and noticed that the flash on my cheap-o camera felt the need to highlight all the spots where the fabric didn't completely cover the styrofoam. Stupid camera. But, in real life it's not even noticable, so I still really love it.



See, I even took a picture without the flash....can't even see the flaws, right?



(wow, that's a horrible picture....)
If you see the flaws, just don't tell me. I prefer to live in denile. :)

Bring on the Holidays!

I am far from the organized person that I want to be, but when it comes to the winter holidays, I have to write every thought, idea, activity, vacation, party, and Christmas wish down, or my brain will explode. So I was SO excited when I came across a free printable from the gals at eighteen25. Not only that, they have a step by step tutorial on the blog Under the Sycamore, where they did a guest post.



Now, I'm ready. Bring it on.

Once there were some snowmen...

I love Christmas and Winter decorations. They are my favorite. And I needed a new snoman. So I made two. A Mr. and Mrs. if you will. There may be some little snow guys in their future. And maybe Grandma and Grandpa will come to visit.


Who knows.



All I know is they make the cold snowy weather a little more bearable.

Turkey Tom

I love to browse crafty blogs and get inspiration and ideas for myself. I found this way fun blog the other day. It's
called Craft Goodies. She is currently doing a Christmas ornament a day during the month of November, which I love!!!! She also made this...



So cute! I loved it and knew I wanted to make one for myself. But (and there is always a but, isn't there?) I didn't have the paint stick she used for the head. And I didn't have a block cut to that size. And I didn't want to go to the store to buy stuff with money I didn't have...so I used her cute turkey as inspiration for my own.

I went down to the basement and out to the garage to find some wood scraps...



I went to the craft closet (which is literally a bookshelf in my master closet) and grabbed the craft sticks, glue, paper, and other goodies. Sorry, no pic.

Then I got started. Here is my creation. I call him Turkey Tom, and I love him.




I'm linking up to catigorically crafting at Someday Crafts

I Got Another Blog.

"Really" you might be saying? Really, when you don't even post on this one?

Yes.

It's a craft blog. I want to start an Etsy shop (eventually) so I will be doing lot's of crafting in the future (I hope)and I wanted a place just for all of that.

Then, I decided "why not just do it all here? Do I really want to try to keep up with ANOTHER blog? I can totally just do it all here. Lots of people do that." So, hopefully in the future sometime soon, I will change the look of the blog, cause I've had that Christmas header up for a year now. And hopefully I'll get more organized. And hopefully I'll blog more, and not just about crafts. Not that anyone reads it anymore, but ya gotta start somewhere, right? And I do have alot to catch up on.

Wish me luck.

Fabric Flower Fun

I have been having fun. And I have been a little obsessed. Have you seen these around the blogoshere?



No sew fabric flowers. The key words....no sew. Love that. I learned how to make them by following this tutorial. Then I tweaked it. Then I made LOTS of flowers. I even made them in the car on the way to Utah.

So, then I thought, "what the heck am I gonna do with all these flowers?". I put one flower on a clippy that I can clip to hair bands. I've got plans to make a summery wreath. Maybe dress up some drab lamp shades. But the first thing that I thought of was...TOPIARY! So, I took this...



and made this.






I love creating.

I'm linking up to the Catagorically Crafting party at Someday Crafts.

my first attempt....

so, with the help of my sil, melanie, and a fabulous tutorial from the shabby princess, i made my very first digital layout. i'm a sloooooowww learner when it comes to this kind of techy stuff, so i neglected all of my household duties, and spent my day learning. now, i'm hooked!



i've been so intimidated my digi scrapping, but have wanted to do it for soooooo long. and, i've had photoshop elements since 2004, and have only used it to store photos...so sad. now, i'm realizing photoshop's potential, and i love it! maybe some of our favorite memories will finally be scrapbooked!

Vinyl Giveaway

Just found out about this fabulous little giveaway. LOVE the vinyl for the fridge...isn't this awesome?



So go check out the What's Your Style blog and see what she has to offer! And hurry...it ends tonight!

a tale of 2 wreaths

okay. it's not really a tale. i made 2 different wreaths thanks to ideas i found here and here. they were fun to do.

let's start with the square momgrammed wreath i found that idea at for what it's worth-or not. i love this one. mostly because i didn't go out and buy a thing to make it. (except one tiny piece of garland, which you will hear about later.) everything i used, i had here. the garland was in my christmas stuff. have had it forever. the wood letter, i bought awhile ago, not knowing what i'd do with it. same with the berries and ribbon. the frame is one i bought last year to make a magnetic board. it was too heavy for my little m3 hook, so it kept falling off the wall. it was in pieces, but gorilla glue to the rescue! good as new, and ready to be re purposed. i wrapped what seemed to be about 350 feet of garland pieces around the frame, and hot glued as i went. i ended up with this...



okay, so it really wasn't 350 feet. but i estimate it was pretty close to 30 feet. and i only had one really long piece of garland left. and it didn't match what i had already used. it was the wrong color of green and the fringe was really short. so, i embarked on a journey, and do your know what? this fringy garland is an endangerd species. i went to the dollar store, target, walmart, micheals, porters (local craft store) and nobody even carried the stuff. final stop...k-mart. and they had an 18 foot garland for $3.99. it wasn't an exact match, but close enough for me! so i went right home, neglected my motherly duties and finished the wreath. it made me happy. my husband thought i was crazy. but here is the finished product...



and now for the burlap wreath. this one is from craftaholics anonymous. apperantly, burlap is kind of a big deal in decorating right now. i like it. but i really loved the wreath. not so fun to make. burlap is MESSY! or maybe it's just because i got mine from cheapo walmart. not the highest quality, but it worked just the same. i got my wreath from the dollar tree (a buck), and the burlap from wally world (2.97 a yard), so that's cheap, i think. here is mine finished...




love it next to the burlap trees above my kitchen cupboards. i found the idea for the burlap tree's here. the only thing i did different was i wrapped some hemp cord around the trees after i covered them in burlap strips. then, i added some glitter to both the trees and the wreath. love them!! i think i still might add a red fabric flower like linda did. it needs a splash of color, don't you think?

go get your craft on and have a fabulous day!

A Meme....for a fabulous giveaway!

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
***a finished basement...with craft room just for me!
***a cricut, and a kindle
***a house that stays clean for longer than 2 hours...2 weeks would be nice.
***a magic bullet...smoothies whenever i want!
***happy, grateful children.

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?
***so many....i'm gonna go seasonal, and say the hand painted ceramic Christmas ornament from my aunt granny jo-anny. i think Iiwas 3 when she gave it to me. it's a little santa peeking out of a chimney.

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?
***homemade pj's for each of my kids. may sound simple to some, but i have 5 kids, and i'm not a sewer.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?
***legos. oh, and a cabbage patch doll.

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?
***well, they keep changing their minds, so this is probably wrong...
madi- a nintendo ds, or a cell phone
alex and gabby- new bikes
jake- seriously, changes daily...ummmm...i'm just gonna say the last thing he saw on tv.
jaxson- he's one. he'll be happy with the wrapping paper.

6. What is your favorite holiday food?
***all of it. i love food. mostly all the finger food type stuff. and hot chocolate.

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
***mostly home decor. i've made a couple of wreaths, and some burlap covered cones to look like christmas trees. i'm also planning to make a little something for my sister and sisters-in-law.

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
***a christmas story, white christmas, elf, and polar express.

9. Favorite holiday song?
***breath of heaven (mary's lullaby).

10. Favorite holiday pastime?
***looking at christmas lights with the family.

Now...if you want to enter to win this sleighful of prizes...



Click on the link above. But don't get your hopes up...that baby's mine!