A Little Christmas Favor!

Sometimes around Christmas I enjoy doing something nice for the people that I appreciate. 

I don't want it to be too big of a gift because I don't want them to feel uncomfortable. I just want it to say "Thanks, I appreciate and notice you!"

Susan D. and I gave out these favors at our Santa wreath class on Saturday. 

Just a little something for the Moms to take home with them.

(They are brighter in person. In these pics they look a little washed out.)

I found the idea on Pinterest and knew I would definitely make these this year.

Click here to see where the idea originated.

Of course, I changed mine up a bit. I didn't do the raffia ribbon and I wanted a picture.

I found this Santa image on Google images and it was perfect since we were making Santa wreaths!

I also liked how he was waving with an open hand. 

I just used glue dots to attach the lip balm to his hand and I was all done!

Doesn't it look like he is holding the lip balm out for the recipient?

I thought so too!

I ordered the lip balms from Avon and there were 4 different choices.

They always have these cute ones at Christmas for only 99¢ so it was a done deal!

On a side note, if you order these for kids, you might want to stay away from the Cinnamon Spice because it is tinted red and looks like lipstick on! Ooops!

I also made up some without our names on them. I plan on handing them out to a few people whose service I appreciate throughout the year . . . like the bank teller at the drive thru window, the checkout girl at the grocery store, my favorite cashier at Goodwill, etc.

Also, if any of you are making these and can't find the picture, shoot me an email and I'll send it to you!

Have Fun!

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A Last Minute Project!

I had planned on making these a couple months ago but never got around to it. I had some time yesterday so I went ahead and gave them a try. If you are reader of the decorating blogs around Blogworld, you've seen these fun silhouettes. Everyone has made them and they are one of the "in" things in the decorating world right now. Note: The silhouettes look blackish-gray in these pics but they are solid black in real life.

This one, of course, is my Allison. I'm giving this to my Mom but be sure I'm going to make myself one for my wall! Hmm, I have one of me that we did in 4th grade. I know it's in the basement in that back corner closet that no one ever dares to open. I'll have to be brave and pull it out to see if our profiles are close!

Since my sister doesn't have any kids and her dog is her buddy, I thought I would make one for her too of her Ginger. However...after I cut it out, it was boring. Ginger is an English Springer Spaniel. Her wavy fur on her ears is so pretty that I wanted to highlight it. So. I used an X-acto knife to cut thin wavy slivers out of the card stock to simulate her ear fur.

Now Allison wants ones of our cats. What did I start?!?

Have Fun!

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The Moms Name Their Families!

A couple of Saturdays ago the Moms got together for this month's "Mom's Craft Night Out." This month we made name boards. I know I say this all the time but I loved this project and our craft time together. I think it's the creativity of doing the project combined with the fun we have of just getting together for time for ourselves. If you are a Mom, then you know what I'm talking about. Some of us desperately need the time to ourselves.

Here is my board. I still need to put another coat of sealer on it. It was raining that day and I was afraid to go overboard with it.

Right now I put it on the top of my wall unit. It will be moved above a picture of the three of us when I redecorate the family room. Also, please don't look at my dust...I haven't been up there in a while!

Here are the step by steps. I hope you enjoy the pics.

Here's the table set up ready to go. We are outside sanding the boards.

The boards are 8 x 24 x 1 inches. Curtis, the sweet love of my life, cut and routed the boards for me. Thanks honey! We just sanded the edges a little to smooth out the routing.

Such concentration!

Painting the boards with their color of choice.

I loved all the colors. It was hard to pick one!

We let the first coat dry.

The final coats. We did 2-3 coats for complete coverage.

We gave the last coat ample time to dry.

Now it was time to prep the vinyl lettering. We use credit cards to rub over the letters to make sure they are adhered to the transfer paper.

The next step is to pull the backing off of the lettering and keep it on the transfer paper.

Next we lined it up...

...to get it perfectly straight. After we were happy with where it was, we rubbed it to adhere the vinyl on the board.

We then carefully pull the transfer paper back leaving the vinyl.

We took them outside and sprayed them with a sealer. Here are close-ups of them while they are drying.

Here we all are with our boards:

The Chaffee wives...left to right are Nettie, Dawn and Susan C.

The Non-Chaffee wives..top row from left to right are Susan D. and Cindy B. The bottom row left to right are Me and Kelly.

Have Fun!

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A "Sweet" Find!

I'm still busy getting things ready for Allison's First Holy Communion on Saturday but I have to take a moment to share this "sweet" find.

I stopped by the florist yesterday to order the flowers for Saturday and saw this on the counter in the back. It's a flower cupcake and it is too cute! It's meant for birthdays but I was thinking of sending one to Allison's teacher next week for Teacher Appreciation Day....because she is so "sweet." Her favorite color is yellow so the girl at the florist suggested a yellow "paper" filled with hot pink carnations so she could keep the yellow bottom. I like that idea!

Below are some more I found online. I'm usually not a carnation person but I think the carnations resemble icing better than the daisies and roses. What do you think?

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A Present She Can't Resist!

What do you do when your Mother tells you not to get her anything for her birthday? When she says she doesn't need anything and to save your money? When she tells you that if you got her something to take it back?

Well. You make her something that she can't take back and she can't resist!

What grandmother could refuse a picture of her favorite ;) granddaughter in a frame made by her favorite ;) daughter?

Not my Mother. Not when I used her favorite picture of Allison.

Not only was I able to give my Mother a birthday gift without the hassle of "you should not have" but it also cost me $1! That's right friends! I bought the unfinished craft frame at the craft store for $1! All of the other supplies I had in my scrapbooking/craft stash and it only took me under an hour to make! I say it was a win-win situation!

Here it is! You can click on the pictures to get a closer look.

The Supplies: unfinished craft frame, acrylic paint, 1 sheet of scrapbooking paper, ink pad, ribbon, silk flowers from a Dollar Tree flower bush, a button and a metal word plaque.

The Tools: a foam craft brush, scissors, a pencil, Xyron adhesive, a sanding paper block and a hot glue gun.

The Steps:

1. Paint the outside, inside and back of the frame using a foam brush with two coats of acrylic paint.

2. After the frame is dry, lay it down on the scrapbooking paper face down and trace the outside and inside of the frame. It doesn't have to be perfect...just get it as close to the edge as possible.

3. Run the paper through a permanent adhesive Xyron machine to adhere the adhesive. You could also foam brush a thin layer of white glue on the back.

4. Using a sanding paper block or sand paper, sand the edges of the paper until it is smooth with the edges of the frame.

5. Antique the outside and inside edges of the frame using the ink pad. Rub a little on the front of the paper to give it that aged look.

6. Tie two pieces of ribbon around the frame. I actually hot glued it a little the the inside ledge where the photo goes so it wouldn't interfere with the photo placement. The ribbon I had was white and bright blue and too bright so I rubbed it on the ink pad to tone down the white and blue.

7. Hot glue the flowers to the frame and then hot glue the button to the center of the petals. I also rubbed the button on the ink pad to age it a little.

8. Add the word plaque. My word plaque already had double stick tape on the back but you probably could hot glue that on too.

9. Put your favorite photo in the frame and you're done!

Have Fun!

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A Little Christmas Token!

I know Christmas is over but I have a couple of ideas that I wanted to post on my blog. I promise that as of the 1st of January, you will not see any more Christmas posts until Christmas of 2009!

Anyway, I like to give the managers that work with me a little something for Christmas. I don't actually work for them but I still like to acknowledge them just the same. In the past I've done S'more baskets, hot chocolate with snowman mugs and last year, I did home done chocolate covered oreos in holiday tins.

This year I was looking for something very easy and very affordable since I had to make six of them. I searched blogs and found the cutest idea. It is a bird nest for their Christmas tree. I have had a bird nest in my tree for over 20 years so this idea was the perfect choice for me.

You'll need Spanish moss and little plastic eggs. I found them at Michael's craft store in the same isle. All you do is tear off a piece of the moss and form it into a birds nest. I just spun it in my hands in a circular motion with my thumbs making the indentation for the eggs. It comes together in a minute. Then I hot glued 3 eggs in the middle. I popped them into cellophane bags that I had on hand and added the explanation. I printed out "An Old Christmas Legend" on card stock and then tore the edges. Burning the edges would be really cute too but Allison was at home and I didn't think it would be a good example to set for her. I added a bow with ribbon that I also had on hand and VOILA! It was done! It was seriously so easy and everyone loved them!
Here is the legend:

An Old Christmas Legend

Long ago, great happiness and good fortune came to those who chose a Christmas tree with a bird’s nest in its branches.

Here is a little nest for your Christmas tree.
May the legend come true for you.

Have Fun!

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"Home" Is Where Your Heart Is!

Jen over at "Santuary Arts at Home" posted a "I made it with scrapbook paper party!" on her blog. It got me thinking that although I haven't scrapbooked in FOREVER, when I did, I enjoyed the creativity of it. It was relaxing to me so I think I need to get back to it...soon!

So here is my contribution to Jen's party.

I made these "HOME" letters a few years ago for my Mom's country kitchen. They were relatively easy and when I gave them to her, she loved them and asked where I bought them!

(Remember, you can click on the pictures for a closer look.)

I started with Darice wood letters that I picked up at our local craft store and painted them with acrylic paint. I then roughly cut out scrapbook paper slightly larger than the top part of the letters and glued the paper on with plain old decoupage glue. I did not decoupage over the top of the paper because I wanted the look of paper not a glossy or shiny finish. After the glue was dry, I used a fine grit sandpaper to sand the excess paper off of the letter to give it a weathered look.

I finished them off with a little embellishment on each letter. I just picked what reminded me of home. Gingham always reminds me of the country, the bluebird reminds me of my Mom's bird feeders and love of birds, the daisy reminds me of the wild daisies growing in my Dad's field where he keeps the cows that we used to pick as kids and the brass barn charm was an easy pick because it reminds me of my Dad's barn. I don't know if you can make it out but there is part of a rooster on the "O" which is why I picked this paper. My Mom loves roosters.

I picked the word "home" because it has special meaning in my family. When my Ba Ba (grandmother) would return home to her house, she would walk in the door and sigh "Home" because it was the place she enjoyed most. So in our family, home is really where your heart is.
I challenge you to find your inner creativity and make some letters for your "home."
Think of the words...Love (for Valentine's Day), Family, Friends, your child's name for their room, Joy, Noel, Peace (for Christmas), Boo (for Halloween), Thanks (for Thanksgiving), Dream (for a child's room), Snow (for Winter).
If words are more than you think you can handle, how about your family initial? It's one of the big things in decorating these days to display your family initial.
The possibilities are endless!
If you find your inner creativity, be sure to email me and show me what you've done.
I would love to see it!
In the meantime, head on over to Jen's blog to see what else you can do with scrapbook paper!

Have Fun!

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Our 1st Mom's Craft Night Out!

This is my best friend, Susan. You've met her before here on my blog. We have been friends since 4th grade...which of course was just about 10 years ago. ;)

Even though we talk on the phone frequently, we don't get to spend a whole lot of time together. She lives back where we grew up. It's about an hour from where I live. Yes, I'm a little jealous that she's minutes from my Mom and Dad but that's a whole other blog post.

Anyway. Susan and I have been wanting to do a craft night for YEARS. Just a night to forget about our Mom responsibilities and spend some good quality time with some of our favorite women having fun and being creative.

Well. Last night was the night that our 1st "Mom's Craft Night Out" came to realization!

We decided that we are going to do this once a month at Susan's house. Since I am the "crafty" one of the bunch, I will come up with the craft and do all the prep work for it. And of course you can't bring a bunch of women together without food, so we are going to rotate who brings drinks and a snack each month.

I decided that we would make holiday glass blocks for our first craft night. I have always loved them but never found the time to make them for myself. This was the perfect opportunity. They came out awesome and the Moms loved them. They loved them so much in fact that they want to do more for next month!

There were three styles and here are two of them. You'll see the third style towards the bottom of the post.

Here we all are with our finished products. Left to right are: Cindy B., Susan D., Marsha (sitting), Sandy, Jeannie, Susan C., Dawn and me, Cindi C.

This picture is a little blurry but I had to post if for the Moms that were there. As you can see we are all laughing in this picture. There was this one phrase that was said that night that was repeated over and over again so to get everyone to have "non-posed" smiles I shouted it out and everyone started laughing. This picture with us all laughing is a true reflection of the fun we had that night. Cutting the ribbon and getting it ready to make the bows. Can you tell that all three of us really didn't feel comfortable with this picture!
Here I am teaching them how to make a bow. I was worried about this step because bows can be intimidating to some. Thankfully, a couple of them already knew so that helped make things easier. Did you notice I dressed for the occasion? My earrings and necklace are also snowflakes and so were my socks! I know. I'm weird....that's probably where Allison gets it!
Look how good they are doing! I'm so proud!
These were the troublemakers. We are still debating whether we are going to allow them to come back again. Susan (the one on the right) did say she would bring food....so maybe if we separated them, it would be okay. ;)
Here are more pictures of the finished products without the lights lit. They are so pretty. I can't wait to use them!
These were the most popular ones. The lettering in the picture came out really light but it's a darker blue and matches the ribbon perfectly. A couple of the Moms had planned on giving them for gifts but they are rethinking that now.
Ladies, I can't wait to do this again with all of you! You truly are a great bunch of women and I am blessed to know each and every one of you!

Curtis, Thank you so much for drilling the holes in the glass blocks and encouraging me to do something for me. I couldn't have done it without you! I love you!

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

~Albert Schweitzer

Have Fun!

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A Christmas Gift EVERY Husband Needs!

After I dropped Allison off at school yesterday, I did a little Christmas shopping.

And before you go judging me, I'll admit it right here, right now....YES, my child is privileged.

She gets door to door service every day to school in her black limo.

Okay it's really a black mini van but if you flatten it out, I bet there is enough there for a stretch limo.

Well maybe a short stretch limo.

Anyway, not like I have to justify myself to anyone BUT I take her to school everyday because it fits into my schedule. You see as soon as she is at school, I continue on my way to work. I know. I know. I only work three days a week. I bet you are asking why I do it the other two.

Well, I'm a busy woman as you know.

On Wednesdays, I have a standing date with the items at Goodwill right after I drop her off.

Stop laughing! I'm serious!

If I'm not there, I get a phone call wondering where I am.

Okay, now I'm fibbing through my pearly whites but you know what I mean. We all have our own addictions and the Goodwill store is one of mine.

Hey, it could be worse. I could be at the corner bar enjoying a breakfast margarita!

Okay now! I have to move along. My taste buds are starting to salivate with the thought of a Margarita! He he he. If you really knew me you be laughing at the thought of that. Although I love margaritas, I'm lucky if I get one a year!

Yesterday while I was shopping, I found myself behind a car in the Target parking lot with this bumper sticker on it! And before you ask, NO, I didn't jump out of my van, I mean limo and take a picture of their car. Geez! I do know how to practice some restraint! I found this pic on the Internet.

So. Of course I laughed. Who wouldn't?

Seriously.

Do you think it was the husband's choice to put this on his own vehicle?

I know it would be the last thing that Curtis would put on his car. Not because he didn't love me but having this little sticker on the car would leave him wide open for teasing from any and all of his male friends and co-workers.

It would not be pretty.

Since I was behind this vehicle in front of the Target, it stopped and the husband left his wife out so she didn't have to walk from the parking lot.

The wife appeared to be in her 80's and then my thought turned from laughter to "Oh, how sweet!"

I then realized that he probably did put the bumper sticker on his own car.

I can only hope that Curtis would be proud to display one of these on his car when he feels he can stand the ribbing from the male species.

I won't hold my breath!

If you are interested in giving one of these bumper stickers to your man for Christmas, I did a Google search for you. Just click here and pick the online store of your preference.

P.S. I'm really excited because Jill over at Controlling my Chaos gave me two blog awards. She's one of my favorites so I consider this quite and honor. Hopefully, I'll be able to stop by later today to show them to you and pass them on. If not, I will definitely do it this weekend.

Have Fun!

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1st Grade is Left in the Dust!

That's right! Allison has left 1st Grade in the dust! I am now the Mother of a second grader. Please tell me how this has happened????? How do I stop time...or at least make it slow down? The other day we were in the bathroom fixing her hair. I told her that she's growing up so fast. I told her that before we know, we'll be fixing her hair for her high school prom and she'll be wearing a pretty princess dress. She responded by "Cool!" My thought was "Yikes!"

This is the last day of school pic. As you can see by the sun in her eyes, I forgot to take it in the morning. Bad Mom! I took it at Noon when I picked her up at school. I'll have to remember not to do that again!

Wow! What a difference 9 months make! This was her first day of 1st Grade!

I struggled with this year's end of year teacher's gift. I started with one idea. However I couldn't find what I wanted for it. So I moved on to another idea but I really wasn't thrilled about it. When I was shopping for it, something I saw inspired me for another idea. Actually it jogged my memory. I remember reading somewhere about an ice cream basket. Since her teacher has 2 children (a son in the same grade as Allison's & a daughter who is three), I thought this might be a better fit. I'm so glad my first two ideas were scrapped because she loved the gift basket! I highly recommend it if you need an idea for a gift. We received lots of compliments from the other teachers in the hallway on our way to her classroom.

Here it is if you are interested. It included a box of Joy waffle bowls, Smucker's microwavable Hot Fudge, Hershey's Caramel Topping, Hershey's Double Chocolate Topping, a jar of maraschino cherries, a jar of 4 different ice cream sprinkles and a gift card to the local Bruster's ice cream so she can pick up the ice cream.
This is the front of the card I made on the computer.
This is the inside with Allison's last name blocked out for obvious safety reasons.
Here is the wonderful Mrs. Miller with Allison. She is an amazing teacher. We will be forever grateful to her for what she has done for us. When we transferred Allison to this school from the one she attended for the first 6 weeks of first grade, she hated school and didn't have any faith or trust in teachers. Now my daughter LOVES school and recognizes that not all teachers are bad. I believe this would not have happened without Mrs. Miller. She put so much time and energy into making school a positive place for Allison. She didn't give up on her like the previous first grade teacher at the other school did. The other teacher didn't want to be bothered. The other teacher wanted Allison to get with the program. The other teacher wanted us to "fix" things. Mrs. Miller took control of the situation and Allison responded to her. They say a child can sense things and Allison certainly did. She knew Mrs. Miller really cared about her. She knew the other teacher didn't. The other teacher was worried about Allison making her (the teacher's) year bad (her words, not mine). I know that some of Mrs. Miller's year would have been easier without Allison in her class. It was a rough couple of months in the beginning but Mrs. Miller and Allison worked hard to turn it around. Mrs. Miller accepted Allison for the unique child that she is and celebrated her individuality. Mrs. Miller was definitely our gift from heaven!
Mrs. Miller also had little gifts for her class. Too cute!
Here is a close up of the tag. If you click on it, you'll get a better look.
After I picked Allison up from school, we went and picked Curtis up from work. We started the tradition last year of taking Allison to The Runway for lunch on the last day of school. It's the restaurant at the county airport. We sit and watch the planes take off and land. Can someone please tell me why all the pictures of Allison and Daddy come out beautifully? When Allison and I pose, one of us is not smiling, smiling too much, not looking at the camera or SOMETHING! It drives me nuts! I want a good picture of the both of us!
One last thing before I go. It doesn't have anything to do with school or 1st grade but I wanted to share anyway. When we came home, this was in our front yard. He's our friendly bunny. Allison and I call him morning bunny because he's usually out there when we leave the house in the morning. Isn't he just adorable. I wish I got a picture of him hopping away. The underneath of his cute little tail is white!

"Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard."

Dave Mustaine

Have Fun!

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