Buckeyes

Or other wise known and Peanut Butter Balls. These are hubby's favorite and I couldn't resist making some for him. He will have to eat these in moderation of course because of his diabetes, but I know he will love them. I even used "his" peanut better that comes from the organic food store. It was a little more difficult to roll them because it didn't have all the added oils that is found in store produced peanut butter, so I just made sure I was really careful when I dipped them into the chocolate. YUMMY!!!

Isn't this the most beautiful sight?

While I was at my mom's, I went to the local nursery and bought one of these beauties. Where I live, I haven't found a local nursery that is even remotely like this one. And I live in a BIG city compared to where mom lives. And this size was only $4.99!!! I loved the sea of red with a little mix of white and pink. I couldn't help taking a picture of it. So Christmas-y don't cha think????

Christmas Cookie/Sweets

Saturday afternoon, I traveled to my mom's to make Christmas sweets. Such a yummy project! I ended up staying Sunday night and traveling home Monday morning at 6AM to be back home in time for hubby to go to work. We made my 3 batches of my grandmother's famous Nut Cake, one batch of Chinese chews, and 3 batches of fudge. We also had lunch at IHop, did some shopping, checked out some scrap book goodies she had bought online, and just had some wonderful girl time. I have needed a break from the kids and this was a perfect opportunity! Don't get me wrong, I love being with my kids, but the constant bickering and fighting gets the best of the SAHM who has her children since school got out December 2nd, and 24/7. I loved ever minute of it and wouldn't change a thing, except just a little more time so I could help her wrap some of her Christmas gifts. Check out the last one. It is a piece of May Arts Ribbon we used because the oven was a little full and wouldn't stay shut. We fixed that!! LOL

May Arts Burlap Challenge

Back on November 1st, May Arts posted a challenge using their burlap ribbon/string. Only 25 participants were allowed to enter. I was one of the lucky ones able to participate. I received my ribbon and it sat on my table for a little while. I knew what I wanted to do, but I had teacher gifts and student gifts to make before I could give my full attention to the MA project. The project was due on Monday, December 12th, so I knew I had a little while to complete it without stress. Well, I was finally able to create my project and I really like the simplicity of it. I started with an 8x10 canvas and placed my LOVE first in the middle. I should have moved it a little to the right to make it smack dab in the middle, but this is a handcrafted project so I was okay with it. I did the PEACE next. I couldn't get the glue just right on the canvas and kept wiping it away, but finally I got it the way I wanted it. Next was the JOY. Earlier, I had cut a strip of the string, it was a natural color first, and placed it in a baggie with some of SU's real red re-inker. I took it out and let it dry overnight. I think I should have heat set it before I used it because once I put it in the glue, it started smearing. So I was very careful in how I placed the burlap. It was so much fun and I really like that it is just simple words that mean so much at this time of year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks to May Arts for allowing me to play once again. If you go to this link, you can comment on any of the amazing projects and possibly win some of their beautiful ribbon. I just love May Arts and hopefully I can participate again in their next challenge. 

RACK - neighborhood goodies

The kids and I made banana bread and oatmeal raisin cookies for our neighbors. This was another one of our RACK's (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness). We packaged them up with ribbon and ties and off we set to deliver to our neighbors. We have 22 homes on our street, yes that's the whole neighborhood!! So we set out and delivered 18 of our homemade goodies! Not to bad if I say so myself. The next day, I had the kids deliver the others to the neighbors that weren't home. They really had a great time delivering and each took a turn going to the door to hand the neighbor the treat. Everyone was so receptive and it was another great experience for the kids in their giving! I even got a Christmas card from one of the neighbors thanking me for the cookies and wished us a Merry Christmas. Wonder what is on our agenda for next time. LOL This is a dark and blurry picture of this one, but you can see the basket holding the goodies. Hope you enjoyed this RACK!

Strange place for suntan lotion

The kids have been making their "club house" out in the back of the woods and I ventured out there to see what they had done and honestly, to check on them. They had rehung one of the tire swings, made a drum set out of buckets, fixed a driving area for little bits Barbie car who's battery is dead, and something called their bathroom (only for the boys though). We won't go there because I immediately told them to get rid of it. But as I was walking around the woods, I came across this and thought it was a little out of place. BUT I do like how it looks like it has a thumb holding it just so. It really was a strange sight to see but kind of cute as well. You just never know what kids will find in the woods! And did I mention, it still has suntan lotion in it???

Sugar Free candy - OH MY!!!

I left after dinner to do a little Christmas shopping, the kids are tracked out because of year round school, and I ventured into the candy aisle at Walmart. I stumbled onto this WALL of sugar free candy and was in awe!!!! Hubby is a diabetic and really isn't suppose to eat sweets, but Reese's Peanut Butter cups are his weakness! I took this picture and sent it to him. His response, "WOW!!" I know I have seen a few candies that are sugar free but this WALL just made my eyes bulge!!! Don't tell the hubster, but I got him a bag of the sugar free Reese's Peanut Butter cups to put in his stocking. He knows who loves him. :)

RACK - Vending machines

So today we had to pick up a prescription at Harris Teeter for the hubby and we had to wait about 15 minutes since they were on their 30 minute lunch break. We went outside and the kids tried to wait patiently. Once the 15 minutes were up, we all went back inside and got the medicine. On the way out of the store, the kids wanted a quarter so they could get something out of those 25 cent little vending machines. I told them no, but wait...and I fished out all the quarters I had in my purse. I think I had 6 or so and we decided to put them on top of the machines for others who wanted a little treat. The kids were bummed at first because they didn't get anything, but we had the talk again about giving and not receiving. That stopped them immediately! I have been so impressed with the kids as the for the most part are enjoying our RACK's. :)

RACK - Library fines

Today RACK (Random Act of Christmas Kindness) took us on a trip to the library. The kids have been watching a little to much TV since track out started and I decided we needed to get some "new" books from the library. Once all our books were selected, we checked out. It was then we told the lady at the desk what we were doing. We wanted to pay as many over due fines as we could with the money we brought. She was unable to do a check to see who was over due so she suggested we leave the money in an envelope and when someone checks out with a fine, she would get the money from the envelope. Sounded like a plan to us. She asked we put our family name down in case someone asked who donated the money. I gave all the credit to the kids. She then tells me that last night she ordered some take out food and when she got to the restaurant to pay, she was told someone had already paid for her meal. She was surprised that someone had done this nice thing for her. We left and everyone had smiles on their faces at the nice gestures we had both received. No pictures for this one.

RACK - candy cane day

Today was another RACK (random act of Christmas kindness) and the kids passed out candy canes. We went through 2 boxes of mini's for a total of 60 minus 2 that Ian dropped and broke into several pieces. They loved eating the broken pieces. We took missy to preschool so she missed out but we went to Dollar Tree (didn't pass out there), AC Moore (passed out a box), Lifeway Christian Bookstore and Michael's (they combined a box between the two). Emma asked if we can do this again next year. I really think they enjoyed their selves! I told them to say excuse me, ask if they wanted a candy cane, and then say Merry Christmas. Some took the candy, some didn't, and one young man told Ian, "I don't know you." So happy to hear that from that young man because it was true! Ian gave one to a little girl and I told him he needed to ask her mom first. He did and it ended up she couldn't have one. When people looked at me with that look, I told them I was trying to teach the children it was better to give than receive. Andrew didn't pass out any (he was having a bad morning because he didn't go to bed when he should and was tired), Ian didn't really understand, but Emma sure did! 1 out of 3 ain't bad, I say!  Tomorrow we are going to the library and pay a few fines that other's have racked up. I wonder what the library worker will think of that?!? We shall see... :-)

Emma's 1st Choral Performance

Friday night, Emma had a chorus performance at Barnes& Noble. It was originally said they would sing on the escalators, but they ended up putting the group on the second floor way in the back. I was filming with the video camera so I didn't see if they had people stop and listen to the group. They did an amazing job!! Emma decided to join chorus and they meet before school on Wednesday mornings. Worked out perfectly because the hubby could just drop her off on his way to work. Even our school teacher daughter left school to listen to her little sister sing. Chorus was a huge part of big sisters life and she really didn't want to miss it! So glad she could hear her sing. Yep, I cried seeing my oldest daughter watching my middle daughter follow in her foot steps! Yep, I am an old sappy one!

She is the one in the front with the black dress on. After looking at all my pictures, I can't believe in all but this one, she has her eyes closed! Thank goodness for taking multiples!

RACK's or Random Acts of Christmas Kindness

One day I was on Pinterest and saw a friend's pin about RACK's. I was intrigued and had to check it out. I loved it! For 25 days, or Advent, you pick a project and do for others. All about giving and not receiving. Thought it was an awesome idea and thought the kids would enjoy it. The kids really aren't so hot and heavy into the ME, ME, ME at Christmas time, but I wanted to try and teach them something besides receiving all the time. Give to others! So first on our list, we chose 4 tags off the elementary tree for children's wishes at Christmas time. We got 2 boys and 2 girls. The boys wanted a football and a remote control car. The girls wanted color books and crayons and a pair of jeans and a shirt. We are happy to say, we provided all and the kids actually helped me wrap the presents too. When we got to the school to drop off the presents, I was surprised at how many gifts were under the tree! When we took the tags, there was only 1 gift under there. People are so generous! This is why I love our school! Next, we plan to paint stones with inspirational words and pictures, then place them throughout the mall when Emma does her choral performance at B&N. I know we will do a candy cane day and I have 2 boxes of mini's ready to go. They even liked the suggestion of paying for 5 peoples past due accounts at the library. We shall see. We do have coins in the jar we have been collecting, on the counter. May use that to help pay those fines. Let me know if you decide to do something good for someone else this Holiday Season.

Teacher gifts

Aren't these watering cans the cutest?? They are ceramic, found them at Dollar General when they were getting rid of all their summer stuff, and the cost me $.10! Yep, a WHOLE DIME each!!!! I couldn't pass it up. Wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but when it came around to thinking of what to give the teachers, this was perfect! And cheap! They each contain a bag of potting soil, 5 Dutch Iris bulbs, and 3 Daffodil bulbs. They can plant these right away and they will come up in spring. I figure I spent a whole $.60 for each gift. Not bad huh??? I usually give a handful of handmade cards but this year I decided to do something a little different. They will probably get those at the end of the year. :) One of the teachers asked if I painted them and I was like "no way!" Maybe I should have said yes (scratching chin). But I couldn't take credit for that, could I?!?! I did put one of the Snowman made earlier into the cans as the kids wanted to give one to their teachers too.

Little office worker gifts

I wanted to give the office workers at the Elementary school a little something. I made these using my Stampin' Up top note die, cut around the edge of the patterned paper, scored it and then tied it up so it would stay closed. My hopes were to put Hershey kisses in them, but they wouldn't fit!! Onto plan B...I put the snack size Hershey bars and they fit. Funny though because when we passed them out, they kept falling out. Yeah, I forgot the glue dot to hold them in place. The ladies really seemed to like them and that they were homemade. That was the plan, Stan!!! As for the Herskey kisses...they are in a Christmas jar on my work table. Let's see how long they last in this house with 4 kids who have sweet teeth, not to mention mom and dad! :)

A new month - a fresh start

Here it is the first day of December. Can you believe it? Welcome December!!! In the next couple of days, I will be showing you some things I have made for my kids friends, their teachers, and the office workers. My children track out Friday, year round school, and won't be back until 2012. So this mama had to get her Christmas gifts done early this year.

First is the little candy holders I made for the kids friends. With 3 in elementary school, I made 60+ of these. And my goal is to make some for my daughter who teaches Kindergarten so she can give them to her children. But thankfully, I have a little time to be able to do that! Aren't they cute? I got the idea from Dawn Griffith. She made these back in 2008 but they were so cute, I had to do them for myself. I am just so thankful for so many talented women out there! Hope you like them! And I hope the children do too! :)

Yep, not here again :(

It has been a crazy 3 months. My MIL has come to live with us and it hasn't been bad, really. It has been an adjustment for all of us but we are working through it. I haven't been crafting lately, other than a few cards. My mom and I went to Archiver's 2 weeks ago and I didn't get any pages done!!! I did make 3 cards though. I just wasn't into it and I felt really bad that I spent all that time on cards and nothing else. Guess it was good for me to just get out of the house. And the kids are out of school too. They go back July 11th, we are in year round school here, and we will have a 5th, 3rd, and a new Kindergartner amongst us!! He is sooooo beyond excited. My youngest dd will be so lonely when he goes to school but she will start preschool in Sept and will be going 3 days a week. My hope is to craft a lot!!! So until then...I will try to get here from time to time and post what is going on with my life. Have a blessed day!!

Mother's Day gift for my mom

I made this for my mom! It is a topiary made out of all paper flowers. I rolled all the flowers from circles and scalloped circles. I had seen in the June 2011 edition of Scrapbooks etc , craft it forward, this idea of a topiary. I decided to make one for my mom and my MIL. My MIL is a little different in that I used some paper flowers and fabric flowers. The both turned out awesome! I am so happy with how they both turned out. AND they both loved them!! That is all that matters!!!

 

 
 

Easter egg hunt

Our town had their annual Easter egg hunt at the community park. They broke down the ages into different times and they all had a blast. If they keep the same times next year as this year, we will have 4 different hunts because of the 4 different ages. Thankfully this year, Emma and Andrew were together. They had a great time!!

Erin with her basket full of eggs.

Ian holding all the baskets while Erin is hunting. His hunt time was after hers.

Andrew breaking the rules with his hands on some eggs before they said go. But he wasn't the only one! :)

Emma and her friends waiting for their hunt to start. It was really humid that day and her hair is proof. I love it curly/wavy though!

Birthday Cards

Here are a few Birthday cards I made with some scraps, a few buckles, and of course RIBBON!!! It uses one of my favorite paper packs from Stampin' Up that is now retired. I love the all the purple colors in this paper pack! There are times where I wished I had bought more packs, but honestly, I have so much paper that I have to use what I have! Even if I love it! LOL  

ATC's - Spring theme

 Here are a few ATC's I made for a swap for an online group that I belong to, Absolutely Alter It , which used to Life Preserves. The ladies are so great over there and because I hadn't been very craft lately, I decided to participate in a swap. I hoped it would kick my mojo back into gear. I think they turned out cute and I hope you like them too!! :)

Thank you box with sweets

Here is the little thank you box I made earlier this week. I finally got them into the mail but not before I realized I forgot to take a picture of them first!! Silly me! No worries because I was able to make another one and I will probably give it to a friend of mine. They are really easy to make and I am so happy that it only takes 1/2 sheet of an 8 1/2x11 sheet of retired Stampin' Up cardstock, a few score lines, a little patterned paper from Basic Grey, some May Arts ribbon, a small tag, and done! Don't forget the little goodies that go inside. I put a small package of the mini M&M's and skittles with a few chocolates. I hope the recipients enjoy them! I did make a video of putting one together and I hope to get it up here by Friday. Until then...

Just thoughts...and a layout

Hi there! So this weekend was just crazy! Ian had his Recreational Day Parade Saturday morning and he was suppose to have his first T-ball game that afternoon at 5pm. Well, it didn't happen! We had some really crazy weather! There were tornadoes all around and one not far from us. Our power went out for hours but others have lost it till Wed. Several schools were damaged and one university is closed for the remainder of the semester. I pray for those families as they go through these tough times and the ones ahead. One of our local high schools is a shelter for all the displaced families. They have 120 families right now and will get 150 more this evening as they are being transfered from another high school. Sunday, Allen had his Weeblos, including Andrew as he is a Weeblo, at the local park to pick up debris, 4 bags. They put the tree limbs and such back into the woods area to keep it all in nature. He said he had other people there thanking the Cub Scouts for volunteering to pick up the debris. I am so proud of him for doing this as this is his first year scouting and he is doing an amazing job with those young boys!

So...I wanted to craft a little last night and I got one layout completed. I am working on a project today that I hope to get sent out tomorrow to some friends who have been very, very nice to me. I hope to make another video as well of this little project. Stay tuned...until then, here is my layout. I have journaling behind the tag that tells about the pictures of my mom, my sister, and I at Archivers for a scrappy weekend. So much fun!!!

Oh...I forgot...I hope to be an exceptional blog poster one day, but until then, my goal is to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Wish me luck! LOL

Butterfly Paper Bag Album

Here's another butterfly project I did for Emma. I decided to make a paper bag album for her to give to all her friends as their gift for coming. I used 3 white paper bags folded in half. I used the DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies stack again to cover the pages of the album. The ribbon is from May Arts of course! Don't they all just must make this album look so girlie?? It turned out so much cuter than I anticipated! There are 2 tags in the bag part and one under each the bag flaps. I made 10 of these and of course only 2 girls could come. I had to change the date because she got the flu on her birthday and with her party being on the weekend, I didn't want to chance it of her infecting the other girls with it. So with 2 for the girls, one for Emma, I ended up with 7 left!! My mom and sister took one so that left me with 5. I kept one for myself, so what to do with the other 4?? I had thought about selling them on Etsy but I know nothing about them! And what would I sell them for? Never really sold anything I made, except for a few cards they hubby took to work for Valentine's Day. Good idea though. LOL

Front cover

Pages 2 & 3

Pages 4 & 5

Pages 6 & 7

Pages 8 & 9

Pages 10 & 11

I left the back page blank so they could write who's party it was and who was invited.

Butterfly wreath

This is a butterfly wreath I made for the front door to welcome Emma's guests to her birthday party. I used DCWV's Blossoms and Butterflies stack and May Arts beautiful ribbon, green and sheer with butterflies. DCWV had a youtube video on how to make the album and I followed it. The only thing that was different was I didn't need as many small strips as she did in the video. Could be because my wreath was a little smaller than the one she used. But Emma loves it and it will be going on her wall in her room. She may change her mind and put it on her bedroom door. It was an easy project and I may do it again for Erin. Who knows??? How do you like???

Oh...the pink and purple butterflies came from the Dollar Tree.

Emma's Name Frames

Oh my goodness! I am so excited! I have officially made my first video! I think I only had to push record 6 times to finally use the last cut. It was really fun, but I know there is so much room for improvement! I can see more in the future and hubby says the same thing. He is always so encouraging!

I did this video for the May Arts Ribbon Blog DT Call's Spring Challenge. The theme for this challenge is Spring Flowers. I knew I wanted to make something for Emma using her name and when the challenge came along, I knew this was the time to do it. I had worked on her paper bag albums for her "treats" for her friends for her birthday party, back in March, and I had all this left over paper from Die Cuts With a View's Blossom's and Butterflies stack. I love this paper and so does Emma. This was a total surprise for her and she loved it. So with May Arts having a challenge, I wanted to participate. How could I resist?? I love May Arts ribbon!! I requested 7 different ribbons for this project, but one of the colors just didn't match (brown), so I didn't use it. They are the 1.5" Grosgrain striped ribbon in green, blue, orange, and pink. Also the 1" Solid/Reversible Dots in blue with pink dots and purple with green dots. I also used some sheer ribbon from previous projects where I cut out the flowers and butterflies from. This ribbon is from May Arts as well. Check out the video to see the rest. I hope I become a finalist, but I am okay if I was not chosen. It was a blast to enter and I will continue to enter May Arts challenges each quarter and maybe one day...who knows.

Ian's and Emma's birthday cakes

Here is Ian's birthday cupcakes. He wanted a Spiderman party and even though it was at McDonald's, I went searching how to make the spider cupcakes. I think they turned out quite cute. Everyone liked them. Especially Ian and he was the only one that mattered!

Here is Emma's birthday cake. She wanted a butterfly party and I searched online how to make a butterfly cake. It was pretty easy since the butterfly only took one round cake. The cupcakes are leftovers from Ian's, so they went to good use. The smaller butterfly was a cut out stacked one on top of the other. That one was for Emma only. She liked the cake too.

I am not a cake decorator by any means, but these were fun to put together and one day, I hope the kids look back at the pictures and know that mom put her love into them even if they aren't store bought or perfect. I love my kiddos!!!!! They are my world and I would do anything for them!!!!