After Christmas Round Up

So I'm still recovering from Christmas. My house looks like two little tornados have gone through. But I have to say that for our family this Christmas has been the best so far.  Both kids are finally old enough to play with toys and to see their little faces on Christmas morning was priceless.

Last year our family started a tradition where the grandparents and aunts showed up for brunch.  We continued that tradition this year and it has worked great for us.  This year they all showed up later which worked well because the kids actually slept in and didn't get up until 8:30.  I wanted to give you a link to a post I did last year that has all of the brunch recipes I  made.  I highly recommend them.  It was a lot of work for Christmas morning, but by making this it kept everyone filled until dinner.  Christmas Brunch Recipes

I recieved an Ipod touch for Christmas from dh and was completely floored.  I wasn't expecting it at all. To be honest, I didn't even know much about them but so far I'm loving it. I love the ability to be out and about and can get on the Internet to check something if I want.  Yesterday we went to visit my grandfather who lives 4 hours away one way.  We love visiting family, but hate the drive.  When my two year old got fussy on the last hour of the ride home, I was able to pull out the Ipod and play the Angry Birds game so he could watch.  It kept him quiet for a while and got us farther down the road.  Trying to play Angry Birds from the front seat so he could see it in the back was a challenge, but it saved my sanity from a screaming kid. LOL

I will post pix of Christmas morning (when I can find the camera).  We are now getting ready for our family New Year's Eve party. I'll hopefully be blogging more about that tomorrow.

So, what are you up to these days between Christmas and New Year's?  Do you shop the after Christmas sales?  What was your favorite Christmas present. Leave me a comment and let me know.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Gingerbread Wishes

Today is the last post I'll be doing until next week.  We are ready to get down and celebrate Christmas with our family.  They are calling for the potential of a crazy snow storm hitting here later Christmas day, or into Sunday.  We are hoping it waits until after Christmas so it won't mess up our plans. 

Below are two pictures from the Gingerbread Jubilee since I promised to post pictures.  The Gingerbread House we made out of a large washing machine box.  We used Tyvak (stuff they wrap houses in) and spray painted it brown.  Then we used plates to make the roof and then decorate it with candy we made out of sparkly foam sheets which I cut in circles. DH took those light up candy canes and had them on the front of the house which was cool so we had them lit for pictures. If you ever need to make one of these and have any questions, please feel free to email me.  If I can save you some time with some tips, I'm happy to do so.  Everyone loved the house and the church is going to try to save it for next year.

I hope that each of you who reads my blog has a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.  I hope that you feel the peace that one small baby born in a manager brought to this troubled earth so long ago.

Hope you are having a great Christmas in your neck of the woods!

Crafty Cricut Presents

Today I wanted to share some gifts I recently gave where I used my Cricut die cut machine.  I bought what is known as a deep cut blade for my Cricut machine so I could cut vellum letters out.  Then I was able to peel and stick them onto these really cool buckets I got at Target.  I used the Storybook Cricut Cartridge for the letters.  I love monograms and I thought it would be really cool to give a monogrammed gift.  I think personalizing gifts is a great thing if you can do it. 

Hope you enjoy seeing some of my Christmas preparations. And I hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

The winner of the Candy Land giveaway was comment #4 from:

LoveCubed said...


tweeted



http://twitter.com/Beckybeitzel/status/17366576625876992



hiccupapparel at yahoo dot com



December 21, 2010 6:51 PM

Candy Land

Today I'm excited to share with you about a party I had recently with the mom's in my MOPS group.  I was approached by MyBlogSpark and Hasbro and asked if I'd like to host a Candy Land party and I said yes immediately.  Candy Land was my favorite game growing up.  I love the colorful board and all of the really cool cards.  So I knew this would be fun.

We had a mom's night out with my MOPS group and we all came together to play Candy Land. The party was such fun because we all either wore our pjs or we wore our favorite sports teams sweatshirt.  The point was to party in comfort!  When everyone heard we would be playing Candy Land, they were excited. 

Everyone who came had a great time playing the game.  We had a bunch of heavy appetizers and of course I had to make mini cupcakes in honor of the cupcake card on the board. Some of the mom's were so funny and said they were doing mini cupcake "shots". We are a wild bunch. LOL

MyBlogSpark was kind enough to send enough copies of Candy Land that every mom got to take one home. 

It was nice to take a break, spend time with friends and play a fun game.  I highly recommend if you don't have a copy of Candy Land go and buy one now.  This would be a great thing to do on Christmas day with your family together.  Or if you are busy that day, our family has a New Year's Eve get together where we play games and Candy Land would be a great game for that.  Who doesn't love getting to pick their own Gingerbread Man game piece?  And of course it makes a great gift with Christmas coming.

Here is a shot of the ladies playing. We didn't take many pictures since we were in our pjs. :)

I'm excited that MyBlogSpark and Hasbro is offering you a chance to win a copy of Candy Land.  You have 5 opportunities to enter. You must post separate responses to this thread for each entry to count. You must also include your email address so I have a way to contact you. This giveaway will end at noon Wednesday, December 22nd.  The winner will have 24 hours from when I contact them to get in touch with me, otherwise I will draw another name. CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

1.) Who would you give Candy Land to, or who will you play the game with if you win?

2.) Follow me @chiccraftychick on Twitter.

3.) Follow the Chic Crafty Chick Blog. Check out the right hand side of my blog to follow. If you are already following, please leave a comment saying you are a follower.

4.) Add Chic Crafty Chick to your blog roll, or add my badge to your sidebar. Be sure to come back and leave the link to your site in a separate comment.

5.)Tweet the following: The winning is sweet with @chiccraftychick and Hasbro.  Win a FREE copy of Candy Land.http://bit.ly/dSBd3s #myblogspark

(Disclaimer: I was sent a prize pack from MyBlogSpark and Hasbro to host the Candy Land Party.)

Santa's Sweat Shop

So I feel like I'm working in Santa's sweat shop here getting ready for our big Gingerbread Jubilee event at my church.  We have been making Gingerbread houses of all sizes.  Here is a kit I bought at Michael's and put together.  I love these kits and they have been pretty easy to figure out.

Hopefully on Thursday I'll get a chance to post pictures of the giant gingerbread house my husband and I have created for the event. It looks so awesome. I'll also give tips on how we made it in case you ever find yourself in need to make yourself a giant gingerbread house. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Catch ya later

Gotta run out this morning, but I'll be posting a picture of one of the Gingerbread Houses we've made for the Gingerbread Jubilee. 

Corky's Boots Please Santa

Have you seen Corky's boots?  I had never heard of these until I recently saw them at a local craft show.  And now I'm in love with them.  They are the cutest, funkiest rain boots I've seen.  I'm in love with both of these styles.  As you can see they come in many different colors and I think the cowboy boots are just fabulous.  I would actually wear them out in the snow too with those thick socks that are so soft and yummy.  They also sell some that look like Mary Janes and a number of other choices too.

So if anyone wants to send me some Corky's to review on my blog, get in touch with me. :)  I'm not sure if Santa is going to know to get me a pair and what size.  LOL 

Corky's also sells flip flops and other types of shoes. They've got a great website to check out all their eye candy.  If you are doing a warm vacation soon, you might want to check out their website.  I recently saw some of their flips flops on sale at Charming Charlie.  http://www.corkysfootwear.com/

So, that is one cool find I've discovered recently.  What is on your wish list for Santa this year?

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway. Lawry's Holiday Meal Help

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Lawry's Holiday Meal Help

I had hoped to get a post up yesterday, but I'm sure just like many of you time was not my friend and it didn't happen.  I love this time of the year, but this week and next week are the two craziest for me.  I have something going on every day and every evening.  I've made sure that the week before Christmas we don't over pack our schedule so we can actually breath and enjoy things.  DH has been such a good sport since I'm outta here and he has the kids while I'm attending different things.

With all of this craziness going on, the thought of what to make for dinner has been something that I haven't wanted to deal with.  The folks at MyBlogSpark and Lawry's sent me a wonderful pack of goodies a few weeks ago to try and I've just had a chance this week to dig in. 

I have to admit I was excited about this package for a few reasons. I knew that our schedule was going to be busy and having some new dinner recipe choices were just what I needed.  And the fact that I didn't have to plan everything out made it so easy.  They sent me four of their new seasoning packets to try.  The new flavors are Asian Beef and Broccoli, Chimichurri Burrito Casserole, Mediterranean Sun dried Tomato and Garlic Chicken, and Tuscan Style Chicken Marsala with Garlic and Basil.  This week we tried the Asian Style Beef and Broccoli and the Chimichurri Burrito Casserole.  My husband and I really liked the Chimichurri Burrito Casserole.  As soon as he walked in the door from work he said, "Something smells good".  I was wondering if it would be too spicy, but it wasn't at all. It had great flavor and the packet said it feeds eight, so we had left overs which is a nice plus. 

I have to admit I was not a fan of the Asian Style Beef and Broccoli. I made that one last night. I actually found that one to be spicier than I liked.  If you are someone who likes spicy foods you might want to give it a try. I'm a big baby when it comes to spicy food. 

I can't wait to try the two chicken dishes since we like chicken dishes.  With the cold weather, I'm thinking some hot bread will be a perfect choice to go with these recipes.

So with all the busy shopping, wrapping, and all the other things going on in your life, check out the new seasoning packets from Lawry's. When you look on the packet, it will tell you the ingredients you'll need to make the dish. I love that because it is like having a quick grocery list right there with you so you don't forget anything. I'd look for them in the seasoning aisle.

I love it that you guys are going to have the chance to win one of these prize packs. Guys, this prize pack is awesome.  The marinating tray was a ginormous pyrex dish which is going to come in handy, along with the four Lawry's Seasoning Packets.   You have 4 opportunities to enter. You must post separate responses to this thread for each entry to count. You must also include your email address so I have a way to contact you. This giveaway will end on Sunday, December 12th at 12:00 a.m. EST The winner will have 48 hours from when I contact them to get in touch with me, otherwise I will draw another name.

1.) Which of the four Lawry's Seasoning Packets would you like to try?

2.) Follow me @chiccraftychick on Twitter.

3.) Follow the Chic Crafty Chick Blog. Check out the right hand side of my blog to follow. If you are already following, please leave a comment saying you are a follower.


4.) Add Chic Crafty Chick to your blog roll, or add my badge to your sidebar. Be sure to come back and leave the link to your site in a separate comment.

Thanks so much for Lawry's and MyBlogSpark for hosting this giveaway. And for help making my dinner choices a little easier during such a busy time.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Give Away Update

I am really slammed today, so I'm going to post the information on my latest give away later today.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Give Away

I'm crazy busy today, but I wanted to let you know that I'm going to post a give away post tomorrow and you'll want to make sure you don't miss it. It is only going to be for 24 hours, so be sure to check back!

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Happy Monday

It is a crazy morning here at my house.  We got a touch of snow over the weekend and since it is so cold, the kids are getting cabin fever.  The two phrases I've been yelling the most are, "Santa is watching!" and also "We do not throw the baby Jesus!"  We got the kids a Little People nativity set.  I really love it and recommend it.  With being made out of plastic, I don't have to worry about tiny pieces breaking off as the pieces sail through the air. 

So, that is a quick blurb about what is going on here.  I hope to have more time to blog tomorrow. I've got a great giveaway coming up.  Something to help you with meal planning during the holidays.  Who wants to think about food when there are so many other things like shopping, decorating, wrapping, etc. going on?

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Winner

The winner of the General Mills cereal & movie tickets giveaway was comment #6 by Lindsay.  Congratulations!

Holiday Bazaar

I have been busy this week and my schedule won't get any better until that week before Christmas.  But it is nice to be busy with things you are looking forward to and like to do. If you are just getting here, I've got a great giveaway ending tomorrow so be sure to check it out General Mills Cereal & Movie Tickets Give Away

I am dancing a happy jig this morning because my favorite local holiday shopping Bazaar starts today.  I can't wait to go.  And this year I'm going with a friend who I've never been with, so I'm excited about that too.  I look forward to this every year because I find really unique items there.  Also, there is one vendor who always has beautiful jewelry that is reasonably priced.  Tomorrow I'll have to post about what cool things I find.

So, that is a quick update from here.  They say we may have a chance for flurries on Sunday.  Don't know if I'm ready for that yet. 

Do you have any local holiday shopping events that you attend each year?  Leave me a comment and let me know. I love hearing about other folks festivities.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Tis the Season to Shop!

Before I start my blog post for today, have you entered my latest giveaway?  Check out the Movie Tickets & General Mills Cereal Give Away.  With all of the holiday movies out, you'll want to see if you can win this one.

What a crazy and wonderful weekend it was for us.  Of course we had Thanksgiving, then Black Friday and then Saturday was my birthday.  DH and I got to spend the day together going around shopping.  We got the kids shopping finished and just had a great time. I don't remember what it is like to have a meal or conversation without being interrupted.  I had received a number of gift cards for my birthday, so it was great to be able to shop on Black Friday and Saturday and to get some great deals.

DH went into the early frame on Black Friday because it is his tradition and he loves it.  He only went out for about an hour and came home.  He was disappointed and said there was nothing he saw that was a super deal.  We've actually done the bulk of our shopping online.  Even this weekend and on Thanksgiving we saw some great deals.

So, are you doing any shopping this Cyber Monday?  Did you get any great deals on Black Friday, or have you found anything great today?  By the way, I've found it helpful to follow @ShopCyberMonday on Twitter.  And they are also on Facebook.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Lights, Camera, Free Movie Tickets!

I think it is official that the busy holiday season is now underway.  And one thing I love about this time of the year is that great movies seem to get released around the holiday season.  I haven't had a chance to get out to see the latest installment of the Harry Potter films, but dh and I hope to go soon.

I'm excited to share with you that now when you buy two specially marked boxes of General Mills Big G cereals, you can get a free ticket to the movies. Who doesn't love that?  And with the way ticket prices have increased, it isn't cheap to go on a date night, let alone try to take a family of four to the movies. I love it that you can get rewarded for buying something you like and use every day.  I've included a picture so you can see the cereals that are included in this promotion.  When you buy your boxes, you'll visit this url General Mills Movie Cash and enter the special code inside the box.  You'll then be able to print off your Movie Cash Certificate. 

The folks at General Mills and My BlogSpark were kind enough to send me a box of Reese's Puffs and Honey Nut Cheerios and some movie tickets.  I had to take a picture of my youngest son, Logan a.k.a. Mr. Picky Eater.  This kid won't touch ice cream or cake, but he tried and loved the Reese's Puffs.  I thought I would fall out when he tried this cereal.  And then wanted more!

So this week is a great week because of course you've got Thanksgiving tomorrow and then the fun of Black Friday shopping and who doesn't love a long weekend?  I say let's start celebrating even earlier with a giveaway!  You can enter to win a Family Flick Night Gift Pack which will include cereal and movie tickets. 

You have 4 opportunities to enter. You must post separate responses to this thread for each entry to count. You must also include your email address so I have a way to contact you. This giveaway will end on Friday, December 3rd at 12:00 a.m. EST The winner will have 48 hours from when I contact them to get in touch with me, otherwise I will draw another name.

1.) Which of the five General Mills Cereals shown above are your favorite, or would you like to try?

2.) Follow me @chiccraftychick on Twitter.

3.) Follow the Chic Crafty Chick Blog. Check out the right hand side of my blog to follow. If you are already following, please leave a comment saying you are a follower.

4.) Add Chic Crafty Chick to your blog roll, or add my badge to your sidebar. Be sure to come back and leave the link to your site in a separate comment.

Thanks to the folks at MyBlogSpark & General Mills for sponsoring this tasty give away!

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Surprise Party

This coming weekend is my birthday, but the festivities started early this past weekend because dh threw me a surprise party!  I'm not having a "big" birthday this year, so it was a nice surprise. He did a great job. And it so explains some of his odd behavior over the last week. LOL

He was so sweet and had it at a local rec. center where I've actually thrown him surprise parties in the past. It is a great building, perfect for doing a party.  He just told me to dress nice because we were going to do a family event that might have pictures taken.   And on a side note I'd show you pictures, but literally every picture taken of me at the party stinks.  But, I will pull some pix off the camera to show you how cool the decorations were.  The theme was luau.  Our family all pitched in and did a great job.

As we are on our way to the party (unknown to me) and dh pulls over at a 7-Eleven and tells me I have to get blindfolded.  It is a good thing after so many years of marriage, we have trust because I'll tell you riding in a car blindfolded with headphones on hanging on to the oh sh#! bar praying you don't loose it is just crazy.  And I'm not usually a claustrophobic person, but I have to admit that was kind of making me feel claustrophobic. 

Once we got there and had the big reveal it was great.  I have to say it was so nice having family and friends together.  A great kick off to the holidays coming up.  And I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, thoughtful husband.  I think a great time was had by all.  Especially my two children.  My youngest especially enjoyed throwing marshmallows into the chocolate fountain and my oldest had fun attacking the punch fountain.  Good times.  Good times.

So, that is what is going on here today. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

p.s. There are going to be some great giveaways coming up this week, so be sure to check back!

Target Happy Shoe Dance

Have you seen these Merona Ballet Flats at Target?  I wish the link I had sent you to see them in black.  I bought a pair yesterday in the black and thought I'd do a happy dance right there in Target.  I have been on the hunt for a pair of flats.  My problem is I wear a wide size in shoes and the ballet flats I've been finding in the stores have all been too tight.  I also recently saw some cute ones at Charlotte Russe, but they had sequins on them, or they were velvet.  Those were so cute too and a great deal at $10, but I needed something plain that would go with more. These Target shoes seem to be the ticket.  And they are on sale this week for $18.

They also come in zebra print.  Be still my beating heart.  But, I had to leave those in the store because I told dh I'd try to be good with Christmas coming. But I knew I had to snatch up the black pair to make sure I'd get them. 

I am so excited about finding these.  Do you have any ballet flats or have you found any good shopping deals lately?  Are you excited for dressing up for anything coming up over the holidays? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Don't send the posse yet...

Oh blogging how I've missed you.  And oh laptop how I've missed you.  And breathing clearly, how I've missed you the most.  I've been suffering from a sinus infection and finally made it to the doctor yesterday. I think both kids have one too, so they are off to the doctor's today.

Gateway was able to replace the hard drive in my less than a year old laptop so praise the Lord it was under warranty.  Once my antibiotic kicks in I think we can salvage the rest of this week. 

So, that is what has been happening here. I can't wait for things to settle down so I can get back to blogging about cool stuff. I've got some great giveaways coming up.  That should put a jingle in your step.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Dragging

I'm playing hooky from blogging today. I've felt crummy from allergies and I just don't have the energy to blog.  So, hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Gingerbread Jubilee

I haven't had time to post in the last few days because these kids I live with seem to think I need to feed them and drive them to preschool and change their diaper.  What are they thinking? 

I'm also working on a project that is near and dear to my heart.  It is an event my church is going to be putting on in December and we are calling it the Gingerbread Jubilee.  We are going to open it to the community and we are having activities around Gingerbread.  Kids will decorate cookies, face paint, have games, and story telling. I'm so excited about it.  We are hoping this will be a great way to minister to our community and provide some joy in a season where so many people are hurting.  So, trying to coordinate this is a big undertaking and has been taking up my time.  I know I don't write about my faith a lot on my blog, but I can tell you that God is working for this event to happen. I've already had a number of things happen to show me that.  I'm so excited.  I'll be sharing more about this in future posts I'm sure.

If you happen to see any Gingerbread decorations (i.e. ornaments, banners, etc) at any stores, would you mind leaving me a comment or shooting me an email or Tweet to let me know? I'm keeping my eyes open for these things.

So, that is what is going here. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Football Crafty Goodness

I have to admit I'm not usually a football fan, but this story was just too cool not to share. This 8th grade middle school quarter back fakes out the other team in a big way. This kid could give some Hollywood actor's a run for their money.  I had to share this because I appreciate folks who are smart and crafty.

The boxes are down..

Yesterday we took down our fall decorations and dh started pulling down the Christmas decorations.  I usually don't start decorating until Thanksgiving night or the next day, but last year I started a little earlier than that and I think that I will again do that.  With having the kids, it makes it so much easier to do a little bit at a time.  Also, this year it will be fun talking about Santa with the kids and I know they both are really going to enjoy the Christmas lights.

Once our Christmas lights get put up, I'll be sure to post video like I did last year. 2009 Christmas Lights Video  This year I'm excited because the lights system we have will allow you to plug an MP3 player to it so you can customize the songs that play. I am all over doing that.  So, we will be changing it up a bit. 

So have you started thinking about Christmas decorating, or is it still too early for you?  What is the first thing you like to decorate?

BTW, if you celebrate Hannakuh I noticed that Target is selling a lot more Hannakuh decorations.  How do you feel about this?  Would you put up Hannakuh lights?  I did see those.  Leave me some comments and let me know what you think. 

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods?

Target 75% off Halloween

What an exciting morning it has been here.  First, I have to shout it from the rooftops that my baby boy who turned 2 pooped on the potty today for the first time!  I know from just having gotten the oldest finally potty trained that I'm going to have to take a relaxed attitude, but it is nice to get that first time out of the way.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog post. LOL  After preschool drop off this morning, Logan and I went to Target.  We hit the mother load people.  Target had gone 75% off on the Halloween stuff. We got two costumes (one for $3 and one for $5) and some fun Halloween signs that were 50 cents a piece.  I figured the Halloween costumes would be great for dress up.  I also stocked up and got two bags of M&Ms.  They are great for potty training.  We got some spooky spider webs.  I also got three of those Disney Light Spinners. There was a Tinkerbell one which I'll give my niece and the boys will get the Mickey Mouse spinners. I thought they would make perfect stocking stuffers for my boys. 

So all in all it was a great shopping day at Target.  I was so tempted to buy more Halloween lights, but I know we have enough so I was trying to be good.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Outta Here

Running out the door for preschool drop off, but I'll be back posting later today.

Laptop died

My Gateway laptop died and so my time on the computer has definitely been challenged.  We've sent it back to Gateway and I'm hoping they can get it back to me soon.  Not a good sign when I haven't even had the thing for a year.

So, I hope to be back to blogging tomorrow.  I have to steal time on dh's laptop. Computer time is a hot commodity. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Elmo Cup Cakes & Halloween Weekend

So Friday was Logan's 2nd birthday.  And what a weekend it was.  He was sick, but started getting better by late in the day Friday.  His poor brother was not so lucky.  He got this mess and wasn't better until yesterday.  And it wouldn't be complete if dh and I didn't catch the crud and we were up all night Sunday night.  Fortunately we were all over our stuff in time to be able to take my oldest son to a few houses for Trick or Treating. It was a tame Halloween.  DH is still on the mend and I feel like I'm at about 95%.  I think once we get some more rest that will help. 

I wanted to share a few pictures of the Elmo cupcakes I made for Logan's party.  I saw this idea at a cupcake shop and thought I could make them too.  As cute as these were, my child wouldn't even take a bite of them.  He is more of a Chips A Hoy connoisseur.  So momma gave him two of those.  Because everyone should have something they like on their birthday.

 Crazy me with my pumpkin master's kits. I was able to get the pumpkins carved before I got sick.

My son, Sawyer was Thomas.  He was so cute and very excited about ringing doorbells.

 Sawyer had taken his costume off, but Logan is a member of Lightning McQueen's pit crew. 

This picture pretty much sums up Logan's thoughts of Halloween. He was constantly screaming and didn't want to wear his costume, hold the candy bucket. Nothing.  Hopefully next year will be better.

This was our huge pumpkin. The cat turned out really cool, I just wish I'd thought to have the pattern blown up on a copier one size bigger.  This one was actually not as hard as the other stencil.

So that is a recap of our birthday and Halloween celebrations.  Did you or your kids dress up? I'd love to hear about your Halloween celebrations. 

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Happy Birthday Logan!

How did we go from this....

 and this....

To this.  Wow, two years have blown by. Where did my little baby go? 

Please say a little prayer for us.  Logan threw up last night and he and his brother have low grade temperatures.  So, we are hoping that everyone will be better for Halloween.  Otherwise momma made need some "spirits" to get thru. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!



Halloween Flip Flops= High Frightening Fashion

Halloween flip flops.  Do you have any?  Well, now I do.  I made these flip flops by taking ribbon and tying them to the straps.  I've made Halloween flip flops in the past and they were worn out.  This year I thought I'd change it up and get some of the pretty wired ribbon at Michael's.  I liked all of these different colors. 

So here is my latest bootiful creation.  What do you think?

I'm in the throws of Halloween preparations and tomorrow is a big day here.  My youngest son will turn the big 2!

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Howloween at PetsMart

Yes, we are those crazy people who dress up their poor dog.  Saturday we went to PetsMart's Howloween event and had Miss Zoe's picture taken.  It might be hard to tell, but she is a squirrel.  Very ironic since she loves to chase them off our deck.  She is such a good little sport.  I don't know if we will put this on her on Halloween or not.  I may spare her. LOL  She is such a sweet pup and puts up with our craziness.  You have to be a nut to be in this family. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Bootiful Pumpkin Tags

Today I'm blogging about a craft project I did yesterday.  I wanted to make little treat bags for my son's preschool class and I realized I needed some cute tags to put on them.  So, I got out some of my scrap booking supplies and scrap paper and went to work. 

A few weeks ago, I was sent an awesome package in the mail by the folks at BzzAgent.  It is contained supplies from Elmer's CraftBond and X-Acto.  They have a new collection of crafting products that are available at Wal Mart.  The Elmer's CraftBond products range from $2-$9 which I love because you can really shell out some bucks for adhesives and scrapbooking supplies.  Even before receiving this kit, I had used the Elmer's glue pen and glue sticks and had found them to be great, inexpensive products for crafting.  They are all acid-free and archival safe which is good.  

The X-Acto Designer Series has items such as scissors, trimmers, rulers, punches, knives and cutting mats.  I was sent a pair of Zig Zag Decorative Edge Scissors and Scalloped Decorative Edge Scissors.  I normally don't use scissors like this when crafting, but I pulled out the Zig Zag Scissors because they reminded me of the jagged teeth of a Jack O' Lantern and I thought that might look cute on the edge of my tags. 

The pumpkin punch is from Martha Stewart's craft line. I have to say I'm very disappointed with it.  It was hard to use at first and I messed up some of my paper.  I got it at 50% off and even still, her stuff is not cheap.  I would think something like that would be sharp since it has never been used.  But once I punched a few it started to work better.  I was annoyed I had to mess up some of my paper on the first few to get the thing to work.  Also, I don't like it that the bits of paper get stuck in the teeth and nose part easily. You have to constantly pull it out of the punch.  

So, as you can see I used my X-Acto scissors to cut the jagged edge on the tags and then I punched out a pumpkin. I used the Elmer's glue stick to adhere the pumpkin to my tag.  I also cut out slips of orange paper to add to the tag so I could write Happy Halloween from my son on the tags.  I punched a hole and put the tags on the bags through the twist tie that came with them.  You'll see the finished tags in our little bucket ready to go.

At the bottom of this post, you can see pictures of the Elmer's CraftBond and X-Acto Designer Series items available at Wal Mart.  I've found them to be helpful tools and products for doing craft projects.   So you may want to check them out the next time you go through Wal Mart. 

You can find helpful tips and project ideas online at www.elmers.com/crafters . You can sign up for Craft It! and they'll send out free samples, craft project ideas, news letters, specials offers and new product news.  Get in the know now. 

The count down is on to Halloween.  We are so excited here.  It is also a big week in another way for us too.  My little guy, Logan will be two on Friday.  Oh where has the time gone?

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Disclaimer: I received a BzzKit of products from BzzAgent which included: one glue stick, one glue pen, one box of craft bond, one tape runner, one X-acto corner round punch, and a pair of zig zag and scalloped scissors.

Sequin Tanks

Today I wanted to talk about one of my recent purchases.  For over a month, I've been on the hunt for a sequin tank top. Everywhere I've gone they've been over $25 and to me that was more than I wanted to spend. I happened to go into Charlotte Russe and found this sequin tunic tank.  It is a little longer than I had wanted, but then I realized this was a good thing because I could pair it with leggings or skinny jeans and have my back side covered. 

I was fortunate that they had a sale going on and I ended up getting two of these tops for $24.  I will need to wear a camisole/tank underneath.  BTW, I've found that pieces like that are great to transition to winter to wear under shirts for layering.  Now is a great time to search the clearance racks at places like Old Navy and find deals on tanks.  I stocked up at Old Navy's sales during the spring and summer, so I'm good to go with a number of color choices.

I bought two of these tanks one in silver and one in black. I plan to wear them under a jacket of some sort. 

So, are you into wearing sequins and if so, what have you recently purchased that you like?

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Charlotte Russe Tunic Tank

Trick or Treat McDonald's and Burger King Coupon Books

Have you seen the McDonald's & Burger King coupon books on sale right now?  I found out about these last year and made sure I was on the hunt for them this year.  I've found that not all McDonald's will sell them, so you may have to visit a few or call a few to find out.  The same with Burger King.

They are great little coupon books and a wonderful way to save some money.  Of course, they are a great thing to hand out to Trick or Treaters.  Who wouldn't love an added bonus with some candy to be able to go to BK or McDonald's?  The Burger King coupon booklet comes with 7 free fries coupons and a bonus drink coupon.  The coupons in that booklet are valid from 10/1/10 to 12/31/10.  The booklet at Burger King was $1 with any purchase.

The McDonald's coupon booklet coupons are valid 11/1/10 to 12/31/10.  It does say on these redeemable by children ages 12 and under.  It comes with 3 free hamburger, 3 free apple dippers, 3 free small cone, and three free small apple juice/or milk jug coupons (you pick either or on that coupon).  If I remember, they have upped the price on these coupon books from last year.  This year they were $1.99.  I bought two of these because we go to McDonald's on Saturday mornings and if we buy milk, one milk alone is $1, so this saves us some money that way.  Also, picking up a free hamburger when we are out running errands is nice. And we will probably share the ice cream coupons.

I do know that Wendy's has also sold coupon books for $1 in the past so you can give out free Frosty coupons. I haven't had a chance to get any of those yet.

So, that is one thing I've done to get ready for Halloween.  Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Halloween Decorations

Today I thought I'd share pictures of my Halloween/Fall decorations. The lighted vine I have around my door I got at Garden Ridge a few years ago.

This is my scarecrow collection. I had no idea what I was going to do with them and then I got the idea of putting them in the hay bale since they come on those long sticks.

I love having this lighted garland because I'll keep it up even after Halloween until we are ready to put up our Christmas lights. Since it gets dark earlier with fall getting here, I love having some lights around the doorway. It makes things so cheery. By the way, I used clear 3M hangers to hang this around the doorway. I bought the pack of 18 at Michael's that hold 1/2 a pound each. They've worked great and are easy to take down when you are finished using them.

This is my new wreath I made this year. I bought all the supplies at Michaels. The Charlie Brown/Peanuts pieces are foam. The container I bought that contained these shapes had a ton of different shapes and characters. I am trying to think of more crafty things to do with them. We are huge Peanuts fans here so I'd love to use more of them to make something else. It was easy to make this wreath because I hot glued the foam pieces on. The pieces have a piece of paper you peel off to reveal a sticky back, but I knew they probably wouldn't stay on the wreath as well, so I opted to hot glue them. I'm very blessed that my mother in law didn't mind making my bow for me. She is a great bow maker and I can't make one to save my life. I thought the black gingham would tie all the pieces together.

So this is how I've decorated the front of my house for Halloween. Do you have any fun decorations up?

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Halloween Foods

I have been so excited to recently find Kraft and Pillsbury Halloween themed foods. I love finding foods that are changed up for the holidays. I think it is a fun way to get the kids involved in preparing meals. And who doesn't love to jazz up their meals with some fun Halloween Mac-N-Cheese? I'm making these cupcakes later today. Hope we have some left to send to preschool tomorrow. LOL

So, what bootiful new food finds have you found recently? (wow, say that fast five times!)

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Pirate Pumpkin

Arrrrggg, me heartys! Shiver me timbers, it is our Mr. Potato Head Pirate Pumpkin, Pirate Pete. Pete is guarding our front porch from scallywags who might be thinking mutiny.

Isn't this guy adorable? I got this kit this year at Target in the Halloween section. I love these kits like these because they are so much easier to let a preschooler safely decorate a pumpkin. The hardest part was getting the holes in the pumpkin. I think I picked out the world's toughest pumpkin. Once the holes were in place, the rest was a piece of cake. Or should I say pumpkin. LOL

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Birthdays

I'm still feeling a bit heavy hearted this morning after losing my adopted grandmother. I spoke at the funeral yesterday. It was a beautiful service for a beautiful lady. So, having been gone out of town all weekend I didn't get a chance to get some pictures off the camera I'd hoped to for my blog. So, that will be coming later in the week.

Today is my sister's birthday, as well as our sweet Boston Terrier Miss Zoe. I won't reveal my sister's age, but Miss Zoe has given the ok to share her age. Zoe is eight today. It is hard to believe. I think she will be getting a small bowl of vanilla ice cream to celebrate her birthday today.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

There is another angel in heaven today

I just got word that my neighbor who lived behind my house where I grew up passed away. She was another grandmother to me. I'm so sad. So, I won't be blogging the rest of this week and will pick back up on Monday.

Halloween Decorating Ideas

Well, I'm headed out the door so I didn't get a chance to pull pictures off my camera to share my Halloween decorations. So, I thought I'd send you to another spot that has some great Halloween eye candy. A friend of mine, Chris, has a wonderful blog that she writes that has incredible decorating ideas. She also has a small events business. Go over and check out all of the great ideas Chris has for celebrating Halloween and other events. She has great ideas. You won't be disappointed. http://www.celebrationsathome.blogspot.com/ Please leave her a comment and let her know I sent you.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Pumpkin Palooza

Today I thought I'd share so more of the beautiful pumpkins we saw at the pumpkin patch over the weekend. Hope you enjoy these fall treasures.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we went in search of the most sincere pumpkin(s) we could find at a local pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch we went to has a ton of different activities for the kids which is so much fun. They have: animals, bouncy castles, barrel rides, a corn cylinder, corn maze, and of course riding on the wagon to the pumpkin patch.

The pumpkins they had at the patch were amazing. They had the traditional pumpkins that you normally see everywhere, but they also had some really cool other varieties as well.

This little salmon colored pumpkin that Logan was trying to pick up is called a Kentucky Field Pumpkin. I thought they were so pretty so we got one of those.

Hmm, this looks like a sincere pumpkin "The Great Pumpkin" will like.

As you can see, the boys had matching Halloween shirts. We picked these up at the end of the season last year. I highly recommend doing that for holiday shirts. We've done that for the last few years. It is a great way to save money and have shirts ready to go. This is pretty early for us to go pick pumpkins, so I was glad we already had shirts. I love seeing the boys matching and they will look great when I scrapbook these pictures.
Yep, Logan liked this whopper and we did get one this big. Lord knows how I'm going to carve that thing.

Just as I was going to take this picture, my child decides that it would be a good idea to eat dirt. Only my child.

Logan was so cute clapping his hands when the wagon to take us out of the patch pulled up. He loved riding in the wagon. Thank goodness for that wagon since we got five pumpkins.

He was the entrance to the large corn maze. There were about 30 questions you had to answer to get through the maze.

Sawyer was great with trying to help us get through the maze.

Here I am getting ready to text my sister from the corn maze. To tell her we were wandering through the thing. With two tired kids. Who needed a nap. And needed to be carried out.

So that is some of our pumpkin patch adventures. I'll be sharing more pumpkin pictures this week of the beautiful pumpkins we found at the patch, as well as some of our fun fall decorations here at home.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!