The Box that Taunts Me!

My sweet dear hubby already purchased my Christmas gift this year. I've been hinting for a good 9 months now! =) He got me a Nikon D40x. I'm sooooooo excited about it!!

However........It has already arrived and he WILL NOT let me open it until Christmas! If you are going to to that to a person you have to be a little sneakier at keeping it a secret don't ya think?

So anyway, there is this box in my house that contains what I've wanted for nearly a year...and it is taunting me!


Just imagine all the fabulous pictures I'm missing....(because my current camera has such a horrible delay!)

Tree #1 - The Family Tree

Every year we have two christmas trees. The family tree and my "pretty tree". I'm a confessed tree snob. My family has to follow me around the tree farm for at least an hour as I search for the tree with the shape and fullness that is just right. We also have a fake tree that we use as our "family tree" It has colored lights, just like my kids like, and we hang all of the ornaments we've collected over the years on it.

So last night we decorated our family tree. It's always fun to look at the ornaments and walk down memory lane.






This weekend we will go on our (ok MY) quest for the "perfect tree".

Crazy Busy Weekend!

I don't know about the rest of you, but my Thanksgiving weekend was CRAZY! It started out on Wednesday. We had family fly in from Georgia and so it was off to my parents house for dinner. Then on Thursday we had everybody over to our house for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was 14 people, so that really wasn't huge compared to some years with my hubby's family when we've had 26! Anyhoo....everybody got here on Thursday about 1pm and we ate, and visited until like 9:30 pm. The food was YUMMY! My hubby was the star who took care of the turkey. He cleaned it, basted it, and cut it! (I seasoned it) Isn't it pretty! I made stuffing for the first time and it turned out great! I've never eaten stuffing before, but I actually ate some this time. I did an apple, cranberry, sausage version.

And I did do the little place card idea that I previously posted.

Then the crazy weekend moved onto Friday. I went out and did some grocery shopping for another event that was on the way. Then it was off to my folks again for my Nanny's (gradma's) famous spaghetti dinner. Yumm-O! Two more family members joined us from California and surprised my mom, because we were celebrating her 60th birthday over the weekend as well. After dinner I headed home with my family plus my cousin Allison (20) and my cousin Caroline (13). Together we began the preparations for my mom's big 60th birthday party on Saturday. We did some food prep, baked cupcakes, and I decorated the cake.


Are you tired yet....cuz I was! So I got to bed about 1:30 am and then was up at 8:30 to make breakfast for everybody and get going on the party prep. Let me tell you this....hear me loud and clear....There is NO WAY I could've pulled that party off without the help of my cousins!!! They were amazing! Thanks Alli and Caroline! I was pretty busy at the party and didn't get a lot of pics, so I'll have to post more when I get them from my folks (hint, hint DAD!) But here is what I do have.

Along with the cake we made three different kinds of cupcakes...oreo, coconut, and orange


We did some mocktails that were a hit.... one third mango margarita mix / two thirds seven up / and a splash of raspberry syrup. We sugared the rim of the glass and added an ice cube that had a lime or lemon wedge frozen inside. They were yummy.

I also did some water bottle and candy wraps. We had the water bottles sitting out on the beverage table and the candies sitting around the house in candy dishes. They had a pic of my mom as a toddler on them...it matched the e-vite that I created and sent out to everybody.

Did I mention that while I was prepping for the party my realtor called to see if she could show the house the next day....I said NO! It would have to wait until Monday. =)
It was a fun party and my house was filled with about 45 people!! It was great to see the family and as soon as they left I missed them!

The party was over and everyone was cleared out by about 10 pm. Then on Sunday it was off to church in the morning and then in the evening we went to my hubby's folks to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family. (I could officially see about 2 days worth of food in my belly at this point) At the end of the evening I shoved one last cupcake down my throat and then it was off to bed. Ooops, don't forget about the showing! By 4:45 on Monday afternoon my house was completely restored and show ready! Oh my goodness it makes me tired again just thinking about it all!

Hope your thanksgiving weekend was fun! Now you know why I haven't posted in awhile!

Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Thinking of the things I'm thankful for this year was very easy. In the last year we have had many close friends dealing with life threatening sickness in their lives, and we have had a few deaths in the family. This year I am definitely more thankful than I have ever been that I have my health, and that my husband and kids do as well. It's been really hard to watch so many people we love and care about being sick or having to watch their kids be sick. All I can do is rest in the sovereignty of the Lord and pray for miraculous healing. Which I do everyday. I've been reading the book of Luke lately and it is taking me through the life of Jesus. He preformed so many miraculous healings. Some even after the death had occured. So I will continue to pray for healing for my friends because I believe that God is ABLE.

Lord, thank you for my family and thank you that we are all healthy. We are very blessed. I pray for healing for all of our friends currently battling sickness. Please put your healing hand upon them and miraculously heal them here on earth. Your word says that by your stripes we are healed and so I am claiming that today! I recognize that you see things that we cannot see in the bigger picture and so I rest completely in your sovereignty. You are El Roi, The God Who Sees (Prov. 15:3). You are also Jehovah-rapha, The Lord who Heals (Jeremiah 17:14)
Amen

Can You Believe It???

Tonight on The Bachelor he said goodbye too.........BOTH GIRLS!!! That's a first! Did you watch it?

Your thoughts please........(that means leave a comment!)

Super Cute Place card for Thanksgiving

I've been blog cruisin'!! And I'm finding some cute stuff so I just had to share!

Found this super cute pumpkin place card idea just in time for Thanksgiving dinner! I found the idea at Paperfections.


There are more detailed directions here on Emily Giovanni's Blog where she actually uses the same technique to create a christmas ornament. This could be a fun project to do with the kids!


This technique is actually the same process you can use to create a star album. Except that with the star album you do several layers.

Looks like I'm headed to the craft store on Monday to buy some autumn themed/colored papers to make my placecards. Maybe I'll see you there!

2 Amazingly fun blogs that I came across!

Ok, I've just added 2 new blogs to my list. The first one, Tip Junkie, led me to the second one, Taylored Expressions. They both have really great stuff! Like this....
That is an altered starbucks frappuccino 4 pack. Hello!!!! Is that a great gift idea or what! That was on Taylored Expressions.

Tip Junkie is just that. She tips you off to other great ideas out there and directs you to other people's blogs to see them.

Have fun! I'm not kidding. These are good =)

Goody Giveaway by Michelle

Check out this awesome giveaway that Michelle at Allen Designs is doing. She has the most amazing and fun clocks, and giftware. Go to her blog to see how to enter 3 different ways!

Almost forgot....

Karla is having a giveaway right now. If you want to participate click here! It's a giveaway that will help you to reflect on what you are thankful for!

Exciting New Adventure!!

I have some really exciting news to share with ya'll. Author, artist, and speaker, Karla Dornacher, has asked me to work with her to create digital downloads using her artwork!! Basically I will be using her original art and turning it into digital scrapbooking kits, and downloadable - printable projects. I'm so honored that she has asked me to do this for her. I'm also feeling very insecure and intimidated at this moment. I will have a handful of learning curves to overcome in order to be able to do this, but she is willing to work with me and help me through those learning curves.

Karla has been blessed with some amazing gifts and talents. More than that she is an incredible woman of God. For that reason I look forward to working with her, learning from her, and gleaning Godly wisdom from her.

Visit Karla's website to view her work. Her books, stationary and other items make great gifts! Especially with Christmas just around the corner!

Go NINERS!!!-----talky blog!!

Headed to the Game! Go Niners!

I've been a bit of a boring, or maybe the right word is absent, blogger lately. Sorry. I've been busy.

On Monday I'm headed up to Seattle for my very first pro football game with my Dad. I can't wait. This has been 10 years in the making. The only problem is that it looks like we are gonna get REALLY WET! Rain and wind is in the forecast. Yuck!

But no matter what......Go Niners!

Jewelry Tags

My mother-in-law has been making jewelry and selling it. She's been doing quite well acutally. Her hubby's nickname for her is George. I still don't know why. But anyway, she calls her company Gems by George. So I was given the task of creating the logo as well as the price/info tags for the items.

Here is the logo:

This is what the detailed info is on the cards. She has created several different "series" lines based on the colors of each piece. Each line coordinates with a word and scripture from the bible. For example: The pieces that have white or clear beads is in the Purity Series.
Here is a pic of one of the necklaces with the tag attatched:

So that's the project I've been working on recently. I'd direct you to my MIL's website to buy her jewelry....but she doesn't have a site yet. I'll let you know when she does!

How to search Blogger

Ok, so some of my blog friends and I have asked each other....."How do you search blogger for specific types of blogs?"

Today I found the answer.....Click Here!

Have Fun!

Bowling and Cupcakes

Well, I spent all day yesterday making nearly 70 cupcakes and 3 dozen cookies. I'm tired! But it was totally worth it! I made the cupcakes for Luke's birthday party. They had the party at this amazing bowling alley that we have in town, so the theme was ...BOWLING!

So what to do with cupcakes for a bowling theme? Head to the local flooring store of course! No, I'm serious. I went to the local flooring store, told them what I was doing and they gave me a pergo floor sample. Why? Because I needed a "bowling alley" to stage my cupcakes on. Next it was a phone call to my brother and sister in law with the sign company for a little help with sprucing up and personalizing the "bowling alley" I combined a few different pieces of clipart to create a personalized bowling graphic for Luke, they printed it up for me, and we adhered it to the "bowling alley".....I'll show you the results in just a minute!

So getting back to the actual cupcakes. I tried making "finger holes" but it looked really stupid. So I moved onto sugar cookie cutouts. But I didn't have a cookie cutter for that so I had to create one. Here is how I did it. First I found a clipart of a bowling pin. I sized it, printed it out, cut it out and traced it onto a plastic lid from a cottage cheese container. (any plastic lid will do). Then I cut the shape out of the lid and used it as a template for my cookies. ( I got the lid template idea from martha stewart living magazine)


It's a bit more time consuming than a cookie cutter, but you've got to work with what you've got sometimes. It worked pretty well actually. So I baked, and I frosted and then baked and frosted some more. And here is the final result.....

And the personalized "bowling alley" I mentioned earlier....


It was a fun time and it looked like Luke really enjoyed it!

Thanks again to all of you who have been praying for Luke. Please continue to pray. He will be returning to Doernbecher on Thursday for his next round of Chemo.

Canister Upgrade

Last week I went to a store that recently came to my neck of the woods. It is called HomeGoods. I was so excited to see that it had come here. I spent nearly 2 hours there just looking at all the pretty stuff. I purchased this set of canisters for my countertop.


I personally really love the "vintage style" canisters that have the labels on them. But most of them say FLOUR SUGAR TEA . That's not what I put in them though. I do FLOUR SUGAR SALT. So I once again looked to my trusty brother and sister in law to help me out. They have a sign company and can print up vinyl lettering. They printed up the words for me and here is the result.


I love it! It is just what I've wanted but haven't been able to find.

Sports theme Birthday

I'm currently working on a project to help my friend Vikki with her son Luke's bowling theme birthday party. So come back in a couple days to see my bowling themed cupcakes.

For now I thought I'd show you a few pics from my son's sports themed birthday that we did when he was 2 years old.

For the invites I designed them and then printed them out on simple white cardstock. To create his name in that "baseball jersey" style I downloaded a free font from dafont.com The font name is marcelle

Then I used this really cool paper that I got at my local scrapbooking store. The paper is textured just like a basketball. I cut the paper so that it folded into a 6x6 square and then I drew the black lines (like on a real basketball) I adhered the printed invite to the inside.



For the cake I tried to incorporate a couple different sports...basketball and football
I made the top of the cake look like a basketball. I even used the textured paper to add texture to the top of the cake. I waited until the frosting had set a bit in the fridge and then put the paper on top and lightly pressed down. I added pre-made footballs to the side and added a grass border to the bottom.


I used the design that I did for the invite and printed it out on an iron-on tranfer and made my son a t-shirt to match to wear at the party


For the food we totally played up the sports theme and went with traditional ball park foods. We did hot dogs, hamburgers, and nachos. It was a fun casual party and we did it in our own backyard.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

With Thanksgiving on the way food is on the brain. There are always tons of leftovers. So here is an idea for your leftover mashed potatoes:

Brown 2lbs of ground beef, chicken, or turkey (whichever you prefer)

Mix the following ingredients in a bowl:
The browned meat
2 cups cream of chicken soup
1 cup canned green beans
1 cup canned corn
1 cup canned carrots
Season with salt & pepper
Stir all together

Pour out the contents of the bowl into a 9x13 baker
Top with 4-5 cups of mashed potatoes and spread across the top evenly
Spread 2 cups of grated cheese on top

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes covered. Then remove the cover and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

If you don't have leftover mashed potatoes you can always whip up a batch of instant potatoes! This is an easy meal for when you are providing a friend or family in need with a meal. It has that "comfort food" vibe to it.