Christmas Clearance

I know you are probably not expecting a Christmas decoration post, but I found something great on clearance this year. I did not go out and look for any good Christmas clearance this year. But when I saw these I just had to get some!

I was at Ace looking for something and I found these huge red jingle bells. I just love them, and knew that a few of them needed to make it into my home. 

My friend has this super cute jingle bell on her door and I love it. I decided that I was going to make one of those.

I got two new scarfs for Christmas and one still had that little round thing on it and it was the prefect size for what I was wanting to do.

I attached the scarf circle to the bell and then took my twine and wrapped it all the way around. I glued the ends so that they would not unravel. Easy peasy.

I then added a little ribbon bow just for good measure and because it looked really plain and boring without it.

And then I hung it on my door - for like a day before I put all the Christmas decorations away. But I will sure be enjoying this next year!

Our weather here has been super and we have loved being able to play outside and not freeze for the last few days before winter break was over! But now the kids are back in school and I am trying to regain my house!

A.G. Photoshoot

 Sometimes looking at the photos of my projects, you may wonder if I can even take good pictures at all. Even I wonder sometimes!

Guess what, I can! Well at least these pictures make me think I can.

And here is some proof of this said talent.

My dear friend wanted some photos to send out in her Christmas cards and I helped her out. 

It does help that her family is super cute and easy to photograph!

I used some actions from Pioneer Woman to alter a few of these photos, and give them a little bit of a boost and a touch of professionalism. And I just love how they turned out!

Maybe I just take crappy pictures of 'things' and better pictures of people. But don't worry I won't let it get to my head!

I hope that you are all having a great start to the new year. I am putting the finishing touches on a few quilts and hope to share them with you soon!

No more thread!

 I have been sewing like crazy lately trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the end of the year, and then this happened:

Now I am one of those people who usually have 2-3 extra spools of thread laying around close to my desk and then another one down in the basement on the quilting frame. But not this time. I am not sure what happened, but this is all the thread I have left! I have even used up my last bobbin as well!

And it would happen that all of my kids have been playing very well together and I have been able to sew a couple of hours a day - but now I cannot.

I am in the middle of this Christmas present for my sister - yes I am late, but I was shooting for the end of the year.

I came across the blog Sew Kind of Wonderful through pinterest, and I bought her curved ruler. It came with a free table runner pattern and that is what I am making for my sister. She is extremely talented and you will not regret checking out her blog!

Tomorrow I am heading out and buying 5 or 6 spools of thread! Unfortunately I have the rest of the day to kill; I guess my house will get clean! Hope you are all enjoying your Holidays!

Nativity Ornament

This year I did not make very many crafts. This cute and simple ornament is one of them.

We made this ornament at my craft group. I got the idea from pinterest, where all the great ideas come from. It only took about 10 minutes, and that was with the cutting the one clothes pin. I am not the best, and you can see that from my not so good cutting job.

I hope that you all had a great Christmas, we enjoyed relaxing and spending time with each other. I hope to post about my other Christmas decoration. Even though it is after Christmas, there is nothing like get a head start on next year!

T-Shirt quilt

I would have to say that the latest craze around me are these t-shirt quilts. I just finished this one out of their favorite clothes from the baby's first year. And I have three more people who are wanting me to make one for them.

It was a little bit tricky because there are so many different sizes that I had to work with. But it was kind of fun trying to see if I could figure out the puzzle.

I like the way this turned out. I did a simple line quilting because knit is not very easy to quilt on!

I am thinking that this might be fun to make with a few of the shirts that my kids have gathered through the years. You know the ones I am talking about; those ones that are just too cute to part with or just mean so much to you. But I am last in line, so it is on to the next one - which is actually some bridesmaid dresses! I am a little bit scared to cut into them because they are so beautiful!

Dr. Seuss Cookies

Despite my lack of posting, or even getting on here for that matter, I am alive and well.

I have been busy being a mom, organizing - I have gone through so much stuff and gotten rid of so much stuff, it is unreal, -  cleaning house, training a new puppy - I'll post some cute pics later - and sewing. Man I love to sew. I like to craft, but not near as much as I like to sew. And I have quite a few orders piling up and so maybe if I stay on top of things I will get them posted on here!

I had to share this with you for a few reasons. One being that they turned out so dang cute, and good for that matter, and well I guess that is really the only reason.

I had a cookie exchange the other night and I decided that I was going to make these awesome cookies. I found them on none other than the fabulous pinterest! You are more then welcome to go and follow me on there and see what fun things I find and like.

I am not posting the recipe and directions, because the site I got them from did a great job on it. So just head over there to see more great pictures and the recipe.

I made these in green as well. I used a peppermint extract on both colors and it was super good. But you have no pictures of the green ones, because by the time I thought to get the camera, they were in the bottom of my pans and I was not going to dig through them all, sorry.

Everyone loved them and thought they looked like something that you would see in a Dr. Seuss book, hence the post title.

I was good this year and did package up most of the cookies that we got for some friends and neighbors. That way I do not have as many sitting around the house tempting me to eat them. And of course a few got used to bribe some children to clean the whole house - loving it right now!

I hope that all of you are having a great holiday and enjoying your sugar overload as well!

Tulle Halloween Wreath

I have been so busy with just life that I have had to put this blog on the back burner and re-align my priorities. In doing so I have not done much crafting lately. I have taken a lot of pictures and am working on this great picture which I will try to share when I finish - hopefully this next week.

Thing #2 had surgery two weeks ago and in her down time of not being able to run and play or to talk for that matter, she really needed something to do.

I found this super easy wreath off of the fabulous Pinterest. It seemed easy enough for her. It only took her about 1/2 a day and was a great way to keep her occupied without doing too much.

It is easy enough to make, you need:
Black tulle - I bought two rolls of it from Walmart
Orange ribbon
wreath form
I added a skeleton and banner to jazz it up

All you do is cut your tulle to the length you desire and tie it around your wreath form. Add as much as you need until it is the desired fullness. Add your ribbon and hang it up and you are done.

I saw these skeleton necklaces at the dollar store so I bought them and cut the skeleton off and added him to the wreath.

Also somewhere I saw once that someone had a wreath that said "we are dying to greet you". I thought that was pretty cute so I copied them. It was a while ago that I saw this, so I apologize for not giving proper credit.

That is about all that I have done for Halloween decor this year. We'll have to see if anything else gets done - I at least have to do costumes, right?! ;)