Advent

 Okay, these advent calendars didn't get finished for our 2012 Christmas celebration but you can bet that they will be in full view and well used for Christmas 2013!

 

My friend contacted me about making these beautiful calendars and I couldn't resist, our inspiration came from here. While the original is lovely we wanted it to be a bit less busy and are happy with that decision.

 

The below pictures are a friend's calendar, we had fun picking out our paper colors and I think that they turned out super cute! I love the color scheme she went with.

 

These two photos below are of my color choices, after getting it all put together and seeing how the above green complements so well I was a little bummed that I didn't incorporate some myself. Oh well, I've got all year to make some more!

Happy Crafting!

water bottle

I love the opportunity to personalize things and Christmas was the perfect time to do such a thing! My son runs cross country and LOVES this quote. I thought it was very appropriate for a water bottle and hopefully I can work it into other projects as well....about that later!

 

"My sport is your sport's punishment"....I LOVE it!

Happy Crafting!

Merry Christmas to all the wonderful teachers!

Merry Christmas to all the wonderful teachers out there who take time each day to teach and love our children. It's been pushed to the forefront of everyone's minds just how blessed we are to have wonderful teachers who love our children like we their parents do, and as a parent of a student I am very thankful for that.

 

 

Here's the Christmas Teacher gifts I made this year for my boy's teachers. It's super simple, I found some {cheap} plastic ornaments at Walmart in their craft section {Walmart is wonderful for their prices but fail in customer service! It took two sales representatives who couldn't find these clear ornaments, they then left me on my own. Luckily I happened to come across them when searching out another item on my shopping list...shiesh!} anyway, I just filled them with cocoa mix, some mini chocolate chips, some red candy pearls and mallow bits.

 

 

What you'll need:

• Clear plastic ornaments
• favorite hot cocoa mix {I'm not a coffee drinker but I LOVE Starbucks cocoa!}
• mini chocolate chips {not pictured....darn kids left the regular chocolate chips and made cookies with the minis!}
• Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits {I found these at Safeway near the marshmallows on the baking isle on the top shelf}
• red candy pearls
• funnel for getting all these goodies into your ornament

Remove the ornament hanger from the plastic ornament and wash ornament thoroughly. Set aside to dry fully.

 

Once dry, use the funnel to pour in the cocoa mix a little at a time until you have your desired amount. I filled these ornaments at least half full or more. *after each ingredient is added tap ornament on counter to get everything to settle in, you want it a little snug so things don't mix all together before you're able to give this fun gift*.

 

Still using the funnel pour in mini chocolate chips shaking ornament side to side gently to get it to spread to the edges. Repeat this step along with the pearls remembering to tap and shake as you go, then the mallow bits. I really packed the mallow bits in, tapping and shaking until not another one could be added.

 

Replace the ornament hanger {yes some bits will get crunched, that's the price that has to be paid}. Attach a label with instructions. With the cocoa I had, these were the directions I used:

 

Directions:

1) sift contents
2) mix 2 Tbsp. cocoa mix with 8 oz. warm/hot milk
3) sprinkle toppings if desired

 

Top it off with a wonderful bow and there you have it a great teacher gift!

 

Hope you enjoy making these as much as I did!

Rectangle Ornament

 

Bulb Ornament

 

Happy Crafting!

It has {turned} her brain

I love making Christmas presents when I can. My daughter showed me a similar necklace a while back and I knew this would be one I could pull off, it was super simple!

 

This quote is PERFECT for her too, she's always got her nose in a book, hope she enjoys it!

Accordion paper Christmas trees

Sneak Peek {Advent Calendar}

Just wanted to give you a little sneak peek on a project I'm working on with a friend. It turned out to be a bit more work then we had anticipated but it will be worth it in the end....who wants to craft junk? Not me!

Here I've laied out the pictures and card stock how I want them to look on the calendar, now the task of keeping this all in order! 

 Up close of one of the images of Christ. I just LOVE Liz Lemon Swindle's art! This one is called Prince of Peace, she's one of my FAVORITES when it comes to images of Christ.

 Wish us luck on this one! Hopefully it will be completed BEFORE Christmas this year....at least we'll get plenty of use out of it in years to come!

{coffee table}....finally done!

This project has been sitting around for so long I no longer have the early build pictures. Well, I probably do somewhere but with our computer crash the beginning of this year and the loss of some pictures they may just be gone forever. However, that doesn't take the joy out of a finished product! Just in time for the {Holidays}!

Getting a head start on {Christmas}

Has anyone else been in the Christmas spirit since before Halloween? I am unashamed to admit this fact. I'm usually the one complaining about those very people who jump the gun on Christmas. While I'm happy for Thanksgiving's arrival it seems to be {at least for me this year} a stepping stone to get to Christmas. I've already started on Christmas cards this year. I got my inspiration for this card from here. I wanted to keep it a bit more simple and left the twine off.....although it is beautiful either way.

 

Super excited to get these out in the mail.....oh right, Thanksgiving first!

 

Happy Crafting!

photo project {coasters}

So I will admit to having a slight obsession with photos....old photos, but not just any old photo (although they are all pretty cool), old family photos. I adore them, I enjoy looking through photos and thinking about peoples life before I even existed on this earth.

A while back I was visiting with my parents and got to flipping through some pictures with my dad, my interest must have been written on my face because my dad offered to make me a cd with all of our family photos...well almost all. I was extatic and once home got to working on photo projects right away! One of those projects was a photo night light which I'll tell you all about later. This project porphed into something that I was even more excited about-photo coasters. I've seen different variations around the web but prefer this version.

My parents wedding day, don't they look so happy!

My two favorite pictures! My dad with his best man just before the ceremony and my mom with her soon to be sisters-in-law....oh how I treasure these photos!

Every time we have company over there is usaually always something said about these coasters, they are a wonderful conversational piece and it gives me an opportunity to share with others my life and the lives of those I love!

Happy Crafting!

Tu es ma joie de vivre

Just a little something I gave as a gift. Tu es ma joie de vivre, it's French for you are the joy of my life. Plaque is hand painted, distressed and given a rustic aged look. Notice the chips out of each side, I think it really gives it character.

some cake plates

This poppy design cake or dessert plate is truly a beauty! Below is a close up of the beautiful green center.

Click on the pictures to get a good look at the intricate design on this cake or dessert plate, it is one of my favorites! Below is a close up of the center design.

Dessert anyone?

CHOCOLATE....yumm!

Woohoo for a new camera! It's nothing special just something to get us by until we can get a nice one, I'm just excited to get back to snapping some shots of the little ones.

Speaking of the little ones my youngest has a bathroom chart that he gets to put a sticker on if he uses the potty properly, if he does not then he has to remove a sticker. As a reward he gets to go out for ice cream once the chart is all filled up. E decided that instead of going out for ice cream he wanted me to buy some to share with his brothers and sister. I thought that that was kind of him to share his reward so I decided to make the experience a little bit more special. I've had a recipe for chocolate waffle iron cookies that I pull out once in a blue moon, I don't know why it's so seldom it's a super simple recipe and even the little kids can help out. Below is the recipe for these waffles along with a recipe for Chocolate Sauce that is

TO.DIE.FOR!

And again, super simple. Add some vanilla ice cream, chocolate sprinkles and a cherry on top and you've got it made! Your kids will think your the best.

Chocolaty Goodness!

Chocolate Sauce 

gather your ingredients: sugar, evaporated milk, cocoa powder, butter and vanilla extract.

•  1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine butter, cocoa, sugar and milk in a saucepan and bring to a full boil for 5-6 minutes stirring continually. Remove from heat, add vanilla and serve or let cool, I don't like my chocolate sauce melting my ice cream....I know, I'm kinda weird like that.

 Yummm!

Chocolate Waffle Iron Cookies

gather your ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, cocoa, flour and vanilla

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix the butter and sugar. Add eggs, cocoa, flour and vanilla. Mix well. Heat waffle iron. Using a cookie scoop drop dough onto each section, close cover and bake for 60 seconds or until waffle iron indicates it's done. Remove cookies to a cooling rack. Repeat until cookie dough is gone.

Don't they look tasty?

 Now time to put it all together! Gather the cookies, Ice cream (vanilla for me!), chocolate sauce, chocolate sprinkles (you can NEVER have too much chocolate!), and marciano cherries.

 Lay a cookie in a bowl, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, some chocolate sauce, chocolate sprinkles and a cherry on top.

And THIS makes it all worth it!

Enjoy your super EASY, super FUN and super FAST dessert!

The Laundry Will Wait!

the intent to {someday} be awesome!

Okay, so until I get a replacement camera I will be sharing with you links to things I've found, tried and LOVED! Oh the Internet is a wonderful wealth of ideas for the a crafter, homemaker and someone just trying to live a bit more frugally like so many of us are these days.

Amy at Crazy Craft Bugs introduced me to making my own HOMEMADE dish detergent! It all started the other day when I realized we were out of dish detergent AND out of the dough to buy some more (we're on a cash system that I LOVE...more about that later!). I had pinned her idea on my pinterest pinboard with the intent to {someday} be as awesome as her....well that time was staring me in the face. I actually had everything but the citric acid on hand and that made it almost free! Instead of using citric acid I bought the 15 packets of lemon kool-aid instead (a whopping $4 spent).

Homemade dish detergent:

1 cup Borax (found on the laundry isle of any Target or Walmart)

1 cup Washing Soda (also found on the laundry isle)

1 cup Kosher Salt

1/2 cup citric acid, I've seen this in my local health food store in the bulk section, or 15 packets of lemon Kool-aid, make sure it's the unsweetened kind (or you can use 'Fresh Fruit' found on the canning isle.)

Mix all ingredients in a container and there you have it your very own homemade dish detergent!...yay I did it but I'm unsure that my status has changed from average Jen to awesome Amy.

p.s. over at Being Creative they have a similar recipe AND a fun find for storing you dish detergent. I saw these containers at both Target and Walmart.

Woohoo for saving some BUCK$ and WOW was it simple! Amy has some great ways for us to save some $$ along with fun craft ideas as well!

visual fail

Okay, so I'm super bummed because I no longer have a camera to take pictures of my fun projects. It's been months since I've posted anything and it's KILLING ME! Honestly I don't know when I will be able to replace it. Until then know that I am busy crafting along and will get you all updated as soon as possible! Thanks for stopping by!