I actually won something!!!

Ok I know people say all of the time “I never win anything” but I truly never do, until now. I entered a giveaway for a gift card on a blog I love to read Quirky Pickings and I totally won. Look what I got today (PS it totally made my day).

Oh and that card was perfection

Traditions

We have a few Holiday traditions that I love!

We always make snow flakes…..

We always make glass candy HERE is my recipe!

I try to have my son make some Christmas cards. He used his thumb print to make these.

And of course we make gingerbread houses (although we actually use graham crackers lol)

I hope your Holidays are happy and filled with the best of memories!

Frost

We have been living in a winter wonder land for a while now but this morning I must say that the frost was stunning.

This frost was actually on the antennae of  my car

Tile Magnets

I was so excited about the gifts that I made for some of my friends this year.

I used these cute tiles that I found at Home Depot and cut out some fun vinyl shapes with my Cricut and  then I attached a round strong magnet to the back. How easy is that!!

Then I found this fantastic pattern for a pyramid box that I thought could resemble a Christmas tree. I love how they turned out !

Our Advent Calendar

This year we were given a fantastic early Christmas gift from my mother in law, it was this gorgeous advent calendar.

In the years past we have used the classed cardboard advent calendar but now we get to start a new tradition and it has added so much to our home this year.

My mother in law got the board from The Craft Warehouse and added some of the lettering with vinyl then made the Holiday magnets with paper and hot glue :)

I love it and smile at it every time I walk by it!! 

A cute gift and Christmas cards 2010

I was so excited to deliver these holiday gifts for my latest work project. I had a local bakery/cafe make their decadent specialty cookies and packaged them by the dozen in these cute little jars….

I am also ready to share with you how my Christmas cards turned out this year :)

A few new cards

First of all I just want to say thank you for all of the kind comments and concern on my last post. All three men that were involved in that tragedy are recovering and making progress everyday.

I made a couple new cards and just thought I would share them with you……….

 

Heart Attack (with love)

Three very brave and wonderful men were in a sad accident and two of them I happen to know. One especially is a close family friend. So many people wanted to do something nice for each of them on their return home without causing mass chaos and traffic to them. A friend and I decided that we would collect messages via text and email and transfer them to hearts and then go give their homes a heart attack. This has been such a great outlet for me with all of my nervous energy and anxiety for them. And it gave me something to do to occupy my time. This is what we have done so far….

I struggled with the decision to post this or not because I didn’t want it to seem like I was seeking a giant pat on the back. In the end I have decided to put this out there in hopes that if you know someone that has been through a lot and could use some extra love this is such a great way to do it. With the technology today it’s easier than ever to organize something like this.

I hope you and all your loved ones are safe, healthy, and know of your love.  

Pumpkin Muffins

For my deliveries this month I had a local bakery make the most delicious pumpkin muffins and then I decorated the boxes for Halloween. Everyone was excited to get them :)

I love my job!!!

Cheese and cracker trays

For my deliveries in September I made this fun cheese and cracker trays……..

I also did a little sewing in September too…..

kids apron

and adult apron!

New Music Obsession

Oh my gosh have you heard about DJ Earworm and his amazing music mashups? My husband played one for me the other night and I went straight to his WEBSITE to download some of his amazing work.

Here is a taste what do you think?

Vinyl Obsession

I finally learned how to cut vinyl with my Cricut and I am so addicted!! It started because my husband wanted some information put on some of his work equipment in vinyl so we bought the supplies and I tested my skills on this little sign for our house….

 

We have extremely pushy sales people in our area and I just can’t handle it any more. I hope this will help.

I had so much fun cutting that sign that I cut a little design to put on the back of my cell phone

I know my husband is so going to tease me but hey it made me smile.

Now I want to cut a saying for a wall in my house does anyone have any suggestions?

I am a sucker for no bake cheesecake

This is one of those amazingly simple delicious recipes that I could eat EVERYDAY lol.

This is all it takes!

 

Fresh fruit is better but when we are in a pinch we use the canned stuff too :)

No Bake Cheesecake

1 (8oz) cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 (8oz) cool whip

**Blend the cream cheese and sugar together then gently stir in the cool whip. Spoon the mixture into the crust then chill for three hours or overnight to set up.

 

Do you have a favorite easy recipe?

Gourmet Trail Mix

Hi everyone! Well I am sure we all have the same story…….my blogging totally got away from me this summer. But I am ready to re-commit to you and my blog and share some of the fun things I have been up to.

I am so excited to share this project with you. It was simple and inexpensive but I think it turned out to be a great gift. I know I say this often but I always feel like I need to explain why I make things like this so frequently. I work in marketing and deliver these gifts to local dentists on a monthly basis.

I am sure it is super obvious but just in case you can’t tell the bottom layer is almonds, the middle layer is dried fruit, and the top is chocolate covered raisins.

Who would you give a gift  like this to?

Car City

My friend Erin asked me to take a picture of this fun play mat and I thought what the heck maybe my bloggy fiends would like to see it as well. It was one of my husbands very favorite things to play with as a kid and is now one of my sons very favorite things in the world :)

This is on a giant piece of canvas and is covered in great shops, stores, and houses made of felt. And what do you need with a big car city…..

yep a giant bucket of cars.

More of my favorite tips

Okay I know I recently did a similar post but sometimes you just have tips you have to share!!

My mother in law recently taught me that if you have something really baked on a pan (especially a crock pot) you can let it soak overnight with a dryer sheet in the water. And guess what it comes off like magic!!

I also heard a long time ago that if you have a stubborn zipper all you have to do is rub pencil over the zipper and it will fix it right up. Well I finally had a chance to test out this theory on a new pair of jeans and yep you guess it the trick worked like a charm.

 

Do you have any favorite tips you want to share?

Butterfly Blooms

My amazing sister made me these for me for my birthday:

Aren’t they so so cute?! She is calling them Butterfly Blooms.

Thank you sis I really do love them. 

She is planning to open an etsy shop to sell her creations  so I will keep you posted on her progress :)

I’ve been sewing

We went to a family reunion a few weeks ago and had such a fun time. Part of the deal was that you were asked to bring something you made and they have a family auction to help cover some of the reunion costs (like the camping fee). I love this idea and it motivated me to get my sewing machine out and make this………

I used my favorite patter from The secret stitch club!!

I also had a chance to put together the birthday present my grandma got for me. She found this adorable kit for an apron from what she promises is the cutest fabric shop/boutique ever.

The kit came with everything you see here, isn’t it fun? And it turned out like this………

I don’t know if the seller of these cute kits has an etsy site but she does have a blog with a tutorial at The lazy Daisy cottage.

P.S. my five year old took the pictures and I thought he did pretty good considering the subject lol.