For Next Year... Part 2 (Initial Ornaments)

These felt ornaments are a great gift
to give friends, family members and neighbors.

Tie on the top of a gift

or give along with some yummy baked goods

for an extra special treat!

Personalized with the first letter of your friend's last name,

and a little glitter

these are sure to be a keepsake for years to come.

To make some initial ornaments of your own...

You will need:

-Felt

-Glitter

-Ribbon

-Glue

Step 1:

Print your desired letters in the size and font of your choice. Cut the letters out to use as your template.

Step 2:

Place the letter right side down on the back of your felt and trace with a marker. Cut the letter out.

Step 3:

Pin the letter you just cut out to a piece of felt. Sandwich a piece of ribbon in between the letter and the piece of felt at the top to form the loop (that will be used to hang your ornament with).

Step 4:
Sew around the edge of the letter with your sewing machine (or by hand)and then trim the back piece of felt so it is even with the front.

Step 5:
Add some sparkle and glitter away!

Handmade Christmas

My sister in law definitely won the

best handmade gift award

this year.

Check out some of the fun stuff she made...

These recipe books

full of yummy family recipes

Crazy cute

hand painted

wine glasses

love. love. love. this idea

Wouldn't they make such a great hostess gift with a bottle of wine?

Cheers!

What are some of the best handmade gifts you have given or received?

For Next Year... Part 1 (Ruffle Fabric Ornament)

December was crazy.

It always is.

But this year seemed even crazier

and busier than normal.

With that said

I'm finally posting all of my holiday creations.

Sorry they are a little late.

It's partly because I waited until the week (or day) before Christmas to make them

and partially because I have been a lazy blogger.

But better late than never right?

Hopefully they will inspire you (and me)

to start our holiday crafting earlier next year

so Christmas doesn't sneak up on us quite as fast as it always does.

Ruffle fabric ornament

I used this tutorial

but I made mine bigger

and added a piece of ribbon with "2009" written on it in Sharpie.

An easy, no-sew, piece of handmade goodness

sure to spice up any tree :)

Merry Christmas!!

I'm bragging...

about my friends

because, well...

they are amazing.

One of my friends, Cyndi,

is like Martha Stewart

but better.

She threw a fancy Christmas party.

She cooked a 4 course meal.

Plus appetizers.

And let me tell you...

it was am.az.ing.

Every. single. course.

Yup.

That's real holly.

Because that's the way Cyndi rolls.

During dinner conversation...everyone shared how the gospel has affected their life this past year.

Good stuff.

Oh and my friend Michelle made this Crocquembouche.

So yummy!

I feel so blessed and thankful to have such amazing friends!

Glittery birds

I love sparkles.

Especially at Christmas time.

And I love girls night.

Especially when we craft Christmas ornaments

eat yummy food

and fellowship with friends.

Here are some of my glittery creations.

My friend pre made the yummy smelling cinnamon birds (courtesy of Martha) and everyone glittered them up as they liked.

Wouldn't it be cool to have a whole tree full of these?

With red, silver and gold balls...I can see it already.

Thanks girls for a fun night!

"Santa Claus is coming...

to town"

Here in Mission Viejo

Santa lives here.

We went to visit him.

Wesley thought he was cool.

Mackenzie did not.

Until he gave her a candy cane.

Then he was instantly on the cool list.

They also had a bunch of trains.

And hot chocolate.

And live music.

And the best part...

it was all for free!

Thanks Santa!

P.S. Mackenzie really did have a good time

even though she looks miserable in every picture.

Ok...minus the seeing Santa part.

That was pretty traumatic for her

but other than that she had a blast :)

Baby Shower Invitations

It's baby time!

Pretty much every one of my closest friends are pregnant.

Seriously.

It's crazy how many babies are coming.

And lots of babies means

lots of baby showers!

Here's one of the recent baby shower invitations I made.

A little fabric, ric rack, and buttons

with stitching for the legs

Check out some similar ones here and here.

So many fun things you can do with them!

Owl Birthday Party Details

Mackenzie's owl birthday party was small and simple.
Just family and a few of her friends over for yummy dessert
and a whoooting good time!

I made some little owl bean bags as favors

blue for the boys and pink for the girls

My cousin helped me make some owl cake pops

using my friend's modified recipe from Bakerella

so yummy!

an owl cake
because a party is not a party without some funfetti cake

a few owly decorations

and an owl dress from My Funky Little Monkey

It was a fun night celebrating Mackenzie,
our big 2 year old!

Oh and in case you missed the invitations check them out here :)

Never a dull moment...

Little Miss Trouble reigned again.

The morning of Mackenzie's birthday party
I walked into her room to find

this

and this.

She was covered from head to toe in

greasy

sticky

Vaseline.

So were her new sheets

and pajamas

and blankets

and bed rail.

Thankfully her quilt and pillows escaped the mess.

The process of removing Vaseline looked like a big pain

and since I had already spent hours removing this and this from other things

and I had a birthday party to throw that night

the pjs, sheets and blankets went straight to the trash.

That was the easy part.

Getting the Vaseline out of Mackenzie's hair was another story.

I washed it and I washed it.

And I washed it some more.

With real shampoo

not the gentle baby stuff.

But after multiple washes

her hair looked like it was wet

even when it was dry.

Thanks Vaseline.

So my mom took little Miss Trouble with greasy hair

to the hair salon to try to get the Vaseline out

while I got ready for the party.

They washed her hair some more with heavy duty clarifying shampoo.

It helped.

A little.

There's never a dull moment in this house.

Never.