Gag Gifts

This year for our annual family party, we did a gag gift exchange.  I made up these 2 gifts for us to exchange:

A spoon that had "Cereal Killer" punched onto it.  I tied it to a coffin box filled with cereal:

And a candy cane puzzle:

Iron On Winter Shirts

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out some shapes to iron on a couple of Kyla's shirts:

Teacher Gifts

This year for the teacher gifts, we gave these tins labeled "For Your Mistle'toes'" 

Inside the kids put some Christmas socks, lotion and nail polish.  I let the kids pick out the paper and help decorate the cans. Nathan chose to color his own paper, which was super cute. 

Truffle Boxes

John wanted to give his co-workers a Christmas treat.  I made a variety of truffles and then made these boxes using my Silhouette Cameo.  It was awesome to get the perfect fit for 9 truffles:

 Then I made a vellum print so they would know what kinds of chocolates they were:

 I used tulle to tie the boxes shut: 

 I then added a cute Santa tag that I made for gifts (Thanks to my sister for the fun afternoon making them with her!)

 

Glittery Ornaments

I had fun getting together with 2 of my best friends to make some glittery ornaments.   They are perfect for my garland above the doorway to the dining room.  Plus, I think of my 2 good friends when I look at them :)  They turned out super sparkly and the glitter is all on the inside, so I won't have glitter all over.

Tutorial on how to make them: Greenbean's Crafterole

Sea Shell Ornament

I brought back sand and small seashells we collected from Turks and Caicos to make an ornament for the tree:

My Newest Nativity

My parents made and painted this awesome nativity for my Christmas last year. I took a picture so that I could remember how to put it back together :) My kids played with it last year and got it put back together just fine, but just in case I need it...here is my picture:
And the pieces all come out to play with:
Awesome huh? I'm so lucky. Thanks Mom and Dad :) It is fun to see my kids play with it and think more about the true meaning of Christmas.

Thanksgiving Wheat

This summer I was offered some wheat from a field.  So I took some thinking I would put it out for Thanksgiving.  Then I saw an idea on pinterest to put the wheat in a tall glass vase.  I came across this tall glass vase at the dollar store....so it was a cheap and easy project that added a nice touch to my Thanksgiving decor. 

Thanksgiving Charger

I found this Thanksgiving Charger at Walmart for $3, then I added this vinyl saying that I liked.

It was a perfect addition to my shelf in the dining room. 

Gobble and a Turkey

I made these cute things for my shelf last year, but I never got around to posting them. They were fun to make and go great with my other decor!

Halloween Teacher Gifts

Today the kids got to give their teachers a gift:

We used their handprints for the ghosts and I let them decorate the faces.

Bat candy bar wrapper template came from Skip to my Lou.  We put in a Reeses Peanut Butter Cups for the candy bar. 

For the Mummies, we wrapped a bag of microwave popcorn with white crepe paper and glued on some wiggly eyes.. 

I found some cute jack-o-lantern sticky notes and they each picked a Halloween pin to add to the bag. 

The hardest part was trying to find some small brown paper bags.  I finally settled on a roll of brown paper from the dollar store and sewed up the sides to create a bag. 

Halloween Ruffle Skirt

I wanted to make a cute skirt for Halloween this year, for the girl who LOVES to wear skirts :)
I used the tutorial at From An Igloo and adjusted the size, added one more ruffle layer and changed the waistband to a wide piece of black elastic.  Super fun for the upcoming holiday!

Here are my measurements that I used:

Kyla's Waist: 23 inches
Length from waist to knee: 15 inches

Ruffle Layers: (one of each color)
62x6 inches

Waist:
 24 inches elastic (2 inch wide, black)

Lining: (2 total, mine were plain black)
31 x 4.5

Halloween Shirts

My boys were super excited about this project!!  I decided to buy some freezer paper and try stenciling some fun Halloween shirts. (Thanks Pinterest)  Thanks to my sister who helped me out with her cricut, these were a breeze to make!! 

Countdown to School

 School has officially started, but we did this fun countdown that worked really well for us this year.  I had lowercase letters for Nathan to match with the Uppercase letters to review them for school.  Then the kids all helped think of words that started with that letter.  The kids did really well thinking of the words!  Then we would count down how many days were left.  We tried to do some activities that worked for the letter if we had time that day, otherwise we went with other activities we had going on.  They really enjoyed doing this countdown and it eliminated the question of "How many more days?"

Girl Car Seat Blanket

A friend of mine recently had a baby girl, so I got to sewing....

*tutorial for car seat blanket from Make it Do.

Still wish we were there....

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos.  It was very relaxing with great weather, lots of fun things to do and it was beautiful!!  So I have to share some pictures we took while we were there:

Soft, white sand.  Clear blue water. 

 This was the view out of our bedroom glass doors:  We were right next to one of the pools and very close to the beach.  It was great!!

Lots of trees...

 


 Lighted Pools at night...yes those are tables in the pool...the bars were in the pools, too...so Pina Coladas, Strawberry Daiquiris and Miami Vices (and some Diet Coke) while we swam :)  Of course there were bars available all over the resort, so we always had a cold refreshing drink to relax with. Ah...

 The lazy river at the waterpark had gorgeous landscaping.  It was so relaxing to sit and float....

 Beautiful walkways...

So relaxing...we didn't want to leave....

Ruffle Skirt

I used a tutorial from From An Igloo and made Kyla a skirt:


So for my notes I cut:
Waistband: 5.5 x 31 in
Connecting Strip: 5.5 x 34 in
Ruffles (cut 2): 62 x 7

Birthday Blocks

I actually finished this project a while ago, but I'm really slow at getting it posted. It sits on our shelf in our dining room for birthdays at our house. It adds a lot of fun for the celebrations!

Changing CTR Ring Color

My friend and I got together and repainted the green CTR rings:
After soaking the green paint in nail polish remover, the green color came right off leaving a silver ring. Then we used nail polish and painted our kids' favorite colors. They were so excited with the new colors and have been wearing them more often now!

Rag Blankets for the Boys

I found this construction flannel last fall and couldn't resist buying it for the boys' room. And this month I finally got around to making them...2 of them both twin size the the two oldest boys' beds. They were so excited.

I used 2 yard strips for the width and varied the height of the colored strips. The orangish yellow strip actually has a circle print to it, but it is kinda hard to see it in the photo.

Pirate Birthday Party

We had fun having a pirate birthday at our house this month.I made each of my kids a pirate hat. I found the pattern on Simple Simon & Company.My sister helped me make the daggers for Christmas presents. We found the idea on Pinterest and my awesome sister drew up a pattern. They worked up really fast and have been one of the boys' favorite toys.

I also made an eye patch and a money bag for his "treasure". The treasure box is one that I had as a child. I freshened it up with some black and gold paint. The kids have had hours of fun with it.
I found a printable pirate map and we went searching for the chest of treasure in the afternoon. We pretended to go through a swampy alligator area (my hubby clapped his arms together like a gater for him) we also used his dagger to fight off pretend wild monkeys that protected the treasure and at last found it and lugged it upstairs to the "boat". It is great that my kids have such active imaginations. It made it a lot of fun and was easy on our budget.

And of course we had to have cake. He wanted a treasure map:

LUCK letters

I am so lucky to have a Dad that cuts awesome projects like this out for me to decorate: So this is my new addition to my St. Patrick's Day decorations!!

Thanks Dad!! You're the best!!

Happy President's Day

from Kyla: (this was from school. probably one of her worst coloring jobs...but she made sure it was pink and purple!)

My shelf: Decorated for Valentine's Day

So this is what my shelf looks like :)

Xs and Os

My dad cut these super cute Xs and Os out for me (Thanks Dad!!) I love these little x and o letters. Very cute on my shelf.

This set is larger: I decided to try red and black (bonus: matches my front room colors).A closer look:

Valentine Blocks

I added this to my Valentine's Day decor:

Valentine's Printable

I found this cute printable for Valentine's Day on it is what it is.

The Hunger Games

I just finished reading the 3 hunger games books. One right after the other. The first book I couldn't put down and finished it in a couple of days! The books are well written and I really enjoyed reading them. John is excited for the movie. I actually read the first 5 chapters aloud to him, but I couldn't wait to keep reading, so I just filled him in on the storyline. He thought the plot "disturbing but captivating". lol. He would ask for an update every night I read.