Mish's Sketch

Happy New Year's Eve! Do you have big plans for tonight? We don't! My mom and dad come over every year and we make lots of snacks, watch movies, play games, try to stay up until midnight and always fall asleep! One of us usually wakes up about ten minutes before the ball drops and wakes up the other three and we ring in the new year threw half opened eyes. Early this morning Mish Mash posted this fun sketch on her blog and invited people to join in. So I did. I'd like to say I sat right down and whipped this card up but I didn't. Abie had a friend over and in between clay bowls, Project Runway, poopy diapers, lunch and phone calls I finished this card.
I used Melon Berry and Enchanted Evening card stock, Bitty Dots Basics patterned paper in Melon Berry, Polka Dots Basics Two and Imaginesence stamps and Martha Stewart glitter in Lapis (I think). I also used my Apron Lace punch, Corner Chomper punch and some place white grosgrain ribbon from Joann's. This sketch was super fun to play along with!
I hope you all have a fun and safe night! See you next year!!

Becky

Goodbye 2009.................

It's hard to believe that another year has passed. This has been a trying year for a lot of people, losing loved ones, money crunches, losing jobs.........I know that 2010 will bring hope and compassion and each of us helping those around us. It's a time to start fresh--try new ideas, get rid of old habits, make our little spots a better place.

I've been thinking a lot the last few weeks of things I want to improve upon. I don't make resolutions.....like diets, they rarely work !! I want to be in a better place this time next year and I have a lot of changes to make in order to get there. I'm one of the lucky ones---I have a wonderful family, a good job & no issues providing for my family. What I want to do for this next year is get back to the simple life. I want to make more homemade products, I want to learn to can, I want to learn how to sew better (lol...this'll be a challenge !!)

I want to teach my children what's really important in life.

Happiness.

Expensive clothes, shoes, cars are not important to me. (confession: I DO have a Dooney fetish !!) I want my children to be themselves and not try to be like others just because of what they have. I feel sorry for some of the children I see that are emotionally wrecked at such a young age because they weren't taught about the really important things in life. Do you think anyone is going to remember the car you drove when you took them to soccer practice? Nope......they'll remember that you TOOK them to practice and watched every game and cheered. That's what's important.

Happiness. It starts with us. We have to do the things that make us happy. That's what I want to do. You may see some crazy posts from me in the upcoming year, but I promise to pass on only the good tips and tricks, not the ones that didn't quite work out !!

So, I hope that all of you can see the positive in the year to come. Do some things that make you happy. Surround yourself with the people YOU want to be around. Experiment, have fun, have faith, have compassion.

Most of all, I hope you find happiness !!

Happy New Year !!

Whirlwind!

Well, did you all survive? We did. We had a big snow storm here. It rained Wednesday and Thursday and changed over to sleet on Thursday afternoon. On Christmas Eve night, it changed over to snow, like something out of a movie, and when we woke up Christmas morning, everything was covered under a thick white blanket! It was perfect! Then it kept snowing, and snowing and snowing. It didn't stop until sometime on Saturday! Mike had to shovel the driveway two different times so we could get out. The kids went sledding on Sunday, we have the perfect hill in our backyard, and then came inside for hot chocolate with marshmallows! It was a great Christmas weekend. But, onward and upward! We're gearing up for New Year's Eve this week. I've already taken down all of the Christmas decorations, minus the main tree in the downstairs living room. And, I have a fun springtime card to share with you today!

This is actually the card I made to go with the spring tea towel I made for the Christmas gift set I made. I stamped Sweet Blush Polka Dot Basics II on Sweet Blush card stock and layered on Spring Rain glittered and punched pieces. On top of that, I layered the Everyday Button Bits birds. I finished off the card with the sentiment, which is very hard to see in the picture....

Here's a bit of a better look....

Hope you all had a nice holiday, wherever you were!

Becky

Time to relax............

Happy Monday !! Can you believe Christmas is almost here ?? The time has flown and I'm already thinking about next year and all of the wonderful things we have planned. Vacation, projects, scrapbook trip.....good thing I'm starting early lol

For the ladies I work with, I decided to make homemade bath salts as gifts for Christmas. I was surprised at how easy it was ! Don't they look yummy ??

There are so many sites that offer recipes that it was hard to choose. I decided to go with a relaxing scent with paper and ribbon to match:

I have one more bit of news !! For all of you in Missouri, there is a new scrapbooking store in Independence called Christine's Corner. I was so tickled to walk in and see Unity stamps !! Next to PTI, they are my faves !! They are having an open house on January 2nd with lots of give aways, make and takes, etc. Check them out if you get a chance !!

Chow for now : )

Front Door Pine Cones

Good afternoon. I don't even want to think about how long it's been since I've posted. My head is hanging low, I'm so sorry friends... I won't bore you with how busy we've been or how stressed I am, blah, blah, blah :) I will instead focus on how excited I am to see my girls faces on Christmas morning and how happy I will be to have almost two full weeks home from work and how hopeful I am that Mike and I have a super duper 2010!

Last year, Abie sold magazines for a fundraiser and I subscribed to Country Living. In the November issue this year, they showed the cutest project and I just fell in love with it. It was so easy to re-create. I cut eight two feet pieces of burgundy ribbon and hot glued them on to the backs of eight different pine cones. Then I gathered all of the ribbons up together, staggering them at different heights and tied all eight ribbons together into one knot. Then I trimmed the excess ribbon off and hung them on the door. I love the way it turned out. A little extra perk was that I used the cinnamon scented pine cones from Joann's so every time you open the front door it spells delicious!

Have a nice weekend friends!

Becky

Cards and a Recipe

Hey gals !! Hope everyone is making it through the week ! It's been so busy at work that I feel like I haven't been there too much......2 days left !

I was sitting here wrapped in a blanket (No dear, I don't need a Snuggie lol) and even though I was fully ready to post, I couldn't stop thinking about food ! So, tonight you get a quick project and one of my favorite cold weather recipes !

The project: Martha made this cute wreath to display cards. It consists of nothing more than an embroidery hoop and clothespins that are hot glued on. How easy and cool is that ?? I jazzed mine up just a little with ribbon, but honestly I was in a rush to get some projects done and this one only took about 10 minutes:

I'm not sure why the pic turned out kinda sideways.....lol on to the recipe !!

Not sure if this is something I came across or made up in my head but this is one awesome casserole !!

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 box stuffing
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup sour cream
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350

Cook chicken and shred (I like to boil the bird....easy to shred !)

Mix all ingredients together, pour in 9x13 pan and bake for 30 minutes

**Super simple and tastes great !! I've not tried throwing in a few veggies, but I think that would make it even heartier. Perfect for a cold Missouri night : )

Cold noses around...........

Hope everyone is staying warm this holiday season !! It's hard to believe that Christmas is next week. geezzzz !! I have to admit that I have hardly started my shopping. I never wait THIS long, but this last few months has gone so fast. I plan to knock it out this weekend ; )

So I was browsing Splitcoast a few weeks ago and saw the cutest idea.....Reindeer Noses !! How adorable are these ???

I purchased the bags from HL, along with the paper. I had another use in mind for the paper, but just didn't get around to using it. I used the top note to cut out the toppers. I used my SU! punch for the labels and used the JustRight Stamper to stamp Reindeer Noses, using PTI Scarlet Jewel ink. The reindeers were cut on the cricut. These were super easy to throw together !! I think they were a bigger hit with the adults lol

Oh !! Candy...........8 Whoppers and 1 Sour Cherry each : )

Have a great week and we'll see ya Wednesday !!

Backwards!

Hey there, remember me? The other half of this blog? Lol! We've been busy here, just like Stacy, getting ready for the holidays. My goal is to try and have everything completed by next weekend. We'll see if that happens! :) I have a little hostess gift to share with you today. I made this for my super sweet sister, Jennie, who had us all over for Thanksgiving.

I started with three little votives and made a simple wrap out of some patterned paper and a a bit of ribbon. The I created an acrylic box to hold them in. I stuffed the box with crinkle paper around the candles and after securing the lid with some ribbon, I attached a little fall tag.

Here's a close up picture of the bottom of the box and you can see the little candle too. Well, we have cleaned the house and made a significant dent in the laundry so I'm off to lay the little one down for a nap and get some crafty things checked off my list! Have a great weekend!

Becky

Last wreath.................

Hey there gals !! I feel horrible that I haven't been able to get on here as much as I would like. As I'm sure you all know, the holidays are just horribly busy !! I have a million projects I want to share, but just haven't had time....I'm gonna get better about that !

Ok.....so I finally saw New Moon !! I have to say though, I was a little disappointed : ( I didn't think it was as good as the first, but the last 5 minutes was awesome !! Now I'm waiting impatiently for numero 3 !!

Now that I've wiped the drool off my chin (hee hee) let me share my last wreath with you. This one is hanging on my pie cabinet in my studio. My mother had given me a wreath that had those styrofoam berries that were starting to come off and change colors, so I decided to rip all those off and start fresh.



I cut out 3 different sizes out of three colors on the Cricut using the Christmas Cheer cartridge. Although you can't tell here, I ran some of them through the Bug with the swiss dots. I just randomly started tying them on the wreath with twine. I discovered a set of green and blue rhinestones in my stash and placed them on random flakes.

It didn't exactly turn out like I wanted, but it does look pretty good on my cabinet and maybe I'll try again next year !!

It's super cold here and I'm gonna cuddle up and get to crafting some more....have a safe and happy weekend !!