12 Days of Christmas

Edie at Life{in}Grace is hosting a 12 Days of {Handmade}Christmas tutorial on her blog!! She will be posting 12 different projects and  how to make them!! She had some really cute one's last year like how to make THESE personalized tags.

I'm looking forward to see what she has to make this year!!



Hopefully this "button" will show up. It seems as though blogger is having some difficultly loading. If not, just click on the link to her blog above.

PS She made it...

I have fallen in love with this girls site/ideas. I saw her on a Martha Stewart show and the two DIY projects she demonstrated sparked my interest. You know my love for anything crafty! I wouldn't make all of her projects{not all my style}, but she did have several cute ideas for making accessories, one shoulder tops and decorating tips.

Her passion is to go off designer ideas, use items she might already have and create. Genius! I have my mind set on making a one-shoulder ruffle tee and a few headbands! In fact, I just went through hubs T's and found my first guinea pig T.  I'll post pics as soon as I complete my "P.S.- I made this "attempt!!!

Check her out....

P.S.- I Made This

or you can grab her book on Amazon.com



Happy Crafting!!!

traditions...

I love traditions. I'm a very traditional person and I'm always looking for a new idea that we can make a tradition in our family. Either between Ricardo and myself, or in the future when we have children. What are some of the traditions for Thanksgiving and Christmas you have either with your family or your spouse??

We haven't started any of our own for Thanksgiving other than with each of our families. We run the Turkey trot with my dad's family and we do the "say one thing you are thankful for(something that might not be known to everyone) " around the table with my mom's and Ricardo's side. We usually get an ornament from my grandparents.

For Christmas we have started going to pick out one ornament together for our tree, something that may represent a significant event or place in our lives. We also buy ornaments from the places we visit too. We are missing a couple from Pittsburgh and Southfork, CO. We never got around to going to look for one! I might look online and see if I see any.

So what are your traditions?? I'd love to get more ideas!!!

Ft. Worth Art...

Friday night we headed down to Ft. Worth to see one of the top 8 art festivals. I love to paint and draw so these events are always so much fun for me! We went a little later than we should have, some of the vendors had started to shut down their booths. I did find a few that I absolutely loved and can't believe their talent.




Roderick E. Stevens from Arizona has a way of making his paintings look so real and life like. AMAZING!

JD Hillberry was probably my favorite. He draws with charcoal and pencils and his works are so detailed; everything in the frames...drawn. From the background that looked like wood, to what looked like masking tape...INCREDIBLE! This kind of talent blows my mind!

JD Hillberry says this about this drawing:

"Putting It Together"
"My two-year old son was the inspiration and model for this drawing. At this age, he was just beginning to learn about himself and what the world has to offer. I believe that this self-exploration and development continues throughout our lives in our quest to make ourselves whole. When we keep our minds open to new experiences, we are continually "putting it together".

isn't he amazing?? He offers a summer workshop that I would love to participate in one year. It's sold out fr 2009 but maybe 2010 or 2011?? We'll see. My dear friend Katy is an amazing artist. She has done some awesome work of her own. Katy, I think you and I should go together. It's in our favorite state of CO!!

Actually, the price for the 3-day workshop is very reasonable. It's $320 for 3 days, from 9-4pm. It includes all kinds of supplies as well! I might just have to whip my drawing stuff out from college and play around! He inspires me!

initial project...

for some time now, I have wanted to paint a flower pot with our initial "n". I finally bought one last week and painted it. Now it's found a little home on our back porch with some lovely begonias!

It's really simple, but still cute! I'll try something a little harder on the next one...

wine tasting...

Today and next Saturday, Tivoli Wines is having a free wine tasting from 12-6. Obviously we won't be going today, but hopefully next Saturday we will get to go before a wedding that night! Come to find out, they actually offer free tasting from 12-4 every Saturday! It's a new place in Colleyville and the building looks so cute!

We have never actually been to a wine tasting, so it should be fun! Maybe we will find a new favorite wine!

date night drawings...

Hubs and I have decided that we are going to, once a week, draw a "date" out of a box. We are on a tight budget so cheap dates are always nice! If you have any suggestions for inexpensive date ideas, leave a comment! We are always looking for fun, new ideas. Here are some of the things we have so far...

• biking
• wii night
• ranger game
• rough rider game
• Zoo
• game night
• winery tour
• picnic lunch
• botanical gardens in Ft. Worth
• Dallas aquarium
• dollar movie and ice cream
• granbury drive-in
• granbury riverboat scenic tour
• ft worth nature center
• rahr and sons brewery in ft worth
• 4D Farms- pick our own fruits and veggies
• train ride from Grapevine to Ft Worth.
• planetarium
• movie and popcorn night

Maybe next summer we can do this one: Cool Thursday's at the Dallas Arboretum. You buy a summer pass for about $170 and on Thursday nights, they have concerts and you can bring a blanket and enjoy a picnic at the concert!! Sounds so fun and they have some great cover bands playing this year! Some of them have played at some of the weddings that we have been to. Some of them are; Emerald City, The Project, Le Freak, The M80s. Sounds like so much fun, just don't have the extra funds for that one right now!


Still brainstorming other possibilities...Feel free to offer a suggestion! :-)

wiiiiiiiiiiiiii

We had a wii tournament tonight. Just the two of us. We have played several games and so far, one of our favorites is the dart game. I am losing. That seems to always be the case. Maybe I should practice when he's not around and then I'd finally beat him at something!

Any fellow Wii players have any games that you would recommend us purchase!? We would love to know!

Who likes cupcakes???

I DO...I DO!!! Since my mom was in the wedding cake business I got to be a "taste tester" all the time! I saw this giveaway on Amy and moderneve's blogs and figured I needed to enter this tasty give-away myslef. You should too!! Who doesn't like cupcakes!

Check out her blog. It's super cute!

4th

following Darci and Nat...he is the 4th pic in the 4th folder...

When we were building our house, we would have family and friends that came out to see the progress, write on the framing. Some wrote verses, prayers, funny jokes etc. I believe this was when my wonderful friend, Lauren, wished us lots of babies! She actually was writing on my side of the bed, on my window! How fun to look back on! Thanks to all of you who wrote sweet/not-so-sweet things on our home! It's something I will always look back on and remember!
Now...I tag anyone who reads this, especially you, Lauren.

Handmade Ornaments...

I saw some cute ornaments made of yarn, felt and pins and decided instead of paying $20-$24 each for them, I would make them my self. I made a quick trip to Michael's and got started. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but here are my first two. They are more of a classical look. I think they turned out really cute! I have several other ideas that I want to make next. Who knows, maybe I will sell them next year! I would love to sell all kinds of Christmasy things one day! It's kind of a dream (not really a realistic one) but everyone knows, I heart Christmas!! I have some time to play, so we'll see what kind of designs I come up with!! I want to get some fun/funky fabrics to play with too and bright color yarn as well!

The back has the year!

Poinsettia ornament

The back is just a funky little design.

promote...

Well, a few of my friends have started little side businesses and I would like to promote them! Who knows, maybe one day I'll join in and sell my creations. These are both very talented women so if you need art, cards, coasters ,etc. please check out both of these sites:

http://homemadeandhandpainted.blogspot.com


http://littledarlindesigns.blogspot.com/

Both offer unique gift ideas!!

ornament swap anyone?!

I stole this post from Natalie and we signed up. You should too!! It's really fun getting a something from someone you don't know, then making friends with them!

Meet Modern Eve! She's a sweet DFW'er with an awesome blog, and she is hosting an ORNAMENT SWAP! yay! After our super successful Halloween swap, I knew some of you would be interested in this! Check her out, for info!

You must be signed up by this Sunday!

Holiday Idea Friday...

Since my bloggy buddy got her gift, I will post my fun Halloween craft.

Before my surgery, mom and I went and bought the supplies and while I was down, we made these!!

I got the idea from Michael's and added my own touch and personalized them...

It's a fun little project and they turned out super cute!

Supplies needed:

One carve-able pumpkin (shaped like a candy corn)
versa-tool (or sharp knife, but this tool is incredible and very handy for some fun crafting!)
Yellow Acrylic Paint
Orange Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
clear coat spray paint
Paintbrush
Low Tack Masking Tape
White Glitter

How to do it:

Use the Versa-Tool to cut the top off of the pumpkin for a lid. Set the lid aside for later use.


Apply a strip of tape around the pumpkin, about half way up from the bottom. Paint the bottom section with yellow. ( i recommend painting the whole pumpkin white as a primer, if you don't, you will have to paint a million coats of yellow to get it to cover right) Remove tape and let dry.


Paint the lid with white (except stem). Let dry.


Paint middle section with orange. I found that putting the tape over the painted yellow section caused peeling so I free handed mine.

If you want to personalize them, paint your name in black, paint pen will be the easiest. When I was doing mine, the store was out of black paint pen so I wrote in sharpie then free-hand painted over it.

Once the paint is dry, spray the clear glaze all over, lid too, and sprinkle with glitter until covered. Once dry, spray another clear coat to help the glitter stick! Do this outside, it stinks and is messy

You have your cute candy corn pumpkin! I was going to use mine as a candy dish, but didn't clean the inside out with kitchen cleaner first and it made my candy taste like paint. Be sure you let it air out and really clean the inside before putting any candy in it! It's a really fun project, just takes some time! Let me know if you try it!

(i took the pic with my phone, so the colors look a little crazy, the orange isn't neon! haha)

thanks, bloggy buddy!!

Natalie had an awesome idea to have a bloggy buddy for Halloween and possibly for other upcoming holidays. We were given a buddy to send a holiday themed gift (this time Halloween/fall) to and then another person would send us a gift, giving us the chance to meet new bloggy friends. My bloggy buddy that gifted me was Stephanie and she gave me (us) the CUTEST iron pumpkin that holds a tea light candle along with some scrump smelling pumpkin spice candles!! I absolutely LOVE it! It looks so cute on my side table in my living room! Thanks so much Stephanie :-)

This was such a fun way to meet new people and make new friends. I highly recommend that if/when we do it again for Christmas that anyone and everyone participate! Good idea Nat!

Here is my cute bloggy gift!!! :-)

Do you want to???

Check out our friends, The Pettijohn's, blog. She is starting a blogger gift exchange for Halloween and depending on how it goes, hopefully Christmas too! We taking part and you should too. Even if you don't know they it will be a great way to make new blogger friends. Leave Natalie a comment if you want to participate!!