Getting things done. Vinyl Lettering?

It has been a busy week with Thanksgiving, shopping, wrapping, and decorating. Now it is time for me to get busy and get the rest of Christmas gifts put together. How about you?
I let people on my facebook account know about this little offer, but thought I'd also let all you blogger friends out there in on it too. I am now taking orders for vinyl lettering. I can do practically any size and just about any color. My vinyl cutter is 4' wide. But you have to hurry because the last day I will be accepting orders will be Dec. 9th.
You see, this year I am leaving early to go home for Christmas! So, if you have a special saying in mind or have an idea for a that someone this year leave me a comment with your e-mail address and we'll get busy!  

Thanksgiving Place Setting

I am hosting Thanksgiving this year, so that gives me the opportunity to do what I love best. Be creative! and make something pretty. I decide this year to do something fancy with the place settings. We'll probably still be using paper plates but at least the napkins will be pretty. What can you do? I'd rather use paper when there will be 8 kiddos eating with us. And plus the clean up is sooo much easier!

So this is what I did.
I picked up some pretty leaves from the YMCA parking lot
after one of my nightly workouts and brought them home.

Then I put them all in a book for a couple nights
to press them nice and flat.
You could probably do it overnight and be fine too.

After they were good a pressed I took my Silver Sharpie poster paint marker.

and wrote everybody's name on them. It was also a good way to double check the number of guests that will be coming.

I absolutely love all the yummy colors!

 

After the marker was dry I couldn't help but try it out and see what they'd look like.

I had bought some berry garland at Michael's when they were having a 40% off sale. All I did was cut off pieces with my wire cutters and wrapped it around my cloth napkins for a festive napkin ring. Then, I stuffed the leaf stem underneath. Now everyone has a special seating card! I love how it turned out!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I have not disappeared. I promise.

I feel like I haven't blogged in quite awhile. I do miss it. I do however want you to know that I have been very busy lately. I have gotten a lot done! Lots and lots of craft projects and more in the works; but unfortunately can't share quiet yet. You see they are for Christmas and birthday's that are still underway. And most of my family keeps up on the blog. So you'll just have to take my word and know that I have been busily creating and will show you first chance I get.

A Visitor in the Backyard

This morning when I was changing morning diapers I glanced out the window and saw a dead bird (probably a pigeon) laying by the swing set. My first thought was eeeewww! I really don't want to have to clean that up. Then, later when I was changing diapers for a second time today I heard a commotion outside of crows.I again thought eeeww! And looked to see what was happening. Unfortunately me moving the blinds scared the partiers away. But I saw that the dead bird was no longer where I had seen it last. Instead, it was moved over to the bushes by the fence. Then later while I was clearing the breakfast dishes I glanced outside to peek at the dreaded corpse again, but to my surprise I found this beautiful creature! WOW!

And the best part is that he took the bird with him when he left. I don't have to go out there and clean it up after all.  

Thanksgiving Card and Welcome Home Card

Tonight I had an itch to do something crafty for myself. Don't get me wrong. I love making things for other people but I love to be able to enjoy my creations too. I decided that I wanted to get the paints out and have some fun. Also, Dan was on his way home tonight and I thought it would be fun to make him a "Welcome Home" card. So Kiera worked on that while I made a Thanksgiving card. I really like how it turned out and am thinking I will take it to Staples sometime this week and have more of them printed to send out for the holiday. So I guess I did make it to give away. Oh well.

 

These are the supplies I used:

-1 sheet of white cardstock

-pumpkin orange craft paint

-burgundy craft paint

-dark green craft paint

-paint brush

-ultra fine black felt tip pen

I used my new centerpiece as a guide (which I will have to show and tell about later) and just went for it. I mixed the paint as I went to create the brown tints and then set it aside. After it was dry I took my felt tip pen and outlined and scribbled shadows for a finishing touch. I signed the bottom and ta dah! Fun and easy thanksgiving card.

If you don't want to paint something like I did, another idea that I thought about was to have the kids put their hand prints on the paper and then finish it off to make it look like a turkey. Lots of possibilities. But it was fun, easy, and relaxing.

This is how Kiera's turned out. I added the pink letters after her painting dried. I think Dan will like it don't you?

Free and easy entertainment

Just stopping by for a quick journal entry:
Today at lunch time the kids were eating their mac n' cheese and peas when out of nowhere Ethan started laughing, squealing, and giggling. All of a sudden he'd stop and stare into space as if he was looking for something and then the giggling would commence. "What in the world is so funny," I thought. Then I turned to where he was looking and it was nothing more than a reflection of light bouncing off of a bird feeder hanging in the back yard. The light would sway back and forth on our vaulted ceiling in the living room, disappear, and reappear. It was too cute. Oh the simple pleasures of childhood. I love it!

Cheerio boxes and paper bags

I just thought I'd post a random thing today of something simple for which I am grateful.
Two things: one, cheerio boxes from Costco (ya know the ones with two bag of cereal inside) and two, paper bags from the grocery store.

Why you ask? Well, its a long story. As a matter of fact this has been a long week. My husband has been out of town since Sunday morning at 5:30 a.m. I don't like it when he's gone and I miss him so much when he leaves. Although, I appreciate his hard work and am very grateful that he has a job when there are many who don't. So it has been a long week with just the kids and I. I am starting to feel the need for some "me" time although I think I have done pretty well and have kept my sanity with having two busy toddlers on my own. (I don't know how you single moms out there do it!) I miss going to the gym every night and I much prefer running errands on my own rather than having to load the kids up at every stop.

I have kept plenty busy though. This week, and pretty much the ENTIRE week I have been working on a project. More business than fun but a project nonetheless. I received a sizable vinyl lettering order from a lady in Florida. I haven't had that big of an order in a loooong time. Probably since our Rexburg days. Anyhoo, It was a chore and was filled with lots of roadblocks. First, my vinyl software broke, so I ordered a new software and had it express mailed. Then, I couldn't get that software to work, so I tried another computer, and that still didn't work. Finally, I had to call in some favors from another lady in my Stake who also did vinyl lettering and went to her house to RE-design and cut out the lettering. (remember I have no hubby at home to babysit while doing this).

She was sooo sweet and kind to let me barge in on her and take up her space for I don't know how many hours. I hadn't even met her before! What a woman! I owe her a ton! I am grateful to have my brother and sister-in-law close by. Thank you Steven for watching the kids for me. Also, I have the greatest friend who stepped up without me even asking! And watched the kids for me for almost 6 hours so I could finish and send the vinyl on time. Thanks Naomi!

But back to my Cheerio box and paper bag. I finally finished all the vinyl lettering and was ready to mail it. But, being who I am, I didn't want to charge my customer more that I needed to and I didn't want to wait til the next day to go to the post office to get a box that it all would fit in. So, I got creative! Yes I know, imagine that. Ha ha. I looked around for a long time trying to find SOMETHING anything at all that would work. I was in my kitchen and glanced at the pile of recycling waiting to go outside and ta dah!

The Cheerio box was perfect once I flattened it and the 1 (it only took one!) paper bag was enough to go around it to make it look decent. The next morning I made a trip to the post office and it all should make it there in time for her "Super Saturday." Whew!

I probably won't be taking orders for a little bit at least until I can figure out the new software and iron out all the glitches. I'll let you know when I get it all up and working again. Hopefully before the Christmas gift rush.

Hair Cuts All Around

Hey all, I wanted to let you know that I accomplished another goal of mine and that was to give my little boy a "good" haircut. I will admit it isn't perfect but it is FAR better than the last one I gave. I give credit to all the You Tube videos that I watched of people demonstrating. It made it so much easier and I had somewhat of an idea on where to start this time. A few more times to practice and I think we'll have it down. See how it turned out.

Here's the "BEFORE"

That hair will NOT stay down.

And by the way while I have this picture up....My husband Dan likes to come home from work and practice the piano. However he doesn't get much practice in before this happens. No sooner does he sit down to play does he end up with two kids on his lap trying to teach them "hot cross buns." Just another thing that makes me smile.

And here's the happy AFTER

I highly recommend the sucker! It does wonders when you are trying to cut a squirmy toddlers hair.

And here's the back

His hair still sticks up when it is dry but I think I am going to have to learn to live with it. Whether it is really long, or really short, his hair is just meant to travel to great heights.

Oooh and I almost forgot, I also cut Dan's hair a few days before this and then right after little Ethans I had to give Kiera hers. She wanted to have "Her turn" so so bad. So I got up my courage and trimmed her hair! AAAH! I have not cut her hair (besides bangs) since she was a teeny tiny baby and it was a sad day for me even though it wasn't more than an inch. Sniff Sniff. I love watching my babies grow but at the same time I wish it didn't have to happen so fast. 

Recliner makeover update

I know it has been FOREVER! since my last recliner makeover update. To be honest...I have been putting that beast of a project off. But now that my hands have recovered from the last time, I decided to get it out again today. I am happy to say that I have officially taken apart the back of the recliner and am now ready to cut out the pieces from my fabulous red suede.

This project is definently taking longer than I had hoped but I didn't really know what to expect since I had never done something like this before. Once I get the pattern pieces cut out, and sewn together, it will then be time to take apart the final piece of the chair (the bottom half). We'll see how long that takes me huh? My goal is to have it done before December.

This is what I took off the chair, and what I will be using to make my pattern with. I can not tell you how much I have learned from this experience. And can I just say that old things were made incredibly well compared to a lot of what you can find today! Things were made with such quality. This beast is not going down without a fight.

Here is what my chair looks like right now.
Doesn't look like much does it...sort of scary.
But it will be great, I JUST KNOW IT!

Don't forget to vote

Just a reminder....Don't foget to vote today. I just barely caught my mailman today before he drove off to give him my mail-in ballot. Whew!

Halloween Twice Over

Is it really November?! WOW! This year has flown so fast! I have got to get busy with holiday preparations and more gift making. But first I want to share with you some of the fun times we had this past weekend for Halloween.

Halloween is fun especially when you get to celebrate it TWICE!

On Wednesday night before Halloween weekend we had a Halloween carnival and Trunk-or-Treat at our church. Dan was in charge of helping the 12 year old boys with their face painting booth and I took the kids around and did the cake walk, belly skateboarding/bowling game, eating donuts on a string, homemade root beer, and fashion show. It was a lot of fun! Then after the carnival everyone headed out to the parking lot and went trick-or-treating to the trunks of everyone's cars. The kids had fun even with the light drizzle of rain. But who cares about rain if you get candy right?

  

 

For Halloween this year we got to have Dan's parents Shellie and Robert come up for a visit. It was fun to be able to show off our finished Halloween creation with them since they got to see it when it was a work in progress. It was also very nice just to have them here with us. It makes me feel more at home with family over. The kids loved having Grandma and Grandpa stay with us too. Whenever they'd get up from their naps or wake up in the morning, the first thing Kiera would ask for was either Grandma or Grandpa.

Halloween night the kids got to go Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood; and what made it more fun was that the cousins met up with them and they got to go together. So Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Kiera, Ethan, Uncle Steven, Kaleb, and Florence all treked out into the night together for a fun Halloween night.

I got candy duty, so I stayed and handed out candy to all the treaters, and we had quite a few! We didn't get rid of all our candy though so we are stocked up for quite some time. What are we going to do with all this candy?

Halloween twice over does that too you I guess.

 

Happy Halloween!