This is why my Mom says I have too much free time...

Too much time on my hands??

Maybe....

I like to be crafty year-round, 

but there's something about the Holiday's

that makes me want to go craft crazy.

Here are the crafts that I've done lately:

(DISCLAIMER:  I didn't come up with ANY of these ideas myself.  I see something I like, and I make it!)

1.   Felt Wreath: a friend had a cool magazine with felt craft projects where I got most of the idea for this.

2.  Tooth Pillow:  Saw this on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea for my little man, who will start loosing teeth any day now!    

3.  Advent Calendar:  I also saw this on Pinterest.  Each day has a card with something our family can do together that's related to Christmas.  The project was pretty time consuming, but I like how it turned out.  By the way, I learned that you can sew paper together!  I don't know why I didn't realize that before...

4.  Felt Stockings:  Our family did not have matching stockings, so I thought it would be fun to make our own.  Using Pinterest as inspiration, I cut out the stocking shape (green for the boys, red for the girls), and a bunch of felt shapes.  For a family night I let each person decorate their stocking however they wanted and the next day I sewed them all together.  I love how they coordinate but they're each different.  

 Dad's and Mom's on top, the kids' on the bottom (even a 5 year old can decorate a stocking!)

5.  Burlap covered cones:  Doesn't sound very fancy, but I saw these on Pinterest and a couple blogs I follow and thought they were cute.  I left one plain and added some yarn to the other.  The bases are candlesticks.  The tall tree is actually sitting on a candle to add height.

6.  Christmas Card Holder:  Just used a ribbon and some wooden clothespins.  Paint the clothespins, then cover the front with cute paper.  Now all I need are some Christmas Cards...(hint, hint)

7.  Crocheted Ear Warmer:  I've been working with some friends to learn to crochet and I whipped this together after our last craft day.  I'm especially proud of the flower.  Thanks to YouTube I was able to learn how to do that on my own last night and I think it turned out so cute!  And thanks to having to take pictures of myself, I learned that I don't like my nose :)  See, it's not just about crafting, it's about self discovery!

There you have it!
My recent craftiness. 

Wow, when I see it all written out like that,
I think my Mom was right!

Picnik Printable

I am pretty excited about this printable I just made...

Who knew you could use Picnik to create stuff!

I followed the tutorial found HERE and it was surprisingly easy

for a very basic computer user such as myself.

Now I'm off to make another for my daughter!

I'm going to decoupage them to the 

back of a clipboard for them to use during 

General Conference

this weekend!

Some-bunny special!

Have you ever caught a wild bunny?

We have.

Today the hubby was out measuring for mulch

when he noticed something moving in one of our flower beds.

He came and got the kids to show them the little

bunnies that were just laying in the leaves.

I was surprised that they hadn't run away, 

so I had to go see for myself. 

Sure enough, one little bunny was just hanging out in the leaves!

So one kid ran to get a box, 

and the Hubby reached down and just picked the bunny up!

We both had bunnies as pets growing up,

but from what I gather, his experience was a lot more

positive than mine.  I had no interest in touching

the bunny, but he and the kids fell in love.

It was so adorable watching him and the kids with the bunny.

If it hadn't had bugs and ticks crawling on it,

I think we would have had a new pet!

They ended up putting the bunny back in the leaves, but 

they checked on him a couple of times.

By the time they brought him carrots for dinner,

he was gone...

And yes, we all thoroughly washed our hands

when we were done with the bunny!

I guess we're getting a new mailbox...

Yesterday I was watching TV with my little man

when he heard the garbage truck come and 

ran to the window to watch it.  

He turns to me and says, 

"MOM!! Our mailbox is gone!"

(the bent over white post used to hold our and 

our neighbor's mailboxes)

I wish the tree wasn't in the way, but since I was trying 

to "be sneaky" and didn't want them to see me 

snapping photos...

I had to take them from the small laundry room window.

What you can't see, however,

is what's UNDER the garbage truck.  

Our 4 mailboxes, 

a light post that was in our neighbor's front yard, 

and a small tree (roots and all).

Not to mention what was BEHIND the truck

(our other neighbor's sheriff's car), which

did NOT get hit (barely).

Apparently, the guys were trying to turn around

and the gas pedal got "stuck" and made their

truck spin around before stopping.

 Finally the tow truck arrived, and hopefully

we'll have a new mailbox soon!

In other news...

I had a great time last weekend with my sisters 

(even with two of them being sick).

Here are some fun pics!

 

We stopped by to see my bro at work.

 They look hard at work, but really he was mostly just

showing us his "hilarious" youtube videos of cats.

Mom and 4 out of 5 of the girls.

 Still in total denial that my oldest sister is moving 

out of the state in like a week...

And this last one is just for fun :)

Gotta love roadies!!

The Secret to Happiness

It's Valentine's Day, and rather than goosh on and on about how lucky I am to be married to the most amazing man and have the two most beautiful children in the world...I thought I'd share my secret to happiness.  Also a bit of a guilty pleasure, and definitely the way I keep my girlish figure.  

Say hello to my candy cupboard:

Hellooooo!!!

Also, I'd like to introduce you to my newest craze, the Lindt Lindor Truffles.

And following right along would be an ice cold

 

This is truly my secret to happiness!  

Happy Love Day!

I'm a WINNER!!

I'm so excited!!!  Yesterday while I was hard at work (looking at people's blogs) I came across a blog that was having a contest.  I started following Wonderwoman a couple months ago...I can't remember how I came across her blog, but when I saw it, I was so impressed by her craftiness. 

So yesterday it was her Birthday, and she decided to give away one of her homemade pin-cushions.  I decided to enter just for kicks (I never win anything, anyway).  Then today I got an unexpected email from her telling me that I had won!!  That's so fun! 

Here is a picture of the beautiful pin-cushion I won:

It's almost too pretty to be used as a pin-cushion!  And thanks to her 3 year old daughter who was apparently the one who decided the winner :) 

Check out her blog wonderwoman creations to see what I won and more of her amazing homemade crafts!

LOVED IT!!

Wicked.  Was.  Awesome.  At least the part I saw...

For Christmas I got tickets to go see Wicked on New Year's Eve.  I was SO excited because this is a play that I've been wanting to see for a really long time.  So we got a babysitter and headed out with plenty of time to get to Chicago for our 2 p.m. play. 

The GPS was on stand-by, but the hubby said we wouldn't need it until we got to Chicago because it's pretty easy to get to.  After about 45 minutes we both realized that we were NOT on the highway we were supposed to be on, so we needed to fire up the GPS to get us back on track!  The GPS lady told us what to do, unfortunately, we ended up on a 45 minute detour through South Chicago.  South Chicago is NOT a place you want to be if you're me. 

Turns out, there were about 4 million stop lights or stop signs on our way through the "south side" and by the time we had reached the "right" highway, it was already 2 p.m. and we weren't at the Cadillac Theatre.  But, we made it there at 2:15, and my thoughtful husband told me to jump out of the car as we passed and he would go park and meet me inside.  So, I missed the beginning, and then another 5 minutes when I had to go potty (since I didn't have time to go before the play started) and they wouldn't let me back in until "the people start clapping." (said the lady guarding the door, who was actually really nice.)

All things considered, it was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be.  Big thanks to my hubby for taking me and being a good sport, even though it was probably the last thing he would want to do.  We had a great time!