Snowman S'mores

I've seen these around blogland, and thought I'd give them a try!

I used a half of graham cracker, one block of Hershey bar, white chocolate melts, marshmallows, mini M & Ms, mini chips, and fruit rolls up for the scarf. Yum!

Gift of pie!

I am counting this as three crafts!
# 1:
Canned apple pie filling!

# 2: Handed Painted Plate (done at a pottery studio)

# 3: Recipe card

All wrapped up into a gift! Wouldn't you love to get one and be able to whip up a pie on a cold winter night? The gift includes a crust mix, filling, a pie plate, server, and caramel sauce

Linking up to:

Canned.

I decided that for my in-laws this year, I was making homemade presents. At first, I thought I would do breakfast basket. Get gourmet pancake mixes, syrups, cocoas and coffees. Once I priced that all out, I realized I could get them that or a piece of Tiffany’s jewelry! I then decided on apple pie. Why? It’s delicious, All – American and it didn’t sound too hard. I decided I would can apple pie filling and package it with a pie plate, a pie server, and some other brilliant pie serving accessories. I even went to the local ceramics studio and painted coordinating plates.

I borrowed all of the canning gear from a co-worker who assured me it is simple! I read over the directions that came with my jars (P.S.- Wal-mart as an entire canning aisle!) and went about canning. I peeled, sliced and cored 6 lbs of apples. I followed the directions for the liquid. So far, so good! I then attempted to lift the giant canning pot, which was filled with water from the sink to the stove. OMG! I need to up my gym time, apparently. Once I did that (and only spilled half the water!), I loaded the jars in the pot to sterilized. Since science isn’t my strong suit, I completely forgot that the jars would displace some water and overflow onto the stove top. Ugh! Clean up time! I finally got the right amount of water and boiled the jars away. Lifting the jars out of the pot once they were filled with boiling water was comical. Just a side note- wear shoes. My poor toes had a ton of boiling water dropped on them. I placed the apple pie filling in the jars and put them back on the rack. I lowered the jars into the pan and watched with HORROR as one floated. FLOATED?!?! I panicked and called my friend Jen, who assured me that filled jars cannot float. I watched my rogue jar bob away in the rolling boil. Oh well, that one bit the dust. After the jars were processed, they seem air tight. I made a pie using the filling for us (nothing like a test run for botulism!) on Saturday and we are all still intact.

I hope that my in-laws appreciate their gifts. Literally- burns, sweat and tears went into them!

I will post pictures once I get the plates from the ceramic studio and the gifts are all packaged.! 

Here I am!

Eek! I’m so far behind with posting my Christmas Crafts! This weekend was crazy! On Saturday, we spent the day decorating. We went and cut down the tree at the tree farm up the road. I take this picture every year, and I’m sure Shane secretly loves it!

We hung the outside lights, which turned into Shane cleaning out the gutters. I got the bright idea to move the trellis that we got married under to the front yard. I had visions of it spanning the front walkway into our home. The whole thought of walking under the place we got married each time we entered our home was appealing to me. Unfortunately, I should have measured my vision before we (yes, “we”- I helped!) moved the mammoth creation from the backyard to the front. It’s way too big for our walkway. In defeat, we plopped it in the middle of the yard, awaiting relocation.

On Sunday, we took Caileigh on the Polar Express train ride. I have an absolute obsession with the Polar Express. It comes from elementary school when our principal use to play it over  the PA system on the last day of school before Christmas. The book is absolutely magical.

So after all of that, here are the 5 crafts I owe you!

# 2: Christmas Card Display board! I made this with an unfinished frame from Michaels, so Christmas scrapbook paper and some knobs we have around. I modeled it after this Creative Memories frame.

#3: Christmas Card Display Frame ! Another unfinished frame from Michaels. I got it on clearance awhile ago. I painted it with chalkboard paint and used chickenwire in the opening. The seasonal greetings can be erased and I can reuse it for birthdays!

#4: My ugly flowerpot tree that I secretly love!!

#5: Placemat Pillow: I got these placements a couple years ago and used them on our pub table that only had two chairs. That table is now gone and I searched high and low for more of these placemats. I couldn’t find anymore, but couldn’t bear the thought of these adorable rustic snowman not coming out for Christmas. I had some scrap material and sewed (BY HAND! My machine is caput!) them into a pillow. Cute, huh?

#6: I made this garland last year. I just got out holiday shapes and embellished them with buttons that my grandma had given me in the past.

As I am posting this, I am realizing that having 25 crafts (19 more!) by Christmas is going to be rough! I may expand and count some of my culinary adventures as crafts.. or have some guest posters… or take a day off work to craft!?!?!? Or maybe have an unexpected snowday to sit in my little room and create. ( I live for snowdays!)

Thanks for reading J  

25 Crafts of Christmas.. # 1

I know, it's not very "Christmas-y", but I've been seeing these all  blogland and I love it. I got an unfinished wood frame and painted it brown. Then I cut out some flowers from some scrapbook paper and modpodged them on. I compiled a list of "rules" for our family. I used a piece of twine to hang it by.

 I hung it by our front door... Let me know what you think! 

Linking up to:

More hangers!

 I made this hanger for "Baby Esh", whose name is yet to be made public.  I got the adorable hat from Lefty Loops on Etsy. Go check out her adorable work! 

Christmas Cards!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas cards. I love getting them, hanging them up, and sending them. We just had some awesome pictures of Caileigh taken and can't wait to send them out to people. Last year, I had a ton of compliments on my Shutterfly cards and total plan to use them again. Check out some of the gifts and cards you can make with a click of a button! Another plus - Shutterfly always has awesome deals and discounts. Check them out!

I am working on a scrapbook so we can keep a copy of our yearly cards in one place. Stay tuned for pictures!

Giving Thanks...

I made these two frames for Thanksgiving using unfinished frames from Michaels. They are sprayed with chalkboard paint because I planned on writing the quote in chalk and then sealing it. Well, thank goodness I have a SMARTBOARD in my classroom because my chalk-handwriting was horrendous! I ended up cutting the entire quote out on my Cricut (which took FOREVER!) and then mod podging it on. I think I am going to try that whole printing on burlap for the next one I make so I can just click "print"!! I used a piece of pumpkin scrapbook paper that I just LOVE for bottom. Now, all I need are some pictures for the frames!

Shane's Football Party..

I must confess, I hate football! It consumes our family beginning in August preseason until now... Shane's birthday and the end of his coaching season are right around each other. I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party... football themed, of course!! Every time I decide to cook all the food and bake the desserts I swear, "next time, I'm calling a caterer". ..maybe someday I will listen to myself ::sigh::

I painted a piece of Grass Carpet and used stencils to write out "Happy Birthday" instead of the yardage markers.

I picked up some frames from the dollar bin at AC Moore and Hobby Lobby for the food labels. I tried to stick with "tailgate type" food. Pulled pork, fries, sausage and peppers

I used scrapbook paper to make cones for the fries (sorry, there isn't a better picture)

Dessert!

Cake balls, Cookies, and mini pumpkin cakes with cream cheese frosting

Thanksgiving Decor!

I have a lot of generic fall decor, but I decided I wanted some more Thanksgiving specific, without shelling out a few hundred bucks to Pottery Barn (sigh... I love PB!) I used a pack of paper from the Dollar Spot at Target and some scraps from the garage. I cut out the letters with my cricut and... VOILA!

Hope your Halloween is devilish!!

I made this costume for my daughter. It cost me about $5!! The ears and pitchfork are from the Dollar Store . Caileigh tends to not leave headbands in, so I cut the ears off the band and glued them onto clips that I clipped in her pig tails. The tutu is made from a roll of red and black tulle. I loved the costume, Caileigh resorts to tears when she sees it!

The photo was taken by my friend Kathy.. She's wonderful- Check her out! Kathleen Hertel Photography

 The rest of the pictures were taken by me!

 

Happy Halloween :) 

Halloween Dessert Buffet..*Eye Candy*

Fall Decor, Finally!

Welcome to our home! I love this wreath!! I got it a few years ago at a craft fair. Perfect combo of spooky & whimsy!

Entryway- Mums, pumpkins and hay.. Doesn't get any more fall-like!

Mantle.

Homemade candy jars!