Have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Well I am going to take a break for about a week for Christmas. I can't wait to return though, I have a lot of posts to do....my best bud's baby shower, Christmas projects I made, some yummy new recipes to try and I can't wait to get back to Tot School with Lil' Bit! And best of all I am on a design team, will be announcing which one after the new year, but I am way beyond excited!!! Shhhhh...don't tell I know one of my Christmas presents, a new camera, yea!!! Hopefully the pics on my blog will be much, much better! Have a great Christmas and see ya next year!

Easy Peasy Curtains!

I just finished my first curtain project and I was so excited as to how easy it was! I need to give a big shout out to THRIFTY DECOR CHICK she provided the fabulous and easy instructions. I can't wait to try out so more of her ideas! Please go by her site and check this project out

HERE

And now for the curtain call:

This is the curtain down, which is what i really needed because when the sun is shining(which it hasn't been) I get a tremendous amount of light and it really heats the room up!

a close up of the button and cup hook that holds the shade up!

These are the different ways I have found I can hang it up. I think I like the first the best. What do you guys think?
Well, one window down and about 10 more that need treatments! (My hubby says I need a crafting budget!)

My New Craft Area

For the longest time I have been frustrated with my craft area...not enough storage! So yesterday out of the blue my DH decided to build me some shelves and he added a countertop for extra workspace. I really like it. I think that after Christmas I may stain the shelves, I don't want to paint them, because the wood is really pretty, but I do think they need some color. And I need to figure what to do with all the cords also, but I think I have a pretty good space now! Thanks Hubby! Now for the unveiling.......

We Have a Winner!

Thanks to Random.org, we have a winner: #7, Ginger Walker! I will be contacting you to get your address. Thanks to everyone who participated and an especially big thanks to our sponsor: Fundamentally Dog (www.fundamentallydog.com)! Be sure to visit them for a special gift for that dog lover in your life!!!

The Secret is in the Sauce: Merry SITSmas!

http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/2008/12/merry-sitsmas.html

After me is:http://jamjarboogie.blogspot.com/

Merry SITSmas!

My favorite blog is having a fantastic giveaway day today and I am sooo excited! Go check out www.thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com! Be sure to check out my giveaway, especially if you are dog lover, it is in the post below!

Contest Time!

I am soooo excited! I am having my first giveaway and at the same time announcing the start of a brand new business by my friend Nancy! She and her friends have created an online store for fun dog people, celebrating the basic connection people have with their dogs. Through fun, eco-friendly products, the company delights in what makes a dog fundamentally a dog and what makes a dog fundamental to our lives. Check out their organic cotton tee-shirts and the note cards printed on recycled paper – all with cool, original artwork and true-to-dog slogans! She is generously donating a set of darling note cards to the winner! So here is how is works:



1. Go check out Fundamentally Dog by clicking
HERE


2. Check out all their adorable products and find your favorite

3. The come back to my site and leave me a comment telling me which one is your fave!

4. You can earn 5 extra entries if you have a blog by posting about this giveaway, just leave me a comment linking to your blog and be sure to link back to this one in your post!

5. We will randomly draw one name next Monday!

Tiny Tot School

We officially started tot school this week. The theme for this week is Rainbows and is being hosted by: http://teachingtinytots.blogspot.com/
We first made a rainbow shaker fill with rice and listened to the Colors Song. Shelby Lynn really like this because she loves to dance. We did this each day!

Shelby Lynn's friend Ellie came over and we made koolaid playdoh. I was going to make the rainbow colors, but ran out of salt so only made purple.

We also went to library and got a book on rainbows:

And we also played with the rainbow nesting cups, I don't have a lot of pics with Shelby Lynn because I didn't want to interupt her play. We had loads of fun and are looking forward to next weeks theme!

The Votes Are In...

And the ribs are a winner! We really enjoyed them. I took them out of the crockpot and put them under the broiler with some BBQ sauce while I was finishing the sides. Really Yummy!! I think in John McCain's orginal recipe he grills them, which with the dry rub that would be really good as well, but if you don't have time to do that, than the crockpot is the way to go!

Taste Test Tuesday!

I hope Everyone goes and votes today!!! In honor of the election for my recipe taste test I am trying out John McCain's Ribs. You can find the recipe at http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. This is a great blog, she is trying a different recipe each day in her crockpot! Check back after dinner tonight to see the pics of the ribs...they already smell yummy!

Muffin Tin Mondays!

Okay so this is our first attempt at Muffin Tin Monday. Our host for this fabulous idea is http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/ (Her Cup Overfloweth). Since this is our first time playing along I didn't go for a theme, but I can't wait for next week's theme: Family Heritage. This is the only small muffin pan I have and as you can see it is well used, if Shelby Lynn likes this I will have to go get her a cute one!

Tot Teaching

Okay so I think I have been doing this all along but I got some great inspiration from http://teachingtinytots.blogspot.com/ and http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ . This week's theme is Rainbows! Check out teaching tiny tots blog for some great resources and be sure to come back here Friday, when I will post pics of some activities we did!

One Spooky Spider

After some initial disagreement from Shelby Lynn about being a spider, she decided it was okay and went for a creepy crawl!

Pumpkin Carving

Shelby Lynn and Daddy carved their pumpkin on Halloween. She wouldn't let us put paint on her hands but she didn't mind getting out the guts...she even tried to eat them!!

Painting Pumpkins!

So we attempted to paint pumpkins tonight. We got Shelby Lynn stripped down to her diaper and got the paint out. We were going to paint her hands and then press them on the pumpkin. But alas, all my fussiness over keeping her neat whenever she ate or played has had a bad effect...she hated the paint on her hands and boohood..she kinda looked like the baby pumpkin! I didn't post any pics of her because she is in her diaper, but on Halloween we are going to carve one and hopefully she will pull the guts out, and I can get pics then!

SITS exciting new giveaway

Head on over the the SITS site to check out their fantastic November giveaway. It is a Bissel Healty Home Vacuum. I don't know about you, but I find it so hard to find a good vacuum. We have tried several, and they all have had annoying little issues. But the Bissel looks great...I really like the antimicrobacterial protection. You can find out more HERE

Stampin Up Club

So our stamp club had our first meeting! Our members include, myself, Debi, Anna, Kim and Anne and of course our fabulous Stampin Up demonstrator Monica Giberti. Below are the projects we created! Please check out Monica's website to see how you can get the materials needed to create these fabulous products. You can find her website HERE





A cute Halloween gift bag

A sparkly cupcake Birthday Card

A Harvest Thanksgiving Card and Matching Envelope

And a spooky gift from our demonstrator, Monica

Coffee Time

So I have been doing some thinking and have decided that it is especially important now more than ever to support small businesses; especially if one day I want to open my own! This Christmas I am going to try and purchase as much from small businesses as possible.
The first one I would like to recommend is: www.getthebean.blogspot.com
It is a new online coffee shop and Meaghan, the owner, is giving away 1 pound of coffee. She is a stage 3b cervical cancer survivor and is now cancer free!
She also recommends the following:

If you are interested in a chance to get money for the cancer charity of your choice for an entire year go to:

www.gtbfightscancer.blogspot.com

So please go by and check her new store out!!

Grosgrain

Oh you just have to go by this site. It is amazing the talent this lady has!
HERE is her fabulous work! Oh and you can enter to win this fantastic gown. It is for an older child otherwise I would have entered to win. Thought about it anyway, but since Shelby Lynn is only 16months I figured I would not enter so someone who has an age approriate child would have a better chance.

Not Preggers

Okay so I have been extremely tired lately, period 22 days late, so I must be pregnant right...wrong itssssss MONO! And just in case you are wondering I haven't been kissing on any boys, lol! Well at least I know what is wrong with me, but I sure would like my energy back because I have a lot of projects that need to be finished! I am going to a stamp club on Friday and really looking forward to that, my girlfriends, Anna, Kim and Debi are in it with me so I know we will have some good times! Hopefully we will be making something that I can post on here for everyone to get some inspiration!

Pumpkin patch

 

So I am doing Digital Scrapping and thought I would share a page from our trip to Snead's Farm. Great place! Fun Times! I even got a ghost pumpkin, which is a white pumpkin. Planing on painting it not sure how yet be will post pics!

fun quiz

You Belong in 1951

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

New Favorite Site

Okay I love this site: http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/ quickly becoming an addict. You have to check out!
Sooo I have really been slacking and have not do a single craft project this week. I am for sure having withdrawals!
Finished a new book: The Gods Must be Crazy. Very interesting. The jury is still out on this one.
Hopefully will update this weekend with projects.

The Secret is in the Sauce is giving away an Expression!

If you are a cricut fan and would love a chance to win a free Expression check out this site:
http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/2008/09/september-is-saucy-cricut-expressions.html
This is the coolest blog! So many interesting things here!

Where are my posts?

Ok, so I have been crafting up a storm, but I can't post my creations, because a certain person (you know who you are) may see them and they are for her! So I will probably only get maybe a card or a single layout posted about once a week. But I do have a lot of books I am reading so if you are interested in what I am reading, I will be posting my thoughts on the books.

Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Just finished this book. It rates a 5/5. It is fantastic. I am so excited because it is a series, I can't wait to start the next one! The main character is SpecOpt Thursday Next, a literary detective in England. The catch is England and the world is not how we know it. The New York Times describes this series as Harry Potter for adults, I am not sure I agree with that, because I think Harry Potter is for adults as well, but it is a fun book, that left me wanting more!

Sketch #9

This is my take on the this week's sketch at www.2sketches4you.blogspot.com. I really had fun with this sketch, will definetly use it more! These papers were from the $1 bin at Target...what a great find, I wish I had bought more! The stamp is from stampin up. I left the label blank so that I could customize it later. The second pic is of the inside of the card.

Thank you card

This is a thank you card I made for a friend. She had brought us some home grown tomatoes. I was so excited to finally be able to use this cute tomato paper I had.

Finished match game

This is the finished project. The little box is a mini pizza box. I got the instructions from the scorpal website.