Santa's Little Reindeer

Landon got to meet Santa.  He wasn't sure what to think.  He didn't shout, he didn't cry or pout.  He didn't really do much of anything except stare.

If L was able to talk, this is what my nine month old would have asked Santa for: 

• Leaves
• A Box
• Cherrios
• A Swing
• Socks (not to wear, but to carry around in his mouth after he takes them off)

I think he's going to be more entertained by the wrapping paper, boxes, bows and string on Christmas morning than his actual presents.  Wishing everyone a Happy Holidays!!!

Over the River and Through the Woods…

This week I have been counting down….not just til Christmas but til we pack up the presents, the Puppy, the baby and head on up to my parent’s house.  My hubby works weekends so we either visit during everyone else’s busy weekday or Landon and I brave a six hour round trip on our own.  But not this weekend!!!!  Ben actually has a holiday off and EVERYONE is going to be there AT THE SAME TIME.  Yippeeee!   Here is a peek at the trouble fun The Wombat has at his grandparent’s house:

He drives the lawn mower (love the look of concentration here)

Plays with Marie the dog

Faces off with Little Foot the cat

Jumps (well sits) in the leaves

Eats the leaves

And most of all rides Shilo, the kid friendly horse with his grandma.

This is sort of a tradition of my mom’s.  Here she is with me when I was a kiddo. 

Pretty sure my dad took most of these pictures unless that’s his leg.

Over the river and through the woods (literally) to Grandma and Grandpa’s house we go in four more days.  And counting!

Recycled Christmas Decor

A few weeks ago at Pinterest craft night we made some snowflakes out of, you'll never guess: TOILET PAPER ROLLS!   You can see a full tutorial on how we created these at my friend/neighbor/softball teammate Melissa’s blog.  I’ve been racking my brain about where to hang these and I finally decided to tack them around my dining room mirror.  It seemed to be still lacking something so I cut out HO-HO-HO out of cardboard and wrapped it in red yarn.   Speaking from experience, wrap first THEN hot glue the pieces together to make a letter.   It'll save you quite the headache when you try and wrap those awkward angles.

Welcome to my wall of recycling:

Have a Very Merry Christmas!!

Linking to:

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer {Cookies}

Wow, it has been a busy week attending THREE Christmas parties. 

I fell in love with these peanut butter reindeer cookies and set to work. 

I used Reese’s Pieces for the eyes and Peanut M&M’s for the noses.  These have to be pressed in IMMEDIANTLY once removed from the oven.  I was a little too ambitious with my first batch and tried to bake twelve, which was wayyyyy too many to decorate quickly.  Learn from my mistake and only bake about six at a time. They are almost too cute to eat.  Almost :)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Pictures!!

I have been seeing so many pictures of babies and Christmas lights lately and really love the idea. This photo shoot with my Little Wombat was actually a little impromptu. I was visiting at my parent's house and my dad took some really great shots.  We kept adding little props that we found around the house.

Then I edited them on Picnik. I LOVE Picnik because it’s easy-peasy photo editing for someone like me who is too lazy doesn’t have the time to learn the ins and outs of Photoshop. I edited these pictures using the Cross Process Effect (I usually fade this about 20%). Then used the Focal Black and White Effect.

Of course, I couldn’t resist adding some Christmas text:

I've never had a cuter Christmas card photo, can't wait to mail them out this year!  Happy Holidays!

Linking to:

The 36th Avenue Party Time Christmas Cards

Christmas Wreath

Fabric flowers were this week’s Pinterest craft of choice.  I bought some fabric scraps in the clearance section at Walmart, the plain white set me back a whole 73 cents! 

Here are the flowers I’ve created so far using this tutorial.  All you have to do is cut a strip of fabric, fold it in half, and keep twisting and burning yourself with hot glue until you have a flower.  I found that the thinner the fabric the better the flower (at least in my case).   

Anywho, then I just glued some of them onto this stick wreath that I bought at Michael’s for $2.50 after 50% off…..never go there without a coupon.  And here is my simple holiday wreath in action:

Lots more little projects in store for these flowers!!  Gotta let my poor little glue-gun-burned fingers heal first :)

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Memory Keepers

Lately I have been in love with Paper Coterie because they have great quality products and A-M-A-Z-I-N-G coupon codes.  I’m especially impressed with their Memory Keepers, which are 9.75 x 13 and great for storing all sorts of meaningful knick knacks.

I made this one for Landon.  It contains all of his baby cards, his hospital bracelet and some newborn pictures.

And this box has replaced the old Nike shoe box that was housing cards Ben and I have written to each other over the years.

Hurry and order some super cute Christmas presents!  And don’t forget your promocodes!  Hold out for a good one, all I had to pay was around $10 shipping for each of these!

PS. Landon's newborn pictures were taken by the talented Christina Harrison.

Naptime

The swings were just too much for the Little Wombat today.  Don't you wish you could sleep this well?

When Landon is awake he is normally climbing, growling, sticking EVERYTHING in his mouth (this is why the blanket is covering the swing) and leaving behind a trail of little boy destruction.

So everytime he falls asleep I am in awe at how peacful he becomes.

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Linked to:

Coffee Filter Flowers

For this week’s Pinterest- inspired- craft- night over at Melissa’s, we made flowers out of coffee filters and streamers.  I discovered that I am a painfully slow crafter.  This little flower took me an HOUR.  (Okay, so I was socializing quite a bit but STILL).

I had better luck with the coffee filter flowers and made a couple more when I got home.  Here are the ingredients:

Then all you have to do is:

1.       Fold about five times.

2.       Cut into a heart.

3.       String onto your wire and make a wire loop at the opposite end.

4.       Put a little dab of glue and twist it a couple times.

5.       Repeat with the next filter, minus the glue.

Every few filters or so I wrapped some scotch tape around the base to keep them in place.  Then about 10 filters later it actually started looking like a flower!

Now I just need to find a vase for them….

Two Ingredient Cupcakes

This recipe has been all over Pinterest.  It’s SO easy.  Just a box of cake mix plus a can of pumpkin pure, and that’s ALL.  No other ingredients necessary!  I used Butter Yellow cake mix but people have been using all sorts of things from chocolate to spice cake.

     I added cream cheese frosting to make them a little sweeter .

Enjoy!

Glazing Attempt No. 1

Ever since I stumbled upon All Things Thrifty blog I’ve been DYING to try and glaze something.   Since I was terrified of ruining something of value, I was on the hunt for a cheap, glaze-able practice piece. 

I wasn’t even planning on garage saling the Saturday I found this:

I saw it at a yard sale in my neighborhood and immediately pulled over.  Guess what I paid? A whopping two dollars!  It was PERFECT. First, I cleaned it up and unscrewed the mirror (woo-hoo no painter’s tape needed).  Then I primed it with Kliz and spray painted it with Krylon’s Pumpkin Orange.

Now for the scary part: Glaze.  I spread on the Valspar Black Glaze, wiped it down with a damp cloth, and voila!!! 

And here it is hanging on my wall:

 I can.not.believe. that I was actually capable of creating something this cool.  I want to glaze everything in my house.

Halloween!!!

Yesterday was Landon’s first Halloween!!!

I bought his costume about 10 months ago, so I have been anxiously counting down the days for him to show off his NEMO outfit since before he was even born. I have also been crossing my fingers that it would still fit him by October and I wouldn't have to go buy something less cute. Luckily it fit.

Doesn't he make a cute little Nemo???!!!  He even kept the hat on the whole time!

 And now Ben and I are eating all his candy! :)