Great Giveaway

I found this super girl pampering giveaway and thought you might like to enter- it looks so fun! I might have to try a few of these products even if I don't win! Visit simple mom- and good luck!

Free Gift Tags

I thought I'd share my I think they look cute printed on white and stuck on brown paper packages. The big one is a mailing label. If you print them on sticker paper they are extra easy to attach. There is a link to a free pdf file on the right under freebies. Enjoy!

Yummiest Beef Enchiladas

I'm probably the last person on earth looking for a yummy beef enchilada recipe- but this stuff is really good. I used corn tortillas and just placed them in the oil until warm and tender. Use the following link for the sauce recipe (not canned).

Double the recipe for the sauce and cut the amount of chili powder in half and increase the cumin. There will be a little left over sauce.

Serve the enchiladas with lettuce, fresh tomatoes, sliced avocados, and sour cream (or ranch dressing). Mmm- we had four adults eating with us and NO leftovers.

Cabinet Makeover

I've had this old, falling apart cabinet for about three years. It's an estate sale find and was 20$ (too high really). I finally painted it and added fabric inserts. To make the inserts you just take a piece of cardboard and glue on a little cotton batting, then wrap with fabric,and hot glue everything in place.


The opening where the inserts go is really wonky- I'm going to have to add a bit of cording around the fabric edges to cover some bloopers- but it looks better than it did originally :0)

The chair is also a yard sale find. Originally a 20$ ugly is now covered with Ikea fabric purchased on sale for $1.99 a yard. There is a post about that under decorating. Thanks for stopping by!

Frosty Blanket

Here is a snugly blanket. Just red and white polar fleece, felt, buttons and fabric scraps (with a little embroidery).

Magnet Board

I whipped up this magnet board for Clarissa's room. It is a large white board/magnet board that was simply covered with fabric (thin enough that magnets can still hold things up). You just pull the fabric around to the back and staple it on with a staple gun. Now I just need to hang it up.

Christmas Countdown

I found the graphics for this cute nativity countdown at PC Crafter clip art. They are adorable.

You just print the pictures onto Avery T-shirt transfer paper and iron them onto white felt- then to make them a little sturdier you can whip stitch them to another piece of white felt.

I haven't added the dowel, stable, or any other extras because it's only fifteen days until Christmas and my kids need to use it! Is anyone else feeling slightly panicked?

Free Christmas Gifts

I think it was Pinching Your Pennies that told me about the Vista Printing site. They are offering free products- truly, all you pay is shipping (if you upload your own pictures they add a small fee). These would make some great Grandma and Grandpa gifts. The list of free products changes periodically. After one order they sent me an email that offered more free products. One item listed as free really wasn't- so, I just deleted it from my cart. But I've ordered ten different items, for free!



OK- get creative! They have car magnets- you know those big magnets people use to advertise their businesses. How about printing one that says "Happy Birthday" and using it when it's your child's birthday and you pick them up from school?

I made a t-shirt that said, Daddy's Best Helper, and had a picture of tools. Maybe make one that says, "World's Best Grandpa"?

Order the free rubber stamp with one of your children's names on it instead of an address. Or have their name printed on top of a notepad.

You can make those cute return labels, with caricatures you personalize of your own family- too cute.




Think outside the box. Clear off those business names and put in funny quotes, family pictures, etc. Change the Christmas cards into Thank you cards. They also offered free calendars, and free magnets- you can really get creative with these- oh, just check it out.

Chair Make Over

I've had this chair, $20 from a yard sale, for over a year. I was afraid to try and cover it- it just seemed like too big of a job. Well, finally I attacked it. It didn't turn out exactly as I envisioned it, but it's done! The patterned indoor/outdoor fabric is from Ikea clearance $1.98 a yard. The pillow fabric is from Hobby Lobby. The bedroom it is in is green with touches of black and pink- (oooh, carpet needs changed). I sewed, stapled, and glued the fabric where I wanted it.

Book Lovers Online Shopping

Our daughter Ceptember suggested this website, sortfloor. She is gathering books for her classroom and ordered several books. One had a bent cover, and the others were in perfect brand new condition. The prices were good.

The site is a little difficult to navigate. I pulled up Amazon and typed in interesting titles that I had found on this site. By doing that I could get a book description, rating and reviews. I found some fun ones and am happily waiting for them to arrive.

Simple Christmas Quilt

This was a quick and simple Christmas quilt for the kids to snuggle under while they watch all of those cute Christmas movies. It's just five fabrics, 36 nine inch squares, one six inch square with embroidery doodles and a pom-pom frame.

Just sew the 36 squares together to make a big square. Embroider some doodling on your six inch square and sew it onto your quilt top. Sew on your pom-poms. Then to cheat and make it really simple sew it together like a pillow cover; layer fabrics right sides together and place batting on top. Then sew all around the quilt (through the fabric and batting), leaving about a foot open- turn inside out. Hand sew opening shut and then tack quilt together at random spots with embroidery floss. Not perfect but so easy!

Christmas Ornaments

I'm doing Christmas projects. Fun! I bought some plain brown ornaments at Michael's. Then I used Martha Stewart glue and gold and brown glitter to doodle on them- a few ended up with polka-dots. This was a fun project that gets glitter everywhere- prepare to sparkle.

Christmas Tree Cross Stitch

This little tree was a lot of fun. Decorating it was kind of like doing the real thing in miniature. There were so many beads, threads, and fancy stitches to choose from. I think I'll turn this into an ornament, but a framed "forest" of trees might be kinda fun, too.

A link to the pattern is listed on the right.

Easy Baked Chicken

I tried a new recipe Sunday. It is SUPER easy and yummy too. I found it on allrecipes.com and a reader suggested substituting the oil and garlic with Italian Salad Dressing- which is what I did (I used Paul Newman's low fat Italian dressing).

Garlic Chicken

2 t. crushed garlic
1/4 c. olive oil
OR 1/4 c. salad dressing

1/4 c. dry Italian bread crumbs
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (green can)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Warm the garlic and olive oil to blend the flavors OR skip this step and just use salad dressing. In a separate dish combine crumbs and cheese. Dip the chicken in the salad dressing (or oil), then into the bread crumb mixture. Place in a shallow baking dish. Discard remaining salad dressing and crumb mixture.

Bake in the hot oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear (mine took just under 30 min.) Serve warm.

Favorite Christmas Albums

My current favorite Christmas CD's:
#1 Silent Night by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, $3 plus shipping on Amazon (not available at Deseret Book). This album has relgious songs, like Joy to the World, Little town of Bethlehem, etc. as well as white Christmas, Silver Bells, and so on. It's a nice combination.


#2 I also really like Christmas: 16 most requested songs, a Columbia recording (also about $3 Plus shipping at Amazon. This album has Gene Autry singing Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman, Doris Day singing Here Comes Santa Claus. Lot's of old favorite songs sung by the artists that I remember from my childhood.

Quilt dreams

I ordered some pretty lecien rose fabric from the fabric shack. Someday I'm going to make a quilt for my bed out of a variety of fabrics with pink or red roses on cream or white backgrounds... someday :0)

Modest Dress Give away

Not that I want to decrease my chances of winning or anything- but I thought you all might want to check out this give away. Just leave a comment saying what your favorite modest women's or girl's dress is (some cute ones) and you're entered for a chance to win.

I'm fighting off the stomach flu- so, yeah I've been surfing.

Cute Stamps

I received an e-mail announcing these cute Scandinavian created stamps. I really don't do any stamping but if I did I would add these to my collection. They seem like a combination of cute Japanese with wonderful Scandinavian influence. Great combination.

You can get them at this online scrapbook store.

Tile Saying

I know I'm really slow at making one of these tile sayings, but here it is. It's just a floor tile on discount, Provo craft cutting vinyl and my silhouette at work. I think it cost three dollars for the project. I'm trying to get a few things fixed up around the house before all the holiday guests come.

I Vote For...

I vote for G rated language on blogs. Some of my favorite blogs have started to sprinkles their posts with swear words. It makes me cringe. I know these women are incredibly creative- so I know they can share what they feel without those types of words- they've been doing a great job blogging for years! Any ideas on how to curb this trend? I'd hate to have to drop them from my "love to look at blog lists"!

Iron on T-Shirts

Thought we'd try making iron on t-shirts this week. It took forever to find the images I wanted. I was looking for retro-kind of worn looking pictures.

After finally finding the ones I wanted it took less than thirty minutes to resize them, print them (on Avery T-shirt transfer paper), and iron them on to some white t-shirts. So simple. I bought the shirts in a six pack on sale at Target. The price came to about $2 + printer ink per shirt. I think it would be fun to make some little girl shirts and then embellish the iron on with beads, embroidery, etc.

Fabric Art

I've seen this type of fabric art around and I thought I'd give it a try. One of the places I saw it was here at the How about orange blog. I really like the fabric they used. Please ignore the wall color- I don't like it- so want to change it rather than try to match it with accessories. Mark made this frame for me.


I laid the frame onto the fabric and cut around it- leaving enough fabric to pull over the frame and secure.


Then I pulled out the handy staple gun and pulled and stapled the fabric as I moved around the frame.


I folded the corners as if I was wrapping a present.


Then Mark hung it up for us and so for $14 ($5 for the frame and $9 for the fabric) we ended up with some "art" in our bathroom.

Christmas Toy Suggestions

I don't know about you but I have Christmas shopping on my mind. Here are a few hits from the past just in case you are in the same boat that I am.
Camera Vtech, We love this tough camera. S (age 4) currently uses his by setting it on the table, turning on the video record and then dancing and singing in front of the camera. After a bit he turns off the record and pushes play to watch his performance. We have never put the pictures onto the computer so fancy quality isn't necessary for us. We just use the camera to watch the movies and look at the pictures.

Doll
Last year the prettiest dolls were at Tuesday Mornings and the prices were GREAT! They carried an American Doll look alike that was very good quality, too. Just checked and our Tuesday Morning doesn't have their dolls out yet, but they were rearranging the toy section,they said the dolls would be in by Nov.10. I might check back this week just in case.

Blocks Every child needs a great set of blocks. These are uniform in size, great quality and very large. Older children might prefer smaller sized blocks. Melissa and Doug 60 piece standard unit blocks





Twist Car, best price I've seen was at Overstock (when they have them, thanks for those that gave me that tip). This toy lasts and gets used tons on our tile. We've never tried it outside, but if you have smooth flooring and lots of room to ride-it's fun.


Tom Chapin CD's, so nice to listen to kids music that is easy on the parents ears, too. His songs are upbeat, with clever lyrics and positive messages. They put a smile on my face.


Dinosaur Puzzle, I couldn't find a picture of the dinosaur puzzle we have. But it was just like this one by Melissa & Doug. It's made of wood and has lasted for a long time. S and I do it together. I think its pretty challenging, but he helps me along. Ross' had it for 8$ last year.

What toys do you like?

Thrift store finds

I found these odds and ends at the thrift stores in Ft. Worth. They look quite nice in this picture- but really most of them are pretty scratched up. They just needed sanded and a coat of flat black spray paint and then sanded again. I ended up by spray painting them with a satin varnish.


Two of the candlesticks ended up by my front door where I have this little table sitting. The cloth is a dishtowel from Dollar Tree. The other accessories I gathered from around the house and from my craft cupboard.

Hair Clip

E asked me to use this silk flower to make her a hairclip. The flower is sewed onto a bobbypin with needle and thread. I added a glob of hot glue to secure it in place.

Cool Building Supply Thrift Store

While in Ft. Worth we stumbled across this cool store. It's a building supply store that benefits Habitat for Humanity. Builders and some of the big stores (like Lowe's) donate extra and left over materials to the store for resale. Some of it is used some of it is new. Wow, there was some cool stuff! Rows and rows of windows and doors.


Lot's of chandeliers, appliances, light fixtures. Everything came with a 30 day guarantee to work correctly or your money back. I found two really nice towel bars for only 13$ for both.


I REALLY wish, covet and deeply desire that there was a store like this where I live. This sink and cabinet were $75 together. It looks like a little sanding and paint would have it looking nice. The top was completely new and ready to go.


This mantel was $125 it just needed a new piece of moulding and paint or stain.


It just seemed like with a little imagination and elbow grease you could do some cool remodeling projects for a fraction of the normal cost. I have to go repent now for coveting, envying and the like-
have a happy day!

Fall Decorations 2

A few more Fall decorations. This black chest used to be a radio cabinet- yeah, radios used to be huge! The doors open all different ways. It is one of the very few pieces of furniture I have ever found at a yard sale- $35. I found it last year and sanded it and spray painted it black, and then sanded it again. I was going to replace the handles, but I liked them black. The lamp was on clearance at Hobby Lobby, I think $20. The plant & urn are from Tai Pei, however you spell that, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I've seen the "BOO" sign lots of different places. It's made with a frame from Dollar Tree and scrapbook paper.

Now I think I'll start focusing on Christmas. We have had an all red and white tree for several years and my sweet hubby asked if we could go with the multi colored decorations he remembers from his youth. Sounds good to me. I bought quite a few lights and ornaments at the post holiday sales last year, but I still have many things I need to get working on! Why, I should be making peppernut dough with in the next week or two!

Fun Sewing Books

I saw these books online and requested them from our local inter library loan system. They are wonderful! They were first published in Denmark two years ago. It's easy to see how the ideas from these books have been adapted and used all through blog craft land. I'm sad I have to return them this week.

Most of the patterns are for sewing. However, if you look at the rooms that the crafts are sewn in you can see various ways that fabric has been used to decorate the home in the simple Scandinavian style.


They have ideas for rugs, dolls, fabric boxes, fabric roses,apples, pears, strawberries, purses, quilts, wall hangings, etc. You'll need a basic knowledge of sewing to follow the instructions and the English translation isn't perfect. But if you are into sewing and crafts, you might want to check these two out.

Fall Decorations

Now that I have shared some of S's decorations I thought I'd share a few of mine. These are my attempts at Holly's (link listed at right, Sunshine in my Soul) pumpkins. They are not as cute as hers though!! Mmm, maybe I should pause in my crafting and clean the brass around the fireplace...

Felted Puppy

Finally tried some more wool felting and made this little puppy. The kids think he is too hairy- oh, well. He's about the right size for the fisher-price happy family people and dollhouse.