It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

One of my favorite Christmas songs and I came across this phrase on Pinterest and added it to one of my boards. Looking back at that board, I decided it would make the most perfect print for our mantle!

I love how it turned out! So much inspiration from an image and creating it into my own art to decorate our home just makes me happy! I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the image and letters and even made a matching sparkly elk print to finish off my holiday mantle...

A few pine cones, potted trees and holly berry adorned branches make this mantle my absolute favorite one of the year! I hope you were able to get a start or even finish your holiday decorating this weekend. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Sorry, I couldn't resist! :o)

SC Sandlot and Poet Society...and Fleece!

Finally taking some time to work through my stash of Studio Calico kits! I used their creative gallery to mass produce lots of cards from left over pieces of the scrapbook kit but did take some time to come up with a few of my own designs...

I have a friend whose birthday is coming up and she loves pinks and purples so I thought this one would be perfect for her...

The girls and I were hoping to spend a little time just chilling and watching the movie Elf for the sixth time but stopped to check out the fleece sale at JoAnn's and each found some fun prints to make  tie blankets for their rooms. We grabbed a number and waited, and waited, and waited. Almost two hours later we had our fleece and were finally headed home! Needless to say we are all thrilled to be cozy at home tonight, I'm almost through my next stash of kits and the girls are almost done with 

their blankets!

Now excuse me while we get to the Elf movie...again! :)

Another Punch Party

Hope you're enjoying the start to your Saturday! Just popping in quick to show you what the girls and I are crafting up this morning. I discovered yet another talented blogger, Amber at Damask Love where "craft is always I session!" Need I say more? She has a zillion fun ideas and when I came upon these easy ways to use punches I knew the girls would be all in and also make tags for our presents!

Addison dug out her stash of construction paper while I hauled up the punches and glitter glue. Construction paper is one of those nostalgia things...it reminds me of kindergarten and being 6 again. Who doesn't love that? So using circle, scallop, and oval punches, we set in to make dozens of donut tags and a bag or two of peppermint candies. Check out Amber's blog for donut tutorial here and her peppermint one here. So much fun and the girls made just short of a dozen before Addison started Elf again on the DVD player and Graci and her are taking a break from crafting while laughing at Buddy. Our Elf on the Shelf, Spice, arrived again yesterday and now that they're watching our new favorite for the fourth time this weekend, I'm going to try to finish the Christmas mantle...

Whether they're crafting or watching Elf, by the looks of things I think they're good for awhile! Happy weekend, I'll try to stop back with my mantle decorated and a few other fun things I've been working on this long weekend!

Hope and Thanksgiving

The holidays have officially arrived! No school, vacation from work, Addison and Graci had friends sleepover last night and all four girls are playing Christmas songs on the piano upstairs, some lights are already up and I'm trying hard to wait until Friday to finish off the Christmas decor...

Family time, catching up with friends, lots to do as I'm in charge of a mini feast tomorrow and my turkey is unfortunately still too frozen in the fridge but among all of the chaos I can't help but be drawn to this, the amyrillus that my mom gave me last month to provide my long winter with some color. It is incredible...this vibrant red flower blooming in the midst of a snowy day. Not sure if you can see it but there is fresh snow covering the deck and temperatures are freezing outside but still this bulb blooms and thrives among it all. A vivid view of hope right here in my kitchen.

Wishing you a start to this holiday season filled with hope! I'll be back sometime this weekend with lots of crafty goodness to share because with 5 days off, after the turkey feast and finishing up my Christmas decorating and maybe a bit of Black Friday shopping, I hope to have some time to hibernate in my craft room! :)

Beauty Blessings...and a Turkey!

Not sure about you but the holiday season has got me buzzing around to find all of the perfect gifts for everyone on my list and, as usual, I've discovered a few items I absolutely love for, well, myself. Is that bad? I've found all sorts of fabulous finds for my family members, too, and I'm not a big shopper so I figure if I get all my yearly shopping done in this month or so, hey, why not?!?!??!?! :) Self justification is so right! Right? Anyhow...here are my finds

First of all, who doesn't love something different? A rectangular nail polish and Julep has so many fun colors! Zelda is sparkly and reminds me of the rose gold that's so popular. Perfect for the holidays! You can find it at Sephora here.

While we're on the subject of Sephora, I LOVE anything Tarte brand! They have a holiday package every year that is filled with everything a girl needs and Eric, if you are reading, this would be a great gift idea and here is the link, easy peasy...hint, hint! :) 

Ok, one more for beauty products. Not sure if it's because I'm not 20 anymore, far from it. Let's be honest, 30 has also come and gone and 40 is oh, so close, but my pores are a bit well, bigger than ever before and it sort of bothers me. I got a sample of this pores no more at, you guessed it, Sephora, and LOVE! It makes my face feel like a smooth canvas before applying my make up and it still looks that way at the end of my day, which, not sure about you, but that is usually 15 hours later. No more gargantuous craters to fall into on my face...I may be being a bit dramatic there but seriously, that's how I feel about my big pores so Pores No More is a nice add to my arsenal!

So, Thanksgiving is next week and it will be quiet for us as we are celebrating with my family this weekend and with Eric's for Christmas but I love to do some fun activities with the girls and this is one we will be attempting next week...

So much fun but actually think we'll try the laying down platter with meats, cheeses, and grapes. Easy on the blood sugar and it should keep the girls busy for a bit while I am working on the real bird! A video is here for the Rachael Ray version. So pretty!

Will try to stop by again soon. Just so busy with the holidays and don't want to miss a moment of all the fun. I realize  more and more how quickly my girls are growing and enjoying all the little things with them right now. Hope you understand! Happy Friday, friends!

Thankful Mantle

My mantle is fairly basic most of the year. Between October and January, however, I go all out! Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas take over in these months and I love it! I know none of those holidays are in January but I love Christmas so much I usually procrastinate a few weeks to let the sparkly and vintage decor linger. It is my favorite. Runner up would be my Thanksgiving goodness so here it is...

I created the banner last year with a Crate's Close Knit set, which is still one of my favorite releases from Crate. 

All of the wood and embroidered embellishments...

A few pine cones and pumpkins scattered...

...and I used lots of scraps to create this piece with a $5 frame from Hobby Lobby.

So much to be thankful for...hope you're having a fun Saturday and feeling blessed!

Plan to Travel, and Hear Crunching...

So, it's 7:35 PM west coast time and I'm sitting on a flight that was scheduled to leave at 5:39 PM. We were excited that we were cruising on the tarmack and in line for take off when they announced they were bringing us back to the gate for some "surprise" that they will reveal once we all deplane. I already know I will miss my connection in Denver to get home tonight. I've accepted that.

I'm also thrilled that I was wise enough to do a site change this morning before getting to the airport even though it wasn't due to expire until 12:46 AM after I was scheduled to be home. I'm good to go with insulin until Wednesday AM, which I really hope to have arrived back home by then.

I was just informed at the gate that the mechanics somehow failed to change the oil on our airplane, which is why I'm still stuck in San Francisco. Oddly ironic when you think about it...I'm better at planning for my diabetes today than a United mechanic was at airplane safety with over 300 passengers. I'm not sure what else to say about that.

The guy behind me loudly munching his bag of potato chips with his mouth wide open between crunches? Not sure who needs to take accountability for his actions and narcissism but I will say it is more annoying to me at the moment than flying...