EASTER FAVORS ....

Can you believe that Easter is just around the corner!!!! I have some serious making to do over the next few weeks, if all I have planned is to come to fruition.

I did get these little Easter favors made though - 60 of them to be precise. A few of us from our ladies small group at Church make and serve lunch to a group of about 60 seniors on the 3rd Monday of every month. As it is so close to Easter, we thought it might be nice, to send them home with a little Easter treat. It needed to be something they'd enjoy, but we also needed to be mindful of cost.

Those little paper seed pots were just the thing!!! They were $1-67 for 10 from Target. I punched holes around the top, using my handy dandy Cropodile (love that thing:-), and then threaded ribbon through the holes. Next I attached some grass, using crepe paper streamer, that I fringed (Thank you Martha Stewart for those very clever, and useful fringing scissors you sell). Next, some little chicks cut with my - yes you guessed it - Cricut. Stuffed them with Easter grass, and filled them with some delicious Easter chokkies ..... yummmm!!!!

All that was left to do then, was pop it in a cellophane bag, and tie it with a piece of ribbon, and take some pictures - of course Flopsy and Mopsy just had to get in on the photo shoot.

So what fun, crafty things are you making for Easter?

WHY I LOVE MY CRICUT ....

Rather, what's there not to love about it !!!!
With all of the scrapbooking I've been doing lately, it has certainly come into its own. There's soooo many more uses for it though ....

Boy Child took part in our school districts MTA Spelling Bee this past weekend (and he won a gold medal). I always like to have a little something to give each of the kiddos after it. I admire these kids so much for having the courage to stand up and take part, especially given that spelling is not the easiest of things for a dyslexic child to master. I found these cute bee chocolates at World Market - perfect!!! I printed the labels out and then added the little bee (made on my Cricut.)

This past weekend also marked the end of basketball season. I found the basketball themed eggs in the Easter section of Walmart (mustn't forget to pick up some soccer ones for the end of soccer season:-). I filled them with different candies and popped them in a cellophane bag, and tied them closed with ribbon. And look, another super cute label !!!! I love that I can match the clothes to the color of the uniform our team wears. Another sweet, but inexpensive little gift, that he handed out to his team mates.

A sweet gift - 4 matroyshka doll notecards. I popped them in a cello bag, and finished them off with a bag topper. These are on their way as part of a swap package, together with the amigurumi matroyshka doll I showed you in my last post. I plan on making a whole bunch of different notecard sets to keep on hand. You never know when you may need a quick gift ... teachers gift.... hostess gift .... a "just because I can" gift .... It's also a great way to use up little off cuts of paper.

I really want to try some applique, using the shaped pieces as my template ... hmm doesn't that sound like fun.
I have some journals in mind too ........... Oh, the list is long !!!

IT'S MARCH AND I'M BACK ...

Wow, February is over and I honestly feel that I've fitted a years worth of stuff into it, and January. The past 2 months have seen basketball start and end, soccer start, an increase in the amount of homework the kids are getting, A PTA Lifetime Membership Award, 2 banquets, a camping weekend ......
But the biggest thing the past 2 months have bought about, is change, and to be honest, this girl doesn't much like change. It has left me feeling very emotional and redundant.
However, I realised today when looking outside, that Spring has arrived ...

This little guy greeted me when I walked outside this morning.

And these are in bloom all along our driveway:-)
I love Spring, and try to enjoy every moment of it, because here in Texas it is so short lived. Before we know it, these lovely, warm, sunny days will give way to days of stiffling heat .... I find those days obnoxious!!!

I've also created a little something, that was made out of a material other than paper (Yes, those scrapbooks nearly did me in, and they're not quite finished yet, but are nearly there.) Our theme for YOE III for February was Matroyshka Dolls, and this is what I made ..... Isn't she so sweet?

I made her using an Amy Gaines amigurumi pattern that I purchased from her Etsy shop ..... she has some really cute patterns for sale. I changed her up a little, by giving her a fabric shawl as opposed to the crocheted one in the pattern. I thought it looked a little more authentic.

I have a couple more goodies to get made this weekend, so watch this space for some more fun stuff. Now that the madness is over, I can get back to more regular crafty fun, which means more regular blog posts.

Until next time ...

WHERE HAS JANUARY GONE ....

It wasn't my intention to take January off, but it seems to have happened.
Hello bloggy friends!!!
Wow 2012 arrived, and we hit the ground running .... so many things to do, prepare and plan for - yes, life is busy, busy, busy right now.
So let me bring you up to speed ....
I am spending most of my free time doing this at the moment ...




Scrapbooking .... Boy Child bridges to Boy Scouts next month (for anyone familiar with the Scouting program, this is a big deal, marked by a banquet). We get to do a table display of our sons journey through Cub Scouts. Now you know why every waking moment is being spent with photos and adhesive in hand ..... 5 years of Cub Scouting needs to be scrapbooked in 2 months!!!!


I also made a decision at the beginning of 2012, that we needed to pay better attention to leading a more healthy lifestyle (if you're a girl, you know that means that "D" word ..... I have chosen not to use it, as it dooms me to failure every single time:-) As part of this Boy Child and I decided we'd run/walk a 5km race each month .... that's our aim anyway. So last Saturday saw us fulifilling January's goal ....

I walked 99% of it, and ran 1%. Boy Child left me in his dirt, but was waiting with a big smile on his face, and a Well Done Mom hug, at the finish line. He did it in 35 mins, while I did it in 55 mins ............It was in under an hour, and that was my goal!!!!


I've made a few little things too ....

I'm busy making some jammie pants for my wiggly little nephew ..... my sister is tired of struggling to do the poppers up on his baby gro's, so this should solve that problem. So tiny, and so cute:-)

Who doesn't love a little piggy!!!! This is my January ornament for YOE III. The pattern was a freebie on Wee Wonderfuls, and ever so fun and easy to make.

The Blooming Flower Cushion continues to grow slowly ..... it is still proving a joy to make.
I have a creative list a mile long, of projects I'm wanting to do ..... I just need to get through February, and then things will return to a more normal pace ....

WELCOME 2012 ....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I hope it is the year that all your dreams come true.

I am not a big New Year person - while I like the idea of a fresh start, something about it causes me a fair amount of anxiety. It's one of those things that happened after we left South Africa and our families behind, and moved to the US. I guess 7 years of uncertainty, insecurity and feeling like you don't belong, can do that to you. However, it's here now, and I plan on trying to make it a fantastic year!!!!

I'm popping in to show you the progress I've made on my Blooming Flower Cushion!!!! Sadly the yarn didn't arrive in time for me to finish it and have it wrapped and under the tree. In a way, I'm a little glad about that, as it's meant that I can enjoy making it. The pattern is one of Lucy's (Attic 24). She writes such fantastic tutorials, she has a real talent ..... not to mention that her work is just gorgeous. I did struggle with the first few rounds of this cushion - why I don't know, because the directions are so clear. Once I got the hang of it though, round and round I've gone creating row upon row of beautiful petals .... ahh, floral perfection!!!

Isn't it pretty? It is for Girl Child, and I've chosen colors that work well with her new bed linen. I still have a few more rounds to go .... it's got to grow to 14 inches across, and then of course there's all those loose ends to sew in.

There's some other floral goodness in our house too. Once the little table top Christmas tree was relegated to the garden for planting, I could once again fill my pretty, little thrift shop jug with some gorgeous flowers ..... Ahhh, I just love these. They make me smile.

The only resolution I've made this year, given that very seldom do they ever get kept, is to try and be better about staying on top of all things housework!!! As I've mentioned before, I have never been top of the class when it comes to this, as much as I wish I was .... perhaps this will be the year:-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS ...

It's all done and dusted ... it always seem so incredible to me that we plan and prepare for many weeks, and then, in what feels like the blink of an eye, it's all over.
Hope your Christmas was fantastic - Ours was, infact I'd go as far as saying that it was my favorite Christmas since we've lived in the USA, so far away from our families.

Hubby decided that we'd plan a great suprise for the kids this year - 2011 was an exceptionally hard year for us ..... 14 months of unemployment (thankfully this came to an end in November), takes its toll on any family. We've come out on the other side of it though, stronger and with a new appreciation for what is really important. This was our way of spoiling the kids. We booked into Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas night (after we'd had our traditional Mommy cooked Christmas Lunch at home). It was fantastic, and we had an absolute blast!!!!


I finished all the gifts I had planned to make ..... whew, it was close:-) I'm here to share with you, The 2011 Cookie and Candy Tray!!! This is the tray I give to our neighbors and friends.


I found these appetizer/dessert tiered trays on clearance at Walmart in the summer - $2 each!!! They've lived up in my spare room, with just this purpose in mind. For the bottom layer, I made butter shortbread .... scrumptious!!! For the top layer I made peanut clusters, key lime bark, white chocolate peppermint bark and milk chocolate peppermint bark - I really love what they look like. The bottom picture shows them all wrapped up in their cellophane and red tulle ribbon goodness!!!!


Enjoy this week of calm, as we savor the last that 2011 has for us, and look forward to all that 2012 will be for us.

TEACHER CHRISTMAS GIFTS ...

And these were VERY last minute this year. I'd had them on my" To Do" list, but time got away with me, and well, last night arrived and I had to come up with a plan, pronto!!!! I needed to do 7 gifts!!!
What did I have in the house (now we all know Walmart is open 24/7, but I really didn't want to have to leave my warm house) ..... quart mason jars, cellophane and tulle (these are staples in our home, year round), and then of course I had got down to some candy making yesterday.

So, I filled one quart jar with homemade key lime bark, and a second one with peppermint bark.
I cut circles of Christmas scrapbook paper and glued it to the lids. I glued ribbon around the rings of the jars. I piled them on top of one other, wrapped them in cellophane and added a tulle bow and a little Christmas ornament ..... Done!!!!
They'd make nice neighbor, mailman ... anyone, you want to give a little something too .... gifts:-)


At last the kids are finished with school - Yay!!! We can now get down to some serious Christmas nesting!!! Warm fluffy jammies all day long, fluffy socks, Christmas movies and endless Christmas mugs of hot chocolate ..... just us, warm and snuggly at home:-)