family portrait

i know i haven't posted photos of my family in awhile. here is the newest one.

(courtesy of a frame originally from the wood connection, that i got from d.i. for a buck)

left to right, parker, chris, me and natey.

im quite the picasso!

teacher appreciation week let down

last week was our teacher appreciation week.

you know the deal-gifts and supplies for the teacher.

and when i think of that they put up with

(meaning 25 kids who are just like mine for 7 hours a day),

they deserve it!

we had one teacher who not only didn't get her door decorated by the room mom,

not have a list of her favorite things sent home so kids could bring in all kinds of lovely things, but...

who had a 15 yr old daughter go thru treatment for thyroid cancer!

I KNOW!

anyone of those would make me break down into tears!

and i didn't find out until friday

(as a copy aid, we stay in our own little copy room and have fun. we don't venture out much)!

i borrowed a camera from ms taylor (another teacher) and took a photo of each of her kids.

ms taylor then sent the photos to walgreens for 1 hr processing.

after my shift, i ran and picked them up and made her an adorable book of photos.

but really, this teachers week really sucked.

and a regular book of photos wouldn't do.

so i went to skiptomylou and found this...

sweet!

i put little embellishments on the pages and made it awesome!

well, that just isn't enough for a teacher who has a daughter battling cancer, is it?!

so i found out that this teacher loves coke (not diet, which is the official drink of lds women in utah), so i found this craft lunch box and my modge podge and...

I KNOWS!

i even punched a hole in a metal coca cola bottle top and hung it on the handle with all the ribbons.

and still that wasn't enough!

i had a glass bottle of coke, and decided to do one last thing

(that i of course didn't take a photo of!).

i tied a tag around it that said

'i'd like to teach the world to spell...'

needless to say, i'm amazing!

and it wasn't even one of my kids teachers!

ball-y gifts

there are a group of young women in my neighborhood who i always give birthday and christmas gifts to. not all the same girls i went to camp with, just some of them.

this year, in the spirit of thrifty-ness, i came up with a brilliant idea!

one word people...

BALLS.

no one should be surprised.

but these turned out so very cool!

and cheap!

maybe free if you have the items in your stash of crafting/christmas stuff!

i got some christmas balls from the thrift store. these cost $1.

one thing i would do different...spray paint them all white/cream/light color. i had one ball that was painted cream and it was alot easier to work with than the lovely blue ones above.

next, find some tissue paper that you have been hoarding since last january.

pretty, huh?

you can either paper mache or modge podge the tissue to the balls.

i ripped my tissue up. but i guess you can leave it in one piece.

ripping is funner.

i would do half a ball, then put it on the top to dry and work on another. this took a few days as i had been sick. see the one in the front, 1st full ball on the right? that is the cream ball. it only took 1 coat of tissue. the rest took many.

of course, since this is a church group, i wanted to put something on the balls to help them remember the true meaning of christmas. so i printed out this scripture on regular printer paper.

'And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.'

i just modge podged the scripture on top then gave all the balls a spray of clear coat.

i had some funky rick rack ribbon that i cut and sewed into a circle for the hook.

and here is the finished project!

12 days of christmas gag gifts

i have seen where people do the 12 days of christmas with different cookies for each day.

i like eating cookies.
not so much making them.

now-funny. i like funny.

and this 12 days of christmas is funny.

we have done this one before and (i think) they loved getting them.
(alot of these items might be in your food storage, even more can be from the dollar store.)

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you - a partridge in a pear tree... Sorry, but I couldn't find the partridge so I am giving you some pears from the tree the partridge flew away from.

(Leave note along with a can of pears or a few fresh pears.)

ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you - two turtle doves... Unfortunately, I don't have any, will candy turtles on a bag of Dove chocolates do?

(Leave note along with a box of turtle candy and a bag of mini Dove chocolates.)

ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you - three French hens... The French hens were not available, so I'm giving you some chicken noodle soup, compliments of the three French hens.

(Leave note along with a can-or 3 cans-of chicken noodle soup.)

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you - four calling birds... I can't find those calling birds, but here are four messages they left for you before they flew off.

(Leave note for each member of the family telling them why you like them.)

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you - five golden rings...Sorry, I'm too poor to buy five real gold rings, but will some golden pineapple rings suffice?

(Leave note along with a can of pineapple rings.)

(THE PINEAPPLE RINGS ARE MY FAVORITE NIGHT! it is just so dang funny!))

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you-six geese a laying...You don't really want messy geese all over the house do you? How about some of the eggs they left behind?

(Leave note along with six easter eggs (check thrift store if you don't have any.) filled with candy.)

ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you-seven swans a swimming...All of the swans have flown south for the winter, but here are some of the bubbles they used while they were swimming.

(Leave note along with a bottle of bubble bath.)

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you-eight maids a milking...Here's some milk I got from the eight maids-we think they must have been milking some brown cows!

(Leave note along with a gallon of chocolate milk.)

ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you-nine ladies dancing...Here are some canes used by the ladies to help they walk home after they were out dancing all night.

(Leave note along with a box of candy canes.)

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you-ten Lords-a-leapin'...After the Lords get done leapin', this is what they use for their sore muscles.

(Leave note along with a tube of Ben-gay.)

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you - eleven pipers piping...Here's a pipe of your own, have fun and don't blow the whole day!

(Leave note along with a bottle of bubbles and bubble pipe. We couldnt find a bubble pipe last year, so i got some horns from the party part of the $1 store and changed the note up a bit. I am certain the parents didnt like us after this night!)

ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you-twelve drummers drumming... No drummers, we thought you could use some quiet time so here is a special treat we drummed up for you so relax and enjoy.

(Leave note along with some treats. We got a christmas movie that was on sale with some microwave popcorn and soda.)

no-i didn't make this up. i did modify from this. i think mine is better.
(of course!)

this time last year...

my back yard looked like this...

because i was making these...

last year, my christmas was red, purple and gold. this year i want  brown, gold and this funky green (that no one seems to make in spray paint!).

i got alot of crap from neighbors and the husband about spray painting on the grass, but i really dont care.

i dont think i will be painting on the grass this year, as my back yard now looks like this...

yup-that is about 11" of snow.

HANDS DOWN my most favorite thanksgiving decoration!

last fall we took hand prints that look like turkeys of the kids.

(my kids are turkeys, so they might as well make these!)

now i wish i would have done that every year, because they are my favorite thing to put up for thanksgiving!

i just got some frames at $1 store, but i bet you have some laying around your home.

nice crooked pictures ba!

they get big way too fast...

another fantasic gift idea!

this amazing ball used to be a bright blue extra large christmas ball from the thrift store. i paper mached it then spray painted it bright red. then i dipped the lid of my water bottle in white paint and made the messy circles. i think it turned out fantastic!

and i had a great time doing it! mostly because it gave me an excuse not to answer the door or the phone because i had gooey hands.

i may be knee deep in birthday month...

our family has 15 birthdays in november.

now if it was just nieces and nephews, that wouldn't be so bad.

but that also includes both boys and my hubby!

(and my father in law, sister in law, nephews, brother...the list goes on and on!)

but im ready for christmas anyhow!

mostly because i start early and don't really have a choice.

now if you remember franny, well she has a big sister named jojo.

jojo is one of the only people i know who can use a 'claw' machine and actually win!

now THERE is a marketable skill!

i actually gave her a roll of quarters one christmas so that she will continue to win stuff for my kids!

this year i wanted to be crafty so when i found a boring wood bracelet at hobby lobby, i had my starting point.

(i thought i had a photo of the before but oh well, i guess you will have to use your imagination)

i used my can of chalk board paint painted away.

then 2 weeks 24 hour later, i chalked all over it and wiped it off.

then so that jojo would 'get it' i got a box of chalk and wrote all over it.

i think it is awesome amazing.

lets think an 18 year old does too!

what nate did while everyone else watched football and ate chips...

aunt pegs better watchout because nate is a jewerly making machine!

he made me this beauty while the rest of the family was watching the utah game.

it was suppose to be a necklace, but was a little too short, so momma got a new bracelet!

tell me that isnt the most beautiful thing you have ever seen!?

be thankful for the love of pete!

now november is a wonderful month!

i love all the fuzzy family feelings that go along with thanksgiving (aka-food!).

christmas music has started playing.

you get to switch from halloween to fall-ish decor (i love the switch up).

and i have exactly 15 birthdays (including my 2 kids and hubby) this month.

and yes, we will be broke by the end of the month.

so here is a really inexpensive craft!

i made this last year and that is when i started thinking i should start a crafty/thrifty blog.

i made 1 for me, 1 with jen and 1 with summer, one for my mother in law, one for my sister in law and one for my friend shellie.

yup-six!

but i didn't mind at all. the hardest part was waiting for them to dry.

get out some of your big foamy stamps that you got years ago to scrapbook with and never got around to using.

along with some craft paint that may or may not have the lid stuck shut from the last paint job you did 2 years ago.

i got about a yard of burlap (i have a smaller island, but if you need a table runner, make it as big as you'd like)-any color that works for your kitchen or dining room. (i have noticed that there is oranges and reds now...that would look sweet!)

i cut my burlap in half so that i had 2 pieces of 1 yard long burlap.

then stamp away. i would suggest putting some newspaper under your stamping so you don't have a huge clean up.

but hey-if you like cleaning...

i wrote 'thankful', but i'm sure you can write something else.

and the finished project! how adorable is that?

not just adorable-but easy!

 

what i did while everyone else watched football and ate chips...

well, i did eat chips too.

with clam dip.

way too much clam dip.

and maybe pizza too.

but i had seen this cute little easy bracelet at flamingo toes. it is called her willy nilly bracelet.

as you know, i copy most things. but i do shake it up at bit...

i used an old piece of leather shoe string to tie mine.

and i just used elastic cording (clear) instead of all the fancy crimping beads and such.

here is the underside so you can get a better look at the beads.

i used 'traditions beads', spacer beads olive and large beads asian spice.

i think the colors are perfect for fall!

oh, ps...i guess the utes won against wyoming that night.

i take after nana!

so my nana (below, on the boardwalk in atlantic city) took up painting in her late 50s. no real reason, she just thought it would be fun.

of course, i thought she was the most wonderful artist in the world.

for my high school graduation gift, i received this amazing painting.

on the right hand side, in about the middle of the painting you can see me (in blue) and my cousin cheryl (red) picking up seashells. this was suppose to be of our beach in brigantine.

i always put this painting up in the summer.

this painting nana made my brother patrick for his graduation.

see-she was an awesome artist!

(and an even better person.)

this weekend i was doing my fall/halloween decorating (it was interrupted for a few weeks due to strep) and while sorting thru all the boxes i wanted something new for the bathroom.

and i decided i wanted to paint it.

nana used to oil paint, but since i didn't have any i just used some acrylic paints. some of them were goopy so in some places it has that heavy, oil paint look.

i got these two little canvases from di (originally from target) for 50 cents each.

i primed them with a spray primer then sprayed them with krylon saddle tan.

i didn't really know HOW to paint pumpkins.

my only real experience painting was parkers wall.

so here is my end result! im pretty geeked about it!

on my bathroom wall!

and up close!

im pretty proud of my paint job! i might just have to take a class in oil painting!

nana would be so proud!