This is the third year that we have had an Elf on the Shelf.  The first year the boys were a bit small but Gabriel liked him.  Last year they definately got more into it and this year it seems like they actually made friends with the Elf.  The first year I named him Ralph the Elf and the boys were happy with that the last two years.  This year, however, they decided to name him themselves.  They decided that his name should be Stinkerbutt.  I told them that wasn’t appropriate.  They then settled for Stinker so we now had Stinker the Elf staying with us.

Stinker is a very mischevious little elf.  He is always getting into something when the boys are sleeping.  In order to make things more interesting this year I decided to turn to some of the Pins that I had on my Pinterest board for some ideas.  This Pin had some cute ideas along with this Pin.  If you forget to move your Elf you can always go to this Pin for some great ideas to explain why the Elf didn’t move during the night.

I particularly liked the idea where you leave a note next to the Elf for your kids from the Elf.  The note includes some seeds (tic tacs) that should be planted in a bowl of sugar.  In a couple of days something will grow.  You then put some Christmas cookies on sticks one night and put them in the sugar so that the kids think that they “grew” the cookies.  Here is the Pin which explains it in greater detail.  I thought that this idea was so cute but, unfortunately, I ended up not doing it this year.  I will try again for next year!  In the meaintime, Stinker the Elf had some great hiding spots.  Here are a few of them!

I came across a couple of Pins for welcoming your Elf and saying goodbye to your Elf.  This Pin gives Santa stationary that you can download and this Pin gives you a great little letter from the Elf and Santa .  It is addressed to your children and explains what the Elf is doing at your house.  I took the basic form of the letter and modified it for my kids.  I put the letter on the kitchen table along with a bag containing a couple of Christmas treats for the boys and the Elf book.

I also found a great Pin for saying goodbye to your Elf.  I modified that one too for my kids and they loved it!  The letter explains that Santa lifts the Elf’s magic for a few minutes after the child is done reading the letter.  During those few minutes the child can touch the Elf and kiss him goodbye without the Elf losing his magic.  Once the Elf is put back up in the tree the magic returns.  My boys were so excited about that at first but then they both became a bit nervous.  They decided that Mom should take the Elf off of the tree and then they each held him super gently and kissed him goodbye.  It was so heartwarming!  Neither one actually closed his hand around the Elf.  I’ve never seen them be quite that gentle with anything.  They truly believed in that Elf!  After I put him back in the tree my 5 year old was asking why Stinker had to leave.  He was so sad that he actually started crying!  I felt so bad for him.  He asked if Stinker could please come back for a visit or two during the year and I said I’m sure that would be fine.

The next morning (We kept our Elf out until January 5) on January 6 Stinker had flown back to the North Pole but he left each boy a little something under the tree.  They each received a Pez candy dispenser kit and jingle bells on a train doorknob hanger.  They were very excited but still missed Stinker very much.

We are looking forward to seeing you again next year, Stinker!

I found a Pin on Pinterest for a spa kit tutorial here at Practically Living.  The original tutorial was for Pampering In A Jar but I ended up using a cosmetic bag.  This was a nice simple project to do but I made it a bit more difficult because I wanted to make the items match in color.  At first I was having a hard time finding what I wanted but then I was at our local craft store in their gift section and I found almost everything that I needed.

I decided to go with the pink theme for my friend’s Christmas gift.  I found a pink mesh cosmetic bag, super soft and fuzzy pink socks, a manicure/pedicure kit, a pair of matching nail files and some foot scrub.  All I had to do then was to buy some nail polish to add to it.  I was so excited because it turned out so pretty.  I also gave her a journal and pen in pink.  The whole package turned out so pretty I wanted to keep it for myself!!

I thought that I took a picture of it all put together but I cannot find it.  Everything fit right into the cosmetic bag though except for the journal and pen so that was wrapped separately.

My best friend gave me something like this at my baby shower.  She told me that after the baby arrived I would need to take some mommy time once in a while and this would be a quick and easy way to do it.  She was so right!!  These would also make good gifts for a wedding shower, teacher’s gift or a birthday party.  Depending on the size of the gift you need, you could always make it into a basket and add shower gel, lotion and/or bubble bath.  This size, however, is perfect for a nice little gift to let somebody know you care!

Happy Crafting!!

I have been wanting to make an Advent calendar for awhile now but I wasn’t sure where to begin.  Thanks to Pinterest I found my inspiration.  I found a couple of Advent calendars that I really liked but they were not exactly what I was looking for.  In the end, I combined what I liked about the Advent calendars and made one that I really liked.

I wanted something that the boys could use from year to year and that they would really enjoy.  I have been trying some felt projects lately and the advent calendar tutorials that I used were made completely out of felt.  I really liked the end product but this project took way longer than I had anticipated!  It was definately worth it but I should have started it much earlier.  I did cut a couple of corners because I was running out of time but it still turned out beautiful.

I found my Pinterest inspirations here at While Wearing Heels and here at Shannon Makes Stuff.  They both have templates and some great ideas.

I started out by making a template for my Christmas tree.  I did this freehand and it turned out surprisingly well as I am not great at drawing.  I drew it on a piece of muslin that I had so that I could keep it as a pattern.  You could probably draw half the tree and just place it on the green felt on the fold and cut it out.  However, I ended up just laying my entire piece of muslin on the floor and drawing the entire tree.  I needed that visual to see how it was all coming together.

Once I had my pattern I folded it in half and I placed it on the fold of my green felt and cut it out.  My tree pattern had a flat top because my piece of muslin was not quite long enough.  I just estimated that part when I cut out the felt but, even still, the top of my tree still had a flat spot.  I had decided to put an angel on the top of the tree and her skirt hid the flat part so all was good.

Fold the pattern and place it on the fold of the green felt.

You can see where I needed to make an adjustment on the top of my tree because my pattern was too short.

Felt tree after I cut it out from the pattern.

Now that my tree was finished I set it aside.  The next job was to begin the ornaments.  This was really a trial and error thing.  I cut out 25 white ornaments and 25 colored ornaments.  I sewed one colored ornament to one white ornament.  Eventually, the colored side will have the number and the white side will have the design.  I left the top opened so that I could put a treat in each ornament for the boys.  I just left the tip of the ornament opened and that really was not enough room.  I would suggest leaving a little larger of an opening so that it’s not so hard to get the treat in and out of the ornament.

This opening was really not large enough and it was difficult to fill with treat.

I originally sewed each ornament together individually but they were not turning out very neatly.  I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist so I was not real happy with the ornaments so I decided to start again.  What I ended up doing was tracing 6 ornaments on a sheet of white felt and pinning the white felt to a sheet of colored felt.  I then stitched on the traced line of each ornament and ended up with 6 stitched ornaments on two sheets of felt. (NOTE: I ENDED UP USING WHITE THREAD AS MY TOP THREAD AND THEN A COLORED THREAD IN MY BOBBIN TO MATCH THE COLORED FELT.  THAT WAY THE THREAD MATCHED EACH LAYER OF FELT INSTEAD OF HAVING THE WHITE THREAD SHOWING ON THE COLORED FELT.)

Traced ornaments

Stitched ornaments. I left the top open so that I could put treats in them for each day. You may want to leave a larger opening than I did.

I used a tracing pen that I purchased from the fabric store that is supposed to be easily removed with a damp cloth…supposed to be!  I took a damp cloth and blotted it on the blue color from the fabric marker and it removed the blue color beautifully.  I left the felt sitting on the ironing board overnight to dry (I may have used a bit too much water on the damp washcloth) and when I went to check on it in the morning the blue line was still gone but it was replaced with blue smudges along the edge of the ornaments!  I then took a less damp cloth and very lightly blotted out the blue smudges.  I had to do it a couple of times and while most of the blue did not show back through there was still a little bit that did.  You will have to experiment with what works best for you in terms of tracing the pattern.

You can see the blue smudging on the bottom of the ornament.

Once I finished with removing as much as the blue smudges as I could I cut out each ornament close to the seams.  I then cut a small slit in the top of the ornament so that I would be able to slip a length of red and white striped baker’s twine through it for hanging.

The next step that I did was to glue numbers to the front/colored side of each ornament.  I ended up using those number shaped plastic refrigerator magnets as my templates and they were just the right size.

Used these refrigerator number magnets as templates.

I traced them right onto my glitter felt, cut them out and then used my hot glue gun to attach them to each ornament.  Prior to applying the numbers (or any of the decorations) to the felt ornaments, I took my Sharpie marker and stuck it inside the opening to separate the two layers of ornaments.  I was afraid that the two layers would get stuck together if the hot glue leaked through the top layer.  Once I glued the number onto the ornament I just slid the Sharpie marker around to make sure that the two layers were not touching and then I set the ornament off to the side to dry.

Numbers traced onto glitter felt.

The next step was probably the hardest and most time consuming for me…decorating each ornament for each day.  From my Pinterest inspiration found at Shannon Makes Stuff, the original instructions called for a different decoration for each day.  She also provided a story to read along with the advent calendar for each day.  The story would explain the significance of that day’s decoration.  I, however, ended up not doing that.  The original tutorial was beautiful and she gave you all of the templates.  I tried to do them all but I just don’t have the patience to work with such tiny pieces of felt and glue.  After awhile I decided to just choose several of the decorations and use each one a couple of times.  Even though I didn’t do the story portion the boys were still very excited to see the deocorations that I did choose.

I cut out all of the felt first and then glued the pieces together.  I then glued the final piece to the ornament in the same way that I did for the numbers above.  Here are the ornament decorations that I used:

Once all of the ornaments were finished I strung a length of red and white striped baker’s twine through the cut that I had made in the top of the ornament and tied the string in a loop.  I used this loop as the hanger for the ornament.

The next step was to add the buttons to my tree so that I could hang the ornaments on them.  In the original tutorial she used hooks from a hook and eye set which I thought was a great idea and probably easier than what I did.  All she had to do was hang the ornament from the slit cut into the top onto the hook and she was done.  I, however,  liked the look of the buttons and the baker’s twine so I opted to do it that way.

First, I laid out all of my ornaments on my tree and then used my black Sharpie marker to mark on the tree where each ornament needed to be attached.  I then sewed on a button on that spot.  I used a variety of buttons that I had on hand in my stash.

I marked the spots on the tree where the ornaments would be hanging.

Buttons sewn on the tree.

Once all of the buttons were sewn on I placed the tree, the angel and the tree trunk (the angel and tree trunk were cut from templates from the original tutorial) onto a large piece of white felt that I was going to be using as the background.  I then pinned everything in place.  I sewed on the tree trunk first, then the tree and then the angel.  I folded the felt over an inch or so and sewed it in place so that I could use it as a casing for the dowel rod.  My Husband cut a notch on either side of the dowel rod and then I used a red cording and tied it to the dowl rod inside the notches.  The final project ended up being larger than I thought so it really only fit, barely, on the back of our front door.

Front of tree prior to advent.

This is what the advent calendar will look like once all of the ornaments are turned over.

I really like this advent calendar but you will definately need to allow yourself enough time to finish the entire thing.  I just didn’t have enough time or patience before Advent started to work with those tiny pieces of felt, so I just wasn’t going to have enough time to do the entire calendar just like the original tutorial.  The biggest corner I cut was not using all of the ornament decorations.  Part of me wishes that I would have just followed the tutorial exactly but, since I was pressed for time, I am alright with only having used a few of the decorations and then repeating them on more than one ornament.

For next year I was thinking of making some felt presents to stick on the background under the tree for Christmas morning.  I was also thinking of making some stars to stick onto the background to make the tree look like it has the night sky behind it.

We shall see what next year brings!  I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year!!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of my readers for stopping by.  I may not be around too much this summer because we have a lot going on.  I will try to post when I can so please check back during the summer!  Thanks!

I just finished week 3 of the Curves Complete weight loss plan.  I lost 4 lbs this week!  Yea!!  That is a total of 7 lbs so far!  I am so happy.  I have been working out at Curves at least 4 times a week but usually more than that.

I was concerned about the meal plan but it has been great.  They really teach you how to combine your starches, proteins, dairy, nuts, veggies and fruits.  The plan is very flexible and I am able to exchange foods that I don’t like for foods that I do like.  Overall I am not hungry inbetween meals and have such a better understanding on how to combine my foods.

When I get home from exercising I watch my Curves daily video for the day and it gives me more encouragement.

I am so excited that I finally found something that works.  I highly recommend this program.  I really enjoy the support of the other women at the club too.  It is a very supportive environment.  This stay-at-home mom also likes the chance to get out and socialize a bit too, even if I’m exercising.

I’m looking forward to this week and losing some more weight!

Yesterday I posted about a memory quilt which I saw at a quilt show. Today I would like to share pictures with you of some of the other beautiful quilts that were at the show. I cannot even imagine how many hours of labor and love went into the making of each one of these quilts.

The embroidery on this quilt was beautiful. I wish that my pictures could do these quilts justice!

Just beautiful!

This one made you feel like you were actually looking out of a window.

This one was amazing!

This one made you feel like you were standing in the hallway.

There were also a number of quilted jackets.

This one represented different nationalities in each square.

This was such a beautiful quilt show with so many amazing quilts. Now that I sew I look at these quilts differently because now I understand just how much work and love must go into each quilt. These quilters are amazing!

{This Moment}

{This Moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by: Soule Mama

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

We are finally all on the mend after almost two weeks with the boys and I having strept throat and a virus. We have been blessed with a healthy winter up to this point and I am grateful for that. I am also grateful that the worst of being sick seemed to happen when our Firefighter was off of shift and was able to help me. I appreciated that so much! The one day that I just needed to stay in bed he took the boys out for me and they spent most of the day out and about giving me the house to myself to rest in quiet and I am so grateful for that! It’s still hard for me to believe though how easily everything worked around the fire department schedule this time.

Yesterday we went over to my mother-in-law’s house for a pizza and the boys wanted to take a gingerbread shaped cake. They were very excited about it and had quite a lot of fun making it. It felt good to let them be creative again after this past week of pretty much being in bed or laying on the couch.

The boys worked real well together and took turns putting the ingredients in the mixing bowl. The hardest part for them was waiting for the cake to bake and cool. Once the cake was finally cooled, or at least cooled enough, it was time to decorate it. Gabriel did a nice job icing the top of the cake and I iced the sides while both boys used A LOT of sprinkles to decorate it.

Now that we are on the mend I hope that we will get back to working on our crafts. I am working on stocking my Etsy.com store and I hope to have it open soon. I will post the link to it as soon as it is stocked.

I am so excited! I am almost done with my brown sweater that I have been working on for the past 16 months. I have knit a few hats and a scarf during that time but I have not started any other larger projects. I’m determined to finish this sweater. I am now into the cable wasteband of the last front piece. I took this picture right before I started the cabled section.

I am determined to finish this sweater this month so that I can wear it this winter. Of course when it’s 50 degrees or so here in February I am hoping that I will even be able to wear it when it’s done. I have been trying to work on it after the boys go to bed or if we are sitting and watching a TV show. I am so motivated to get this sweater finished now that I am almost there. I hope to finish the cabled waistband tonight and then start on the moss stitch top portion tomorrow. Then it’s just the collar.

I pieced together the parts of the sweater that I have knitted already and I am hoping that the next picture that I post of the sweater it will be finished!

One morning when there was no school the boys were a bit antsy so I pulled out my binder of craft projects from Disney’s Family Fun magazine. We decided to make the yarn bowl.

Given the amount of time I spend knitting I definately have a lot of yarn, and since the boys love to glue and to cut up my scrap yarn, this was the perfect project for us. All we needed was two bowls, a large ball, safey scissors, yarn and glue.

We started out by setting the ball onto one of the bowls to keep the ball from rolling around. We then poured glue into another bowl and cut up the yarn in various lengths. We placed each strand of yarn, one at a time, in the bowl of glue, wiped off the excess glue with our fingers and then placed the yarn on the ball.

We did this until the bottom of the bowl was covered in yarn. When we were done we set the ball in the dining room where no one would bother it or knock it over so that it could dry overnight. In the morning we slowly peeled the yarn from the ball. It was a bit wet yet in a couple of spots so we let it dry a bit longer and then removed the bowl from the ball at the end of the day.

Once we removed it I can see where we should have added more yarn to it but, all in all, it turned out cute.