Pardon My Drool......

So........

Have you ever been working so hard on a project that you accidentally drool a little on it?????

No?

Oh, me neither......I was just curious.

Anyhoo, I took a few days off and I feel refreshed :0)

Hope you all had a great Christmas and got all the stuff you wanted got to spend lots of time with your families.

So, since Christmas is over, it's now time to start churning out thank you cards for all the great stuff you got.

I designed this card a few years back and just pulled it out a few days ago to update it.

So, pull out some of your favorite cute paper and some matching solid cardstock.

Cut the printed paper into 4 1/4"x 5 1/2"

Cut solid cardstock into 3"x 4"

Use your die cutter to cut capital "T" 2 inches tall (i used the "Stamped" cartridge). You can also print them out (in reverse) onto the back of your paper and cut it out OR find a stamp large enough (that's what I first used before I had a Cricut......CTMH Essential Alphabet is a good one).

Print small "thanks" onto some white cardstock OR cut 1/2 x 1" rectangles and write "thanks" on them by hand.

Ink it ALL, of course :)

Poke a tniy hole into the "thanks" and use some hemp cord (about 3" long) to tie it onto the "T".

Now, adhere it all to your blank card (just cut a peice of cardstock in half and fold it). I like to use popdots to stick on the "T" since it looks extra cute!

Have fun making these.......

and don't forget to close your mouth to keep from drooling :)

Have fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Better Late Than Never

Sigh.......

Don't you LOVE the little ones?

The WONDER and the FIRM belief they have in all things magical?

Without any doubt whatsoever, they are thrilled and mystified by this time of year.

I want to treasure these years as much as I can, since I KNOW they won't last long.

Case in point.......

I wanted to make "Santa footprints" for Christmas morning this year, but I forgot when we celebrated on Wed.

So, this a.m. "Santa" stopped by to leave one last thing and left footprints in front of our fireplace (thanks Mare for the great idea!).

They didn't see them at first, so I asked my oldest (and most observant) to go pick up some toys over there before breakfast.

She walked in the room and picked up an armful of toys and then stopped and looked.......then took a step and looked more.......and finally went over and bent over to investigate further. She didn't even see the "fairy dust" that Santa left.

She came and said "Mom, there's something on the ground.....I think it's footprints"

Aislyn and I promptly came to investigate too.

I acted surprised and Aislyn was in awe too.

I said "I think it's from Santa's boots", then I pointed to the necklaces hanging on the fireplace and said "Look, I think he left you guys some fairy dust!"

They asked what it was on the ground and I told them it must be magical North Pole snow that doesn't melt.

They both gave me the "oh, that makes great sense!" look and went back to touching the snow and talking about Santa's visit and his "magical, non~melting snow".

Just like that.....they believed that it was Santa's footpirnts.

Awesome.

It's great to be 3 and 5 (and have your parents make fake footprints on your carpet with flour)

They were so excited to show daddy when he woke up. They both explained to him about the magical non~melting snow as if they knew it all along.

So fun to have little ones.

So, even though this is late for this year.....keep it in mind for next year. You might even be able to use baking soda.......I just didn't have enough.

To make yours: Find hubby's boot and trace in onto a large piece of paper and cut out. Then, use the "hole" for a stencil and use a fine mesh sieve to sprinkle flour onto the carpet. Then, tap excess off your stencil and turn it over next to the 1st one to make the other foot (turning it over makes it the opposite shoe, so you only have to cut one stencil).

Have fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Merry Christmas!!

Just wanted to wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas!

Hope you get to spend time with loved ones and make sure to.......

EAT ALOT!

Mmmmmmm!

We are going to Christmas dinner at in-laws tomorrow (minus hubby since he is working), and I plan on eating

LOTS! :)

Here are some pics from our Christmas morning yesterday, hope your kiddos are just as happy :)

Have Fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~No Better Pair

Well, we had a GREAT Christmas today (since we celebrated early due to hubby's work schedule)!

The kiddos each got Nintendo DS lites,......but not games (that's what we told grandparents they wanted :)

and a few other toys.

Hubby and I The girls had a great time playing with their toys after they opened them and are already asking about our next Christmases (we will be having 2 more!).

SO,......

I just can't help myself when it comes to hot cocoa flavored with candy cane!

So, when I was making up some cute gifts for friends and neighbors I HAD to find a way to combine the two :)

So, I covered the tops of some "freecycled" jars and filled them mostly with hot cocoa mix.

Then, I made up a batch of candy cane mini marshmallows and topped off the jar with those!

To cover the lid of the jar, I started by painting the tops white since most of them were dark colors.

Then, I cut some cute tissue paper a little bigger than the lid and mod podged it on. I topped that off with 2 more coats of MP.

For the marshmallows, I followed this recipe from Our Best Bites (did you see they gave away a Blendtec blender?!?!?!?! How did I miss that one!), but used 1/2 tsp each of vanilla and peppermint extract.

Then, since I liked the look of Martha's so much (but not so much the recipe), I swirled red into mine.

Wait till the very last......right after it finishes on the mixer, fold in around 1/2~1 tsp of red food coloring. You need to do this quickly and then pour it into your prepared pan.

I also used a cookie sheet since I wanted them to be on the thinner side. It makes it easier to cut into mini pieces or for cutting into shapes.

Then, you just use your handy~dandy pizza cutter to cut the sheet up.

I really liked the cute little candy cane shapes, and let the kiddos help cut some of those.

Make sure you roll your pizza cutter or cookie cutter in the cornstarch/powdered sugar mix after each cut.

AND toss the finished ones in the mix too.

Those marshmallows are STICKY!!

This batch made 2 big bowls full of minis!

Now toss them into the jar filled with cocoa.....

AND

Finish the jars with some cute ribbon and a tag....

AND

voila!!

You have some cute and yummy to hand out to all your friends.

Have fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Yay! A Winner!!!

HA HA HA!

Ooops, I mean.....

HO HO HO!!

Sorry it's so late today, but we will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow (hubby works on Christmas :(,   so there were TONS of things to do today!

Well, on to the WINNERS!!!!

Drum roll please........

According to Random.org

The winners are:

Carlie


&


Nellana!!!

Yay!!!

Please e-mail me and send your info so I can get these on their way to you both!!

Sorry I couldn't give rolls away to ALL of you, but maybe when I'm

RICH!
(cuz, you know there's SO much money in blogging.....hahahahahaha!)


Now for more exciting news.....

A few weeks back I was contacted by someone from Planet Green (a web site by Discovery magazine) and she asked if they could write an article about this card hanger I made here!!

OMG!!!!
(Oh My Gosh....not the other way)

I've been discovered by Discovery (hee, hee)!!!!

So, you can go here to check out the article and while you read it, you can think to yourself: "Wow! I know that famous lady and look at her blog everyday!" (you do look at my blog everyday...., right?)

Ok, I'm done freaking out now.

Yipee! (Oops, that one slipped out :)

Well, I'm off to play Santa (2 days early).

Have Fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Yet Another Use For Vinyl

You have till midnite tonight (Pacific Time) to still enter my super-duper giveaway!

Ok,......Is everyone else as excited as I am?!?!?!?!

But, right now we have to focus and not let our excitement get the best of us.

So, I want to show you another thing you can do when you win one of those big rolls of vinyl.....

Cute picture frame quotes!!!

I made this 2 years ago for Christmas (and even passed some along to a few friends), and it's still one of my favorite things!

You can go here to get the tute I did for my Halloween ones (done the same way), and start looking at thrift stores for cute frames.

I want to do a larger one with our last name and a nice quote, but I am still on the prowl for a nice big chunky frame for it (plus hubby doesn't easily let me go thrifting anymore.....so I have to think really good reasons to go :)

So, go get your fun chunky frames and......

Have Fun!

***Be sure to come back tomorrow for when I announce the winners of the super-duper giveaway***

25 Days Of Christmas~Almost Too Cute To Give Away

If you are looking for my GREAT BIG GIVEAWAY.... scroll down here. You only have till midnite tomorrow!



Well, we are back and well-rested and we had a blast visiting my sis and her fam! My 5 year-old nephew, Joseph, kept imploring, "Aunt Emily, could you please leave next Saturday (instead of today)?"

Yeah, we all had fun :)

So, here are so cute little treat bags you can make by the dozens to give away to everyone.

Start by cutting strips of paper 3"x 12" and of course......ink the edges!

Then, score the paper as shown in the pic. (it's confusing to explain :)

Fill your 3"x 5" baggies with about 1/4 cup of M&Ms and then put it in the paper and fold up the front and back.

Use your handy Cropadile to punch 2 holes in the top through all the layers to make sure it all matches up.

Feed the ribbon through (about 8 1/2" long or longer if you tie a bow) and tie it up.

Here's a side view of the bag.

Voila! Super-easy gifts to drop off with neighbors or for your (late) VT!

Have fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Just Can't Do It......

If you are looking for my GREAT BIG GIVEAWAY.... scroll down here.


Well, I'm still here livin' it up here at my sister's house......having a nice break :)

But, I'm sitting here looking at all the things I still want to do this season, but some are just not gonna happen.

So,

I thought I would post some pics so you guys can feel bad too (unless you already got around to these fun things, in which case........post pics so we can be envious!)

Go to Martha Stewart and get directions to make these very cute candles to give away (or keep).

Click here to get a great recipe for Lebkuchen from Martha.......this is a yummy specialty of the city in Germany (Nurnberg) where I was born!!

AND.....how cute are these "Noel" letters!?!?!  Go to BHG to see this adorable craft (although, you should all already know how easy these are to whip up :)

Hope you enjoy this eye candy as much as I did......but watch out, cuz' you will end up spending hours checking out more!  :)

Have fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Freecycle Friday!

If you are looking for my GREAT BIG GIVEAWAY.... scroll down.

 Well, I am out of town for a few days to see my lovely sister and let my kiddos see their cousins....

So.....

I want to re~post something I posted back in July.

Pop Top Treat Cans!

These are great and cheap! Since you are just using recycled containers you would normally throw away put in the recycle bin.

Go here to get the full tute with pics.

Have fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Yummy Christmas Morning Breakfast

If you are looking for my GREAT BIG GIVEAWAY.... scroll down to the next post.


Today I wanted to show you all what we eat on Christmas morning......every year!

Photo from Food Network

Yummy French Toast Bake!

This is a great traditional breakfast 'cuz it's super yummy and easy~peasy!

Plus,......

It's on the healthier side, which is great during this season of sugar-highs and BUTTER!

So, click here to get the recipe (I would post it, but If you go there, you can print it nicely :)

The only things I changed was that I use Egg Beaters instead of the eggs and berries instead of the peaches (the berries make it soooooooo yummy!)

All I do is make this up the night before and it's ready to pop in the oven as soon as we get up (or the kiddos wake us up :) on Christmas morning.

Then, as soon as we get the stockings emptied and a few gifts opened......

YUM!
We get to eat it hot out of the oven with a little syrup drizzled over it.

Now, stop drooling and get baking!

Have Fun!

25 Days Of Christmas~Super-Duper Giveaway!!!!

Update: First of all.....I got so excited when I wrote this, that I forgot to say when it ended. So, contest ends Monday nite at midnite and I will announce the winner on Tues.

Also, the contest is for 2 winners, each receiving 1 roll of vinyl......sorry I wrote that wrong earlier :(

Sooooooo,

Guess what I got in the mail??

VINYL!!!

After I posted this.........Sign Warehouse contacted me to say thanks for the post (I didn't know they read my blog!)

AND.....

Offered me some FREE VINYL!!!!!

So I said....

YES PLEASE!!

AND.......

I'm giving away....... not 1,

But,

2 of the rolls away to 2 of you lucky ducks (1 roll per winner)!

Yup! You heard me......2 FULL rolls of vinyl to do with what you want.

These rolls are 24 inches x 10 yards!

That's 24 inches x 30 FEET!!!

So, I picked beige to give away, since it's the most versatile color I own.

Looks great with alot of colors!

To enter:

Yup, you guessed it (and leave a separate comment for each entry)

•  Leave a comment~Be sure to make it funny.....I like to laugh at with you guys

• Be(come) a follower~Hey a girl's gotta feel loved :)

• Blog about this giveaway and leave your link

•  Put my button on your blog~yes, I will be getting a regular one soon :)

• That's all.......no other ways.......I can't think of anything else
  

Have fun & Good luck!

25 Days Of Christmas~More Awesome Photo Gifts

So, is it weird that I really like that Gap "boots" commercial?

You know, the one with the cute little girls dancing around in cute boots/tights/sweaters/hats/etc, singing that catchy tune about their boots?

I also really like the Free Credit Report.com commercials.......The one with the 3 guys lip-syching pretty badly in different venues.

Weird huh?

Anyhoo......

Today I wanted to re-post an awesome idea for a gift to send to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members!

Photo blocks puzzle!

I posted this in July for "Christmas in July", but wanted to show it again since it's so fun (my kids wouldn't stop playing with it untill I wrapped it up and sent it off to grandpa)!

So, go here to get the full tute and for the blocks.

And here to get the tute for the box and a download for the insert (so your receipient will know what the pics are supposed to look like)

So get to it and......

Have fun!