Christmas Fabric Garland

So last week while I was doing my annual EVERY morning pinterest search I came across an amazing Christmas fabric garland that was being sold on etsy.com. Needless to say that most things I find on etsy, I at least try to make it before making the purchase. If I can't then I buy it but for the price listed, I was not willing to buy this one. So I planned it out and went out to find the material I liked that would match my country Christmas wonderland. I found it! I purchased 3 yards of material, a dark green with lighter green snowflakes (1 yd), a red and cream plaid (1 yd) and a country quilt pattern (1 yd).

You also need to buy some rope or cotton filler cord  5.5m is what I used. I also got a pack of american bells from hobby lobby. In all the supplies I purchased, I spent $12 on material, $2 on the cord and $3 on the bells. So for $17 you can make a 8 ft garland. 

Cut your fabric in half at the crease and also cut off any ends, most of the time it is white colored that shows at the bottom and top of the material. Cut every 2 in from the middle crease that you cut, this should make 36 strips in all with one yard of material. 

Now cut them in half, depending on the material it will range from 6 in or larger. Mine ended up being about 6 3/4 in x 2 in strips. 

The strips of material after cut in half

OK so cut all your material the same way. You will have 72 strips of each material ending up with 216 in all. Now take your cord out and knot one side about 3 in from the end. Depending on how you will hang this, you might want to go further into the cord. Start knotting.

My pattern and knots

This is just a one knot each and then just push them together. The fuller you want the garland, the closer and tighter the knots need to be. I would say I did medium knots and just slid them close together but not tightly. Do note that if you want a fuller garland you will need to use more material for a 8 ft garland piece. 

Keep knotting, this really does not take long. It took me about an hour to put all the strips on the cord. When you are done, knot the end. 

Now the bells I bought came with 6 bells but I didn't want to place all of them on the garland so I just used 3. I folded the garland in half and tied a bell around the cord with some small brown cord I had laying around. From the bell to the left side I folded that in half and placed and bell and did the same with the right side. 

My American Bells

Please note that if you are planning on wrapping this around your hand rail like I did, you might want to see if your bells will fit between the rail and the wall. If not you can hang them on the rail like I did or don't place the bells on there until you get the garland wrapped.

Now hang and enjoy!

Finished Project

Chore Board

So I had decided that we needed a chore board in our house. Something that everyone could look at and know what they have to do in the house that day so our house does not fall apart during crazy times, like the holidays lol. 

So I found a piece of wood that was already cut but kinda rough around the edges at wal-mart in the wood craft section. I bought some dark brown spray paint and got to work.

I only spray painted the sides of the board because that is all you will see. I also did not  sand paper it because that is a later step ;)

I found me a piece of scrapbook paper that I felt would be a great back ground with the brown edges and white paper. Cut it out to the size of the face of the board. That way you don't over lay the sides of the board.

My scrap book paper

OK so while that was drying I had to come up with a system. Figure out what everyone had to do everyday to keep up with the house. When I finalized that, I typed mine up in a excel spreadsheet so my list were even and Stephen and Melinda's in word. Printed it out on regular copy paper but it would have done better with card stock. Cut out the names and chore list with a craft knife and ruler.

I hope you can see the words. 

I also added a little note to go on my board that says " When your helping, everyone is happy"

This goes without comment because if all my family are doing there part then that is less for me to complain about :)

*More pictures to come of the final piece but I got so excited at this point I just through it together to see what it would look like done.

Grab your Scrap book paper and glue the names and chores where you want them on the page. You could also add your own quote of maybe a picture. After it has dried, take Modge Podge and a sponge paint brush, lightly cover the face of the board until it is smooth and fully covered. This will help not to get bumps in the paper. Carefully place the scrap book paper with chores already dried on to the face of the wood. Let Dry!!!!

After you have let it dry for at least 30 min, take some sand paper, anything you have laying around and softly go over the edges of the board and even across the edges of the paper. This effect is to give it a worn look and also if you sand the edge of the scrap book paper onto the wood, it makes it look painted on. Take your Modge Podge again and go over the WHOLE board. edges of the wood and everything. I went kinda heavy with mine. Also I used Matte Modge Podge not the glossy. I like the worn country look. Let dry and hang up. 

 Enjoy this cute project.

Family Photos

If you live in the Asheboro, Chapel Hill, Pinhurst up to Greensboro area and want some nice outdoor or indoor family photos, well I have found your photographer. Eddie Lester Photography out of Ramseur, North Carolina. He has a studio set up close to his house and also owns an amazingly beautiful piece of country property. We were able to get in after the leaves had changed colors but had not fell off the trees yet. Look at his work yourself, you will love it.... 

This is my family. (from left: Stephen (hubby), Tammy (mother), Melinda (daughter), Marcus  (brother), Me, Ray (father)

Our boxer Bo and Melinda

My brother goofing off

My beautiful parents

My little faimly

Melinda and Bo wishing you a Merry Christmas

These are just a glimpse into all the pictures he took for us that day. We only spent about an hour walking around his property and when he saw a light or place he liked, we would stop. He has an amazing talent for capturing the right picture at the right time. He worked so well with our daughter and our dog. Believe me it took patience to get some of the shoots that he did. 

Looking at everyone of these pictures not only captured a photo but a memory. We had so much fun that day laughing and just hanging out. We experimented with new things, places and props. Most of all everyone of these pictures have a meaning and a memory hidden behind it. 

We walk through life together

So sweet. My dad stealing a kiss between photos

Tammy, Melinda, and Mine 

I hope you enjoyed looking through these. Now you need to go check out more of his work. AND call him for an appointment.... http://elphotographync.com  you will be so glad you did.

Deals!

Seems like everyone is jumping on the "deals" train to me. Just this morning I have came across some living social wanna be's. For those who don't know, www.livingsocial.com is a daily deal website for places in your area. Like today they are offering UNLIMITED yoga classes for one month at $39. This is a $135 value. Awesome deal right? I have purchased unlimited month at gyms( paid $20) to $50 worth of food at a restaurant (paid $15) and they also have getaway deals. Just go look it up. Also we have my other favorite, www.woot.com! There is something about this website that I HAVE to see it everyday. I used to be really bad but then I signed up for their e-mail notification. Woot is a site that offers 1 great deal a day too but these are items.... great priced items. I am talking about $800 tablets for $350.... plus everything is $5 shipping... yep you heard right. Every now and then they do woot off days. This is where they only have a certain amount of that item to sell and when it is gone, they post a new one. It is awesome! OK so now that I have added to your daily website visit list :) let me give you a couple of new places on the internet you can now find deals:
www.groupon.com
http://local.amazon.com
http://www.dailysteals.com/Default.aspx
http://slickdeals.net/
http://dailydeals.target.com/<<<<<<< YES TARGET!
http://www.dealgenius.com/

So I hope this helps to with your up coming Christmas shopping. It is like Black Friday just everyday!

Chrsitmas Advent Calender

YEP... it is that time again to make them and put them up for awaiting December. This is a really simple and cute advent calendar. We will be using a star template, cricut numbers, stickers, and Christmas embellishments.
You will need:

• 24 small envelopes
• sticker or paint to decorate
• numbers 1-24 or you can write them on
• string
• miniature pegs
• advent activities, candy or small treats

1. Start Decorating your envelopes. We will be painting our star on each envelope first and then going back to place a number and some decorations. Keep it simple though cause you have to repeat 24 times.

2. After dry, go back and fill each envelope with a activity or treat.

3. Hang up your colored string along the wall or mantel. Use the mini pegs to hang each envelope from the string.

Following is a couple of good ideas for your calender. Best thing to do is pull out your calender/ planner and see if there are dates that you will be able to do certain things. Like if the church play is on Dec.20, that could be your activity to use that day. 

• Paint everybody's toenails in Christmas colours.
• Make Christmas cards.
• Make Christmas ornaments.
• Set up the Christmas tree.
• Make gift tags.
• Bake Christmas cookies and decorate them.
• Purchase a present to give to charity.
• Have a picnic for dinner.
• Go out to look at Christmas lights after dark.
• Write a letter to Santa.
• Make gifts for teachers.
• Hold a family disco.
• Go out somewhere special for dinner.
• Eat fancy ice creams after dinner.
• Watch a Christmas movie before bed.
• Smile at someone who looks sad or lonely.
• Talk to someone (at playgroup/nursery/school) who is not your friend.
• Help someone today, when it is not convenient for you.
• Make a Christmas card that you love, and give it away to a stranger.
• Don't buy anything today - nothing at all.
• When grocery shopping, chose two of your favorite healthy foods, and donate one to the food bank. 
• See if you can find three toys you enjoy (can chose more or less), but have outgrown, and donate to charity resale shop.

Day 2 envelope. She was so excited to make this all by her self.

"scrap" scrap book paper bows

If you wondering how to make the best bows to match your paper this year, here you go...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sD63Fp8OP0

makes amazing bows and it takes no time at all. Enjoy!

Christmas

I thought that I would be the first to put up Christmas Decorations in my house.... NOT! My cousin put up her tree and made her house into a winter wonderland yesterday as well as my parents went out and bought there first items for the season. Now I have to get to work. I have came across so many things I would love to make. But how do you decide on what is the best item for a family Christmas party? I have a couple of opinions that I have got in mind. I think I will build one of each and then consider which are the best for who. I love making Christmas gifts. It is one of my favorite reasons for the holiday and I love the expression that people have when they see something homemade. So need less to say but I will be posting a number of "crafts" in the next couple of weeks. I can not say where they are and to who but note to family..... keep a look out ;-)

Coupons is for EVERYONE.

ANY ONE CAN DO THIS....
So after spending a weekend with my cousin in TN a couple of weeks ago she let me in on a little secret about couponing.... THERE IS NO WORK TO IT!
You think I am lying.... if you tried to do it on your own before then you know I am 99% lying... well there are cheats.... yeah you heard me. Like we are playing the SIMS and we discover that there are cheats on the internet, hehe!
So you should get 1 newspaper for every person in your house and then go straight to wal-mart and get you an accordion folder. I have 3 people in our house, so I get 3 papers each Sunday. You will need to pull 3 different inserts; the Red Plum, Smart Source, and there is another one that has slipped my mind right now. Also, DO NOT forget there are soooo many printable coupons on line from face book offers to stores and on. Now you don't get your scissors out just yet cause you don't need them. FIRST thing you have to learn is you DO NOT use coupons that you just got Sunday that week. You have to build your coupon inventor up before you go shopping happy. YES this is where I have messed up over and over again. I thought if they had coupons then they were on sale... right .... wrong. There is a trick. If it has a coupon in the Sunday paper 9 out of 10 times it will NOT  be on sale that week, maybe not even next week. Ok so just hold on to your pants for a bout 2 weeks worth of inserts and then you need to go to this site...
http://www.southernsavers.com/

This sites tell you what is on sale, where it is on sale at and also which coupons to pull. She list the date and insert name. Also she lists the regular price, then the sale price and then which coupons to use and what you will spend. I know no one wants to spend all day looking for deals though so my fix to that is wal-mart. Wal-mart does price match as long as they are clear on the sale price. So I open a spreadsheet on me computer and go through the southern savers website. Tide on sale at Walgreens, Crest on sale at Target, etc. When I write each sale I found on the site, I type it into my spreadsheet and list to the side which store and where my coupons are from. This is so easy, it is like making cake. My first shopping with coupons was tonight and I took my husband and daughter with me. She got a kick out of picking things out and how many we got. I ended up saving $52 in total between price match and coupons. I spent $231 but that was toliet paper, baggies, razors, shampoo, food food food.... lol we should not have to go back for at least 3 weeks and that would be for milk and bread :-)
JUST REMEMBER.... things usually run on a 6 week cycle, if it is on sale this week, well it won't be for another 6 weeks. So buy enough to due you for 6 weeks. This is one reason you get multiple papers. one coupon for each person. My husband made the comment that it takes to long to get everything in one stop, but then when we were at the cash register and he saw our total going backwards, he said he would never complain again.


I hope this helps anyone who is trying to save some dough for your family. Also check out some freezer meal websites to help with saving money and dont forget you can make the dough for your own bread, freeze it until your ready to bake.
http://www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2011/02/10/freezable-foods/

http://www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2011/10/31/menu-plan-monday-4/


 GO SHOPPING!

A great site for Christmas gifts on a budget!

I found this site while doing my daily internet search for my next projects... of course I am looking for things for Christmas gifts. I always love gifts that are cute and if not all home made at least something was put into it from the heart. Blood, sweat and tears is what makes good gifts, ha :-) So finding this site for you, I hope you find gifts for people you love.
http://todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/2010/12/15-gift-ideas-under-2.html


I found some of these to be very humorous, so if you don't feel like laughing... DON'T GO TO THE LINK! 


Happy early Christmas finding... lol

My cricut

Yesterday I decided to play with my cricut a little. I had bought some brown vinyl at wal-mart for $7 and the transfer tape (another $7). I bought it though because I had found a Christmas gift on pinterest.com that I wanted to make called a blessing block. 

Before I started on the blessing block though I thought I might want to make something to make sure I could use this vinyl (things with sticky-ness can kinda get crazy sometime).  Well this is my first attempt with my cricut and I LOVE IT! I made this with the Cherry Limeade cartridge and crucit expressions software. I fell in love with it after I got it on the wall and decided to leave it and redo my stair case hall way around it. 

Added with a couple of things I have been crafting on and a lot of pictures that was not up yet, I got this as my finished project. The Christmas wreath is a little early and if I had made a turkey one then he would be up there but I have not yet. Also the last frame on the end is what I like to call a pin board. I bought just the frame (no glass or back) at Micheal's for $8. My husband but some nails in the top so I could wrap it with twine to give it something to hang from. From there I hot glued (and got blisters) 3 different pieces of twine from .5 inchs and across to (second piece) 6.5 inch and across (third piece) 12.5 inch and across. With knots on both sides, the twine stuck awesome. While drying I picked out some of my favorite 4x6 pictures that I have no room for in my house. I cut some of them into smaller pictures just so I could fit more then 9 of them. I then took clothes pins and hung them from the twine. This has made such a cute photo pin board. So what do you think?

I am off to coupon now... :-)