Christmas is Coming ...

I am one of those freaks who pulls everything out on Halloween weekend. I don't really have many fall decorations ... something I mean to fix each year. But then ... dang Costco! They pull out all the delicious Christmas treats and the fantastic-ly cute decorations and lawn decor and I can't pull myself back to fall decorations ... time to think Christmas! LOL.

Last year we did a lot of gifts and with the economy like it is ... I wanted to think of cute & cheaper ideas. Ryan has a lot of employees that all exchange cookies & treats and so I wanted to make a cute pillow box with treats (ie - hershey kisses). Then Skip to my Lou posted this pillow box pattern on her site today! I know it's early ... but I like having it all done WAY early ... so this is perfect!

Then I've also made lots of those recipe cards thru photoshop. I was going to pick up some of these cute tins and include some yummy Christmas favorite recipes inside each one. Here's a couple that I've been working on ... That with a cute ribbon & label wouldn't be too expensive and would definitely be original, right? Then ... depending on the person these are being given to, I thought that this oven mitt might be a perfect tag along ... but I'm not sure how much that special batting would cost.

So that should be it for the almost FIFTY people that we need to cover between Ryan's work, Hunter's school, church and some special friends. Not too expensive, but definitely a little more time consuming. What about you? What are you planning on doing for Christmas?

Fall Feast

So it was so much fun having a fall celebration! I completely was lovin' the whole thing ... and completely forgot to take pictures .... of the kids sitting outside on the cute kid table, all the food ... and everything until the very end. So ... here's the cute Williams-Sonoma pot and the kids all taking a break after about three hours of hard play time together. :) What are you doing to celebrate the fall?

First Day of Fall!

Happy Autumn! It's here! It's here! We survived another torturous summer in the Vegas heat ... and thank goodness it's on to bigger & better things now! :) Last year, I had made a special autumn-y dinner in the middle of November & thought it would be REALLY fun to do it as a "first day of autumn" dinner. Which is what I'm doing tonight. Better get working on mopping the floor! LOL.

I got the pumpkin soup recipe & corn pudding from Susan Branch's website last year. Then I'm making pumpkin dip (thanks to a cute friend Megan), and having apple juice to drink. I wanted to do apples dipped in caramel, but I think I might be getting too industrious. Here are a couple of the recipe cards I've made with the recipes ... enjoy your day! :) **Disclaimer on the pumpkin soup ... I have a fantastic little pumpkin pot/cookie holder type thing from Williams - Sonoma. I use that instead of using a real pumpkin ... and I just use pumpkin from a jar. I'm not that industrious! :) **

Fall-ish Weather

So it is thirty degrees cooler here in Vegas than it was a month ago ... but it's still in the mid-90's. LOL. This is pretty much as good as it gets, so I'm making the most of it. :) And then look at what came out of the ground to meet us yesterday (I think they're broccoli ... would have helped to have labeled a bit)! Now the goal for this weekend ... is to finish something crafty ... anything! :)

Favorite Five's

So Hunter is out of school and I've been trying to do one fun thing every day with him. We've had dinner with the grandparents, water park playtime yesterday and today was a picnic lunch with Daddy. Which has left no time for *me* time ... so here's the top 5 sites and ideas to check out. Let me know if you have any favorites! :)

• Adorable Alphabet Zoo Website - Bemboo's Zoo
• Ragamuffin Garland (oh! I want to make this so badly!) - Tutorial Here
• I don't know if I'll ever make them ... but these hair curlers would be so cute if I did!
• This apron NEEDS to be made ... as soon as I find the *perfect* material!
• The baby bunch is an absolutely adorable baby shower gift idea ... make sure to check this one out!

Thrift Store Shopping

So I walked into Goodwill yesterday fully planning on finding cute decorations just like all those fun craft blogs suggested. Instead, I walked out with Halloween costumes. Still not a bad way to spend the money ... just not as cute to decorate the house with. LOL. The costumes were at the very front section and Savannah saw these wings and just *knew* she needed that costume ... and for $4 I figured why not?!?It's still brand new from last year at Target. She has been dying to wear it around ... but I'm going to make her wait until Halloween is a little bit closer. Then while I was looking at that one, Hunter spotted a Transformers costume and started begging for it. Again, brand new with the tags for $5. He really wants to be Mario, but we're having a hard time finding overalls in his size at the thrift stores ... but I promised we'd keep looking and got the Optimus Prime as a back-up, just in case kind-of thing. I already have Colton's costume from Disney, no picture but it's darling too! I got Ryan a giant bumble bee costume, again new with tags for only $5 (the price tag said $40!) ... but the looks I got when I showed it to him said it all ... that will be going into a Goodwill donation pile for sure. So now, unless I can find some overalls for that Mario costume ... costumes are done and off my list! :)

Ready to Craft!

So I found the camera on Saturday, underneath the couch which I had looked a million & one times for it. My husband graciously lifted it up and promised not to drop it on me while I scoured underneath ... lol. We spent the weekend watching him work hard on the side yard and finally finish it up last night. Since we live in the hot, nasty desert it's the right time to plant, which is what we did with the kids last night. They're pretty excited to see what happens next!

I've been becoming addicted to all these low budget decorating blogs. A few that I've found so far include:

• The Happy Homebody
• Nesting Place
• Joys of Home
• Bless our Nest

These gals have fantastic ideas ... thrift store shopping = cute home! I'm so there! So today's plan is just that ... to find something cute at the thrift store to decorate the house with! Wish me luck! :)

Not miserable ... but close.

So it has been almost two weeks with the same blasted cold, and it's not getting better. I wouldn't say I've been completely miserable, but very close. LOL. So, no sewing has been happening. But then I woke up the last two days to cool-ish weather (the mid-80's!!!) Hallelueigh! Oh my gosh it feels so good! The windows are all open in the house, the a/c is off (I know you're happy to hear that Ryan) and I am soaking up that good feeling, cool air. It won't last long and the high tomorrow is supposed to be around 102, but I'll take any break I can from the heat.

It got me thinking though and wanting to actually sew some clothes for Savannah and myself. I have some yardage that I got from an estate sale and I've put it out to air out ... yes I have a million other projects to do, but this one actually will help us save some money and I can't wait to have matching pants with Savannah! :) I would show some pics of the fabric ... but that would mean FINDING my camera ... any ideas of where a 3 yo could have hidden it?!?


BTW ... one of my favorite sites to check out is Susan Branch. She has yummy-licious recipes and such fun things available ... she just updated and I can't wait to try out stuffed zucchini, fresh corn salad and the baked tomato salad ... check it out!