Kindle Freebies!!!

Hey everyone, normally I write about a craft I have done or an activity I have completed...you know just SOMETHING.  Well not today.  I have had my blog administrator page up for about 4 days just itching to write something, but between funerals, Church, Music Department responsibilities, kids, husband, and work it has been super crazy around here.  So this is just a quick update on something interesting I found...FREE KINDLE BOOKS!!  who doesn't love the FREE stuff????  So here ya go!  I came across these awesome freebies and just had to share. I hope you enjoy!

The first book is one I have seriously needed since I have been going through closets and under beds trying to get rid of all the clutter my family of five has accumulated in the last two years since moving into this house.  Its crazy!!!  I want bare closets again like when we first moved in!! So I am going to give this a thorough read and see what wisdom I can glean to help me in this quest!!

The Ultimate Guide To Decluttering and Organizing Your Home 

So you know what happens when you start going through closets and decluttering??  You make a MESS! and since your focusing on reorganizing the deep cleaning doesn't seem to get done as much as you would like.  So my next read is this one to deep clean after I have decluttered!

The Easy Way To Clean

Next is a book that I found fun and interesting.  Even though we don't celebrate Halloween I LOVE and anything about costumes since I have some VERY imaginative children who love to play dress up.  As well as a drama department in our church who is always needing costumes for the next production. So I was excited to find this free costume book that even has instructables!!

Easy Halloween Costumes

Then by the same authors is this free Halloween Food book.  Umm, FREE RECIPES??  LOOOOVE,  and I can use them for things other than Halloween.  so... SCORE!

Halloween Food

I hope you enjoy these freebies as much as I plan to. Please feel free to share in the comments any freebies you come across.  I love a good bargain!!

I hope you have a great day!  And God Bless!!!

Easter was DE-licious!!! and a Jewel of a pin

Okay, as an update for the world: I am back on the eating healthy so I can become a healthier sized me bandwagon.  Actually, both my husband and I have jumped on together.  Which is making the journey so much more fun!  After a week of dieting I have lost 4 pounds and seven inches!!!  Goooooo Me!!! Either this week or the next I will be joining a local gym to work out with my cousin. who is already a member, and I just know the pounds are going to start melting away.  Anyway, I have been keeping a VERY close eye on my calorie intake this week with great success, and decided that since today is a holiday it would be what I call a "guilt free day".  I am allowed to eat whatever I want, in a very small portion, and I don't count any calories.  So I didn't go crazy, but I did enjoy some calorie rich foods that normally I would decline when on the weight loss track.  So, for me, while Easter was a lovely Spiritual day spent in worship, busy with the Drama our church put on, and a fun day spent with family it was also absolutely delicious!  I hope you had a wonderful day Celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Now on the crafty side I was VERY busy this week!!  I made a dress for myself for Easter as well as two bolero style jackets to go over my daughters Easter sun dresses (I'm not a big fan of the sleeveless look, even on my little girls).  I used this pattern

I don't know about you , but once those patterns come out of the envelope there is NO getting them back in.  So they get folded and neatly stored inside a large gallon sized zip-lock baggie with the pattern picture facing out of one side so I can see exactly whats inside.  This is actually very handy as it makes it somewhat child and pet proof as well as easier to access.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to sew as well as cutie patootie on the girls!

(Please forgive these HORRIBLE pictures!!)

Now my girls favorite part, and what I am DYING to tell you about, was the simple closure jewel that I used.  Now, if you are like me (a crafty item buying fanatic), you probably have little buttons, jewels, beads, whatever laying around all over your craft area and stuffed in your craft stash bins.  Well in the wee hours of the morning when I decided the jackets needed a little more oomph, and really wasn't looking forward to sewing two teeny hook and eye closures that probably weren't going to stay put with my two rowdy girls this jewel of an idea (ha ha) was born.  Now its not that biggie of a deal, but since it saved my creative hide, was a HUGE hit with the girls, and garnered MANY a compliment I thought I'd pass it along.  Its a jewel with a safety pin hot glued to the back...yah ... complicated right? 

Anyway I am sad to say that the jewel on the 5yr old's jacket only made it through half the day, and by the time the drama rolled around it had been pulled fallen off.  So when I got home I pulled out a little stronger adhesive, and snapped a few pics with my (vastly inferior to my real pride and joy which, at the moment, is inaccessible) camera in order to share my genius with you....for what its worth any way, which isn't much!

So there you have it.  My creative AHA moment of the week.  I would show you a picture of my dress, but I am no longer wearing it, and, trust me when I say, it just doesn't look that great off the body!

I cant wait to make SOOOO many more of these to match every Sunday Sundress that I plan for them to wear this little jacket with.  Oh and they loved the lightweight jacket as well and since it was a breeze to make (I took a few shortcuts, so I'm talking literally an hour from cutout to completion on each jacket!!) I will be churning out a few more of these PRONTO!

Next project while the sewing machine is out (and all my stuff is littering the area) two dresses for the girls, two skirts for the girls, several maxi skirts for myself and perhaps a convertible skirt/dress for me too.  Oh this is going to be a fun crafty week all gearing up for spring break the next week.  I cant wait!!!

I hope you enjoyed this, and I promise next time I will use my good camera.

Have a great day and God Bless!

A Neat idea for a Bloom

So there are these blooms at Walmart for cheap but they are in the little egg-crate planters all ready to be planted in your flower garden.  That doesn't help you too much for bringing them inside to decorate with though.  And since potting can get SOOOOO messy and cumbersome I came up with a cutie patootie idea.  Well actually it was a collaboration between an idea of my Mother In Laws (I have the BEST Mother in Law in the world for those of you who were wondering!!!) and the final product that I cam up with to showcase her awesome idea.

First you start by cutting apart the egg-crate container that the flowers cam in (not pictured..sorry)

Next you wrap a plastic sandwich bag around the individual, now cut apart, plant.

Next wrap either a piece of tissue paper or, like my MIL did, a paper napkin (shes a genius!). Use some string or a rubber band to make sure the tissue stays in place.

Finally pick up a cute container for a buck at Target or Dollar Tree and put the now prettily wrapped flower into it.  Oh did I mention that because of the plastic baggie you can now water the plant without fear of leaking???  Lu-AHH-Vv it!!!

Finally display your Spring handy work for your family and guests to enjoy.

Hopefully your shelf wont collect dust as quickly as mine does, the bane of having NO carpet in my home is constant dust.  I think I had dusted these shelves three days before this picture! Oh well you get what you get and you don't throw a fit (a rhyme I use on my kids when they don't think life is being fair). 

Oh and check out my little planter on the top shelf.  It was an old metal bucket I spray painted white.  Then I cut out the sweet "Simplify" on my cricket in the pretty bright yellow vinyl, applied to the front, and there I have a new spring planter that pops.

I hope you found some inspiration for simple and less messy plant potting to bring the outdoors inside your home.

Have a Great Day and God Bless

The Hubby got creative!!!

So my Hubby went and took a page out of my book, and that's basically what he said.  Well he actually said "Your craftiness is rubbing off on me", but he meant that in a good way.  He sure looked pleased with himself too.  He should be pleased with himself.  I'm completely impressed with what he came up with!  He made his very own firewood hauler by repurposing something (of mine) that wasn't getting used very often into something he will use pretty much every day until warm weather finally arrives.  Hows that for impressive?!?!?  I know, right?!?!? Anyway to get to the basics of it Here's what he did.

He took this tote

And cut down the top inch or so of each side seam

Then we ripped both seams all the way out on both sides

Now I can hear you thinking " Annnd what is the point of this???"

Well feast your eyes on this practical tool that my ingenious hubby turned my old sack into (and he looks pretty awesome using it too if I do say so myself hubba hubba).

So that is what my Hubby created tonight and completely impressed me with.  He was able to bring in two LARGE loads of firewood in his suit (sans jacket) that normally would have taken SEVERAL trips of carrying a few pieces at a time in his arms and stayed spotless at the same time!  Go baby GO!!!  So the next time you have to haul firewood or anything similar remember my hubby's repurposing and make your job a little bit easier!

If you have any comments, ideas, or stories about your firewood battles I would love to hear them!!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Just one of "those kind of days"

Well today was one of "those kind of days"... A day where you kept hoping it was bed time again.  You know, at 2 you are looking around going "isn't it bedtime yet??".  Then at 5 you are telling the kids "You know its almost bedtime, we need to start getting ready for bed" and they are looking at you like you are certifiable.  You get this lovely response "Moooommmm it JUST got dark!!! Aaaannnnnd we haven't even had DINNER yet!"   to which you are thinking "grrreeaattt!"   Yah, you know what I mean.  Oh wait, if you don't know what I mean then don't read any further, and I just made ALL of that up...ummm sure. I don't EVER feel that way.  Nope I am a perfect Super-Mom/Wife who has it COMPLETELY in control and who NEVER has a bad day, or at least one where I am ready to go back to bed mid-afternoon.  Yah, RIGHT!

Okay, so we have established that sometimes not all is perfect in the world with little blue birds singing in the trees and squirrels running to and fro making cute little squirrley sounds. Sometimes its just a day that you are ready to say goodnight to when its not even night yet.  Sorry if I shattered your view of me, but hey I would rather you see the real me now, and maybe learn to love every bit of the flawed and imperfect person that I am rather than find out later and become even more devastated by the reality that is me. Har Har!

Anyway, when it is one of "those kind of days" it always amazes me how God sends along people to help you get through it.  Like a sweet lady in our church who brought me some Mexican specialty food today (I actually learned something today, shocker I know!).  Today is a special day for the Mexican people.  It's kind of like our Christmas, but on a MUCH more modest scale.  It's the day of the Three Kings.  As in the three Wise Men who searched for Jesus to bring him gifts.  To celebrate this day the Mexican children leave their shoes by the door the night before, and on Three Kings Day when they wake up they find their shoes filled with candy and there is one gift for them.  The way I understood it, that is basically all they get for Christmas and the full extent of their gifts.  My kids SO wouldn't go for that.  They have learned to embrace Christmas giving, and would NEVER forget the getting either!! Anyway, along with this sweet shoe filling tradition they also make a "Kings Bread" of which I can not remember or even really properly pronounce the Spanish name.  Its sweet in an understated way, tastes a little like pound cake, and has strips of dried fruit on top of it.  Also, they bake a little plastic doll baby Jesus inside of the bread, and the person who finds it in their slice has good luck all year long.  This reminded me a lot of the "Kings Cake" that goes along with Mardi Gras. Of course I snapped a picture of the slices she gave me for your viewing pleasure.

Interesting huh?

So that was a little blessing/pick me up in my "that kind of day" that I was grateful for.  Oh, I forgot to mention, she also brought some freshly made homemade tommatillo salsa verde (which I LUURVE) and some freshly baked Bollio (which is some awesome Mexican bread that I'm not sure I spelled the name of correctly...oh well...like I said: its been that kind of day!). AND, my Momma spent all morning making the most AWESOME crawfish bisque.  Yes! from scratch, to share with me! All of it was wonderful!  

Can I just say that I am noticing a trend from today...hmmmmm bad day made better by cake, bread, salsa, crawfish bisque.  Can we say emotional eating was going on today?  Why yes, I think we can.

That. Is. Not. Good!

So, getting away from the food and all this rambling (I have GOT to stop writing these things when I'm tired.  Its like I can NEVER get to the point!), I decided the perfect little project, if you can really even call it that (I promise this will not shatter your world with its awesomeness), to share with you today is how I turned my plain Jane, red Walmart, long sleeve tee into one of my favorite shirts.  I made thumb holes.  Okay, I warned you that it wasn't all that "crafty" or "earth-shattering" so you can't be mad that its something so simple.  

Now to answer the question I can practically hear you think-shouting at me as you read this, growing longer by the second, post "why, oh WHY, would you WANT to make thumb holes in your shirt?!?!?!?!?"  Well because of this:

I'm short! Which means short arms in long sleeves, and I have cold hands all the time.

I've seen these shirts that are out now that are actually being made with the thumb holes in them.  So when a couple of weeks ago I was wearing this one, and I had pushed the sleeves up for the MILLIONTH time but had cold hands I thought "forget this I want thumb holes!" So I grabbed the scissors and cut one

(Thanks Colt for stepping in to snap this for me, even though you just ran up to drop something off from your mom when I was in the middle of doing this.  You were a lifesaver!)

I basically pulled the shirt down over my hand as far as it would go without it actually being pulled on.  Which ended up being just past my knuckles. Then I stabbed myself felt with the scissors until I found my thumb knuckle and I cut a small to medium sized hole, slid my thumb in, and kept cutting the hole larger until the sleeves didn't bunch or pull at all but laid flat (which isn't illustrated too well in these pictures, but trust me they laid pretty flat)

Now you are asking "So do you HAVE to wear the thumb holes every time you wear the shirt? and wont they fray and stuff??"  the answer to both of those questions is: NO, I don't have to wear it with my thumbs in the holes, and no, its knit fabric so it doesn't fray at all! I do have an observation: you sure are full of questions today!!  sheesh didn't I tell you it was "one of those days'?!?!?  my goodness! :) 

(yep I NEED to go to bed!)

So, because I am short, and these are long sleeves when I wear the shirt normal, they are rather bunchy on my arms and the hole is hidden in the folds of the shirt like so

cool huh? Yah, I thought so! unfortunately my girls do too, and now want thumb holes in some of their shirts. 

Note to self: hide the scissors!

And for a quick tip for those other short armed people out there: If you have bulky sleeves, like I usually do, and get tired of pushing them up and out of the way all day take a rubber band (I just grab one of my daughters thin hair bands that come in a bazillion colors so there is always one that matches the shirt I'm wearing) and slide it over your sleeve about one fourth of the way up. Letting the bottom fourth of your sleeve lay flat bunch the other three fourths up above and over the band.  Your sleeve will stay where you want it and the excess sleeve covers the band.  Perfection accomplished!

I hope you made it through all of this, and have some idea of  what I was talking about. To be honest, I'm not so sure I really know what I was talking about.  But hey, its done and I shared, and now I am going to bed.  Feel free to share back. After a day like today I really do need to hear from you.  Wait, I need to address something real quick.  A few of my Face Book friends have mentioned having problems leaving comments on the posts.  I wrote a post about that here.  I have tried everything I could to fix it on the blogspot end.  So, if you still can't leave a comment on here, I would absolutely LOVE it if you "liked" my Face Book page and we can chat about crafty stuff on there, or my insanity, or just anything.  

Finally, A Big shout out to my little brother who turned 18 today (the 6th): 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you!

Okay I think that's really it for now.

Have a great day and God Bless!

A Whole New Beginning

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Not only are we at the beginning of a new year, but each day brings a  new beginning.  Will today be a day I procrastinate away and get not enough accomplished? Will today be a super productive day that I when my head hits the pillow it will be with a sigh of satisfaction that I squeezed every bit of my time and effort into accomplishing all that I intended?  For most of us the majority of our days are actually one where we go to be having accomplished some of our goals, but still have some undone.  Now here's truth time for me...Lately I think I have been in the procrastinating camp just a little too much.  It is time to get my rear in gear!  With this being the beginning of a new year and month I am setting goals for myself.  Some Daily, Monthly, and Yearly ones, but for now I am going to touch on one of my monthly goals.
This year I want a different room to be de-cluttered and organized each month.  Counting bathrooms, bedrooms, living, cooking, creating, and dining spaces that will be 10 rooms which equals 10 months.  I will take the month of June off since I am gone the majority of that month, and December because we all know re-organization will NEVER happen in that month (Well at least around here)!!!!
I think My first room will be my Master Bath.  It needs a good scrubbing/redecorating/painting.  It has multiple problems that need to be addressed.  As for the color scheme it is currently and interesting combination of mint green (tile the old kind that goes halfway up the wall and isn't going anywhere unfortunately),

(Sorry for the flash, but in order to see the true minty greenness it had to be used)

tan walls that have water lines from water dripping down them due to a combination of no venting in this old house and a hubby who likes to wake up by showering for at least an hour in a steaming (literally) hot shower, old gold hardware that I have been meaning to replace since we moved in a year and four months ago, cream trip, and bronze and chocolate accents.

I forgot to mention the ugly old (the silvering is starting to come away on the bottom of the mirror. Not bad, but enough to drive me crazy) contractors mirror and florescent bare bulb lighting fixture.

Since I am intending to turn my Master Bedroom into a cool welcoming oasis of gray, black, and white the Master Bath is going to be gray walls, mint green tile, and black and white accents. Other improvements are going to be a fan/vent to combat the whole steam issue, new towel racks and light-switch plates,  a new mirror or frame in the current one (I'm leaning toward framing the existing due to I'm cheap monetary issues), and a new lighting fixture (A MUST!!!).  Also going to improve storage issues with some additional shelving. I think it's going to look really great, and I cant wait to get started!

Oh yeah, I got an AWESOME Christmas present that my hubby was so excited that I asked for (its one he actually enjoyed shopping for).... drum roll please.... a Jigsaw!!

I cant wait to make so many things with it!  One of the first is going to be some decorative shelving for my reworked Master Bath!  This saw is AWESOME!  It will cut through just about anything, cuts angles, and decorative curves.  I cant wait to get started!

So with all this built up excitement and anticipation lets see how this month of organizing the Master Bath goes, and move on to the next room.

What are some of your Yearly, Monthly, and Daily goals for this new year? I would love to hear all about them!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Whisking everyone a merry Kissmas

I want to share with you the gift I gave both our neighbors and our church's Sunday School department teachers and aids.

I found this adorable idea on Pinterest, of course. 

(feel free to follow me on Pinterest by clicking on the button on my sidebar ----->) 

Its was created by a wonderful blog called making memories with your kids.

I LOVED the idea and quickly set to work gathering all the supplies to make SEVERAL of these....ummm I'm talking my kids and I whipped out roughly 23.  I gave them to all our Sunday School Teachers & Aids, and I made a different tag to give to all our neighbors.

I started the project by having my 6yr old help me stuff the whisks with kisses.

A word of advice this only works well with the small and medium sized whisks, but they fall out of the large whisk so you will need to take a handful, wrap them in plastic wrap, and then insert them into the large whisk.  Also be aware that not all of the kisses in the bag will make it into the whisks.  Somehow they make it into the helpers mouths, of course that's all part of the fun.

Next I took some red packaging ribbon.

And attached my tag to the loop at the top of the whisk.

This particular tag was the one made for our Neighbor gifts.  The tags made for the Sunday School teachers were different and more of a "Thank You" for all their hard work.  The tags can be made anyway you like to fit the recipient or you can use the printable I have included.

Here's a generic printable tag for you to use should you decide to do this next year

I printed mine in 3x5 inch tags, but you can configure yours to make any size you like.  

I hope you like this idea as much as I did, and as much as all the recipients did as well!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Crazy Holidays

I dont know about around your house, but around here it has been Ca-Ra-ZY!
We have shopped, wrapped, practiced, sang, read the Word of God, organized, laughed, cleaned, unwrapped, cleaned, spent time Worshiping Christ, laughed, and generally had a great time!

I have also been buring up the vinyl with my cricut machine, and having a great time making some gifts for family, friends, and neighbors.  I can't wait to share them all with you.  "Whats the hold up?!?" you ask. Well basically, since I'm pretty sure a couple of the ones who havent recieved their gift yet read my blog, I just can't bare to spoil the surprise for them before they receive their gifts. So it's going to be a few days before one is posted, and then again a little over a week for another one.

I am going to share something I just threw together (out of Necessity).  I have a sweet (but mean when crossed, or feels his toys are being poached by his older sister, and justifiably so) two year old little boy.  Who is a lovable cuddly independent prickly little man.  This little boy received the EXACT same gift as each of his big sisters this year from their grandmother.  A personal dvd player.

In theory, and yes reality, this is a great gift that will end the bickering over which dvd they are going to watch on the long road trips we take to see family and friends back in Texas. BUT, they are IDENTICAL dvd players.  Not good for this very defensive little boy who doesn't yet quite understand that everything he sees, and wants, isn't magically his (he is still very much in that "toddler" mentality and is just now slowly coming out of it).  So to prevent any hair pulling (his sisters), being pinched (his skin, their fingers), or hitting (they all do that) I came up with an ingenious idea for who's is who's.  I pulled out my Cricut that I have been having SO much fun with this year, a fun cartridge, my red vinyl, and got busy.

Now you are probably wondering the same thing my friends and family, that were watching on with great interest and amazement, asked me..."Uhhhhh....you know your putting that on upside down right?!?!?"  To which I replied (rolling my eyes) "Ummmm NO. I'm. Not.  SEE?!?!?!?"

To which, after seeing it with the lid opened, they said "OOOOOhhhhhh, That's cool!!!" 

I am pretty pleased with the result, and so is my Lil' man.  Oh, and the end result was completly achieved: there has been no bickering over the dvd players!  SCORE!!  We wont mention the 3DS's or the trains and all the other new Christmas goodies they now have to bicker over.  Nope, wont mention them AT ALL!

I hope everyone had a VERY merry Christmas, and will have an AWESOME new year!

Have a great Day and God Bless!

Christmas filler for my Apothecary/Hurricane Jars

Just wanted to pass along what I used as Christmas filler for my apothecary jars.  If your curious how I created these beauties (okay the picture really isn't all that great) You can check out the tutorial by clicking here.

Just a little of the Christmas cheer in my house.  I cant wait to show off  some of my other decorations.  Such as my tree and other vignettes.

Hope your holiday is great and God Bless.