Simple Christmas Decoration

Today I am going to show you how to make simple Christmas Decorations.   That don't cost an arm and a leg.

Materials Needed:

Glass jars ( Some of these jars I had already at my house, however, I did go to the dollar store and
 purchased one for $1)
Epsom Salt
Greenery Picks ( I picked up mine at my local dollar store)


First I poured the epsom salt into the jar, then you place your picks or other objects and that is all there is to it.  Simple, fast and easy but the results are so cute.   Be creative with it use things that are laying around your house. 

I pick this glass jar at the dollar store, then I raided my daughter animal toy bin, also I made the sign and added a pick and some small pine cones.  I purchased the glass jar, epsom salt, pine cones and picks from my local dollar store.  This cost me only $3 to make.

This jar I had already at my house, I just wanted to show you that you can use decorations that you have laying around your house.  The snowman was given to me a while ago, the bunnies were from my daughters animal toy bin and the ribbon I had laying around the house.  The possibilities are      endless so have fun with it.                                                        

                       

Carrie

P. S.  This post was linked to Not Just a Housewife, and Today's Creative Blog , The Inspired Colllection                                

Christmas Wreath

Materials

Grapevine wreath (Hobby Lobby $1.99)
White felt (.50 @ Hobby Lobby)
Greenery Pick ($1.00 @ Family Dollar)
Ribbon ($1.00 @ Family Dollar)
Glue Gun

This was really super easy to put together.  Just right for those small areas in the house that just need a little something.

To make the felt roses I just got cut different sizes of circles and then cut each circle into a spiral and rolled and glue them.

Then I hot glued the greenery pick with my hot glue gun on to the wreath along with the felt roses.  Tie a ribbon for the wreath to hang from and then your done.


This post was added to Not Just a Housewife, Todays Creative Blog

Weekernd in Review

What I want to remember about this weekend .....

That I took my daughter to get her ear pierce.  She was excited yet still nervous. It's kind of funny how the past repeats itself because I was the same age as her when my mom had my ear pierced.  I held off on getting her ear pierce until I knew she wanted to do it.  After getting her ear pierce we had fun picking out some earrings.  

Weekend in Review

Weekend in Review summary Family time together.

Happy Veterans Day

Thank you to all of those who have served and protected us.  God Bless YOU


P.S. Sorry for the shaking video I forgot my tripod but I think the songs are the most important part of the video.  

Update - Christmas Planner

Some of you might remember my post on October 22nd where I talked about my Christmas planner.

After years of being over whelmed by the holiday season.  I decided something had to change.  I looked for sources to help me organize my lists, receipts, gift ideas, Christmas cards list and etc.   I found Christmasplanner.com.  That's when things change for the good.

I don't know if anyone else was like me but in the past  I was constantly making lists and forgetting where I put them.  I was forgetting to pick up gifts, and doing my Christmas cards each year was a chore.   That's until I started using this Christmas planner. Having one place to go to instead of lists all over the place has definitely helped cut down on the stress.  I finally put together this year's planner and thought you might want to take a peek.  

My Christmas Planner

 

If you would like to use the free down loadable forms that I used in my Christmas planner check out  my October's 22nd post where I give you the website address. Christmas should be enjoyable and stress free.

Carrie

Scented Rice filled heating pad

How to make your own scented heating pad filled with rice

Material you will need

Some type of cotton or muslin fabric

Fabric for your pad cover ( I suggest to get soft material or if you want to save money use what you have laying around the house like cloth from an old pair of flannel pjs, or old sweet shirt)

Thread

Sewing machine

Scissors

Uncooked rice ( you can also use beans too)

Scented oil (you can purchase this at your local Craft store)

Zip Lock Bag

Step one

Pick out the fabric for the heating pad cover (I used a soft fleece fabric that I got from JoAnn's Fabric).   You will also need some muslin for the pouch that holds the rice.

Step two

Casing

For casing that will hold your rice cut two piece of muslin to the size and shape you want.  I made mine a rectangle and cut two piece of muslin at 10" by 5".  I matched the two piece together and sewed up all four sides leaving about a two inch opening to pour the scented rice in.

Cover

For the cover of the heating pad I cut one piece at 10" by 5",  another piece of fabric at 4" by 5", and another piece at 6" by 5".     I matched right side of fabric together and pinned all three piece together.   Make sure that you pin the fabric where it overlaps (so that they are straight).  Then sew all four sides and turn fabric right side out.

Step three

In order to scent the rice I poured about 1/4 of uncooked rice into a zip lock baggie and dropped two to three drops of scented oil into the bag.  I then closed the zip lock bag and shake the bag to make sure to distribute the oil over as much of the rice as you can. ( I purchased my scented oil at Hobby Lobby)  TIP - you shouldn't have to use more than two drops of scented oil.   The saying a little goes a long ways applies here. 

After distributing the oil over the rice I filled my muslin casing with the rice and sewed up the opening using my sewing machine.

Step four

Place rice casing into the heating pad cover and then you are finished.

Tips and Warnings

• To heat the fragrant pad, place it in a microwave oven for one to three minutes. If you desire moist heat, place a cup of water in the microwave while heating the pad.
• Watch the fragrant pad while it's in the microwave. Some herbs or fillers may have a potential to smoke and may even catch fire

These are supper easy to make and are a great idea to give out as Christmas gifts.

This post was linked to:  Today's Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, My GirlishWhims


Carrie

Weekend in Review

The Perfect Fall weekend

• The kind of weekend that we don't get to much around here
• The kind of weekend that when you are running here and there that in your mind your secretly wishing for,
• The kind of weekend where chores are done
• The kind of weekend that you just throw on some sweats and kick back and relax
• The kind of weekend that you get to do whatever you want to do not have to do
• The kind of weekend that you get to cherish your family and enjoy your home
• The kind of weekend that you get to go out to eat as a family
• The kind of weekend that you go to the movies as a family
• The kind of weekend that you get to be in your craft room crafting your little heart away
• The kind of weekend that is so layed back you forget to pick up the camera to document
• The kind of weekend that you start a fire and kick back with your hubby and watch a good movie
• The kind of weekend that when people ask how was your weekend you just smile and say it was great,
• The perfect weekend 

Halloween around our house.

What I want to remember about this Halloween ......

How much my daughter just loves Halloween.   She loves everything about it no doubt.  From picking out her costume, decorating the house, picking out the perfect pumpkin, and craving the pumpkins.  I think that she was counting down the days till Halloween since the beginning of Sept.

As I was standing there waiting for the school costume parade to start I realized that I only have one more year of all these fun activities left.   After next year she will be in middle school and they don't have classroom parties or parades.   I guess I will have to cherish this last year.

School's mascot

Also while the parade was going on in my mind I was missing the fact that my son wasn't here.  This is the first Halloween we were a part, since he left for college.  Then I started to wonder what his plans were but thank goodness I had the parade going on so I quickly stopped thinking of that.

My daughter was so patiently waiting for her friends to come by and pick her up and I snuck this shot in above.  When I look at this picture I thought gez where does the time go.   She has grown up so fast.  Maybe I was thinking this way because my daughter and her friends where trying to convince me that they could go alone this year. (NOT going to happen).







I can't believe I didn't get one picture of the whole group this year.   I was so busy handy out candy that I totally let my opportunity slip away.  Besides as soon as my husband pulled in the drive way the group was so ready to get on their way.   Which left me there at the house to hand out candy.  It felt weird not going along with the girls this year but I was so thankful my husband volunteered to go this year since it was a little chilly out.

As usually my daughter tricked and treated until she was dead tired.   I wondered how the teacher were going to handle these kids the next morning and I remembering how I felt sorry for them.  Well Halloween is over and almost all my decorations have been put away on to the next holiday.

Carrie

Get Ready for December Daily Album

It's that time of year - time to start thinking about your December Daily album.   Last year was the first year I put together one of these albums and I just loved the out come of the album.  I can hardly wait to get started on this year album.    It's funny when I look back at last year to see what I had done.   As I said before it was my first year and I didn't know what to expect.   I followed along with Ali Edward on how to go about making and prepping the album and I even put together all my foundation pages.  I started out with a paper album but at the last minute I decided to make my album completely digital last year.


I used Ali Edward's digital version of her foundation pages and some digital papers to put it together then sent it off to be printed.   Here's a look at a couple of my pages.

I used Ali Edward digital overlays

Again this year Ali Edwards has come out with some more digital overlays you can find them here

Aren't they cute.  While I debate whether or not to go completely digital this year or not I've been on the look out for some inspiration for this year's album and I found a great list of picture ideas from
Katrina Kennedy here .   Also if you are a member of Pinterest there is so many inspiration ideas there for you to look through.   I'll update you on the progress of this year album later.

Carrie