Yes, I changed my blog design AGAIN!

If you didn't know it before, you certainly know it now.... 

When it comes to backgrounds, I have ADD!

I'm having a blog-design-identity-crisis!

I think I spend more time searching for designs than I do actually blogging.

Why can't I find something that 'fits'?

I like colorful

I like somewhat simple

I like clean

I'm not a fan of turquoise 

(although I like it on other ppl's blogs)

I wish I had saved where I got the design for the background I had a few backgrounds ago...

cuz I actually liked that one.  

Now I can't remember why I changed it from that one.

I think the one I have right now is pretty 

(pink sparkly scrapbooky), 

but it doesn't suit my blog,

or me.

In fact, I just noticed today that it cuts off half of the pictures

(which means it's outta there...like RIGHT now!)

Ugh!

I'm not a 'business' so I can't really justify professional design.

And does it really matter?

Apparently it does.

I want something....

 identifiable

a little crafty

with a lot of white

I'm a huge fan of red

but I could live with orange

I like burlap

rustic wood

old houses

big barns

farms

my kids

and grandkids

newsprint

tulle

baskets

Ikea

Ummmm, therein lies my problem

I like everything

and I'm non-committal....lol

Pray for me!

Send me design sites if you know of any good ones

(besides Cutest Blog On The Block....love them, but I've already used like four of theirs...hehe)

I'm open to suggestions....PLEASE!

Christmas Paper Craft Projects 2011 (and 2010)

Are we finished with Christmas yet?  

Nope!

I think Christmas should be celebrated year-round!  

Or at least for more than just a month!  hehe  ;)
(I promise only one more post after this about Christmas...til next year)

I love these little crafts aka GIFTS that we made this Christmas,
so of course, I'd love to share them with you.

These projects were constructed by me but 100% designed by Rachele!


2011 Christmas projects

Here's the sad thing about making these cute goodies at Rachele's......

I like 'em so much I fail to give them away.

Note to self:

Share these with friends next Christmas 

and spread the love!

1.  Vintage Santa card, held up by.....

2.  ....a candy cane easel

3.  'Candy wrapper' box filled with Christmas MandM's

4.  Mini electric candle snowman

5.  Recipe card holder

6.  Pencil box

7.  Snowman candy jar filled with candy canes

8.  Reindeer food

9.  Treat box filled with Christmas kisses

Don't be surprised if one of these ends up on some of your doorsteps this next Christmas, 

because I just might love you that much!  ;)

What???  An easel made out of candy canes?  Too clever!

I love ALL of this year's projects, but this recipe card holder is my favorite!

I'll be using this baby year-round!

Soooo, yeah, I still have my projects from 2010 too because, 

like I said, I'm selfish and don't give them away.  lol

Again, these projects were assembled by me, 

but 100% the designs of Rachele!

(aka craftyagentmom)

2010 Christmas projects

This is one of my all-time favorite projects!

A cupcake kit complete with a cake mix, sprinkles & picks!

Can you believe that?  How much would a teacher or neighbor love to receive this?

A quick 8 1/2 x 6 Christmas album!  So creative & already in the page protectors!

I fell in LOVE with this medium-sized chipboard Christmas album!

It was my first attempt at making pinwheel flowers...I failed and had Rachele's daughter, Mikensee, make them for me!

Since then I have reattempted and have made dozens and dozens of these lovely flowers!  

Funny how we psych ourselves out!  :)

This mini Christmas album was made from a chipboard book and has several darling decorated pages!  Adorable!

Last, but not least, a glass ornament with a hand-stamped Reindeer message inserted inside....

snuggled into it's own precious box!  

Craft nights with Rachele always go into the wee hours of the night, 

but THIS particular class had me driving home at the wee hours of sunrise!  

Whoops!

It was worth every lost wink of sleep!

I love you Rachele!  

Thank you for sharing your amazing creativity!!!

Annual Ornament Exchange 2011

Please forgive me, but I'd like to post the rest of our Christmas goodies 

BEFORE I start telling you how excited I am about Valentine's Day!  lol 

Remember my friend Rachele that I've spoken of before?  

(We made paper gingerbread houses at her place last month) 

We have good times together and her/our projects are fun to make!

I also hope she starts blogging again, because she's good at it!

(RACHELE, ARE YOU READING THIS???)

Anyway, as part of the craft group that Rachele has organized, 

she has added an annual Christmas ornament exchange.

I am so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing (and crazy fun) crafty women!

I'll start with the ornament I made.  Believe me, it was a huge improvement over my ornament last year! hehe

And can I just interject AGAIN about how much I love Pinterest?

Anytime I need an idea for pretty much ANYTHING, I can find it there!

So I created a list of  handmade ornaments that I loved and finally narrowed it down to one.

This wonderful little guy

I don't know who originally made it, but isn't he completely adorable?!

(if you know who made it, let me know so I can give them credit...thanks!)

I did my best to copy him with what materials I could find

This was one of my favorite quests EVER at Hobby Lobby!

I filled regular and small sized clear glass ornaments with tiny foam balls and fake snow.

I left the metal 'cap' on the small ornament to hold the snow in, then glued them together with E6000.

The small ornament with it's 'cap' fit perfectly snug into the larger ornament.

Something weird happened overnight while I let them dry..........

 Some were fine, but in over half of them the 'snow' melted!  What?!!  My only guess is the fumes from the E6000 disintegrated the foam.  Whatever.  They're still cute.  Right?  *silent sobbing*

Here is the first one I finished.

Ummmmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Yeah, Groucho Marx!!!

Or who's that Mario guy?  Him too!!!

Gah!

If there was ever a time I wanted to knock the smirk right off someone's face............... 

Ahhhh, that's better.  A little more charming without the big goofy grin! Don't you think?

My little army

Now for the ornaments from the rest of our little crafty group

How cute is Tracie's handmade 'cupcake'?!

Char's bell!

Dianna's hand sewn star!

Paula's tiny topiary blew me away!

Ann's precious handmade drum....she always has a way with packaging too!

Rachele is a clever one with that paper!  So cute!

Sandy's handmade paper bell

I love every single ornament and how completely different they all are!

Soooooo, since we're talking about ornament exchanges 

AND

I wasn't so much of a blogger a year ago

I'D LOVE

to also share our ornament exchange from last year.  :)

Funny how I didn't even make one of mine to keep for myself.  

I honestly thought I had, but somehow...

well, I dunno.

Anyway.....

Here's Ann's handmade 'ribbon candy' with her clever packaging (that she also handmade).

Sandy's handmade wooden stocking

I absolutely love the simplicity and meaning of Monika's glass ball!

Kathy is the super sewer of the group!

Rachele's made from a cookie cutter, a big bell and layers of fabric and glitter!

Tracie's handmade decoupaged paper ball!

Britany's Santa paintbrush...so adorable!

I hope you found some inspiration to make some ornaments of your own next Christmas!

If you do, please let me know!  I'll add them to my pinboard!  :)

Happy Crafting!

(and pinning!)

Cowboy's 12 Months of Christmas

Remember back here when I mentioned I'd let you in on what I got Cowboy for Christmas?

He is SOOOOOO difficult to get gifts for because:

#1 - He doesn't want anyone to spend money on him.

#2 - He doesn't like 'stuff'.

#3 - He pretty much just wants to eat.....

#4 - ....and go places.

Well first off, I was inspired by this

which was posted by Shannon Brown's blog, Life In General.

I knew I had to do this the minute I saw it!

(THANKS SHANNON!!!)

So I had two challenges:

How to make it 'cute'

and what to put in the envelopes.

With some great ink colors and 12 large plain white envelopes I was all set to take on the first challenge.

THAT was the easy part!

I'd been thinking and thinking and watching for ideas and picking up gift cards here and there, etc.

And here's what I came up with:

(I will update these as he opens them each month, just in case he reads my blog (lol)

I can't give away his surprises and ruin the rest of the year for him!)

January: Two tickets to the Herberger Theater in downtown Phoenix for the musical Daddy Long Legs plus a gift certificate to Abuelos Mexican Restaurant.  He has yet to use the meal certificate, but we already went to the play and it was seriously one of the most delightful productions I've ever seen!  If you get a chance, SEE IT!  (It's still playing for a couple more nights here in Phx).

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Now that I'm onto this great idea from Shannon, I will get a much better head start this year on what to surprise him with for his 12 Months of Christmas next year!

Looks like we might have another new tradition!  

FIRE AND DIRT! An AZ New Year's Eve

                          It's an annual tradition that Cowboy joins his lifelong friends 

                                     to spend New Year's Eve out in the desert 

                          visiting, playing, grilling, eating, four-wheeling, and shooting.  

                                    A tradition that my kids and I have gladly adopted!

The kids run and roam freely

The moms and nannas play with the babies and visit

Have you ever seen such a big skillet???

The men grill

and grill

and GRILL!

Mmmmmm, the food sure is good!

Nothin' better than a Hebrew National dog roasted over mesquite!

My granddaughter Laney was tired,
so I snuggled two camp chairs together to make her a "Rest Nest"

Papa (Cowboy) took every kid on a ride around the 'mountain' at least once.

I don't know who these boys are, but they sure were enjoying our 4-wheelers!

 My daughter Maddie (in the red striped jacket below) decided to build her own fire nearby.  

It didn't take long for the other kids to show up and play near her fire.  

Hmmmm, there are mostly boys here.  

Maybe she's on to something?

Fire Dancers!

Uh, oh, someone forgot to tell this guy to not dance IN the fire!
He blistered up his ankle pretty good after catching his pants & sock on fire.
I think he's okay now.

Oh yeah, shooting...........there was plenty of that too!

Trace giving Laney a piggy back

Bella LOVES the desert too!

Happy New Year!

Our son Kyle with his babygirl Makenna.  They are visiting from Texas.
(Kyle already looks like a Texan!)
;)

Ohhhh, one of my favorite parts, roasting marshmallows for smores!
See the chocolate & graham crackers next to the fire?  Yummmmmy!

Laney enjoying s'mores with her Nana.  :)

Our little friend Connor just so happened to be celebrating his 8th birthday.
We had joined his family earlier in the day for his wonderful baptism.
Can you believe this amazing barrel cactus cake that his mom & grammy made?  

I think those cactus needles are made of chinese noodles!  Clever!!

A big part of the annual tradition is that at the end of the night,
we throw (dry and flammable) Christmas trees onto the fire.
The flames are HUGE and VERY HOT!
Just one more reason I like to use a fake Christmas tree!  ;)
(which is why we have to drive around the neighborhood
and look for trees other ppl have put on the curb.  lol)

We pray your family also enjoyed a fun and safe Eve 

and that you are blessed with a prosperous and 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

What are YOUR New Years Eve traditions?