2010-What a year!

Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality is having a fun top projects of 2010 party. Although I am new to blogging and all the awesome jazz that comes along with it I thought it would be fun to join the par-tay!

I searched through old posts and my Yarn Snowman had the most comments, so I guess you could say that was my top project. However, if you ask me what my top project of the year was, of course I'm going to say this handsome little man!

When I started this blog it was a place for my family and friends to come keep up with us. I never considered turning this into a crafty little outlet to share my projects, until I met a few awesome and totally inspirational ladies, who unknowingly encouraged me to open up a little and share some of my projects. So, bring on 2011! I am planning to have a complete blog makeover and start this new journey with a bang! I really hope  you will come along and follow. I also really hope you will send any POSITIVE advice my way :)

Happy New Year Peeps,

Merry Christmas to you!

I'm taking a little break until after Christmas, but stay tuned because I have a BIG, BIG, BIIIIIG post coming up for you after the holidays. You won't want to miss it. I'm wishing you all a very merry Christmas and sending you a huge cyber hug!

-Chelsy

Our Oh-So Traditional Christmas Tree

Yes, our tree is a hodge podge of ornaments. No there is no uniformity to it. Yes it has random things from random places. No it does not match anything. And yes I absolutely LOVE it!

Each ornament has a story. I love that. I love how people come into our house and stare and work their way around looking at each and every ornament. I love when someone says "Oh this is pretty, what's it's story?" or "Wow, that's really odd. How did you get that?" (Yeah we hear that alot:) We have a tree topper from the 80's, ornaments from each of our childhood's and are adding new ornaments for our children.  We upgraded to a fake LED tree last year. I have to say, it is alot easier then getting a real one. Especially with a toddler and a newborn!

This little hippo gets alot of questions. Jusy FYI- I did not pay money for her, she was a gift?

She does have alot of character though :)

My husband collected John Deere ornaments growing up... We have a few-

One of this year's new additions...

For this new addition...

So do you see that window thingy in the background? I HATE IT!! I guess that's what we get for living in an old house. Every one who sees it say "Oh, I love that window." First of all it's not a window, it's a pain. I have no idea what to do with it. I don't even think my husband knows it's there. But it's all I can see. What can I do with it?!

 Hope you like our Phillips Family Christmas tree!

 

Linking up to TDC's Christmas Tree Party!

Jingle Bell Snowman

Hello Peeps!! This is going to be a super short and easy post. Why? Because this is a super short and easy craft... duh!

So, is this little lady the cutest little jingle bell snowman you've ever seen?

Do you want to make one ten of your own? Here's whatcha need:

Jingle bells (I used the large ones) or anything round really.
Pipe cleaners
Pom Poms
Googly Eyes
Felt or foam
Hot glue
Ribbon

First, attach the basics... you know... eyes, nose, mouth!

(A golf ball makes a cute little snowman too!)

 Then cut a 3in piece of pipe cleaner and glue it from the left side to the right, going over the top of her little jingle bell head. Then glue your pom poms over the ends of the pipe cleaner, tie a ribbon on it and enjoy! See easy peasy!

I originally saw these on Oriental trading and it was something like $10 for a kit to make 12 of them, I politely said "No thank you. I will make my own for much cheaper." So there you have it, I hope you have fun with these! They are also a great craft to do with the kids. Happy Wednesday all!

P.S. Snowmen are very generous and kind, so I'm sure they would love it if you shared them with your friends and neighbors.

Linking to the fabulous parties:

Christmas Mantle Bliss

In true crafter fashion, my mantle is not complete. I'm hoping to have it finished before Easter, but we'll see. I had this bright idea to do a lime and red theme, instead of my usual red and white. Cute, huh? Problem? I have tons of red and very little lime green. And Husband just can't justify my reasoning to buy all new decorations just because I had a wild hair to change it up. He loves me, he just doesn't understand the crafter in me sometimes. Good thing I'm thrifty and a somewhat genius (seriously, I am. Ok...not really). Oh and I have my secret weapon...Hello Dollar Tree.

(To truly enjoy the beauty of this mantle you are going to have to come over and drink hot chocolate by the fire with me, because I took these pictures with my iPhone.) (RIP Trusty point and shoot, we had some good times.)

I am definately loving how it is coming along, and it could very well be complete if I had paid attention in second grade and learned to keep my hands to myself.  But I keep moving, and tweaking, and picking at every. little. thing.
I made a tissue paper tree from Halsey's tutorial over at Spunky Junky, I had high hopes of doing two green ones and two red ones. But I gave up on that after just finishing a red one and half of a green one. Tissue paper and toddlers don't go well together!

(Here's one of the conversations we had while I was making a tree:
T: What's this Mom?
Me: It's tissue paper.
T: Snot....Blow....Fake Sneeze. Look Mom, I blow my nose!)

I made the "Believe" garland by painting my ornaments green and using the eraser end of a pencil for the polka dots.  The letters are just stickers I had on hand. I hung up my twine and just used ornament hooks to hang them up there.

The reindeer ornaments  and snowflakes came from Target. The reindeer were $2 for two, the snowflakes were $1 for four.  I had all the balls on hand, except for the lime green ones, they came in a pack of four at Dollar Tree. Everything else I had on hand.

That's pretty much it... for now....

What do you think?

Magic Reindeer Food

This is such a fun gift for your neighbors with children, classmates,  sunday school class, do i need to keep going or do you get the idea?! Oh, and it's so super easy and cute too! Bonus points!!

So here's what you need to make one batch (but it's so easy to multiply):
1/2 Cup Oatmeal
1/4 Cup Sugar
Red and Green Sprinkles
Red and Green Edible Glitter (optional)
Ribbon
Cellophane Bags

(If you have young children that don't know reindeer can't eat glitter, you can just use plain:)

All you do is mix it all together and pour it in a bag. Tie it with cute Christmas ribbon and attatch this poem:

Feel free to copy and paste mine and just print it out. ( You love me right? ;)
The food will be gone the next morning and your kids will be super stoked! It totally adds to the magic of Christmas.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of us making ours , because some little stinker two year old that decided to make my day, poured out sugar all over the kitchen floor.  Yeah... I know...

I hope you try this with your kiddo's, or pass it out to your friends!

Happy December,

Don't forget the dog...

...or the cat! These are a couple of super easy, simple and delicious (don't ask) recipes for the pets or pet lovers in your life. I wasn't totally prepared to do this post, hence the lack of presentation, but I was thinking these would be so cute wrapped up in a little dog bowl with a toy. Or a cellophane bag with a cookie cutter. Or... Well you get the idea, use your imagination peeps :) (BTW-They have tons of pet goodies in Target dollar spot.)

Lucy

Cat

These are our two little recipients. I use the word "little" very loosely for the animal on top, but don't tell her that. And yes we do have matching animals...No, we didn't do it on purpose!



OK, first off Dog Treats:

1 c. Flour
1 c. Wheat Flour
1/2 c. Corn Meal (yellow is fine)
1/2 c. Powdered Milk
1 t. Packed Brown Sugar
1t. Garlic Powder
1/4 t. Salt
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.
Then add:
1 Beaten Egg
1/2 c Cheddar Cheese
1/4 c Parmesan Cheese
1/3 c. Beef or Chicken broth (warmed)

Mix well and knead 8-10 times on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1/2in thickness and cut with cookie cutter. Arrange on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 250 for 1 hour. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen, depending on size.

Now, if you want to make this even easier and give it to friends or neighbors, you can just mix up all the dry ingredients and put them in a cute cellophane bag and attach the instructions for the rest of the ingredients.

Cat treats:

1/2 c. Canned Tuna (small can)
1 c. Bread Crumbs
1 T. Oil
1 Beaten Egg
1/2 t. Brewer's Yeast

Mix all ingredients and drop by 1/4 teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet; bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool to room temperature; store in airtight container. Makes about 4 dozen.

In High School, I volunteered at an animal shelter and made these almost every Saturday to take up there, they were a huge hit! I hope you try these (not literally:) or gift them to the pet lovers in your life! Enjoy!!


Linking to these awesome peeps:

Toddler Turkeys

So, I know the "turkey hands" are everywhere in blog land. However this particular technique was new to me so I thought I would share just in case I'm not the only one out there living under a rock! Have you people ever seen these fabric crayons? All you do is color whatever you want onto a piece of paper, then iron it on to your fabric. I am just amazed! This was the perfect craft for toddlers, and moms who need a couple of quiet minutes:)

I'm not going to give a whole big tutorial on these, but basically you trace your childs hand, let them color it, try to resist the OCD in you to make them color in the lines, and then iron it onto whatever you choose. In our case, we ironed them onto white fabric and then I stitched them onto their t-shirts. (I used embroidery floss and hand stitched everything, but you can use your sewing machine, or if you want to hand stich them, but don't have embroidery floss just double or triple your thread to make it thicker.) Taylor and her cousin Owen had alot of fun "coloring". The only drawback I have found is that you have to hand wash the fabric that you use. So I wouldn't suggest doing this on something your child wears often, unless of course you love to hand wash laundry, I don't. I took a bunch blurry pictures, so hopefully that will help.

 (I am just amazed by the difference in these two hands! I can't figure out if Taylor has little hands, or Jaxon has really big hands. The one on top is a almost three year old, and the bottom one is a four month old!)

 Sorry, I know it's hard to see on the white fabric.

My iron was set to medium-high (5-6) and it takes a while to transfer, so be patient. If you can resist the urge to lift the paper and admire your child's handy work that would be best. But if not, just be careful not to move the paper around.

Cousin Owen colored his hand too!

Here they are on the shirts, obviously Taylors isn't finished, but I wanted to show it to you anyway.

To cute!

So, am I really that far out of the loop, or is this technique new to you to? I hope you try this with the kiddo's, it really was alot of fun!

Happy Friday,

Linking to: