{ Merry Christmas }

May we all have the true spirit of Christmas in our lives.

We only need to drop the last syllable of Christmas and we have the True spirit of Christ. 

 May this be something we carry with us all year through.

Merry Christmas! 

{ Some Baseboard, Trim & A Bit Of Photoshop = Wedding Gift }

My hubby's niece Brittany is getting married this Saturday the 18th and I've been scratching my head as to what to get them. For a long time now I've had a love of the Vintage Temple Pictures that you can buy. BUT my pocket book doesn't like the $160.00+ price tag these come with. 

SO I decided to do it myself.

 *We made the Frame out of Baseboard and some trim.

*The picture, I played around with in Lightroom & Photoshop then had printed at Costco in a 12x18.

*I painted it, then sanded down all the edges and hit it with some stain.

 Total price tag...... $28.00 people!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out. 

I see a few more of these on the horizon

FONTS THAT I USED:
For the name I used Hannibal Lecter. 
For the date I'm pretty sure I used Texas Hero.
Both, I'm sure I found free via the web..

{ A Must See!!!! }

My friend Kim and I took our Girlies to see Disney's Tangled last Saturday and it was SO STINKING CUTE!! 

I thought for an animated Disney movie this was hands down their best to date. 

We are sooooo buying this movie when it comes out on DVD.

If you haven't watched it, I HIGHLY recommend grabbing your kiddos and heading to the Theater before it's gone!!

{ Christmas Wishes }

Remember me??  

I've finally crawled out from under my pile of stitchery's & flu infected children and I just had to share this little goodie that's just too stinking cute NOT to make.

Brinley has been dying to get her hands on an American Girl doll but..... I can't bring myself to spend $100.00 on a D.O.L.L.  Especially since she has just gotten interested in dolls in the last few months. We have spent time on the internet and found several look-a-like dolls for a 1/4 the price of AG. 

You gotta love a girl with a wish list and the ability to be frugal like her mother and able to compromise.

While looking for doll info and trying to catch up on all my favorite blogs I happened upon this stinking cute bed from Ana-White.com

Photo via Ana-White

  Which looks just like our bed that we made HERE.

If you have a little girl with an 18 inch doll how can you NOT want to make this cute little bed??? 
The plans are free and the directions easy to read. 
Plus you get to use all your scrap lumber!!!

Here is the link to her site. 

Photo via Ana-White

 All I can say is this is one 8 yr. old who hopes her wish list becomes a reality!
Have a Fabulous weekend!

{ Holiday Wrapping's }

See these lovely HUGE spools of Bakers twine???

I bought; Brown/White, Red/White & Green/White.

 I've been eyeballing these babies for the last couple years, but a few weeks ago I finally bit the bullet and purchased some. 

Oh my head is spinning with all the gifts I can wrap with this stuff. 

I was looking all over Etsy for Bakers Twine but the prices were too steep for me for the little that you were able to get, 

I only paid $8.95 per cone, hello cheap!

If you want to purchase some for yourself the best place on the internet that I have found is from HERE ,each spool has 3400 yards on it, So I think I'm set with my 10,200 yard of twine.

Well I better get back to gathering all my Thanksgiving Day stuff together, it's a balmy -2 outside right now Brrrrrrrrr, so the more I MOVE the warmer I'll be. I hope.
Happy Wrapping!

{ My Holiday OCD }

 Hi my name is Rachel and I have Christmas Tree OCD. 

This is where I hear everyone say in unison, 
Hi Rachel.....

No the tree is not perfect, yet. Yes this was taken today and yes I know I'm early.

They say admitting ones faults if the first sign of acceptance so I will be the first one to say that........

YES I have Christmas Tree OCD & YES I am the only one that is allowed to decorate our Christmas tree. 

There I said it, its officially in Cyber Space.

I know this makes me a terrible mother as my kids will never grow up saying that they loved the holiday tradition where we all gathered together to decorate the tree while listening to Christmas music and sipping hot cocoa. Yeah, THAT pretty much will never happen and frankly I came to grips with this fact years ago.

But I'm sorry, to me the tree has to be perfect, it's just something I can't get over. After I get the tree all decorated, I will sit and stare at it & more often then not you will find me moving things here and there.

I once let the kids help me a decorate the tree and when they went to bed and finally were asleep I rearranged the whole flipping thing 

(see told you it was ocd). 

If it helps any, I do have little Christmas trees in each of my kids bedrooms that they get to decorate themselves how ever they like. I am hoping one day I will let the kids help again maybe when they've grown. But until then this is how it's going to be.
Please tell me I'm not alone here? :)

Our tree from last year.
Well I better get back to my unfinished tree.

But first I get to go on a date with my oldest, we are going to watch Harry Potter 7!

{ It's the Simple Things....}

Tonight I went with Jeannette & Jocelyn and watched 

The Phantom Of The Opera at Eastern Oregon University 

it was fabulous, & the cast did such a great job!! I'm so loving all the plays/shows that are put on locally! The time & effort that are put into these productions is amazing to say the least. For living in such a small community we sure do have lots of Theatrical talent living amongst us. I love it!

Thanks for the ticket Jeannette. :)

Then before I went home I ran to Wal-Mart and picked up some milk, bananas and ................GRANDMA SYCAMORE BREAD!!!

That's right I found it here!!!! 
Now stop laughing, I'm being totally serious.

I know for some of you this seems like no big deal. But I usually only get to buy this bread when we go to Utah and that's about 8 hrs from here. So finding it locally at Wally's, made this little Carbohydrate Loving Heart skip a beat!!! 

Yes it really is all about the simple things..... 

Sigh........

I think I'm going to go and make some toast and hot cocoa now... 

Goodnight. ;)

{ Georgia Day 2 }

So today I've spent most of my time stitching and it's coming along slowly but surely....

And while Lloyd did a bunch of this in the master bath....

 Tia & I picked up the kids from school and then ran to Target where I finally got my hot little hands on this most prized possession for the kids, I mean Corbin & Addison... :)

Can I just tell you how much I love Target!!

I so wish we had one back home, but maybe it's a good thing we don't otherwise my checking account would be in trouble.

Here are my spoils from yesterday, I love Hobby Lobby and their 50% off all fall decor!! 

Time to call the kids, so I better run! 
Sorry for boring post, tomorrow should be more eventful, but I'm trying to stay connected with my kiddo's and this is the best way, well that and my cell phone. 
Goodnight!!!

{ A Hop, Skip & A Jump }

Okay & some dress info, but before all of that ,we are officially in Adairsville, Georgia!! We arrived yesterday and already Lloyd & his brother have installed carpet in his living room and now they are working on some tiling in the master bathroom. 

SOOO while the boys worked my SIL Tia & I made the pilgrimage to Hobby Lobby and of course Wal-Mart to buy those few things I forgot to pack like Q-Tips & Shampoo.

I'm posting these pictures for my fab 5 

(hi Jentry,Parker,Brinley,Corbin & Addison!) because I told them I would and second to prove to my husband that even on a semi-vacation he is still working!!! The man logged onto his work network at every airport we were at, he is such a work-a-holic. Does this come as a surprise to me? Yeah not so much!

See Addison I was on "your" plane! :)

Okay now about the charm pack dress I made for Addison.

 The last time I was in Tri-cities visiting my mom, I ran into one of my old grade school friends sister Jessica from Handy Pants at church & she had the cutest dress on her little girl. (sorry that was a mouth full)

When I asked her where she got it she said that she made it! After I got home I got on good ol' facebook and asked her where she got the pattern.

So here is the lowdown:

Charm Pack Dress Tutorial from Sew Inspired
 Inspiration from Jessica!

I loved Jessica's version so much that I even bought the same fabric charm pack, it just screams girly!

TIP: when I made Addison's dress I sewed together 4 rows of 11 squares, this is what Sew Inspired uses for a 2t but I found it worked great for Addison who is in a FIRM 3T.

Well I better run I have kids that I need to call!

{ And Then She Was 3....}

Well, she did it

My Halloween Baby turned 3!!

It was a crazy busy day with church and then we had the Grandparents over for dinner & her birthday party. 

It was fun and so low key, she got everything she wanted and kept telling me Thank You Mommy, talk about melt your ♥.

I just love this girl to pieces.

This is the point in the program where I have to pat myself on the back because this girl LOVED her birthday dress that I made for her on Saturday. I think it turned out pretty cute, and now I want to make her a couple more!

Happy Birthday Addison WE LOVE YOU!

{I Really Shouldn't Be Doing This }

Because frankly I really don't have time, but I can't help it! Addison's birthday is on Sunday, yes Halloween and she will be 3 so I'm scrambling to get this dress and a Halloween one done. 

What I should be doing is:

*Laundry

*Packing for our trip to Georgia (we leave on Monday)

*Cleaning the house (again) 

*Cleaning up dinner

*Drawing up 10 Stitchery's

*Wrapping presents

*Birthday decor made 

**********

Need I go on???? No? 

Good because I don't want to, I just hope I get everything done that needs done. Well I better get off of here & get something done.

Have a FABULOUS Weekend!

{ My Favorite Family! }

I was able to take my friends family pictures while I was in Idaho a while back and here are a few of them.   

They seriously have some cute kiddos!

I love LOVE this one of the kids with their Great Grandma.

I'm by NO means a pro but can only HOPE that I am getting a little better each time.

{ Bunkie Board 15 Minute Makeover }

We have a set of bunk beds that used to belong to my Brothers kids, then they handed it down to us & our boys used them. The boys have officially handed them over to Brinley & Addison and this is what they look like, well the Bunkie board that is.

Terrible huh! 
Brinley told me I have to fix it, because frankly she thinks it's ugly and I tend to agree with her.

So I got out my supplies which included: some duct tape, a staple gun & some inexpensive fabric from Wal-Mart and set to work.

1. I clipped off all the excess fabric that was around the edges.

2. Taped all the holes in the cardboard.

3. Then put the new fabric on and stapled the dickens out of it.

This it took about 15 minutes but oh the transformation!


The best part was the price tag,

 I only used a little over 2 yards but I bought 3 at $1.00 a yard and 

So essentially this project cost me $2.00!!

Brinley appreciates her new view and I think it turned out pretty cute, even if my lines aren't totally straight.

{ Happy Sweet 16!! }

Nope this post isn't about a birthday. 

I just want to tell a little something to my ultra fabulous, amazing, wonderful husband.....

Happy 16th Anniversary babe I ♥ you so much!

October 14,1994

Can you believe this picture.... Sigh....Young love :)
We were married here.

Portland Oregon LDS Temple, Photo via web
We aren't doing anything much for our Sweet 16 but, we do get to spend a little time together in about 2 1/2 weeks when we fly to Georgia for a week! 

Alright I better get off my Anniversary soapbox and get some shut eye, morning comes all to soon around here. 

Have a fabulous Thursday!

{ Custom Family Stitcheries } TAKING CHRISTMAS ORDERS NOW!!!

It's that time of year again and I am taking orders for Custom Family Stitcheries, these make excellent Christmas presents for mom's, grandmas, sisters, friends or anyone!

So hurry on over to my Etsy Store on the right or CLICK HERE & grab one for yourself as I am only doing a limited number of these this year. 

For Christmas delivery the deadline to order is 10/27/10

Please allow up to 6 weeks for your stitchery to be finished & Framed. 

All orders will be delivered in December in time for gift giving.Thanks!

{ 6 Years Ago Today }

Yes, 6 years ago I was doing this.....  

And snuggling this......

I can't believe that he is turning 6 today.

Last years 5th b-day He seriously is just an awesome kid. He's got a mind of his own and a fashion sense, leave it to this kid to wear a cowboy hat with everything he owns. :)

But I wouldn't change him for the world. 

Well I better get back to prepping for his party. He is all about Toy Story at the moment so a Toy Story Party it is.....

Happy 6th Birthday Corbin we love you!

{ Framed Black Crow --- EASY Mini Tutorial }

I've had this craft in my head for the past couple weeks and finally got around to making them a couple days ago. They are not only cute, but they super fast & EASY to make, mine only cost around $1.25 you gotta love that price tag!

Supplies:

Black Dollar Tree Crow

Misc frame of your choice

Scrapbook paper (I printed mine from home)

Hot glue gun

 See told you it was easy!

 

{ A Little Halloween Enabling }

Photo via Poppies at Play Blog

While going through my Google Reader this morning I ran across this super cute Halloween Vinyl Sign from Poppies At Play.

she is selling the vinyl for $14.00 (that includes shipping). 
I can't wait to get my vinyl in the mail so I can make this fabulous little sign. Sigh..... I do love me some fabulous Halloween decor. Now go forth and purchase one of your own! :)
Photo borrowed from Poppies at Play blog