8 Years, a Couple of Gifts, and a Cold

8 Years. Eight years, as of today, I have spent with the most wonderful man in the world! Happy Anniversary, Hubbums! I love you!!!



I also wanted to share with you a couple of gifts that I made (at the last minute of course....for the most important people in my life! LOL!) for Christmas.

I created this canvas for Sean. It is a favorite quote of his.

like tears in the rain



This is the $3 frame that I scored at Home Goods (it had a print in it and I just switched it out with cuteness!) and then created this wall hanging for my parents. Mom was pretty much thrilled with it, so that's good.



Finally, this is a little faux moleskine that I created using Kraft cardstock for the cover and upcycled grocery bags for the pages. My camera obviously didn't care for this, as it refused to take a clear photo (trust me...I tried!), however, it is really cute because it has gnomes on it and gnomes are just awesome and stuff.

And....yes, I seem to have come down with this loveliness that everlone has been wandering around with. I had a shot of Dayquil with my breakfast, so I'm hoping that works. We are expecting 6-8 inches of snow today, so at least I will have a nice extra long time to "relax" in traffic during my 60 mile commute home! LOL! Actually, I think I will leave early today. It's New Year's Eve AND my anniversary, so I say I have an excuse!

My Husband is the Best...Another Thank You...and...A Question to Ponder

I just need to take a moment to let you all know that I have the BEST husband in the whole world! No, seriously, though, folks, I really do! Let me show you what he did for me for Christmas!

First of all, we only do stockings, as we don't like to focus on the "gifts" part of Christmas so much. Well, he does an AWESOME job every single year and this time was NO exception!

Let's begin with the candy he chose to stuff in there. There was a bag of Peach rings....I don't have a photo, but they didn't last long! LOL! I LOVE those things! And then there were these...



Do you SEE what that is???? It's a Dymo Label maker gum dispenser!!!! AND....candy BUTTONS!!!! He went out and found "scrapbook supply" candy!!!! If that's not the sweetest thing, I just don't even know what is....

...BUT WAIT, There's More!

You see, he also wanted to get me a few scrappy things, but when he went out to the stores he saw that there was so much on sale and he wasn't quite sure what was on sale because it was a good deal and what was on sale because it was crap that came out decades ago an they just wanted to get rid of it....SO....the natural choice would be a gift card, right? Well, he didn't want to do that, seeing as I am his wife and that is a wee tad bit impersonal and all....so what did he do? That sweet man took his change jar, got it cashed in and he put these in my stocking:



Why, yes! Those are those really cool dollar coins!!!! They are way fun! I thought that was a wonderfully creative way to give me the freedom of choice!

BUT WAIT...that's Not ALL FOLKS!

Guess what he made for me!!!!



Yup! You read that right! He made it! Just for me! And...because I'm totally into upcycling and he knows that he made it from a t-shirt of mine that didn't fit quite right. Yeah, my husband is the coolest in the world! That's all I'm say'n!


Okay.....On an entirely different note....a HUGE thank you to Robin at Pensieve! This package of goodies arrived on Christmas Eve and was a blast to open! I won a giveaway that she hosted a little while back and I was thrilled that it was a scrappy a giveaway! I am super excited about that paper! I need some great ideas for these stamps...particularly the flower one, so if you have any links, I'd love 'em!



And....now for that Question to Ponder....

Do you ever wonder about the phrases that we say and how much meaning they really carry? I was thinking about something random last night and the phrase came to mind:

"That's not really the image that I'm going for."

Now mind you, this was in a silly sort of manner this time around, but when you think about it we hear this phrase quite often. So here is my question for you....do you know what "image" you ARE going for? We say things like that and it makes me wonder if we focus so much on who we are not that we loose track of who we might be. We have a great definition for all that is NOT what we want to be, but yet...when pressed, are we really able to pinpoint what we DO want to be? It was a random thought I had. Just figured I'd toss it out there for you to ponder today.

It snowed just a little last night, but in that, "Ha! Ha! I'm coming back to dump on you tomorrow!" evil sort of way and that makes me sad. I hope it is not snowing where you are.
Have a great day!

Twitter

Yup! I did it! I have officially begun to "tweet," as they say. I have a whopping 3 people following me, and I'm not 100% sure how to get people to follow you, so any suggestions or charity case workers would be greatly appreciated! LOL! So...come follow me so I can follow you and stuff. Seriously...do we ever stop to think about the way this craziness sounds when we say it out loud? LOL!

I have SO many Thank You's to do!!!

Wow! So, I took a little time off...sorry about that, but last week was just a little too nutsy for me to be online much. Anyway...I actually have quite a bit I want to share with you, but I guess I should at least attempt to spread it out a bit! LOL! I have some folks to thank, I have some stuff I made as gifts and couldn't share before, and I received some fun things I'd like to share with you, too! So, that's pretty much a summary of what you will see this week. I would toss it all into one REALLY long post, but you would get tired and then I wouldn't have much to post for the rest of the week! LOL!

First of all, I need to say a HUGE thank you to my awesome Secret Santa over at All Moments Remembered, Julie! OH MY FREAKING CHRISTMAS SCRAPPY CUPCAKE MONKEY OWL JINGLE GOODNESS!!! This was a seriously amazing package! I received it on Christmas Eve and that alone was a blessing because I needed a bit of a 'pick-me-up.' So, I got home from work and had a million little things that I still needed to do and we had to leave for Church at 6:30 to get there for 7 and then we had two parties we needed to go to after the service. I still hadn't even started my parents Christmas gift, I had a couple of little things I wanted to make for Sean and I still needed to find a gift bag or something to put my sister's gift into so that we would be ready for Christmas day. Well, I came home and there in my scrapbook room were three boxes that Sean had picked up from the office for me! How much fun is that? One of those boxes was from Jewelz and I can't even get over her generosity, her incredible thoughtfulness and her kindness! Each and every item felt as though it had been hand chosen just for me. She wrapped everything in smaller packages (I SO should have taken a pic of it before I opened it, but I totally spaced and didn't). The wrapping paper was even hand selected! It was "Jingle" bell paper and had my name written ALL over it! LOL! She included so many wonderful things! Here are some pics just to give you an idea....keep in mind...I have a few obsessions in my life...cupcakes, monkeys, owls, and "J's" of all kinds!



Okay...so you see why I was so excited! LOL! Sean was a bit confused because he kept hearing gleeful exclamations from the other room as I opened each individual package of goodness! LOL! Do you SEE that adorable little cupcake container??? Yup! The frosting part is the lid and it comes off and I can put treasures in it! Right now I have it right beside my bed, but it may end up back in my scrapbook room or somewhere else once I find something I deem worthy to be held within the cupcake!

And .... Did you see the wicked cute "Jingle" ornament? LOVING THAT! And the "Jingle Bling" cracked me up! It even comes with a little book that tells you the history of bling! LOL!

That little cupcake cookbook totally ROCKS and I can't wait to try a couple of the recipes in there! And we haven't even DISCUSSED the scrappy stuff yet! New Distress Stickles!!! Yup! I was pretty stoked about those! Sakura Souffle pens...a personal favorite of mine!!! CUPCAKE stamps!!! Need I say more? Plus, she got me the cute little holiday sets that WM is carrying and she ONLY got me the ones that I didn't already have because this girl SERIOUSLY pays attention! I was uber impressed! There are o-wires for my BIA, which I am SO excited about! There is a BUNCH of crazy cute AC ribbon, the little Jolee's cupcakes are so stinking adorable and did you see those cute little owls back there???? CUTENESS!!!!

OH! And she included a WHOLE PACK of 12x12 Kraft cardstock because I mentioned that I wanted some really nice kraft and everyone said that Hobby Lobby was the best place to get it and guess where I live...East coast, baby...no HL here! (One of the great things I miss about Denver!) I already used a sheet of it! It is just as perfect in color as everyone claims!

Plus there was Distress embossing powder, the cutest little monkey pin, that neat painted "J" which resides on the "green shelf" in my scrapbook room, an adorable handmade tin stuffed with my favorite gummy bears, another little mailbox tin stuffed with Swedish Fish (my life source) and two emergency chocolate bars in a cute cupcake purse bag thingy....OH...and let's not forget the little felt snowflake embellishments and the Jingle topper and, of course, the really cute butterfly photo box in which she stuffed most of this great stuff!

Whew! I may have missed a thing or two, but I am going off the photo, as I don't have it all in front of me, but you can see that she deserves a HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!

Here are a couple more pics for you to drool over! I hope you don't mind me sharing this. I just was really excited because this was more of a blessing than a gift. I was really touched by what Julie sent my way! Julie....thank you. You truly made a difference in my life. You did more than you know...especially right now. Thank you.





As far as Christmas morning photos...this is a good example of what I got! LOL! I think we shall call it "Puppies in Motion!" LOL!

Look What We Made!!!

Okay....I am so totally busy right now because we have to leave in like an hour and a half to go up to Manchester to do Christmas with some of the fam, but I just HAD to share with you these gifts we made! Sean did the machine sewing because...well...yeah...I still haven't learned that darned machine, and I did the design ideas and the hand stitched parts. Oh...and the card at the bottom of the post just may be one of my favorites for this year! I made four of those to add to my stack! I still can't believe I even got cards made this year! It makes me happy!



This is a Scraflette that we made for my cousin. It is fleece and comes around to button in the front. Very cute!



This is a cuddle plushie we made with the same fleece! I have never done these before and OMG!!! I am IN LOVE! I want to keep this one! LOL! It is SO adorable! We did this for my 3 year old cousin. I hope she likes it! The face is hand stitched and it is stuffed with recycled plastic grocery bags so it has a soft crinkle sound!!! I LOVE that!!!



This is her sweet little face!!!!



And THIS is the WAY cute snowman card that I just LOVE! The hat and scarf are popped up and the colors make me happy! This was the CTMH stamp of the month last month and I don't usually get excited about assembly style stamps, but this set was SO much fun to work with and they actually came together really fast, too!

Okay...so that's all, but a post on a Saturday is rare for me, so I hope you enjoyed it!!! Have a great day! It's snowing and cold here...got about 6 inches last night and it looks like it will keep up all day and into tomorrow...fun. Note the lack of exclamation points. Oh, well....at least it looks pretty for now...until the trucks hit it and it just looks gross. Okay, I'm done whining! LOL! Have a super wonderful day!

Upcycling, Creating, Gifts, Inspiration, it's pure craziness around here!!!

Wow! All I can say is that it is SO worth it to take the time to clean your space! Seriously, folks! Since I cleaned up on Wed. night I have created SO much stuff! I made another button tree just like the one I showed you yesterday for my Mom and then I made lots of other stuff that I needed to get done before Christmas! Seriously, I'm having a blast! PLUS...I am working and managing to get the time to do this stuff! It totally ROCKS! Anyway...enough of my pure ECSTATICNESS here, folks! Let's get on with the show!!!

First, I would like to show you this fabulous little recipe clip that I made as a gift for someone. I don't think she reads my blog, but just in case, I will not be telling you who things are for to protect the innocent...that would be me...yes I AM innocent...okay...all of you hush and just look at the pretties, now, K! LOL!



Ummmm...yeah....I kinda LOVE IT! Look at those crazy eyes on that owl! Isn't he just fantastic! This would make me smile if I cooked! LOL!

Next...I made two journals using my one and only awesome Bind It All! Dude, seriously, though, folks...if you don't have one of these find a way to obtain one! It is the BEST tool! It is a blast to work with and I feel like I REALLY made something whenever I use it! Too much fun!



This one is covered with Chatterbox papers and the inside pages are all natural papers. They are really pretty! I love it!!!



This one is covered with a shimmery Hambly print and the pages are all cut from a paper grocery bag! Yup! That would be me doing the whole upcycling thing, again! I love using trash to make cool stuff! It's wicked crazy fun! You should totally try it sometime!!!



And finally, I made four of these cards last night while listening to an AWESOME and much needed sermon (It's the one called "I've got you hanging around my neck." from Rob Bell. If you have never heard Rob speak, you should check out the stuff he has on that site! Life Changing! He is so good! And so REAL! Totally worth your time!

Well, I would say "that's all for today," but quite frankly that's like TONS for today, so I hope you like it all and I look forward to sharing more with you next week! I will be heading to Manchester tomorrow to do Christmas with my Mom's side of the family and then going to Mom's for a traditional Christmas Sunday lunch with the Pastor's family, and we are supposed to have the youth group Christmas party with the kids tonight, but if this storm gets in the way, we may have that on Sunday, so I guess we just have to wait and see! Have a great weekend!

Do you have holiday plans this weekend?
Have you made lots of crazy fun stuff this week?
Do you love what I made? (Yes...I'm totally fishing for compliments, but what can I say, they make me smile! LOL!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Button Christmas Trees and Tin Can Angels

Just a quick post today to share with you a couple of projects that have been done around our house this week.

I created this great this very fun cone tree on Sunday with my Kindergarten Sunday School class! The kids did a great job with theirs, but of course I forgot to take pics! I really love mine, though! LOL! I think I am going to try to whip one up for my Mom because it is a blast to make and I think she'd love it! I just punched paper circles from Chatterbox Artsy-Licious papers, then used pins to attach the paper circles with a button on top to a foam cone! Super easy and super fun! The best part - a NO adhesive project!!!



Next, I want to show you the cute angel that Sean made the other day! We received a couple of aluminum angels as a gift and thought they were cool, so Sean wanted to try his hand at them. The ones we received incorporated other materials and Sean really wanted to only use the can, so that is exactly what he did! It came out AWESOME! I love this thing!



Isn't that just adorable!!!

Finally, I wanted to share my wonderful plate and mug that I put out over the weekend that is JUST for cookies for Santa! It is a Mary Engelbreit set that my Mom got for me several years ago and I just love it! It makes me smile!



That's all for today! What have you been up to? Did you make any decorations for the season? I'd love to hear about them!

Etsy Love! *Redux Designs*

Yeah, isn't that just the coolest name ever for a shop? I love it! ***Redux Designs***. It's just fabulous! And, due to the fact that I figured she meant it when she called her shop that and I'm all over the whole upcycling, recycling, reusing thing...I knew this was a shop that I had to check out!

Gladys put it so well in her shop announcement, so I'm just going to share that with you here:

"Redux - to remake or redo. Redux Designs - to remake clothes and accessories reusing fabric, jewelry, and anything else I can find, to create new pieces. A necklace may be remade into another necklace, or it may become a bracelet and earrings. Whatever it becomes, it will be unique! Also available, a selection of hand-crocheted items made by me."

Yup! She grabs whatever she can to make great new stuff! PLUS she crochets a few things, too!

Let me just SHOW you some of the things at Redux Designs that caught my eye...we are talking UBER CUTENESS her folks!!!!

First off...check out this way cute scarf!!! I love it and I want it! I love the colors and look at the great work she did! I always appreciate a crafter willing to show close ups!



Another awesome example of the greatness that is Redux Designs is this great little wristlet! How cute is this! She has some other great clutch and bag designs, too!



And then...there is all the adorable jewelry! OMC! As in..OH! MY! CUTENESS!!!
This little button brooch would look super fantastic on my black and white coat!!!



Just when you thought it couldn't get any better...Gladys has a great blog where she shares her secrets with tips and tutorials on making your own great redux goodies! How cool is THAT???!!! Love it! Go check it out now to see a great tutorial on how to make a way cute sweater purse!

So...go check out Redux Designs...come back and tell me what you found there that you love! OH! And keep your eyes open because Gladys has offered to sponsor a giveaway here on JustJingle after the new year!!!



***Remember...if you have a shop that you would like to see featured here or know of a great shop that deserves a feature let me know!***


Have a wonderful day!

When all else fails...turn to random happy pictures!

At least, that's my plan! Today, I am sharing with you three simple photographs of things that are around my house that caught my eye and deemed themselves photo worthy.
They will hopefully land themselves on a scrapbook page one day, but you know how these things go....


1.


2.

3.

What do you mean you don't have aliens randomly sitting on your breakfast bar? Doesn't everyone? I could blame the kids...if I had any! HA!

Show me your random photo and post a link! I'm in the mood for some random photos!


OH! And I am adding this because I want to share it with you!!!

Have you checked out these fairly new masks from Tim Holtz? They are awesome!!! I want some so bad to play with! You can get them at All Moments Remembered along with a whole bunch of Tim's other stuff, and lots of great other products like October Afternoon, Daisy Bucket, Pink Paislee, and MORE!!!!

And the Winner Is.....

Thank you to all of you who entered my earrings giveaway! I love that I have so many new Etsy shops to check out regularly! I hope to do another giveaway soon!!! The winner this time around is.....



.....



....



....




PRINCESS210!!!!

Please email me with your mailing information and I can have this out in the mail tomorrow! Congratulations!!!

On another note, today is my company Christmas party. They take us out for lunch and then we do a Yankee Swap and have cake back at the office. It's fun and the best part is, we get paid for it since it is during the work day! Gotta love that!!!

Snowfriends Christmas Card

***Please don't forget to scroll down to the post below to enter the giveaway! All you have to do is link to an Etsy shop you love! The prize would make a great Christmas gift for a loved one!***

HOLY CRAP!

I actually have a card...that I actually made...to show you today! LOL! Actually, I made these over the weekend, but I just got the photo this morning. I really love the way they turned out.

I went a little non-traditional in that I chose to make these as card flats rather than folded cards. The shimmer flats themselves are from Cake and Milk Paperie and they are gorgeous! A beautiful heavy weight shimmer stock! I love them! I paired those with Bazzill Bling cardstock, Close To My Heart stamps (snowman and sentiment), some of those great $3 stamps from Walmart, and some stickles to add a little extra sparkle! The inks are all Close To My Heart. I chose to use the Archival Black to stamp on the bling cardstock and it came out wonderfully crisp and clear and it didn't smear at all! I love that! To paint the snowman I used my waterbrush and the "squish" method with my CTMH ink pads. I squeezed the pad while it was shut and then opened it and used the ink on the lid section as my palette. They came out SO cute and I was able to use the exact same colors as the snowflakes on the side and we all know how much I love it when stuff matches perfectly! The back side has a simple textured white cardstock panel 1/4in. smaller than the shimmer flat that will be stamped with my favorite Merry Christmas stamp!

Here it is!



Did you make any cards or gifts this year? If you did and you have them posted please leave a link! I'd love to see them! I still need to make lots more so ideas are always wonderful!

Toppling Over and It's Giveaway Time!!!

So last Saturday morning we had the joy of attending the Club 56 (fifth and sixth grade) Christmas Party. Sean teaches their class, so we jumped in for the party. It was crazy! LOL! Seriously! The kids were awesome and everyone had an awesome time. We did one of those fun gift swaps where someone reads a story and we pass the gifts left when we hear the word "left" and pass them right when we hear the word "right." Guess what I got!!!!

a tin of sardines.

nope. not joking.

the good thing is that there was a $5 bill tucked in there! LOL! Fun stuff!

BUT....Sean got this fun Topple game! Remember this one? I didn't even know they still made it! So...since we recently got rid of cable we have been doing all sorts of things with our time in the evening and the other night we decided to unwrap this sucker and play! It was SO much fun! I'm pretty sure you can get it at Walmart or Ocean State Job Lot for around $5, and let me tell you it is SO worth it! Buckets of fun!



I have been wanting to do a giveaway for a bit, now, but I was concerned about postage costs. Well, I decided to go ahead and do one that just happens to be light weight! LOL! So, without further ado....

IT's GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Today's giveaway is this pair of handmade earrings!



Now, because I'm always looking for great Etsy shops to highlight here on my blog, this is what you have to do to win. Go to Etsy and find your favorite shop! If you've never been before you are in for some fun! Just find a shop that really catches your interest and then post the link to it here along with what you love about it!

That is for your first entry! You MUST do the above and include both the link and the reason to qualify!

For a second entry sign up to Follow The Leader (follow my blog) and leave an additional comment letting me know you are a follower.

For an additional THREE entries blog about this giveaway on your blog along with a link to my blog and a link to Etsy. You can take this photo of the earrings if you would like to show off what you can win!

Be sure to leave your email address or a link to your blog so that I can contact you if you win! The giveaway will close at midnight on Friday. (Boston time, folks!) I will post a winner by Monday. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me with their info, if I do not receive contact from the winner within 48 hours I will draw a new winner.

Thanks for playing!!!!

Life.

I don't have a great post for you today.
I hope to be back tomorrow with a post.
If not tomorrow, perhaps later in the week.
I am sorry.
Please pray for us right now.
We need it.
Thanks.

Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree...

Here is our little tree. It's a four foot tree and I love that it is so little! It is a special little tree to us! I like to decorate it to look like a "department store" tree, and I usually add ribbon wrapped around it, but I did the beads this year and I think I will be back to my ribbon next year. It's just not as dramatic without it.

I also wanted to show you this very cute advent calendar that I won from Sharla over at My Little Gems
! Isn't it just adorable! I love it! The letters are vinyl on a metal cookie sheet! It is simple, but perfect! Really, I love this thing. The small wooden ornament is magnetic and is moved from day to day to count down the days until Christmas! She did an awesome job with it! Sharla has an etsy shop, but she is taking a break at the moment. I hope to share with you again about her other stuff when she gets up and running again! She really does wonderful work!





OH! And while I have your attention, I want to thank so many of you for visiting my blog yesterday and reading my fun little story! I do have a question, though, and I would LOVE to know the answer. I got a TON of traffic yesterday - quite a bit more than usual, however, I only got a few comments. Now, some of you may not have found the post funny or interesting and that is fine, but my questions is more to those who did....what keeps you from commenting. It makes me so happy to get comments and if you add your email address (which I don't see) I can reply to your comments and that makes me happy, too! So what is stopping you? Why is it that you don't want to let me know you were here? LOL! Thanks for the input. It's a mystery to me and I would love to know the answer!

Have a great Friday!

Sesame Street on Crack and the Case of the Missing Pencil Sharpener

So, here is the story. My husband walks into my scrapbook room wielding two or three blunt, dull, and just overall pathetic pencils in his left hand.

"You have a pencil sharpener in here, don't you?" he asks inquisitively.

Obviously, the hope is that I do, indeed, have said small appliance, as he is in dire need of pencil sharpening. The thing is...while that may seem like a simple, easy response kind of question, you must bring in the "Jingle factor." Yes, that would be the factor that indicates that I have anything to do with the situation, therefore, it simply MUST be more difficult than it should be. The Jingle factor may even be present in your life, as my effect has proven to ripple from time to time. Anyway, I digress. The "Jingle factor" led to my answer to Sean's question.

{speaking rather quickly, as I do when I know the news isn't quite what one wants to hear, but I'm still sure a solution may be able to be reached} "The thing is I know I had one in here and I was looking for it not that long ago because you had mentioned that you needed one then and I never did find it but I'm almost positive it was in these shelves {mind you...both of us are looking around the room in various places for the pencil sharpener as fast chatter continues} but I can't find the darn thing anywhere and I totally put it there because it was easy to plug in and still have on the shelf but I must have moved it or maybe I put it in one of those brilliant places that I would 'remember' because I put it there have you checked on that table under that unsteady pile of who knows what? how about on the table over by the door? It has to be here because I know I own one and you can't just LOSE a big chunky electric pencil sharpener! Here, let me check behind these {pulling out 12x12 albums on the bottom shelf, which, had I thought about it, take up the whole shelf due to their size, but it was a random thought that I would have hid it behind there} WAIT!"

"There is a cord back here."

*****Insert break from really fast talking. Take a breath. Get to the Sesame Street on Crack part of the story.*****

So...realizing that the cord probably goes to the missing pencil sharpener, Sean begins to look at the shelf above the one with the albums since the cord is only so long and probably leads there. Enter this photograph:



As Sean looks, he considers that I would have probably hidden the hideous electric pencil sharpener behind something because it isn't at all inspiring...okay...so he probably didn't consider my reasoning at all, BUT IT ISN'T!!! Anyway, he picks up this bucket of foam stamps, which, by the way, IS inspiring. The stamps, being light weight foam, of course, begin to fall off everywhere leading to the following comment:

"This bucket is like Sesame Street on CRACK!"

Which quite simply led to him finding the pencil sharpener behind the bucket of letters and me laughing so hard I was no longer of any use.

Thus, Sesame Street on Crack and the Case of the Missing Pencil Sharpener - SOLVED!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Organic Cotton with a Dose of Fresh Sea Air

That's what comes to mind when I visit this shop on Etsy!
Milo In Maine has some great choices! I love this long sleeve t!



They have a collection of great tee's with fun graphics reminiscent of my childhood vacations spent on the beaches of Maine! I love that!

Need a wonderful comfy scarf? They've got that, too! And in wonderful colors!!!

Also, Milo In Maine carries cute tote bags, which would make the perfect eco-friendly gift wrap for one of their tee's!

Check out Milo In Maine! I think you will like what you see!

I love highlighting Etsy shops and Independent retailers! If you have a shop that you would like me to showcase let me know and we can chat!!! Or...if you know of a great shop and would like me to check it out let me know about that, too!!! I am working to add giveaways to this segment, as well, so if you know of a shop that may be willing to sponsor a giveaway drop me a line! Thanks for your help and thanks for reading!!!

The Secret is in the Sauce: Welcome to the Merry SITSmas decorating party!

You totally have to go over to The Secret is in the Sauce to check out their holiday celebrations!!! It's Merry SITSmas time!!!

The Secret is in the Sauce: Welcome to the Merry SITSmas decorating party!

Thanksgiving Day, Kids in a Cage, Cornbake, and Pumpkin Cupcakes

Today you get a quick overview of my Thanksgiving day. Really, it was a wonderful holiday and great to see family again! Here are some of the highlights of the day.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Instead of the classic desserts I decided to bring pumpkin cupcakes as my contribution. They were SO yummy! And they came out perfect! I would love to tell you that they take great skill and amazing background knowledge to make, but really, I cheated, as I always do! LOL! One can of pumpkin and one box of your favorite spice cake mix. Seriously, folks! That's all! Then pour into your cupcake papers and bake at the usual 350 for about 20 minutes! I used a basic cream cheese frosting and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar for an extra kick! That was yummy!



And the cornbake!!! We LOVE this stuff in our house! Sean makes it and he does a great job with it. It's amazing just how difficult this can actually be! One year his cousin tried to make it and it was more of a corn BRICK and every single time his mother tries to make it there is LITERALLY an explosion in the oven. I have no idea how they do it, but Sean makes it perfect EVERY time! It is SO SO SO good! I really don't know why we don't eat it more often! He even made this one a low-fat version just for me and it tasted exactly the same! It was wonderful!





This is my cousin (the adorable little 3 year old girl) and my other cousin's son (the super-cute 2 year old boy). They decided that the best way to spend Thanksgiving would be to crawl into the dog kennel and play. For a really long time. LOL! I sat there and took SO many pictures! They were totally cracking us up!


And....as this was going on we just sat and watched as you see Sean doing here. It was too cute! LOL!



So, overall, it was a wonderful day! We really enjoyed it!

I don't usually do a lot of family stuff on my blog, but I got some great photos this past weekend, so I may share our Christmas tree hunting experience with you, too, if you don't mind!

And...finally, I just want to show you this video. It is so dead on and I love that!

No, I have not yet fallen off the planet....

....just the usual "my goodness! when was the last time I blogged..." excuses. Super crazy busy, spent time with family instead of online during the holiday weekend. Tons going on. Haven't created JACK lately! And so on.... HOWEVER....I did make some REALLY yummy pumpkin cupcakes and got one of my best cupcake pics ever (imo) so I'll be posting that, along with an Etsy feature, perhaps some pics of my super cute cousins playing in the dog cage....yup...you read that right...and maybe if you (and me) get lucky I will make something cute and post that! I did get some fun pics when we went to cut down my parents Christmas tree, so those may be worth sharing with you, too. Maybe some youth group pics, I do have a few decorations up so I could post about that....I don't know... I'll come up with some stuff, though, I promise! I'm always full of good 'ole randomness!

What would YOU like to see this week?

My new Upcycled Watch and A Birthday Card with a Gnome on a Cupcake in a Jar

Those things seem to go perfectly well together if you ask me! HA! Anyway, that is what I have for you today!

My New Upcycled Watch

Let me start you out with a little back story here. Not much, don't worry. I have had a fairly simple, decent pair of black boots for a couple of years now....more than a couple, I think. I purchased them at top dollar from a trendy little boutique ($25 at Payless) expecting them to last me a lifetime (a season). SO....the reality of it is...they actually lasted for a few years - I don't remember exactly how many, but considering the price - WAY longer than they were required to last, THAT is for sure. However, you may have noted by now that this entire diatribe has been in passed tense. Yes. They "lasted" for a long time. When did they finally go, you ask? Well, that would be last week. When I REALLY needed them for the outfit that I wanted to wear and I no longer owned ANY backup plan of ANY kind in the black boot category. This was also, incidently, one day after I made the stunning realization that I had given away my brown boots after last season, as they were a little too worn and I just wasn't loving them anymore. Oh....that was dumb. Because you see....now....I didn't have any "normal" boots (I do have a couple cute "trendy" pairs, but they aren't the "wear with anything" type of boot, kwim?) to speak of. THIS was not a good thing! No. Not a good thing at all. I am a SHOE girl! I MUST HAVE BOOTS! Problem: Not exactly room in the budget for the WAY cute boots I saw in the latest Eddie Bauer Catalog. Solution: An unexpected stop at yet another high end trendy boutique (Charlotte Russe) where I managed to procure TWO (count 'em) TWO pairs of boots (one black and one brown) for $50. That I could manage since it was an emergency and all. BUT....alas, that left me with my old Payless boots sitting forlorn and cracked with no hope for donation as they were beyond wearable. What is one to do with such forlorn boots? One must make them feel as though they have done all that was required of them and more, thus. My next story.

I'll keep this one short and to the point. My old watch is driving me nuts. My skin has been reacting with the metal band causing chemical burns on my wrist with tiny blisters and it even made the metal on the underside of the watch band bubble up. NOT a good thing. Must replace watch.

I had an old watch with a decent face, but the band didn't really work as an everyday band because ....well because it just didn't.

Enter: the Boots.

I had planned to do this myself despite the fact that I can't sew and have not even really used the sewing maching that sits in my scrapbook room, but, alas, my wonderful husband did it for me yesterday!!!!

He cut the material from the boots to create this great new band for the watch face that I already had! All he had to add were snaps to attach the face and, obviously, to secure the band around my wrist! I love it! Isn't it great? And it totally repurposed my boots, which I think is WAY cool! Plus, if I want to make other bands with other fabrics, I can switch them out! I love upcycling!!!!!

Here is my new watch!







Now...For the Birthday Card With a Gnome and a Cupcake in a Jar

Isn't that what is on all of YOUR birthday cards? LOL!

This card was inspired by the wonderful Travelocity commercials. My dear and wonderful husband is turning 30 on Saturday and we really aren't "talking" about that. LOL! Hence the gnomes fear of certain death.






This card has SO many supplies! I didn't really realize it until I had to list them all! LOL!

Acrylic Overlay: Hambly Studios
Decorative Tape: Martha Stewart
Stamps: Close To My Heart (frame behind title), Stampn' Up! (jar and lid), NikoArt (gnome - everyone needs this stamp!!!)
Colored Pencils: Prismacolor
Cupcake Punch: Martha Stewart
Cupcake Rub-on: Pink Paislee
Glitter: Pink Paislee
Transparency: Avery (over jar)
Ink: Close To My Heart (black and chocolate) Ranger (pumpkin)
Marker: Marvy Uchida (used to add the color to the dots in the frame)
Chipboard Letters: Heidi Swapp
Silver Pen: Target
Cardstock: Close to My Heart

Feel free to ask any questions. I'd love to know what projects you are working on!!! I always enjoy reading your comments! Thanks for stopping by!

Oh...and one more quick thing....

crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager! Seriously, though folks!