New Ornies

I wanted to share with you the newest ornies I completed. The penguin ornie I adapted from a Threadbare Primitives. I love her patterns & have adapted many to suit my current needs. I am really loving how the penguin turned out.

We have been busy as bees here trying to get ready for our family to come. The count right now is 6 guests. Not exactly sure where we will stack them. LOL I told hubby we may have to string hammocks. We are super excited to have everyone coming to our new home in a new city.

We have lots & lots of activities planned. The most exciting one is taking my mom to Graceland. She has bever been & it has been a lifelong dream to go. I know it will be decked out to the hilt. Can't wait to see her eyes light up. We are also hosting a party at our home where everyone brings a gift & you can steal back & forth. My friend informed me that they call it a Dirty Santa Party here in the south. I had never heard that expression before & still feel it sounds just wrong. lol I will be back to share pics as we move through the holidays.

Have a productive day! ~Toodles

Tis The Season..

Lets get ready to decorate! lol

I cant believe Thanksgiving is over in a blink of an eye...GONE! We had our first "Official" T-Day dinner with invited guests (can you believe it....invited & they came.) Seriously though, we had an amazing day. Everything went off without a hitch. It was kind of scary. Our daughter Tarynn's boyfriend's family (are you lost yet?) came for dinner. It was really nice to sit back & relax & get to know them better.

So now it's December 1st & I'm thinking I have a lot to do. My parents are coming around the 14th or 15th. My great grandma is flying in the 15th as well. Our best friend Dave is planning on flying up & my son Taylor is trying to come home too. If I get this all pulled off it will be a Christmas miracle. I am so excited to have the family all together. I am giddy....plain ol giddy with excitement.

I have'nt seen my son since May & that was only for a few hours. He recently just got back from training in Death Valley. They are getting ready for another deployment to Iraq. Apparently, his squad is trying to get it changed to Afghanistan. I am praying that they dont. It's just so scary for them. He did inform us that he re-enlisted & should swear in again sometime in June. It will probably take place in Iraq since they are scheduled for deployment in April. He was rather excited to tell us that they may be stationing him in Germany once he returns from Iraq. This child has always wanted to go there. He has had a fascination with it since early middle school. He even taught himself to speak German (and is pretty good according to his previous high school teacher). I'm so excited for him.

I was making all my lists & trying to get things done & out of the way for Christmas. I want to have as much time to visit & sightsee as possible. I have been baking like a mad woman. This weekend I tried to make cinnamon rolls. I cheated & used the frozen bread dough. They came out awesome. So easy. They are now officially on the menu for Christmas morning. Hahaha Hubby & Trav loved them. We put up our first set of outside lights on saturday. That was an all day affair. Sunday we decided to attack the tree. My poor hubby is probably ready to run for the hills but the tree is up & the lights are all in place. It looks beautiful! This year is my year..I get the white lights. We dont agree on the lights so we have to alternate each year. I like white & hubs likes colored...so we compromise. LOL Anyone else have these issues?

I'm working on more ornies. I am hooked I tell ya. I love the fact that I can sit with the guys at night while they watch tv & just stitch away. I am definitely going to be ordering more patterns. I have even decided to try & make some of my own designs too. I'll post pics of what I get done.

I know it's been awhile & I have been rambling on & on today. Whats scary is that I'm positive that there is a ton more I want to share. Hahaha

Well run while you can....before I remember something else.......Go create something!

~Toodles

Holiday Creativeness

Well I have four of the six ornies done. I loved making them. It's always fun working on Christmas goodies. I also love the fact that I can sit with the family & stitch while they watch

tv or take it on the go in the car.

Since I made a few extra....if anyone would like to purchase any of these cuties, just message me. I can take a handful of requests so I have time to get them to you to enjoy before the holidays. I plan on using them on the tree, for package toppers & possibly teacher gifts. So give me a holler if you are interested. The pricing will be $5.00 each or 3 for $12.00.

I have to get back to my baking. I am making a pumpkin pie & a pumpkin cheesecake for my daughter. Lots to prep & get done before Thursday.

If for some reason I dont get back on to blog tomorrow, have a Happy Thanksgiving with family & friends. Be safe & remember to take lots of pictures. Blessings to you all!

~Toodles

It's A Boy

I was right. It's going to be a boy. They have the name Landon picked out. Tarynn came by with her MIL & brought a balloon & a blue carnation. It was a super cute way to announce it. Here are the quick pics we snapped. They are'nt the best but we have something for the scrapbook. :)

My santa is just about finished. I should have the pic tomorrow to post. Then I think I will move to the moose. He is so cute.

Well I'm gonna go finish them up. Have a wonderful weekend!

~Toodles

Want To Win This

Is'nt she adorable? My friend Leanne is hosting this months giveaway at our CPLG (Country & Primitive Ladies Group) Blog here. She has made this adorable doll & a handful of cookie recipes. Who cant use cookie recipes this time of year. All you have to do is go over to our CPLG blog & follow the directions to have your name submitted to the drawing. I already went over & entered. So go....dont walk...RUN! :) lol

I will be back to share with you....Is it a girl or a boy? My daughter found out what she's having today & she wont tell me. It's killing me. I think they are coming over in person to tell me. I cant wait. I feel like it's going to be a boy...not sure but just feel it. So I will be back to share later.

Hopefully I will have one of my santa ornies done to show. I have been baking like a fiend. So I'm working on the ornies in between batches of cookies. Hahaha

~Toodles

A Dash & Something Old, New & Re-used

Hello Blogland~

I survived the weekend. My daughter & I were in a contest here locally called the Diamond Dash. It was set up like a mini Amazing Race. You had to write a letter telling why you should be picked. I wrote about my daughter and her unselfishness & her willing to help out others. So we did get accepted & were ready for the challenge. The race had 250 teams competing for a $12.000.00 diamond.

We completed the race but did'nt win. We considered ourselves winners for just completing the task at hand. I'm sure, when it was said & done, we walked about three miles & climbed numerous flights of stairs. We had an amazing time.....no pun intended hahaha. I felt a personal victory in completing the race. 55lbs ago I would not of been able to do that. I have missed out on so many inter-active activities with my children from being overweight & being self conscious & not wantingt to embarass them. It felt good to be able to do this with my daughter & have the memories that we did it. Poor Tarynn was exhausted. She said next year will be easier not being pregnant. LOL She recently walked in the Race For The Cure & wants me to do that next year. I think I can actually put that on my bucket list & hopefully complete that one too. *Ü*

Here's my something old. I got my t.p. rolls cut & glued. They are going together quite quickly. I purchased the spray paint & glitter for them. I'm going with a white paint & a light periwinkle glitter. You really have to try these. So simple & great for kids. I want to make some into hanging ornies & tie some on to packages.

My new is this. One of my dear friends Pat has gotten so many cute patterns from Countryside Crafts. I finally took the time to get over there & order some patterns. This is my first pattern from them to try. I ordered two. We will see how they come out. I have all the wool cut out to make four ornies per design. I think they are just so cute. Go check out what they have to offer. I was amazed how fast they shipped them to me and I'm impatient when it comes to snail mail. lol

Now for my re-used. Hahaha I have found this urge & need to re-purpose things. It's kind of a self challenge if you will. Thats how I came up with the t.p. roll snowflakes. lol I'm working on some Christmas mini albums for gifts. These are so fun & packed full of embellishments that I wanted to think outside of the box. I was digging around in my closet of stash...aka craft crap per hubby & found gift bags. I adore snowmen! I decided why could'nt I cut these up & use them in my albums or my gift tags that I make. So I grabbed some up that I wont be using & started cutting away. What a great idea for those bags that get a lil to worn to use again but would look great in a distressed type album. Well, I dont know about you but I loved it. This is one of the bags that I will be using. I will be sure to show you the album upon completion so you can see how I used them.

Well I have to get back to my baking. I made peanut butter chewies, "stuft" cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies & lastly 1/2 choc. chip 1/2 double choc cookies. Trying to get a jump on the holiday baking. :)

Have a wonderful crafty day.

~Toodles

Baby Shower Card & Snowflakes

Hi Everyone~

I wanted to share with you a crafty card I made for a recent baby shower. The girl having the shower is having a boy. They are decorating his room with the Browning Deer logo & her colors are lt. blue & brown. I wanted to make a special & unique card for her. First off, I had never heard of Browning Deer only the all favorite John Deere lol. So I scouted out some ideas online & came across a cute template for a onesie.

This is my card & envelope I made. *Sorry for the poor quality of photos. I was in such a hurry to get to the shower that I forgot to take good pics with my camera. My daughter snapped these

after the shower so I would atleast have something to share with you all.*

It was a hit at the shower since it was personalized for the mommy-to- be. I also went & bought plain lt. blue giftwrap & hand stamped the deer logo all ove the paper. It came out precious. I didnt get a pic of that. I was so bummed.

Now since I have made my master plan for the upcoming holidays including menus, grocery lists, gift giving lists as well as a check off for what we have purchased & what needs to be purchased. I have been trying to start my baking to get a dent in that. I am trying recipes that will freeze well until Christmas gets closer. I have my Christmas card list & my cards are ready to be signed. I still would like to get a snapshot of us to add to them. It all seems so overwhelming at times. One of these years I will have it all figured out in a timely manner. Yeah right! LOL

Anyways, I'm a crafter at heart & I keep everything. Ask my hubby. He hates it! About a week ago I told him to start saving the empty toilet paper rolls. Hahaha I know I'm weird. I just knew there would be a craft that I could find to do with them. Well say no more....I found an awesome craft that is super cute. I can wait to get started on it. Look here for my new project. Dont you think they are cute? You could hang them on the tree, put them on packages or make a garland for the mantle. I will share some pics when I get them done.

Well I'm off to cut toilet paper rolls. Hahahaha Hey it was'nt that long ago that I made this from an empty spool of ribbon. It's my way of helping out the environment & driving my hubby crazy in the process. Hahaha

Have a crafty day!

~Toodles

Halloween 2009

We were so looking forward to Halloween this year. It was kind of a bummer in the end. My hubby LOVES halloween. It is his favorite holiday of all. He has collected body parts, spider webs & all things creepy just for this one day. He was beyond thrilled when we moved into our new house. Finally, a yard that would work with the plans that he had. He went out & purchased products at the man candy stores (Home Depot & Lowes) so he could make new tombstones for his master plan. Got everything he could possibly need...3-5 stores later with an additional fog machine. "Everyone must own one of these", he says. I just shake my head....ya honey.

Halloween arrives & the yard I must say looked incredible. He did a fantastic job on it. Body parts, tombstones, spider webs, spotlights, strobes & creepy crawlies all in place. He even mixed his own CD for all the creepy Halloween howls & screams. I'm telling you it was great.

Tarynn & I decided to take Travis to a carnival at a church nearby then off to trick or treat afterwards. The carnival was really cool but unfortunately geared for little ones. Travis went through a couple of games & was pretty much done after that. Besides being bummed that everything was geared to the young kids, we were misinformed on the times. Shortly after we got there they started closing up shop. So we pile back in the car & decide to go trick or treating with our friends in town. We get there & start heading out & there were NO lights on. We may of gotten about five houses total in our hour to hour an a half walk. I felt so bad for Travis. He is used to getting buckets full of candy. So next year we will have to do some serious planning to leave early.

In the meantime hubby calls & asks where we are & how we are doing. I update him on how bad it was sucking for Trav. He tells me after all of his planning, creating & delivering of all things evil....NOT ONE PERSON CAME! Awwww! I felt so bad for my boys. Hubby was so disappointed. Now mind you, we live out a bit from town but it's not like the only house for miles. We figured we would get a few people....not a one. So Halloween kind was a bust for us.

Here are a few of the pics that I took. Tarynn had fun dressing up like a rocker (a preggo rocker) & going around with Travis. Travis' costume came out great. We kind of threw it together & it just worked. I love it when that happens. He loved it so that made it even better.

Well I'm off to cut out some Christmas ornies that I'm making. Will share those with you later.

~Toodles

We went Boo'ing

I thought I would share this fun project that we did to some of our friends here in town. We went & Boo'd them. We had been Boo'd a couple years back when we lived in Idaho. We got such a kick out of it that we have wanted to do it ever since.

These are the cute little gifts that we made up of stuff that I had in my craft room. It was great for once I did'nt have to go buy something to complete a project. Not that I am complaining about shopping...dont get me wrong! Hahaha The thought here was simplicity....everything was on hand & ready to be thrown together. I had seen these digital printouts here. I purchased & downloaded them lickety split....seriously easy peasy & off we went to deliver them. Hopefully next year you can go & Boo someone. It really is a lot of fun to bring smiles to others.

Off to organize a few Halloween 09 shots to share with ya.

Toodles~

I'm Back

I am so sorry for the long break. Life just kind of takes over at times. Blogging just seems to get put on the back burner. I owe you all a months full of catch up. So I think I left off with Travis' B-day.

We had a great day full of special surprises for him. We started at 9 a.m. & didnt get home until about 9 p.m. It was all worth it. So lets get to the days events.

We headed down to the Alligator Farm first. It was pretty neat. They had a petting zoo that you go through first. That was kind of cool feeding the goats & such. You then proceed out to where they have the gators. They had all kinds of them. Unfortunately, now that the weather had gotten a little cooler they were'nt as active as they are in summer. We plan on going back next summer to really see them in action. Travis got to watch them feed. He also got a chance to pet one of the little gators. He was a little stand offish when it came to that. He even got a chance to talk to the owner who does all the feedings. The owner showed him his battle wounds from last year when a gator got his arm. Travis was pretty impressed with that. LOL

After the gator farm we headed to his all time favorite place....McDonalds. Yes life is'nt complete until you have McDonalds. I swear that child would live on chicken nuggets & fries if he could. Hahaha

Once we finished up lunch we headed back to Little Rock & took him to the movies to see Nine. It was'nt so bad for a kid movie. He loved it so thats all that mattered.

We then headed out to Toys R us & a few other stops. We decided to take him to a catfish buffet for dinner. This child loves seafood. We ended up choosing a restaurant that we had never been to. It was a cute lil place & he got his fill of shrimp & catfish.

For our final destination on the birthday extravaganza was a haunted maze called "Field Of Screams." He enjoyed it but in reality it really sucked. It had a lot of potential but they just did'nt have enough people to work it. This was his first experience with anything haunted. He loved it so we were happy. My pics didnt come out at the maze & I was so bummed. Hubby took this great pic of the moon though.

We went back to the house so he could open up his gifts. He was super excited to get the WII Resort game & some Jurassic Park dinos. He got a bunch of other things but those were his fav's.

Well, I have a lot to catch up on in here. I will be back tomorrow to share our Halloween pics.

Until then.....

~Toodles