December Goals

I made some blanket type goals for 2013- the kind those in the psychology world know to be Crappy Goals (ok, I made that up). I wanted to get fit. I wanted to read more. I wanted to write more. There were others, but as I typed out just what I wanted to accomplish this year, it was only half-heartedly that I did so. Goals should be measurable and specific, something all of these lacked. When I saw Laura write out her goals for this month alone, I started thinking- Why wait until New Years to get crackin' on the things I want in my life? Here's what I'm working on this month:

1. 10,000 words on novel- I have begun writing the next great fiction novel. Get excited, folks! Seriously, though...I want to reach at least 10,000 words making the total word count around 13,000 by the end of the month.
2. Drink 3 camelbaks of water daily (at least!)
3. Workout 4x (at least) per week
4. Bring Christmas Cheer to our neighbors (deliver cookies, write a sweet note, caroling) (bahaha on that last one). What an odd practice caroling is...so I'm totally kidding with that one. I can't carry a tune in a bucket.
5. Start and Finish homemade gift for my sweet Cray K. I look forward to showing you all this one!

What are your goals for the last month of 2013?

Camping Themed Party {with bonus Christmas Craft!}

I'm not much of a party person, but I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate my youngest on his very first birthday. I thought about simply buying a cake and calling it a day, but instead I did a little crafting and created a space and some snacks that were fit for a day of camping!

I started off the throwing-together-of-the-birthday-extravaganza at Goodwill. Love that place. I found the plaid there in the form of a fitted bed sheet. I proceeded to rip and cut it up until I had a table runner, ornaments, and specialized decor for the food and drinks. The sheet was half off, too. Score.
I also found the large plaid bow on the top of the tree and two plaid table napkins there for half its price as well.

The Menu:
Live Bait (Tackle box full of gummy worms)
Bird Food (Chex mix)
Tall Trees (Pirouline Cookie Sticks)
Bacon Ranch Turkey Sandwiches
Mud Cups (No bake cookies)
Meats, Cheeses, and Crackers
Hot Chocolate
and of course- water, wine, beer, and cake- because you can't celebrate birthdays without those.

My son shares his birthday with his YaYa. How special!

As I mentioned before, much of the decorating was done courtesy of Goodwill. The rest was derived from around the house and the great outdoors. I walked the length of the back yard in search of fresh greens, pine cones, and branches to fill the space. I found a lovely branch with pine needles still attached to hang over the table. The other branches I used to display photos of the boy in celebration! I tied scraps of the sheet fabric sporadically on them and added bobber ornaments that I made by using a hot glue gun to adhere an ornament hook to it.

That's not the craft I wanted to show you, though...

How To Make Country Christmas Filler Ornaments For Your Holiday Decor

You'll need:
*hot glue gun with hot glue sticks (duh)
*Styrofoam balls
*burlap ribbon
*plaid fabric (don't purchase fabric, y'all- seriously. Go to Goodwill and look for large sized Men's plaid shirts or maybe you'll get lucky like I did and find a whole sheet!)

Directions:
*Cut fabric in one inch wide strips that will wrap around the entirety of the ball
*Glue the beginning of the strip to the ball and the end of the strip over that
(Note: Don't make it much longer because you'll start to have ends showing all over the place. Not good, my friends.)
*Cover the ball completely
*Knot burlap at the top in a bow or tie like fashion and glue it down (don't burn yourself) (And if you do, don't start aggressively whistling Good King Wenceslas because you will soon question your sanity)
*Finally, loop a Christmas hook through the burlap and you've got mass Christmas decor for cheap!

Merry Almost Christmas (21 Days!)
and a very, very happy birthday to two of my favorite people. You both mean the world to me. Love ya!

Toddler Activity Board

I told Captain J I'd like to make an activity board for Cray K. My little man is quite the engineer (like his Pop!) and he seems to enjoy focusing on how things work and move. From an early age, he played with his toys in such a way that made me think that there was a lot more going on in that brain of his than I gave him credit for. Perhaps I'm just one of those moms who thinks their child is completely brilliant. That's okay, too.

Pinned:

Source: designdazzle.com via Mrs. on Pinterest

Captain J largely took this project in on his own. We went to Lowe's and got some materials and the project was finished in no time.

Our version:

The only drawback to this project is if you don't have a lot of these items around the house then it can get pricey to buy. K loves his board and I'm glad we made it for him, but it ended up costing around 60 bucks because we bought everything new.

Have you tried out any toddler crafts or projects I should know about?

Fall Mantel

We have some folks coming over tonight so I thought I'd better switch out my Halloween mantel for one a little more appropriate! Any other year, I'd probably just start my Christmas decorating since we rarely get to enjoy the decorations for long. We go home to Tennessee for Christmas when we can. Anyway, this year we're moving a couple weeks before Christmas so there's really no point in dragging my Christmas cheer out of storage. Instead I thought I'd do a fall mantel. I didn't want to buy anything and I don't have any time anyway! Our guests will be here tonight so as usual I just re-purposed items around the house. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.

Happy Saturday to y'all.

(Print free banner here.)

DIY Spell Books Decor

Pinspiration:

Source: piccolinadesigns.blogspot.com via Mrs. on Pinterest

I thought these were just precious! Upon reading her instructions, though, I realized I didn't have the time to put into them. At least, I didn't have time I was willing to make these as lovely as she did. Instead, I whipped up some of my own in about three minutes.

You Will Need:

• books
• card stock paper
• twine
• marker
• tape

Instructions

1. To cover your books completely, you've come to the wrong place. I only covered what was visible. The Halloween(ish) cover doesn't completely cover the bottom part of the book because I used scrap paper that had already been used for other projects. That's ok.
2. Find the paper you want and place it where you want it on the book. Make sure to pull it tight over the spine. Tape down.
3. Grab your marker and come up with creative book names to write on the books. This is my favorite part.
4. Next, gather your spooky books together with a piece of twine and ...
5. Voila, you're done.

Thanks for stopping by, as always. Today I'm linking up with these lovely ladies:
 

Mummy Card Tutorial

As promised (or threatned for some of y'all), today continues a string of Halloween tutorials! If you've been around for years (back when this blog was on Wordpress!), you may have already seen what I'm about to show you as it is a re-post. It's a good one, though. I made this little mummy card back when I had time to do these things, a functioning cricut and some creativity left at the end of the day.

Not a card maker? Doesn't matter because this is super easy!

This card is perfect for your sweetie or your kids. Isn't it precious?

I hope you have a very happy Saturday. I'm off to enjoy a little football and then later going to the fair.

Today's post is linked up with the crafty ladies of Classy Clutter. P.S. In case you haven't heard, I recently won this in their giveaway! I'm so excited! Go check them out.

DIY Halloween Signs

Today's inspiration?

Source: lilblueboo.com via Mrs. on Pinterest

There are tons of tutorials floating around Pinterest telling you how! easy! it is to get those perfectly crafted letters onto wooden signs and/or canvas. I'm here to tell ya- sure, maybe it is easy if you have the right tools, but you can bet this amateur crafter never does. I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of buying more crafting or decorating supplies when I have so many other options in my closet that I could improvise with. It also may have something to do with the fact that the nearest Hobby Lobby is at least 45 minutes away, but I digress. 

The point is, I did this project the hard way- no doubt.

And by "hard", I simply mean time consuming. I did have fun, though and I'm pleased with how they turned out for the most part. These projects would have been so much easier if my Cricut would magically start working again (See awesome canvas craft using Cricut here.) Ugh. I'm so over dealing with that thing. I'm rambling again...Let's get to the craft, shall we?

You Will Need:

• paint
• paint brushes
• printer
• pencil
• scissors
• something to paint on 

1. First, you'll need to paint your canvas or wood and let it dry. If you're using a canvas, let an hour elapse before you paint a second coat. Use your best judgement for wood or any other surface. I used a large foam brush.

2. I only did two coats, but I wish I had done three. Anyway, your next step is to open a Word Document on your computer and pick out a font you like. Keep in mind that you'll be cutting these letters out so find one that isn't too curvy and complicated. Use a big size! If you're one of those really prepared folks, you could cut out all your words and place them where you want them to make sure they fit. Me? I'm a rebel. I just guessed. Print and get to cutting!

(Note: That puffy paint is not what I used, just FYI)

3. Use a pencil to lightly trace the letters (if you're using canvas). A marker might be better for sturdier surfaces like wood.

4. Fill in the letters by using a small bristled paint brush (and paint, duh). I used one that was fairly stiff and only used one edge of it for better accuracy.

5. Let your masterpiece dry. Boom. Halloween fun.

Could we not talk about how on the wooden sign that one "l" is upside down? K, thanks!

Happy Pinteresting!

I'm linking up with these lovely ladies:

 

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Fall officially begins in two days and I can't express how excited that makes me! It's easily my favorite season and it brings with it my favorite holiday--Halloween! Much to my husband's dismay, I've already begun to decorate our house. Below is just a tiny peek of what's to come in our household. Here's my mantel this year:

Most of the above pictured was stuff I had around the house. I move items around and re-purpose a lot so I tried not to buy much. I did pick up some Ivory and Black spray paint to make my life a little easier. Don't limit your creativity to what's located inside your house, take a walk outside and see if you can find anything you might want to use or make beautiful! I grabbed various branches-

and painted some black, some white, and left some their usual color. Mixing textures and colors always makes me smile- see what you can find! Note: The leaves are fake.

The wine bottle ghost was super easy, too. I painted it white and grabbed some black scrapbook paper, cutting tools, and my hot glue gun to create a scary face. Last year, I did a similar thing with ribbon and it looked like a mummy! It was cute, too.

There are three candles pictured-

although I'm not sure you can see them in the photo. I didn't have black and white candles around so I found old ones that will no longer light properly- the more misshapen, the better! I also used the spray paint to create the colors of candles I wanted. I dressed some of them up with orange, festive fabric.

Looking for something a little less time consuming? Check out the following (free) printables:

Trick or Treat

Something Wicked

Newspaper Tree

I googled some spooky quotes and found this one to put on the chalkboard by the mantle.

How fun? I'm getting so excited for this season! Expect many more Halloween posts, DIY tutorials, and ideas over the next month.

Sorry I'm not sorry.

XOXO,

DIY Baby Wrap and Cell Phone Cover

Pinterest is a problem. I've heard it called virtual hoarding and it's true. I'll pin something, knowing that I've probably already pinned it once before, but I do it again just in case because, I mean, what if I need it? And then it's not there? Ahh, how frustrating that would be.

Anyway, here are my latest completed projects courtesy of the U.S. Army sending my soldier home for a day. I got three, I repeat, THREE projects done on Sunday alone. I'm only going to show you two, though b/c you only want to see my awesome diaper making ability so many times before you get bored with it. Am I right? ;) But oh my gosh, y'all the diapers have gotten so much better since I last posted. I'm so proud. I'm not talking about diapers, though. I'm not.

I also made a baby carrier/wrap:

...which I'm sure will be much cuter when there's a squishy newborn inside and not a big ole belly. Original pin found here.

And a new personalized cell phone cover:

...which I'm sure can't get any cuter because my sweet first born is adorning the back! Idea found here. All you need is scrapbook paper, a clear case, and a hole punch! Easy and cheap. Just how I like my Pinterest projects.

Have you made anything crafty lately?

DIY Toys for Your Tot

No doubt I saw this project idea on Pinterest, but I didn't pin it because I knew I could remember it- and, well, now I can't find it! So, it goes. Anyway, I thought I'd share the ideas with all of you (read: so I could show you pictures of how gosh darn cute my kid is) in case you have a 3-18ish month old who might like these activities, too. I spent less than $8 making two toys--thanks dollar store!

1. Visual Mat: (Wish I had thought of this for "tummy time"!)

I added the entire bottle of hair gel to the storage bag first. You might want to buy more than pictured here. Also, you could buy colored gel to spruce it up or add food coloring, but we didn't have any so I just went with it. It's pretty self explanatory- just toss the toys in randomly and use the duct tape to reinforce the edges of the mat.

*Obviously, your child should be supervised when playing with this toy because you wouldn't want your little one to bite into it! Baby K loves this one, though! To prevent chewing on it, you could tape it to a door or window during play time.

2. Maraca: (Hours of entertainment)

Just fill 'er up with colorful toys that create visual interest and make noise.

*Obviously if your child is capable of unscrewing the lid then you'd better tape it up, too. We wouldn't want the little one choking on loose beads. There's your warning. You're welcome ;)

Enjoy creating new and cheap toys with your little one!

Over and out,