Almost a New Year!

Why is it women feel the need to clean, purge, and get things done suddenly as a new year approaches? I have been getting tasks done like a mad woman. I can't tell you that these are the tasks that my husband would rather I be doing! 

The Craft Room

So my craft room is like my sacred spot in the house. It is MINE! Well, not completely, but I will claim it! I started out with my craft area being on our dining room table and countertops. That never went over so well. We had a friend from Peru staying with us for awhile in our bonus room and when he left I decided to make it my space. I bought tons of organization stuff and a few tables. I was getting to a point where I was ready to invest more money into organization and then I realized that I have all of this empty furniture up there. 

So I put all 12 drawers that were empty to good use! I have a drawer for my small pieces of fabric (1/2 - 1 yd) in this drawer. I have a drawer for flannels, one for duck cloths, and another for fat quarters. I put all of my blank cups in one drawer, canvases in another, and all blank shirts in another. I love it! Now I need to label or play hide-and-seek each time I need something! 

When a girl gets on a cleaning/organizing spree....you have to know that there is other motives. My dad promised me he would come install some can lights in the craft room, so I could finally see what I was doing! I have been acquiring more and more lamps, but this is the answer to my crafty prayers! 

 Here is a quick glance at my cleaning efforts. I so wish I had a before picture! This room looked like a tornado had crashed through a craft store! You can also see a sneak at one of my awesome Christmas presents from my hubby. See on the left side.....that, my friends, is a new eClips cutting machine! That's right! I am so excited to play with it! I haven't even hit the power button yet, but I know I will have tons to share when I do. 

I had to include a picture of my beautiful necklace I finished! Not to shabby for my first try at metal stamping! I can't wait to explore this new craft more later! 

After the Christmas rush, I swore off sewing for at least a few weeks! This is one quick project that I threw together for a friend. They turned out super cute! All 3 of these for $21...not a bad deal either! These are pretty reasonable until you start including appliques....then your time factor goes way up.

Outside the Craft Room

No, I promise I don't live upstairs. Although, sometimes I wouldn't mind! My second most favorite hobby is reading. Reading is like a mental vacay! I got several books for Christmas that I was eager to get into. 

These were the first two I devoured. Reached is the third in a series that I started about a year ago. It is a young adult dystopian series. Good, easy read. The next book is one my husband has been trying to get me interested in. It is Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It was.....interesting. First of all, I am not the non-fiction girl. Not.my.thing. This book did keep me reading. I finished it in about a day and a half. 

I had to save the one I was really looking forward to until after I finished the non-fiction. It was a little reward for my efforts :) Finale is the 4th and final book in the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick. If you haven't read it.....you need too! It is awesome! It is young adult, but I promise it will keep you wanting more. 

For work, I have to read The Phantom Tollbooth and Code Talker. I have a major dislike for fantasy. It is not my fave. I spent ALL day reading and creating a 30 page reading guide for the phantom today. It will be the first book we read after the break. Head on over here if you need the reading guide. 

Code Talkers will have to wait for another day. I think I deserve a nice, hot bath after a long day of working/reading! 

Oh No...Someone Gave me Hobby Lobby Gift Cards!

Did I mention that I could get lost for hours in that place?! When I go in with my kids, I tend to limit my shopping trip to an hour or less.....for obvious reasons! When I go by myself, I can wonder aimlessly for hours and hours. So I had two gift cards--thank you to one of my sweet students and my hubby. I went to go pick up Christmas stuff for next year, but they hadn't really marked any of it down yet. So......I went in search of something else to bring home with me. I was on a mission, headed for the t-shirt section when I passed this end cap with metal jewelry on it. It was as if the heavens rang out and it was calling my name.....I HAD to have it! I have been eyeing those cute metal necklaces on Etsy for months. So I bought the lower case letter stamps, the metal block, and various little things to 'stamp' on. I brought everything home and went at it! 

So I started out and of course, screwed up the very first one! The -a- stamp is really giving me a hard time. It looks backwards and that really messes with my head! 

This is what they look like to start with. I added the black dye to the first one to make the letters darker. You add the dye and then wipe it off the flat surface really quick before it dries. I kind of messes with the finish a bit. I am not sure if it bothers me or not at this point. Once, I got it with the rest of them you really don't even see the difference anymore. Maybe it just had to tarnish a bit to get back to normal. Who knows! 

This is my finished product.....ready to be added to a necklace. I think I am in love! I did go back and change Addi's block to silver just to add some more character. The bottom circle says, "love always", then "lance", then "Addi", and "Sofia" on the top. The really cool thing is I can recreate these and sell them for around $25-$30 since I already have all of the materials now. My Etsy shop will be seeing these soon! 

For future reference, I probably should not go into Hobby Lobby looking for a new hobby. Each hobby I pick up is very expensive, not to mention the learning curve! I am very happy with this new project. I only wasted a few of these and the finished product was fabulous. If you have an extra $50-$75 this project may be something cool to try. 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Family time has officially started! Lance and the girls left me alone for the night to head to Nashville to visit his family. I would have liked to gone with him, but my grandmother was coming into town. I feel very blessed that my 78 year old grandmother gets to spend Christmas at our house with the family! I treasure the moments that my girls get to spend with her. Lance left with the girls on Friday morning and I immediately left to finish my first and final shopping trip. It was make or break time! The stores were absolutely insane....enough to send a sane person over the edge! Traffic was even worse! 6.5 hours later I made it back to the house. It was nice to be able to run all of my errands without whining/crying/temper tantrums though! I was having a really hard time coming up with something for my mom and was super excited when the idea hit me while shopping. I think I found the *perfect* gift! My dad is getting a wine cabinet so I went to Trader Joe's and took it upon myself to stock it for him. I was walking out the door with my full case when the handle suddenly broke....one heart attack later, I saved the wine! No casualties! I am glad that things are about to slow down and I will have a few moments to breathe and enjoy my family....since that is one of the things this season is about. We are about to head to church and celebrate the REAL reason for the season! 

Crafty-Land

I can't tell you how many things I have made in the last week! I am kind of sad that I haven't taken pictures of everything that I have sent out the door. I have really enjoyed crafting the perfect things for my family and friends. 

I made three of the cutest onesie dresses for a friend of mine. They turned out really precious! 

I have monogrammed a ton more scarves.....I will be okay if I never see them again! Actually, I found some orange and white striped jersey material, so I will be back in the scarf business again shortly after Christmas. I have a really great friend that happens to be an Auburn fan.....and I have never worked with jersey material before. So why not screw up some ugly Auburn stuff while learning! 

I really, really love making the canvas pictures. When I make one for someone, I know that I am making something out of a memory that is very special to them. I have created two in the last week for gifts and I think they turned out fabulous! 

I even managed to throw one in for the car enthusiast! 

Final Countdown

The girls could not be more excited about Santa this year! This is my sweet Sofie getting ready for school on Thursday. She had her Christmas program so I thought it would be sweet to send her to school in her Christmas dress. She couldn't be more precious! 

Elf Finale

The advent calendars are finally coming to an end. It is almost time to say goodbye to our beloved Elfie, Razi and Amelia. Last night Elfie decided to bungie jump off of the ceiling fan using our slinky. He was super nice and brought us a new piece of elf artwork. (I must get a better pic of this cute piece!) Elfie found it at Kirkland's for $6.00!!!!

One of Sofie's friends, Emery has a super cool elf at her house. At the Christmas program, Emery's mom and I were sharing some elf ideas....and she told me about this one. Thank you Mrs. Dena! 

I hope everyone is enjoying the time with their family. I know we are enjoying it here at the Burns' house. I look forward to sharing some more of our Christmas joy in the next few days! I can't lie, I have enjoyed taking it easy for the last few days! 

Merry Christmas! 

Craft Queen

I pronounce myself the queen of crafts this weekend! Whew! I have made some gift giving progress! 

We started this weekend off knowing that we had Lance's company Christmas party at our house on Saturday evening. He had arranged for a new housekeeper to come Saturday morning. Lance joking said that I should start a new post kind of like...'You might be a redneck..." but "You might be slobs if.... you have to clean before the housekeeper comes to your house!" Yeah...it was really that bad!" Every night after I get off work I have 3 goals: 1) feed my kids, 2) get them in the bed, and 3) craft orders. Housework is not even on my radar! 
Christmas party (thank you, Honey Baked Ham) went off without a hitch. Minus the fact that when the box says heat for 45-50 minutes, that it doubles when you are heating 6 boxes. 

I have this way of letting things slip up on me. I don't know why that happens. Lance reminded me Friday during the day that I was supposed to make t-shirts for the carhops to wear in the Christmas parade. This was my super speedy, last minute creation. I managed to get 6 of these done before bedtime Friday night. These t-shirt transfers may be one of my new found faves! They are super easy to make! 

I have been searching high and low for Christmas gifts that are unique, useful and really cute. Oh, and did I mention that they couldn't break the bank? I absolutely love these pullovers! I can't wait to surprise some awesome chicks that I work with tomorrow! Shhhhh....!!!

 My crazy sister sends me links on Pinterest to see if I can create things. Well, of course I can! I also had someone else looking for one of these for a Christmas gift. I ended up making two of these this weekend and I can sense some more coming on. They are way cuter than I even expected....and I can't lie.....I want one! I saw these on Etsy for anywhere from $25-$40. That is crazy! I am thinking $20. 

I didn't realize that between my two girls, I have about 15 teachers to create some craftiness for Christmas presents. I have started to knock some of those out....and the red/green ones are my faves! 

I was experimenting with some possible gifts ideas when I managed to pull this one off. Can you say awesome?! One more thing on my want list! I know these will be a hit.....they are too cute not to be!

This is another brick order for a Dawg fan. I think they will love it! I am thinking that this brick with the Go Dawgs from above would be a good front/back combo. That may be my next creation.

I am really loving these special order ornaments! It makes me happy to know that I am creating something that will be a special keepsake for someone for many years to come. 

One of my sweetheart students gave me a Hobby Lobby gift card for Christmas. I practically live there, but I am always going with an agenda. I think I found the perfect thing to do with my new gift. I NEED another thread rack! I have been stacking/knocking down this thread for weeks now. So this will be an awesome addition to my craft room! I can't wait to grab another one. Dork...I know! 

Elf Shenanigans

I can't forget about that crazy Elfie! Lance has been trying super hard! He took Thursday and Saturday night and I took Friday. This teamwork is keeping us in the game! 

I am not quite sure what the explanation (Lance's game plan) was for this one. The girls seemed to love the bubble gum and that is all that mattered! 

On Friday, I knew I had to pull something cute off. I actually did the girls bedroom and our bedroom door. Those turkey little girls went to sleep on the couch....yeah, that has become the new bedtime routine around here. Makes no sense! So I decided that both doors would cover whichever room they came to first in the morning! 

Lance told me that I would make them cry.....I think he was the one that wanted to cry when he had to crawl out the bedroom door at 2am! I sat in bed and laughed my butt back to sleep! The girls ended up thinking that it was pretty funny and they really liked it when they learned that they got to run through the paper and bust it down! 

Uncle Brett and Brittany is in town tonight....so we will leave the nightly Elf Shenanigans up to them! Can't wait to see what they come up with! 

Good Night! 

Elf Alert

It appears that our Elf is getting a little lazy....and having an identity crisis! 

Elfie found some really awesome gifts to bring in the $1 bin at Joann's. Can I tell you how much I love that aisle?! I stood there and dug through those bins for at least 20 minutes! Elfie brought us the cutest light-up reindeer nose. Sofie thought hers was cute....but it immediately got tossed aside. Addi....has absolutely loved hers. She wore it to school the first day and was eating up the attention from everyone calling her 'Rudolph'. She was say, "I'm really just Addi under here!" That nose was all she could talk about! The next day she wore it to class again. She is such a hoot! 

Dad wrote a cute little note that said, "Hi ho, hi ho....look under the mistletoe." That is where they found their cute noses! Can't beat that smile for $1!

Another cool Joann's find was snowman necklaces. My girls LOVE to be crafty like their mommy. Dad was very creative and decided to promote some good dental hygiene for a small reward from Elfie. 

Addi ended up making a bracelet with her snowman kit and Sofie made a cute necklace. 

Our last Elf funny was when Elfie left the girls some new lip gloss and a cute note telling how hard Santa has been working on their gifts at the North Pole. Elfie told the girls that he had been working on his dancing skills.....not that Gangnam Style mess! 

This is the Elf Yourself video that he left for us! 

Lance just informed me that the Elf Yourself videos are now $1. My favorite from last year is the Portable North Pole videos that you can send. They are really personalized and the girls were amazed last year. Best of all, they are FREE! 

One Tired Momma

I have been the queen of scarf making and monogramming this last week. I know it is like this every Christmas and I am so blessed to get these orders, but it is very exhausting! Work has been pretty demanding as always, but it is really fun to see the kids so excited about the upcoming holidays. We wrapped up our final week of Craft Club and I have had lots of kiddos asking about it for next semester. I will have to think of some really cool stuff over the break and see what I can come up with. 

The conversations I have with the girls in the car are by far some of the best I have all day. Today Addi was telling me about reading "The Grinch" in class. She told me that the Grinch stole all of the presents from the people and they didn't even care. I asked her why they didn't care and she explained that they still had their family and they were happy. I thought I was about to have a moment....you know that humble moment I have been waiting to see. Well....I was sadly disappointed! I asked her if she would still be happy if she didn't get any presents. She promptly replies with, "NO!!!". Ughhhh..... one day! 

Thankful

Each day when I talk to children about their writing, it really opens my eyes to the world they live in. When a kid writes, they pour their soul into it. When I talk to them about things I do with my kids, they are so shocked. I am thankful that my kids have a mommy and daddy to come home to, and that we have lived in the same house they came home to for the very first time. 

I can't imagine my life any other way. I have a beautiful family with a great husband and 2 great daughters. As a parent, I would give anything to let my daughters have the best life possible. My marriage has issues/troubles just like anyone else. No one is perfect. What is most important is that you realize that, and know you have to have a goal in mind. 

I am thankful for the opportunities that I have to provide for my family. My husband's job/career has really changed over the last year. When you are self-employed life can really throw you curve balls. We have gone through the Dave Ramsey class and it definitely changes the way you think. My craft side jobs have really allowed me to keep doing special things for the people that I love and I am grateful for that. 

Whew....I'm tired!

Elf Mayhem

The last few days, Elfie has been flying by the seat of the pants shall we say! 

I was really excited about pulling off a good one on Saturday night and my plan was kind of 'popped'. The girls always bug us for balloons. So we took a nice trip to the Dollar Tree and they each got two balloons. Now...you had to know that there was a different motive behind the pain-in- my-butt balloons! I wanted Elfie to take a hot air balloon ride with the balloons. 

We didn't even get home before one of my monkeys had popped a mylar balloon on 'accident'. REALLY????!!!! I have never seen one of those pop accidentally. Turkey! 

I told Lance about the incident and he informed me that he brought home balloons last week and forgot they were in the car and they had all deflated. Needless to say, Elfie's hot air balloon ride is turning into Mission Impossible! 

I gave up on Elfie for the night and dad came up with a little fishing action. 

Yep, burlap string and all! The girls thought this was hilarious! Addi was really worried about how the 'fish' were going to get out of the toilet. 

Not quite sure what the purpose of the saran wrap was.....

The next night, dad was on Elf duty again. I did leave ideas, but he ventured off on his own. 

Elfie managed to write a mile long letter on toilet paper! 

I couldn't pawn Elfie off on dad for three days in a row....so I had to get my head back in the game. We all love some M&M's at the Burns house, so I had to break out the red and greens!

This happened to be the perfect fit since Sofie's teachers didn't put out any M's today. She was super excited to have a month long supply at home! 

So, the moral of this elf story is...... 

                  *give it a try, 

                              *have fun, 

                                            *laugh a whole lot, 

                                                           *be creative (or not...go borrow ideas), 

                                                                           *and enjoy the smile you put 
                                                                             on your kiddos face each day! 

Crafty Corner

I can't tell you how many scarves I have made/monogrammed/screwed up in the last 2 weeks. I don't care if I never see another one! I came straight home from work and made 9 today. I finished off the last of my new chevron material that came in the mail. (My hubby better really enjoy his awesome Christmas present from all this mess!) Thank heavens I had tons of ornament orders over the weekend to give me a break from scarf purgatory! 

A little twist on my red/green festive ornaments!

These ornaments make great teacher gifts...

I love this ornament! Too sweet!

Or gifts for those extra special little ones! 

My gold vinyl has finally found it's calling! I knew I could make it happen! I really like the frosted glass on this one as well. 

All packed up and ready for their new homes! I have a bazillion ideas for these cute little things! 

If you happen to need a quick, fun holiday craft.....the kids loved this! These initials are only $3-5 at Hobby Lobby. Throw some different colored polka dots on it, then grab a sharpie for the little details. Not too bad! I think it may look even better if we had of sharpied the whole thing or at least put a second coat on the dots. The kids didn't mind it at all. 

Have a fabulous night! See you tomorrow! 

Christmas Cheer Day 11

Today has been an eventful day! We had U.G.L.Y sweater day at work. I felt at least 10 years older than I really am.....not the best feeling! 

Our little Elfie decided to go out and buy a cute little skirt to wear! This elicited an interesting response from the girls because Elfie has always been a HIM! I just avoided the explanation for this....because I was at an impasse on the issue! 'She' decided to play in my make-up and get ready with us this morning. 

Yummy Cupcakes- Thanks Elfie!

A couple of nights ago, Elfie brought us the materials to make some yummy cupcakes. Tonight we finally had some family time to make those! When the girls got home from school I told them what we were going to do and they were super excited. They helped mix all of the ingredients together and put the liners in the pan. Did I leave out the part where they asked if they were done fifty times?!  When they were ready the girls got to add all kinds of cute sprinkles. After getting over 20 of these cupcakes done, we decided that it was best to spread some of this Christmas cheer with others in our neighborhood. The truth is....mom did not want all that sugar left in our house! They turned out awesome and were pretty yummy too! 

Christmas Cards

One of my favorite things about Christmas is getting cards. First of all, who doesn't like getting mail that doesn't tell you to pay something?! It makes going to the mailbox fun. I love seeing how everyone's kids change over the year. Lance's family writes these elaborate Christmas letters that they include with their cards. It is always interesting reading them....but don't count me in for that. People are welcome to read my business daily here! In the past, we had always taped the cards around doorways. Last year, I made this cute little ribbon to go over the dining room and Lance's office door in our front entry. They turned out great and made it back up for the second year in a row. 

I found the idea here and threw it together in less than an hour. You basically ModPodge holiday scrapbook paper onto clothes pins that you have spray painted red or green. Then you embellish them with cute buttons. I happened to find some cute sparkly Christmas ornament buttons to use. 

I have also seen these where you put the ribbon on the front of your kitchen cabinets. If both of our doorways fill up this year, I will head there next. Last year, I read something about saving your old holiday cards each year and putting rings on them like a little flip book. I started this last year and I am so glad that I did. When I pulled out the book this year, the girls immediately started flipping through naming people that they knew. It is amazing how much kids grow in one year looking back at the pictures! I am looking forward to doing this each year with our cards. 

I really want to go back and add our family Christmas cards to this stack so the girls can see how much they have grown up each year. I think looking at these will help me keep up with the ages of all of my friends kiddos! I want to make it a point to exchange cards with some of the girls friends so they will have them to look at as well. 

Looking for Ways to Spread Cheer....and Teach Empathy

I really want my girls to grow up and care about others. I know that they think every little kid has iPads and Uggs. That is not the way I grew up, that is for sure! I have talked about giving some of their old toys away to someone that didn't have those things. Sofie took it better than expected, and Addi was very reluctant. It kind of made me sad. I have such a huge soft spot for helping people in need. Lance was just handing money to some homeless person last week. I tend to lean towards helping people that are trying to help themselves.....not the people standing at the exit ramp! I have been looking for ways, ideas, whatever to teach my girls about giving time and treasures to others. If you have ideas that you are willing to share, I would love to hear them. 

Elf Day 10 - Oppan Gangnam Style

First, let me say that this idea is NOT mine! My girls are not quite old enough to get how awesome this is! 

I had a student about 7 years ago when I taught 2nd grade.....her name is Melody. She was a 7 year kid full of spunk and a ton of fun! Her mom would make me the absolute cutest stuff for every holiday. She is really the crafty queen, not me!  Needless, to say....7 years later I still keep up with her and occasionally steal her super fabulous ideas. Her name is Melissa Rogers and I have to give her credit for this hilarious elf idea. I can't help but share! She is the super mom of elves and I can't believe how she manages to pull off her great ideas! Melissa did share that she had to use wire to provide stability to keep them in position. 

Drum roll please! 

Of course, the song was playing! 

Landeena even has on boots! Love it!

I heard that Henry and Landeena stole their sunglasses from the back up dancers and Landeena raided Barbie's closet for those fabulous boots. Barbie has been getting annoyed, but they threatened to send her to Goodwill if she didn't hush!!!! 

Of course, you are tired after such a long night of dancing and partying!

Ok....now I must share the LAME idea from the Burns house! Our Elfie just isn't the life of the party like Henry and Landeena. 

Elfie is just hanging out hoping for a good 'Snow' day. He found some Snow Balls at Sam's and a Snow White movie to add to the girls collection. He dumped out some sugar snow on our stove and wrote us a cute little message. 

A Few Crafty Things....

I love this for a new couple! It has 2012 on the back side. I was asked to not be too girly! 

I think I managed to pull it off! 

This next one is my fave of the night. It has the wedding day on the back side. 

I am super excited for my newest order! It is for a sweet baby girl's 1st Christmas. I get to girly it up!