Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas! Things have been crazy the last week or so as we finished up all our Christmas shopping, baking, visits with friends and family, crafts, shopping, wrapping, etc. I have been working away but something had to give (blogging) or I was going to turn into one mean momma and that's NOT what I wanted my kids to remember about Christmas! I have barely been at the computer the last week and have so many blogs to catch up on! Oh well, they'll all still be there after the first of the year, right? We're heading out of town to visit the in-laws in the morning so I'll be back in full force after the first of the year. Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Another awesome giveaway....

Okay, so I meant to join in on all the Christmas open houses, tour of homes, etc. that have been going on this week....but I still haven't taken pics yet. The kids got an unexpected snow day yesterday (really, it was an "ice day") so that really set me back! Anyways, at the rate I'm going, maybe I'll join in by the weekend.

So, I found another really fun blog today and they're doing some cool giveaways right now. Go check out petit elefant and see what all is being given away in the 12 days of Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza! I would love to win this giveaway because the site You Can Make This is seriously addicting! I've ordered e-books through them before and I've never been disappointed. There are LOTS of cool projects and there is even a "FREE" section. Who doesn't like FREE?

petit elefant has a ton of fun goodies (microwave, Smartshopper, Land's End giveaway, kids personalized books and tons more) in the giveaway. Go check them out now!

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Snowmen {Super Yummy!}

It's been a busy weekend so far! I've made tons of stuff that I can't wait to share with yall {but again, some will have to wait until after Christmas} I've made a few tassels, some adorable wine glass markers that have photo charms on them, felt cookies for my daughter and much more...

Here are some fun treats that the kids and I made together this weekend. I saw the large marshmallow snowmen in a little boutique while I was out doing some Christmas shopping and thought it would be fun for Connor to make and give to his buddies.

These are the miniature snowmen {my personal favorite}...three mini marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and then decorated with assorted sprinkles. I was lazy and didn't feel like melting milk chocolate also, but it would be cute to use that to draw arms, the face, buttons, etc. on the snowmen too. The kids and I had a lot of fun making these together. I let Connor do most of the decorating and he liked the BIG snowmen best {3 large marshmallows on a sucker stick}. Here are a few pics of my kids making the white chocolate snowmen.

My daughter {20 months old} is already hamming it up for the camera while Connor admires his first snowman. A closer look at his first masterpiece. :)

Here she is with a completely fake smile...but proud of the fact that she was able to steal a bottle of sprinkles away from her brother! As you can see, she was also able to sneak a few pieces of candy and sprinkles and relished every bite. Finally, she decided to pitch in and help decorate a few of the snowmen instead of just eating them. Can you tell which ones she helped with? Connor wasn't entirely happy with her "help". The snowmen were really fun to make and I'm sure we'll make them again. I know Connor's friends are really going to enjoy eating these, too. I think they'd also be really cute to use as a stirrer in a cup of hot cocoa. It would add a little white chocolate and tons of marshmallow to the cup...great for someone with a sweet tooth {like me!}

Okay, last pic of the night, I promise! These were my final creation of the evening. I started dipping the mini marshmallows in the white chocolate and then tossing them in a bowl of coconut shavings...YUMMY! They look like little snowballs and taste DE-LISH! Give them a try and you won't be sorry {that is, unless you are one of those people that don't like coconut} :)

Too many crafts...not enough time!

I made a promise {same one I seem to make every year} to myself that I was going to make a bunch of the gifts I give this year. I always seem to wait too long to begin {guess 364 days isn't enough time for me to prepare for Christmas} However, I am proud to say that I'm actually making good on my promise this year! I'm making LOTS of handmade goodies and unfortunately, will have to wait to show you most of them for a few weeks. However, here are a few things I was working on last night.

Button Snowman Onesie

This was just a basic red turtleneck onesie that I embellished. I know I've seen a post or two with these along with some pictures on flickr...just can't remember where I found them to give the original person credit. Anyways, I have a bunch of vintage buttons that my great grandmother used to collect, so I used a few for this. {Forgive the terrible pictures...my hubby just got a digital SLR yesterday but we still need some lenses and need to learn how to use it. I hope my images will improve in quality in the near future.} In the mean time, you get to look at a yellow snowman. The buttons are actually a beautiful ivory color with a pearly sheen to them. I think one of them is a mother of pearl button. I'm not thrilled with how the little faux scarf turned out so I'll probably fix it later but for now, this is what she'll wear. I think this would also be really cute on some tea towels.

Elastic Bookmarks

As I was getting ready to go to bed last night, I noticed Nikki had updated her blog. I love her blog, Whimsy love! She had posted some adorable elastic bookmarks. You can see the tutorial here {and while you're there, check out some of her other tutorials, lots of cute stuff} I realized I had everything I needed to make them and couldn't go to sleep until I'd made some myself. :) So, I spent 15 minutes hunting down my various elastics before I remembered I'd gotten it all out to add some closures to my pocket calendars {go check the post back out, I updated it a week or so ago and I like them even more now} Once I found everything, I had 5 bookmarks made in just a matter of a few minutes. I would have made 50, but I need to get some more elastic. If you can use a ruler, a pair of scissors and know how to tie a knot, then you can make this project! Here's what I made {and again, forgive the poor pics}

I think these bookmarks would be adorable wrapped around a small gift instead of using a bow. Because they're elastic, they stay in place...no more losing your spot in your book because your 20 month old pulled out your bookmark again!

Okay, I'm heading to Hobby Lobby for the third time this week! I need some more trim to make tassels. I'll show yall those soon.

Awesome Crafty Giveaway spotted...

Would you love to win all of this? I know I would!!!

Confessions of a Craft Addict is hosting this awesome giveaway! This is taken directly from her blog: "There’s a little bit of everything here: fabric, beads, Scrabble tiles, scrapbooking elements, ribbon, tulle, yarn, snaps, buttons, embroidery kits, patterns and books. Everything you need to be a craft addict or feed your existing crafty addiction. A couple of things are from my stash or pre-loved, while some things were purchased new just for you. I think it’s a pretty cool prize and I hope you will, too."

Head on over to her blog and check it out. One of the rules for entry is that you must leave her a comment about your favorite charity. Tell her the name of it, why you support it, what it does, whatever — give them a plug! All the rules are on her site.

I think I should win since my blog is titled {Craft Addict}...it's only fair, right? :)

Since we're at it, I'll tell yall about my favorite non-profit. Prestonwood Pregnancy To give you a little background, my oldest son was a crisis pregnancy for me (in the sense that I was a junior in college, not married and hadn't planned on starting my family under these circumstances...nor with the man whose child I was carrying) I was scared to death and found SO much support, love and reassurance from a crisis pregnancy center in my college town. I am forever grateful for the prayers, time and outpouring of support from them. So, when I moved to Dallas after my son was born (to finish school and be closer to family for the support that I needed) I began volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center here. After a year or two, I joined the staff full time and was blessed beyond measure during my time there. The awesome part of this is that God can take our mistakes and make them our message. I truly feel blessed to have been able to look young women in the eyes and tell them I could understand, I had been there...and it will be okay if you let HIM take control. What's really awesome is that most crisis pregnancy centers are not just focused on the life of the unborn child but also the eternal life of the mother and father involved in that pregnancy. The gospel message is almost always shared and you would be amazed at how many men and women come to know the Lord through their time as a client! I am no longer volunteering or working there b/c God has blessed me with an incredible husband (who adopted my son, our son) and we have since welcomed another child into our lives. I have been given the awesome responsibility and blessing of being a stay at home mother...something I NEVER thought possible, nor dreamed of 7 years ago when I found out I was going to be a mother. We still are in close contact with Prestonwood Pregnancy and love to help support them financially when we can. I know when the kids are both back in school, I'll be back up there volunteering again!

A few of my favorite things & a thrifty white elephant gift

Head on over here if you want to join the party or see other lists of favorite things.


Topping my list of favorites right now are the following:

1. Hazelnut Hot Cocoa - Archer Farms (Target brand) has a great mix if you are like me and don't want to fork out tons of $$$ to Starbucks. There are tons of other flavors, but I'm addicted to the hazelnut...topped with a little whipped cream and I'm good to go.


2. Bob's Peppermint Pie - We grew up devouring Bob's Soft Peppermint sticks. My brother and I would always twist and turn them in our mouths as we sucked on them to bring them to a fine point so we could poke each other with them :) Anyways, my mother and I were both watching Paula Deen on the Food Network the morning she aired this recipe. We have both made this multiple times now and it's so yummy...unexpected...but really good. {Come on, it's from Paula Deen, that woman makes awesome stuff!} If you have trouble finding the peppermint sticks, Walmart usually has giant tubs of the soft peppermint "pillow" looking candies. They're individually wrapped, but well worth the effort for this recipe. My other tip is to crush the candies before you put them on the stove top to start melting. Trust me on this, it takes FOREVER if you don't!


3. We have my husband's office party tonight {this is the small departmental party with all the people we know. The big company party is next weekend}. You'll know why I threw that preface in there when you take a look at the picture. I made these for the white elephant gift exchange, per my husbands request. Yup, he asked me to make these... {love him!}

Hehehe...slippers made from maxi pads. I beautified {like that word?} them with some left over fake flowers from my stash and a rhinestone accent. Someone tonight will get to take them home. I just hope they don't need to use them for their original purpose b/c I hot glued them together in case the sticky strips didn't hold up. The funny thing about this gift is that I did make slippers out of maxi pads...when I was 4 and at my dad's new boss' house for dinner. It's one of the family stories that will never die -well, not if my family can help it at least.

4. My list could go on and on and on but I won't bore you to tears... oh wait, maybe I will!

5. My kids! I LOVE watching them take in all the magic of Christmas. Right now, my daughter is sitting in her high chair eating "yo yo's" {cheerios} and playing with a $9.99 plastic snow globe from CVS that plays 11 different music selections. She's captivated by that silly thing and I love watching her face light up each time she pushes that button. My son's prayers reflect that he's really coming to an understanding of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas-as opposed to just repeating things we've said or he's been taught-this is priceless to me!

What are your favorite things right now?

My only Christmas decor right now...

Well, my youngest has been sick since Saturday night and sleep has been a little sparse in this house since. I'm behind on my Christmas decorating (and house cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, Christmas shopping, and the list goes on...) as a result. I finally finished pulling the lights off of 10 branches on our pre-lit tree last night {a serious pain in the rear}. We spent too much money on that tree and I didn't see the point in trashing a pretty tree with half the lights working...so I pulled, yanked and cut those things off and restrung the tree at 11:00 last night. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it decorated today! I've got the stockings hung, a wreath on the front door and boxes littered across my living room and entry hall...can't wait to get those taken care of and everything put up...hopefully in time for Christmas! :)

Here is one little project I managed to get accomplished this week and I really like the way it turned out! I promise that is looks a lot prettier in person! {geez, you think I could at least take the picture so it was centered on the wall and not so weird looking with my iron piece there on the wall behind it..but this is what you get when I take a pic hanging from a ladder in my kitchen} I just wrapped an extra piece of garland around the chain on my light fixture and shaped it like a tree and then decorated with a little garland, ribbon and some gold glittery birds and assorted gold balls. Once I get all my Christmas ornaments out to decorate the tree, I plan on setting a few aside and hanging them from the metal scrolls on this fixture.

Well, I am going to go start decorating the tree since my baby girl is sleeping {YEAH!} and my son just left for school. I'll post pictures once I get everything up and decorated so I can participate in Thrify Decor Chick's Favorite Things party.