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Oh Holy Night Religious Christmas Card

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This was the card I decided to use for Shutterfly's blog promotion they had.
I am so excited and cant wait to get this in the mail :) I just love how this card looks... The look on Maddux's face... is priceless :)

Snowmen Wall Art.

For Halloween I took a bat punch and punched out tiny bats in a variety of paper. I took the idea from Tatertots and Jello. I loved it. So I decided to use that same concept for Christmas.

I loved the way this turned out. it was insanely easy and quick to make....

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Birthday Party Carnival Gold Fish Prize

So one of the best parts of going to the carnival was trying to win a gold fish as a kid. And since I wasnt too sure how the parents would feel with us sending their kids home with actual gold fish.... I came across this tutorial on line and it was adorable.

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/11/fish-in-bag-soap.html

These were rather easy to make... but TIME CONSUMING!!!!!!!

You have to hold this fish perfectly still while the soap hardens. Well I dont have the attention span for that so i basically let them sit at the bottom. i figured it wanst a big deal as long as he wasnt belly up.... and this way you could see him more since he was closer to the bag :)

These photos really dont do these adorable favors any justice.

These are super super super cute!!!!

Hope the kids enjoy them as much as I do.

And below is a frame I started a while ago ... I modge podged the penant flag onto the frame and added some vinyl "birthday boy"

I love this frame :)

Well the party is now less than 2 weeks away. I cant  believe it!!!!!

Embrace The Camera

Its Thursday... i have been really behind on my posts lately. But Maddux's first birthday is in just a few weeks ... so i have been going CRAZY finishing everything to get that ready!

1. very important question... I am hoping one of you fabulous Embrace the Camera Bloggers posted it or at least could tell me who did. I am looking for a free template for photo booth lips for our photo booth we are doing at the party. Now i saw it posted on here not too long ago... and thought Okay I will go back later... and of course now i cant remember where I saw it and I am going crazy. Please Help!!!!!!

Back to my post :)

Maddux is still not walking... but my gosh is so so so so close. besides those few steps he took last week dancing... well thats all he has given to us... but he will stand constantly on his own and is barely touching the couch while walking along it trying to pull down anything and everything... so hope (for me) that he decides to take that big step in the next week!!!!!!

This past week I was running late from work... and unfortunately had a commitment i had to go to... so i only got to come home to see him for an hour... which was horrible. but my husband was playing with the camera at that momennt and snapped this photo... which i am grateful for because this week like i said i am birthday planning pyschoticness  mode. But I did get this good hug in... which made my night so much better!!!!!!

Hope you overlook all the diaper shots I seem to get. It seems like we get home and take the pants off immediately... so he is always in a shirt and diapers... he doesnt seem to mind :)

And I dont know if he has arrived at your mall... but this past weekend he was at ours... and well I couldnt resist. This is Maddux's first picture with Santa... Look at that little smile!!!!!

Details Details Details.....

So i have been working on the party details.... mainly the dessert table.... and since that has been taking over my life...and will continue for the next two weeks. i thought i would post a few of the things I have been working on....

This cake plate was made with a small candle holder and a glass square plate ... both i picked up at the dollar store. Gorilla Glued them together... simple... and I am pretty sure i will get several uses out of it. :)

I got this little dome thingy at the goodwill for under a dollar... then gorilla glued that to a candle stick and i have a cake stand... I am trying to do my dessert table with several levels. Hopefully it turns out the way I want :)

These I know look like candle holders but i am hoping to either use them as a few cupcake stands... or maybe a small bucket of marshmallow pops.... i did a terrible job at wiping the gorilla glue off the taller one... hence the yellow linging... ooops. good thing people shouldnt be looking at that

I picked up this jar for like 4 bucks or something at Target. I decided to use it for our version of the kissing booth. We are going to have the guests guess how many kisses in the jar and whoever comes the closest wins the jar of kisses :)  I just printed up a stand up menu from my silhouette to place the rules on and I just need to cut up some paper for people guesses. i decided to attempt to use my silhouette with the vinyl for the first time... i thought this would be a good project to start with. I really like the XOX.  Simple  but it works :)

And then i got vinyl happy and originally cut out this piece for our Chalkboard table we have been working on... but decided I wanted something different so I had this cheap dollar store frame laying around... and it fit perfectly on the glass so i spray painted the frame red... thru some scrapbook paper in the frame and placed the vinyl on the glass. I will find a spot for this somewhere in the play room... the red will add more color... since right now everything seems to be blue and orange!

So those are just a few of the small projects I have been working on... Not much to them but getting all the details together for the party sure is time consuming!!!!!!

I am hoping I can finish up most of them this weekend so I can enjoy the holiday and just eat :)

Things to come soon.

Gold fish in a bag soap favors

Chalkboard table for Playroom

DIY Christmas Gift Ideas for under 10 dollars!!!

Dress Up Trunk Makeover (for my sisters girls)

Playroom Reveal

and

The Birthday Party Of Course

Embrace The Camera

Its Thursday so you know what that means :)

So Wednesday night my son was happy WOUND UP! He was dancing with Mickey all crazy banging his head off the ottamon laughing... when he decided to let go continue dancing and picked up those little feet and moved in half a circle... So for me this counts as his first STEPS!!!!!! He had no idea what he just did and why me and his dad were over the moon excited clapping our hands and smiling and yelling yay!!!! so he got right back up and head banged his head into the ottomon some more. He must have thought that was what we were so excited about his.. head banging moves :)
Man this kid loves Mickey Mouse... Loves him. we have that dancing Mickey .. i dont know if you have seen it in the stores. well we have it sitting up on our entertainment stand just out of reach. and he just loves dancing along with him singing and clapping. Seriously this is the best toy for my kid. He LOVES it!!!!

I cant wait for him to walk... he just wont do it. He could do it. No problem. he stands he squats down to pick something up and stands back up.  This stubborn little boy right here...

I mean he is right there.... but when he was crawling around... i was thinking man this could be one of my last chances to get a picture of that little bum crawling around up in the air... and look at this little monkey butt :)

Well hopefully he decides to walk by his first birthday.. Crossing my fingers he decides its time to walk soon. because clearly it is on his terms only and he doesnt care what mommy and daddy are wanting :)

So stubborn... but oh sooo sooo adorable :)

Now your turn... get your camera out and embrace it :)

Join Emily over at The Anderson Crew :)

DIY Clay Pot Snowmen!!

So my mom made Santa's out of clay pots years ago... and I have been begging for her to make me one. We could never find a Santa head to make them... so 6 years later I still don't have one. This year while out we happened to find Snowmen heads at two places. Big Lots and Gordmans. I believe both of them are under 10 bucks. So this was perfect. i wouldn't get the Santa .. but a Snowman would be just as cute :)
So I love these so much I thought we should show you how to make these :)

Supplies:
clay pots (the cheap ones.. you can find them at Michaels)
white spray paint
snowman head
black felt - you will need about 4 pieces for each snowman.
white material
Stuffing (not pictured)
Cones to keep heads on
scissors
Glue - we used some sort of ceramic glue

First off. you have to find the right size pots to go with your head.... We just took our heads into Michaels and built them right there to make sure we got the size that we wanted. You want two for the body then one a size smaller for the base.

Then you want to spray paint them white. (as pictured above)

Okay then take your white material cut it to the size you want his arms to be... you want them to sit on his waist... do snowmen have waists? well you know what i mean :) So cut your material. sew the two pieces together then sew one end... so it will look like this. (sorry for the not so great pictures... )

Then you want to stuff the arm with your filler.... like so

Then you want to draw your mitten on black felt ... you want to have two pieces of felt because you will sew these together.... I used Chalk to draw with because it easily wipes off :)

After you cut it out... you are left with something that should resemble this... 

We sewed the two mittens together with white thread so it looks like so....

Then you want to put a small amount of stuffing into the hand....

Tuck your arm into the mitten and sew them together....

You could probably do this step before you start the mittens.... that would make more sense... sorry first tutorial... all over the place. Hey I am trying!!!!

Stack your pots... and glue them together so they look like this...

Take the bottom of the pot flip upside down and glue on your cone... This will be used to fit up into your snowman head to stable the head....

Once all of that is done... In whatever order you choose :) you want to glue your arms onto the pots...

then glue your cone piece on.... like so.

Okay now this step is kind of all how you want to do it. we glued the mittens onto the snowman's waist... err... waist...sure waist.  then added on some scarves we made out of fleece fabric... and not in this picture but the pictures after... we glued some black buttons on them... because. Well snowmen  need buttons!!!

Now photos with buttons and all prettied up in the snow around the fireplace :)

Thanks mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps. still wanting the Santa... he was done the same way.... you bet your bottom if i find one we will post that one also :)

Cute right ???

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Embrace The Camera

Well this past Sunday was Maddux's first Halloween. We finally agreed on a costume... and adorable lil dinosaur!!! We decided to also make our dog, Nala a dinosaur to match her brother :) We went around and visited family members so they could see him in his costume and then we went trick or treating with my sister and her three little girls. It was a great day... Maddux definitely enjoyed the day. He got sugar from all of his grandparents... man he enjoyed that!

He still is refusing to stand... well he will stand up on his own but definitely on his own terms. So stubborn... I am hoping he will walk by the time he turns one... at one time that seemed so far away... no only four short weeks from now. Hes such a little booger... he stands all on his own until he notices me watching them and then immediately sits down... ha!!

So this past week he has also learned to scream when i take something away... man is that fun :) most of the time i can distract him... but wow when that doesn't work... well that's a good time.

Well by now you know the deal. I participate in Embrace the camera every Thursday... If you haven't heard of it take a look over there and read what its all about : )

Early in the day ... documenting our transformation from baby Maddux to Dino Maddux... In case its not obvious to you. Maddux was trying to escape :)

Here Maddux at Nana and Papas house crawling around... have i mentioned that I wish he would walk... stubborn lil dino...

and here's that adorable dinosaur standing... look at him... ahh sooo cute!!!!

And here he is with his cousin Aurora getting ready to go out trick or treating...  I love this picture!!!

And finally us embracing the camera... with our family photo shot Halloween 2010 :) Next year I am pretty sure we will really dork it up with a family costume.... My husband will push for Star Wars... I need to come up with something... haha.