Free Canvas

I've seen posts about the free canvas from canvas people on quite a few blogs this year.  Today I finally got around to checking out the site and ordering one. You get a $55 credit, so you can get a 8x10 canvas for free or upgrade to a larger size, the 11x14 would be $9.99.  I decided to go with the free 8x10 as I will be using it either in our bedroom or Addison's bedroom.  I used a beautiful picture of Addison taken this fall in black and white. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

If you would like a free or discounted canvas check out the canvas people here https://secured.canvaspeople.com/freegift

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It was busy at our house, unfortunately, Dustin had to work midnights all weekend.  We started our holiday with Christmas at his parents on Thursday. Christmas day Addison and I went to Ely to my dad and stepmoms.

Addison was so excited Christmas morning. Santa brought her the Hello Kitty camera that she asked the Santa at Bentlyville for.

Santa Belly Ornaments

The last couple of years we have made ornaments for Addison to give to her teachers at school and her grandparents. We keep one for our tree too.

This year we made Santa Bellys.  She really didn't get too involved with this one since I had to use hot glue.  I bought the ornaments last year on clearance. Then I cut a piece of felt into strips that were 3/4 inches wide. I used gold pipe cleaners for the buckle. I hot glued those onto the felt and then the felt onto the ornament.  On the back I used black permanent marker to write her name and the year.

I think they turned out really cute.

Here she is showing one of them off.



Sharing at: Be Different Act Normal and  

Christmas Cards

Twinkle Flakes Scarlet Christmas 5x7 folded card

Personalize the christmas season with Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shutterfly made it so easy to make our Christmas cards this year. The hardest part was choosing which design and which pictures to use.

Ho Ho Ho! Holiday Cards from Shutterfly!

It's that time of year again where I am in the search of the cutest Christmas card to send to our family and friends.  This year I stumbled across a wonderful deal that Shutterfly is offering to bloggers. Not only is it a wonderful deal, but they have some of the cutest designs that I have seen.

They have Christmas Card designs here.  What's nice is you can choose if you want one picture or more than three.  Some years I pick one, others I choose to have more. It all depends on how many pictures are so cute that I can't decide which one to use.

This one is so cute and I can picture my blonde haired, blue eyed little girl on it.

They also have Holiday Cards here, incase you don't want to use the word Christmas in your cards.

This one is so cute. My daughter is going to be four this year and is so excited to make a snowman!



I can't get over how cute the Christmas Gift Tags they have here. They are just so cute! I think this one is my favorite. How fun would it be to use these on gifts for your loved ones!

I have ordered from Shutterfly many times in the past. Their picture quality is excellent and I have always received my items very fast.

I haven't decided which card to order for this Christmas, but I'm sure with all of the choices that Shutterfly offers it will be a wonderful one!

Do you have a blog and want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season.

Flower Arrangement

Last week one of my friends and I took a class at a local florist shop to make a fall flower arrangement. It was a lot of fun. I'm happy with how mine turned out. It's all out of fake flowers and some dried flowers.  We even learned how to make homemade bows to add to the basket.

Linked to Just a Girl

Hair Bows

Last year I started making hair bows for my daughter.  I just googled for a tutorial to see how to wrap the clip and make the bows. We don't have many places to buy nice bows.  Last year she barely had any hair and I had to use the really small clips.  Now that she has more hair I can use the bigger clips.

Tonight I made two Christmas for her.  She doesn't have bangs, but they aren't as long as the rest of her hair, so I like to pull it back a little bit on one side.  She was so excited about these.

I also made three sets for one of my friends little girls that is turning one.  It's her birthday this weekend and I wanted something a little extra to add to the gift. I hope she likes them.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Last week I tried baked potato soup for the first time. I had run across this recipe a couple of times (both online and in the Kraft recipe magazine). I thought it sounded good and very easy to make.

You can get the recipe by clicking on the link above. It was really good. I wasn't sure if I would even like it. My husband said he wouldn't try it and then after he saw it and what was in it he ended up eating two bowls.

I attempted to add a picture from the Kraft website but was not able to get it to load.

Cheesecake Bars

I made some cheesecake bars for my chex party last weekend. I got the recipe from The Sisters Cafe http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/2010/09/cheesecake-bars.html






These bars are so good and very addicting! I actually doubled the recipe and made it in a 13x9 pan.

Book Reviews

I have read a couple of really good books in the last few weeks.

The first was The Scent of Rain and Lightening by Nancy Pickard.

http://www.amazon.com/Scent-Rain-Lightning-Novel/dp/0345471016/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286164375&sr=1-1

This book was really good. A little mystery, a little romance, twists and turns. I just stumbled across this one when I was on my librarys epub site and thought it looked good.

I just finished Summer's Child by Diane Chamberlain yesterday.

http://www.amazon.com/Summers-Child-Diane-Chamberlain/dp/0778328414/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286164555&sr=1-1

This author wrote The Secret Life of CeCe Wilkes, which I've also read and was good.

This book had so many twists and turns. I think my jaw hit the floor at the end when I found out what really happened. This one was about a baby that was found on the beach and was adopted by a family. It's about her life and the families life that she was adopted into.

Both of these were really good and I would recommend them to anyone.

Fall Decorating

I have been busy pulling out some of my fall decorations. Many of the things I have put up have been things that I made in the last couple of years.



This table is in front of my kitchen island. I strung up my BOO banner that I made last year. I added the Autumn gourd that I also made last year. The tree picture my daughter made in daycare a couple of years ago. She sponge painted the paper and the teacher cut out the tree. I put it on some scrapbook paper and framed it. I made the candy corn topiaries a couple of years ago. The little glass pumpkin I bought at Walmart last year, I believe for $3. It is filled with mini pumpkin shaped potpourri that I got from a friend. Next to the topiaries are two leaf tea light holders from Party Lite.

Here's a close up of the items on the table. My little lamp I bought at Pier One last year. I have some ribbon that I'm thinking about adding to the shade, but I'm not sure yet. I have it sitting on top of the book, The Help. The colors fit into the fall decor. Plus it is one of the best books I have ever read.



I have linked up to Southern Hosptality and Tatertots & Jello

Chex Mix Party

I was asked by General Mills Psst to host a Chex Mix Party through My Get Together. I had a few friends over and we tried the Chex and watched a couple of movies. I also made pepperoni/cheese pinwheels, deviled eggs and cheesecake bars. I also served cheese, summer sausage and crackers.




Me, Beth & Ricci. My almost 4 year old took the picture after she put a puppy sticker on me :)

I received three kinds of Chex Mix (Original, Honey Nut & Toffee), a Chex Mix bowl, napkins and plates from My Get Together.

Elmer's / X-Acto

I just received the best package in the mail today through BzzAgent. I was able to participate in their Elmer's X-Acto Campaign.

The package includes various glue items like dots, runner, and sticks. There are a couple different kids of scissors and a very cool corner punch.



I'm so excited to try all of the goodies. I used to scrapbook a lot and haven't in quite awhile, pretty much since Addison was born! This kit is really making me want to create something soon. I'm thinking maybe some homemade cards.

Once I finally use the items from the kit I will be sure to come back and share my projects!

Some Recent Winnings

I've entered a couple of giveaways on blogs recently and have been really lucky to win three!

The first one was from Rhonda at Southern Hospitality
I won two prints from Rusty Cricket. I chose the Crab Nation and Chowder Cove. These prints are so cute and very good quality. We are going to start finishing our basement and I'm hoping to use these to hang on the walls. I'm thinking they would look great framed in a white frame.
This is one of the prints that I received.

Then I won one from A Little Etsy Love. Have you checked out this site? If not you need to. They showcase different sellers on etsy and have lots of cute things that I normally wouldn't even find out there. I won a gift certificate to Misty Dawn Designs I chose a necklace and it is so pretty. I've worn it with long sleeve knit shirts and it looks beautiful with such a casual outfit but would also be super cute with something more dressy too.
This is similar to the one that I got.

Yesterday I learned that I won a $25 gift card to Stella & Dot through Sisters Stuff. Katie Hartzheim sells Stella & Dot and offered the gift certificate. I'm super excited because I ordered my daughter a necklace that came with three charms. This is the one that I chose.

So, if you think that you aren't lucky, just enter, it's fun to win. I'm enjoying the things that I've received.

I also added links into the blogs and the sites for the stores and for some reason they aren't showing up. But if you search for the sites you should be able to find both.

Mirror Makeover

When I was little my mom had this mirror on her dresser. It obviously wasn't this dusty, that's what years of storage will do! She always had her perfume and jewelery box on it. I've had this stored in my garage for the last four year. I found it when I was going through some boxes this summer. I decided that I really wanted to use it in my master bath to keep some of my things on like my mom used to.




However, the 1970's gold was not matching anything that I have! The before pictures really don't show how shiny that gold was! I figured a couple coats of white spray paint would help. I thought I would have to tape the mirror to paint. But when I looked at it, it was held to the base with 8 little nails. I was able to pull them out and just paint the frame. Then I just reattached everything. The back was also covered in a very thing layer of some kind of felt. It was falling off. I just scraped it all off.

I'm so happy with how it turned out. Taking pictures of this was so hard!





Linking up to Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday. http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-to-87th-metamorphosis-monday.html

The Francis Family Paint it Challenge

Apple Pie

Whenever the weather starts to get cooler I always feel like baking. Today I made an apple pie. It turned out perfect. Last year I made homemade apple pie filling. All I had to do was make the crust and crumb topping today. It makes for a quick homemade dessert.





Addison was very excited to help make the pie. She wanted her picture taken with the final result.

We also worked on a couple of projects today that I will be sharing later this week after we get them finished up.

Gardening

I have been busy outside working on our garden. Usually I don't plant anything until after Memorial Day, however we have been having unseasonably warm weather.

When we bought our house in 2006 this area just had some sand and clumps of dirt. The following summer we dug it up, put down dirt and planted perennials and some annuals. We lost quite a few plants that first winter. Each year it has gotten better. This year I was excited. I only needed to replace three plants. I did also add some more annuals for color.

We have also taken down the fence that was on the side and back of our house. Because of the frost it as starting to fall over. In the back between our yard and the neighbors we decided to put in three Spring Snow crabapple trees. These should get between 20 to 25 feet high and 18 to 20 feet wide.