December

December went by in a blur, like usual.  Madison turned four:

We watched lots of Christmas movies:

We hung out at the park when it wasn't raining:

Tried to take pictures of Sidney, but could only get side views or the back of her head.

Opened a ton of presents:

And hung out with cousins:



I finished quite a few projects this month so I'll start showing you next week.  Hope you have a great New Year.

Wine Cork Christmas Trees

I am always on the look-out for wine cork projects.  As soon as I saw 4EyesandEars’ cork trees, I knew I had to make one.  The only problem?  It takes 72 corks plus 4 for the trunk.  I can’t drink that much wine in an entire year (I’m more of a tequila girl myself).  Luckily, my mom goes to art and wine shows all the time.  She has started collecting the left over corks from all the vendors.  It was one of her rare creative moments. 

I love how it turned out! 

Linking to:
Somewhat Simple, Fingerprints on the Fridge, My Romantic Home, The Girl Creative
House of Hepworths, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming
CRAFT, Thrifty Decor Chick, I Heart Naptime, Dittle Dattle, Embellishing Life, Sew Chatty

December Daily

I finally sat down and learned how to use Photoshop Elements.  It was a pain in the butt, and took me all night to put together four pages, but totally worth it.  I wanted to participate in the December Daily project this year and I wanted to keep things simple and do mostly digital pages for the pictures.  I think I'll be able to put the rest of my pages together more quickly now that I know what I'm doing.  Here is my favorite picture from Dec. 1.

Hopefully I can get my first week's worth of pictures printed this weekend so I can actually put them in the album.  

Happy Thanksgiving

We were up bright and early this morning on the coldest Thanksgiving Sacramento has ever had.  It was 25 degrees and that is something we are definitely not used to.  We headed over to the Run to Feed the Hungry and had to stand around for about an hour, jumping up and down, trying to stay warm while we waited to start the race.  Madison and Sidney were so bundled they didn't even feel the cold.  We took lots of pictures while we were waiting.

Now we are finishing our turkey and making the best rolls ever!  Happy Thanksgiving.

Owl Hats

My annual craft boutique is next week.  I can't believe it's already that time of year.  I've been working on a bunch of things, but mostly my baby hats.  I made a few owl hats this year and as soon as Madison saw them, she just had to have one.  I finished the hats for Madison and Sidney this morning and they thought it was the funniest thing to wear owls on their heads.

Tinkerbell Costume

My sister requested a Tinkerbell costume for Heidi this year.  Her whole family dressed up as Peter Pan characters.   Aren't they cute!

I made Heidi's tutu, fairy wand and headband.  It was my version of Tinkerbell.

Madison and Sidney also dressed up in tutus and carried fairy wands.  Madison got so much candy, she couldn't even carry her bucket at the end of the night.  She ate a piece of candy after dinner on Sunday and Monday and then she forgot about it. 

This is the best picture I got of Sidney sitting in her costume.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch and had so much fun I didn't even want to leave.  There was a great corn maze and Madison and I got stuck and had to make a new path out.

We hung out with the pumpkins.

Drove the cars.

Went down the slide.

Searched for the best pumpkins.

And posed for pictures.



Korker Bows

We love hair clippies in our house. Madison wants to wear them with everything, but only if they match what she's wearing. Most of the time, we don't have any bows that match. This weekend I made a ton of them and they are really addicting. I just kept going until I ran out of ribbon.

To Make these bows you will need:

Grosgrain ribbon, 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch.  I used 3/8 inch.

1/4 inch wooden dowels

wooden clothespins

cookie sheet

scissors

candle

tweezers

thread

hot glue

plastic barrettes

To curl the ribbon, attach the ribbon to one end of the dowel and secure with a clothespin.  Wrap the ribbon around the dowel and secure the other end with a clothespin.

Once all the dowels are wrapped with ribbon, place them on a cookie sheet (I lined mine with foil so the ribbon wouldn't get dirty) and bake 275 degrees for 30 minutes.

Remove the ribbon from the oven and let cool for a couple minutes.  Remove the clothespins and unwind the ribbon. 

Next, cut the ribbon into two inch pieces.

At this point you will need to burn the edges of each piece so the ends won't fray.  Hold the ribbon with your tweezers and place the end close to the flame.  Don't get too close because it will catch on fire.

Place the two inch pieces of ribbon along a piece of thread and then tie around the middle of the ribbon.

Cut off the excess thread and hot glue to a plastic barrette.

Christmas Cards

I know its early, but if I don't start now, it will never get done. I have almost all of my Christmas cards done. I used my favorite Papertrey Ink stamps and made four different designs.

Halloween Decorations

Every year I have a big list of decorations I plan to make. But other than pumpkins on my front porch, I have never decorated for Halloween. This year I managed to squeeze in a few things. I found a bunch of pumpkins at Michaels on clearance so I spray painted them white. I found some branches in the yard and sprayed them black and made a black crepe paper wreath. I added a few candles and now I have officially decorated for Halloween.

Book Wreath

I have been loving fall wreaths lately. I especially loved this wreath by MaryJanes and Galoshes, but it was a little to plain for me. I also loved the pages of this book wreath by SimpleJoysPaperie, but overall, it is not my style. So, I combined the two and this is the book wreath I came up with:





Here's how I made my book wreath:

Supplies:

12 inch foam wreath
old book with several hundred pages
2 inch scalloped circle punch
ink pad
unsharpened pencil
glue gun



First I punched out my circles. I used about a third of my book and I think it had about 600-700 pages. I forgot to look.

Then I inked all the circles just around the edge.
ETA: The first two pictures were inked with brown for more of an aged look.  It's not as noticeable as the red.



Once all your circles are punched and inked, you can start gluing them onto the wreath. Place the pencil in the middle of the circle and fold up the edges.



Place a small amount of hot glue on the bottom and then stick it on the wreath.



Keep gluing until your wreath is full. I hung mine by a ribbon hot glued to the back of the wreath.


Linking to: 

Nesting Place

Tulle Fairy Wand Tutorial

I was inspired to make this by Sweet 'N Sassy Girls.

Supplies needed:

tulle
dowell
ribbon
thread
hot glue

You'll need to cut twenty strips of tulle, about 6 inches long. Make two piles with ten pieces of tulle in each. If you are using more than one color, then you'll want to alternate the colors as you make your piles.



Tie a piece of thread in the middle of each pile. Make sure the thread is long enough to use again for the next step.



Place one pile across the other and secure them together with the thread.



Pull apart all the strips until it becomes a little poof. Cut the excess thread.



Hot glue ribbon to a small dowell so it is completely covered.



Cut six pieces of ribbon and hot glue to the top of the dowell. Then hot glue your proof on top of the ribbon.



There you go. A fairy wand for your little princess. So, tell me, how did I do? If you make one I would love to see it!