Simple Winter Wreath

Happy New Year!

How is everyone adjusting to a new year and back to 

'regular scheduled programming'?!  (haha ;) 

Kids are back in school and Hubby is back to work (working from home today).

It was a nice time having everyone home together enjoying the time off.

So, down with the wonderful Christmas decor and up with my 

January/Winter stuff...

Which I don't really have anything, but I have a neutral pallet so I like to change things up for the season and/or holiday with colors.

January is shades of blues, turquoise and white. 

I am still loving grapevine wreaths and this one for my exterior door 

couldn't be easier to assemble!

I purchased the felt snowflake at Target's after Christmas sale as well as the shiny packaging bows. Each item was about 30 cents!

The bow(s) have a plastic hub holding it together and I just tucked that part in the grapevine and the snowflake already had the twine string, so I hung it on the back trying to center the snowflake. 

And there you have it! 

A simple and easy Winter Wreath :)

Stay warm, my friends!

Linking To: The 36th Avenue & Sewing Barefoot & Craftberry Bush 

& Tatertots and Jello

White Elephant Gift Exchange

I live in a really, really awesome neighborhood.

Good people... Good friends...

The kind of cool kids that if I needed some help they would be there to lend a hand & {some love}

I'm Blessed :)

My friend and neighbor across the street from me 

is having her 4th annual Christmas Dinner Party 

just for us girls !

So Fun!

As usual, we will be doing a white elephant gift exchange 

after dinner.  

So, this year ~ well, I'm bringing...

a White Elephant! 

This little elephant is made of 2 pieces of white flannel, embellished with white embroidery floss, white ribbon and good ol' fashion craft glue. I used an online coloring page for the pattern.

I hope it's a fun gift to receive ;)

~~ Happy Holidays! ~~

Linking to : Sewing Barefoot & Lil Luna & The Dedicated House & The 36th Avenue & Craftberry Bush & Tatertots and Jello & Clean and Scentsible

Mini Packaging Ornaments

Don't you just love little things?

Little packages that are just too cute?

Here is an easy ornament to add to your Christmas Tree this year !

All you need to do is sit down with a cozy blanket, a favorite show or movie and indulge yourself with just a teeny tiny tub of ice cream :)

{the calories are barely noticeable, right? it's so little..}

Afterwards, wash and dry the container.

Using the embossed 'dot' (on this particular lid), carefully poke a hole in the center of it with an awl or scissors.  Don't make the hole too big. 

Thread a needle with ribbon and pull it through the hole from the top of the lid.

Then take the other side of the ribbon and thread it through the top of the lid, as well.

Tie a knot on the underside, put the lid back on the tub then hang on your tree! 

Too cute!

I made 3 of these: one for me and my hubby, and one for each of my girls. 

I am collecting ornaments and such as the years pass so when my cute girls are grown and have a place of their own some day, they will be able to bring them with them.


~ Here is a mini package ornament from a previous Christmas ~

Save the wrapper(s) from yummy Lindt chocolates. Put a little cotton ball inside
(at least I think that's what I did :)
Put them in the package to show through the window, tape ribbon and flap on the back and you are ready to it hang on your
Christmas Tree!

~ Happy Holidays ~

Linking to: Sewing Barefoot & Lil Luna & The 36th Avenue & Craftberry Bush
 & One Creative Mommy & Blissful Bucket List & Simple Home Life & TaterTots and Jello & Design Dining the Diapers & Ladybird Lane & The Dedicated House & Diana Rambles & Thrifty Decor Chick & Clean and Scentsible

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

So, I confess I made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner one night ~ hee hee!

This particular photo I believe was on a Saturday morning ~ another batch!

These pancakes have been a big hit at our house!

{For me? Well, I still prefer my chocolate elsewhere and not in pancakes !!

Awe... boring, Mom!!}

Anyway... I think the only thing I added to this written recipe
 that I haven't been doing recently is vanilla extract.

{hello! what is baking without vanilla?}

As for the word 'healthy' being part of the recipe, I'll let you decide :)

Maybe if you use dark chocolate?

Anyway... the base of the recipe is pretty darn healthy
if you ask me so ...
what's a little chocolate thrown in, eh?

You can either mix the chocolate chips into the entire pancake batter

 or
just add them to one side of the pancake while the other side is cooking.

{My oldest daughter took a cooking class this past summer 

and made chocolate chip pancakes and did it the latter way.}

 I think it works better.

Plus ... you can make a smile appear on the pancake and

your cute kiddos (and your hubby's) face :)

~ Enjoy! ~

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1 T ground flaxseed

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt ( I use Himalayan Pink Salt)

2 T vanilla yogurt

1 egg

1 T honey

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup milk ( I use skim)

1/4 - 1/2 cup milk or dark chocolate chips 

olive oil and/or butter ( I use Smart Balance)

Mix all the ingredients together in a med/lg mixing bowl with wooden spoon.

Heat skillet with about 2 T olive oil or perhaps 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter on medium low and drop pancake batter to desired size in skillet.

Add chocolate chips. 

Flip pancake to the other side to cook when edges of pancake are rounded and spatula fits easily underneath.

Lower temp of stovetop about a degree. 

Cook on the other side. 

Repeat! (last time to turn down heat on stove )

***Please use recipe for personal use only. Thanks! ***

Linking To: Sewing Barefoot & Lil Luna & The 36th Avenue & Blissful Bucket List
& Craftberry Bush & One Creative Weekend & Tatertots and Jello

Thanksgiving Wreaths & Garland

  

So, I tried something different for my indoor wreaths. (Even after I said how I liked having a wreath with a simple item hanging in the center that could be easily changed for the season - haha!)

I used the orange satin ribbon from my Halloween trio and tied it horizontally. The small pumpkins are a find from Hobby Lobby last year, I believe. I didn't glue them down; just tucked them in the grapevine wreath. For this wreath, I printed 'grateful you're here'.  It hopefully gives a welcoming feeling to those who enter my home as well as using a word that fits the season. This wreath hangs on my coat closet door close to the the front door.

I like to take the curly Qs from grapevine wreaths and and tuck them in as well to the felt pumpkins. Too cute! Use either adjacent curlys or cut some off.

I so wish I could link back to the blogger where I first learned that you could print on fabric just from your paper printer! But I don't remember and could not find it trying to search online. Sorrry :/      

                                     

(I made this garland using the same printing technique)

Anyway... this is just plain ol' muslin fabric that I printed on.

It's easiest if you print your quote on regular paper, cut a piece of muslin and tape it over the printed quote and then send the whole thing through the printer manually. 

*** caution, paper can get jammed, so be careful ! ***

And I think I used the bold feature on this print and not the other?? 

It looks darker. I think it looks better, so do that  :)

For this wreath, I used a scripture from the Bible, Matthew 9:37. 

It's not really in context here, but I was looking to use the word harvest. 

I have this hanging on my pantry door. 

I think it is a great way for my family to celebrate and be thankful this

Thanksgiving Season

for all our food behind that pantry door. 

And really... all the 'plenteous' blessings we have been given.

Linking to: Sewing Barefoot & Somewhat Simple & One Creative Mommy & Lil Luna & The 36th Avenue & Blissful Bucket List & Craftberry Bush & Tatertots and Jello

Ghosty Egg

Happy Halloween!

Happy Accident ~ my husband got a 'ghost fried egg'  LOL !! Now that is cool :)

Halloween Wall Decor - Part 2 & 3

I finally finished up my Halloween Wall Decor; only to be putting it away soon because Halloween is almost here, right? haha :)

           

Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo ~ Cute Witch and Sweet Barbie

Actually, I'm pretty much done with Halloween. Are you? We've attended a Halloween party at church, were invited to a trunk-or-treat with my Sis-in-law's family and I've had my Halloween decorations up I think pretty much since the beginning of the month! I'm ready to move on to something else :) Although, my Thanksgiving posts may be scarce. I don't have a lot to share for that holiday. And I can't seem to think of or find much to create as well.

Anyway... the next applique I created was the pumpkin. Please refer to the Candy Corn Applique for full tutorial.

Again, I created a paper template but cut freehand the black felt face pieces. The great thing about felt is that you can adjust it / trim it to make it look 'just so' even after the initial shape is made. I did that here and also on the candy corn applique. To make the raffia curly Q's, please follow my tutorial from my Rustic Pumpkins post. Here's a photo for a clue.

After playing around with the placement of the face pieces I top stitched them into place with my machine. You can see that his eye on the left got all wonky! Unfortunately or fortunately that's how I roll - haha! At this point his eye either looks kind of pirate-y or perhaps 'he' is a 'she' and her false eyelash is a little droopy. Or the pumpkin is giving a little wink ;)

Who else than the 'Queen of Craft' (aka Martha Stewart) to give me a perfect bat template! Each one by themselves was not the right scale, so I ended up using 2 of the small sized bats.

                   

Tape template to black felt and cut out bat shape. Glue down bats and machine top stitch.

For the eyes, they are small self-adhesive cell phone acrylic gems. Add a touch of craft glue with a straight pin to help adhere. 

I added a yellow felt full moon as the whole applique seemed to plain with just the 2 bats.

I used craft glue to adhere all 3 applique 'pillows' to an orange satin ribbon. 

Sew a little loop of embroidery thread to the back and you are ready to hang :)

Happy Halloween !!

Linking to : Sewing Barefoot & Make It Pretty Monday & Itsy Bitsy & Somewhat Simple & Momnivore's Dilemma & The 36th Avenue & Craftberry Bush & Blissful Bucket List & Tatertots and Jello