Sleigh bells ring....

This year it isn't as easy to decorate with a crazy little toddler who wants to

A) Help with everything

B) Touch EVERYTHING!

C) Grabs stuff and runs laughing his head off.

For this reason I have started way sooner than usual.

The problem that I think it is really going to cause is that I am going to over do it.

Is that possible? Isn't that what I do anyways?

Oh well, on we go!!

I am trying to get a few crafty pins completed every week and have already gone to Michaels twice this week.

My sister informed me that they are having a 3 day sale so I will probably be there again very soon.

(maybe tonight?)

Anyways....since I have a whole board dedicated to hand prints I figured I would do a Christmas one.

I actually used 2 separate pics I found and combined them.

It is a little challenging to get a 1 year old to let me paint his hand/feet and try to make a stamp of it as opposed to a big smear that he would rather do.

It is definetly a 2 man job.

Here is the finished project:

 

Martino didn't get why I was drawing tree branches out of his feet.

Have faith, dear husband.

I wrapped the outside of the frame in (you guessed it) burlap!

I think it looks cute....eventually his handprints will be all over the walls so I might as well make some cute ones to remember.

I also got creative and added some stuff to my frames by the front door.

 

On to find my next project. Stay tuned.



My birthday boy

Recently it was my husbands birthday.

Every year he complains he doesn't want a party or any presents.

Don't do anything! Man, what an ogre!

This year I didn't, and it was easy.

When it comes to my birthday I want a party!

Unfortunately, I share my birthday with not only my mother in law, but,

 I also had to have Leo on that day too.

Poor bud has to share his bday with his mom!

Because of this I hold a half birthday party for him.

(more on that later)

Since Leo isn't talking enough yet I wrote a little not for him to hold in a pic for his daddy.

Here is this years.....

 And here is last years. Where has the time gone?

Man was he a bald little peanut!

Just to clarify these were taken first thing in the morning which is why he is pj's in both!

 

 

Helping dad blow out his one candle....

what is funny is that he now goes up to the christmas tree and tries to blow out the lights!

(at least this year he got an actual cake candle and not a pillar from the living room!!)

 

 



Covered in Burlap

I finished yet another burlap project today so I wanted to share.

Last year I bought the letters N-O-E-L from Michaels.

I used those 3M things to stick them on the wall.

Unfortunately when I took them off for the season they also removed huge chunks of my paint!

I was NOT happy.

Anyhow that wall has since been repaired and repainted by moi because I married Mr.Unhandy.

I thought you were supposed to marry someone like your dad!?

My dad is Mr.Handy (only if it isn't at his house)

I guess that's why I can figure stuff out....Martino hopes he dies first or else he is going to be in trouble!

Anyways, back to my burlap.

 The letters used to be black.

First I tried to spray paint a doilie (sp?) pattern on them but that turned out a bit of a flop....

and I was slightly high from the huge haze of spray paint fumes I made in the garage!

So, I wrapped them in strips of burlap, AND THEN, added some rhinestones....which I know is a huge suprise for anyone who knows me.

(I got a huge bag of them at Michaels so now I am searching for things to glue them to!)

Instead of the 3M strips I tied them to the pillars with twine.

 Here is one of the wreaths I did. The other two were replicas of ones on pinterest.

This one I created all by my creative self.

And just a little extra....I made this for my girlfriends birthday recently.

She shares my love of craftiness!

I have a few more ideas to go so stay tuned!



Pinterest has taken over!

I have greatly neglected my little blog......but it is because Pinterest is taking over my life right now!

Now that Halloween is over I am all consumed with everything Christmas......

what to bake, how to decorate, parties to plan, and a ton of DIY projects to do.

I am making all my christmas gifts for friends this year.

Not just for the reason of being frugal, but for the sheer genius of why buy if you can make?!

And really, what does anyone really NEED?

If you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food in your belly and people who love you, then what can you buy from the store to top that?

As I get older I realize what really matters. Would I be tickled pink if there was a new Louis Vuitton for me under the tree...for a minute and then I would be mad that much money got spent on me.

Wow....having a baby has REALLY changed my perspective.

When I was a teenager I always wanted my mom to buy herself new clothes, go out, get her hair done etc......now I know why she didn't.

Who knew that the grinch would figure it out!?

 

For some reason I am obsessed with Burlap at the moment and it is going to be a burlap wonderland around here this Christmas.

 I just completed my third burlap wreath to hang on the railing.

Two of them I copied from pinterest, the third one was just my own creative thinking!

I used burlap to wrap the bottom of my entry way tree and added it to my wreath on the front door.

I am trying to add pics but my computer isn't complying with me right now and I have clients coming soon so you are going to have to wait with anticipation to see all the craftiness!

 

A day with Aunty

Since my mom went on vacation and had a little fight with a step and lost she has had to have surgery and have pins put in her arm.

She is my child care every other friday while I work at the hair school and every other saturday when I am doing clients.

Having a full arm cast has odviously made this not possible now since she can't lift Leo

 (even though he is a peanut he has a little junk in the trunk....K, not really but he isn't a new born anymore!)

I have been looking for alternate child care for him and trying to decide if I should just put him in daycare on fridays.

Fortunately my sister has stepped up and said she will fill in for mom on her fridays.

Yesterday was the first go at it.

He was in one piece when I got home and she still had all her wits in order so I would say it was a success. The part that makes it a little tricky is my little ginger niece is only 3 months old so that makes double the diapers to change (we both do cloth) and double the babes to entertain.

Although at this point Chloe is pretty happy just watching Leo run around and laugh.

He will often stop to give her a kiss or hold her hand.

He is going to be a good little protector of his little cousin.

 

They are going to be each others first best friends. Leo is going to play with barbies and ponies at her house and she is going to play with cars and blocks at ours.

Although having a hairstylist for a mother may lead him to do a few girly things at home too!

The day went well....and a little sledding practice was had by Leo riding the baby gate down the stairs.

(it doesn't fit right so maybe we should screw it to the wall since this is his second tumble down those stairs!?)



Pumpkin Patch

We have gotten into the groove of house cleaning on the weekends.

While Leo was napping I made a batch of perogies because I was hosting sunday dinner due to the mama having a broken arm.

 

I was short on potatos so I had to add a sweet potato that I had on hand.

According to my sister and from the last time we made them I need to work on my shaping as mine turned out slightly demented looking compared to her cheemo looking ones.

These turned out good....shaping came out better and nothing is better than home made!

 (and grandmas recipe)

Last weekend we decided to do something fun as a family so we loaded into the car and headed out to Prairie Gardens in Bon Accord.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't really cooperative.

 

 

They have a petting zoo farm there.

Leo is too little to know the difference so he thought it was helarious to pet the little goats.

 

 

Fortunate for the cold they weren't smelly.....or maybe goats aren't?! I don't know!

Most of our time besides the goat petting was spent inside.

They have a ton of pumpkins to pick from and a few tents to run around in.

 

   Pumpkin picking was a little difficult for him with his mitts on and he was getting a little irritated but it was too cold to take them off. Mostly he wanted to throw them around anyways!

I found this double butt pumpkin that looks neat...not sure if we will carve it yet.



A Halloween Theme Bday

Our little friend Lalaina had her halloween theme 4th bday party today.

All the little ones had their costumes on....the girls in their dresses and the superhero/animal boys.

Leo was the youngest one there...at this point he is just enthralled to stand and watch other kids.

They were a little too big and a lot to fast for him to keep up.

Pinterest is bringing out the competitivness in all the moms I know.

Lisa did a great job....it is time consuming doing all those little details!

Here is my little superman chowing down:

 

A few other superheros in attendance:

A super cute snack table:

Thanks to pinterest for instilling all these genius ideas in all our parties

Cheese eyeballs & cookie spiders

 Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of the beautiful little birthday princess as she was having too good of a time with all her other little princess friends.