Poor Man's Wreath

So naturally, we're a little on the broke side. Happens a lot during this time of year! I came to the conclusion that we needed some additional Christmas cheer in the house, so I made us a wreath to hang in our big window in front!

The Wreath!

Hendrix likes to help

The Embellishments

Decorated Wreath

Ribbon

And a bow to top it all off!

Cost Wrap-Up:

Wreath : $5.99 (Joann Fabrics)

Help From Hendrix : FREE!

2 Silver Picks : $0.58 (Joann Fabrics)

4 Red and Green Picks : $1.16 (Joann Fabrics)

2 Feather Picks : $1.98 (Joann Fabrics)

Ribbon : $1 (Dollar Tree)

Total Cost: $10.71

Next year I want to try an ornament wreath, ribbon wreath, or feather wreath, but until then, this will do juuuuust fine :)

Stockings!

Today I had the day off, so I decided to go over to my mothers house, and we finished the stockings we started a few weeks back, so that I can hang them up :) I love how they turned out. I made one for myself, one for my hubby, and one for Riley. I loved the stockings I bought for the cats last year, so I didn't have the heart to replace them this soon :)

There are all 5 of the stockings :)

And a better shot of the 3 that we finished making today :)

I am one happy camper!

XOXO

-V

First Snow!

It's snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its not sticking much, but we shall see.

After today, I'm not entirely sure that dear Riley has seen snow before. When we adopted him from Chicago's animal control, they said they had picked him up a week earlier (so around April 14th) as a stray in the city. He was extremely emaciated, but he's a young guy, he was 6 months at the time we adopted him. We don't know that he could have survived on the streets over an entire winter.

Either way, we love having him, and today when I took him outside to see what the snow was all about, he kept snapping at the snowflakes, and trying to nom them. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Though I'm biased, and love my pup way too much!

Scrub A Dub Dub

Me and my hubby have been on a massive cleaning kick today. Everything is getting a top to bottom scrub down. We finally just finished, and put up our Christmas tree :)

I will try to get a better picture of it once it's dark inside and out! I love all the pretty colors, and was excited to put up a few of my new ornaments.

While cleaning the office, I stumbled upon a merchandise certificate from http://www.orientaltrading.com for $10.

Upon browsing their site I found this bad boy:

for only $8.99!

I ordered two of them, and will probably be spray painting them all one color, as I'm not too fond of the colors. I can't wait to get these here and hang them up!

Holidays

I can't believe how fast this year has just BLOWN by. Next week is December. DECEMBER! How did this happen?!

I came home from work tonight to my wonderful husband steam cleaning the hell out of the few rooms that we haven't put wood floors in yet. The carpets look amazing, and I'm thankful that I have someone that will do that without even being asked! I was planning on doing it Monday, as I'm hosting a Girls Night In on Tuesday night with some of my ladies.

I went and bought my ornament for the Nestie July 09ers this morning before I went in to work, and I sincerely hope that she likes what I've picked for her :) I plan on putting it in the mail Tuesday AM.

I also picked up a couple ornaments for myself, since we have so few, and I don't want a nekkid tree.

I also went in search of a coat rack for our dining room (which is attached to the kitchen, and the backdoor of the house)

After determining I couldn't find one that I liked I wound up with THIS:

The wrapping paper I originally just bought because I thought it was pretty paper to wrap gifts in. After a couple minutes though, I decided that I may use some of it to spruce up this coat rack, so it's not so plain. We are planning on spray painting it either white, or a dark dark brown, and then I will decorate :) I love little personal touches.

Monday I'm planning on putting up our tree and decorations, which I'm excited about. I love all the extra color it adds to a home! More photos to come then!

XOXO

-V

I'mmmmmm dreaming of a blaaaaaack Fridayyyyy!

Just wanted to say a quick good luck to those of you who are shopping the fabulous Black Friday sales!

I myself, knocked out 4 people's christmas prezzies for under $40 at Old Navy with their doorbusters!

Hoooooray for $5 Performance Fleece!

Good luck, and I can't wait to read about some of the cool deals you all  got!

XOXO
-V

Life, or something like it!

Ahhhhhh, finally a week without too much work in it! And a few days off to boot! One of the many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving! Next week is also a pretty light week, so I'm workin on getting those creative juices flowing again :)

The weather is finally switching from a VERY warm fall, to Winter type weather. I am not sure how I feel about this. Snow is a beautiful thing, but I hate driving in it. It's best for me when I'm looking out my window at it, nice and warm.  I hate that it is now pitch black by 430 or 5 PM. Makes it feel like the day is already completely gone. However, I love taking photographs in the winter time, so that is for sure an upside :)

I started my Christmas shopping this past Sunday. Partially online, and then me and my mother went out shopping. I got some great deals on the items I am purchasing, but many of my gifts are going to be handmade this year. As I type this, I am waiting for the first layer of paint to dry on my recipe box for my grandmother. I haven't quite decided what to Mod podge on to it, but I figure once I see it fully painted, something great will come to me :)

I was very excited to find a US Marine Corps Snuggie on www.harrietcarter.com, as my grandfather is a proud marine, and we have gotten him all the Marine Corps items we could find over the years.

Upon further discussion on our home situation, we have decided to stay where we are. What it came down to was when I have a child, what school I would feel comfortable sending him or her to. We have worked out a fantastic deal, and are starting to upgrade the house further in February 2010.

So that's my update! I plan on getting my booty in gear with crafting, and then soon decorating for Christmas!

How are all of you doing?

XOXO-
V

A Blessing In A Text Message

I got a very exciting text message this morning at about 7 am! I get an unexpected day off tomorrow! No more fretting about a 13 day in a row work streak! I'm relieved, since I have to work late tonight, and tomorrow I would have had to leave very early!

I'm going to finally get some time to sit down and do some crafting tomorrow! Christmas is sneaking up, and I need to start getting ready for it! So be expecting more exciting posts coming soon!

XOXO-
V

Twilight: New Moon Signing 11.10.09

Just got home from the New Moon signing event at Fox Valley mall in Aurora! It was amazing! And chaotic! But it was a good time nonetheless! Here is my lovely souvenir!

 And the stars!

Time for bed! Gotta work bright and early!

Have a great night everyone!

XOXO

V

Work Workety work work work

Nothing but work! ALLLLLLLLL week. Luckily, this upcoming week I have 3 (yup thats right!) THREE days off! This has not happened in about a month. I'm pretty excited for it.  Haven't had time for any fun crafts or recipes or anything this past week, so I don't have much to write about. Hopefully I will get a lot done this week. Have the Twilight New Moon meet and greet on Tuesday, so I'm sure I will update on that!

We are in the process of figuring out if we want to stay in the house we are in now, or go buy a different house entirely. There are pros and cons to each.

The house we are in now:
PROS:
-is in a great safe neighborhood
-has room to add additions and whatnot as we may need
-we wouldn't have to move if we stayed here.
-We wouldn't have to get a mortgage loan.

CONS:
-It needs a TON of work. Flooring, drywall, upgrades, siding, fence, landscaping, heating, air conditioning etc etc etc
-it is a 2 bedroom, 1 (teeeeeny tiny) bathroom ranch house, so additions would be necessary if we were to start making babies, which is on our list for next year.
-It would cost us $144,000 to own. (which is REALLY steep for the condition and square footage of the house)

The houses we can afford:
PROS:
-We can get a 3-6 bedroom, 2 bathroom fixer upper home for under $100,000. Since hubby does hardwood floors and knows an arsenal of various other handymen, we could probably get that work done, and still not hit $144,000
-We would be able to start fresh in a house I didn't live in with my mother when I was younger
-We would have more space to work with, and potentially not have to add any additions to the house.

CONS:
-The neighborhoods are not nearly as desirable as the one we are in now. And a few of them are not the safest neighborhoods
-The commutes to work would be a bit longer
-We would have to move (I HATE moving and packing)
-Credit fixing. I got my credit report run to see where I was at, and found a bevy of things that have been paid off, and reported incorrectly to the credit reporting agencies. I've started to fix all of it, but it's going to take a while to get everything cleared up.

We don't know which side we are leaning towards at all. We both love the neighborhood we are in, and would like to stay here, but we don't know that the price of the house is worth it.

Ahhh decisions decisions..

Least we have all the time we need to decide :)

Hope all you out there are doing lovely!

XOXO
-V

I have the greatest friends ever!

Twilight fans - have you heard about this?

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Tour is ready to take the nation by storm! Want to get into one of the events? Here’s what you'll need to do! Go to any of the Hot Topic locations listed below at 8:00AM on October 31st, 2009, and purchase a commemorative The Twilight Saga: New Moon Tour T-shirt. You'll get a wristband* that'll give you access to the event at the location you purchase your T-shirt from. Check out the dates and locations below to see if the tour is coming to a city near you! Please note, talent is subject to change.

Westfield Fox Valley

The Hot Topic New Moon Pre-Event to get wristbands begins at 8:00 am Saturday, October 31, and the queue line will be inside the mall, just in front of the Hot Topic store. Customers can enter the mall at entrance 2 between JC Penney and Sears. Starting at 8AM customers will be escorted into the Hot Topic store to purchase the exclusive New Moon Tour T-shirt for $30 to receive a wristband* that guarantees the opportunity to meet cast members from the film on 11/10.

*Taxes not included. Limit one wristband per person. Only 500 wristbands are available. 

I couldnt make it to sit there, since I have to work all day today, and I had to be at work at 615 am yesterday.

Both of my matrons of honor went and sat in the crazy lineup at midnight last night.

One because she is a huge fan..

The other because she didn't want me to miss this event.

Both of them are preggers, and apparently insane to pull an allnighter!

I now have one of the 500 wristbands :)

IM SO EXCITED!

The celebs for IL are Ashley Greene (Alice) and Kellan Lutz (Emmett) and a band performance by Anya Marina, who has a song on the New Moon soundtrack.

Yippeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Annnd

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!!!!!!!

XOXO

This is Halloween Halloween Halloween!

I have not had any time to update over the past week. I've been on a work marathon since last week Tuesday. Thursday is my next day off! However, I did find time to find my Halloween costume for this year, so I figured a costume post would be fun :)

Halloween 1988

Yeah... unflattering angle, so I figured I'd cover up my goodies with that nifty censored logo.

Halloween 2005

Halloween 2006 - Bee Themed party. Me and my DH (dressed as B. Real from Cypress Hill)

And this years costume??

Let's face it, it's quite generic. We had all these great ideas, but haven't had the time to put them into action. However, it's pretty and will keep me warm, since it is always freezing on Halloween here!

Will for sure post some pictures after Halloween!

XOXO

Oh Blankie Where Are Thou?

So today I finally sat down and finished my blanket. Easy project I know, but it felt good to finally cross one thing off my list! It's extremely warm, and I've been snuggling under it since I pulled it out of the dryer. I was right, took about 5 minutes to pin, and 5 minutes to sew.

Winter, bring it on! Now I have TWO layers of fleece to fight you with :)

Midnight Madness!

And no, I'm not talking about the awesome 80s movie!

I'm talking about this:

For those Crafters out there, there are some amazing sales going on at Joann Fabrics!

If you're into fleece and flannel (which I most certainly am)

Blizzard Fleece Prints and Solids are 60% off

Snuggle Flannel prints and solids are 60% off

Buy 1 Get 1 Free Thread (best time to stock up!)

50% off plastic storage containers(trying to get organized anyone?)

$0.99 McCall's Patterns

5 for $0.95 open stock scrapbooking paper

Ohhh I was in heaven! Just figured I would share. I came home with some fun new scrapbook paper patterns, and 7 yards of flannel today. I will take $2.39 a yard over $5.99 a yard flannel anyday!

 

 The flower one is to make neck pillows for some of the women in my family as christmas gifts. The owl and bird flannel I don't even KNOW what I'm going to do with yet, but it was so cute I couldn't help myself. Same with the cupcakes.

I'm a sucker for cute fabric!

Is Anyone Else Getting Really Excited?

I just recently finished reading all the Twilight books. I was uncertain about them when they first came out, but after enough of my friends recommended them to me, I read through them, and now I'm hooked! I'm currently listening to the New Moon audiobook whenever I'm doing anything else, getting more excited chapter by chapter.

I think I'm becoming a Twi-nerd.....

November 20th needs to show up faster!

What's For Dinner?

What's For Dinner?

3-Bean Ravioli Minestrone Soup

Courtesy of: The Gooseberry Patch Very Merry Christmas Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 T. Olive Oil

1 Onion, Chopped

2 Carrots, Chopped

2 Celery Ribs, Chopped

2 Cloves Of Garlic, Minced

3 (14 oz.) Cans Of Chicken Broth

9-oz. Package Of Frozen Baby Lima Beans, Thawed

16-oz. Can Of Light Red Kidney Beans, Rinsed & Drained

16-oz. Can Of Garbanzo Beans, Rinsed & Drained

2 (14.5 oz.) Cans Of Diced Tomatoes

2 t. Italian Seasoning (I make my own by combining oregano, garlic salt, and garlic powder)

1 t. Pepper

1/2 t. Salt

7-oz. Package Of Mini Ravioli (I use cheese tortellini)

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

(I like my onions more than chopped!)

Directions:

Combine First 13 ingredients in a large stockpot. 

Cover & Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add Ravioli and cook 10 additional minutes, or until tender.

Serve with shredded fresh Parmesan cheese.

Makes 14 cups.

And The Finished Product??

Yum Yum!

 

Neglect

I'm a bad, bad blog mommy. Haha. I am planning on having some more updates soon, unfortunately we've had a very busy couple of weeks, and haven't had a chance to get anything done!

Be expecting updates soon!

Rest In PIece... Trusty Glue Gun

WAHHHH

I sit down to make one of my wreaths today. Plug in Mr. Glue Gun. He refuses to heat up!

Just when I get some ambition to finish something.

And to top it off, I was going to go by a new one, but the weather is so rainy and crappy that I don't want to go outside because the bottoms of my pant legs will get all wet, since I'm too short for 98% of the pants I own. I'm also very whiny today. Inexplicably.

I rate today as : LAME.

Minus the good TV watching coming my way tonight.

I loooove amimals (Apologies in advance for the Jay & Silent Bob reference...)

Want to see a boatload of cute animals?

Head on over to The DIY Show Off! Roeshel is hosting a pet parade! 

Click HERE to go see (and look at her other posts, I love seeing all the neat projects people create)  :)

Biker Dawgs

I was going through older discs of pictures tonight to entertain myself, and I found a bunch of photos I took of dogs at the shelter I volunteer at. (I haven't made it up there in a while now though :( stupid work) The Animal House Shelter had a booth at Hal's Harley Davidson during a biker fest. The pictures are cute, so I figured I would share :)

 

  

  

Annnnnd the finished product?!?!

 

Ahhhh those were some fun times :)

C.D.D.

Ohhh I have it. Crafting Defecit Disorder! I have all these ideas, and they are ready to be made, but haven't been able to actually sit down and complete anything! Work contributes heavily to that, as I am working more hours than I'm used to. I figured if I made a list of the things I want to get done, maybe I have a better chance of finishing them! So here goes (I will update later with pictures, I'm too lazy to even take the pictures right now!)

1 - New fleece blanket! I got some of the cutest fleece ever to make a blanket out of. Sitting down and sewing it would probably only take me 10 minutes, so this will more than likely be the first one done.

Fabrics Chosen:

2 - Fall wreath. I had a 25% off your entire purchase Michael's coupon that I used to gather all the supplies I could need or want for this.

3 - Recipe boxes! I'm making recipe boxes for the ladies in my family for Christmas gifts (as they alll love to cook!). Once again, have all the supplies, just don't have the time to sit down and complete all of them.
* I know nobody wants to think about Christmas yet, but I like to have a goooooood jumpstart on my shopping before October even hits. Call me crazy, because I might be.

4 - I want to sew a more comfortable camera strap than the one I've got right now, since I lug my camera everywhere. I have yet to get fabric to do this. UPDATE 9/16/09: Got the fabrics :)

5 - Start making stock for the Etsy shop that I hope to open before the holidays hit.

6 - Make myself a new pincushion. Mine has seen better days!

7 - Finish making Christmas stockings. They are all cut out, and waiting to be sewn!

This is only some of what I want to do. Add the Beach themed room craft projects onto this, and I have way too many ideas, and not enough hours in the day.

I'm off Monday... so hopefully I will wake up inspired!

Blog Giveaway!

Love this print?

Hirondelle Rustique is giving away a free 8X10 Print of this! Click Here to enter for your chance to win! Ends September 11th, at 11:59 PM!

Just Beachy!!

After our honeymoon to Cancun, I completely fell in love with tropical/beachy themes. It inspired me to redecorate my office and use a beach/sea kind of theme in it! Here is a picture of the room:

To Do List for Office/Crafting Room:

• Re-drywall, whoever put the drywall in this room did a horrible job. You can see seams and patching all over the place.
• Take down Stucco ceilings, and drywall those too. This Stucco is AWFUL, and it must go.
• Replace trim around ceiling and doorways
• Change ceiling fan, that thing has to be 30 years old! The shades are white with little blue flowers on them. Maybe I can talk my dear husband into a fun leaf ceiling fan, or just get a plain white one and call it a wash.
• Change out switchplate and outlet covers, they are currently a coppery color that I'm not a fan of.
• Replace carpeting with hardwood (this will be one of the last things we do, but hubby does hardwood floors for a living, so it's only a matter of buying materials.) Plus, we want to do hardwood throughout the whole house, minus my massage therapy room and the bedroom, so it can definitely wait.

We will be getting rid of the piano on the right (since it was my mom's, we have no use for it, and she doesn't want it anymore) and putting in an old computer desk (once we're done refinishing it) to serve as my craft and sewing desk. This will wind up being another post when we start working on it, as there are a lot of changes to turn the old desk into a masterpiece. I don't have pictures, it's currently in my mothers basement.


We replaced the curtains with these:

 

From Bed, Bath & Beyond - $14.99 per panel

Calypso sheer panels in sky 

I didn't think to get that curtain rod with the starfish on it...but I may go back to get it.

We are painting the walls a sandy color, ones we like so far are:

Glidden - Oyster Shell

Glidden - Navajo Sand

Valspar - Riviera Dune

We have not purchased any yet, we are still deliberating!

I have lots of leftover seashells from our honeymoon, so I'm going to make a few of these, inspired by Linds over at  That's So Cuegly (Seriously her stuff is amazing, and you should check out her blog!)

I would also like to make a couple of them covered in blue (to match the curtains) and white feathers.

 

I guess it is time to break out the old glue gun!

Fabric Giveaway!

Check out The Crafty Procrastinator 's 100th post giveaway to win some gorgeous fabric!

A Few Wedding Pictures

I don't have much time, because I have to head to work, but wanted to toss up a few pictures from the wedding! :)