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2 Little Hooligans

give and recieve with Operation Shower

Help raise funds to support Operation Shower and YOU get a chance to win one of these AMAZING prizes:

An Apple iPad with Wi–Fi 16GB
• An Epson Stylus Printer Scanner NX510
• Build A Bear Frosty the Snowman
• Amazon Kindle
• Golf – The Blur Fujikura Shaft
• Huggies care package: 3 months of free diapers and wipes and a Huggies branded Flip Camera.
• $250 Aprica Cadence style stroller
• OllyShoes.com $100 gift voucher


“Join us as we chat about what we are thankful for this holiday season and please donate $1 to Operation Give Thanks to help us achieve our One Million for $1 Million goal. By participating in this Twitter party and making a donation, you will be making a difference in the lives of American heroes. It’s an easy way to express your gratitude and thanks at this special time of year – and have fun! “

For the complete details go here.

Don’t forget you can purchase one of the many items in my etsy shop listed as (100% of the proceeds donated to Operation Shower) to help out as well!


Daddy’s advent calendar

Why not make a special advent calendar for daddy too! Or for that special beer lover in your life.
Here is what we came up with. I used an apple bushel box but you can use any large box that will fit either 25 beers or a mixture of beer and canning jars. I knew my husband wouldn’t consume a beer a day so we mixed it up with some fun little goodies inside of the canning jars. That’s right more canning jars!
I printed off more numbers from the ones I purchased here. I cut the numbers out and tapped them to the tops of the bottles. For the canning jars I wanted to hide what was inside, so I just taped a little piece of white card stock to the lid of the jar. SUPER EASY! I had a strand of those LED lights that run off batteries, so I strung those in through all of the bottles of beer and canning jars. Lastly, I added the tinsel.

Of course we put in lots of beer, but we also added…

some work gloves,

carpenter pencils,

and a screwdriver. We also have some of daddy’s favorite candy in a few of the jars. The kids loved helping me pick out the loot at Walmart this morning. Although they were both a little upset when I said no hammers.

Here it sits in the barn (already chilled thanks to the New Hampshire weather) waiting for when Daddy comes home. I’m thinking next year I just may make one up for myself, but with a new fat quarter for each day, whatcha think, FABULOUS idea right?

I’m so excited for the festivities to begin!

2010 advent calendar

It’s not your typical advent calendar, but it is what I came up with the small living space we have to work with. Not having the space for a real tree, I decided to decorate the window sill with our advent calendar and throw in some lights. There is just something magical and festive about white twinkling lights at night. And what little kid or adult doesn’t love white twinkling lights?!
Other than purchasing the numbers here and the loot to fill the bags, I used everything I already had on hand. I had purchased the bags months ago at the Dollar Store knowing they could come in handy somewhere, and they work perfectly here. The rest of the decorations I already had in my box of goodies.

I had bought these ANAMALZ at OSJL a few weeks ago. I just love them and they were only $2 each! They are normally $8 each, (which I have paid in the past) so score on my part. I was going to put them in the kids stockings but they fit perfectly into the little bags instead.

I also filled some of the bags with cupcake decorating goodies, candy canes, candy, and special activities to do with the kids.

Just another use for my BELOVED canning jars!

As you can imagine the kids are ready to dig into those little bags. We are off to Walmart this morning to get some goodies to fill Daddy’s advent calendar. Check back to see what Daddy’s getting in his calendar, oh it’s a fun one!! I’m sure he will love it, or any man for that matter!

giveaway winner…

Congrats Gosfam!
who said…
Super cute–I would love to win for my lil sister who is having a baby in March and I have to buy for her for Christmas 🙂

Hope your lil sis enjoys:)

bye, bye my beloved Vera Bradley…

you have been my love for so long…but it is time to say goodbye!

I was in major need of a new wallet. The zipper on my old one was no longer working well and the phone slot was completely ripped causing my phone no longer stay in it. While I loved the size of my old one, I needed one a tiny bit bigger. I liked having my cell phone on the outside of my wallet, but I thought it needed a strap to hold my phone in and maybe keep little hands off it(maybe). This time I also wanted a separate little zipper pouch for all my money and change and a separate holder for my credit cards. I think it would make things easier for me when I’m in line at the good old Walmart. Yes, I do put a lot of thought into my purses.
So here is what I came up with. My new little love. I combined all of the things I wanted into one little wristlet. I still need to make the little zipper pouch for my money and the holder for my credit cards, but I will be leaving those for another day.
So here she is, in tangerine of course and with some ruffles, my newest favorite thing!







Oh yes, I do believe, there will never be another purchase from Vera Bradley again.

Because I can’t do it all… {Giveaway}

I had to cancel my booth at the craft fair! And I’m OK with that, well sorta. I had to come to the realization that I just can’t do it all.
I did manage to make a few items for the craft fair which mostly consist of a few key fobs and some cold packs “boo boo bags.” I don’t normally sell these items in my etsy shop, but they are fun to make and are good sellers at craft fairs. So to make me feel better about not being able to do it all, I am going to do a giveaway for all of you and I’m going to be donating 100% of the proceeds from the key fobs and cold packs that are in my etsy shop to Operation Shower. Please go check them out. I’m selling the key fobs for $6 and the baby cold packs for $8 a pair.


One goal I have set for myself for the upcoming year is to raise the $250 it takes to throw one baby shower through Operation Shower. Wanna help out too? You can either purchase an item listed in my etsy shop as (100% of the proceeds donated to Operation Shower) or donate directly to Operation Shower.
And now here is my way for GIVING THANKS to all of you, my readers.
I am giving away this little baby play blanket to one lucky winner. To enter, all you have to do is leave me a comment. Make sure you leave your email address if it is not linked through blogger.

Winner will be picked on November 26th!

embrace the camera {our weekend with Grammy}

Sorry, I’m a little late to the party this week!

This past weekend Grammy spent the whole weekend with us. We had such a wonderful time. The weather was exceptionally warm for fall and we took full advantage of it. On Saturday we headed out to our favorite beach. We packed a picnic and spent the whole day playing in the sand and enjoying the beautiful warm fall day.

Drawing in the sand is one of our favorite things to do when we are at the beach.

And of course we throw lots of rocks in the water.

Or if you are this little guy, he prefers throwing sticks.

And she prefers to put everything in her mouth.
She got her first tastes of sand today.

And apparently she liked it, because she couldn’t get enough of it.

Sand covered and all, this momma loved snuggling her on the beach.

On our way home we made a little stop to enjoy the view of my most favorite ridge to hike.

During the fall this bridge is usually filled with leaf peepers, but today we were lucky enough to have it all to ourselves.
Grammy planned on leaving early the next day, but we talked her into staying for another quick trip with us. Sunday we headed out to Mt. Washington. I guess you can say being near all the mountains gave me the HIKING FEVER!
The last time I hiked up Mt. Washington I was with my college roommate (wink, wink). Maybe we can accompany each other for a hike again… someday…and minus 4 kiddo’s!

Oh this picture warms my heart!
I have big dreams of our family hiking together someday. And not just the little hikes we do occasionally with them on our backs. But the type of hikes that we used to do!

After a few more stops and Grammy staying way later then she planned, we headed home. But not without making one more stop. We found this little place not too far from home that has the sweetest little walking trails and the biggest rocks eva for the kids to play on.

Sorry for all the pictures ya’ll, but with a weekend like that I never want to forget it!

Ruffled Checkbook Cover Tutorial

Looking for a quick and easy sewing project for all of those Holiday gifts? Well here is a great one. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and you can use your fabric scraps or buy some fat quarters to make up a few. I made up a templet to go by and if you are going to make more then one, I would suggest making a templet too.

Ruffled Checkbook Cover Tutorial

(Beginner project: takes about 20 minutes to make)

Materials Needed:

*Fabric scraps

*Stabilizer (I like to use the iron on type)

Here are my templets.
*Cut two pieces of fabric & one piece of stabilizer 7 1/2″ X 7″.
*Cut two pieces of fabric 6″ X 7″. This piece is going to be folded in half to make the pockets.
*Cut on piece of fabric 3″ X 20″. This is going to be used to make the ruffle.

Iron stabilizer onto the wrong side of one of the 7 1/2″ X 7″ pieces of fabric.

Fold the 6″ X 7″ pieces of fabric in half and iron. Should have this now.

Take the scrap piece of fabric that is being used for the ruffle and fold in half and iron. Right sides should be facing out.

Now iron fabric so that the sewed seam is in the middle of fabric and not on the sides.

On a stitch length of 4, sew down the middle of fabric.

Pull one thread to make it ruffle.

Place the ruffle about 1 1/2″ from the edge, using the piece of fabric that has the stabilizer ironed onto it.

Attach ruffle by sewing like so on the top and bottom of ruffle.

Now seam rip out the middle stitch that was there to make the ruffle.
Take the smaller pocket pieces and top stitch on the folded edge.

Now it is time to assemble the covers. Layer as follows:
The 7″ X 7 1/2″ piece of fabric on the bottom, right side facing upwards.
Two of the pocket pieces on opposite ends (folded edges towards the middle).
And
the stabilized piece of fabric is on top, with right side facing down. You can see the ruffle is on the top side.
Mark a 1 1/2″ opening on the side for turning the fabric right sides out.

With a 1/4″ sew seam, sew around all the edges, leaving the 1 1/2″ opening.

Trim excess fabric and turn right side out through opening.

Iron and top stitch with a 1/4″ sew seam.

**Please feel free to use this tutorial for your personal sewing projects. You may link this to your blog and use any photo’s, just be kind and give credit where credit is due.
Happy sewing!
Any questions or comments please contact me. If you make one using this tutorial please send me an email or add it to my flickr group.

How we are giving thanks this year.

We decided to make everyone little “give thanks” cards.

I printed out a picture of our family and taped them onto white card stock. Then I let my son add the extras. I gave him the choice to use whatever he wanted. He used my tape, scissors, glue, stapler, and hole puncher. He loved being able to use mommas goodies and making his own creations. I just let him do his own thing, nothing being right or wrong. I wasn’t sure how long he would spend on making these, but he took his time. He thought carefully about each card and who they were going to. He definitely has my genes, it’s kinda scary! Before nap time we ended up spending a good 2 hours on them.

I found these cute little “give thanks” printables over at Sweet Craft Cakes. They have some other cute little cards to match. And I think I got the round printables from Tip Junkie, but I’m not positive.


Here they are, aren’t they GREAT? I’m one proud momma!


Once nap time was over and all the glue was dried we used the little owl printables and wrote on the back of the cards telling each person why we were thankful for them. This was my favorite part! I loved hearing my son tell me why he was thankful for each person. He made one for each of his aunts and uncles, one to a neighbor of ours. Another one to a special aunt that always gives him candy and the last one is to a “friend of his” that is still a mystery to me.

And here is the card he made for Mommy and Daddy!
While he was making his cards, I made a couple of picture books for one of my aunts and for one of my husbands aunts. They deserved an extra little thanks for some special gifts they are always sending the kids. They are nothing fancy and were so simple to make. I just made them from scrap booking paper and used some baggies to put the pictures in. I punched some holes on the sides to keep all the pages in place, and of course added a little ribbon.

I also tried my first pie in a canning jar! Yup, simply FAB-U-LOUS! I can definitely add these to my list of canning jar can do’s!


So what are you doing to give thanks? Please do share, I love hearing what others are doing!
Happy Thanksgiving!

embrace the camera {feeding the chickens}


Ok, so I have to admit, I don’t really like feeding our chickens and gathering their eggs everyday. I do love seeing them walk around the yard and the endless hours of entertainment they give my children. And of course I love their yummy eggs. So it’s nice during the spring and summer when I can go a few days without having to fill up their waterer or gather their eggs. But now that most nights are below freezing, we have to gather the eggs and carry fresh water to them everyday. So here we are doing our morning chores.

He is always the first one out the door with the basket.

While she is not too far behind him.

On the days that she catches up to him, it is always a fight over the egg basket.

And this ends up happening. Look at that little boy in the distant, he has the biggest smile on his face.



AWW, then they always make up. He jumps over the gate and gathers the eggs while she holds the basket for him.

I fill up the waterer while he throws food to the chickens.



 She always gets to carry the eggs back while my little guy runs as fast as he can back into the house to sneak some gum. And he thinks I don’t know.



Ok, so it’s not so bad. I do love watching the kids run outside in their footie J’s helping momma out. Yes, it would take me about 35 minutes less to do it by myself, but really, what else would we be doing? I’m just wondering how many kids will be following this momma out when there is a foot of snow on the ground. And will they still be wearing just their footie J’s?