More owls for my Christmas tree!

Boy did I get excited about these little owls. I was hoping to make up a bunch of them and give them away, sell them, .. make other projects with them! For now I just made enough to go on our Christmas tree and also send some to my mom and sister for their trees. 

I bought a TON of felt from Michael's craft store and had a blast picking colors for each owl. You could really put any colors together and they would look darling! 

With some cheery Christmas tunes playing, Hubby and I decorated our Christmas tree together Saturday night. And then added the little cuties to the tree! 

Here they all are! .. kind of hard to spot?

I think our tree needs some ribbon...

I am taking a break from these owls for awhile!

The Prayer Pennies

Nobody cares for pennies anymore, so they're just carelessly tossed on the ground in stores, on the streets, or anywhere! If I ever saw a rejected penny on the ground it didn't phase me, because I didn't care either. "It's just a dumb ole penny." But my thinking soon changed {giggle, was that a pun?} when I came up with an idea...

Back when I was in college {okay, so it wasn't THAT long ago really} I decided that I would make use of every abandoned penny I found. How? Each time I would find a lost penny on the ground I would pick up that penny and pray for my future husband, whomever he would be.. sigh.. now I'm thinking back to my daydreaming days when I claimed my life song as "Some day my prince will come..." Okay, snapping back to the present!

With this new perspective, I began to really enjoy the moments I spotted these little treasures on the ground. I would find them in parking lots, inside stores, and mostly when my friends and I went out door knocking on Saturday afternoons. I remember one day finding 4 or 5 pennies all between just a couple houses!

It was exciting to use this as a way to send prayers to my future spouse. And it made me fall in love with this future mystery person!  

 I loved finding these pennies. I prayed for my future love in so many ways..

that he would be growing closer to the Lord every day... 

he would keep himself pure in mind and body.. 

strength and encouragement through mistakes and scars...

that he would just have a good day... 

 he would love the Lord with all his heart.. 

And in my little jar the pennies would go. It was so much fun to see my penny collection grow.

 I loved praying for my future husband.

My little "jar of prayers" came with me to Wisconsin for grad school, where I continued to pray for my future man as I would find those pennies. Although it seemed pennies were so hard to find there. .. {maybe because my best friend started beating me to all the pennies! Literally knocking me out of the way to grab a penny on the ground! She stole my pennies.. my precious pennies. Okay so I'm seriously being funny, just in case my best friend reads this. Not saying it didn't happen though! But we laugh about it still!}

... Little did I know that the man I would marry was also there at grad school. 

I still keep my little jar of pennies close and I still pray for my hubby when I find a lost rejected penny. They are still my little treasures, and I will always think of my husband when I find one.

What is something special that you have come up with or have used over the years in this kind of way? I'd love to hear about it.

 

HOO's ready for Christmas decorating?!

Like my little felt owl ornament? 

 I made him today from felt pieces and hand stitched him up. 

I think it's just too A-dorable and I can't wait to put him on our Christmas tree soon!

Yes, I know.. it feels like Christmas was just here, but reality and weather is saying "Christmas time again!" It's my favorite time of the year. I love the whole atmosphere of it all. 

So here's how I made my little wise guy.. 

I found images of of some owls on Google and drew up my own template. Then just pinned my cut out templates to felt and cut them out. And then I hand stitched the outline and stitched on the wings, eyes and nose... uh, excuse me, I mean beak. Pretty easy and simple. It's not stuffed, just one thin  piece of felt. Then I hot glued a piece of twine to make a loop for hanging him on the tree. 

And done! 

I think I'm going to make a few more of these for our Christmas tree.

I love him!

until next time..

hApPy CrEaTivItiEs!

Yummy Mocha Latte!

Tonight I found a recipe for a mocha latte, so I thought I'd try it out.

It was simply WONDERFUL!

And I shall make it again!

Recipe:

Ingredients (for one 12 oz. mug):

1. 4 oz. espresso or concentrated coffee
2. 8 oz. whole milk
3. 1 tbsp. sugar or other gourmet sugar, divided equally in two
4. 1 scant tsp. unsweetened premium cocoa powder
5. 1 small splash premium (or at least real) vanilla extract.

Directions:

1. Slowly heat the milk mixture with half of the sugar, the vanilla extract, and the cocoa powder over medium-low heat in a small saucepan until it just starts to steam, whisking frequently.
2. Dissolve the other half of the sugar in the hot espresso or concentrated coffee in your mug.
3. Pour the steaming milk into a blender and blend over medium or high speed for approximately 20-30 seconds (to mix the cocoa thoroughly into the milk and break up any remaining clumps and to slightly aerate the milk -- foam in milk of this sort will not endure due to the addition of the chocolate).
4. Pour the milk mixture into the coffee mixture.
5. Garnish with foamed milk, a light dusting of cocoa powder or cinnamon powder, or real (sweetened) whipped cream if desired.

Recipe found from this site

... Now, coffee usually has NO affect on me.. so we'll see what happens when I get to bed! .. 

{of course, it is already almost 2am.. but we never go to bed early!}

Super easy and CUTE napkin rings

Last week the ladies from my church threw me a housewarming party, and I received SO many packs of decorative napkins! {throw-away kinds}. It was actually kind of funny as I opened each gift, out came another pack or three or four of these packs of napkins!! I'm thinking to myself, "Is this a well-known thing to give at a housewarming or what?!" 

A friend shared a link with me today on a napkin ring tutorial. They were so cute and I had everything to make them {empty tin foil roll, twin and hot glue}, so I made some! 

I cut 6 pieces from the roll but only had JUST enough twine to finish 4, which is perfect still because we only have 4 seats at our table anyway! They turned out really cute. The tutorial I saw had them decorated with other things such as ribbons, buttons, or letters, but I like mine better plain. 

After getting those finished I was in the mood to set my table all up.. um.. at like 11pm!! 

The fake flowers are in one of our glasses from the set we got for our wedding. We don't use them because they're thin and fragile and we

re afraid we'll break them.. Side note: I recently and randomly found a set of 12 drinking glasses for $7 from the classifieds here in our town! I love them! 6 short, and 6 tall. And thick sturdy glasses Score!

The twine matches the two lines of twin in our silverware wall hanging!

If anyone unexpectedly shows up for dinner tomorrow... we're all ready for ya!

I followed this napkin ring tutorial from A girl and a glue gun.

My mom said she really liked the napkin rings, so I'll be making a set for her too! 

.. after I pick up more twine!

Who keeps my heart in one "peace" ??

{Played Leggos today with a little girl I babysit...}

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." 

Isaiah 26:3

DIY cupcake stand

Everyone else is doing it, so why not me?? {haha} I've seen tons of super lovely DIY cupcake stands and I wanted to make my own. I found these two adorable plastic plates at Walmart during the summer just for this purpose. I actually saw a blog post by someone else who used these same exact plates to make their cupcake stand.. so I was inspired, you see. I don't remember who it was, so if it was YOU let me know! 

I found this odd looking little piece at a yard sale in the free box!

I spray painted it white and it works great as the middle piece. To me it seems the perfect height, because those little candle holders were too short-- I tried it.. didn't like it.

I used Gorilla glue for attaching the top smaller plate to the middle piece, but the glue expands more than I'd hoped and it looked messy (good thing it was only under the top plate where it won't be seen much). For attaching the bottom plate I just used a super glue gel. Works for now!

Isn't it lovely!

I think it turned out so cute and I plan to use it for others things as well!.. fruits, crackers and cheese, and other finger foods.  

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins 

 

3/4 c. white sugar

 1/4 c. vegetable oil 

 2 eggs

3/4 canned pumpkin

1/4 c. water

1 1/2 c. flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground cloves 

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt 

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

 1/2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix sugar, oil, eggs, then add water and pumpkin. 

Add to bowl of dry ingredients. 

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. 

Bake at 350-375 for 20-25 minutes.

Little fabric find

Walmart must be cleaning up or cleaning out their fabric section, because there were a couple of carts full of little fabric bundles for cheap! I bought 4 bundles for $4! A buck each!! And look how full a couple of those bundles are. There are a few yards here.. or more I'm sure.

Don't have a clue what I'll use this fabric for, but there's nothing like having something on hand when you get a cute idea that pops into your mind!

Where's the other earring?!?!

Ever find yourself asking that question as you're digging through a cramped little box full of every pair of earrings you own?? Well, I do! All the time actually. And it's a pain in the you know what! 

 There are soooo many cute ideas I've seen for earring holders, and I've been wanting to make my own... preferably a frame one with some kind of netting to poke the earrings through. But since I don't have anything to make a nice pretty one I will use something else to end my mass earring confusion. 

... like this little compartment case

It was given to me awhile back when a family member was moving. I think it was used for holding things like nails and screws. I came across it yesterday as I was organizing some of my craft stuff and I wondered how it might work for my earrings. 

So I washed up all the little drawers and the case and dumped out my box of earrings to sort the colors. Hubby actually dumped them out on the kitchen table and became fascinated to see how many earrings I have and how many I hardly ever wear!.. and he paired them all up with their mates! Thanks Hun! 

There are 9 little drawers so I decided to organize them by colors.. as best I could. 

 It fits nicely on our dresser under our "random stuff" basket. {love the basket for random stuff.. keeps our dresser top clutter free!}

Until next time.. 

happy creativities!

I'm a winner!

  Hooray! I'm the winner of the Flamingo Toes Design giveaway!! 

It sure feels good to win something, doesn't it?! 

Here's what I chose from the Etsy shop

an adorable dishcloth with two little birdies in looooove.. 

It should be on it's way to me in the mail soon!

x.o x.o