New Saturday Series: Christmas On the Cheap!

So I have a little extra time, you know, like 3 minutes before I have to get in the shower and get both kids ready for a birthday party, lol, so I thought I'd start something I've been considering for a while now. If you're like me, you have NO FUNDS FOR CHRISTMAS this year. And, (insert grumbling moan and choice words here), my embroidery machine is BROKEN! I KNOW!!! No monogrammed gifts for Christmas this year :( It's OK though, I'm still trying to convince hubby I need a Cricut Expression now, lol. Have you seen them?! They are freakin' cool! You can do so much with them, you can cut fabric, vinyl for your walls or your car windows (I know you've seen all those cute monogrammed initials on people's cars!), and so much more. But I'm totally getting off track here!

My first idea in this Saturday Series is....printable paper dolls! Now, I know, they canNOT compare to those cool $100 electric scooters, or a $60 Barbie dream mansion, or whatever else the toy companies are shoving down our throats this year, but they are still really fun! Here is a place where I found some REALLY cute vintage ones:

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2009/11/free-printable-boy-paper-doll.html

If you want a couple more, including cute little girls, scroll down to the end of the post and there are 2 more dolls with accessories. They are very easy to cut out, not a lot of jagged edges or funky shapes, and they go together great (yes I played with them this morning, don't hate me cause I'm awesome!). You can print them out on cardstock or thin cardboard cut to the shape of whatever paper your printer takes, you can print them in color or leave them black and white and let the reciever color them in, or you could even print out the whole sheet and give it to them and let them cut it out! I will probably do the latter, because I'm mean and like to make my kids practice their scissor skills (and I'm lazy!). So there you have it! I better go jump in the shower and wash the stank off me so I can go to Chuck E Cheese.....yay.....

Updated Shrinky Dinks, and Other Random Stuff

Well, I actually had a request for pictures of my project! Yay! It's exciting to me that someone else (who isn't family, lol) has read my blog! Woo hoo I'm famous!!! Lol. OK. Enough of that.

So here is the keychain I made. I wish I had fancy handwriting or something, but....we all have to work with what God gave us, lol.



I couldn't find my regular hole punch, so I used a heart one. This thing is indestructible! I can't believe how thick the plastic gets when you bake it, it's awesome.

And here's the little plaque I made for the boys. I love this book, my step mom gave it to them (I think for Christmas?) and we read it all the time.

Again, fancy (or even straight, see the lines, lol) handwriting is still wishful thinking, but I love it. The funny thing is, the finished plaque is about 2 inches wide. I started with a piece of plastic that was about 6-7 inches wide-this stuff is called "shrink"y dink for a reason. I'm just amazed by cool stuff like this-we never had shrinky dinks growing up, we were too poor. Ew....I just noticed how dirty that window is.....disregard please!

I've been making the yummiest bread...now get ready, you're going to drool.....

Mmmm, I'm hungry for it just looking at it. It is the best bread, and it is SO easy. My kind of recipe! It's from this site, which I mentioned in a previous post. I love the recipes on that site, they are great. Now I just need a wheat grinder for my 500 pounds of wheat (well, not that much...but pretty close!). For the bread, I made it in this tiny pan a couple of times, then after it was scarfed down in a day or less, I started using my big bread pan. Yes, I'm going crazy with the linking, I know. But I'm too lazy to just write the whole link out, lol.

I decided last night that I want to redo the boys' room. It is really mismatched, and kind of.....I don't know....childish maybe? They're both getting older, so I think it needs to be more mature. I want to get rid of their HUGE train table, which is really just hiding a whole buch of toys under it, and get them a nice, solid wood table and 2 chairs. Now what I really want is for Adam to make it, but he's so busy I doubt it will happen. The one I came up with that I really like looks like this:

I'm hoping I can find one at the thrift store, or Airman's Attic, or even better, the side of the road (yes, I'm a garbagepicker!).

Well, I need to clean up the house a little bit, Adam's mom is coming down for the weekend, and as it is.....well, let's just say my house looks bad. We'll put it at that. No more info needed, lol.

Homemade Shrinky Dinks!

OK, prepare yourself, this is addicting. You will find yourself at every grocery store in town begging for #6 plastic containers, lol. I found this post at infarrantlycreative's blog, and just had to try it out for myself. The results are amazing! So far, I have made a keychain and a little plaque to hang in the boys' room. I would take a picture of the plaque, but that would involve going into the room of a sleeping child and taking a picture, and we all know that is NEVER EVER a good idea. I love cheap, easy crafts!

It's really early for me...or is it late?

It's 5:45 a.m. I am not usually up right now. This is wierd but in my defense, I've been awake since three....ugh. I'm sure I COULD have gone back to bed, but I didn't really want to. I fell asleep with Anthony again, his bed is just way too darn comfy! Then when I woke up, I wanted to do all this stuff, sew, crafts, cook, you know, anything except housework that really NEEDS to be done, lol!

Today they are having "Cruising Keesler", a car and motorcycle show on base, and I'm taking the kids to it. It should be fun. I took them to Lynn Meadows last night to see Bob the Builder (in Ayden's words, "Fun seeing Bob the Builder!") and play for a little bit. They had a lot of fun. They haven't been in a while, cause I normally work on Fridays, and Adam is just too tired after working all day to take them (I don't blame him). But this Friday I was actually off work. I've been out of work since Tuesday because I hurt the tendon in my left arm. I left work early Tues. night to go to the ER because it hurt so bad. They gave me prednisone, aleve, and vicodin. So, thanks to my friend vicodin, I've gotten lots of sleep the past few days, so I'm not worried about being up so early. At least, I'm not worried right now....just give me a few hours, lol.

It's the time of year that I absolutely love, fall! I love all the smells, all the leaves blowing, the cold, crisp air, Halloween, and the start of Christmas season. I had a lot of fun painting a jack o lantern flower pot (pictures to come) a couple of nights ago. It was one of those things where you're afraid what's in your head will not be the final outcome. But it actually turned out better than I imagined! I really like it. It was cheap, too, the pot was $3, the paint was $3, and the finishing spray was $5. And I still have lots of leftover paint and spray.

Now I'm trying to think of some fun crafty things to do with the kids. I bought a really cute plastic picnic table at the thrift store on base, and they love to sit out there and color and paint, but I think this weekend I want to do a big craft thing with them. I just don't know what. I have these masks that go over your eyes that you can glue and paint and decorate, and some glitter and stuff, so maybe I'll do that.

I also found a really good recipe for homemade oreos - here is the link:">http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/my-kingdom-for-a-glass-of-milk/
And I mean, it is GOOD. The first batch I made I cooked for nine minutes, and although oreos ARE crunchy, these came out a little TOO crunchy. So the next batch I cooked for eight minutes....and they were HEAVENLY! They tasted like a mix between regular oreos and cakesters. Man they were good.....they didn't last too long, either.

I love fall because I get so much more inspired to bake. Baking is definitely a passion for me. If I can bake something really good, that will just make my day. I would love to open up a little bake shop one day. Who knows, though....I always change what I want to do on a daily basis.

Now it just needs to get light out so I can take pictures of my flowerpot...................