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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Weiner Dogs on Wednesday

This picture was taken on Oscar's first Christmas, in 2009. He was six months old.

My my how times have changed! Not only do we have 2 pups now, but they only got a few toys each (instead of a BUCKET FULL!) and I didn't even bother taking ONE picture of them :)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Santa Baby!

So I'm curious to know what Santa brought for all of you!!! Do you let your husband's pick out your gifts, or like me...do you leave VERY specific lists?

Kurt and I had agreed to keep Christmas gifts pretty simple this year, so I had asked for socks, glue gun sticks, and a little dremel tool. Kurt wanted underwear, t shirts, and K-cup coffee. We are SO exciting around here!

I am SOO happy to have my little dremel tool...I can't wait to try it out on all of my little projects! I didn't even know which one I wanted or which accessories I wanted, but this is the one he picked out:

I don't even know what all those little bits and pieces do yet!! Can't wait!!

He also surprised me with something! We saw these babies in a store window a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I liked them! I bought another pair of emu boots the day before our wedding because it was unseasonably cold, and I had planned to wear sandals, so I ended up those instead...and they are WORN OUT!!! I love emus more than Uggs believe it or not!  So now I have these:
And last but not least, I am so fortunate to have a crafty mother-in-law! I have been eyeballing one of these FOR-EV-ER!!! Mom-in-law has one, and it rocks!! It is awesome for card making, scrapbooking, cutting vinyl, stencils, Sunday school projects, lettering, etc etc etc....Yahoo....I have a Cricut of my own now!!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Boys will be boys!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that you all had a very blessed holiday with your families! Kurt and I were able to spend the morning in church, where I tried to explain to our nephew, Caiden, that this was the BEST service of the year because we were celebrating Jesus' birthday! He was crabby and overtired and totally not into what I was trying to tell him. I kept telling him that we get to sing all the best songs and that the whole hour is a huge celebration!

He then replied, "Do we get to do two Holy Communions? Because THAT would be really cool!!"

I didn't know how to respond to that! I guess when you are 8, that would indeed make a church service different, ha ha :)

Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Migraine!

I wanted to take the time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and also to tell you that I may or may not be posting over the Christmas weekend. My migraines have been bad all week and I am going to take the time to enjoy my family and focus on getting better! I wish you all the best and I can't wait to see what amazing project you came up with when I get back!!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Out with the old...

Yup, thats my couch in that dumpster....




...we have yet to do the "In with the new," part. Ugh.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

What I wore.




As I said before, I am not really that trendy or skinny or anything...but what I CAN do is find a good buy and make it presentable for going to church and being a Deacon's wife! Ahem, Mr. Deacon, you should take lessons on photography and give me 30 seconds to get ready next time! Grrr!

Red dress-- brand is "Newport News," Thrifted for $5

Black Cardigan-- Old Navy on sale for $9

Black leggings--Walmart $5.98, everyday...not on sale! Stock up! I have like 3 pairs of black, a gray and a brown!

Black boots--a splurge! Naturalizer $150, 3 years ago. I have beast calf muscles, and I have to have wider boots if I want them to be knee high, so I have to spend a little more!

Sunglasses-- hoisted right off of my baby sister's dresser, some time ago!

Add a side bun and a smile, and you are good to go, and teach Sunday School, or whatever you all do on Sundays :)

Have a good one!!



Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Weiner Dogs on Wednesday

Oscar wanted to show you what he helped his Momma come up with for our holiday card this year!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Laura and the gang comes to Chicago!!

My best friend and her family came to visit over Thanksgiving and I could not have been more thrilled! With everything going on in my life, doctors visits, crappy work days etc....I REALLY needed some Laura time!!
I met her and her mom, 2 children and our Aunt Donna down town where we shopped at Macy's on state street and lived it up like true Chicagoans!! We stayed the night and did some more touring and shopping in the morning.
Here are just a few of my favorite pictures.










Whats with all the nutcrackers, you say? Well...more on that later! I have a HUGE collection of nutcrackers! Kurt HATES them! When I finish putting them all out for the season, I'll post pics of my collection! These were just ones that were unique that I saw at Macy's or in other shops downtown!!



Saturday, December 10, 2011

Loosing my marbles, er, buttons...

Remember this?
Well...I thought by now I'd have 10 of them done!! It's now that they are hard, they are super easy, its just SO time consuming! I had NO idea how many buttons and pins I needed either! I started this one on Thanksgiving and I have been through 3 boxes of 150 pins (those suckers aren't cheap!!) and had to raid my mother-in-law's button jar for more white buttons to finish the job. Shew!!





Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Monday, December 5, 2011

Lets change things up a bit...

and do a post that has nothing to do with Christmas!

As I have mentioned before, I got married in Virginia where all of my friends and family are from. And then we had a reception here in Chicago. Because of this, I was fortunate enough to have a 3 bridal showers. One thrown by my Mom in Virginia, one thrown by my mother-in-law here in Chi-Town, and one thrown by my co-workers in the office.

My mom was supposed to have help from my sisters, however with one of them being disabled, and the other being a full-time college student, I ended up doing their share. And I didn't mind! I LOVE that stuff! Since my wedding colors were chocolate and copper and in no way "girly," I wanted GIRLY GIRL for the shower and everything was pink and silver! We did this on a low-low-low budget, because that's what I wanted. I didn't want to break the bank. Just wanted my family and friends around, because that's all that really matters!!!

Here are the cupcakes that mom and I made:
Light pink roses in a white pitcher that my mom had. We got the flowers from the grocery store, which I ALWAYS recommend! Beautiful AND much less expensive than a florist!:
Just a FEW, well placed decorations
Delicious Food:

Some handmade candy favors:
And friends and family:






It was all done budget friendly, and was a ton of fun...and all I could ever ask for. I think Americans go WAY over board on weddings and bridal showers and parties and everything else. All that matters is that you have fun and you are with the ones that you love! And for me, that I get to do a little crafting! ha ha

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Wreath, there is it!

Want to make a quick and easy wreath for your front door, or better yet, a gift for a teacher or something???

I've been making these super easy, super cute wreaths now for a while now and I think it's about time I share my secret!! I showed my friend Laura how to make them and she has already whipped up 2 and she doesn't consider herself crafty, although I KNOW that deep down she is!!

Anyway, all I do with these little suckers is buy a foam wreath from Michael's, Jo Ann's, Hobby Lobby, etc (always with a coupon my friends...lets not get crazy!!) and pick a color scheme. Once I decide what colors I want I pick 4-5 ribbons of different widths and usually some tulle to go with that as well. The tulle that comes on a roll rocks, but it can be pricey (unless you use your coupon,) so you can just buy a few yards for a few dollars and cut it yourself and cut it into strips if you want.

Once all that is done, I just cut everything into about 4-5 inch strips depending on how much you want to hang off. Some of my wreaths are very long and "shaggy," while others are very short and close to the Styrofoam. It all depends on what you like.  Then just tie and tie and tie and tie. I usually just put all my strips in a big bowl and sit in front of a movie :)

Once you are done, you can add a stuffed animal for a baby shower, or faux flowers, or plastic eggs like I did for my spring wreath, or really whatever in the world you an come up with. For my Christmas one I have an "R" ornament dangling in the center. You can do ANYTHING with this!! If you have any questions, comments, ideas, or anything, please comments me! I can't wait to see what you guys have come up with!!!

Here are a few pics of my wreaths!






Follow me for more cute, easy and quick ideas!
Emily

Saturday, December 3, 2011

HP give away

http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2011/11/hp-touchsmart-320-pc-review-and.html

Recycled Spoon ornament

Every year at our church, they do a ladies ornament exchange. Along with that, 3 crafts are taught and dessert is served and we play a few games. Last year I was honored when they asked me to teach one of the crafts. Traditionally the same few ladies had done the teaching, but since my mother-in-law was one of them, and she was on a cruise, I got to step in.

As usual, I wanted to use something that was reused or upcycled or recycled or something! I also didn't want to go broke trying to create a cute craft for 30 people! I searched the Internet and didn't come up with anything perfect, so I just kept looking around for some item that would give me some inspiration.

Then one day in Goodwill, I was looking through the kitchen items and the silverware caught my eye. For some odd reason, I started looking through them, and I noticed that the spoons in particular were really cool. Because they were all mismatched and not from a set, there were all different patterns and textures in there! Some were engraved with monograms, some were obviously stolen from restaurants and airlines, some just had neat shapes and lines. I couldn't resist. For the next few weeks I went on a search for cool spoons.

I hot glued pipe cleaners that looked like Christmas tree branches onto the spoons to make them look like trees, and then I had a variety of materials available and just let the ladies go to town! Most of these are my examples. I love them all!!
 My "classic" black and red tree, with the spoon showing. Love love love love love!

This was my "rustic" tree with plain burlap wraped around the spoon, tied with simple red ribbon, and a plain wooden star at the top.

This last one is of my Aunt Donna, who says she "doesn't have creative bone in her body," I think you ALL can agree with me that she is wrong on that one!!

Different Trees for Different Folks!

Since all of my Christmas decor, ornaments, stockings, lights, etc were lost in our move (don't get me started, I'll cry...again) I've been cruising the Internet for some ideas to "start over" so to say with my holiday ideas.

Through pinterest.com, I found an awesome site for themed Christmas trees (which y'all know I have a soft spot for!) called trendytree.com.

Here are just a few of my favorites! All of the pictures below are via trendytree.com and I am, of course, taking no credit for them! I am just simply in love with them =)








Love them all! Love both the traditional red and green trees, and the less traditional color schemes!