some Christmas sewing and how to make yourself miserable

I got going on my Christmas sewing! Can you tell what this year's ornaments will be?? Super cute. Again, out of this book. I think I've gotten my money's worth.


I read this on my favorite online devotional today. I love her :) Lets all try to reign in our complaints today, shall we?


Elisabeth Elliot's Daily Devotional

Elisabeth Elliot

Title: Several Ways to Make Yourself Miserable

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

1. Count your troubles, name them one by one--at the breakfast table, if anybody will listen, or as soon as possible thereafter.
2. Worry every day about something. Don't let yourself get out of practice. It won't add a cubit to your stature but it might burn a few calories.
3. Pity yourself. If you do enough of this, nobody else will have to do it for you.
4. Devise clever but decent ways to serve God and mammon. After all, a man's gotta live.
5. Make it your business to find out what the Joneses are buying this year and where they're going. Try to do them at least one better even if you have to take out another loan to do it.
6. Stay away from absolutes. It's what's right for you that matters. Be your own person and don't allow yourself to get hung up on what others expect of you.
7. Make sure you get your rights. Never mind other people's. You have your life to live, they have theirs.
8. Don't fall into any compassion traps--the sort of situation where people can walk all over you. If you get too involved in other people's troubles, you may neglect your own.
9. Don't let Bible reading and prayer get in the way of what's really relevant--things like TV and newspapers. Invisible things are eternal. You want to stick with the visible ones--they're where it's at now.

hey there, cupcake :)

Hey, I finishes these cupcake costumes the other day!!! I'm giddy, they're so cute ;) I still need to make the strawberry headbands, but I need some headbands first. Obviously, Pottery Barn uses wool felt on theirs and I used polyester, so mine don't stick out quite like theirs, but I still think they're awesome because mine didn't cost $100 either, HA!

Our house is in a very campy-looking neighborhood and there are trees everywhere. It makes for a beautiful Fall here, since there is a blanket of leaves outside for several weeks. Yesterday I took the girls out to play so I could practice my mad photography skills ;) Kelby was napping, I'll need to take him out there today maybe to get some good pics of him!


Layla was being exceptionally cooperative :) That's why there are more of her.

it's that time again...

...for the bloggers' quilt festival, that is :) I decided to enter my picnic quilt, since it is sorta close to my heart.

I made this quilt because I wanted something for the kiddos and I to sit on outside. I know I just blogged about this one at the beginning of summer, but now that we've used it so much for a season, I like it even more :) The pattern is called whirly giggles and can be found (for free!) here.

I used parts of jeans along with several red fabrics. The jeans are perfect for this type of thing and reusing them makes me feel green :) Be forewarned, when people see something you've made from jeans, you will be inundated with them. Just FYI. The borders are sturdy vintage tea towels that a close friend gave me when her grandmother passed away. Some had stains and holes so cutting them up for this gave them new life.

The back is a "tapestry" I bought at Urban Outfitters several years ago and hung as my bedroom curtains for a long time. All in all, the only thing I bought new for this was the batting! We've created so many memories on it already and I'm sure we'll have many more to come.

And here it is in use! :)

Eat, eat, then eat some more

First of all, THANK YOU for the tips about blogger. Sometimes it can be sooo irritating :) But, I looked into some other options and I think I'm going to try Flock to maybe make posting easier. SO, thanks for helping me realize I can use something else to form posts!

I have a couple of favorite food magazine I'd like to share. The first is Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, which is NOTHING like the recipes in her Living magazine (meaning super complicated and time consuming, with lots of obscure ingredients.) Rather, these have simple, fresh, everyday food ideas. A lot of them are even non-recipes, just a veggie idea, etc... The other is Clean Eating, which I have more recently discovered. In our quest to get the sugar out, this is a GREAT resource for us. The following two recipes are from this magazine and are excellent.

Tomato and Feta Salad

2 pints cherry tomatoes
1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper

In a medium bowl, toss the tomatoes with the feta. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss. Top with the thyme. (We skipped the thyme and used fresh, chopped basil instead and I think it really added a lot.)

Coco Cran Nut Muffins

1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 medium apple, peeled and diced
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted pecans, chopped
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup plain or Greek yogurt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/2 honey
1 1/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (I actually used blueberries and they worked fine.)

1. Preheat over to 375. Prepare muffin tin with paper liners or cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flours, oats, cocoa powder, salt, apple baking soda and powder, and pecans. Stir until combined.
3. in a large bowl, mis together buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla, eggs and honey. Add dry mixture to wet and stir until moistened. Then gently stir in cranberries. Fill muffin cups halfway. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes.

ALSO, I've made some progress on the cupcake costumes today. I was almost giddy after finishing the muffin cups, they turned out so cute. I was wishing I had retained a little bit more geography in school, though :) I hope to have the finished product to show you soon!

some things I am loving...

1. The Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional.




















2.Vintage playthings. I don't know if my hubby would appreciate me calling his Constructs "vintage." (He's 28 and still swear that's mid-20's.) Natalie made several of these masks yesterday--all of them perfectly symmetrical!!! She's 4! She has also been enjoying the three generations of legos we have here and my old Upsie Baby. Anyone remember her??





























3. My mocha pot. These are a household staple in Europe. Why it hasn't caught on here, I do not know, but I tell ya...this is soooo much better than using an espresso machine at home. It's faster, it's less mess, it's easy to clean and it's not rocket science!! I also have an inexpensive hand held milk frother that works great. You can get both these things on Amazon for about the price of a week's worth of Starbucks :)

















4. This Beautiful Doodles book. I bought one for my niece for her birthday, but we thought it was so cool, my mom went out and bought one for my kids. It is soooo much fun. We don't color in this, I just make copies of the pictures, so we can use it over and over. It has all kinds of starter pictures, like a dress shape that you can decorate, etc...



















5. The Fossil watch Casey bought me when I visited him in Virginia. I l-o-v-e it :)

























6. This washable snack bag tutorial! I love this, I'm going to make several for us and several for Christmas gift additions. Also a good opportunity to use the funny novelty fabrics I have that I have no idea what to do with :)
7. These three cuties :) wearing the t-shirts Daddy sent them from Virginia. Speaking of Daddy, only TWO WEEKS left until we get him back and we are sooo ready and overjoyed :)























p.s. I have NO IDEA WHY THIS POST IS SO MESSED UP AND SPREAD OUT. Does anyone else occasionally find Blogger JUST IMPOSSIBLE????????

Darn you, Pottery Barn!

I told myself I was NOT making costumes this year. I don't have the time and it would cost the same just to go to the consignment store and let the girls pick out their own costumes.

That was back when all they wanted to be were Disney Princesses or Dora.

Then I used the restroom at my friend Angela's house and saw this. Pottery Barn Kids. A cupcake costume. Super cute.

Of course, I immediately thought, "I can make that." *sigh* The girls actually agreed to be cupcakes instead of Princesses (which we get way too much of around here) so I went out and bought the felt yesterday. Less the $10 for two super-cute costumes, you can't beat that!!!

Now, Kelby is going to be a cowboy. I am NOT making him a costume!!!!

some fallish things

I finished up these apples last night, after taking the girls outside to collect sticks for the stems. This little garland is hanging in our dining room. Sure makes it feel like Fall :) The rest will be given away to visitors who happen by.


The pattern is from the book, Sew Pretty, Christmas Homestyle, in case you were wondering.

Yesterday, I took the kiddos out to collect some leaves and it was great fun for us!

Even Kelby, although he mostly just played with his shoes :)

The skirt Natalie is wearing is one I just made for her out of a dress that I had. Sooo easy, I have plans to do this to a few other of my dresses, instead of just giving them to charity.


That night, we made some leaf rubbings. They turned out pretty! The girls thought this was a pretty cool trick.

Pine Cone Pets

Sometime last Spring, the kids and I went on a little picnic and Natalie started collection pine cones, with the intention of making "pine cone pets." I have NO IDEA where she got this idea, but she has never let it go. FINALLY, last night, I busted out the felt and googly eyes and pine cone pets morphed into these little pine cone people. It was lots and lots of fun and the girls have been acting out scenes from The Little Mermaid II with them ever since :)

We made this little lady for Papa for his birthday box. What a cutie!