Ikea

Have you ever been to Ikea? It is great fun. The prices are good (sometimes great- this fabric was $1.99 yard), the designs are interesting, the food is good and cheap (cinnamon rolls for a dollar, hot dogs are .50 cents), all in all a fun shopping experience (for me anyway! Dave and the kids were very patient)

you get to cut your own fabric. Mom, you know I loved this :) I used to play fabric store for hours when I was little.


Dave and his mom in the cafeteria


More fabric cutting. I don't get out much..

I had to use that fabric as soon as I could. So (sew..) a fun little dishtowel project was born. These will be nice to give away for Christmas.


And a flower.


The wrapping paper at Ikea made me swoon.....I am going to paper the walls with it :) (you are not sure if I am kidding, are you?!)

thanksgiving + a winner

We got to stay at Dave's parents new house. Mom Mincy loves Mary Engelbreit, black + white, and cherries. She made these window treatments for her door- aren't the pom poms adorable?


Her whimsical decor is very cheerful!


We had such a nice, cozy, and yummy thanksgiving. Hope you did too.


The turkey was delicious.


Dave's mom and sister, Barb.

After dinner nap :)


Let's zoom in on this sweet face.....


Over to Barb's house. I always have to take photos over here....lots of eye candy!


Her dining room...


eclectic artwork....


Then on to Barb's studio. The yellow letters were fun to play with.


Perfect backdrop for some photos.


lots of goodies. See more here.


We got an extra treat- Kristi from the Speckled Dog blog came over to meet us! And! She knit me a cowl! LOVE it! So warm and cozy. (and the pumpkin bread you brought us was delicious :)


And guess what else??? On the way home we got to stop at Ikea! More on that later.....did you have a good thanksgiving? What was your favorite dessert? A few of my favorite little treats:

*on the trip down; a gingerbread shake at Red Robin!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUM
*Practically every day that we were gone; coffee with vanilla egg nog!!!!!!!!!!! super yum
*Black Friday shopping beverage: cinnamon dolce latte
*apple pie, pumpkin pie, I could go on........but I won't, this is making me very hungry for thanksgiving all over again.

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WINNER of Candace's Cookbook:

My cousin, Kari!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I promise I picked a random name out of a hat.

She said:

Oooo, pick me, pick me! I have lots of sad stories about always having to come up with supper ideas. My family would benefit from this book! I don't know what we are doing for supper tonight or tomorrow or Wednesday...but the turkey is in the fridge for Thursday to share with Grammy and Grampy!
Hugs to you all! Kari

I will pop it in the mail for you, Kari! Thanks to every single one of you who commented and congratulated Candace and introduced yourselves! It was great to hear from each of you!!!!!!!

happy trees

felt...how I love thee- let me count the ways- your bright colors, your softness and easy going attitude.

Felt + cotton fabric = a happy partnership. Warm and cozy meets whimsy and pattern. A match made in heaven.

I am having so much fun sewing felt (I may have mentioned that a few, or 20 times :)

pilgrim hats

Happy Thanksgiving!

give thanks [in living color]

Here is a broadcast on focus on the family about Cultivating Gratitude in Your Family.
And here is part 2.
Really inspiring. (great ideas for training and instilling thankfulness in your kids' lives- I love the partial fast idea- we need a video game fast here...and a junk food fast...and a dvd fast. Teaching self restraint...so much good stuff here!)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I cannot even begin to say how much I have to be thankful for.

God, You are sooooo great. You are perfect and forgiving and merciful! Your love is unconditional and I am complete in You! Thank You for my wonderful husband and 3 healthy kids and our little dog. I do not deserve them in my life. Thank you for Your beautiful creation. Thank You for our church and Your Word and my encouraging family and friends. Thank You for allowing Dave to get that deal at work. Thank You for the amazing praise service we had at church last night- for our church family who is there for us, for Pastor and Nancy who love God and lead us in the right direction constantly. Our hearts are so full after last night and hearing testimony after testimony of God and His greatness and goodness in our lives.

Indian Corn 2 Ways

Yesterday was Indian day at the Franklin School of Arts and Academics. We made the headbands, we did some rain dances, we wore loin cloths (just kidding). And made Indian corn.


What could be cuter than finger painted dots? Nothing, I tell you!!




Finger paint and cut out...then add the leaves...


That is fine art, people!

For lunch we took a hot dog bun, covered it with cheese and melted. Then we added carrots, apple, corn, and peas.


the leaves are made from slices of deli ham and tortilla pieces. Does that look disgusting to you? It was surprisingly good.

Today is Pilgrim day and we are making these.
Linking to Today's Creative Blog (there are some cute crafts on there today)

I know someone famous! [Candace's Cookbook Giveaway!]

I get all giddy when something like this happens- and I run around the church and make everyone take pictures and have people sign their names and I am called a dork (thanks, Candace). But I am seriously excited about this. (we took the photos in the church nursery last Sunday)

Candace has been mentioned here at the art*house quite a few times. See here and here and here (oh my dear! those are some crazy pictures of my double chin)

Moving on...Candace wrote a cookbook for the Everything series books called The Everything Freezer Meals Cookbook. This is a great cookbook- Candace explains everything you need to know about freezing foods- the hows, whys, the ins and outs- it is super informational. Each recipe tells how you can freeze it. I love this! So many times I want to make things ahead, like for when company is coming- and I am never sure if certain things will freeze well. Now I can use these recipes and know that they will freeze and thaw right and taste good!

More cookbook celebrities! Denise and Carmela- they are both mentioned in the acknowledgements section. Carmela's Breaded Chicken Breast with Muenster Cheese Bake (page 75) is delicious- I have had it- and she personally autographed her page. (under protest, I might add...they just don't appreciate being famous!)


As you can see, Candace is a fun and talented girl. You will love this cookbook! There are so many great recipes in there- along with tips, freezing chart for max freezing time according to type of food, slow cooker recipes; I am telling you- this is a great book! I bought 2 copies; one for me and one for you! Leave me a comment to win and you will be added to the drawing for a signed book.

I will leave this contest open until next Monday.

Can't wait to hear your comments. It is always fun to hear from you- comment about anything you'd like, or you can congratulate Candace, or if you have no clue what to say, tell me if you are cooking a turkey on Thursday or not (or how about a Turducken? I just learned about that on NPR)

I am also going to send a tiny stuffed owl to the winner. Because I love you :)

yarn necklace and some Q + A

This one is for you, yarn lovers. I found this necklace at a thrift store- it looks like it would be very easy to make. If you have yarn leftover from some projects- {some of that yarn is expensive and so unique}- might be a nice little project for you.

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Took a quick little trip to Michaels today for some more felt (!)...such a surprise, I know- and I have so many little projects going on, it isn't funny! Thanksgiving- trying to get crafts and activities together for the kids for this week, along with making Christmas garlands for the tree(s), and making gifts- to top it off, our 4 year old found the Resurrection eggs and has been having Easter egg hunts around the house. SO MANY HOLIDAYS ALL AT ONCE!!!!!!!

Some questions you have asked me lately....

Q- what do you stuff the felt pillows with?
A- the pillow filler found at wal-mart in the craft dept. (if the project is very small, we sometimes use cotton balls)

Q- what did you use to cut out your circles from the felt?
A- I cut squares from felt roughly the same size and free hand cut the circles- this size (about 2") is a really easy circle to make- you sort of just hold the square with your thumb in the middle of it and spin it around as you cut. If the circle looks a little rough, once you stitch it together with another circle- it all looks OK again.

Now for the bad news: remember the Chalk Ink markers I blogged about here? They are wonderful and fabulous...on windows. I have used them and erased them and all is good- however- they do not erase so perfectly on the chalkboard wall. I did have the writing up there for a good month- so maybe that is too long- I erased them last week (with a wet cloth) and it left an outline that I will not be able to get off. The white was the worst- I can definitely still see a faint line. I can live with this- we taped some art work up there- and things change and get written on so much around here that it will be fine and no one will notice- but I am afraid that everyone will not feel that way and I am so sorry if I led you astray and did not properly find out the whole truth before I told you how wonderful they were!

Anyone else try them out?

fall favorites

Mixing and matching of funky socks...
(and the little colorful and vivacious girl who spreads plastic toys all over the house? She is my favorite all year long. Favorite girl that is- not favorite child :) :)


I guess you have already heard this one - but......a cozy evening on the couch crafting with felt!!!!!!! Nothing better. (unless Dave is on the couch beside me- that is the best possible scenario)


dresses with jeans! And throw on a scarf for good measure.



Another dress with jeans (or tunic-type shirt, actually) I have been looking everywhere for dresses or long shirts to wear with pants- and found this and the previous one for a good deal at Ross.



park days! The weather has been gorgeous!!!!!!!! I love living in the South - but we are not too, too south- just enough to be coolish in the fall and chilly in the winter and hot all the rest of the time. Just enough for sweaters and vests and scarves and jeans.

I promise I am embracing all things fall. And Thanksgiving- that is going to be my focus- don't let the following photo fool you. Don't shoot me and please! listen to my reason! There is a reason, I promise.....
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I have been keeping this secret from you for a week!!!!!!!!! Haha- but it is only because a friend of mine was cleaning out her attic and wanted to get rid of this tree - and would I come and pick it up? Of course, and I surely could not take it home and stuff it in my attic....so here it is. But not completely decorated. Anyone else evil and wicked like me who put up your tree already?

l e a v e s

the leaves are gorgeous right now- the yard was looking like we maybe needed to start raking- then we had a rain storm in the night and woke up to a yard full of leaves!


There was even a dandelion found for mommy :)


vibrant

I had this grand idea to take paper and glue outside and make leaf collages and.....


leaf people!


at first the boys scoffed and ran off with the football....


but pretty soon, they too wanted in on the fun. I cannot tell you how happy this made me- crafting on the driveway with my kids in the gorgeous fall air.









We taped the pictures on the wall and the next morning found the leaves all curled up- oops, should have pressed them first!

That poem reminds me of the poem my 2nd grader is learning...you'll love this:

December Leaves
by Kay Starbird

The fallen leaves are cornflakes
That fill the lawn's wide dish.
And night and noon
The wind's a spoon
That stirs them with a swish.

The sky's a silver sifter
A-sifting white and slow,
That gently shakes
On crisp brown flakes
The sugar known as snow.

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Oh! If you want to see some amazing fall leaf pictures- check out my mom's blog! Beautiful.