crafts – the key to kays

Dec 7, 2012

Jingle Balls, Jingle Balls

Hello my Friend!

I’m so happy to hear from some of you that you’re finding inspiration with my Christmas decorations this year!! That’s so nice. Let’s be honest–you can also thank Pinterest. I think I’m done with “misison decorating”. I didn’t even put up a lot of our stuff this year and I gave away a few bags of decorations that I knew I wasn’t going to use. I’m trying to de-clutter going forward.

So-I got a couple of texts that you want to see the big, fat decorations closer up. Ok…

Cable-knit balls…

Glittered snowflakes…

I love sequins…

We still put up the ornaments that we collect from all of our travels…

disco balls….

and more sparkly balls…

I moved the shiny reindeer to the tall windows (you can actually see them from the street)…

I am slightly obsessed with Target’s line of cable-knit accessories (as you can tell)….

I finally decided how I’m going to hang our cards this year. I usually tape ribbon to the walls, but with the new paint, I just can’t do it. Ribbon on the pantry door it is (I’m using pins to attach the cards).

I’ve been hanging these red snowflakes on the doorknobs and cutting off the string on some of them to put on various pictures/frames on the walls. Hello, cheap.

Ohhhhhh—so, I’ve been wanting to tell you about one of my favorite things this season and today it all unraveled. I’m in LOVE with these reed diffusers from Target (there’s not a brand name on them, I find them on those side displays near the candles).

The Amber Cranberry is awesome. I have them throughout the house. Really clean smelling, with a hint of goodness. Not too much, just enough.

Back to the unraveling. Do you see how Gooser’s picture is propped on the wall? Yeah, that’s because the easel part broke today. Why? Because I knocked the frame and the “OIL” reed diffuser off of the entire stairway. It was like a movie, down, down it went. Somehow I thought that I could run down the stairs before it would actually do any damage. Wrong! 3 chunks out of the wall (ugh–see that hole on the right by the stair–even after I touched it up with paint) and of course the oil from the diffuser dumped into a huge flood on the NEW carpet. Why, oh why!??!!!

Anyways, speaking of the stairs, I usually wrap lighted garland around the banister. This year I decided to just wrap these red berries…

and hang a few plain wreaths down the banister, hung with yarn. I used up the last of this gray and white striped yarn on this project. What a bargain that one yarn roll was–I used it on 6 wreaths!!!

Maybe by next year I’ll have painted the banister black and they’ll look even better!! Always got to have a project….

Thank you to Pinterest, thank you to Joanne’s and your coupons and thank you to my second home, Target, for always making me feel welcome with new, amazing finds.

Is there anything better than sitting in the dark with the tree lit?

Filed Under: misc · Tagged: christmas, crafts, decor, decorating, holidays, tree

Nov 23, 2012

Turkey Day

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Hello my Friend!

Did you have a good Turkey Day? Hope so! We had gorgeous weather here in the FL. So, I put up another wreath. I’ve never seen one like this, have you? Now–there was NO way I was going to try making this one…

It’s all sparkly and has little mirrors all over it….cool.

I started making a few little decorations on Wednesday (better later than never). I know, I have problems, I just can’t stop.

I created the triangle shape and banner letters in Word (super simple). Cut them out and taped on scrapbook paper. Strung with jute and wa-lah, the annual Thanksgiving day banner was made.

I found some free printables on Pinterest. This was was from Betty Crocker Wannabe.

and coasters from Claire Bella.

Again, I just backed them with some fun scrapbook papers…

We started our Thanksgiving day at Starbucks (gimme those ads).

then headed over to Jeff and Ellen’s. I brought a couple of appetizers (I am the App queen). The staple Pigs in a Blanket and a new Spinach and Artichoke recipe. Hmmm…guess I didn’t take a pic of it (shocker), but it was pretty easy and a HUGE hit. Def making it again. I baked it at home, then transfered it into my crock pot so we could just plug it in and keep it warm. I am a genius. It stayed creamy and cheesy the whole time.

I used a recipe from Food.com found HERE. After reading the reviews I did change up a couple of things. I added another can of artichokes and after draining that and the spinach, I chopped them up really good. Instead of 2 cups of parmesan cheese, I did 1 cup parm, 1 cup italian cheese mixture (just the Kraft bagged kind). I also added another tsp. of garlic and used fat free/low fat cream cheese, sour cream and mayo. Of course I couldn’t resist adding some extra cheese to the top. It looked just like this.

After apps and while waiting for the main din-din, the girls and I headed outside to do something…we decided on making some Thanksgiving chalk subway art. That printable was our inspiration. It turned out soooo cute! We had fun deciding what style of writing, which colors and where the words were going to go. Love those girls and that they appreciate the things I do.

Time for turkey!!

CW’s plate.

Jeff and CW with their annual photo (the other one I took was a tad inappropriate haha).

Tanner and little Lady Olivia…

Then it was time for the banner pics…we were losing light….Emma, Abby and Tanner are such good sports for their Aunt Kays.

This was one of last year’s photos….

I was not succeeding in getting a good jumping one this year HA! My fault-not theirs. I’m sure Jeff got some good ones as we were snapping away at the same time and his camera is mack daddy.

CW even humored me =) PSA: I am thankful for CW playing along with my crazy picture taking and the antics that surround it.

Then the fireworks started. Oh boy, you brothers are crazy!!

dessert and and finally a little bonfire action….

We spent our day with family, friends, crafts, food and fireworks.

A pretty perfect day. Now the Christmas madness begins…

Filed Under: holidays · Tagged: appetizers, crafts, diy, food, printable, recipes, thanksgiving

Nov 19, 2012

Olivia’s Day

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It was time to put Lady O’s shin-dig together. I loaded up the car and headed over to Jeff and Ellen’s. She was the best little birthday girl–a happy camper all day long, saying “hiiiiii” in the sweetest little voice a million times.

I was beyond happy with how the fabric banners turned out.

The “O” that the girls made on our craft day was the perfect greeter” to the party.

“Oooooooo, I see the balloons outside”….

“Really, you crazy people want me to look through this thing? Nah–I’ll jump right through it. Act fast with your cameras–I’m on my own time people”.

I had a basic white canvas in the garage that I decided to wrap like a present (I know, I have problems, my crafty mind doesn’t stop). A little ribbon, a flower thing I had, some hot glued buttons and it was perfect above the table.

The tried and true frame with black scrapbook paper. Just write on the glass with a dry erase marker…

The cake. Yum.

Ellen made the “monthly picture” banner. She did awesome! Yeah, it was football Sunday too…

Born, to one, two, three…

four, five, six, seven…

eight, nine, ten, eleven…

Yo lady, it’s your birthday.

Confetti circles…

Moscato punch. Always a hit. It’s just Barefoot Moscato wine, frozen cranberry-lemonade and sprite. Here’s the recipe.

Ta-da. Food is here.

We were constantly asked about the recipes for the dips.

I’ve blogged them before, one is the recent bean and corn dip that I switched up a bit (black beans, shoepeg corn, avocado, feta, cilantro, green onion, tomatoes, then just add garlic salt, garlic pepper and hot sauce to taste). The other is the easiest appetizer in the history of the world. Store-bought pesto, store-bought hummus on that, topped with feta cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes.

Another great weather day.

I had bought Olivia these books forever ago and they finally came in handy for the favor table.

Of course I had to do cupcake toppers.

The banner was a fab back-drop for cake-smashing time.

Are yooooooooou readyyyyyy?

Success.

I saw these photo prop kits at Target…so fun.

Emma and Abby putting them together.

Jeff getting involved.

Hey lady–why are you obsessed with the window?

Give me a pose girls…

Now you guys…

Ok-keep it going…

Opening gifts…

You know how this goes…more interested in the tissue paper.

Happy First Birthday Olivia!!!

You had an awesome party-and with this family—you’ll have a ton of photos to show you down the road. Get used to it, Jeffrey and I have problems.

Filed Under: decor, events · Tagged: birthdays, crafts, cupcakes, diy, food, frames, olivia, present, punch

Nov 2, 2012

Month 11

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Hello my Friend!

Well, I still haven’t taken pics of the pups in their costumes–hopefully I’ll get around to it this weekend. Better late than never, right? I’m sure they’re hoping for never haha.

What I did do today was take down all of the Halloween decorations. Boo–as in boo-hoo =(

I couldn’t resist making an interim wreath while waiting for Christmas, so I grabbed an orange wreath that we’ve had for way too many years…

and spray painted it white.

To jazz it up a bit, I found these little gray felt flowers…

Our new November wreath!

I had intended on painting this wooden “W” letter gray, to attach to the top right part of the wreath, but it fell apart before I got a chance. So rude. I’ll need to get another one…argh.

Beep, beep, beeeeeeep….I now have a public service announcement for you. I am officially boycotting and hating the chalk markers I was so excited about awhile back.

DO NOT BUY!!! Sooo not worth the trouble.

Yes, the look is amazing and much better and easier to write with than chalk. But….as I was erasing the October board to make the November one, I soon realized that these are way too hard to remove. As in—they do not erase. After scouring the Internet for solutions (and reading a ton of similar complaints), a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was supposed to work the best. Nope. So annoying.