New & Improved Stool

I was reading a blog (go figure) a week or so ago and this caught my eye. I knew right then and there that I had to make one too. I remembered that we had a wooden stool that Rondell bought when Jamison was first born, but we never did anything with it. See:

So, I cleaned it off, sanded it down, and painted it black:

And then I painted the bottom of the kids' feet and "stamped" them onto the stool. See:

I ended up having to do Caleb's foot twice because the paint I initially used was a transparent paint (I should really read the label next time).

So, there you have it...my "new" step stool. I haven't decided if I'm going to put anything else on it (like in the inspired stool)...I might just enjoy its simplicity.

I'm participating it DIY Day...here.

and here.

Christmas Blocks

My mother-in-law likes my crafts. She compliments me all of the time on the things that I make and she has asked me a few times to make her something. I decided that I'd do something crafty for her for Christmas this year.

I decided to spell CHRISTMAS using wooden blocks covered in holiday scrapbook paper.

{Another one of my mood lighting pictures!}

I used my Cricut to cut out the letters (I love that machine!). Then I cut out squares to fit on each side of the block and glued the pieces using Mod Podge. I glued one letter per block and added another layer of Mod Podge on top of the paper for a finished look.

Here's the result:

I hope she likes it!

School Christmas Activities

Jamison has had a few events at school the past two days. She is in the chorus at school and it had a performance last night and then again today. It was so cute to see her on stage singing the songs and doing a few dance moves. It was also nice to hear the songs she has been singing all around the house for weeks.

Here's my princess before the concert last night. They had to wear black bottoms and white tops. They were also instructed to wear a bell...that was Jamison's favorite part of the outfit.

This picture shows the true Jamison...laughing and playing with her hair.

Here she is singing. It was a cute concert and I could tell that her music teacher put a lot of work into making it a success.

Today Jamison's class had its Winter Party. I was there to help with the party and Aunt Roni got to go too! I was so proud to see how well behaved Jamison is in class.

Jamison and I both made something for her teacher:

When we were in Hobby Lobby Jamison saw this S and wanted to get it for Mrs. Schlaegel. Then she saw the wooden star and decided to glue it to the back of the S for Super Schlaegel. She's already learning to be creative!

I made Mrs. Schlaegel a post it note dispenser (I took the picture before I put the post it pad on the frame). I got the idea here. I hope she enjoys it.

How did you wrap up your week?

One Craft, Some Cookies and a Ton of Lights!

This past weekend was filled with fun times! I decided to share it with you all in one post (with a ton of pictures)...you ready?

My friend Lyndsey and her mom host a cookie party every year and I think they are so sweet to do that. This year I made them each a little gift as a thank you. I got the idea for this craft from my Stampin Up! demo Lisa and then found the tutorial here.

It's a little magazine holder that holds gift cards.

Inside each holder I put four little 3x3 gift cards that they can use when they give gifts. Can I just tell you that I love Designer Paper and how it coordinates with the cardstock by SU!

Lyndsey and her mom really go all out for their cookie party.

Chicken Club Wrap...yum.

Hummus, veggies, and pita chips.

Cheeseball...one of my favorites.

Festive drinks. Have you tried the sparkling drinks from Trader Joe's...very good.

Everyone enjoying the good food.

Lyndsey and her mom even have door prizes. How fun is that?!

And of course...the cookies. There was a very nice variety.

Here are the chocolate chip cookies that I made. Simple, yet oh so delicious. I just used the Nestle Toll house recipe (do any of you remember that Friends episode?), only I substituted the butter with butter Crisco .

Sunday we went with a group of people to see the lights at our local zoo.

Jamison was super excited...

...Caleb, not so much at first.

Here's my friend Tonya's daughter...all bundled and ready to go.

The gang.

More of the gang.

Despite the cold temperatures the kids really had a great time.

In the reptile house there was a snake you could touch. Notice I am BEHIND the camera. No snakes for me.

Whoa baby!!!!

One of my favorite parts about our zoo is the manatee exhibit. This isn't the best picture, sorry.

The lights were amazing! My pictures do not do them justice, you just had to be there. This year all of the lights were LED.

This was the display right outside of the aquarium.

This is the display around the lake in the zoo. At certain points in the evening they play music and the lights "dance" to the music. It was really neat.

Me and my homie Tonya.

Are you still there? How was your weekend?

December Craft Challenge - Advent Calendar

I am so excited to participate in Heidi's Craft Challenge this month. The theme is Christmas and since I already had plans to make an advent calendar, I thought that would be a good craft to make for the challenge.

Initially I was going to do a traditional calendar with something for each day, but I ran out of ideas. So, I decided to have a weekly countdown to Christmas. I was inspired by this tutorial and tweeked it to my simplified calendar. So, the idea is that each week (on Sunday because that is our family day) we'll go over the activities that we'll do for that week. Here are some things we are going to do:

Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (we did this Monday...a day early)

Go to the zoo and see the Christmas lights

Drink hot chocolate

Make Jesus a birthday card

Put up our Christmas decorations

Make Christmas cookies

Watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special (December 8)

Drive around and see the lights in our neighborhood

Read about Jesus' birth

So for the calendar I used paper mache boxes that will hold the list of that week's activities. I traced the lid and applied some festive scrapbook paper using Mod Podge (gotta love that stuff).

Here's one box with the paper glued to the lid. Then I used my Cricut and cut out the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 for each week. **I can tell that I do my crafting at night because there's always mood lighting in my pictures.

I cut out 25 squares from scrapbook paper and then mounted them on cardstock. I used my Cricut again to cut out the numbers for each square.

I made the 25 square slightly bigger and used scrapbook paper that says Merry Christmas.

Finally, I made a heading, glued everything to a canvas and then added some embellishments.

I am thrilled with the result even though I realize that I will only be able to use this for this year...still worth it.

One Thankful Turkey

I saw this cute craft idea on a post by my blog friend Bobbi. When I saw it I knew I had to try it because we have been really working on being thankful in our house and since Jamison loves to do crafts I thought this would be a good activity for us to do.

First I printed off a turkey coloring page and we colored only the turkey, not his feathers.

Then we cut out the turkey body so that we could add our own feathers. See Jamison concentrating on her cutting.

Here's my turkey all cut out. Jamison told me that I did a great job coloring. I just love her.

Caleb wants you to know that he was there too! He colored his entire turkey. He's my turkey!

I cut feathers out of construction paper and we wrote what we are thankful for.

Jamison and I had similar items and we didn't even copy. I guess she is a little like her mom.

Here's the finished product.

They will hang on our fridge as a reminder to be thankful.