organizing Christmas cards

Today I took down all of my Christmas cards and photos taped to the the side of my kitchen cabinet.  What was taking me so long you ask?? Since we live so far from our family and a lot of our friends it is nice to see their smiling faces long after the tree gets put away.

But, I felt it was time to take them down as Easter is next month already and pastels and flowers will soon take center stage.  For many years I was just trimming the photo cards and placing them in a photo box.  But, have you noticed how the cards keep getting bigger and bigger and how we put more than one picture on them? My photo box is plumb full.

 I can't remember which lovely blog I saw this idea at but I think it is a great one.  Simply punch a  hole in the top left corner of the cards and join them with a key ring. She added Christmas ribbon and a cardstock tag with the year on it.  But I have a friend who makes her own Christmas cards every year so I put hers on the top.

All of them are kept together without doing too much work!

Now, I am in sort of a dilemma about what to do about the pretty cards I receive.  They seem too beautiful to throw away with their velvety borders or glittery scenes.  My mom reuses hers as gift tags. 

Do you reuse yours?  How do you store your photocards?  

gifts for my nephew

My sister just welcomed into their family a new baby boy.  In my family we grow our babies big, not sure why since we are all on the small side.  But, my sister gets the prize for the biggest baby out of all us girls.  Hers weighed in at 10lbs 13 oz.  Yep, 10lbs 13 oz!!!  We couldn't be happier for them, mom and baby are doing great.  Isn't it fun when God adds a new branch to the family tree?  I think so!

Since sewing for babes is what I love to do I whipped up a few things for the sweet new boy.

As moms we all know there's lots of feeding and burping going on so these may come in handy.

My sister wanted a generous sized blanket for snuggling.  That inspired me to sew flannel and super fuzzy fleece together. 

On the backside of the blanket I included a little surprise.  I thought it would be fun for him as he got older to see his name on the blanket.  I added a ribbon loop too just for fun.  My boys always had a favorite corner of their blanket; I am hoping this will be Luke's favorite! 

Do you remember the football hat I crocheted?  Well, instead of giving her that one I made a new one and added some ears to go with the snowsuit he needed. Originally, I was thinking they would be bear ears.  But, now I think it looks more like the lion.

We are just tickled pink to have a new baby in the family.  Can't wait to meet the little guy!!

Blessings!

a pocket for puppy

Every year our church blesses the employees and clients of our local mental health facility.  It is a treat for these often overlooked members of our community to come and enjoy a lasagna meal with live music and then play bingo. 

Each of the guests goes home with at least one gift.  A little something to show them we care, even the children of the clients are included.  I made a little pocket for the daughter of a client. 

This simple pocket is created from  2 - 18" squares (with batting on the inside) then folded into a triangle.  After sewing 2 straight lines 4" from the center and some *unique* folding this little pocket is formed.  These are perfect for storing little treasures, kind of like this puppy.

I wish you could reach into the monitor to feel this super soft puppy and pick him up behind his 2 front legs and pet him.  He feels so life like!!  I hope the little girl thinks he's adorable, too. 

These little pockets could be made out of any holiday fabric and would be cute in a guest bathroom to hold rolled up washcloths, special lotions or soaps.  Or how about in Easter fabric with eggs?  The options are endless!

Blessings!

apple muffins

Hello dear readers!

I have a habit of searching out new recipes on websites and in cookbooks.  I think the photos are what pulls me in.  And don't you feel hungrier and inspired afterwards?  I do!  Well, recently this recipe for apple muffins caught my eye.  I don't know if I've ever made apple muffins before.  I repeatedly make blueberry muffins because it's our favorite.  But, with an abundance of apples in my fruit bowl, namely crispy and juicy pink ladies (yum!)  I decided to try out this recipe.

Boy am I glad I did!  I held off on the pecans, sugar and cinnamon topping since my boys don't like nuts.  So next time I think I'll add the cinnamon to the batter and it would be even better.

These are really moist muffins with soft bits of apples inside.  They are lower in fat thanks to only a 1/4 cup of oil and 1 cup of applesauce.  Less guilt is always good in my book.  I was sure my boys would turn their nose up at them since they aren't like the oily and sweet muffins found in bakeries but they gobbled them up!  I did use a jumbo muffin tin (b/c who only eats one little muffin anyway??)  and I was able to get 10 muffins out of one batch.  Looks like I'll be making more since they didn't even last 24 hours in my house!! 

It's a good thing I like to bake!

Blessings!

a cookie with a funny name

These soft chocolate cookies with a creamy filling are called whoopie pies.  Funny name I think.

But, I think anything that starts out looking this dreamy is going to be a winner!  This recipe calls for butter, lots of butter.  Creamy buttery yummy goodness!!

The recipe can be found here.  This is a super moist chocolatey cookie with a wonderful filling.  The little pies will be going to my son's classroom party with a few extra to share with the family.

It's going to be a good Valentine's Day don't you think?

Blessings!

Valentine Fun

After seeing Lindsay's tutorial for a travel tissue holder I thought it would be a great Valentine's gift for the little girls in my son's class.  The little travel size tissues are just perfect for tossing in your purse or backpack.  For me they've been a life saver as I've been recovering from a cold! Choose any fabric to show your style and the best part is they are really simple to make.  Just 4 straight seams and they are done!

I think it's really easy to come up with ideas for girls but oh so much harder for boys.  Since I am a mom of 4 boys you'd think that wouldn't be a problem.  But boys really don't accessorize like girls.  Then I had the idea of a mask.  A mask out of camouflage.  Way better than pink tissue holders don't you think??  I am off to cut out the little masks!

Have a blessed day my friends!

Heart Tarts

While searching for ideas for my son's Valentine's Day classroom party I came across this recipe at Family Fun magazine.  They looked too good not to try!

There is minimal prep since you start out with a ready-made pie crust.  I bought a large box from Sam's Club before Christmas and I still have quite a few rolls left.  This is the perfect recipe to use them up!

After sealing up the jam filled hearts they go in the oven.  Once cooled don't delay in eating them!  They are super flaky and so much better than pop-tarts!  My husband and kids love pop-tarts; me, not so much.  But, they said these were waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than pop-tarts.  One pie crust makes 6 tarts, so plan accordingly!

I have utilized the family fun website quite a bit in getting ideas for my kindergartner's parties.  They have tons of ideas and great photos.  Naturally I thought it would also be fun to get a subscription and so I ordered one from thrifty magazine(only $4.99 for 10 issues!)  A pretty good deal I think!

Blessings!