Christmas Cards...Old and New!

Once again, I've waited until the last minute to do our Christmas cards this year.  November and December have been SO busy!!!  With five kids, our Christmas card photo shoots are always interesting.  Here's the cast of characters, and how it normally plays out when I try to get a group shot:  Will and Zach (my teenage stepsons) are not thrilled (at ALL) with getting their picture taken, especially when I get props involved (see below - the "NOEL" year was particularly bad for them - haha!!!).  I can normally get a small smile out of them, but it is NOT easy!!!

Our Very First Christmas Card Picture Together - circa 2001

Next, Lindsey and Emily - who normally have some sort of disagreement over who is sitting where, or who gets to hold the prop, etc.  In the past, there were usually tears from one or both of the girls during our shoot.  Once there was even behind the back pinching going on during the picture.  Lord help me.

This was the only one we could get where Emily would sit down!  This year was pretty stressful, too.  Circa 2004.

Alot of complaining this year.  Will and Zach did not like holding the letters!  Emily wanted to hold the "E" for Emily, but I had already taken Lindsey's picture holding it.  She wasn't thrilled.

One of the rare ones where Rodney and I are included.  So easy to snap a beach picture and be done with it!  No complaining this year!  Circa 2006.  We thought our family was complete!  Little did we know...

2008's card - this was the first year we signed the card from ALL the kids - little Carter was three months away from being born!



Finally, add in little Carter, who will only sit still for approximately 2.2 seconds, and I can pretty much FORGET about a smile from him!  He's way too busy to bother with all of that.  So, you can imagine why I've been putting this off this year!!!

I eventually got wised up, and realized that I should do a collage-style card, with individual pictures.  My go-to place for cards has always been Shutterfly.  Most, if not all, of the cards we have sent out have come from Shutterfly over the years. They always have the best card designs to choose from, super fast delivery, and great photo quality.  Gone are the days of the boring cards with the words at the bottom and only like ten cards to choose from!  Shutterfly has TONS of options.  Click here to see the amazing selection of Christmas cards.  Here are a few I have my eye on for this year:

All I have to do is find cute pictures of each of my kids, and drop them in the template!  Easy!  And no more stressful photo shoots (although I do still make them pose in front of the tree, wear Santa hats, etc. for other Christmas pictures - can't let them get off THAT easy!!!).

Shutterfly doesn't just have photo cards - check out these cute calendars, perfect for grandparents or for dad's office!

I can't believe I didn't realize that Shuttefly also has some ADORABLE birthday invitations - and you can't beat their prices!!!!  Click here to see birthday invitations.

I was so excited to find out that I could earn 50 free cards this year, just by talking about Shutterfly, a company that I already use and LOVE!  You can do the same - click here for details.

Now, just wish me luck in finding cute pictures for this year's card!!!!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

At least on my kitchen counter, it is!  I have been working on an order for a local boutique, and just got all of these goodies packed up to take over there today.  I love seeing all the Christmas colors!

There were snowmen...

Gingerbread girls...

And many more yummy Christmas sweets and treats...

As Christmas approaches, I depend on the little bit of extra money from my hair bows to help pay for all of the extra expenses that happen this time of year.  It isn't easy finding time to work on my bows while I have a toddler underfoot and girls in competitive dance with homework and all sorts of running around to do.  It normally makes for some very late nights for me, but I LOVE what I do.  I love knowing that something I made will be worn by a sweet little girl somewhere, and that makes me happy.  I have so many fond memories of dressing my girls up and their beautiful hair bows, and I am glad that I am able to make something pretty for another little girl to wear.

I have officially opened my Etsy store, but there's nothing in it yet!  I have one more custom order to take care of and I will be stocking my Etsy store up with some goodies similar to the ones you see above.  I'll add a link when there is actually something to look at in my store =)

Thanks for letting me share!

Outside With Mama

The other day on Facebook, I announced that I had just had one of the most fun days of my life with Carter in our backyard.  I wasn't exaagerating at all.  It truly was one of the best afternoons of my life so far.  The girls were at school, and it was just me and my little man.  Carter had gotten restless so I thought we'd go outside and get some fresh air.  Carter LOVES to be outside.  Loves it more than anything.  The minute he hits the ground outside his whole demeanor changes and he just lights up.  So sweet. 

We didn't do anything special - just played with each other, laughed, ran and swung on the swing. Carter spent most of his time examining pebbles (the way he says the word "pebbles" is truly the cutest thing I think I've ever heard) and acorns, and when he wasn't doing that he was running the length of our yard. I love the way he runs - all loosey-goosey, like he's going to fall any minute, but with complete joy and abandon. Carter took an armful of his "choo-choos" (the word he uses for any vehicle - car, truck, actual choo-choo - they are all "choo-choos" to Carter. Heartbreakingly cute.) outside and we drove them around in the grass. He kept getting grass on his hands and then proclaiming it "duh-ty" (dirty) and throwing handfuls of grass to the ground, only to then look for the grass he had just thrown. I swear he was trying to reattach the individual blades of grass to their rightful spots in the yard. Oh how this boy makes me laugh. The smiles on both of our faces couldn't have been bigger.

I want to remember this day forever.  Me and my son.  Sometimes I still can't believe that I have a boy.  I was such a "girl" mom before Carter came along, and he has just completely changed my whole world.  I love being with him, and I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual.  Here's to many more afternoons filled with pebbles, choo-choos, digging in the dirt, belly laughs and grimy kisses.  I can't wait to see what comes next.

Side note - please ignore the fat lip.  Sadly, it's pretty typical.  He has no fear and gets hurt ALL of the time =(

Halloween Tablescape - Lindsey's Party Part Two

Thanks to all who left me such sweet comments on my last post!  I am just tickled to pieces whenever someone comments on my blog.  I get super excited because in my mind nobody reads this blog except for me and Emily!  Ha!  So really - thank you!

I thought I'd share a little more from Lindsey's Halloween birthday party.  As I posted before, I had a sweets table set up in the kitchen that was sort of vintage Halloween-themed.  I decided to make the dining room table a little spookier since that's what Lindsey asked for.  Without too much talking, here are some pictures of what I came up with.


The view from the entrance hall:

Another view:

My easy centerpiece consisted of a glass vessel, sticks from the yard painted black stuck down into candy corn and dollar store crows.

Glittery skeleton heads were also purchased at the dollar store.  The spiderweb tablecloth and black jeweled candles came from Michaels.  I think all of the other stuff I already had in my Halloween stash.

I couldn't leave the hutch out, so I added a few spooky touches here and there.  I am in love with the battery operated votive candles that you can find everywhere now - we had a bunch of them lit up all over the place.  The little menu sign came from the Dollar Tree.  Those darn spiders have scared me to death many times since I stuck them everywhere.  I think I need to take them down - I have serious spider phobia (as well as most, if not all, other bugs - but that's another story altogether).

Another view (before I added my crows!).  I posted a tutorial on how I made the cute napkin rings here.

My mom bought me these creepy little mice - they were really cute!

There was lots more to this party, but I'm so behind on blogging about other things I'll have to leave it at this.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on my little tablescape =)  Thanks for looking!

A SpOokY Treat Table!

My sweet Lindsey, the one who was JUST two years old it seems, is unbelievably turning TWELVE this week.  This mama can't believe her first baby is so grown up.  As the years have passed, Lindsey has grown into a sweet, loving, generous, hardworking, talented young lady.  I couldn't be more proud to be her mom!

This year she requested a SPOOKY birthday party, and I was happy to oblige!  I created this party for very little money, using mostly things I had already, or things that were purchased at the dollar store or other discount store.  I decided to create two tables - one that was decidedly SCARY and one that was more vintage and cute.  Per Lindsey's request, nothing could be too "babyish!"  I was really happy with how everything turned out, and even got a bunch of compliments from the "tween" crowd who came to the party.  Score one for Mom!  Most importantly, Lindsey loved everything.

First up - my BEAUTIFUL daughter, Lindsey Rebecca.  Thank you, GOD, for this girl.

I'm going to split this up into two posts - first up, the "vintage" Halloween treat table!

Cupcakes were made from a mix, with homemade buttercream icing on some, and Wilton "striped" icing on others (it was super hard to use, but cute).   I was a bit disturbed that the "bones" sprinkles I bought at Target appeared to have pretend blood on them - haha!  The kids liked them, though.  I'm still getting used to tween-agers!  My mom made the CUTE sugar cookies, and all other treats were "semi-homemade" - Double Stuff Oreo Cakesters rolled in Halloween sprinkles, Reese's Cups with "monogrammed" L's on them, and lots and lots of CaNDy!!!!

This AdORabLe banner came from WalMart, and was only $2.50!  I'm thinking of glittering it a little bit for future use, but even as it is it's just perfect!

Using things I already had - FREE!

I made these little witch books by covering books from my bookcase with plain brown paper and scrapbook paper I had on hand.  I inked the edges and stuck on a few embellishments - super cute, I think.  The tablecloth came from Target.  My personal review of it - it STUNK!  Literally, it smelled TERRIBLE!  I washed it before we used it, and it faded pretty badly.  My mom said it just made it look more vintage, so I just went with it.  The mesh was leftover from this project.

More Halloween cones - I posted about these here - these were the favors, filled with lots of Halloween-y treats!  My mom came over one afternoon and we made them - they were all different.  So much fun to make.

My little Pumpkin Head man - I made him using this tutorial - easy and cute (despite the strange look my hubby gave me when he saw him.  He doesn't get some things.)

This is my mom's tree that I borrowed - she was selling this stick tree (formerly a brown Christmas decoration) at a garage sale, and I told her she should spray it black and hang Halloween stuff on it.  Look how CUTE she made it!!!  Love this.

I got the cute little spider at the Dollar Tree, the polka dot crepe paper at Party City and had the purple tulle and orange crepe paper already in my stash.  I think the Jack-o-Lantern garland came from JoAnn's.

Funny side note - we had a washer/dryer repair man here on Friday afternoon, and while he was here I was busy hanging all of this stuff above the windows and decorating the table.  He walked in and gave me sort of a funny look and said, "You must REALLY like Halloween, huh?" 

If only he knew - haha!  Glad he doesn't read my blog, otherwise he would think I am certifiable =)

PuRpLE glitter makes EVERYTHING cute, dontcha think???

Next up, I'll be sharing more party details, including a downright eERiE-looking dining room tablescape!  EEK!!!! Be sure to come back...if you DARE!!!

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