I love crafts and Christmas time is the best time of year for a crafter. There are so many possibilities and fun things to do and decorate with. This year i haven't been doing as much as i would like to. However yesterday I made some beautiful snowball ornaments and decorations. I love them!
Well the other night i was watching Martha Stewart's Christmas special and i saw her make these beautiful sparkly snowballs. I just had to make them. She made it look so easy and such fun. However I have to admit, although they turned out great, it was not easy. I had printed out the instructions and did just what they said, however i apparently don't have the magic touch of Martha Stewart. Some of mine didn't come out very round and i had a really hard time gettingSo after making mine and went on her website and read all the reviews of this craft, i really should have read them first. They had tons of tips and short cuts to make this project much easier. I would recommended this craft to someone who is experienced and patient. And i would highly suggest visiting the website with the directions on how to make the Snowy Balloon Ornaments and read the reviews for tips and tricks.
I plan on making more of these next year, however I do love the ones i have and am glad i did the project.
Balloon
Ball of cotton string
Craft glue
Clothespin
Dowel
Glitter
Pin
Tweezers
Metallic thread
Spray mount
Snowy Balloon Ornaments How-To
1. Blow up the balloon until it's slightly smaller than your fist. Tie the end of the cotton string to the end of the balloon.
2. Thin the glue slightly with water and brush some on the bottom of the balloon to tack down the string. Begin wrapping the string vertically around the balloon. When 3/4 of the balloon is covered vertically, begin wrapping the string horizontally. To change direction, wrap the string around the tied-off end of the balloon. Continue until 3/4 of the balloon is wrapped horizontally.
3. Cut the string and secure it with a dab of glue. Brush the watered-down craft glue all over the string-covered balloon. Pinch the top of the balloon with a clothespin and thread the clothespin onto a dowel that you've suspended between two points. Allow to dry for several hours.
4. Once dry, pop the balloon with a pin and remove it, using tweezers, if necessary. Add a loop of metallic thread and brush the balloon with glue again. Working over a bowl, spoon on glitter and set aside to dry.
One of the biggest blessings in my life is to live very close to both Daniel and I's parents. We just live one city away and our parents only live one street away from each other. When Daniel and I were dating we would often just walk to each others houses because it was so close. Now Sienna and soon Eli get to enjoy having grandparents so close. Today we spent the day at Daniel's parents house. Their computer was giving them problems, so Daniel wanted to fix it for him. What a great guy! hehe :)
While Daniel spent most of the day on the computer, Sienna and I spent the day helping Papa and Grandma decorate their house for Christmas. Sienna is super into Christmas (I just don't know where she got that from). And loved going into the attic to get decorations and then looked at each little thing in awe. Every time a box was opened she would gasp in surprise at what was inside. It made for a fun and magical day. I am so blessed to love and be loved by Daniels family. His parents are truly a second mom and dad for me and today was just as much fun for me as it was for Sienna.
Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us spend the entire day with you. So glad your computer works now :) We love you!
Daniel and I were blessed by his grandpa with a lovely dinning room table. Grandpa didn't need it anymore and it was still in beautiful condition, so we were so glad to be able to have it. The only thing it needed was new fabric on the chairs. I had been looking for fabric for a few weeks, and just couldn't find anything i liked. Until i was at my moms and she had me go through her boxes of fabrics. Got to love families that share! hehe!
Well i found some beautiful fabric that i love and my mom let me have it. So i just had to get it home and work on those chairs. All we needed to buy was a new box of staples. So here we go, dinning room table (FREE), fabric (FREE), and staples for staple gun ($5). Total for a lovely dinning room set $5! I am just beside myself excited. The table and chairs look so good and fit in our dinning room so nice and to think we barly had to spend any money, makes it even more AWESOME! Thank you so much Grandpa and Mom!
It was easy to recover the chairs. Just unscrew the seats wrap fabric around the cushion and staple in place, then put back on chair. Sienna even helped, she loved the hammer. She would help me find staples that needed a little more help with going all the way through to the wood. I was so pleased with how the chairs looked i covered two stools that i had in my living room. Now it feels like i have all new furniture. This was such and easy and fun project, i think you should try it. It only took Sienna and I about an hour and a half to do six chairs and two stools. Fast and easy! Why spend the money on brand new stuff, when you can just pretty up what you have?
This year Sienna was able to be a big help. She could hang ornaments and loved that we put a little tree in her room to decorated as she wished. I love Christmas and making it last as long as possible. Plus everything seems magical when it's lit up by twinkle lights.
A thought crossed my mind as we were setting up the tree. That by the time we take these decorations down on New Years day, we will have our little boy. It was a crazy thought. It seems like we have been waiting all year for Eli's arrival and he is almost here! Super exciting, and what a special time of year to be born. I just can't wait to hold him and celebrate with everyone, that God is good and has blessed us with another child.
I hope you guys are getting down those boxes and dusting off those decorations, because Christmas is coming!
This afternoon we headed over to Daniel's parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving. We fit eighteen people in the house and enjoyed a wonderful day of food, family, games and laughter. Rissa (Daniel's mom) out did herself with the food, she made one of the juiciest turkeys i've ever had, along with her famous rolls and tons of sides. Everyone pitched in by bringing a side dish or dessert. I made green bean casserole from scratch, it turned out good, but i think i need to work on the recipe some more. Maybe it will be blog worthy at Christmas time.
After eating ourselves into a food coma, we played cards all evening. It was a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving with family. I hope you had a great day as well.
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 107:1
What are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving Eve?
I truly believe that Thanksgiving is a day that should be spent in complete praise of our Heavenly Father for all He has done and will do for us. Although i enjoy the food and family on this day, i think the day should be centered in Christ Jesus and what He has done for us. I hate the fact that we get so swept up in food and traditions, that people think it's silly to go around the table and say what we are thankful for. It's not silly and we should be doing it everyday.
Well since November 1st Daniel, Sienna and I have been writing down what we are thankful for each night at dinner time. We talk about what God has blessed us with and make a point to say it out loud and praise Him for His blessings. We have been keeping a thankful tree and today i wrote down all the things we have been thankful for over the past 25 days. The one rule about the tree is we can't repeat any of the things we are thankful for, this has really helped us to see all that the Lord as given us.
Daniel is thankful for: My Job, My parents, Tickle attacks with Sienna, A creative wife, Saturday's with family, My beautiful wife, computers, A Christ centered church, laughter, Jesus, Being able to have multiple translations of the bible, cell phones that work in our home, Rides to and from work, Our family, warm blankets, 24 hour convenant stores, Eli being healthy, Our Armed Forces, and Encouragement from friends.
Laura is thankful for: Living close to family, Sienna, My camera, being able to have a home birth, my friends, God taking care of us, Our youth group kids both past and present, All that we have been given for Eli, Eli, Baby showers, God protecting us, my sisters, long walks as a family, Daniel being home on weekends, Our Home, ears to hear, massages, God letting me be a mom, and a healthy family.
Sienna is thankful for: Singing & Dancing, school, animals, church, toys, Cubbies, Slides & swings, my lion, Grandma's, Discovery Kids, Papa, Candy, cousins, My mommy, food, grapes, playing, band aids, bread, Daddy, chicken nuggets, not being afraid of monsters and her very special Bear.
So take some time tomorrow and think about what you are thankful for and make a list. You'll surprised what you come up with.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Just in time for Thanksgiving here is a perfectly yummy dessert that will impress your friends and family. Try it and let me know what you think of this little twist on a traditional apple pie.
Sienna and I were in a baking mood again, you know what that means,
right? Reading cook books and coming up with our own recipes. Sienna
loved helping me. As i made the pie dough I made sure to make extra
so she could play with some. She loved it and spent hours playing with
her special "real" dough. Too Cute. The pie is delicious and was pretty
easy to make. I was able to bring it over to my in laws who loved it as
well. So all around a keeper of a recipe.
Crust
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cold butter
1 tsp. salt
2 to 3 tsp. ice water
(or buy a pie crust, which ever works for you)
Filling
6c. sliced, peeled Granny Smith apples (about 6 apples)
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. vanilla
Crumble Topping
1/3 c. butter
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. flour
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make pie dough in food processor. Combine flour, salt and butter until butter is the size of peas. Then slowly at ice water, until the dough makes a ball. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. In large bowl, combine sugar and flour. Mix together with apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Roll out pie dough and place in pie pan. Trim edges and crimp. Take left over dough and put back in food processor and add one tablespoon of flour and mix. You should have small crumbs, sprinkle crumbs on the bottom of pie crust, do NOT press them into the crust. This will help keep your crust from getting soggy. I saw this on food network and it really works.
layer in apple mixture into pie. I think you get a much better result when you layer the apples in the pie, you get less air pockets and more apples. It might take you an extra minute put it really does make a difference. Make French Crumb Topping by mixing 1/3 cup butter and sugars together. Cut in 3/4 cup flour. Sprinkle topping over apples in pie plate. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until topping is golden and apples are tender.
Let cool for at least an hour. Serve warm with ice cream or whip topping.
This morning Sienna's preschool class had their Thanksgiving feast. Last week all the kids painted Indian vests and made turkey place mates. Today they each made a turkey had and got to get all dressed up to celebrate Thanksgiving. Teach Chris taught all about the first Thanksgiving and how everyone came together to share a meal. Just like we were doing in our class. Everyone brought food to share and we spent the late morning and really afternoon eating and talking. The kids had a ball and the parents enjoyed some adult conversation. Sienna loves school and I do to, we just always get to do the funnest things.
This evening we met up with a few friends at the Simi Valley Train Station to see the Christmas Train. Daniel and I used to take our nieces every year, however they have out grown it in resent years. So we thought Sienna was old enough to enjoy and love the experience. It's a free event all you do is show up at the station at the right time and a train covered in lights and decorations pulls into the station. The kids cheer and a cast of Christmas characters preform on a stage on top of the train. At the end Santa comes out and snow shoots off the train. It's fun and free!
Sienna LOVED it, pointing to everything and waving to all the characters on the train. She was a little bumbed that people were aloud on the train but she got over that when she got to say hi to Frosty the snow man and Rudolf the red nose reindeer. It was a super fun time and i can't wait to take Sienna and Eli next year.
After the train pulled out of the station to make other boys and girls happy in city's up and down the coast we had friends over for dinner. It was a chilly night so i thought a big bowl of hot chili was in order. We spent the evening chatting and eating, just the way i like it. Thank you to Dan, Kristin, Bella, Addison, and Nebraska for spending the evening with us. We love you so much!
Tonight my co-small group leader Laurie and I hosted a "Girl's Night In" for our small group girls. We had the girls over to my house for a super yummy pasta dinner and to watch the movie "Up". We had 6 out of 10 of our girls show up and we had so much fun together. We are all still getting to know each other and this event was prefect to talk and just hang out. Dinner was great and the movie was so funny, i really enjoyed it! These girls are so awesome and willing to love and care for Laurie and I. It's so sweet!
I really believe in nights like tonight. It's the time we spend with youth group kids outside of youth group that counts. Showing them they are special enough for adults to make time for them. Special enough to have someone take notice of who they are and want to know them better. I really am getting my footing in this group and I feel like i have come leaps and bounds over the past few months in getting to know the kids and making sure i spend time with them outside of youth group.
I really feel the Lord has put me in this church, with this youth group and with these girls for a real and powerful purpose. And tonight i saw a glimpse of what God wants to do. I keep having to remind myself that this isn't the same group of kids i used to have, and that they will never be the girls i had before. And that things will be different and that's ok. God has a plan and I am learning with each Wednesday night and each youth event that everything is new and i need to not dwell on the past or wish for things to be the same. Because i am learning that staying the same is boring. I am so thankful for the Lord pushing me into a new world with new teens. He knew better then i did, and this is where i am needed and where God needs me to be. Here i am Lord use me in any way you wish to love these girls and to show them the love of your Son! I'm ready and I know these girls are ready to be used by you too!
