I Am Grateful, Day 2

I am grateful for my husband.

Isn't he handsome?

He is a full-time (I'm talking over 20 credits for the last 4 semesters) P.A. student.  He works very, very hard on very little sleep and even makes sure I am taken care of (getting out of the house on occasion, eating enough chocolate, reading good books) before he thinks of himself.  He is adored by his daughters and loves to take them on picnic dates to the park or give them horseback rides around the house.  

He is a good hugger.  He is a good listener.  He loves to cuddle.  He thinks I am the best cook in the entire world.  He even likes the food I burn!  He is an amazing husband.  There are not enough words in the world to describe how much I love him and how grateful I am that he made me his wife.  

I Am Grateful

Welcome to November!

I absolutely love this time of year.  Today is the day that I feel the holiday season officially begins.  Halloween is just like a little teaser.

I have always felt that Thanksgiving and Christmas go together.  Each is a way to celebrate the many things I have to be grateful for and to serve and love and be happy.

I had a great day planned today to kick things off.  Unfortunately, I have instead been in bed for most of the day with a rather nasty little flu.  Dang it.

That's ok, though.  I'll get through it and still enjoy my holidays.

Now, I have a lot planned over the next couple of months: lots of gifts to make, treats to bake, decorations to create.  It's all going to be great fun!  I will share with you what I can, but some of my recipients read this blog faithfully.  Sorry, Family; I won't be posting pictures of your gifts here.  I'll post those in January.

For this month, I would like to take a little step back from some crafting.  I want to take advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to give some thanks and to share with you a few of the many things I am thankful for.

I'll probably still post a few crafts here and there, though.  I can't really resist, you know.


So, to start things off, I need to express gratitude for something I should have mentioned ages ago.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a Mormon.  I don't talk about it very much and I am sorry for that.  I hold my feelings about the church very sacred and I hesitate to talk too much about it on this blog and I will probably continue to do so.  I don't want to seem pushy (if you have questions, though, please feel free to ask me)  But, it should be obvious to all who know me, that my church and my beliefs are very important to me.  I am who I am because of the Church and I am very, very, very happy because of the Gospel.

Recently, I got to go on a trip to the LDS Temple in Washington D.C.  I was so excited to go.  I have never been to Washington D.C. and I haven't been able to go to the temple in about 2 years.  So, everything about this trip was good for me.

The temple was so beautiful.

And, just so you wouldn't think I just posted a picture of a picture, here is a picture of me making a weird face (not on purpose, but the only picture I took) in front of it. 

But still, standing in front of it, I felt as if I had walked into a painting.  A very peaceful and welcoming painting. 

I went with the women in my branch and had a great time!  It is always fun to spend time with friends.

There was a lot of good food, good conversation, a few laughs, and even a little bit of this: 

Oh!  And, we went to Golden Corral for lunch.  Did you know they have a chocolate fountain there?

Oh, yeah.

Today, I am grateful for my membership in the Church, for the peace and joy it brings into my life, for the friendships I have made, and for the person I am because of it.  

Happy Halloween!!!!

Phew!  

I feel like I've been missing for a few years!

I've been sitting at my sewing machine pretty much all week working on costumes for my girls.  I have not been able to focus on much else.  I'm sorry if I've seemed absent lately.  But, they turned out so cute!

Here is L:

She's a cupcake.

She liked her costume so much, she wouldn't stop dancing.  It was hard to get a good picture.  =) 

Finally, Daddy picked her up and tickled her legs. 

Sweet.

P.S.  Her costume was inspired by this pin:

Here is the link to Lemon Tree Creations and her tutorial.  I didn't follow her tutorial, but I was absolutely inspired.

Next is O:

She is a pirate princess.

Her wand was a bit distracting. 

She loved it.

But I finally got her to stand still.  

We went to a church party on Saturday and we had a great time.  You know, we brought home A LOT of candy.  We might not need to go trick-or-treating tonight!

Oh!  I almost forgot.

I forgot to get a picture of my costume, but my husband was kind enough to sneak one in at the party.  It's fuzzy, but you get the idea.

I think striped tights and tutus should be part of every day wardrobe.  Wouldn't that be fun?!

Happy Halloween, All!  May you receive a great bounty of candy!

Are you a category eater?

I looked down at my cute new desktop while I was working the other night and saw this:

I don't really remember doing it, but I know I was saving those 2 beautiful purple skittles for last.

Hoo Are You #59

1.  Do you like the season Fall?

Yes.  But I like pretty much all the seasons.  Fall gets me all excited for the Holidays.

2.  What is your favorite Fall smell?

Hmmmm.  I'd have to say cinnamon and apples and pumpkin pie.

3.  What is your favorite activity to do in the fall?

Bake pumpkins to freeze for the year, trick or treat, play outside when it isn't too cold yet, wear sweaters. 

4.  Do you dress in fall colors during the season?

I'm not really a fashion literate type of person.  I love fall colors, but I don't consciously wear them during the right time of year.

5.  Name 4 qualities about yourself that start with each letter in the word FALL. 

F- Friendly
A- Astute
L- Loving
L- Lyrical

Halloween Haunts

 In case you missed it, here is the project I posted over at Doodles and Doilies.  

Remember my Felt Dot Garland?  I love it.  Really, I do.  But it is Halloween and it needed some spookifying.  

Here's what I did:

I added some haunts to the garland.

Here's how I made them:

The first thing I did was find a circle cookie cutter and trace out 3 circles.  Then I sketched out the faces that I wanted.

I'm going to focus just on the ghost for the sake of space.  Hopefully, that will give you the basics enough to run with it, but if you need help or advice, please feel free to contact me!

Once you have your sketch/idea in mind, move on to some felt. 

Trace out and cut 2 circles.

Using the sketch, cut out the features for the face.

This was the mouth for my ghost. 

Please ignore my chipping nail polish.  It was late at night and I really wanted to finish this.  I figured it was better to have unfinished nails than an unfinished ghost.  I hope you'll understand.  =)

Now, using black embroidery thread and a running stitch, I sewed that mouth into place on one of the circles. 

On the second circle, I drew the letters.  BOO! 

Then, with the black thread, I embroidered those letters.

Now, it is time to create the ghost.  

I grabbed some purple ribbon to hang it with.  Place it on one of the circles in the position you like and pin it (take a lesson from me, pin on the right side so you don't lose your pin).   

I also grabbed a scrap of tulle, folded it up into a kind of a messy gather and pinned that in as well.

To sew the two pieces together, I used white thread and a running stitch again, being careful to keep my knots on the inside.  I was also very careful to make sure that my thread caught the ribbon and tulle to hold it in place.

Before you close it up, stuff it just a little with some fiberfill... 

which, by the way, was pretty much impossible for me to get a good picture of with my little camera.  You get the idea, though, right?

Finish sewing it up and, *bing*, you're done. 

He's kind of cute!   

For a ghost.

The possibilities are endless.  You can use any design you want!

These could even work at Thanksgiving (how cute would a turkey be?) or Christmas (reindeer?)  

What would you make?

I'm linking these haunts up here!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, my birthday was almost 2 months ago.  

Yes, I've procrastinated posting about my glorious birthday present.  

Better late than never though.

Look at what my mom got me!

Hello, Beautiful.

I'm sooooo excited!!!!

Here's her first project. 

I found a pretty flourish design, downloaded it, and cut it from some pretty purple vinyl.

It was fascinating.  (Oh wait!  That's blue vinyl!  This picture must have been from a different project.  But it still works because she does that every time I use my pretty Silhouette.)

Then I put it on her. 

I think she needs a name.  Any ideas?