serving trays, cooking party, donated fabric!

when i saw the tutorial over at the tatertos and jello blog, i just HAD to try it out! So THANK YOU JEN for being so creative and sharing this idea!

here are the supplies i used for mine...
i didn't have any leftover drawer knobs or handles like she used on hers. but i did find my handles on clearance, 50% off, at target. and for the knobs on the bottom, i bought unifinished wooden doll heads at michaels.
to make the 2 tier, i bought the smaller platter also at dollar tree.

then i bought a candlestick for the middle.

the one thing i do recommend if you make this, is finding a coupon before buying the polyurethane spray. i sucked it up and paid $12 for it because one, i forgot my coupon, and two, i needed it THAT NIGHT.

a sister from church hosts a cooking night at her house every month. last night's theme was CHOCOLATE! i made oreo truffles from bakerella and my mom's peanut butter ball recipe. i had a tummy ache when i got home from all the sweets. lol. looking forward to the next time though! the theme is breakfast. any ideas...?

in other news... as many of you know, jaren and i are on a Relay for Life team this year. we are having a fundraising night in april with a spaghetti dinner/talent show/silent auction. i wanted to submit some handmade items for the auction. i thought i would make my all-time favorite, rag quilts. last weekend i drafted a letter and sent it to about a dozen fabric designers/distributors looking for fabric donations. i was asking for 3 yards of any of their coordinating pieces. and that's just for the top. i would provide the backing and the batting. i've gotten 2 no's because i'm not actually "affiliated" with an organization. but yesterday I GOT MY FIRST YES!!! and get this... it was from MODA FABRICS!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!! i was OVERWHELMED WITH JOY! they're a HUGE fabric distributor with BEAUTIFUL stuff! not sure what print i'm getting, but i'm looking forward to it!!

when picture taking goes terribly wrong...

he's been sitting like this on the couch lately, it's hilarious :)

and he also has the funniest cheeeeeese face!

Cub Scout/Boy Scout Mother's Pin Necklace

last month at my nephews court of honor my sister-in-law had on a necklace i just knew i had to make! (even though it'll be 7 years til i have a scout, lol) she was nice enough to share the link, so thank you to her for that! the instructions i followed are over at the creative chicks at play blog. for the directions, click here.

instead of your scout pinning you and possibly snagging whatever you have on, (and the awkwardness of his hand in your shirt, lol) just have him pin the necklace. and it's a great way to keep track of your pins and show off your sons accomplishments at every scout event.

here's my sister-in-laws necklace...

as you see, it's almost completed. can't wait to have an eagle scout nephew next year! way to go T!

a new way to tie fleece!

i was shown by a volunteer last week at the project linus blanket night how to tie a fleece blanket that's MUCH easier than the original tied way. so here we go...

start with your fleece. i bought 1 1/2 yds for the top with a coordinating 1 1/2 yds for the backing.

square up your corners and cut a 4x4 inch square.
to make your ties, cut 4 inch strips, 1 inch wide.

fold both layers of the tie up and cut a slit around 1/4-1/2 inch long.

lay your tie back out flat.

pull both layers of fleece up and through the slit

this is what it should look like...

continue that all the way around the 4 sides and you're all done!

Project Linus

i volunteered for 4 hrs last night at the monthly Project Linus blanket night. i sewed labels onto each of the blankets.

(picture found on flickr, but that's what the labels look like)

the night was VERY busy! project linus has joined in on Disneys Give a Day/Get a Day promotion. all a person has to do is donate 1 handmade blanket (other restrictions do apply), and they get a free ticket to disneyland! with that being said, we collected a little more than 1000 blankets last night alone!!! and this has been going on since january 1st! we have a huge 5 hr "make a blanket day" event this saturday and she's estimating almost double last nights blankets!! on a happy note, these blankets are being distributed to local children and veterans hospitals as well as shelters as fast as they're coming in. the chapter coordinator for bakersfield also just took over the fresno chapter. so she's covering a large area where many blankets are needed! she also has been sending blankets over to haiti. it was a non-stop night!

i'm scared to think what saturday has in store for me, LOL. but i know this is for the greater good, obviously, so i won't complain. last year they struggled collecting blankets and i'm glad this year has been more plentiful :)

Happy Valentine's Day 2010!

we're having our traditional valentine dinner tonight. a heart shaped pepperoni pizza from papa murphys.
our wards adult valentine party was last night. it was bbq and dancing. my sister andrea said she was going to watch nathan, but i just wasn't feeling good. i'd been sneezing all day long and so was nathan. so we ended up not going :( i was totally bummed! we have never gone out without nathan and were really looking forward to it. and we've never danced together either, so i was really bummed all night. but to cheer me up, jaren ordered olive garden and used a giftcard he got at christmas. i strayed from my normal meal and this time ordered the mixed grill. OMGOODNESS it was soooo good! i'm looking foward to the leftovers at lunch time :)
this morning for breakfast jaren made "red" scrambled eggs, biscuits and bacon.

yesterday we receieved this delicious bouquet of chocolate dipped strawberries from jarens sister. thanks :)

and tonight i can't wait to cut into this beauty. jaren made me (from scratch) a chocolate marble cheesecake. YUM!

here is nathan opening his gift from mom and dad. we got him the book "how do i love you" and a tony stewart racecar.

i got a beautiful box of chocolates, a hilariously funny card, the new celtic woman cd, and a ruffler foot for my sewing machine :) i am one happy lady!!! and i do have a great husband! he went through great lengths to get my cd that wasn't in any local stores.

and now for my gift to jaren, from nathan and i...

i fused fabric to a piece of paper and made 13 envelopes. saw the idea at strawberry patches. he opened 1 envelope every hour.
as he opened each envelope, there was a piece of paper with a cute saying. instead of writing what the "gift" was, there was a number. and each number coordinated with a wrapped gift.

here we go...

all the items in red were the wrapped gifts.

7am- To our BIG HUNK of a daddy, many RIESINS why we’re glad to have you...
(i searched and searched for a big hunk bar, couldn't find one! so instead i got a chunky bar and crossed out the "C", lol.)

8am- your kisses make us SNICKER

9am- you’re a MARVELOUS MAN (M&M's)

10am- we’re a RED HOT family and look HOT (tamale) together. (since we leave for church around this time, i bought him a new red tie to wear today)

11am- we’re glad we’re your BUTTERCUPS

12pm- you mean more to us than 100GRAND

1pm- you SKOR an A+ in daddy-hood. You’re quite the CATCH (swedish fish)

2pm- you’re not an AIRHEAD or a HOE (literally a garden hoe) and we totally DIG (a new shovel) you

3pm- we always have WHOPPERS of fun together even when we’re being NERDS

4pm- you spoil us on PAYDAY and can SUCKER you into anything. You ROCK (poprocks) SUGARDADDY

5pm- we SODA (pepsi, his fav) love having you as our daddy (i chose soda for this time since we would be eating dinner around this time and he'd have his favorite drink for dinner)

6pm- roses are red, violets are blue, this CORNY valentine was made just for you (bought a big plastic tub that said popcorn, a box of fiddle faddle popCORN and bugles which are CORNchips and the movie "cloudy with a chance of meatballs". i chose this gift around this time hoping it would be our "family time" to wind down the day)

7pm- we love you BERRY much (chocolate dipped strawberries. since my SIL gave us tons, i just taped the #22 tag onto her vase, lol)

8pm- Well, it’s oFISHal (goldfish crackers), you’ll always be our little TEDDYBEAR (gummibears). We CHEWS (charleston chews) you. HUGS and KISSES . MOUNDS of Love, your SUGARBABIES

instead of a girly box of chocolates for him, i wanted something more manly. so i covered it in ductape! LOL.

hope you are all having a great valentine's day too! XOXO