to add to my ornament collection/obsession, here are some new ones i got this year...

i found these angel wings at cost plus world market. i really just liked it since it was unique. but when my friend melissa pointed out how fitting it was for me, i thought, hmm she's right! so now i love it even more!

and of course, no tree is complete without some crepe paper dinosaurs!

i'm not sure how i forgot to post this picture last time around, but here's nathan's "baby's 1st christmas" ornament given to him by his mimi.

jaren had his work christmas party last weekend at a place called steak and grapes. it was so ridiculously good! i exchanged with a friend in my ward a hairdo for a headband i'm making her :) i loved what she did and how it turned out! i wish i could braid on myself!

Henley's

my sister, a friend,  and i took a nightime photography class through a local photography shop a few weeks ago. i learned a lot of new things a got more comfortable with my camera. here are my shots...

painting with light...

Boboli/houseparty.com host!

i wish i remember what blog introduced me to houseparty.com, but i don't remember :( and i wish i did so i could tell them thank you for sharing!!

what is houseparty.com?
A House Party™ is thousands of parties across the country, hosted by people like you. Each event is sponsored by a leading brand and focuses on something cool that the sponsor wants its best fans to experience firsthand and share with their friends. As a registered member of House Party you have the opportunity to host a House Party for your friends and family while checking out some kind of new product. If you're selected as a host for a particular House Party, you can use our website to invite your friends and family over for your House Party, share your pictures and videos, and explore thousands of parties being held in homes across the country. Each host for any event receives a Party Package that contains items to help enhance the party for you and your guests – and YES, the Party Package is completely FREE!
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so when i went to sign myself up, i immediately "applied" to be a host of the Boboli Beat BBQ Boredom house party. to be honest, i forgot all about it until 6 weeks later i got an email that i was in the running to be a host!! woot woot! they chose a certain amount of people and the first 2000 people that responded and filled out the info, got picked! and again, being honest here, i'm attached to my email! i get alerts on my phone :/ that's sad, i know. but anyways, after freaking out over a crashed website for about 30 minutes, i was finally able to submit my info and got an email a few minutes later that i was chosen!

so what happens next is my party supplies are sent to me and i start my planning. this party is sponsored by Boboli Pizza Crust and they want all the pizzas to be grilled on the bbq. they send coupons to purchase the crust, suggested recipes (not mandatory) and other "goodies" for my guest. kind of like a mini swag bag :) and i got my box today!

here's the enclosed letter...

picture frame magnets for my guest

recipe cards to send home with my guest

my coupons as well as coupons to send home with the guest

flyer with grilling tips

food tent (made me laugh because i had to invite 14 people, and there is no way this would cover all the pizzas)

and lastly, the reusable shopping bags. which i'm obsessed with collecting from nearly every store i go to!

i need to get going on the planning aspects of this! it's only 2 weeks away! i'm lucky enough to have a friend wendy (and her husband mark) who have an amazing house for parties and has offered hers up for this event. so far i know we want to turn it into a competition between our families as to who comes up with the best pizza. any other ideas? please share!

touching video

FABRIC DONATIONS ROCK!

wednesday when i arrived home from running errands, i saw this box waiting on the porch for me. i thought, hmm, i haven't ordered anything lately, i wonder if it's a fabric donation? SURE ENOUGH IT WAS!
notice who it's from ;) yep, AMY BUTLER DESIGNS! i about fainted! i had no clue this was coming! inside was 4 yards of fabric from her midwest modern collection and they even sent along thread!! i already have my rag quilt "designed" and hope to get working on it this weekend... maybe...hopefully?
then on thursday i got my fabric donation from MODA. now this i knew was coming and was excited to see what they'd sent. the brown stripe pattern on the left is by 3 sisters fabric and is from the aster manor collection. the one on the right i have no clue who it's by! if anyone can help me, that'd be great! i'm having a hard time finding coordinates for it. if you've never seen moda's craft blog... click here.
to end the fabulous 2 days i had, we had a fabulous dinner. a super easy and delicious chicken parmesan. recipe found here at the ducks in a row blog. sorry for the poor presentation. i didn't realize how good it was until i started eating it. and once i tasted it, i knew you just had to have a picture of it's deliciousness! LOL.


and now onto friday, MORE UNEXPECTED FABRIC :) i got another box from MODA. inside was a cute little drawstring bag with a nail file, push pins, 2 patterns, 4 embroidery flosses and a honeybun roll of soiree by lila tueller, which is SO CUTE!
the other surprise box was from MICHAEL MILLER FABRICS! AHHH!! inside was a gift box of fabric/ribbon/patterns and book from their first sight collection, which i love and have used before. and also 20 fat quarters of browns, blues and greys. these are going to be great to donate to the silent auction! by the way, have you ever checked out their blog? it's fabulous with many great tutorials!

if you're wondering why i'm getting fabric donations... my husband (jaren) and i are part of a relay for life team this year. our team consist mainly of highschool students, but my friend is the team leader, so that's why we joined her team. well part of being on a team is committing to fundraise $100+/each member that gets donated to the american cancer society. for teenage students, this is a little hard. so they came up with the idea to have a spaghetti dinner/talent show/silent auction to raise money. i wanted to do my part and thought i could donate a few rag quilts to the silent auction. so i sent a letter to many of my favorite fabric designers/distributors asking for 3 yards of any fabric they could donate and voila! and as you see, they've donated more than just 3 yards :)
and remember this post 8 MONTHS AGO about fabric i won through strawberry patches? my main goal for the fabric was to make something to donate to the Ronald McDonald House in my area. unfortuantly i started babysitting for a friend, had a dreadful move, then holidays, and havn't had the time (i know, lame excuse) to volunteer at the house. so i wasn't quit sure what i could make that would be of use to them. so i've been hanging onto the fabric waiting for my chance to use it. well, that's all about to change and i think i came up with a great project. hope to share it with you all very shortly!

Learn to Crochet

i've always wanted to learn to crochet! my husband has tried to teach me, but his skills weren't up to snuff, lol. so i went to trusty ol' youtube and found a great video tutorial!

thanks to the above video, here's my first finished afghan. just a basic granny square stitch.


can i just say... one, i love that the video is a male crocheter. and second, he's a truck driver and so his my hubby. so of course i would think a male truck driver that crochets is awesome :)

CARD MAKER'S CHRISTMAS EVE/A Quilters Night Before Christmas

CARD MAKER'S CHRISTMAS EVE

T'was the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree,
I'm wondering what Santa has brought just for me.

Could it be card stock or chipboard or lace,
Or maybe a Cricut, I said with a smile on my face.

And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa," I said.
He responded "You know... good little girls should be in their beds."

I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught,
But I was just so excited, to see what you brought.

Well, let's take a look in this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly and left with a jerk.

I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear'
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

A Quilters Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas,
and the quilts were not made.
The threads were all tangled,
The cookies delayed.
The stockings weren't hung, the pantry was bare,
The poor weary quilter was tearing her hair.
Stacks of fat quarters tipped over in streams,
Visions of Log Cabins had turned into dreams.
When what to her wondering eyes should appear
but a bus full of quilters with all of their gear.
They went straight to work with just a few mutters,
Sorting and stitching and brandishing cutters.
The patterns emerged from all of the clutter,
Like magic the fabrics arranged in a flutter.
Log Cabins, Lone Stars, Flying Geese and Bear Tracks,
Each quilt was a beauty--even the backs.
Her house how it twinkled, her quilts, how they glowed,
The cookies were baking, the stockings were sewed.
Their work was all done, so they folded their frames,
and packed up their needles, without giving their names.
They boarded the bus and checked the next address,
More quilts to be made, another quilter in distress.
She heard one voice echo as they drove out of sight,
Happy quilting to all, and to all a good night!

--Author Unknown

i was recognized for the snowman handprint ornament i made :) if want to check it out. here ya go... thanks stephanie!

we went to a craft fair this past weekend and got this cool step stool made for nathan. the top part is a jigsaw puzzle that spells out his name (obviously)
mmm... green beans :)

you know the holidays are upon us when you start stocking up on mormon cristal, lol.

and with the holidays upon us, here are some gifts i've been making...

tinkerbell quilt...

doodle bag... the leftside has a pocket for a sketchpad and the rightside has pockets for crayons.

and it folds up for on the go...

here's a boy version...

just a random picture of nathan on jarens shoulders. he likes doing this a lot lately.
did you know when you order a kids meal from mcdonalds, you can request an under age 3 toy? so tonight we did, and this is what we got. i think it's so cute! pefect little bath toy.

yesterday in the mail nathan received a letter from the president. pretty neat i think.

"ooh mom, what's this?"

"maybe i should smear it all over the place to make sure it's safe?"

"seems safe, mine as well shove a fistful in my mouth!"

soccer season is here. my nephew is playing. my sister is the team mom. jarens company sponsored the team. so i thought i'd chip in somehow also. so i made water bottle slings in their team colors and ironed on their soccer numbers to the side.
and look what my wonderful, thoughtful, caring, loving, generous, kind, amazing, hardworking, cutie-patootie husband got me for my birthday!
i've been dying for a cricut for a few years and i'm VERY EXCITED i have one now! check out all it can do....


i probably won't be posting the projects i make since i have many christmas gifts in mind ;)