Homemade Gifts!

For Christmas this year, I made my sisters (on my side) scarves that match mine and a ear warmers to go with them! =) I was a very pleased with them! I made a lot of mistakes and re-did a lot of work, but they seemed pleased with them, so I believe it was worth it! Plus, I'm such a noob when it comes to crocheting and crafts in general. Ha!





















I tested out their gifts to make sure they fit okay and actually looked good! You can't see in any of the pictures, but there is a button on each to hold them together! Sewing is another thing I recently learned! (Watch out! I'm gonna be the next Martha Stewart!)

I also crocheted my mother in love a gift for Christmas! =) I made her ear warmers with a button to adjust the size. I had extra yarn, so I made a second one! I must say, I feel pretty accomplished after making all of these lovelies! I can't wait to make more things!! =D

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Fruits of The Spirit

A couple of weeks ago, my mother-in-love taught some ladies how to make a cute birdie wall hanging! I loved the idea of it, so she cut out extra pieces for me to do! =)


Each bird has a fruit of the spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control (Galatians 5:22-23).

I absolutely love these little birdies! I will probably make cards with smaller versions of them! =)







First, I had to decide which patterned paper to use. This was a pretty tough decision for me because there were patterns are both sides and I like things to look "just right." Now that I have finished it, there are some colors I wish were switched around, but it's too late. ha! Aaaannd it is still super cute!











After picking out my papers, I cut the beaks, legs and fruits of the spirit. Then I detailed each one with a permanent marker. This was a stretching task for me. I like everything to be perfect, but the details have crooked lines on purpose. I went over the lines a couple of times because I kept drawing straight lines.. it was very hard for me to make those crooked lines!




After I detailed the above objects, I cut out these darling hearts from the cricut! I detailed these cuties as well!

Once I finished all the detailing, all I had left to do was glue everything together! I glued the squares on 12x12 cardstock and framed it! BAM!! Project complete! =D












I snapped a quick shot of my mother-in-loves (on the left) and mine (on the right)! Now I just need to decide where to hang mine!.. Oh the decisions!! =)

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Christmas Decor

Ironing on my felt trees

A few weeks back, we had a Christmas Craft Day! =D My sister in law, Sarah and my friend Nikki came over! Of course my mother in love was here! =D We made pillows first! It was super fun!! We used old sheets my MIL had and fabric she bought specially for us! =D
















We hadn't planned on sewing any buttons on, but we had some and it made our trees look even cuter! =D There were different sizes to choose from, so we each had ones unique to our trees!  =)

These are my finished product! I also added a red button that says "joy" to one pillow! I was super pleased with them! I was also proud of my sewing skills. =) I'd only used a sewing machine once before and I didn't remember how to use one! Learning again was fun, it's makes me want to sew more things!! haha. =)
Next year I may even make more to sell!!

We also made 5 different types of ornaments! Super fun!! We made glitter ones, a snow globe, cupcakes, beaded ones and tried making some with paint! In this picture, Sarah and I were making paint ornaments! Mine, however, did not turn out that well! The idea was to add a couple of colors, shake the ornament and end up with a pretty color blend. I ended up with an all orange and an all green ornament! BUT it was a fun day for sure, so it's okay! =)

This is one of the bead ornaments we made! Looks great, right!! Sarah brought over her jewelry making beads and wire, so we didn't have to buy our own! Super nice and they turned out great!

I hung some of them in our living room window because our tree is too small for bigger ornaments. Next year, I will buy tinsel or something of the like to add it to the tension rod! I will also add more ornaments! =)

Our cute little cupcake!

Our glitter ornaments!!

And our snow globe!! =D

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Let it SNOW!!

This Christmas was Matthew and I's first Christmas as a married couple and first Christmas as missionaries!! =D We wanted to add a little something to our Christmas cards for those that have invested in our future ministry! =) I came up with crocheting a snowflake ornament! It would be light and easy to fit in our cards! There was only one problem... I had no idea how to make a snowflake! Luckily, Matthew can pretty much figure out anything! (I love that man)!! I showed him the pattern and he figured it out in less than an hour! We were all set and made our cute little ornaments! =D

I am already thinking ahead for next year's gift! I have seen a lot of ornaments we can make, but I don't want to always give an ornament in their cards. I haven't thought of anything else that will fit in a card; if you happen to think of something, please let me know! =D

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First Time Crocheter!

I am taking my first super long flight next week, Matthew and I have a 20 hour flight ahead of us! With that in mind, I decided picking up crocheting would be extremely beneficial, I'll have something else to add to my list of things to do while flying. For those who do not know, we will be taking a trip to Japan on Tuesday! We are children's missionaries through Cadence International! Japan is a potential place for ministry once we raise all of our support! To read more you can visit our blog!

Now back to crocheting...

For my first project, I decided to make a scarf! I found a fairly easy one on Pintrest! The only two things you need to know is how to make a chain stitch and how to slip stitch to create a circle. If you don't, I found a super helpful video to help join your slip stitch.


Materials:
-chunky yarn- I used Lion Brand Wool Ease. The yarn came in 153 yards, I didn't use it all. I would say I used between 1/2 and 3/4.
-.9mm hook

For the pattern, check out HiddenDaisy. This is where I got my pattern, she did a great job explaining! 

If  you look close, you will notice that my scarf is a little curled.. It was an accident, but I am okay with it and will make it work. I washed it after making it in an attempt to make it softer, I didn't realize it would also curl. I am just thankful it didn't unravel!

I am pretty proud of my first crochet project! And I made it just in time for the chilly weather! =)



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Falling Leaves

My husband has the best ideas! When we came home, there were leaves covering the driveway and all over the yard.. you could barely see the road/yard. So he said, "Hey, let's make a giant leaf pile to jump in!" That's exactly what we did! =)

Matthew got to use the awesome leaf blower, while I racked in the yard. The front yard is one giant hill, so racking raking hurt my back. I didn't realize it was going to hurt so bad, but I would say it was well worth it! =)

By the time we finished, the sun had basically gone down. The pictures we ended up taking weren't exactly the best quality  but we had fun! Our pile was pretty big, we got it up to Matthew's waist, and he's 6 '3"!

Matthew jumped in first! It was pretty funny, he put all he had into his jump... the leaves and the ground weren't as soft as he remember when he was a child, so he hurt himself a little. 

Where's his body?!?!

I learned from Matthew to not use all of my strength when jumping in, so I didn't get hurt! =)

Unfortunately, neither one of us were able to get shots of the other actually jumping in the leaf pile.. maybe next time.

And of course, we had to take a few couple shots!  Taking this shot was harder than we anticipated, since one of us had to take it. I think it turned out fairly well. =)

It was a great "date night" for us both! We had fun acting like kids again and hanging out together! Now it's your turn.. well, if you still have leaves, go make a giant pile of leaves and have fun! =)

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More Fall Festivities

 

  I am so thankful to of had another great weekend! =) I love fall and everything you get to do!! =) Stay tuned for tomorrow's fun activities! =)

 This weekend Matthew and I helped out at his parents church, they had a fall festival for the kids! We helped with the craft table, Matthew's parents helped set up and then helped run the cake walk for a bit. There was soo much for the kiddos to do and there was a great outcome! Here we are with our ridiculous balloon hats, waiting for the kids! Matthew wore his all day, I however, did not. haha.

Each child got to make one of these fancy picture 

frames when they came to our table. There was a photo booth with all sorts of fun props where they were able to get there picture taken! Once they were finished, their picture would print at our booth and they were able to stick their picture in the frame they created! How fun is that? I really enjoyed helping the kids with this, they were all so cute and excited to make crafts!!

Matthew and I were also able to have a little fun with the photo booth! I love, love, love photo booths! I think they are so fun and you can end up with some pretty awesome pictures! I would of let Matthew in my photo frame, but he did not want to join.. so I had it all to myself. Don't we look ravishing?! ;)

Matthew did a great job encouraging people to make their picture frames and while they were making them! The boys loved coming over and chatting with him, it was pretty cute. Matthew even tried to get the parents to make frames! He had a good time and made everyone laugh!

I loved this! The family all making one together.

How cute! Husband and wife making
a frame together!

And on to the Cake Walk...

Matthew was super excited about the cake walk. He loves free stuff... but who doesn't? =) He joined in on the first I walk.. and many others that followed! haha. Oh, he also won the first walk! Although he didn't win a cake... he won cookies! Even better!! I snagged one and he gave a bunch away, but he did have his share!

Matthew and his cookies!

So many people showed up for the cake walk. This shot 

was taken in the beginning, but the cake walk ended up

being the most popular station inside. I did not take any

photos of the other stations, but there was fun had by all.

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