Lucas Corner Farmhouse

Lately, I've been working on A LOT of Christmas gifts, but I can't post them up here as I make them because people will see them! :)  Here are some projects that I gave away today at Family Christmas Party #1. :) This tray was made for my 14 year old cousin.  She looooves Zebra print. :)  This was one of those unfinished wooden trays from Hobby Lobby and I painted the edges and Mod Podged some squares and strips of zebra scrapbook paper to the bottom and painted her initial to add to the center.  Part of me wanted to turn it upside down, pretend it was a W and keep it. :) I made these clips for the younger girls in the family.  The one of the left reminds me of a lollipop. :)  The pink flower was made with ric-rac and looks kinda like a rose! :)  I found the lunchboxes at Garden Ridge  and used them as wrapping for the clips because I figured the girls could play with them or keep other hairbows in them! :) I'm linking up with Along for the ...

Check out our snazzy Christmas cards this year! :) Isn't the tree so cute? And aren't we so cute? :) :) Thanks Julia for taking our pictures that day! We love love love them all! :) By the way, these guys came in the mail SUPER fast.  I ordered them Friday afternoon, got an email Saturday saying they had been shipped, Sunday they started traveling to my mailbox, and I picked them up Monday morning!  I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my calligraphy skills on the envelopes, stamping the back of the envelopes with my Christmas stamps, and stamping them.  I had them in the mailbox before dark Monday afternoon (which these days is about 4:45 or 5pm!!)  I was pretty excited as you can tell! :) PS I scheduled this post to go up a few days late so Mom would see it in real life first haha! :) Cool Tree Christmas Turn your pictures into personalized Christmas cards . View the entire collection of cards.

I made these the other night with one of the other girls in my building and they are really good! :) How do you like the pumpkin shapes on top? Here's the recipe: 2 cups flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1 stick of butter (softened) 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 cups pureed sweet potatoes (about 3 sweet potatoes) 1/2 tsp vanilla Mix it all together and bake in a 350* oven for 18-20 minutes. For the frosting, we melted some mini marshmallows and mixed them with some powdered sugar (a messy, but yummy process).  We then cut the marshmallow fondant into pumpkin shapes with a cookie cutter (...if you want them to not stick to the surface you're rolling the fondant on....don't go crazy with the rolling pin. haha)

I posted this tutorial on my building's blog last week and I thought y'all might be interested in learning to etch glass! :) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We're etching glass tonight!   You need: Contact Paper Clear Glass Armor Etch etching cream cheap paintbrush something to trace (image, monogram) sharpie masking tape rubber gloves X-Acto knife These are like the glass in the picture: Step 1 Tape a piece of contact paper (still on the paper backing) over the image or letter you are tracing. Step 2 Trace the image with a sharpie.  I find it helpful to fill in all of the areas that you want to be frosted so you know what to cut out later.  Place the sticker on the glass where you want the image to be. Step 3 Can you see the lines where I cut around the image with an X-Acto knife? That's what you should do! Trace around the image/letter. Step 4 Start peeling away the contact paper to uncover the part of ...

I'm linking up with My French Country Home to show off our tree this year! :) It's an artificial tree that my parents have had for as long as I remember...but we hadn't used it in the house for years.  A few times, we put it on the front porch and decorated it there.  Now I've adopted it until (1) Mom decides she wants it back or (2) We decide to invest in a newer one. This is a cell phone picture, but the lights stand out really well, so I like it! :) I managed to find the star at the Dollar Tree a little while back and I loved it because it was orange, so it went wonderfully with my blue ornaments from Hobby Lobby.  The rest of the tree is decorated with Fireman-themed ornaments, Coffee-themed ornaments, a few Auburn ornaments, a few "1st Christmas" ornaments, a few gifted ornaments, as well as some older ornaments from when Adam was a little kid. :) I think my project between now and next Christmas is to make a tree skirt.  Now it's a little too la...

"And friends are friends forever If the Lord's the Lord of them And a friend will not say never 'Cause the welcome will not end Though it's hard to let you go In the Father's hands we know That a lifetime's not too long To live as friends" -Michael W. Smith Last Monday, I got to see one of my best friends from high school that I haven't seen in a long time.  Granted, I haven't seen many about 90% of my graduation class since May 26, 2005, but this one is different.  I haven't been able to just call her up if I had something to tell her (although I did find a loophole where I could feel like I was texting her...by sending text messages to her email. :) ).  I've written about her before...it's my good friend Holli who has been living in Mongolia as a missionary for a little over a year. Well, she came back to the states for a few weeks and I got to hang out with her! We ate some delicious frozen yogurt, despite the chilly weather, and...

Here's the Christmas wreath I talked about! (And the door to go with it!) As I get Christmas cards, I want to hang them on the door...although I just realized that I will only have residents in my building to see my door until Friday really...so they may never see any cards I may get! Oh well!! :) PS In case you haven't heard....the Auburn Tigers are the SEC Champions!!! :) There were one or two people rolling Toomer's Corner tonight...ha. More like HUNDREDS!! People were standing in a line that wrapped around Tiger Rags to get a SEC Champions shirt that has the season's scores on it.  They look pretty nice I have to say! :) I'm slowly updating my blog...slowly....this semester is wrapping up, so I'm working on studying for Finals, making breakfast for my girls during Finals, making sure I've got everything settled to graduate in May, and closing up the building for Christmas.  Next week will be quite calm though.  Everyone will pretty much be out of ...

I've got a lot to blog about....but right this second not much time so.... Look for my new door decoration with a Christmas wreath... And my first attempt at making a pot holder from fabric instead of those loopy things we all played with in elementary school... An exciting (so happy I almost cried myself to sleep) day with my friend Holli... And school is almost over for the semester....weird.  Graduation for my Master's is only a semester away! I'll update everyone with more details later...I've gotta work on my list of things to do today! :) ((It's a busy day!))

While I was at my mom & dad's house this week, I decided to make a loaf of white bread (they were out of bread, so why not?) Well, they didn't have any yeast, so I looked for a substitute online!  I found several sites that said lemon juice + baking soda.  Since so many people recommended it, I figured it must be safe, right?  Not so much haha! Here's how the bread turned out...looks different, for sure! I wouldn't suggest eating it unless you want that fresh-brushed clean....tingly foaming feeling!  Hahaha! The next day, I decided to try a recipe I had been thinking about in my head.  Dad kept saying he wanted something to snack on while Mom was finishing up her sweet potato casserole and I was finishing the GOOD white bread (with yeast!!!).  I had been thinking about something along the lines of an oatmeal snack bar.  I asked Dad if he wanted cinnamon sugar flavor or peanut butter syrup flavor.  He voted for peanut butter &...

Here is another skirt I found at the thrift store for about $2! According to the tag, it was a part of a two piece suit.  The fabric is really interesting because it has the feel of upholstery fabric.  Although it's a solid color, it has raised designs on the skirt.  I think it's going to look really cute with a blue shirt...and I would have school spirit! :) Before, it went about mid-calf on me (which made me look super short!!) and had a slit in the back.  The hips were a little big for me as well.  I shortened it about three inches so that it comes right above my knee, sewed up what was left of the slit, and took in the sides.  I'm quite happy with it! :)

A few weeks ago, my friend Callie and I spent the Friday shopping.  We found lots of great deals, especially when we got to the thrift store!  That day, everything with a blue or green tag was half off...and everything I found that I wanted had a blue or green tag!  I got a couple of skirts, a dress, and some wreaths to decorate! The wreaths started off as a straw wreath wrapped in plastic like this... And when I finished it for Callie (she really liked my door decoration I made here ....) it looked like this!!! I left space for her to add ribbons if she wanted! Or she can leave it just like this! I've also re-done some of the skirts I got that day (oh, and I'm still working on refashioning some clothes that belonged to my dad's parents for me to wear...keep your eyes out for those! Here's one skirt (cost me about $2)...that I changed to a dress with very little work! All I had to do was take in the waist. Before: I made the dress form model it with my long sleeve ...

I did a treasury on Etsy of $5 gifts, and it was more challenging than I expected to find a variety of $5 gifts.  There are 3 necklaces and 3 pendants on the Treasury, but then it gets more exciting! I included some vintage dishes, a little home decor, a purse, a nifty notebook...and a laptop decal that I'm seriously thinking my laptop needs. :)  Here's a link!  Five Dollar Deals Speaking of $5 deals...here comes a shameless plug for my Etsy shop ! :) Right now, all the earrings and notecards in the shop are $5 and under.  The pre-made Passport covers and headbands listed are marked $8-$10, but...  if you order an in-stock headband or passport cover between now and November 30, write " 5DOLLARDEAL " in the message to the seller and you'll get them for $5 each! (I'll refund you the extra money through PayPal). Of course, feel free to order some earrings or notecards as well!  Also, if anyone has feedback for my Etsy shop (prices too high, prices too low, th...

I'm going to be feeling the results of this: Tone Your Abs Workout I used to have decently in-shape muscles from dance, and wouldn't you know it, they didn't really hang around after 6 years of not doing dance on a regular basis.  They started to show back up about two years ago when I took a dance class in undergrad, but they ran away again.  I still have leg muscles that hang around because I walk about a mile or more a day from walking or biking to and from class or other errands or meetings on campus, but the abs have disappeared.  I decided I needed to do something about that.  Running helps, but it's just not the same as a real ab workout.  I've got the degree that taught me all I needed to know to make my own workout, but having the video tell you that you have to do ten more crunches really makes you push through.  If I were to just sit here and make my own workout, I would probably stop when I felt "tired." My Exercise Science degree has also t...

Adam and I have been Christmas shopping for quite a few months now.  We decided we may as well buy gifts for people as we seem them in stores and say, "Such-and-such would like this..." rather than hoping we remember what the potential gift was...and where we saw it...several months later.  Anywho, that said, I sometimes use that "we're shopping for Christmas all the time" excuse as a really good reason to browse on Etsy and see what others (or I) might like to have.  I've been eye-ing quite a few great gift ideas the last few months and gave in and bought something for us! :) That said, I just got something in the mail today that made this cold rainy day more exciting! Thursday I ordered this really neat Christmas decoration from  Candy Apple Designs  on Etsy.  It's a vinyl that she's made for you to put on one of those glass blocks.  I know Hobby Lobby has some with holes cut in them for lights, or you can just put a light behind the block. This...

Yesterday while my sister was in town, we were going to get her to take our Christmas card picture.  The weather wasn't very pretty so we changed out mind.  Plus, Adam pointed out that Christmas lights would be up soon downtown, which would be pretty! Anywho, when we finally take our pictures, we're going to have to pick between our favorites here:  Shutterfly Christmas Cards So far I like these the most... This one is cute, but I think we'll only put one picture on our card:  Peppermint Bliss Christmas Card Adam said this one is his favorite, and it was one of my favorites too:  Holly Frame Christmas Card And of course I like this one because it's in French. :)  Joyeux Noel Card It's also about time for me to make a new calendar of us!  Wall Calendars I tried to link up the calendar I made last year, but the design is discontinued.  Here are some images from our calendar I made last year! The Cover March July November I love it!...

This one is a little hard for me because I have lots of friends in many different places.  After high school graduation, most of my friends moved to different schools across the south.  I made new friends every year during my undergrad, and most of those have graduated and moved on to other jobs across the county (or across the world!)  During my Grad School years, I've made more friends, but even those are quickly finishing school and getting jobs elsewhere. Let's just throw in the fact that every year I have around one hundred people living in my building and I usually keep in touch with a decent number of those after they move out.  Needless to say, there is no way I have A  Picture of my friends. So, I've decided to post a picture here of my friend who is living the furtherest away at this time.  She was my first "new" friend in high school.  We had 9th grade World History together and I asked her one day if she would save me a seat in the lunchroo...

Here's everywhere I've been (if my memory is right and I didn't leave out any trips from our numerous family road trips!!!!! :) )  The longest road trip we've taken was our trip that included The Mall of America, Mount Rushmore, Crazyhorse, a huge sunflower field in North Dakota (oh and snow!), Custer State Park, and lots of random little stops between here and there! :) Get Your Own Map View Larger Map

Citrouille = Pumpkin I <3 them. I went shopping today and wanted to buy every pumpkin I saw...but I didn't!! :) :) I did however get these nifty salt and pepper shakers! (I can't add the picture here...so here's a link !) I bought myself one of these as well to keep (very hard to find) candy corn in! :) It's a smaller version of this: On that thought, I think I'm going to work on changing my blog background around to be fall-ish! (That's a technical term!!! :) )