Glittery Christmas Art

This is a pretty easy project, but I think it's pretty cute! Especially if you love glitter, like I do. First you need frames. I went with those ugly, gold metal frames you see at every thrift store or yardsale. Even the thrift doesn't want these, they are always in a box outside with the other "junk" like McDonalds toys. You can see they were only $.25. Ignore the lovely 1990 goose art!

Next you need chipboard. Wood shapes would work, too.

And the good stuff. Martha Stewart glitter! I started to use the glass glitter pictured, but ended up grabbing my blue Martha glitter.

Glitter your chipboard! I ended up having to do two coats of glitter because I didnt like how sparse it looked with one. Painting the chipboard a matching color would probably help with that. (See, told you I use Shutterfly!)

Purty!!

I don't have a photo for every step of this, but you just take the insert out of the frame (not the piece that has the "leg"). I used the glass to trace the size needed onto a piece of white felt. Then I glued the felt onto that insert.

After you put it back in the frame, this is what it will look like. I added the chipboard after putting it together, but it's probably better to add it before. I was in a hurry to see how they would look! Oh, and I used tacky glue but hot glue would be fine, too!

And here they are all together!

I don't have red spray paint or glitter, or I would have done some red, too!

Linked to:

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table & Dreaming

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Link Up at Saturday Morning

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Look What I Made at Creations by Kara

DIY Craft Tutorials at Fine Craft Guild

Talent Tuesday at Vintage Wanna Bee

Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

One of the Things I Love About Having Chickens

We have pretty eggs! I know you can pay more for brown eggs at the store, but you can't get blue or red/brown. Plus, you can't beat the taste. Store bought eggs just don't compare.

I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but that middle egg really is blue! We don't have any chickens that lay white eggs.

I think the rain last night messed up my plans of an acorn craft today, but I do have more crafty stuff coming soon!

Shutterfly - Free Cards for Bloggers!

Shutterfly is my favorite photo site! And I'm not just saying that because of the awesome promo they have going on! Did you know that bloggers get 50 free Holiday cards from Shutterfly? Sign up for it here! Seriously, I always use them for my photos. But they aren't just for photos! I have ordered several photo books in the past, but also photo coasters and a wall calendar. I don't have any photos of it, but the calendar was awesome. I saved it so I can reuse the photos!

But back to cards. I have ordered some cards from them in the past, but they weren't for Christmas. So I am very excited to get the chance to use them this Christmas! There are many options when it comes to Christmas or holiday cards. There are several types of photo cards. The story cards are really neat! I'm not 100% sure which card I am going to choose, but this snowman card is adorable!

The past few years, the kids made our cards and we included a photo. We did thumbprint reindeer, then last year, we broke out the foam stamps & glitter. My living room was very sparkly! But this year, the photo will be the highlight of the card!

Mushrooms, Glitter & a Winner!

Two things. First, remember when I posted about Meyer Imports the other day? Well I got my mushrooms & glitter today!


So pretty!

I set them up on the tractor in the sun to try & show some sparkle.

And how cute are these mushrooms?

I can't wait to try this stuff out!

And secondly, I need to announce a winner in the Carmex giveaway! The lucky winner is:

Comment #10! Tracy Suzanne from Cotton Pickin Cute! Congratulations!!

A big thank you to everyone who entered and my new followers! There will be another Carmex giveaway coming soon.

Quick, Easy & Cute Jewelry

See, I told you I would have a project soon! I've been trying to pick up things for Christmas all year. And I thought I'd try making a few things, too. So when I won a gift certificate to PhotoJewelryMaking.com from So You Thnk You're Crafty, I knew right away what I wanted. Bails! Why don't any local craft stores carry these?


Anyway... I started with some cabachons that I got from a shop on Etsy called Troxies. I think they are so cute! And you can find them in lots of colors and different flowers.



Then I used some ring blanks I also got from PhotoJewelryMaking.com.

And my bails.

And some trusty old E-6000.

Just put a dab of glue on the bail or blank and attach the cabachon. And you're done!

Aren't they cute?

All you need now is a ball chain and you're done! I plan on giving these to Layla for Christmas. I thought I could use one chain and she can change out the pendants.

See? Quick, easy & cute!

Linked to:

Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Link Party #31 at Tea Rose Home

Show & Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Look What I Made at Creations by Kara
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life as Lori

Hookin Up with HoH at House of Hepworths

Show & Share Day at Just a Girl

Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now

Weekend Wrap Up at Tatertots & Jello

Sunday Showcase at Under the Table & Dreaming

Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings

Handmade Holiday at Just a Girl

Handmade Gift Tutorial Party at The Country Chic Cottage

Accessories Challenge at The CSI Project

Start Your Christmas Shopping!

Another quick review, and then a project to share! I promise! As I mentioned before, Christmas is coming FAST. If you haven't started your shopping yet, you should! I have been picking things up since January, but I still have plenty more to get. So I was pretty excited when I found out about Become.com. If you've never heard of it, it's a price comparison site. You type in what you are looking for, and it brings up online retailers that have your product, along with the price. It even has coupons! For example, I decided to search for wooden blocks. The results were 930 different choices! But you can break it down by store, reviews, brand, price, color and more.

Or if you arent ready to Christmas shop, what about sports gear? Looking for Easton products? They can find them. Nike? Reebook? All there. Does your little ball player need a tee ball bat? Become can find you the best price. Do you have a catcher? Find him some youth catchers gear. And of course, you can't play baseball without some Nike baseball cleats. Seriously, if you are looking for something online, Become can help you find it and at the best price. So get to shopping! :)

An Upcoming CSN Review

Once again, the fabulous people over at CSN Stores have offered me the opportunity to review one of their many, MANY products! If you aren't familiar with CSN Stores, you should be. They have EVERYTHING. You could literally spend all day looking through all of their 200+ shops! I am not 100% sure yet what I'm going to review yet, but I am thinking something for my living room. Possibly an ottoman coffee table? Throw pillows? A warm, comfy throw? Whatever I choose, I know the product and the service will be awesome. So if you haven't browsed, get to it!

ps- Don't forget to enter the Carmex giveaway if you haven't yet! It will be ending soon!

Crafty Goodness Alert!

I think we all know how fast Christmas is coming, right? The Christmas commercials & ads have started, stores are full of Christmas... It's coming fast, whether you're ready or not! Thankfully, the awesome people over at Meyer Imports are ready to help you with your holiday crafting. Every order placed during the month of November gets a free sample of their spun cotton and plaster mushrooms! AND, if you blog, you could get a free sample just for blogging! So get your crafting on and check it out!

ps - Don't forget to enter the Carmex giveaway!

CLOSED Carmex® Skin Care Review & a Giveaway!

Are you a Carmex fan? I certainly am. Imagine my excitement when I saw they were looking for a Blog Squad awhile back. I didn't think I'd get chosen, but I applied anyway. And guess what? I got picked! My first opportunity with them was to review a couple of their new products. Check out this awesome package I received!



And what was inside? LOTS!

Did you know that Carmex makes more than lip balm? That's right! They have a new Healing Lotion and a Healing Cream. I have been using both products for a few weeks now, and I really like them. Both of them are nice & thick like I like them. I can't stand runny, thin lotion. They have a mild, pleasant scent. They leave my skin very moisturized, but not greasy. I would definitely reccomend both the Healing Lotion and the Healing Cream.

With winter coming fast (how is it November already?!), how would you like the chance to win the exact gift set I have shown above? YES! Carmex is giving one of my readers the same awesome gift set that I received! As you can see it's packed FULL of fabulous Carmex products.

TO ENTER:

Mandatory: Visit the Carmex website, then come back letting me know either your favorite product, OR something you would like to try!

For a 2nd Chance: Blog about it or share on Facebook! (seperate comment)

If you are a follower, leave me another comment letting me know!

Giveaway will be open until November 12th! (Make sure you leave a seperate comment for each entry)

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

Halloween Wrap Up

Since I hadnt gotten around to sharing hardly any Halloween pictures, I'm going to go ahead and do it all in one. So there are a lot of pictures! I'll start with some of our decorations this year. I got this owl painting for $1.00 awhile back and decided to hang it in the hallway. I added some cheesecloth & a snake.


This is on top of our dresser in the hallway. I made the apothecary sign a couple years ago, and the witch fingers & eyeballs I got from a lady I used to work with.



This hangs above the mirror in the hallway, I made it last year.




In the living room, I replaced our candles with pumpkins.

I found these little guys at Michaels two years ago I think. I love their vintage look!

On top of the tv. It's a little blurry, sorry about that.

A jar full of clay acorns we made a few years ago & a vintage card.

Love the chicken nugget! Vintage McDonalds, lol.

Some old cabinet cards, my favorite ceramic crow (that I dropped right before I took this! I guess I'll have to use a Sharpie on the chip) and some glittered pumpkins.

Halloween bottle brush trees from a few years ago.

A big, hair spider in the hallway. Layla asked why I had to hang it above her door!

I stuck a couple more "13" cards in the mirrors in the hallway.

Another HUGE hairy spider over the front door we don't use.

This cute glittered bat took the place of one of my vintage utensils.

And the kitty took up a safe spot high away from Morgan's hands.

Now for outside. I put a faux pumpkin on top of each of our milk cans. I didn't want to show a picture of both together because our dog has this area pretty dirty right now. We don't use this door anyway.

A couple scarecrows, a headstone and a pumpkin my father in law made.

And a pile of Lil Pump-K-Mons from our patch.

We had a very busy weekend. Saturday, Blake had a playoff game for football at 11. They were playing for a spot in the Superbowl, but sadly, they lost. It was really hard to watch all the boys come off the field in tears. But they had a really awesome season. They were 9-1 in their regular season. So football is officially over until January. After that we went Trunk-or-Treating at a couple churches and Trick-or-Treating at Publix. And after that, a Halloween Festival! But Sunday we made time for pumpkin carving.

This was the first time the kids EVER wanted to help gut the pumpkins! Finally, someone besides me can do it!

Morgan was very happy to help!

And finally, the costumes. Layla was a Senorita. And Morgan was a Baterina. But she wouldnt wear the ears and the wings were a pain. So she looks more like a witch.

But a really cute one!

I accepted the fact that I would not be able to get any good group shots with Morgan in them. So I have to be happy with the pictures I do have. Blake & his cousin decided to be football players. At least we already had the "costumes"!

I hope you had a good Halloween!!