Crafting Updates

I have been up to a lot lately, particularly a lot of sewing and crafting and I've got a lot to update you on. This year I have a goal to not spend any money on Christmas. We used some gift cards left over from our wedding for some of the gifts and made handmade gifts from materials we already had on hand. We aren't buying any new decorations or ornaments, as we decided we already have sufficient to decorate our small apartment. Lastly, we are only buying Christmas treats and goodies that stay within our $30 a week food budget.

That being said, here are a couple of things I made for our apartment out of supplies I already had:

A yarn wreath. Made with a stryrofaom wreath form and yarn I bought with a gift card and felt scraps that I already had.

Speaking of wreaths, this is the fall one I made in October that I forgot to post. I made it with tulle, fabric scraps, and a floral wire all that I already had on hand.


and speaking of fall, here is the gingerbread light house I made when we went to the in-laws for thanksgiving. You cant really see it in the picture, but there is a stone pathway that leads up to the front door made out of rock candies that were like m&m's from winco. They were my favorite part.

So back to Christmas. This is our tree this year. It has lots of precious moments ornaments that I have collected my entire childhood and some leftover ribbon from last year.

This is an advent calendar I made out of felt and random decorations I dug out of my craft supplies like buttons, feathers, fabric scraps, and beads. Below are some pictures of a few individual pockets. I am putting a chocolate in each of the pockets for my husband to eat each day until Christmas.


Merry Christmas everyone!

The Husband's Birthday

Today was my husbands birthday, and to celebrate, I got up at 5:30 in the morning to make him breakfast (pancakes and eggs and bacon) before he woke up for school at 6. After he left, I decorated the house in Australian decor. (That is where he served his mission) Here are some pictures:

I also set up a tent in the front room, so that it was like we were camping in the Australian Outback. I had aborigine Australian music playing in the background too.

The husband requested lasagna for this birthday dinner, which is not very Australian, but was delicious nonetheless. I served it with salad and french bread:

I dressed up as a waitress and served him all his food. It was lots of fun. After dinner, I made a marshmallow pie for him since marshmallows are his favorite food:

He said it was the best birthday he had since he was like 10, so I think it was a success.

Homemade Tortillas

I like to pretend that I am not wasting away my life on pinterest by justifying it with the fact that I actually make most of the recipes and some of the crafts that I repin on there. So it was with the tortillas.

I followed this recipe at Jazibe's Recipes:

After you make the dough, you roll it out into brain balls. Cover with damp towel and let sit for 1 hour. They don't look too appealing.

Then you roll out your brain balls super thin.

Then you fry them up. There are more complete directions on the recipe link, I just wanted to show off mine. Then we invited some friends over and had soft tacos. What did you do with your homemade tortillas? I would love to hear.

Pirate Party Package

I know it's been a long time coming, but I have finally finished a new party pack: pirate themed. Click here to view. ALSO, because you all had to wait so long for it, it is on sale for only $15.00. yay for sale items.

More Brithday and Halloween

So because my husband spent 9 hours on my birthday taking his FE exam (brutal), we celebrated on Sunday. I made this delicious ice cream pie and got to have some friends and family over.

(the day before) I just used a keebler shortbread pie crust that we already had on hand. I baked half of a box of chocolate cake mix and stirred it together with frosting (milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar.) Sorry I don't have a more precise recipe. I just eyeballed it, but I'm sure you can find one on allrecipes or something like that. Anyway, then I pressed the cake mixture into the bottom of the pie crust, scooped ice cream on top, and froze it overnight.

On Sunday, some friends came over and we ate delicious pie and played this game. It is not nearly risque as it looks or sounds. It is actually quite an innocent game and lots of fun for any party.

On Sunday morning, I also made my husband carve pumpkins with me, which he hates doing, but I think it turned out really well anyway.