Christmas Eve

This year we decorated a living Christmas tree.  Our backyard needs landscaping, so we decided to buy a tree we can replant in our garden.  It is a Colorado Blue Spruce.  It came in a red pot and it really does look so cute.  I had to choose our smaller ornaments and of course all the kids pictures adorned the tree.  Christopher's angel from Kindergarten was our tree topper this year. 

The kids are all ready to open presents.

 

Michael got a fun Capitals hat!

 

Matthew received an Ukulele.  He wants to use it in children's ministry. 

 Blue got his own stocking full of treats!  He was very attentive as Chris opened the bag. 

 SO CUTE!

After church we took our family Christmas picture.  I made everyone wear a Santa hat this year, thanks guys! 

 Since Blue wasn't in our family picture, I had the kids cuddle around him for a picture.  

It was a fun day.  In my next post I will share our family game time.  My kids are great sports to play silly games with their parents each year.  Stay tuned........

Christmas Crafts

 Sorry I have been away for awhile.  I have been taking a break so I could enjoy the Christmas season with my family and friends.  
Today I want to share what I have made over the last few weeks.  I made this cute little tree I found on Pinterest.  All you need are some Thickers (letters) from Michael's, 1x2 board and some white paint.  

First cut your pieces of wood and sand them.  I made my base 2", the bottom word 8.5" and slowly made each level smaller as I went up.  

 
 The letters are sticky but I glued them down to make sure they were going to stay in place.  There are not enough E's so I cut some B's into E's to make it work.  That way you only need one package of letters.
I cut a heart from chip board and glued it on.  Then you paint it white.  It took a few good coats.  Then I glued it together with wood glue.  You don't have to do that, but my tree is sitting on a shelf that gets bumped.  So I didn't want to have to pick up all the pieces each time.   

Next up are some cute little felt hearts.  You can put them on your tree or hang them on knobs around your house.  They would also make cute Valentine decorations. 

 I also made some fun gift tags for the kids presents this year.  Yes, I found the idea on Pinterest. 

 I sure do like that site!

I printed off color copies of a couple of my favorite pictures from the past year and Mod Podged them onto very thin pieces of wood.  Let them dry over night and then rub the paper off the to with a wet cotton cloth.  I used my wood burning tool to add a cute heart and year to the back.  

 

The last thing I want to show you are the Christmas cards I made this year.  I usually make three different kinds and try to use only the supplies I have around my craft room. 

 I hope you had a fabulous time over this past 

Christmas holiday. I will be sharing our holiday pictures with you soon.  Have a blessed day. 

Fall Pennant Banners

It is fall festival time at my church and I volunteered to help make decorations.  

Any time I can use my crafty talents I am ALL in!  So I thought I would create a little tutorial for you, so you can do some fall decorating too.

 

I went to JoAnns and bought 6 yards of burlap.   I had these stamps in my stash.  I used the triangle pattern left over from when I made a billion banners for a very special wedding, a few years ago.  You can see those banners HERE. 

All you need to do is trace the triangles 

and cut them out with fabric scissors.  

BEWARE, burlap is very rough and itchy!  

I was left with some great scraps that will be used to decorate mason jars.  

Next I used acrylic paints and stamped some of the pennants.

I made some that will welcome guests to the festival.  I used my Cricut to cut out 3 inch letter stencils from paper scraps.

Use a foam brush to "stamp" the letters onto the burlap.  

I used twine an hot glue to make the banner.  It is nice if you have a helper to assist in the process!  

Looking Good!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." 1 Peter 4:10

Memorial Day!

 
This Memorial Day weekend we took a trip with friends to Arlington National Cemetery.  I have been avoiding this trip because I knew it would make me really sad to see all the graves of soldiers that have mad the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  
There are more than 300,000 graves in the cemetery and they have an average of 27 funerals each day that add to that number.

We took a tram tour around the cemetery.  You can read some surprising facts about Arlington National Cemetery HERE 

On Memorial Day weekend flags are place in front of each grave.     

The majority of the grave stones are the same shape, but at some point they started to allow the families to provide their own headstones.  I think it makes the area look unorganized.

 We stopped at President Kennedy's grave site and saw the eternal flame.

Our next stop was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

These guards are an elite group of soldiers that dedicate two years of their lives to guarding the tomb.

Sargent of the Guard

 They change the guard every 30 minutes.  

Every single movement is in sync.  It is really amazing to watch!

Changing the wreath

 During this holiday weekend they place many different wreaths on the grave.

They play taps as the wreaths are hung.

Next we stopped at Arlington House.  The cemetery land was once owned by General Lee's family.  

We were able to walk around the inside of the home.

Beautiful Gardens

 

Our last stop was the amphitheater.  This is where the first Memorial Day ceremony was held back in the 1800's. 

 
This was a great experience and made this Memorial Day special.

We are blessed to be living in a free society. May we honor 

our American soldiers for their ultimate sacrifice and the 

liberty we have in this country. 

May we also give thanks to Almighty God for the freedom we 

have to spend eternity with Him because of His gift of 

forgiveness through the death, burial and resurrection of 

Jesus Christ.