Christmas Place Markers

This is another idea I got from Pinterest. A friend came over and we got busy making these cute candy pouches.

I thought it would be fun to put everyone's names on them and use them as place markers for our Christmas feast. I'm sure my kids will rip them open fast and munch the M & Ms I stuffed inside!

Click here to go to the tutorial!

Christmas Table Runner

Every year growing up I was always in charge of setting and decorating the table for big holiday meals. I really got into it! I folded the napkins in fun different ways and just had a ball doing it! This year I wanted to make my Christmas table really shine! First step, table runner.

Now, I have kids. They can be messy. So the table runner had to be small enough to fit in the middle of the table where messy hands couldn't reach it. I looked for one at the store, but there weren't any I liked. So I made one. I like the fabric. It has little gold flecks in it.

The candle thing I found at Ikea. Love Ikea!

The santa's were a nice festive addition!

I've got some pine cones I need to turn into Christmas trees and I'll be about done. I think I may run out of time!

Holiday Card Display

First of all, can I just say how much I L.O.V.E Pinterest? It is the best invention ever! There are SO many good ideas, I wish I had time to make them all!

Here is one idea I saw floating around Pinterest.

I love it! I finally have a really cute and creative way to display all the Christmas cards we get every year. It was so easy to put up there. All I did was tape the ribbon to the inside of the cabinet doors and used clothes pins to hold the cards to it. Now my kitchen is a little festive too!

Absent Minded Reason #2

Sometimes it is necessary to take my driver's license and my credit card out of my wallet. Like when I don't want to take my huge bag in with me to the store or restaurant. I did this one day when I took the kids by myself to Wendy's. That night I changed my clothes and threw my pants in the laundry. A couple days {yes a couple days!} later I was at the grocery store ready to purchase my items. I opened my wallet and my driver's license and credit card were NOT in there! I remembered I had taken them out but thought I had left them in the pocket of the diaper bag. Fortunately I had another credit card with me so I could still buy my groceries. Now I have to drive my car home without my license like I had been doing for the past couple days.

I...looked...everywhere! They were not to be found. I practically emptied the diaper bag, searched every counter in the kitchen, it was nowhere. I was telling my husband about my dilemma and he calmly says, "I bet it's in your pants pocket like it always is." I doubted it was there. I didn't remember putting it there. I looked anyway.

Guess what.... it was there. Every time, people. Every time.

Christmas Clutch

A couple weeks ago I found this pattern from Living with Punks and was dying to make it! I finally found some time to give it a go. I'm really quite tickled with how well it turned out! I've never made a clutch before, and I really liked the idea of using scraps to make things. Such a brilliant idea! Since Christmas is fast approaching I thought it would be fun and festive to carry around! Plus, that's the only fabric I really had that I thought would go really well together. And it turned out so cute!

Christmas Planner

I LOVE this Christmas planner! I think I need to make myself one this year. I've got a house full of guests coming which definitely calls for some organization!

This planner is SO cute and such a good idea. I thought of making different themes for it too: homework planner, art book {you'd have to find a composition book that is unlined though}. You could really do anything with a cute book like this.

I found it on the eighteen25 blog. They have step by step instructions and a free printable to help make it easier.

So cute!

Eggs with Peppers

I saw this cool idea on Pinterest. Sadly, I did not save the pin to my board so I don't know whose idea it was. I will be better about crediting my sources in the future.

We've all used different things to cook eggs inside of to make cool shapes. I liked this one because you can eat your egg mold with your egg. I'm generally not a huge fan of peppers, but I think I'm coming around.

All you need to make this intriguing dish is a pepper and an egg. A frying pan, a little olive oil, and a spatula will be helpful too!

Cut your pepper so it's about 1/2 inch thick. You want it to hold all the egg. Cut out the insides.

Place the pepper in a hot skillet with a little olive oil, then crack the egg inside. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook till the egg is firm enough to flip. Flip over. Then cook till desired doneness.

That was easy! Enjoy!

If We Do Not Doubt

Visiting Teaching Message from the October 2011 Ensign

by Julie B. Beck

"In the Book of Mormon we read about exemplary young men who were exceedingly valiant, courageous, and strong. “Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers—their examples and teachers."

I love the story of Helaman's 2000 stripling warriors. It reminds me that I need to be a strong, courageous, and valiant mother. The 2000 young men did not doubt God or that He would deliver them from war. They knew God would protect them and their faith was exceedingly strong!

In Alma 56:45-48 it says:

"And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.

For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.

Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea,

they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying:

We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

Mothers and all women have a huge responsibility for raising the next generation. We have the power to influence our children for good. These faithful mothers of the 2000 warriors were teaching their children so much. I hope I can teach my children to never doubt so that they to can confidently proclaim "We do not doubt our mother knew it!"

I also want to add how much I love Sister Julie B. Beck! I love her boldness in speaking! She is so inspired to teach in such a way.

Absent Minded Reason #1

I was cutting fabric to make pj pants for my family for Christmas. I had 8 yards of fabric to wrestle with. I thought it would be a good idea to fold it different from how it came off the bolt from the store. It was easier to deal with that way.

I pinned down the pattern pieces, got halfway through my first cut and realized the trees were upside down. This is not the first time I have screwed up directional fabric. Fortunately I could still correct my mistake.

I repinned all the pattern pieces making sure the trees were all going in the right direction and began again to cut them out. When I was almost done, one of the pieces I had already cut out got turned over for some reason. I stopped... looked at it... and then I realized...

THE TREES WERE UPSIDE DOWN!

On one side of my fabric the trees were right side up, on the other side the trees were upside down. This was definitely one of those times where my absent minded nature got in the way. I should have folded the fabric the way it comes from the store off the bolt, regardless of how annoying it was. If I'm right the trees on one leg of the pj pants will be right side up, and the trees on the other leg will be upside down.

Well... at least we will all be matching!

Can you see the difference?

Snowman Soup

I think this Snowman soup is really cute and funny! What a creative way to package fancy hot chocolate! It would be such a great gift for friends and neighbors. I found it at

Brown Paper Packages.

Love it!