Mark & I have not been able to go home to Minnesota for Thanksgiving or Christmas since moving to AR. It would be wonderful to be with family for the holidays, but God has blessed us with good friends to help make these days special.

The last three years, Travis & Tabitha & Zedekiah have been coming to see us for Thanksgiving.  We have a lot of fun together and are starting some special traditions now that this is getting to be a habit. Last year, we took T, T, & Z to the Square to see the Christmas lights for the first time. That outing has made it to the list of "must do's" while they are here.
We decided on two new traditions to add this year. For the first one, we are going to use the same tablecloth each year and have whoever is with us write what they are thankful for on the tablecloth. Then, they can sign and date what they wrote.  Even with only one Thanksgiving's worth of notes on the cloth, it was fun to read what everyone had to say. I look forward to filling the cloth with many years worth of names & blessings.

Writing on our table cloth.

Our other idea didn't quite come together this year.  We want to play a game with each other each year and have a traveling trophy that stays with the winners.  We got as far as the playing games portion, but did not find a suitable trophy or white elephant prize.  It's a goal for next year :)

What are your Thanksgiving Traditions?  Any ideas on a good traveling trophy?

Grosgrain: ANOTHER SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

This machine would be so much fun. Check out the link. On Monday, Nov. 29th there will be a big sale if any of you would like to have the machine and don't win it.

I'm on Thanksgiving break this week!  I got off work at my normal time (1pm) on Friday and immediately went into vacation mode. Nap time!  When I woke up, it was time to work on some more of my craft projects. I decided to make everyone's Christmas presents this year.  It has been a lot of fun, and I'm learning a lot.

My friend, Nichole, and I decided to have a craft day every month. We've invited several other girls to join us, but so far it's just been us. We have a great time spending the day together, but it seems that we don't usually get very much work done.  It's alright though; we just enjoy hanging out together.  Last Saturday, we were at her new apartment. I was actually able to almost finish the jewelry box that I covered with scrapbook paper, but Nichole was busy trying to get her internet hooked up. Why are those things always so time consuming?

When I got home, I kept working on the box. What should have been an easy project became quite complicated when I got up the next morning and realized that the spray adhesive was not holding properly.  Maybe I put the mod podge on too soon.  I tried respraying, then I put something on it to hold it all together. When that had set for several hours, it was sticking to the box. It peeled off leaving a bumpy mess.  I fixed that and added another coat of mod podge to seal everything. I thought it was dry, so I set the lid on top of the bottom. Then, I discovered the lid was sticking to the box!  Needless to say, this jewelry box is not perfect. However, I still like the way it turned out.  I just hope that it will work well for the person I'm giving it to:)




Here are a couple of other things I've been working on:

Hi, I'm made from a pair of gloves.

I do my own hair.

These will have clips for hair or headbands with the option to add a pin.

A couple of weeks ago, Emily & Rick came for a visit. Their time here was far too short, but it was wonderful to spend time with them. We tried a local pizza place for dinner the first night.
On Saturday, Emily & I left the boys to watch the Razorbacks while we visited the farmers market.
Rick had some friends at another church in the area, so they went there for church on their way back to MN on Sunday.  When he got there, he found out that some of the people he knew from working at a small camp in Tennessee are now leading the Student Ministry at my church. It was fun to tell them that "Big Rick" married one of my best friends and had been in town with us.

Here are links to the tutorials I used from other blogs:

Doll: http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2008/12/handcrafted-doll-tutorial.html
Flowers: http://www.simplyvintagegirl.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/29/tutorial-how-to-make-lovely-fabric-flowers

Thanks to Grosgrain & Simply Vintage Girl!

Shabby Apple All That Jazz Dress Guest Giveaway

These dresses are gorgeous. I would love wearing them, wouldn't you?