Christmas Crafts

I love the Christmas season and all the fun and joy it brings. Most of all I love the true meaning of Christmas which is the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! I love Him so much and it's so great that pretty much a whole month is to be focused on Him and His birth. I always try to have Him in my fore thoughts but especially during December! 

Every year I love to add to my Christmas collection by making new and fun crafts. I found some cute ideas on blogs. This first one is a Christmas ornament wreath but the awesome thing is, is that it only cost $6 to make!! I went to the Dollar Store and got 6 packs of 12 ornament balls and strung them on a metal hanger! Super easy and fun to do. The instructions I found on Six Sisters Stuff, great blog btw if you've never been. You can find the tutorial by clicking here

This next project is really neat! It called the Spouse Christmas Countdown. It's like an advent calendar where you get to turn over a card everyday. It's for your husband or whoever you want to make it for. Everyday you write something on the back which can either be a compliment, service or fun activity. It's to show your love for your hunny and it's a fun decoration too! Ryan really likes it and I'm excited to do a lot of the activities this month. Check out the tutorial here

Chicken and Waffles

                                Chicken and Waffles is a big deal down in the south and it's really never sounded that appetizing to me. We had seen this show about a place in Atlanta called Gladys Knight Ron Williams Chicken and Waffles and decided to try it out on the way home. I mean I really like fried chicken and I really like waffles but together it sounded gross. So we get to the restaurant and it's actually pretty fancy, not really what we were expecting. We actually almost didn't stay because the menu seemed a little pricey but the chicken and waffles was decent so we decided to go for it. Thank goodness we did because our food was AMAZING!! The chicken was one of the best I've had and the waffles were perfectly cooked! I scarfed it down, seriously, I beat Ryan! It was so good! Luckily it's like an hour away or we might have a little problem in the weight department. :) The savory chicken and then a bite of the waffles and back to the chicken. I would highly recommend this to anyone!

                                  
                                                                  atlantadowntown.com

34 weeks

Wow, I can't believe that Vince will be here in less than 6 weeks!! I was able to tell Harrison that it's less than a transfer away! Vince and I are doing great. It's getting hard to bend over and sleep but it's worth it. People keep telling me that the last 4 weeks last forever, so I guess we'll see. I think December should go by  pretty quick though because there's always so much going on! We went to my aunt Joans house for Thanksgiving in Atlanta which was fun and did a little black Friday shopping. Just about have all the Christmas decorations up, we, well Ryan, are going to put up the lights on the outside tonight! It's our first time being able to do that because we are living in a house!! So excited!

Baby Burp Cloths and Carseat Cover

I made some festive burp clothes for baby Vince!! I only had like 3 and realized I'm probably going to need a lot more! I used flannel for the back and terry cloth for the front! Pretty simple, I just traced another burp cloth I had, sewed right sides together except for a little hole where I flipped them inside out, then sewed that hole together and did a border around the rest! The carseat cover wasn't too bad either, mine's a little big but worked out well! I got my material at JoAnns and everyone should go there on Black Friday, they're having flannel prints on sale for like $1.50!! So I'm definitely stocking up!

North Carolina

This weekend we went up to North Carolina to see Ryan's sister Shalyse and her family. It was so much fun and her kids are so cute and getting so big!! Ryan and Ben went to a gun show Saturday morning and bought a 22! He got a good deal on it so we were excited. Unfortunately when he went to shoot it, he realized that the firing pin was broken, but it's an easy fix. We had a good time hanging out, and playing with the kids! Excited to see them again!

This is one of Ben's assault rifles. Ryan looks made to use that gun!

Here's our 22

Piano

I've been wanting a piano for a while but didn't want to pay the price. I've looked a little on Craigslist, but didn't really have much luck. Well, a couple weeks ago Ryan went to go pick up this dresser we had bought and ended up getting a FREE PIANO too! The people were moving and didn't want to bring it, Ryan asked how much they wanted for the piano and she said that we could just take it!! We were thrilled!! It's pretty out of tune and some keys weren't working but Ryan and I took it apart the other night and fixed the broken keys and now just need to tune it! I'm so excited!

Wood Block Project

I have seen these wood block letters around but heard they were a little pricey and decided to make my own! Here's what you'll need:

wood

mod podge

scrapbook paper

scissors

jigsaw

drill

sexy husband to help you out!

We got cheap wood from the clearance/warped wood section in the back of Lowes or Home Depot and Ryan cut the letters out for me with our jigsaw. I had printed off some letters to trace so it was easier to cut the wood. Now you don't need a sexy husband to cut the wood for you, but he's better at using the jigsaw than me! ;) Next I traced the wood onto the scrapbook paper and cut that out. Put down a layer of Mod Podge, put down the paper then another layer and let it dry. Finally Ryan drilled some halfway holes in the back so we could hang them on the wall and you're done! It's really not that hard and turned out just as I had hoped!

We obviously don't have the mattress yet, it's a work in progress ;)

32 weeks

32 weeks, 8 more to go!! Vince is doing great!! I know I say this everytime but I can't believe I'm 32 weeks already! Ryan and I are taking this Lamaze class thing at the hospital on Mondays and it's getting us so excited!! Pregnancy is going good, I really can't complain, sleep can be a little difficult at times but not bad. I actually organized the nursery so I'll put some pictures up on that soon :)

30 weeks

30 weeks!! I feel like this is such a milestone and have been looking forward to be able to say I'm 30 weeks! I can't believe there's only 10 more weeks until we get to meet Mr Vince!! He's such a little man already and a MOVER!! He loves to play and kick around, and it's starting to get a little tight in there! :) He's doing great and we're excited for the future! We are so blessed to be given the opportunity from our Heavenly Father to be parents and can't wait to meet him!

Halloween Crafts

I LOVE decorating for holidays and Halloween is so FUN!! I've already had these up in Sept but since it's October now I feel better! :) I saw this idea on a blog here and loved it!

I loved these fun crafts too! You can find the tutorial for the candy corn here. I made up the pumpkin with the extra bottom of the foam cone that I didn't use and really liked how it turned out!! I just used green buttons for the face and a stick for the stem!

26 years and 26 weeks

Happy Birthday Ryan! Ryan's 26th birthday was on Thursday and Baby Vince turned 26 weeks (of me being pregnant)! We just had a little party with Ryan and I which was fun!

There's this way good and cheap seafood place near us called Rhineharts and on Tuesdays they have a special of a pound of crab legs for $8.99!! 

Looks kinda dumpy but seriously has amazing seafood and the parking lot is always packed!

Baby Vince at 26 weeks!!

                                                 

40 year old cabinet

This is what we've had our TV since we moved to Georgia and has been bothering me. I hated seeing all the cords and when Vince comes and gets a little older I know he'd go straight to them. So we decided to change things up. 

Ryan has had this cabinet for 3 years and inherited from his parents who got it from an aunt and who knows how long she had it. So we'll just say 40 years. It got a little beat up from the move and needed some love.

The perfect man to do the job!

He repaired some of the wood that broke off, primed and painted it and put on new hardware and turned out great!! It's so much nicer to only see 2 cords and have a cabinet to put things in! Thanks Ryan!

Maryland Fried Chicken

   

         This is where Ryan and I had dinner last night. So I joined this Living Social website which has these pretty cool deals that they send you via email and Maryland Fried Chicken popped up one day. Well there's one pretty close to us in Evans which we have wanted to try and the deal was 2 full meals for $7, so I figured, what the heck! Lets do it! So last night we go to the one by us and as I'm giving the voucher to the cash register she tells me it's for the one in downtown Augusta. So we say ok, we already bought the deal and I was hungry so we make our way downtown. We both had never been this far downtown and weren't surprised when we arrived! It was pretty ghetto but the chicken and fries were decent and was an experience. Needless to say, we'll probably never go there again, especially in downtown Augusta but at least I know now to read the whole deal and where it's at!

Curtains can be so deceiving

Curtains can be so deceiving to make! I thought it was going to be not big deal...WRONG! So I found some white fabric that I got on sale at JoAnns and was really excited to make curtains for all 5 or my windows. I start measuring and cutting and the first set I made were too short and laid out funny. Attempt two I really measured and cut precise and got everything the right length and they looked great! I was really excited. I knew I didn't want plain white and decided to dye them with some RIT. So I filled up the sink and they looked beautiful soaking in the water, this perfect deep red that I wanted. The instructions said to stir constantly for 30-60 min and I kind of pushed them around for about 5-10 min and then took a nap for the rest of the hour! lol So as I was taking them out of the dye and rinsing I noticed some little splotches but figured it would fix itself in the washer. Wrong again. I washed them and not only did the splotches not mix in they were now pink! Plus they frayed, even though I hemmed all the edges. I was like screw it, I'll just see how they look hanging! So I had to cut all the fray (cheap lightweight fabric) and iron them all (which also made the color now a slight hint of brown)! All in all, when I hung them up you couldn't see the splotches very well as long as they are left open and the pink isn't as bad as I thought. But this whole experience just made me laugh and learned a few things!

1. Don't buy cheap lightweight fabric for curtains

2. Cut and measure precise and leave room for error

3. Follow ALL the instructions on the RIT dye

4. The washer doesn't fix splotches

5. Don't iron on such a high setting when it's dyed

Hope you got a laugh like I did and good luck if you decide to make your own curtains, hope some of this advice helped!

Fun and cheap fall projects

I love crafting and doing projects!! Unfortunately sometimes they can get a little pricey and that is something I don't like. I was walking around Hobby Lobby looking at wreaths and some cost like $60 and even at Walmart they were like $20 and not really what I wanted! So I decided to give the Dollar Store a chance and it paid off! Literally it only cost me $4 to make this!! 

Here's what you need:

Christmas wreath (the Dollar store had cheap thin ones so I bought a big and a smaller one to fit inside and tied them together

Fall colored spray paint (mine was obviously red)

glitter

fake leaves

cute pumpkins or any fall decor

glue gun

It was really simple. We just spray painted the wreaths and I poured some glitter on them before they dried then glued on the leaves and pumpkins and wa-la!! Even Ryan was impressed and hey it only costs $4!!

Transformation

I've had this mirror for a little over 2 years and felt like it needed some love but wasn't sure what to do. We actually got it the first summer we were married up in Northern Wisconsin at the races in Crandon for like $4! I was walking through Hobby Lobby and found this turquoise painted mirror and fell in love and got my inspiration.

The primed stage

Painted

Finished!! I don't think this picture gives the turquoise justice, it's a really bright and beautiful color and I love it!

Oh and here's Vince and I at 23 weeks!

Savannah

Last weekend we went down to Savannah, Ga and met up with Tom, Yasmin, Grandpa and Bestemor! It was really fun and great spending time with them! The weather was HOT and humid!! Like 95 degrees and I swear 95% humidity but we survived!

Grandpa and Bestemor's first time touching the Atlantic Ocean, they literally drove coast to coast on this trip!

Tad

This weekend Ryan and I tried to clean up our yard some and took out this ugly shrub in the front. It was hard work but fun doing it with Ryan! Anyways I was raking over the ground and found a turtle shell! We weren't sure if it was alive so we put it in some water and left it alone for a few minutes and he slowly started to peek his head out! We were so excited because we've never lived in areas where turtles just roam around! lol So we brought him inside and gave him a little home and named him Tad, but all he did all day was try to escape and we felt bad and let him go that night. It was fun having Tad for a day but I'm sure he's happier now back in the wild. :)

Ryan let him crawl around before we brought him back outside but all he did was run for cover

Here I am at 21 1/2 weeks!!