{Advent Family Activity Calendar Tree}

One of the blogs that I go to daily is Christmas With The Cricut .....they have amazing ideas over there....every day. 
One of them that I took and made my own is this advent calendar tree by Tammy...The tutorial on how to make the sour cream containers is here.  I can't remember if she goes more into detail on there or on her personal blog.  :-)

Here's my take on it!

I have one of those stacks of paper that has just Christmas papers in it.....it came in really handy this year when I finally decided to do a bunch of Christmas projects lol  I took an assortment of blues because that is what my house is done in.....any colors that you like would work well.

I decided to use dark blue and white for that tags....once again because I like blues and whites....also because I like snowflakes and I knew already that I wanted to use my snowflakes cuttlebug folder.  :-)  Tammy had used her Gypsy to make tags that had double numbers on them, but I don't have a Gypsy and I didn't have Design Studio at the time either (I'm going to try and make some for next year like that hehe) I also didn't have the same cart that she used for the letters......but if you look, most of the carts have letters, and I'm sure you can find something that would work.  :-)

First we decided that we were going to do family activites instead of candies.....for a couple reasons really.....(1) it's really hard to get four peices of candy into these cute sour cream containers lol  and (2) it would be pretty expensive to put four peices of candy into every one of these sour cream containers.  :-)  Besides, we really like the idea of teaching the boys that Christmas isn't just about candy and getting things.....it's about giving and doing things for family and doing things together as a family.  :-)

So yah!  I made a list of all the things that we wanted to do in the month of December....of course some were doubled, and some were really simple because we can't do something amazing and time consuming VERY SINGLE day.....I'm just not up for that lol  We did things like bake cookies, listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, go on a walk around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights....whatever works for your family.....and if you like the candy idea...by all means.....put candy in them!  :-D  That's always fun too!  :-D  Then I printed up a calendar for December of Calendar Creator (LOVE that program) and filled in all the dates since I was going to have to cordinate the numbers and the dates.....which also if you don't want to have to pay attention to this I would suggest the candy too.  I did candy for my Dad and sisters in Spokane and it was much faster because I didn't have to pay attention to this. lol 

For the tags I took the Base Camp cart becase I liked the stamp feature that it had and that I could cut the numbers out in the retangle feature also......and I figured out how many blue and how many white 'stamps' I needed and began cutting away.  Then I wrote down all the numbers and figured out how many of each white and blue I needed....and paid really close attention to the double numbers here......and cute away with those.  Then I got out my CuttleBug and my Snowflakes and Textile embossing folders.....I embossed the white withe the Snowflakes and the blue with the Textile.  I wish I had thought to take pictures of these....I'll get better at this I promise.....they were so pretty.  :-)  And then I glued them all together and punched a hole in the corner with my crop-a-dile from stampin up and tied a light blue ribbon through it to tie to the tree.  I got the tree at Dollar Tree for like $2....it was perfect for what I was using it for.....someday I'll get a nicer version for it, but it works for now.  :-) 

*I forgot to take pics of the other two that I did.  I made one if bright greens and cherry reds for my sisters and Dad that live in Spokane...it was mainly for Kara, but I hope they enjoyed it too.  :-)
And I also made one for my niece and nephew in California in dark red and cream colors because that's what my sister likes.  :-)

{Christmas for Teachers}

This is actually the first year that I have gotten something done for the boys' teachers.  Yeah Yeah I know I know.  :-Pththth

It is what it is.  It's not that I haven't WANTED to do something.  It's that I haven't done it.....crud!.....I barely got something done THIS year!  I completely forgot that TODAY was their LAST day of school!!!  UGH!  Yesterday was The Mr's birthday and so I was SO everywhere doing all sorts of things this past week for that that my brain was NOT on teachers or that the kids were going to be out of school soon.

SOOOOOOOO..........Last night before I went to bed I wrapped my head around a couple ideas......I was already playing with some ideas so it thankfully wasn't too hard to come up with this.

I took some of my Christmas pattern paper and made these popcorn containers with the cricut machine and the tags, bags, boxes & more cartridge....this was cut with the real dial size on at 4 1/2 inches

Then I cut these out to use as tags from the Christmas Cheer cartridge at 2 inches...I also cut the tops out with the shift.  I used white cardstock and left them on the mat and used a silver sharpie and colored them and let them dry before I took them off. (I very much try to use things that I already have on hand)

Then I wrote 'Merry Christmas' on all the little lights and took matching ribbon and tied all of them to the containers.  I took a rectangle of tissue paper (I have no idea what size, I just guessed and then cut them out) and put them in the containers and put in three EggNog Truffles per container.

They all looked so pretty!  :-D 

I took them up to the school and had the boys called down to the office.  I really loved being about to do this for the boys, and the really loved being able to hand them out to their teachers, and other adults that they interact with on a pretty much daily-ness.  Especially Mr A.....he....lets say he has interactions with LOTS of people.....and they really are amazing with our heart filled little boy, and I am greatful that I was able to help him show that we are thankful of them.  :-D

{Christmas Present for Tante}

Just to be on the safe side......Tante is you are for some reason reading this.....DON'T!!!

I don't really think that my Tante reads this blog......so I'm pretty sure that she won't see this before I

 give it to her for Christmas......but if for some reason you are reading this.........please don't scroll down and see your gift before I'm able to give it to you!  :-P

For all of yous others that would like to see what I have been up to.....I finally finished one of my Christmas projects and got a Christmas present done!  Yay Me!  :-D

Man!  It has been stressful for me!  I'm hoping that I have been able to clear my head enough and with enough time to get enough done before Christmas!!!  :-D

Well here it is!  I hope ya'll like it!  I know that it's not the greatest picture....a lot of times it's a hit or miss with me and my pictures!  lol  This one was taken with my phone again!  lol

Wish me LUCK!

I also have the church Christmas Program that I am playing a flute part in that I need to be practing for!!!  AAHHH!!!

*Edit to post:  I ended up finding an idea that I will post about for my Tante that I liked better and I gave this to My Seeter for Christmas!  And she LOVED IT!  :-D

{Kara's Birthday Presents}

Here is a horrible picture of one of the birthday gifts that I made for Kara's 19th Birthday.  She really likes to draw, and also write plays.  So I took a clip board and I spray painted (this is prolly my bff now that I've met her lol) it purple on the front and back.  And then I took and put her name and a crown on the back of it and blinged it out for her since she is girly like me like that.  :-D  I wanted to leave the front of the clip board smooth so that when she is writting on it she has that smooth surface.  I also put some laminating material over it to help protect it.
I don't know if I didn't get any pictures of it......or if I just can't find them on my computer.....but I also got her a spiral notebook.....and I altered the cover of it for her.  It's in the same theme of her clip board and birthday card.  Pink, Purple, K, Crown..... :-D  I also put a BUNCH of ribbons on the spiral part of it.  I really liked the way it ended up turning out.  I also ended up putting the same laminating material over the cover of that too to help protect it.
I think this is a great gift idea for someone and I really enjoyed making it for her.  :-D

{Chore Charts}

These are the weekly chore charts that I made for the boys. They hung underneath our "Geiger Manor" board in our old house.....they have changed some now in this house....I will update a pic of how we do it here. :-) It is of course very similar.

I took a 12x12 peice of pattern paper...it's actually more of a texture look of a solid color. The colors I choose were actually the boys' favorite colors at the time. lol The shade I choose had more to do with what I had on hand. But still their color choice. :-) I took a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock that matched and used a coluzzle to trace the letters for each of their names on the top. I made a table on the computer that fit what I wanted for their chores. I do these weekly for them. I am able to write down the chores they are responsible and put a sticker or star for when they complete them. This seems to work well for our family.

{Geiger Manor}

This is our schedule & house rules. I put down two 12x12 pieces of pattern paper on a piece of poster board. On the left is our House Rules I typed them on the computer and printed them out then cut them with mini victorian decorative siccors, I think, by Provo Craft. I marked each one with a heart cut out on the cricut with the Stamped cartridge. I used Calandar Creator to make a schedule. It's a very 'open' schedule that has stuff like: Get up, Go to School, Snack, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Homework, Pick up, Bed Time. I find that this works best for me. I marked our meal times with a star also from the Stamped cartridge. On the top the title, which is what I call our home....Geiger Manor....I cut out using the Jasmine cricut cartridge. I also put our names on it....My husband and I one the left side, and our children's names on the right...We were even talking about a fourth at the time so I left a spot so that I could fit it right in. :-)

{Food & Activity Journal}

This...is my food and activity journal...I love this thing lol I find that for me it's easier if I write down all the things that I eat or drink and the activities that I do for exercise. It lets me see what food choices I've made, how much I've eaten, and how much activity I have in for the day. It's also a place that I can write down ideas for healthy eating. :-) And since I made this myself it's in my favorite colors :-D And I have tons of pictures to help motivate me...


The first section has a monthly calendar so that I can keep track of my weigh ins...

Each divider has pictures that I like of me....well, when I liked how I looked. I felt good about myself. I was eating healthy, working out.....most of them are from the summer right before I got pregnant with Ace.






The main part of my journal has one side for my food choices and the other side for my activity choices. I also have a spot to keep track of my water intake.
I love all the details that I was able to put into this for me. And the pictures really do help me see not only how'd I'd like to look again....but they give me a realistic view on what I can look like. I don't feel that pictures of models or actresses helps me because I'm not them...It's not my body...and I don't have people to cook for me, clean for me, watch my kids, or tell me how and when to workout...so I know that I will never look like them. Which is okay, because I know I can look good and healthy....I have proof in my own pictures. :-)

Luvs! <3

{Menu board}

At one of my trips to Jo-Anns (I was getting textile medium for the tshirts I made) I found a really cool material....it's peel and stick chalk board, it comes in green, black...AND BLUE!!! I was SO excited to see this is blue. lol And I knew EXACTLY what I could do with it! :-) I have this frame that use to have a mirror in it, but the mirror broke years ago....and my brother made it into a bulletin board for me when he was visiting me when I had Mr T...and he did a great job. BUT I've fallen in love with spray paint....lol....andI knew what I could do with this now. :-) Here is the before picture........

Before:

So before I get to my after picture I'll tell ya what I did. :-) I took apart the bulletin that my brother made for me....and I spray painted the frame part (this was my first spray paint job...I don't know why but spray paint has always intimidated me....but not anymore! lol) Then I took the peel and stick and put it on the piece of cardboard that my brother had already used for the bulletin board...it didn't quite cover the whole area, but I had some cardstock that was a real close match that I covered the area at the very top with...and you can hardly even tell. :-) I then took some wide ribbon from my stash and wrapped it around the frame and tied it. I put the backing back on and screwed the frame back together...then I took the ribbon and nailed it into the top of the door, wrapped it back down and tied a pretty bow. Now the boys don't have to ask what we're having for dinner! lol They can read it! :-) It's hanging on my pantry door in my kitchen.....doesn't it look pretty next to my pretty apron that my mommy got me? :-) I love it! :-D

After:

{Lucky}

I have been reading a lot of different blogs about making designs for making your own shirts....I really liked this idea....and it got me thinking. I like it when we have matching shirts for things, YES I am one of THOSE. lol And we don't really have the money to be buying matching shirts for all six of us all the time. So I wanted to come up with something that didn't cost much. I had these shirts from a project that I had intended to do last year lol And I have my cricut machine, and I also have craft paint....so all I had to do was buy the textile medium to turn the paint I already have into fabric paint.....so for about $5 I was able to make six shirts! Not too bad! :-) I did a mask style instead of a stencil....it was easier for me to do with the cricut. I cut out the letters from scrap cardstock that I wanted in the font and size for each shirt....I backed each letter with repositional glue and let that dry...then put them on the shirt, and just sponged over them with black paint that was mixed according to the directions on the bottle of the textile medium...let the paint dry some then peeled off the letters and then let the paint dry all the way, and heat set the shirts. :-)

Here's the boys' shirts

And mine & Tommy's :-D

{Christmas Ornaments}

This year I wasn't able to find much of our Christmas stuff....I really don't know where it all went. So, I thought it would be fun to make our own ornaments using salt dough. I've made gifts with this in the past. And I have many fond memories growing up helping my Mom make ornaments at Christmas time for our tree. We used to paint them.....this year I tried coloring the dough....and I think they turned out really great! :-)

My boys hard at work! :-)





The end results! We let them dry for a few days....then tied ribbon through the holes, and hung them on our Christmas Tree. :-)