It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

I am having the toughest time getting into the Holiday Season this year. I think mostly it is due to the fact that I have never not had a “White Christmas” and I enjoy the nippy fall weather…..and lately I am playing tennis outside and sweating at 8:00 in the morning. Florida is a little Strange that way! There have only been a few things that have sparked a little light inside of me – 1)Christmas Crafts and 2) Sending out Christmas Cards.

You all know how much I love crafting so that one makes sense…but why be so excited about Christmas Cards? Well let me tell you why – This year I actually feel like we are doing something different and worth hearing about! J Plus I love getting mounds of mail at the end of the year full of cards telling me how blessed everyone has been over the past year – of just to see how people have changed over the past year! Growing up there were certain families that we looked forward to getting their card every year (I don’t remember if it was because of their amazingly good looking sons – or another reason J!) Especially being so far away from our friends and family, it is comforting knowing that those bonds will stay strong because we are Christmas Card buddies!

Usually I order Christmas Cards from Walmart, because they are the cheapest. They haven’t gotten new patterns in a few years….and I don’t want to repeat any of my favorite ones so I went looking somewhere else this year! This year we will be using Shutterfly. I found this company through a link on someone else’s blog and was pleasantly surprised. I am a huge fan of the designs with the bright colors and the ones with brown, light blue, and red........I really really love them both!

I am actually having a hard time choosing what card I want to pick but this is definitely a favorite (click here). I love the idea of sending "Warm Holiday Wishes"....from Florida! :) I also love this design (click here). And maybe if our pictures turn out extra good this year, I will choose this one (click here).

If I get ambitious then I will definitely be doing these calendars in the future: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

And love that you can get high quality pictures through them in an hour!

http://www.shutterfly.com/upload-pictures

Seriously check them out!

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up:http://bit.ly/sfly2010

(Which is a huge blessing for us because on a tight budget...Christmas Cards were maybe not going to happen!)

Covered Baby Burp Cloths!

My little guy had acid reflux really bad when he was little, we used burp blankets instead of burp cloths! We pretty much covered the couch with blankets at all times and then switched them out when they would get spit up on. Unfortunately we didn't always have an unlimited supply of blankets handy everywhere we went so sometimes we had to use burp cloths. We found that the best burp cloths, in categories of absorption and usefulness, were cloth diapers! I have never used cloth diapers for their intended purpose but it only makes sense that they absorb really well! Now since we live in a society where everything has to be amazingly cute - covering these in cute flannel and adding embellishments is a must! :) Plus they make a super cheap baby gift! (A pack of 6 is like 6 bucks at Walmart.) I also have been making my own bibs (I will show those in a later post)!

Holiday Blocks

I am in charge of our big craft day for the women in my church. I decided for one of the crafts, we needed to do something that would last more than just one holiday - as most of us are poor college students and have a small crafting budget! With the help of Rebecca, (our Relief Society President) we came up with these blocks! We used a 4"x4"-8 foot piece of wood cut into pieces, which made each block roughly $0.30 a piece. Then we modge podged scrapbook paper onto the sides and then put a vinyl letter on each block! Super easy and cheap! Tell me what you think!

October Card Swap with Jen

Leaving Provo wasn't to hard for me, but moving away from family and friends was! My good friend Jen has made it really easy to still keep in touch and to help shorten the distance a little! We loved doing crafts together in Provo, and since we can't get together for craft day anymore, we decided to do a monthly card swap. It has been fun to send some cards and get some in the mail! I am loving it!


Here are the cards I made and sent to her:
Here are the cards she made and sent to me:

Thanks Jen! I look forward to this months cards!