Advent Calendar

Is it just me or is the last week of November going by real slow? One day it's Halloween and then the next it is Thanksgiving and then a month later it is December 1st. Anyone else feel that way? I think a lot of it had to do with Thanksgiving being early this year. I'm just so excited for Christmas season! I've tried putting off most Holiday things until December. Don't get me wrong our lights and decorations are already up, but waiting to get truly into the spirit. One more day!

I"m really excited this year because I made an Advent Calendar. It starts on the first, but we put it up today.

 To make this I just cut a 4x4 square out of Christmas Paper that came in a holiday pack that I will never use, I really like it for this though. Then I Printed off the numbers from studio diy. I cut those out and attached to the front with homemade glue dots.

Then I made up a little calendar and starting filling in which activities would be good for what days. I tried to keep the weekdays easy and do the more time consuming ones on weekends. After everything looked good I handwrote the activities onto the paper. I also added the date we should be on incase we get behind.

This will be tomorrows card...

I just hung them up with clothespins (I wish I would have painted or covered with paper). I hung them up with 1 in the middle and switching off. This way when we get to only a few days left all the numbers aren't to one side, they will be in the middle.

Here is our list of things to do. We'll see how much we stick to it. I'm planning on doing some posts on the activities.

24- Play with Nativity Blocks
23- Christmas Devotional on BYU tv
22- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
21-  Play with Magnet Nativity
20- Make a homeless bag and give it to someone before Christmas
19- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
18- Watch Muppets Christmas Carol
17- Go to Tucson Zoo
16- Go see Temple Lights
15- Watch Mickey's Christmas Carol
14- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
13- Make and Decorate Sugar Cookies
12- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it.
11- Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas
10- Watch Home Alone
9- Watch Mr. Krugers Christmas
8- Drive around and look at Christmas Lights
7- Visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop
6- Unwrap a Christmas book and read it
5- Watch Home Alone 2
4- Open Christmas Jammies and watch Polar Express
3- Go on Polar Express
2- Watch Elf
1- Play with Magnet Activity
0- CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope this gave you some ideas! I know this time of year is hectic with all that is going on. But make sure you take the time to enjoy it! Happy Holidays!

~CJ

Zoo Scavenger Hunt

I just bought a zoo membership and I am feeling like the coolest mom in the world! I'm more excited than my little bug. Mainly because he has no clue what is in store. In celebration of my membership I'm planning a zoo day with some of my family members (4 of them have memberships too). So between the memberships and me getting a free culture pass at the mesa library everyone is getting in for free.

To give the kids an added bonus I made a scavenger hunt for them to work on while we are admiring all of the not so wild life. I just created a table in a word program and added pictures from the Phoenix zoo website. I found one online here, but our zoo doesn't have a hippo so I had to make my own. Hopefully you can use it too. If you want me to make a change for you let me know craftsbycjg@gmail.com

Here is the link to print your own scavenger hunt! When they mark off 8 spaces they get a treat. When they mark off all 15 they get another one. I have these zoo fruit snacks purchased from Sams Club.

We tested this out earlier today. As you can see it was well used. The kids enjoyed it, especially my Nephew Wyatt who is about 3 1/2. Planning on making a different 2 based on the sides of the park. We only did half today so we didn't see all that was on our list. We still got our treat though!

Do you do anything to make the zoo more fun?

Happy Monday!

~CJ

Applesauce Pork Chops

This is one of those things where you find a recipe, you try it you like it, but it is just too much work and unnecessary things. The original recipe called for things like apple cider vinegar, dry mustard and other things that I don't normally have around the house. That is fine if you are trying to impress food critics. But when it's just my husband and I that is there for dinner SIMPLE is what I'm looking for! So this is my simplified version...

Ingredients:

4 pork chops (I've also done this with pork loin still in the long tubey form)

1 C apple sauce

1/4 C Brown sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix Everything together minus the chops
3. Brush on apple mixture
4. Bake for 30 minutes or so.

That's it, pretty easy right? You can also make a nice presentation and bake some apple slices with it. I hope you are willing to give this a try. Let me know what you think and any ideas you have to make it even better

.

~CJ

Hair Bow Holder

Here is the before, I got the frame at Goodwill on their Dollar Thursdays so yep the frame cost me $1! The picture is horrible, but the frame was fine...

BEFORE

I tried to match the colors of the room. Hopefully I did ok. The first thing I did was spray painted the frame. I did about 3 coats. The spray paint cost $2-$3 I think.

Next I hot glued the ribbons on. I wanted to make it a little unique so I did the ribbons diagonal instead of Horizontal of verticle as I have always seen with these. It was hard to get them tight because I tried gluing to the inside of the frame instead of the back because in my mind it would look better against the wall. (It will make more sense in the next picture... hopefully) I tied a bow out of a piece of tulle and hot glued it to the bottom. It adds a nice touch I think.

AFTER

See the ends of the ribbon? They are on the lip where the backing of the frame would sit instead of just the back. Not sure how it would turn out just doing the back.

I then hammered on some saw tooth hooks so it could be hung up. These are like $.97 at Wal-Mart for a pack of 5.




Total cost= $5 tops The ribbons I already had and the flower clips I made awhile ago. Not a bad project!


~CJ

Puppy Party: Activities

This is post #4 about my little Bug's 1st birthday party. 

What is a party without some activities? 

The first activity we did was pass the toy. I didn't get any pictures of this game but basically it was like hot potato except with a dog toy. I was originally going to get dog songs to play, but well you know how it goes, put it off until it's too late. We just played whatever music I had on my phone because our stereo wouldn't play load enough. The puppies had fun squeaking the toy.

Next we did an obstacle course to see who was "best in show". There were some good puppies at our doghouse. This was the course...

First I threw a ball and they had to fetch it and bring it back to me.

Craft Day 2012

So I am planning a craft day on Saturday, November 17th from 10am to whenever you are finished. If you are near Mesa and want to participate let me know. I will have everything you need to finish the craft that day. If you sign up, please please please don't back out! If you can't come you can still get the kit and make it on your own. Any questions let me know. Here is the list of craft kits I am doing (will be updated as I complete each craft):

Burlap Banner= $3 for 6 pieces .25 for each additional piece

Choose between white, tan, red, black, brown, orange and green. I will have different colors of paint to choose from, but if you want to make sure I'll have something specific let me know what color you want. Also what word you are planning to spell out just so I can make sure I have the letters ready. The pieces will be pre-cut at around 2.5 x 3.5inches.

Santa Frame= $2.50 (5 Available)
3.5in. x 3.5in. opening. Buckle will most likely be different. This was just something I had on hand. (If you don't want to do Santa you can something else you have in mind.)

(I'm going to distress this more, just wanted to give you an idea. Different ribbons available.) 

Burlap Bubble Wreath: $10
Choose between white, tan, red, black, brown, orange and green (refer to picture above)
I'm thinking I will pre-cut the Squares... maybe!

Wonderful time sign= $5 (5 available)
Not done with this one either (Shocking I know). Just picture this on a almond colored board. Will have hooks on the back to hang up on a wall.

Magnet Board= $8 3 magnets included (3 Available!)

Tons of paper to choose from. There is also holes drilled at the top and ribbon to hang it up with.

Snowflake Wreath= $10

I need an order form by November 14th! If possible, I'd love to receive payment then. Or atleast half...

You can email form to craftsbycjg@gmail.com or fb or just give it to me in person.
Click here for an order form

I'm really excited and I hope you are too! Feel free to invite a friend or 2!

~CJ

Puppy Party: Decorations

This is post number 2 for my little bugs 1st Birthday. 

This post is going to focus on the decorations that we used. The theme was a puppy/dog theme and I wanted the kids to get that feel as soon as they came.

In our carport we laid out paw prints out of red, blue, and yellow paper that I die cut at the nearby scrapbook store.  It was a nice touch and showed that the party was in the backyard and not the front door.

The guests would then see this sign.

Puppy Party: Invitations

My little bug turned 1! I am still in shock, I don't know what to think. Like 6 months ago or so The Hubs and I decided to get our Bug a dog for his birthday, so going with that I started planning a puppy themed birthday party. Well we ended up getting 2 golden labs for free a few months later, but I kept with the theme.

This is a few days after we got them. (Tonka and Ella)

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

 Is it just me or does bacon make everything better??? 

If you agree you have to try this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 bunch asparagus

1/2 package of bacon

Directions:

Homemade Mod Podge

I found this out and feel like it is my duty to share the word with everyone. I found this at Life in Rehab. I guess it should be common sense that mod podge is just glue and water, but I never would have had the guts to try it myself first.

All you need is water, school glue (like elmers) and a jar. Take equal parts water and glue, pour in a jar, and shake, shake, shake!

It works great! Costs like 50 cents. I made it for a favor for a craft day I hosted along with a foam paint brush. It was a nice touch.

I'm probably going to reference this post a lot since I have already done so much with it.

So go ahead, give it a try. Let us know what you created with your super cheap homemade mod podge!


~CJ