Friday Friends!

Its Friday Friends! again! My how time flies. I went shopping yesterday and got nothing else done! But today, I am finishing my Gratitude Journal and working on my Pumpkin Patch album, both of which you will see soon.

Our first friend today is Craft Passion. She has some cote ideas and some really fun tutorials. I found two that intrigued me, so I'm including both of them today. They are zipper bags, and I do mean zipper bags and not zippered bags. The bags are actually made from zippers! They are so cool! If you would like to see how they are made, check them out on these two links: http://www.craftpassion.com/2011/08/zip-it-up-pencil-case-tutorial.html? http://www.craftpassion.com/2011/07/zip-itself-coin-purse-tutorial.html

Aren't they cute?

Our next friend is Cindy from Skip To My Lou. I know Halloween's over, but I just found these adorable witch shoes and just had to share them. You can make a note of them for next year. That's what I'm going to do! http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/

Fill 'em up with treats and you're ready to go!

Carolyn, from Carolyn's Homework, has a fabulous advent calendar made with envelopes! It is good looking and useful, too. While you're there, check out her other projects. Her blog is fabulous, too.
http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/2010/11/inkling-advent-calendar-book.html

Our final friend for today is Stacie at the Creative Create. She did a post on different ways to display your family photos that has some really great ideas. Here are two of them and you can check out the rest at http://thecreativecrate.blogspot.com/2011/10/photo-decorating-ideas_01.html

I think this one would be extra-good for a teen's room!

She also gives a bonus link to http://amandacarverdesigns.com/?p=1446 for this project!

I love, love, love this one!!! I may be looking for a couple of pallets soon....

So long for today, and remember....the true measure of our thanksgiving is not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them. Until next time,

A new month...

November heralds the beginning of the end. We all start to look at our lives, our families and all the things we're grateful for. Its a time for reflection on the past year, on the good and the bad, and even more on the in-between. My life has taken a few unexpected turns since this time last year, and I've decided that I need to take a lot closer look at how it has affected me and how I've handled it. Or maybe NOT handled it. I think I may have stuffed some things in my mental closet so I wouldn't have to face the end results. I know I have been having to force myself to go to church every Sunday, and that doesn't happen to me very often. I love my church and my religion. I love my Savior and I'm very grateful for everything he did for me, so that I might have the opportunity to make my own choices, good or bad. My week is just not the same when I don't go to church, but lately I've had a hard time going. I'm going to have to take a good, long look inside me and find out what the problem is.

My husband's heart attack opened my eyes to something else.... my horrible lifestyle. Maybe not horrible, but not great, that's for sure. I eat too much fried food, too many chips and too many snacks. I snack way too late at night. I stay up too late and I don't get enough hours of sleep. I don't get even a smidgen of the exercise I need, and I spend too much time on the computer (Imagine that!). There is a lot more I could add to the list, but you get the idea.

So, what am I going to do about these things? And how am I going to express my thanks to my Heavenly Father for all the good things in my life? (And there are plenty of them!) I am going to keep a gratitude journal for the month of November. I realize I'm a few days behind, but I'll catch up. I am going to recognize and list and discuss and doodle and glue and rearrange, whatever my little heart needs to do to be able to express my thanks for my life and all the blessings I receive everyday. I am going to focus more on the positive and less on the negative. I will keep you posted (no pun intended) on my progress, and if this works for me, I may do it for the whole year, starting in January. We could make this a regular thing. How does Talk to Me Tuesday sound? I'm going to think about this and maybe we'll start a new feature. But for now....

Spider S'mores

Its time to move on to other things. I know Halloween is over, but I have just one more idea to show you. I found these on the Rhodes Bake-N-Serve weekly recipe email. I thought they were so cute that I just had to make them. They were super easy and my family loved them. Just one little secret....don't use those new HUGE campfire-roasting-size marshmallows. They take so long to melt, that my mixture turned to caramel! So here's the recipe, and if you want more really good recipes and fun things to make, go to rhodesbread.com and check it out. And sign up for the weekly email, while you're at it. You'll love the ideas and recipes.

Spider S'mores

Ingredients

6 Rhodes Warm-N-Serv™ Soft Dinner Rolls
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
marshmallows
1/2 cup coarsely crushed graham crackers
chocolate frosting
chocolate sprinkles
M &M’s
licorice laces cut into 4-inch lengths

Instructions
Bake rolls following instructions on package. Place on rack to cool. When cool, slice off tops and hollow out to make a small bowl. Place butter in a saucepan and melt. Add 40 marshmallows and continue cooking on low until completely melted*. Add graham crackers and combine well. Quickly fill each hollowed out roll with the marshmallow filling while it is warm (over fill just a little). Replace the roll tops. Frost each one with chocolate frosting and cover with chocolate sprinkles. To make the eyes, cut slices off of a marshmallow, using a hot, wet, sharp knife. Add M&M’s to each eye and one for a nose. Make holes with a wooden skewer where legs attach and poke in the licorice pieces.

*Can be melted in the microwave using a large microwave safe bowl. Use 20 second intervals until completely melted and then add your graham cracker crumbs.

We had very colorful spiders. I couldn't find black string licorice, so our
 spiders had red legs. And I ran out of chocolate sprinkles and had to use what
 I had....multicolor!

That's it for today. I have rambled enough. Hope you all had a good Halloween. Here are a few photos of our pumpkin carving adventure. They turned out pretty good.

Kristen looks like she's having fun, doesn't she?

Cameron and Halena dig out the pumpkin guts.

Eeeeeeeeeew! We saved some to plant next year.

Yes, this is me with my arm in the pumpkin.

My son and husband waited until everyone else was done.

The first four done. Left to right: Kristen's evil face, my Frankie, Hally's witch and Cameron's ghostie-ghoulie.

Chuck's really evil face.

Andy has always loved Scooby Doo.

We couldn't get them all in one photo. but this was how they looked on
 Halloween, all lined up on the fence posts, waiting for the trick-or-treaters.

Have a good day and remember....to succeed, we must first believe that we can.

Happy Halloween!

I've been having so much fun surfing the web, looking at all of the blogs and websites out there. My hubby thinks I've been having TOO MUCH fun and spending too much time. Little does he know how much time I spend after he goes to bed! And I'm sure I've only scratched the surface.

How many of you out there remember making Christmas trees out of Reader's Digest magazines when you were little? Maybe you have to be as old as I am to remember them, but they were cool and fun to make. If I can find a magazine thick enough, I'll make one to show you. Anyway. I found a pumpkin that is reminiscent of those trees and I decided to make one. I got the idea at Creations by Kara. But I made a few changes. I used a really thick, hard cover book. I made my pumpkin shape and traced it on the book. Then I had my son cut it out with the scroll saw, cover and all. By leaving the cover on, it kept the pages from getting caught up in the saw blade and tearing to bits. (It also let's me use the cover to protect it when I pack it away.)

Then I removed the cover by slicing it off with an Xacto knife, cutting inside the cover between the cover and the front page.

With the cover removed, I rifled through the pages,

 "Fluffing" the pages so they don't stick together when they get painted.

I decided that I wanted to be able to close my pumpkin for storage, so I drilled holes to tie it shut instead of gluing it. When I put it away, I will just snip the threads, close it up and store it in the cover!

I threaded some really heavy carpet thread through the holes and pulled it up really tight and tied knots.

I trimmed the extra thread off so it wouldn't show and then pulled the two halves together, fanning out the pages.

I didn't have any wide green ribbon, but I did still have some of my Dollar Store leaves. (I think I'm going to get some ribbon, though, because I really like it!) Add to that some curly raffia and a piece of my treasured driftwood for the stem, and Voila!

My pumpkin!

 

My grandchildren really thought this was really cool. Wait 'til they get to make Christmas trees! Just remember, as you go through life...Attitude is everything! Until next time,

Friday Friends!

My knee is feeling better today, but still not back to normal. When I get up and walk around, it hurts for a good while after I sit back down. But it IS getting better, and that's what counts!

Today on Friday Friends we have a variety of goodies. I had a hard time choosing this week. Do you realize how much time I spend on this weekly post?!? It takes me HOURS because I have so much fun looking and I bounce from site to site and forget that I have a mission. Then I can't remember where I saw a particular project and have to go back and start at the beginning and work my way back to it. I'm sure I should be able to do this more quickly, but I do love to peruse everyone's blogs and websites. OK. So this week we start with A Diamond in the Stuff. (Cute name, huh?) I found the cutest little ribbon trees for Christmas. I have never much liked this kind of tree, but I really like these.

You'll find them at http://adiamondinthestuff.blogspot.com/2010/12/no-sew-ribbon-trees.html .

Next is something I feel like we should all have at Thanksgiving, and that's some way to show gratitude for all our many blessings. At Jelly Bean Junkyard, Karly has gone through some rough times, and her blog is her way to cope, to rejoin the world of the living. Go over and check it out at http://jellybeanjunkyard.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/tuesday-tutorial-give-thanks-gratitude-board/

Embellishing Life is where I actually saw the gratitude board first, but she linked back to Jelly Bean Junkyard, so I used the original one, but I liked both blogs, so the next project is from Jenny at Embellishing Life. I have seen a lot of wreaths made from paper and from book pages, but never one like this. It's gorgeous! I think I'll make one, minus the bats, to hang all year 'round. Maybe color a few of the roses on one side. I don't know. We'll see. Anyway, check it out at

http://embellishinglifeeveryday.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-page-wreath-embellish-for-any.html

Isn't it beautiful?

A close-up of the roses.

My last offering for the day is from Craft with Confidence. Its a sweet little bee ball that any baby will love. It's fairly simple to make and soft and cuddly. It has friends, too! A ladybug and a spider. Look them all up at  http://craft-with-confidence.blogspot.com/2010/09/bubble-bee-tutorial-bug-1-of-3.html

What child could resist these?

Well, that's all for today. Hope you like what I like. Have a good weekend and see you back on Monday. And remember..."Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." Henry David Thoreau

Pain-haze ramblings....

I finally figured out how to move the signature! Remember I told you I had learned how to put a signature on my blog? Well, when you put in the code for it, it puts it at the top left of the blog and it won't move down! Today I decided to try anything I could think of, so I moved it all the way to the right, and from there it WILL move down. Yay!  Sniff...sniff...I feel so proud...... :)

This will be a short post today. I am laid up in bed with a very painful knee. I don't know what caused it, but yesterday my knee popped really loud and really hard. Talk about pain! I thought I was going down to the ground! I was in the dressing room at Fashion Bug at the time, and I didn't want to alarm anyone, so I screamed silently while getting myself onto the little bench. I finally got myself dressed again and hobbled out to the car, where my hubby awaited me. He took me directly to the doctor's office, and HE put me on bed rest. He said if its not better in 2-3 days, he wants me to have an MRI. He thinks I might have torn some ligaments. Either that or I had a baker's cyst behind my knee that burst. Any way you look at it, it WAS NOT FUN!

A neighbor down the street and around the corner has done a super job decorating for Halloween. The picture doesn't do it justice, but its the best I could do, because there's just too much to get into one photo. Also, I want to show you my Dollar Store treasure. I bought the wreath, some leaves and pumpkins, cost $4, plus I got a bunch of Fall flowers at a yard sale, cost $2. Total cost, $6. Not bad, huh?

Lastly, I found this quote that I really like and thought you might, too. It demonstrates what is real and what is really important in life. Not the window dressing, but the real stuff.

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others." Audrey Hepburn

Have a good day and remember to keep it real.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch Saturday and it was fun! My daughter-in-law had never been to a real pumpkin patch, so it was fun to watch her as she wandered around, looking at all the stuff. And trying to pick a pumpkin! I think she changed her mind at least three times, but that's what its all about, right? We bought over 200 pounds of pumpkin by the time we were through! We couldn't even fit it all in the trunk. One of them had to go in the back seat with me and Halena. Next Saturday will be the great Hall Family pumpkin carve-off. Stay tuned for photos. For now, here are some photos of our search for the perfect pumpkin.

Part of the pumpkin patch.

Hiding in the corn stalks.

Two down, four more to go.

That's four....

The wagon is getting more and more full.

My little pumpkin girl.

Taking a little rest.

A good time was had by all, that is until we got to the scale and the register. WOW! 200 pounds of pumpkin at .26 a pound...you do the math.

Now I have a quick and easy project. I call them Spooky Spoolies. I have a whole collection of wooden thread spools and I'm finally ready to let go of a few of them. They are pretty hard to come by nowadays, so I hang on to them pretty tightly. The pictures will be pretty self-explanatory.

My little spoolie family.



Sorry its blurry. The mummy is wrapped with plumber's
 tape, or pipe tape, or whatever YOU call it.

A stick for the stem, wrapped in jute. Curly raffia and some leaves finish it off.

A green pom-pom for her nose.

The mummy and the witch have yarn hair. Wrap the yarn around two fingers about 15 or 20 times and tie it really tight. Cut the loops and trim to the length you like. Put some hot glue on the edges of the hole and stuff the middle of the yarn hair down inside. All the black lines are made with black fabric paint. Googly eyes for the mummy and you're done! The kids will love to make or receive these cute little spoolies, so make a dozen or two!

That's it for tonight. I'm so tired, I can't hold my eyes open any longer. Oh, yeah...my husband got home today, so maybe I'll sleep a little better. After all, my future awaits me. C.S. Lewis said, "The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." Have a great Monday. Gramma G.