12.30.2011

birthday post...a week late.

My 24th birthday was a week ago from today. It was a wonderful day filled with huge amounts of fun
and spent with lots of people that I love. It felt like a party all day long :)


There is no better way to start off your BIRTHday than with a waffle breakfast. Trust me. I had the waffle breakfast plus a 'waffle cake' with a candle in it and everyone singing "Happy Birthday". It was the best. And I would like to add that the waffles were excellent.


I was so excited when I opened my gifts and saw all the wonderful things everyone surprised me with. Somehow they all got the memo to get me card-making/craft things. I LOVE the embossing powders, the stamp sets, the stamp pads and pretty paper. Thank you so much everyone...Mom, Kathleen, Randy, Sharlee, Grandma Patti and Aunt Summer.


I also got to make a craft on my birthday :) Which was great because I love crafts. I made my very own ugly Christmas sweater to wear to work on Christmas Eve. My mom and I went on a hunt for a sweater at Goodwill but we had zero luck finding one. We had to resort to buying a red sweater and decorating it with felt Christmas cut-outs. I think the sweater turned out WAY better than any sweater we could've bought.


The final part of my birthday happened after a long day of waiting. When I was opening all my other gifts, Paul told me that his present for me wasn't ready yet. His present was definitely worth the wait!!! At first I thought that he found this t-shirt at some store, but then I found out that he designed the t-shirt just for me :) It was so cute because I could tell that he had put lots of time into designing the shirt for me and picking out the colors and getting it printed. It was the sweetest present ever and the first thing I said when I saw it was "I can't wait to blog about this!!!" HAHAHAHA.

To sum things up...my birthday was amazing!!!
AND I got to skype with my BFF birthday twin Julia which made my birthday even more amazing!

12.26.2011

Merry Christmas!!!

Day 25: I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. Paul and I had a wonderful day celebrating Christmas with his family in Oregon. My mom, her twin sister and my cousin were also able to be here so there was lots of laughter and love. We started the day by going to church; where we got to sing lots of Christmas songs and we got to hear the Christmas story. It was such a great way to spend Christmas morning.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
 Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"
                                  -Luke 2:11


Santa was pretty good to us this year. I was so excited to use our new matching stockings that I had made at the beginning of the month :) It made Christmas just a little bit more special. Paul only asked for socks in his stocking so Santa had to be a little creative and get him a biking reflective vest. This is basically for his paranoid wife who doesn't like him biking places in the dark. Now he will probably be spotted from more than a mile away and that is a good thing.


I was so happy to see so many pink things in my stocking. Santa must know that I love the color pink AND that I love math!!! {...I might be the only person who gets excited about a calculator in their stocking...} I also got some pens and post-it notes for the organizer inside of me.


My mom found these cute sport ball ornaments sold together in a set and it was a perfect match for Paul and I. He loves golf and I love tennis. I love that we are slowing collecting more and more sentimental ornaments. I can't wait until these are hung on our future Christmas trees.

I was so anxious for Paul to open his present from me because I really didn't know if he was going to like it. I know that sounds bad, but I have a husband that has everything he needs and rarely tells me what he wants for Christmas. A few weeks ago, I realized that Paul's winter jacket had seen its best days in Rexburg and that he needed a new one. I bought him this one in hopes that he would love it. I guess a thumbs up means he does :) 


Paul gave me something that I've been wanting for a really long time. I got a 
PHILIPS SONICARE ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH!!!
I was sooo happy when I opened the first part of the present. I say first part because instead of just giving me everything neatly in one box, he separated the different parts {toothbrush, charging base, carrying case and replacement toothbrush heads} into FOUR boxes. It made the opening process so much more exciting. And just for your information, I take teeth-brushing very seriously. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!


We hope everyone had a VERY MERRY Christmas :)

12.24.2011

It's Christmas Eve.

The past four days have gone by really, really fast.
My mom has been visiting and it is so much fun having her here.
Here is a quick review of what we have done.

Day 21: My mom and I made yummy treats to share with our friends and family.
This is the perfect combination of salty and sweet :)
Learn how to make this really simple treat here.

Day 22: I helped mom make her annual Christmas tree ornament.
I have really missed doing crafts with my mom so this was great.
We got a little crazy with the glitter glue and mod podge.




Day 23: We {Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Paul, Mom and I} went Christmas caroling.
This was such a wonderful way to spread the joy of the Christmas season.
Caroling was a really special activity and I'm so happy that we made some people smile.

Day 24: CHRISTMAS PIZZA!!!
The Gould's have a tradition of making homemade pizza on Christmas Eve.
I decided to keep with the tradition, but put a little twist on it.
It was very tasty and yummy :)
And it's supposed to look like a Christmas tree just in case you couldn't figure that out.




















ps. Paul surprised me with the FUNNIEST AND CUTEST birthday present ever.
More details about that and other birthday events coming soon.
Let's just get through Christmas first...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

12.20.2011

last minute Christmas things...

CHRISTMAS IS SO SOON!!!
{...I just had to get that off my chest...}


{...want to make your own Christmas mistletoe?? go here...}
Day 19: Over the weekend, I realized that there was a Christmas tragedy going on in my life. Okay, it wasn't really that bad BUT I felt I was missing out on a fun Christmas tradition. That tradition being...MISTLETOE!!! I think it finally dawned on me after hearing about 1,000 references to mistletoe in Christmas songs {thank you Big 5 Christmas music}. Anyway, I decided to remedy this tragic event as soon as I could. I looked on pinterest for different ideas about making homemade mistletoe and this is what I came up with. I love how it looks and I love that I now have the Christmas tradition of kissing under the mistletoe in my life...and Paul's :) Speaking of Paul, last night when I finished making the mistletoe, I told him that I was waiting for him underneath the mistletoe. He was in the other room and must have been doing something very important because he didn't come right away. I became kind of impatient so I left and went upstairs. About 10 minutes later I hear Paul running up the stairs and then he runs into the room that I am in with the mistletoe in hand, he holds it over my head and then kisses me. It was so cute. Looking back, I'm happy that he didn't come right away and I left and went upstairs because I just love the way it turned out.

Did I mention that Paul is so perfect for me? Well...he is :) 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Enough with the mushy gushy stuff. . .

Day 20: Today I made homemade Christmas stocking stuffers. Yes, I decided to help Santa do his job. All three things I made were really simple and didn't take much time so if you still need some last minute stocking stuffers hopefully this will help.

Ribbon Embellished Paper Clips: 
This project was easy peasy. All you need are some colored JUMBO paper clips and some self-adhesive ribbon {...which I didn't even know existed until this project...} Basically, just position the ribbon strand on the paper clip where you want it and then press the two ends of the ribbon strand together. I clipped the top of the ribbon just for fun. The ideas/themes behind this project are limitless! This is a perfect stocking stuffer for a teacher, someone who loves being organized or the reader who needs a bookmark :)

Magnetic Printables:
For this project, you need your favorite printable and a magnetic frame. Here are the quick and easy instructions...print, cut, and put in frame. I think everyone can do that :) I just love printables so much and I know that seeing inspiring quotes each day can uplift and comfort you. This is a great stocking stuffer for EVERYONE!!! Everyone needs a little quote on their fridge that they can see daily to help remind them of the joys in life. I found my printables here, here and last but definitely not least here. Ps. the dollar tree has magnetic frames.

Sewing Machine Pin Cushion: 
Of the three projects, this one was the most time consuming. I mostly used this tutorial to help me. The one thing that I did different was I filled my pin cushion with sand and not pillow stuffing. The reason I did this is because my mother-in-law told me that the sand will sharpen your pins each and every time you stick them in the cushion...and sharp pins is always a plus when you are sewing. Also, if you are going to use sand to fill your pin cushion, you need to iron on interfacing to the wrong side of your fabric before you sew. This will help your cushion not leak sand everywhere. This is a perfect stocking stuffer for all sewers...those just beginning to learn how to sew and those that have been sewing for years :)


IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!

12.18.2011

the true Christmas spirit.



Day 18: This is what Christmas is all about :)

Wild Lights.

Day 17: Last night Paul and I went to see Wild Lights!!! It was really fun to walk through this awesome display of thousands of twinkling colored Christmas lights. There was also fun Christmas music playing so that made it so much better. This was a great way to celebrate the Christmas season and also a great way to spend a night with Paul. 
My pictures are pretty blurry, but I kind of like them :)



At Wild Lights, there was a main building you could go into to get warmed up and you could also get FREE hot chocolate!!! Along with the free hot chocolate, you could make your own mini gingerbread house. It was mainly for the kids, but Paul and I decided that it would be fun for us too. Well, I decorated my gingerbread house and lovedddd doing it. Meanwhile, Paul just ate the free candy and gingerbread house :)

12.17.2011

Christmas time is {almost} here.

So sorry for lacking in the blog post department. I know my blog audience {Priscila} really misses me when I don't post :) I've been so so so busy lately, especially with work. 'Tis the season for a busy life if you work in retail. Christmas is a week away and I am really excited. I'm excited because I love Christmas and I'm excited because after Christmas I will be able to get back to a regular schedule...well at least at work :)

...the 25 Days of Christmas continues...

{Day 12: Christmas nails}
{Day 13: Christmas Cards #1}
{Day 14: Christmas cookies}
{Day 15: Christmas Cards #2}
{Day 16: Christmas Packages}

Stay tuned for tomorrows post about Wild Lights. We are going tonight and I am so ready to see the awesome and amazing Christmas Light Display :)

12.11.2011

a post dedicated to Paul :)

At the end of November when I told Paul about what I wanted to do for the "25 days of Christmas"...he kind of rolled his eyes at me and told me I had too much Christmas spirit. Since then he has changed his mind a little and now he gets somewhat excited when he can do my daily Christmas activity with me. Sometimes he will just sit with me while I make a Christmas craft just to say that he was involved :) {Okay, that only happened once...but still...he's a great support} Over the last two days Paul and I have done the Christmas activity together and it has been so much fun. Life is super busy right now, so it was great to spend a little extra time with Paul!

Day 10: Yesterday, Paul and I helped cater the local fireman's Christmas dinner. This was a great Christmas activity because we were able to give service in our community AND we got to wear sweet red Christmas aprons. Paul says the best part about helping was eating the leftovers.

Day 11: Today I thought it would be a wonderful day to take our Christmas card photo. I'm trying to start the tradition of sending Christmas cards out early on in our marriage so it is something we continue to do in the coming years. Here's a little preview...some of you may see more of this :)

12.09.2011

ketchup.

{Day 7: I forgot how funny this movie was until I 
watched it two days ago!!! I love that there is SO 
much Christmas spirit throughout the entire movie!!! 
This movie definitely got me so excited for snow and 
Santa and all the other little things that Christmas brings.}

{Day 8: Who doesn't LOVE Christmas pom-pom garland?? 
When I found these Christmas colored pom-pom's at Michael's 
for way cheap and I knew exactly what I wanted to make. This is 
such a quick and easy Christmas craft :) Just one more Christmas
decoration to make our bedroom look super festive!}

{Day 9: Tonight I am wrapping some presents and
hopefully making some presents. In case you didn't already
know...I love wrapping presents and I also love making
presents. I think I'm going to call today a "ketchup" day...
I've been very busy lately so it's good to have
some time to catch up on things.}



ps. I got the best Christmas present in the world today. 
I got pulled over for speeding {...I know, I know...} 
and Officer Willis decided to give me a warning and NOT a ticket. 
SO SO SO HAPPY AND GRATEFUL!!! 

12.06.2011

.

Day 6: Today I realized that the pile of Christmas presents in Santa's workshop is getting bigger and bigger and none of the presents have names on them. I knew that I had to do something about this because it would be so terrible for someone to open the wrong gift :( I found some free printable gift tags here, here, and here and went to work. This was a really fun and easy way to make sure the RIGHT gifts get to the RIGHT people. 
{It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!}

12.05.2011

the stockings WILL be hung by the chimney with care.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...



Day 5: Today I made Christmas stockings for Paul and I :) And let me tell you, it was a really fun project!!! I thought it would only take me two hours to complete and not FIVE, but I'm beginning to learn that sewing projects always take longer than expected. I really like how they turned out!!!

Here are some quick/maybe-not-so-quick instructions
{...because it's not too late to make some Christmas stockings for yourself and your family...}

To make ONE stocking you need:
  • 1/2 yard of fabric for body and lining
  • 1/4 yard of matching fabric for cuff, monogrammed letter and hang tab 
  • Batting
  • Stocking pattern piece {found here}
  • Heat N Bond LITE {I made the mistake of trying to use Heat N Bond Ultrahold. It doesn't work...just trust me on this one.}
  • Sewing machine and your typical sewing things {thread, pins, fabric scissors, etc}


{Step 1}

Step 1. Use the stocking pattern piece to cut out 2 stocking fronts and 2 stocking backs. A good way to do this is to pin the pattern piece to your fabric when it is folded in half and then cut. These will be used for the body and the lining of the stocking. Also, while you have your scissors out, use the pattern piece to cut out one piece of batting for your stocking.

Step 2. Find a good font on your computer that will work for the letter on the stocking. You will want to print the letter and cut it out. {TIP: I used the font Goudy Stout in size 280} Next, attach a square piece of fabric that is bigger than your letter to the Heat N Bond LITE. There will be directions on how to attach this on the packaging of the Heat N Bond. Pin the printed cut out letter to the square piece of fabric and then cut out a new fabric letter.

{Step 3}
{Step 4}
Step 3. Next, you will need to attach your fabric letter to the front stocking piece. This is also explained on the packaging of the Heat N Bond. Basically, 
you just place the letter where you want it and iron it on. {You will need to peel the backing off first} 

Step 4. This step wasn't in the original plan, but as soon as I placed the letter on the stocking I realized that the letter kind of gets washed out from the stocking fabric print. So I used a zig-zag stitch with white thread to go around the letter to make it stand out more. This takes some time and patience. I tried to go extra slow so I could stay nice and close to the edge of the letter with the zig-zag stitch.

Step 5. The last thing to do dealing with the letter is fairly easy. Pin the batting behind the front stocking piece and then with your machine trace the letter with a straight stitch. Once again, just take this step slow so you don't make any silly mistakes. This will help the letter to 'POP'. This will also attach the batting to the fabric. 

Step 6. Now it's time to sew the body and the lining of the stocking. For the body, put the front stocking piece {with letter and batting} and back stocking piece right sides together and sew around the entire stocking body, except the top :) Once you are finished, flip the stocking right-side-out. Repeat the same thing with the lining. You will not have batting on the front piece {this makes it somewhat easier} and you need to leave a 3 inch opening on one the the sides. THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR LATER. Keep the lining right sides together.

Step 7Once you have done all of the above, you are ready to stop reading what I have to say and go look at this MAJOR HELP of a tutorial. I found this tutorial very easy-peasy to follow. All the instructions were explained clearly and I didn't have any trouble finishing my stocking.


HAPPY SEWING :)
...this is my first time writing instructions on how to sew/make something
SO let me know if you have any questions...

12.04.2011

a perfect way to start the holiday season.

{...Love these men...}
Day 4: It was SO wonderful to watch the Christmas devotional and to hear the inspiring messages from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I absolutely love Christmas music so it was great to listen to the songs performed by the Mormon Tabernacle choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. The messages and songs helped me remember the real reason for the season of Christmas. It allowed me to think about all the gifts and blessings I have been given from my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. More importantly, I was able to think about what I can do personally during Christmas time to repay the GIVERS of those gifts. 

12.03.2011

oh Christmas tree :)

Day 3: I had never had the experience to actually go "hunting" for a Christmas tree in the woods. Well, I will never get to say that again because today that is exactly what we did. We {my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, Paul, and myself} drove up to the top of a mountain to find our Christmas tree. It was so much fun to walk around trying to find that one of a kind tree just for us. There were lots to choose from, and I mean LOTS! 


After looking around a bit, we finally picked out the perfect tree. This is when the boys got to show off their muscles and use a hand saw to cut down the tree. Since this was a first for me, they let me help with the cutting a little bit...until they realized that I wasn't making any progress and I gladly turned the job back over to them. After cutting it down, all we had to do was drag it to the truck, put it in the truck and drive home. It was such a neat experience and something I definitely recommend :)  


Now the only thing left to do is decorate the tree!!!

12.02.2011

busy day.


Day 2:
Today was SUPER busy day. I had to work {clean someone's house} in the morning and I just got off my closing shift at Big 5...whew! I knew that today would be jammed packed full of stuff, so I planned for my daily DO-SOMETHING-CHRISTMAS to be cute, simple and fun. I wanted to get out some Christmas decorations and put them in our bedroom, but I quickly remembered that our Christmas stuff is in a box packed way away. So instead I found something else that would make do. I looked on pinterest and found some amazing Christmas printables and knew immediately that they would be a wonderful Christmas treat for all to see. I framed {...so lucky I found some extra frames laying around...} the printables, added a festive candle holder and strand of Christmas lights ANDDDDD there you have it folks...my cute, simple and fun Christmas decorations. 

{Printables found here and here.}

12.01.2011

December FIRST

The first day of December is finally here! HIP HIP HOORAY! I am always so excited for the month of Christmas {...and my birthday...} and this year I have decided to do something that will bring even more Christmas happiness into this wonderful season. It is kind of like an advent calendar BUT in blogging form. I am trying to do one thing each day to help me get ready for the holidays and spread the joy of Christmas AND THEN I'll blog about it :)


DAY 1: I decided that since I work in retail I needed some Christmas bling/jewelry to wear to work. I wanted to make some cutesy earrings so I went looking for some ideas online. I found this button Christmas tree ornament and I fell in love with it. I was so excited to re-create it, but making it into an earring NOT an ornament. It was relatively easy to make the earrings and the list of supplies is not that long. All you need is LOTS of  green buttons, a few brown buttons, star buttons, craft wire, silver fish hook earrings, and a good pair of pliers {I raided my husband's tool box}. I found all of the supplies at Jo-Ann's, with the exception of my mother-in-law letting me take a few buttons from her so I would have more of a selection. Once you decide what order you want the buttons in, just thread the wire through the buttons, secure the wire to the earring hook and you're good to go. You now have an awesome pair of earrings to wear to all your Christmas parties :)

{I love my new Christmas tree earrings!!!}

I was only going to make one pair of earring BUT I basically ran right into this second project. When I went to Jo-Ann's to stock up on green buttons, the Christmas light bulbs literally jumped out at me. They were so cute I just couldn't pass them up. I quickly saw that there was already a loop to attach the light to an earring hook so I made my way to the jewelry section of the store, picked out some GOLD earring hooks and with a good pair of pliers and a few good tugs I had myself THREE sets of Christmas light bulb earrings. I'm in Christmas earring heaven right now :)

{As you can tell, I got a little carried away editing this picture on picnik}

One last thing, DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR JO-ANN'S COUPONS WHEN YOU GET YOUR SUPPLIES!!!

11.29.2011

ps.


Here's a birthday 
shout-out to my beautiful and AMAZING
sister who turned 22 last Friday!!!

Happy 
Birthday 
Whitney

I LOVE YOU!!!

holiday spirit.

{My favorite place in the whole wide world!!!}
I SURVIVED ANOTHER BLACK FRIDAY WORKING IN RETAIL!!! I'm happy to report that I only had to deal with like THREE mean customers. It was a pretty crazy day to say the least, but it sure got me in the holiday spirit :) I love working at Big 5 during the holidays because I get paid to listen to Christmas music!!! Seriously, life could not get better.

Meanwhile, if I'm not working I can be found here...


{Santa's Workshop...the presents are already starting to pile up!!!}

Yes, I'm spending lots of time in Santa's workshop and I love it :) My goal this year is to have most of my Christmas gifts for everyone HANDMADE. I figured since I have a sewing machine I better put it to good use. And I have lots and lots of fun fabric that needs to be used as you can see in the picture above. I'm finding lots of the tutorials and patterns for my gifts on Pinterest. I don't know what I would do without Pinterest...probably have lots and lots of free time!!! Anyway, it's been a really good learning experience for me to use what little sewing knowledge I have and also to learn lots of new things about sewing. I have made some really silly mistakes...like attaching the interfacing to the WRONG side of the fabric {OOPS} and stitching a pocket CLOSED when it is supposed to be open {thank goodness for a seam-riper}. But from those mistakes I learn so so SO much. I'm really excited to sew and I'll put up pictures of the things I make AFTER Christmas. Just in case, certain people are blog stalking me :) Christmas is supposed to be about surprises, right???

I hope everyone is getting in the holiday spirit!