My Recent Absence...

I am so sorry for my absence!

I have had in-laws and my parents over for the last week and had no time and no motivation to craft or to blog.

But I am back and I have some fun projects in the works, so stay tuned!

FYI: I am going to start building furniture! I know! Crazy!

Mean People at Christmas?!

I got my first mean comment today.

A week before Christmas!

The nerve!

I know that sometimes I have typos and sometimes I use words incorrectly. That is life. I like to try to type like I talk, and sometimes that is not correct.

So I received a comment about how I misspelled a word. It was the "voila". I spelled it "whala".

At the time I knew it was wrong. Spell check couldn't help me and I was lazy and didn't pull up the dictionary. I let it slide.

BIG DEAL!

This person felt that they needed to post a comment about it.

My mother is allowed to tell me those type of things, not some random "Anonymous".

Well, this is what I think...

Whop de do!

Whala!

Bone Apatete!

Saylavee!

Ta Da!

And every other word I can possibly misspell and use incorrectly.

Merry Christmas!

Homemade Kettle Corn

Hi all!

I LOOOOVE Kettle Corn. I only had it for the first time a year ago. Ahhh! I was missing that amazingness this whole time! Sad face :(

Another thing you may not know about me is that I am cheep...very cheep. I learned it from my mother. A SALE shopper to the end. So I will NOT pay good money for popcorn when I know it is so easy to make. Example: As a child we NEVER purchased treats or popcorn at the movies. We brought our own. My mom had a really ugly green pleather bag that we took with us full of pre-popped popcorn, pop cans and candy from the gas station. Saved lots of money and I never knew the difference. So spending $8.00 for a bag of kettle corn at the theater is CRAZY! I will not do it!

Guess what I did. I figured out how to make it myself. GENIUS!

And I want to share it with you.

First you need an ugly pot with a fitted lid - Not to big and not to small. (he, he..Goldilocks) You will not want to use this pot for much else after you make this a few times. The bottom gets pretty scorched. The lid must fit well to avoid oil splatter.

• Pop Corn - I use the Walmart stuff
• Oil - vegetable or canola
• Salt
• Sugar

I have a gas stove so take that into consideration. An electric may take more time to heat.

In your pot dump:

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup kernels

Mix up with long wood (not metal or plastic) spoon.

Put on lid. With hot pads hold your pot on each side.

Lift and shake side to side and up and down.

Put on burner, Count to 5.

one one thousand, two one thousand...etc.

Lift and shake....blah, blah, blah

Put on burner and count to 5.

Do this over and over till the popping slows and stops for 2 seconds.

This is me in motion.

Turn off heat and dump popcorn into large bowl IMMEDIATELY. The pot is still hot and will continue to burn your corn.
Sprinkle with salt, mix and salt some more.

NOTE: Be careful of unpopped kernels. They stick to the popped kernels and you don't know it till you bite down. I will not be held responsible for broken teeth! Let your kettle corn cool down and then break it apart gently. This should help dislodge those unpopped kernels.

Done.

This is my bowl, get your own!

This Post was featured on KettleCorn.Co!

E-Mail to Santa

You really have to try this with your kids. We have done it a few years now and we love it!

Merry Christmas!

A letter to Santa Claus? Yes kids its true! Jolly Saint Nick wants to hear about you! From the North Pole Santa will send his reply... Faster than Rudolph the reindeer can fly! Merry Christmas!

Front Room Decorations

This is just part of my family room Christmas decorations.

I found how to make these beautiful snowflakes at Scrapalicious Bytes. My large snowflakes are made form 12x12 paper. The smaller white ones are made in several sizes; 8x8, 6x6 and 4x4.

They are absolutely stunning hanging from the ceiling in the front room.

Just above the snowflakes on the landing I have hung a fabric garland and a wreath. It is hard to see in the picture but the garland is tied to a string of lights. I got this idea somewhere.

It makes the blah area a bit more va va voom!

So this is just a piece of my front room. I will share the rest later.

Merry Christmas!

FREE "foam" Trees

I love all the amazing trees everyone is making.

I really want to make some of my own but I have NO MONEY to spend.

So I decided to make my own foam tree forms.

I saw this idea somewhere, I can't remember, sorry!

I started with a plastic cup, fabric strips and a piece of paper.

I twisted my paper into a cone shape that fit over the top of my upside down cup. I taped it along the entire thing to keep it form undoing.

I trimmed off the excess paper and hot glued the cone onto my cup.

I took my torn fabric strips and started gluing them around the cone. I made sure to go over the lip of the cup so that no cup could be seen.

I think they turned out really cute.

And the best part is that I spent zero dollars on them!

Super Easy Paper Ornaments

Everyone seems to be doing cute ornaments so I decided to do some of my own.

I started with a cute Christmas patterned paper, tiny gold brads and scissors.

I cut my paper into different length strips and then just played around with them.

I bent and twisted till I got a shape that I liked.

I pocked the brads through and added a ribbon as a holder.

I figure that I can get about 6 ornaments out of one 12x12 piece of paper. That is a cheap ornament!!!

I can't wait to put them on my tree!

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

A friend of mine, Laura, mentioned that she also had a blog but that she didn't really do anything on it a lot. I decided to check it out and I love it! A Make It Yourself Mom's Diary.

Laura, you really should keep it up!

This is one of the posts I really liked.

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

These are her girls, aren't they so cute!!

This is another skirt she made up.

She really is an amazing sewer.

You should check her out and give her a kick in the butt!

Kettle Corn Guest Blog

Guess what!

I am doing my very first guest blog over at What Allie's Making Now!

I am super nervous and excited!

I decided to show how to make my famous Kettle Corn.

Yummy! Not to sweet and not to blah.

Go check it out!

This is my bowl, get your own!

Stockings Door Jingle

I got this so long ago that I don't even remember who gave it to me.

I think it was my sister Kristen.

Anyhoo, isn't it cute!

Hangs on my door .
Fun, Fun!

Bundle Up! Snowman

This guy is super easy to make. Very little cuts and easy painting.

He has a base that he stands on with a cute little scarf.
I also have this same type of idea made into a scarecrow.

Don't forget to Bundle Up!

The Big Nosed Snowman

This is the easiest snowman in the world!

I made it several years ago and made a few last year for gifts.

It is made from a 4x4 post and scraps.
It is sanded and has stenciled stars.

The hat brim and nose are made form scrap wood.

I outlined the stars with a sharpie for more detail.

Fun, easy and CUTE!

Stuffed Snow Man

Another cold guy!

this is my favorite of all my snowmen.

I made it at a church activity in my sister ward about 10 years ago.

It is fabric stuffed with filling.
His little ski's and sign are so cute!

It has lasted several moves and more than a few breaks, but he is still the cutest of my snowmen.