SPAM

You may have noticed that I've been getting lots of SPAM comments. I'm not sure how they post it but it does make me mad. Anyway, you now have to type in letter identifiers when you post to try and avoid that. Hopefully it will help prevent SPAM but I know it is one more step for you to leave comments. Sorry about that but I hope you will leave comments for me. I love to hear from all of you that read my blog.

Great Ideas!

I love this room. I've seen it posted many times on different blogs (wish I knew which one I borrowed this from.) Don't you just love the way the door on the right is painted? I also love the gathered skirt, embroidered monogrammed pillows...beautiful. There is just something so appealing about linen fabric.

I will have an extra fireplace surround as soon as we start our new addition. I wonder if it will be wide enough for a queen size bed because I think I want to give this headboard a try. Anyone know how to do that paint finish?

Love this ruffled pillow. Umm, I really should label my pictures so I can give credit where credit is due.

I love this old world look. Check this out from the Graphics Fairy for a tutorial on how to make French inspired linens. I love the Graphics Fairy site. She is so nice to give away free PDF files and post other people's projects using her graphics.

I've decided to start making posts of things I love. That way I can find them easier when I'm looking for inspiration. I guess I better start labeling my inspiration pictures when I save them.

My Favorite Kind of Christmas Gift - Part 2

My favorite kind of gift Candice has been giving me yearly. I display them on my end table in the living room so that I can look at them all the time. (They measure a good gift by watching me and seeing if I get choked up. I do love a gift with meaning.) This is the book from 2007. Candice spent a lot of time putting together a book for me and the other kids all contributed.

Cole looks a lot like Campbell in this picture.
All the kids wrote a little note to be dinclude in the book.
Candice filled the book full of quotes. I love a good quote!
Last year she gave a book that included this picture. Love it! I think I need a big one of this one to frame and put in our new addition.
This was a picture we used on our Christmas card last year. Grant (age 8) took the photos for us.
The book in the background is the cover for the 2008 book. I just gave you a little sampling of the pictures.
Here are some pictures from this year's book. I really, really, love this kind of gift.
I think it is great that Candice included a little history of the year. Here is the picture of the newly engaged couple at Lake Tahoe after church.
(I can't figure out why these pictures turned...sorry.) This picture is of the Fords up at Sundance. Yes, Candice is willing to do all kinds of things for a good photograph.
Here is one of the pictures of the Garners. Candice even got a picture of Logan wearin' his cowboy boots.
The Stringhams had to include their dog, Dickens, on their family page along with a picture of their family on the Brooklyn bridge. They loved their time living in NYC. They had lots of adventures. Love it! Don't you?
A picture of Cole and Grant. Look at that cute pumpkin smile and Cole reminds me of Cary Grant.
The family all together at Lake Tahoe. (Again, I can't figure out why blogger turned the picture. Weird.)

Isn't this your favorite kind of gift too? It certainly helps that Candice is a very talented photographer, if I don't say so myself. Now if I can just get her to start blogging again so I can see more amazing pictures of my grandchildren. How about it Candice?

OK, I love home made gifts and gifts that you put thought into as well. My husband really surprised me this year with a hand letter press kits. It may not have been something he made himself but he really did put some thought into it. (Good job Mikey!) I used it to make book marks for the young men and young women in our ward and have big plans to use it again this week to make things for Steph's Valentines party.

I'll post my great presents from my other children soon. Needless to say, I had a great Christmas and not just because of the gifts.

Favorite Gifts Part 1

Grant made us this gift for Grandparent's day at school. I absolutely love it. I love it because he took the time to make this and remembered many of the fun things we've done together. I love picturing the time that he spent with his mom putting it together. I love looking at it over and over again. Thanks Grant for such a treasured gift!

It's titled: "My ten favorite things about my grandparents. #1 Hiking.
#2 Making things with G-ma like Christmas stockings, cookies, and ginger bread houses. (Grant and Cole picked out some Christmas fabric from my stash. You know...the stuff that you don't like anymore that you don't mind using because you really just want it to leave your house in any way possible. The stockings were meant to be temporary because they forgot to bring their Christmas stockings with them. Much to Candice's dismay...those are the stockings the kids now want to use every year because they actually helped design and sew them. They sometimes call me G-ma because that is the name they assigned me when we play Nintendo or Wii games. They think it is hilarious when they call me that.)

#3 Building things with Grampa like a tree house and sand castles. (I loved how he spelled Grandpa phonetically.)
#4 Mini golfing and football...playing sports. We played a lot of boccie ball, flag football, whiffle ball, catch, soccer, croquet, tag, kickball, etc.

#5 Sledding. We usually sled in the park but decided to make a big ramp off our back deck. We had a blast playing in the snow and building snow forts and snowmen. So much fun! Here is Steph's post about it.
#6 Crawdad hunting, fishing, and swimming at my parent's cabin at Lake Tahoe. (We also hit the garage sales when we go there. You almost always find great treasures. It is a "must" on my list of things to do at Lake Tahoe. Last summer I found a snowboarder who was sponsored by a big name company and was selling his coats and pants. He had a ton of them and they were either brand new or hardly worn for great prices. He was the same size as Eli so Eli has new snow gear to wear this year.)
#7 Road trip vacations...Williamsburg, Disney World, Lake Tahoe. We've had some other road trips with them but these are the ones Grant listed.
#8 My grama makes good costumes. She made me a cloak and belt. Here Grant is as Luke Skywalker and me as Madame Hooch from Harry Potter. (I'm not sure why this picture wouldn't post in the right direction...I tried.)

#9 "We went letter boxing together. It was fun." Letter boxing really is pretty fun. It's taken us to places we've never been before. It's like going on a treasure hunt. You are never too old for that. Just google letter boxing and you'll probably find some in your area.
#10 "They love me very much." What's not to love? Grandchildren are the best!

I love having pictures to capture all the memories. Good thing all my daughters are good about taking pictures. A picture really is..."worth a thousand words."
Tomorrow I'll post some more favorites.

Neighbor/Friend Gift Ideas

I thought I would show you a few gift ideas for next Christmas. I made English Toffee (a Carr family tradition. My mother makes about 10 batches every year.) I put it in nice white ceramic dishes, wrapped it in cellophane and tied it with a big red bow. I also gave, to most of the neighborhood, bottles of foaming Bath and Body Works hand soap. Everyone seemed to really like this because it wasn't fattening and helped fight all the germs that were going around.

Brenna (soon-to-be DIL) gave me the present pictured above and below. It was a Christmas book and also a sign that said "Believe." The white chocolate covered Oreos with crushed peppermint candy on top were delicious too. She and her mother really know how to make a presentation. Their presents are always wrapped so beautifully. With the extra special touches they always do, I can't wait to see what they come up with for the wedding.

This is what Stephanie gave to all her neighbors. What a lot of work but so cute and original. They are fortune nuts.

You can hang them on your Christmas tree and crack them open when you are ready to see your fortune.

The fortunes were hilarious. One said, "I see a poop nut skit in your future." This is a family reference to a game that Mark made for our family. We didn't play it this year because the Stringhams weren't here to play. You need the WHOLE family to play. Can't wait to see what Mark adds to the game for Brenna.

Another one said, "A big whale will fall from the sky and squash you until ..." click on the picture to read the rest. It's evident from the fortunes that the Ford's have a quirky, but very fun, sense of humor. Honestly, I love to see what they come up with. It is sure to make you laugh.

(I love Stephanie's Fortune tellers that sell through Sycamore Street Press. They are entertaining too. They were recently featured in Harper's Bazaar magazine. I just went to link to them but they are not listed because they are sold out. Stephanie's Alphabet poster must be sold out too because it's not there either.)

Amy, whom I work with, made these buckets out of a roll of tickets. I thought it was pretty clever. She took the whole roll of tickets, pushed the middle down until she had the right shape and then decoupaged it inside and out. (She put a little circle on the top and bottom of cardboard to cover the whole in the center of the ticket roll before decoupaging.) She then filled it full of movie treats, wrapped the whole thing and cellophane and tied it with a bow. I thought it was great. (She's fun to work with too.)

The next post will feature my most cherished presents.

Christmas Posts continued

Steph, Larry, and Creed spent Christmas Eve with us so we could all be together Christmas morning. It was Mike's turn for Christmas at his parents house (rats) so they came over later and we opened more presents together. Creed had wanted this yellow bug for the longest time. He was so excited to get it for Christmas.
Larry always got a beef log for Christmas growing up so we helped him carry on the tradition and even added in specialty cheeses. Hey... to each his own. I know it is a unique tradition but we don't judge at our house...well...we try not to anyway.
This is a remote control car from us. It had a steering wheel as the remote so was great fun to control. Check out Steph's blog for more pictures and details and also here for more holiday activities.
This is Christmas dinner. We tried to set a record for staying in our Christmas PJ's all Christmas day. Larry set the record I think. It might have been Creed. Marissa and Mike got dressed before they came over. Spoil sports...I think they should have come over in PJ's too.
A close up of the sparkling table decor. (It's decked out for Valentine's day now. I love it. I even set the table and am all ready for the Valentine's dinner I don't have planned yet. Hey...setting the tablescape is a lot more fun that preparing food.)
We even had Christmas crackers this year. They were tons of fun. Each one had a whistle/flute with a number and so you could play songs together. It took us a few tries before you could recognize any of the songs. We really liked our paper crowns too.
Marissa and Logan checking out the Christmas songs and the Frosty place mat.
Creed trying out his new silver ware.
Larry trying to figure out how to open his "cracker."
Logan playing with his whistle instead of eating. He doesn't like to eat anyway. He didn't inherit that trait from me or his "Papa." We love food!
Larry is always cracking us up. Can't remember what he was up to. And yes, he really is a doctor. We have quite a few entertainers in our family between Marissa, Mark, Larry, and Cole. Larry is famous for making my husband laugh so hard that he literally passed out. Really...that pulling up your grandpa pants to your armpits while doing a little jig WAS hilarious...and now Larry is famous for that in our family. Hee Hee. Unfortunately for you all. I think I still have a few more Christmas posts up my sleeve before I catch up to the present. It's OK, you don't have to read them.

The Ginger Bread Extravaganza

It was Marissa's idea to have a ginger bread extravaganza. It wasn't without its' drama trying to get everyone together to do it, but we won't post about that. It turned out that we staggered our construction which left us with more room to work, someone to keep an eye of the babies, and no frustrations sharing one glue gun. Yes, we used a glue gun to glue graham crackers together. It made for fast and easy construction. No one eats those things anyway.

Can you guess who designed the beach scene?

Who made this one? This designer spent a lot of time constructing the bay window and look how perfect the roof is.
This outhouse was out back.
Did you guess Marissa on the life guard stand, volcano, palm tree, sand, and surfer? Yes, this was her creation.
See the creative juices are flowing.
Here is Mike, Logan, and Creed working on the outhouse. Did you guess that Mike and Marissa made house number 2?

I thought this was a clever use of Cinnamon toast crunch. Who made this beauty?
Look at that great snowman. Did you guess Stephanie? You would be right.
How about this one? You might have guessed this one by process of elimination. This was taken before the "stain glass" (Made out of lifesavers) was added to the dormers.
Did you guess Brett and me? If you did, you were correct.
Another view of Stephanie's house. I wanted to buy kits to make but Marissa said, "NO WAY!" We ended spending way more money not buying kits. We all bought lots of candy and cookies to use. But, we came up with a lot more variety and used a lot more creativity.

Who do you think had the best creation? Yes, we would like to know!