A Happy Thanksgiving

Trent, Kyle,Ivy and Laci

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. We certainly did. We had my parents,sister, bro in-law, nephew, nephew's girl friend, and my nanny over to celebrate with us. We had a good time together and ate too much yummy food. Afterwards, we headed down to a windy Gold Star Park to take some pics of the kids. Here are some of the pictures I captured that day. I am so thankful for all of my family.

Ivy

A gorgeous view of the Bibb Graves Bridge from Gold Star Park.

Pecan Tassies

Just wanted to share a recipe today that I have been making for years, Pecan Tassies. They are oh so good! You surely can't eat just one! These are great for a party finger food or maybe as alternative to a whole pecan pie. On second thought, na, just make both. The big pecan pie is just too good, but pecan tassies would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving desserts. These little babies have always been a hit with my family and any party I take them too. It's gotta be that yummy crust and sweet pecan filling. So good!


Pecan Tassies
Dough for crust:
1 stick butter, softened
1 3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 c. flour

Filling:
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. chopped pecans

First, mix together dough ingredients with an electric mixer. Refrigerate dough in covered bowl until firm. About 3 hrs.
Preheat oven to 350.After dough has been refrigerated and firm, mix together filling ingredients.Set aside. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into marble size balls.Put dough into mini-muffin pan. Use a floured tart shaper(from Pampered Chef) to press dough in cups or you can press dough up sides of cups with your fingers. Spoon about a tsp. of filling into each crust. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is set. Makes 2 dozen.

Gratitude Tree

Last night during our family night we made this cute little gratitude tree. It's a great activity for this time of year. We talked about how when are our attitudes might not be the best, it helps to remember our blessings and the things we are thankful for. It can help turn our sour attitudes into gratitude.

For our tree, I used one of my Dollar Tree vases and the kids and I filled it with river rocks I had stashed away. I cut out leaves in fall colored card stock and everyone wrote one thing they were thankful for and then we hung our leaves on small tree branches we stuck into the vase. The leaves on our gratitude tree said things like: my family, books, our home, my whole family and computers. We had fun making our tree and counting our blessings. We plan on adding more leaves next week.

A Funny For Your Monday

I just thought I'd share a funny thing that happened a couple weeks ago with my little Ivy. Everyone needs a laugh to get their Monday going, right! So, Ivy and I were on the way back from Montgomery, but before we left I had given her a pack of Smarties candy to hold in her hand and eat. It was a few days after Halloween, so I had put a pack of those in my purse and told her she could have them on the way home. No worries, right.-- Wrong! We are driving down the road and I hear, "Look mom. Look." Only the way Ivy can say it. So I peek around for a second to look and what do I see.Well, I see a Smartie pushed up each nostril. Yep. That's right. A blue one and a pink one. I had to laugh a little on the inside. She's just sitting there so proud of herself showing me what she had done. I think she might push them further up her nose, so I pulled over to get them out much to her dislike. (This part is kinda gross) When I go to get them out they start to dissolve because they are wet from her nose, but I did manage to get them out and take the other 4 that she still had. Didn't want to risk that one again. It was funny, yet a little scary. This was a new for me. None of my other kids had ever stuck things up their nose. Leave it to little miss Ivy. She's a spunky one. As for the Smarties, their will be no more eating them in the car. Just in case you kow.

Accessories Jar

The past couple days I have been sharing the head bands and flower clips I made for a baby gift. Well, I needed something to contain it all so I made an accessories jar.Nope. Not my idea. I found it here and totally copied it because I thought it was just too cute. I changed mine up a bit from the original pic I found. I wrapped a cream colored ribbon around the center and added a large scalloped, plum colored, monogrammed circle to the front.



I had to add a little bling with the purple jewel for the "O" in accessories. Doesn't it just look more girly that way?!

The jar contains 4 flower clips, 4 head bands and a hair bow/clip hanger. A cute and different gift for mom and baby.

Sew Easy Nylon Headbands

Want to turn these $.33 nylon knee highs into a cute head band? You can and it's "sew" easy! These stretchy head bands are great for the flower clips I showed you yesterday. They will also be part of the baby gift I'm giving a friend. They are priced right, too. You can make four headbands for $.66(2 per package) and your time to sew them. I made two of them in ten minutes.

I found a great tutorial for these on the web. You can find it here. She explains it well and shows each step. I did just what she said to and seriously, ten minutes and done!


I made a black and a cream. The color choices are limited with the little $.33 nylons. Basically you have black, cream, dark blue and that tan color. I think they are just so cute and useful. I would have shown them modeled on my daughter's head(she's 2), but she will NOT wear a headband. We're up to about 30 minutes of leaving a flower clip or hairbow in, but no head bands.

I can't wait to make more of these cuties with my daughter, Laci. She wants to do her own clips to wear. Crafty little girl! Teach 'em when their young,right :)

Flower Clips In Full Bloom

The flower clips are bloomin' at my house. I've been making some of these cute hair clips for a baby gift and thought I'd share how I make them. All the credit goes to Tammy. Thanks for teaching me how to make these! She's right. Once you start making them, they become addictive. I could have kept on making these babies, but I had to sleep!



First, you need to gather all your supplies. You will need some artificial flowers of your choice or scrapbooking flowers. I like gerbera daisies, daisies and here I also used an orchid. You also need a glue gun, alligator clips, wire cutters, coordinating ribbon and brads or embellishments for the center of the flower.



Second, use the wire cutters to clip off the flowers. Pull out the center of the flower and each layer of the flower should come apart easily. Arrange the petals how you would like them to look. It's usually best to start with the large petals and layer on smaller ones. Just like a regular flower. Be creative. You can use coordinating colors of petals. Do what you think looks good.


Changed flowers on ya. I forgot to take a pic of the orchid one coming together. So, for this one I wanted to leave it just how it would normally look. Once your petals are layered you need something to hold them together. I find it easiest to use a brad fastened on the bottom to hold them together. It could be a decorative brad or if you want to use a jewel or the flower's normal center(like I did here), just use a small brad and hot glue the embellishment over the top of the brad.


Next, I wrap the alligator clip with ribbon. This part can be a bit tricky. I used a grosgrain and while holding the clip open put hot glue on the bottom inside of the clip and put my ribbon over that. I then hot glued the bottom of the clip(the side that will attach to the flower)and wrapped the ribbon over that. Pull the ribbon up over the part of the clip that you pinch to open it(not sure what that part is called).Then put a dab of hot glue on the top of the clip and wrap the ribbon over that spot. Just be careful with this whole ribbon/clip process not to glue your clip shut. Last, hot glue your clip,ribbon side down, to the back of the flower.


You're done! Clip your flower onto a head band, directly in your hair or dress up a shirt. Great for baby girls and big girls alike. Their are lots of possibilities. Come back tomorrow and see the nylon head bands that I made. They are so easy!

Works For Me Wednesday- Christmas Nativity Wrapping Paper

For this edition of Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family, I thought I'd share about a new company out there offering nativity or first Christmas themed wrapping paper. The company is called First Christmas, L.L.C.

A friend of mine that used to live here in town but has since moved to Hawaii(yes Hawaii) let me know that her mom would be coming through our town and wanted to preview her new wrapping paper. She started this business after looking for more religious themed paper only to find the same old santas and candy canes. You can read her full story and find out more about First Christmas, L.L.C. by visiting www.christmasnativitywrappingpaper.com. I got to see many of her designs and I thought they were very attractive and nicely done. I'm so glad she was inspired to do this. After all, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our Savior.

I'm not sure if you can order from her site yet, but you should be able to soon. Take a look around her gallery and pass the word along.

Handmade Holidays

Don't you love a handmade gift?! I sure do. I like making gifts and giving them. Well, look no further for ideas. Skip To My Lou has hooked us up with a handmade gift guide. Coming soon! She will be featuring tutorials and handmade gift ideas all month long and all those ideas will be organized into this great gift guide. Awesome!! I am a frequent visitor and can't wait to see all the ideas. Be sure to take a look this month! Happy handmade gifting!