Cinnaberry Suite

Valentine's Day {Pinned and DONE!!}

2012-02-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

If you're a total procrastinator like I am,

you're scurrying to find a fun Valentine idea

for the chitlins to hand out tomorrow, abbooouuuttt...... NOW!

I'll hook you up! :)

Procrastinators UNITE!

hehehheheeee

The first one is a boy Valentine.

Aren't they fun!!

We made 90 of them.

WHEW!!

I'm beat!

Here is the pin.

Here's where I was able to print them off.

Miss Holly SAVED my booty!

LOVE her for that.

Thanks girlie, you ROCK!!!

Next up, a girlie Valentine idea.

Here is the Pin that inspired it.

The pin doesn't have a printable available.

SO,I made my own.

GUESS WHAT???

I can TOTALLY share :)

Let me know and I can email it to you.

WELCOME!!!

PINNED, DONE and feeling FABULOUS!!

If you want to follow my boards on Pinterest,

click on the big fat red button

on my right hand side bar.

If you aren't on Pinterest and would like to be,

Shoot me an email and I can send you an invite :)

Hope your Monday was HAPPY!

Smooches :)

Our Chore Chart

2012-02-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

Remember how I showed you How We ROLL????

WELL,

I finally finished our

"How we ROLL" chart.

YIPPERRSSS!!!

I'm SOOOOOOOO excited for you to see it.

It didn't cost a cent to make.

Everything, once again, was found in my garage.

Here's what I did:

I had an old scrub board.

Totally appropriate for a chore chart, don't ya think??

Check out the swan stickers all over the back of it.

Yeah, you heard me, SWAN stickers.

See, NOT CUTE!!

FLIPPING.THE BOARD. OVER...mmmkay!!

I used some leftover Mosaic tiles from our Bathroom redo a LOOOONNNGGG time ago.

I pulled off all the tiles I wanted to use.

I cut out enough tiny circles on my cricut in black vinyl to make my dice dots.

SEEEEEEEEEE......

Then I took some large Popsicle sticks and trimmed them to the size I wanted with a pair of scissors.

Snip, snip!

Then, I went on my computer and designed little labels to go onto the Popsicle sticks.

Printed them out and trimmed them up.

I used black paint and painted the Popsicle sticks.

Then I glued my labels down and sanded the edges.

Aren't they CUTE???!!!

Next, I added a magnet to the back of EVERYTHING.

The boys like to switch things up.

This adds to the whole game feel.

Next, I hopped back onto my computer and made little square pictures the same size as my tiles.

I cut them out and glued them to the top of the tiles.

Then I designed our title to go on top of the board.

I printed it out on card stock and used double stick tape to attach it to the board.

I didn't want anything to be permanent.

I might want to use this board again for something else :)

This is what it looks like all finished and in action:

The boys love it!!

YAY!!

Once again, makes life a little easier around here.

NEED that!

LOVE that!!

If you want to see "How we ROLL" go here for the post.

Have a Suite day :)

{Suite} Entry Way Table

2012-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

It's

{Suite}Revamp Wednesday!

Wanna see what is now living a FABULOUS, newly married life??

This poor little broken table!!

Ummm..Hmmm, that's right!

Furniture around here gets married All the time!

I brought it home from my Momma's thinking I could glue it and refinish it.

My dreams were squashed when it decided to snap completely in half.

Yes, that is the shadow of me mourning my loss, UGHH!!

I was a little upset to say the least.

This is when my brain starts to squeak and blow a little smoke.

Then like my annoying GPS lady says.....RECALCULATING!!

I headed back out to my ~~junk yard~~ garage and saw yet ANOTHER sad and lonely table.

This table was suffering from a small table top.

I didn't refinish it before, because I wasn't sure where I would put it.

Plus, what accessories could I possibly fit on that tiny top?

Another thought, I know, a miracle.

"This could be a beautiful thing!!!!

A marriage of two sad pieces always seems to make one beautiful happy piece.

It was TOTALLY meant to be.

Here they are living a FABULOUS new life together as an entry way table.

Introducing,

Mr. and Mrs. 2Jackeduptablesturnedfabulous!

I had to dress them in lovely white paint.

SHOOOOTTT...they just got married people!!

Who cares if the two tables don't love each other.

Who cares if they do!

All that matters is...I'M in love.

Thanks for being here!!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

How WE roll!

2012-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

It's "Pinned and DONE" Monday!

Whew!!

Chitlins and Hubs were off for ONE stinkin' day and it threw me off a whole stinkin' week!

Please, forgive??

Ugh...I need another vacation :)

Today is a quick one for ya!

NO, it's NOT all fancy.

I promised myself we would try it out and if it worked,

THEN we could fancify it.

Okay, HERE is the pin that inspired me.

(Man, these JEN's are P.R.E.T.T.Y. amazing!! Heehee. No, really, this Jen has her stuff together. Lots of cool organizing stuff. Check her out.)

What kid doesn't like games??

I LOVED the idea of turning regular old chores into a game.

When I presented it to the kids, they were BEYOND excited.

HOORAY!!!

I didn't want to get my hopes up too soon.

I did just as Jen suggested,

I had each room designated to a number on the dice.

They would take turns rolling the dice and we would ALL go together and clean that particular area together.

It worked great like this for about 3 weeks.

After those three weeks, we met and discuss how it was going.

The kids said they REALLY enjoyed how we were doing things.

BUT, they all agreed that they wanted to have their own individual chores.

They are all about getting things done quickly.

I was TOTALLY down with that.

We kept the same chore list with corresponding numbers.

We still took turns rolling, but now, we roll for our very own chore.

They decided they wanted to reroll for a new chore each week.

Works for Momma!!

I like to call it,

"How WE Roll"

Well, It's been going strong for yet another 3 weeks.

That would be like 6 weeks all together!!!

(I know, big math problem for me...took me a minute!)

We have never stuck to such a routine for this long.

GET THIS,

they aren't even getting paid!!

NO MONEY???

Ummmhmmm... THAT'S RIGHT!!!

(They can; however, choose to ask for the cash instead of getting a dumb toy from Dollar Tree that is gonna break during the car ride home anyway. It's totally up to them.)

I talked to them about how blessed we were to have all the wonderful things that we do.

A home, a bed, clothes, food....

I pointed out that we should show that we are thankful for our home and other blessings.

One way we can do that is by showing respect to our Heavenly Father and our Family by take care of all we've been blessed with.

They get it PEOPLE, THEY FINALLY GET IT!!!

I have had NO complaining, no arguing, just a miraculous 15 minutes of busy little bees gettin' junk done EVERY night.

It really is AMAZING!!

My next step, make a cute board so we can keep track of who is doing what.

My wheels are squeakin' in my little noggin'!!

Have you pinned something and made it come to life???

I want to see it....we ALL do!!

Email me!!!

Have you come up with an AMAZING chore plan.

PLEASE, email me!!!

I'd love to share it :)

Help out that T-shirt!!

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Here's our first {Suite} Revamp Wednesday.

Welcome to the PARTE!

I LOVE t-shirts,

as you know!!

But,

I DO NOT love how FRUMPILICIOUS I feel in a t-shirt.

(Ya know, like you wanna sit on the couch and pull your legs up into it, while you lick your oreos covered in PB frumpilicious?!)

I'm starting to collect quite a few little running shirts.

It's SO cool.

It's NOT cool when they run out of your size and hand over a size that is WAY too big.

I have a little solution for ya if you suffer from this problem too.

T- shirt Revamp

(I tried this out on one of my hubbies shirts before I cut up a race shirt.

I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing.)

Here's ONE way to do it.

Pull out your favorite fitting shirt.

Turn your shirt that you are revamping and your favorite fitting shirt inside out.

Lay the larger one on a flat surface.

Add your shirt that you LOVE on top.

Line the neck lines up to each other.

Grab a fabric pen, Or a sharpie like me :)

Trace along the outside of the shirt. Make sure you give your self a little bit of a seam allowance!

Pin it all together.

Run it through the sewing machine following the outside of your trace lines.

Here's how you do the sleeves. Draw a line across that lines up with the bottom of the sleeve on yo r favorite shirt.

Here's the fun part.

Try it on, inside out.

If it isn't quite the fit you want, run a seam ripper through it and start over again making the adjustments needed.

SEE....

you gotta try it on so you can take a picture of yourself lookin' like a flying squirrel!

If the fit is good, run it back through the sewing machine a couple of times to help reinforce it.

Next, grab the SCISSORS.

EEEeEEEE....EEEEEE....EEEEEEE

(I'm making those scary movie noises!)

Trim all the way around your seam.

You can be done there.

BUT,

Your sleeves might be kinda long and the neck is feeling a little claustrophobic!

If so,

Cut off the neck.

I started on the outside of the collar and made a center mark on the neck.

Snip, snip, cut off that neck!!

Start out with less.

Then, if you need to, you can cut more.

On mine, I made a little slit in the front middle with my scissors and then I just torn it by hand.

OH,

Don't forget your sleeves.

I cut mine at a little angle.

You can cut it how ever you think is cute.

Remember, start off cutting less than you think and then cut more if you need to.

Here it is all finished!

Here it is ON!!

I love all my big old t-shirts to work out in.

I don't feel bad if they get ruined,

I can just turn them into a quilt,

ya know??

Fits perfect!!!

If you end up trying this, I want to see!!

Toothbrushes

2012-01-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Tippy Tips Tuesday!!!

Today's tip is an organizing tip.

Toothbrush Organizer

I have my 4 little ones who can't quite reach the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

I can't figure out why???

Oh,

I guess it doesn't help that the stinkin' cabinet almost touches the ceiling!

REALLY PEOPLE?!

We needed a spot for the chitlin's little tooth brushes, quick!!

We needed a place where they could reach 'em and put them away,

ALL.BY.THEMSELVES.

Here's what I came up with.

I found this utensil drawer organizer at Walmart.

It fits them all SO perfectly!!

Don't they look cozy?

They keep them germs to themselves too.

LIKE THAT!!

The best part, the chitlins can reach in and put it away when they are done.

Each kid knows which slot is theirs.

I'm still thinking I'm going to label them though.

Now, ya know how nasty toothbrush holders can get!!

As you can see...

we have a little mouth wash in a couple of the slots. Heeeheee!!

I make sure I spray the whole thing with Antibacterial spray and clean it up real good AT LEAST once a week.

I'm sure you guys have come up with something way more FABULOUS than this.

HOOK A SISTAH UP!!!

Please share.

Shoot me a comment.

Or better yet, an email :)

{Suite} Baby Feet

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow me on Pinterest...

ya know my boards are full of stuff that I could NEVER possibly finish in this lifetime.

I pinned them for a reason, though.

They INSPIRED me.

On Mondays, I will post projects I have actually pinned on Pinterest and brought to life.

What a FABULOUS idea!!

WHY THANK YA!

{Suite}Baby Feet

This is my inspirational pin.

I hear ya...awwww, SO CUTE!!

WELL,

This is what I came up with.

It's a fun little basket from Target.

Then I filled it with stacked blocks that I whipped up.
I cut two pieces off of a 2x4,
and then painted them with regular old craft paint.
Distressed them then tied them with a piece of denim.

Thanks to my Cricut,
The blocks say:

"Lead me, guide me, walk beside me"

I found some SUPER cute bright Puma socks.

Are you catching on?
The whole thing has to do with feet.

oooooo...precious, right?!!

Then the shoes! Give me one more "precious"

PRECIOUSSSSS!!

Imagine the different socks and shoes and baskets you could use.

Ughhh, makes me get all Happy Dance feelin'!

Now wasn't that fun?!!

Lets start a revolution my dear bloggy berries.

Let's bring our pins to life.

What have you brought to life?

I TOTALLY wanna see.

Saturday {Suite} on YOU #1

2012-01-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

I'm SO excited for Saturdays.

Wanna know why???

YES,

I LOVE spending time with my family and just chillin' for the day!

BUT,

I'm TOTALLY excited about the new Saturday "{SUITE} on YOU"

that is starting up TODAY!!!

YAY!!

I'm hoping to be posting all about YOU, my dearest bloggy friends.

One thing,

I REALLY need your help!!

Have you crafted something up that was inspired by a project you saw right here? Send me a link to your blog post so I can see!!

I will post it here for all our {suite} bloggy friends to see.

Do you want to guest post????

PLEASE!!!

( Kinda desperate, I know!)

I would love to have a post all about YOU and a tutorial that you want to share with the rest of us.

Doesn't that sound fun??
Please contact me if you are interested :)
Thanks.

Now on to the first ever

{Suite} on YOU

You have all been so wonderful with you comments and emails on the ever popular T-shirt Quilt post.

I didn't realize I wasn't the only hoarder that keeps old tee shirts for FOR.E.V.E.R.

Thanks for being so FABULOUS!!
I LOVE sharing.
Thanks for letting me and for loving me too.

When you comment I always try to track you down
so I can give you a BIG fat thank you.

Oh yeah, I know where you ALL live!! Heeheee!!

KIDDING!

I went to go and thanks Miss Sarah and found this....

Simply Sara

in comes the singing angels, who happen to be floating in the sky.

Can you hear them? Heeeheeeee!!

It was so amazing to see.

My first thought was,

HOLD UP!!!

She jacked my Shirt Quilt!!"

NO, just kidding.

There it was, my little day dream that I loved and created and finally shared with all of you.

Now, here it was all ready to be a gift to someone else.

WOW, the gift that keeps giving. AMAZING!!!

She did SUCH a beautiful job.

Simply Sara

Don't ya think??

Miss Sarah!! Thanks for letting me share this. You ROCK!!

Remember, life ain't too {SUITE) without YOU!

Send me your stuff!!!

The First Lotsa Lesson's Friday!

2012-01-05T23:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Suite's first ever Lotsa Lessons Friday.

SO exciting, huh?!!

On Fridays, you will find a post with a lesson idea/activity for FHE, Activity Days or Tot School.

If you want to see how things roll around here, check out my new Schedule page at the top right hand corner.

Today, I'm sharing a Tot School activity I did with my little miss.

(learn more about Tot School here.

There are tons of lesson plans on this blog.

Printables and all that yummy stuff.)

My girlie was SO excited to get started.

"A" is for Apple

Color Recognition Activity

Here's what ya need:

Fun colored objects: cereal, candy, buttons, or beads like we used!
A fun printable from here. Or make your own.

Crayons that are the same color as your colored objects.

I printed off my "A" worksheets. THIS one was her favorite.

Photo source

It has apples on it with color names written on each apple.

My darn ink was low, so the color names didn't show up for us!

GRRRR!!

That's okay,

we just went through and colored the apples so they would coordinate with our bead colors.

Then,

I had her match the bead colors to the apples with the same color.

While she picked up a bead, I had her name the color.

This is the perfect activity to review colors and to practice coloring skills!!

Think of the possibilities!!

Peanut M&M's!
Oh, or better yet,
PB M&M's!!

Go check out the Tot School blog. You'll love it.

Here's to a {Suite} Year!!

2012-01-05T14:11:00.000-08:00

That's EXACTLY what I'm working towards....

a SWEET year!

Before anything,

I have to thank all of you.

I never realized just how blessed I would be by sharing all my madness with others!

Wow!!

Blessings are fallin' like apples from a tree around here.

Picture source

WAAAAIIITTT...

That would hurt!!

Then my hair would look like this.

Picture source

Might be kinda sweet though :)

I'd rock it!!!

Maybe I should say, they fall more like marshmallows from the sky.

Picture source

Ummm...

EEEWWWWW!!

Maybe not.

Oh, I got a good one, RAIN!

YEP, they fall like rain!

Picture source

No,

really,

I am blessed!

I am SO grateful for all of my AWESOME bloggy friends.

You inspire ME to be better and I can't lie, I love stealing your junk :)

(you know who you are :)

LOVE YOU!!!

Now that I have that off my brains,

(yes, I have more than one!)

Next item of business.

My {Suite}Year List

I read this quote:

“This year, mend a quarrel.

Seek out a forgotten friend.

Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.

Write a letter.

Give a soft answer.

Encourage youth.

Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.

Keep a promise.

Forgo a grudge.

Forgive an enemy.

Apologize.

Try to understand.

Examine your demands on others.

Think first of someone else.

Be kind. Be gentle.

Laugh a little more.

Express your gratitude.

Welcome a stranger.

Gladden the heart of a child.

Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.

Speak your love and then speak it again.”

― Howard W. Hunter

Then, PLOP...my list was born.

Put my Heavenly Father first
Go on more dates with the hubby
Play more with my family
Go on more walks with my family
Treat myself with respect
Be honest
Serve more
Be a true friend
Read more
Send Thank you's
Send Birthday cards for nephews and nieces
Blog more
Make a blog schedule
Do Tot School with Soph
Stick to my home schedule
Train for my half marathon and 187 mile relay run (can't wait!!)
Finish kids room.
Turn our Master Bedroom into a {SUITE}
Read at least one book with each kid, every night.
Spend less time on Facebook and Pinterest :) GET THINGS DONE!!

I plan on making a list of things to accomplish each month.

That way, I can work toward getting stuff checked off my main list.

Whew...

Bored much??

I'm sure as I cross things off,

I will add more to it.

There are some that will never get crossed off in this life.

I will work on them the rest of my life.

The idea is to just be a little better than I am today.

What are you all working on accomplishing this year?

Send me an email or comment.

I REALLY wanna hear.

You could post a link to it here or at Miss Toni's place like me.

Here's to a

{Suite} Year

my peeps.

YOU ROCK!

{Suite} Germphobe Gift idea!!

2012-01-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

If you know me,

I mean REALLY know me,

Ya know that germs are a SCARY thing for me.

My name is Miss Cinnaberry Suite and I am a

GERMPHOBE!

Now that I have that out of the way...

Someone who knows me P.R.E.T.T.Y well,

gave me this for Christmas!

Let me introduce you to the BEST gift a Germphobe could EVER get!

A plate FULL of FLIPPIN' SOAP!!!

ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME?!

HAPPY DANCE...

WHOOT...WHOOT!!

Oh, that's not all PEOPLE!!

Hold on to them underoos...

This girl aint messin' around.

She went ALL out.

There's a soap for each month.

I LOVE them all,

BUT these ones had me ROLLIN'!!

Sad to say, they are ALL so true.

She designed a label for each month and printed them off on sticker paper.

GENIUS.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

I've taught her well...

KIDDING!!

She's AMAZING all by herself!

Thanks Mags...

It was totally worth peeing my pants over!

LOVE YOU :)

Imagine the people who are just CALLING out for some stinkin' soap.

Hook 'em up.

Get out you sticker paper and get to it.

Such a fun gift to give.

Activity Day {Suitness} #5

2012-01-01T21:05:00.001-08:00

Here's another Christmas AD idea for ya!

Treat:

Graham Cracker Christmas Trees

Our welcome activity was our treat!

Nothing like dessert first, eh?!

We TRIED to make graham cracker Christmas trees.

You just take a plastic knife and saw off the corners of the graham cracker to make a tree shape.

Aren't they cute?!!

Some of these girlies don't know their own strength.

I told them they were making lots of little trees for a forest.

They could care less.

Frosting, M&M's

Pshhh...who cares if our crackers are crumbs!!

I could just squeeze THESE cheeks!!

(Just cause she's one of my Besties chitlins! LOVE her!!)

Check THIS girlie out!

She's sportin' her "Secret Service Elf" hat from our last activity!

Atta girl!

LOVE her too :)

Activity:

The True Meaning Of Christmas Bracelets

To start off,

we went on a scavenger hunt,

to find the true meaning of Christmas!

I got the idea from THIS FHE lesson.

As the girls collected the clues we collected different beads.

Once we were done finding all of our clues,

we headed back to the table to make our bracelets.

I read the story from the lesson called "Teach the Children".

It goes through and discusses all the different things we associate with Christmas and their true meaning.

I had a bead for each item discussed in the story.

Here are the beads and what they each represent from the story:

Green heart: Wreath

Santa Bead: Santa

Red bead: Holly Berry

Red and White: Candy Cane

Star: Star

Green: Tree

Orange: Candle

Silver: Bell

Red Ribbon: Gifts

As I read about each item, they added that bead to their bracelet.

When we were finished we talked about how the true meaning of Christmas is

The Savior and giving not receiving.

They look happy, right?!

It was another fun one :)

Love ya girlies!!!

Christmas Barf #2 Teacher Gifts

2011-12-31T09:52:00.000-08:00

My hubby's Aunt asked me what I ended up doing for teacher gifts this year.

I REALLY thought I posted this one.

WOW,

I must have lost a few brain cells along with them migraines!

This one is for you Aunt Kim :)

Maybe for next year?!!

Or like Miss Aunt Kim pointed out,

It can be used for just about anything.

Here's my Christmas Barf #2:

S'more Buckets

(Inspiration came from HERE )

I found these cute clear snowflake buckets at Walmart for about 3 bucks.
I bet they are like $.50 right now.
HURRY RUNNNNN!

Here's what the tag said:

Wishing you

S'MORE & S'MORE

fun this Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I added some scrap ribbon that I already had to the handle.

LOVE RIBBON!!!

I wrapped each ingredient in separate bags with a little twine to tie it off.

Make sure you put enough of each thing to make a complete S'MORE.

Pack extra chocolate for crazy people like me!!

Here they are again.

Man, the options are endless.

Change out the Season or Holiday and you have S'MORE fun gifts to give!!

Christmas Barf!

2011-12-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

I hear ya,

"Christmas!??

REALLY?!!"

Umhmmm.

After a couple of migraines before and after Christmas.

Then a stomach bug (yesterday and today),

This girlie never had the chance to post everything she wanted to share with you.

GRRRRR!!!

It's your lucky day my dear bloggy friends,

I'm sharing my nasty bug with ya!

Not my stomach bug...my

Christmas bug!

Are you ready for all the Christmas barf?!

I just gotta get it all out!!

First up,

Our Christmas Mantel

My Noel blocks are from last year.

Lots of people ask why the "E" is different.

Cause I had the "E" already!

"E" is for ESPLIN!!

The snow globes were Pinterest inspired.

You can check them out HERE.

If you want to see how to make the snow globes (ya know, for next year!) you can see my post HERE

These plates were also Pinterest inspired.

Check out my pin HERE.

I found a free Christmas cutting file online and then used some of our everyday plates to slap the vinyl onto.

Christmas barf #1 done!!

Brace yourselves people...

As you know,

there's more to come!

LDS gift idea!!

2011-12-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

As you all know,
I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Learn more about my beliefs (HERE).

This is a picture of our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson.

He is an amazing man!

I see this picture and all I see is pure joy.

It really does make me smile.

I HAD to spread the love.

I had the pictures printed at Walmart.

The picture is from a pin on Pinterest.

(type in President Monson, it will pop right up!)

The frames are also from Walmart, in the crafty section.

I cut the vinyl myself.

I added a tag with a quote from one of his many wonderful Christmas messages.

It reads:

Giving, not getting, brings to

full bloom the Christmas spirit.

Enemies are forgiven, friends

remembered, and God obeyed.

The spirit of Christmas illuminates

the picture window of the soul,

and we look out upon the world’s

busy life and become more

interested in people than things.

To catch the real meaning of the

“spirit of Christmas,”

we need only drop the last syllable,

and it becomes the
“Spirit of Christ.”

Thomas S. Monson,

“The Best Christmas Ever,”

Liahona, Dec 2008

Are you loving the cinchie of all this fabulousness?!!

It's so cinchie the chitlins can do it in their PJ's, right next to a sink full of nastiness!!!

(No one gave ME paper plates! Heeeheee!!!)

I know you all would LOVE to have one.

Go make one up.

EAsy PEasY!!!

UPDATE:

Paint Color
I used:
Glidden Creamy Butter Milk Interior Semi Gloss
Fonts
I used:

"Prophet" is in Hannibal Lector
My Own Topher for the rest.

Neighbor Christmas Gift

2011-12-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

I have an easy neighbor gift idea for ya!

We're cuttin' it kinda close, but, ehhh...

Use it next year :)

I found these plate and napkins on Clearance at Target!

Can't tell you for how muchie cause I have some neighbors who are quite the Cinnaberry Suite Fans!!!

Heeeeheeee!!

I stacked them and wrapped them in cellophane.

Here is what the little tag said that I slapped on them:

Our Christmas wish to you...

less DISHES to do!

Merry Christmas!!

Who doesn't need extra paper plates, cups and napkins?!!

RIGHT?

It's perfect for all those days when the sink is full of madness from all the cookie baking.

Less dishes has GOT to be the BEST gift you can give someone :)

Now go and spread some paper plate cheer!!!

Activity Day {Suitness} #4

2011-12-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

This was such a fun activity.

I saw the idea for Secret Service Agents HERE.

Since it was around Christmas, I made ours

Secret Service Elves

Craft:

You've Been Served Coins

As the girls arrived I had them make

YOU'VE BEEN SERVED

coins.

I found the printable HERE.

I had them color the paper then attach it to a mason jar lid.

They looked like little gold coins.

CUTE!

I'll explain what these are for later.

While they made these,

we talked about service and why this was the perfect

time of year to do service.

We talked about how Christmas gave us a time to reflect on the Saviors birth and his life.

The Savior served others his whole life.

He even ended his life as a service for us.

I then asked them what they thought would be the perfect gift to give the Savior this year.

They caught right on,

Serve Others.

Activity:

Elf Training

Service Relay

I split the girls up into 2 group and they raced to see who could get their tasks done first.

I had three Holiday service tasks they needed to complete before they could become,

"Secret Service Elves"

#1 Holiday Laundry

(With everyone home for the holidays, the laundry builds up a lot faster than normal. Help out and this will be a great service to your family!)

They had to match up the gloves, fold the Santa blanket and fold the scarf. Once it was all folded it had to be neatly placed in the basket.

#2 Gift Wrap

(People love help with gift wrapping!)

They had to wrap the box.

EASY, right?!!

It was fun to watch that's for sure :)

#3 Decorate a Holiday Treat

(Treats will always warm a heart! The best service you can give!)

They decorated a cookie with frosting and sprinkles.

We enjoyed these later as snack!

Once everyone finished the Elf tasks,

They received their mission folders

(they looked like this)

Inside was their Secret Service Mission List (I got it from here)

with directions to keep all services a secret.

They also contained a sheet of paper with the days of the week.

Each day they did a service for someone they were to record what they did for whom.

This way, they could report back on their progress the following AD.

When they finish the service if they chose, they are to leave behind a "You've Been Served" coin.

(Which was also in the folder after they finished them.)

Then their family members could keep the coin and do secret acts of service themselves.

Before you know it,

you have a house full of "Secret Service Elves"

SO FUN!!!

While we enjoyed out treats,

We went around and shared some ways they were going to serve their families.

After they shared,

they received an Elf hat, from Dollar Tree, to be wore while serving.

NOT SO SECRET, I KNOW!!!

But, super cute.

This was a HIT!

Activity Day {Suitness} #3

2011-12-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

WHEW!!!

I have 3 Activity Day's to post about still.

What a SLACKER...

Thanks for lovin' me anyway!

The third activity day was CLEEEAAARR back in November,

around Thanksgiving time.

I decided it would be a great time to work on our table manners and proper dinner etiquette.

I called it,

Dinner Time!

(totally creative, I know!)

Craft:

Blessings Pocket

As a welcome craft, the girls made Blessings Pockets.

I got this idea from one of my buddies who gave ME one.

JODDY ROCKS!!!

They embellished an old jean pocket.

They glued on a patch that said pocket of Blessings.

They added leaves, buttons, tied on little fabric bows.

(I FORGOT TO GET A FINISHED PROJECT PICTURE!!! GRRRR!!!)

Inside the pocket, they put sheets of paper.

On the sheets of paper,

their families write down blessing they are thankful for through out the day.

Each night at dinner until Thanksgiving they pull out some of the papers and share them with their family.

A fun way to put the girls in a Thankful mood.

Activity:

I had all the girls come hungry so we could enjoy a light dinner together. We started out by setting our table. I gave them all the stuff they needed to set their place. I had them race and see if they could do it by themselves. Once they tried, I showed them how to do it the right way.

We talked about where our arms and napkin go.

Chewing with our mouths closed.

No feet on the table, ah, come on, I live with a bunch of boys!! :)

Then came dinner.

We learned how to eat a roll properly, ya know, shove it ALL in your mouth..Heeeheee!

We practiced cutting our salad if a piece was too big.

We practiced sipping our water not gulping.

Then we used our napkins to BLOT our messy pizza faces.

We had a lot of fun.

Lots of giggling :)

I LOVE these girls!!!

Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas!

2011-12-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

We were SO close to having a litttle bit of white on the ground this morning.

GRRRRR....

I know a lot of you think I'm a total crazy snow lady!!!

We hardly ever get snow around these parts.

When it snows, it puts me in the Christmas spirit.

I get all "let's whip out the cocoa and sing jingle bells" when it snows here!

DARN!!

It didn't happen.

What's a sad girl to do?

make...

Snow Globes

I've seen these EVERYWHERE!!

They are like little magical Winter Wonderlands!

Awwww...."lets get out the cocoa and sing jingle bells", shall we?!

They were SO easy to make.

The hardest part was trying to figure out where to find all the junk that goes inside it.

I'm here to hook you up with all those little details.

Love you TOO!!

What you need:

Old jars (quick!! pull out that nasty moldy salsa jar. PERFECT!!)

bottle brush Christmas trees (Walmart. They cost less than a dollar a piece)

1 bag of snow flakes (Walmart)

Glue gun

Here's what you do...READY?!!

Glue the tree or trees to the bottom of the lid.
Add snowflakes and glitter if you want into the jar
Screw on lid
Shake

All done!!

Here's a little sneak peek of my Winter Wonderland Snow globes on my mantle.

Thanks for being here!!! Smooches!

Plates full of Merry!

2011-12-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

OH FRIENDS...

Did you see???

Over there in the right hand corner...

My suite little bloggy hit 400 followers!

I never dreamed I would have ONE follower,

let alone 400.

AMAZING!

THANK YOU for loving me!

I LOVE YOU MORE!!

I'm planning on doing a little {Suite} THANK YOU giveaway.

A pretty Christmas plate made by...WHO ELSE?!!

ME!

You guys ROCK!!!

So,

you wondering where the darn

" plates full of MERRY" are?

POW!!!

There ya go!!

I was inspired by this on Pinterest.

I LOVE the whole look of this pin.

Where's the money tree when you need it?!

This thriftiness of America
used some of her extra everyday plates in two different sizes.

Then on my cricut, I cut out ONE fancy letter and the rest a little more casual and all the same.

It works, RIGHT?!!!

One more POW!!!

I'll be back soon with my OTHER Christmas plate project and my

{Suite}THANK YOU giveaway!!

Smooches!!

James Crew

2011-12-06T08:32:00.001-08:00

More family pictures?!!

I KNOW, RIGHT?!!!

Fun for me :)

I got to take pictures of the kids last year.

THIS year, I got the WHOLE family.

What a pleasure.

Here's the cute little

James Family

Thanks for asking Lyss :)

MUAH!!!

Baker Chitlin Shoot

2011-12-05T18:00:00.001-08:00

How awesome is this?!!!

Another day to play behind my camera...

WOOO HOOOO!!!

To top it all off,

I LOVE these kids!

(I swear I shoulda been their aunt or somethin')

Nothing like taking pictures of things that you love :)

Here they are,

The Baker Chitlins!!

Man,

they are SO DANG CUTE!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS! :)

The {C} Family Photo Shoot

2011-11-21T20:00:00.001-08:00

What a fun day!!!

I got to play behind my camera today.

One of my friends ask me to take some fun pictures of her chitlins.

TOTALLY!!!
OF COURSE!!!

This is

FUUUNNN stuff for me!!!!

I'm not a professional photographer by any means.

BUT,

I do LOVE taking pictures for my family and friends.

Thanks Jen for giving me the opportunity to play behind my camera!!!

Hope you likie!

Activity Day {Suitness} #2

2011-11-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in one of my past posts, I am now the Activity Day leader in my ward. It's going really well and I just LOVE these girlies.

This month is Thanksgiving,

Duh, I know!!

I wanted to focus on how thankful I was for these girlies.

This activity was called

"Thanks for being {YOU}!"

As the girls arrived,

I had the girls think of someone who they admire and name some of the qualities they liked in that person.

I then had them write a Thank You to that person.

I also explained that we should try to live in a way that others are grateful

for who we are.

I found these cute cards and fun colored pens all at Dollar Tree.

WOOO HOOOO!!

Activity:

Be {YOU} tiful Mirrors

I found these mirrors at....DOLLAR TREEEEEE!!

I cut the vinyl out with my cricut and had it all ready ahead of time.

I put their names on the back and had the girls pass them around and write a quality that they admired in that person on the mirror with a dry erase marker.

As they were writing I told them about how fabulous they were, just the way they are. I told them they were beatiful just the way Heavenly Father made them.

I also told them to NEVER try to be some they aren't.

Be{YOU}tiful!!!

Treat/Object Lesson:

Ice Cream Sunday's with ALL the works.

(I saw this somewhere, can't remember :/ if this is your idea please let me know :))

I had each girl pick ONE topping.

Then, I gave them a spoon and said,

" All righty, dig in! ENJOY!!"

They looked at me like I was CrAzY!!

Where's the ice cream?

We only have one topping and now you're not going to give us any ice cream?!

Some would say,

"We can only do ONE topping?"

I then explained how this one topping is yummy all alone.

But, it is even BETTER with lots of other yummy stuff.

Each topping has something wonderful to offer to the Sunday.

Just like us.

Individually, we are wonderful.

We each have our special qualities and talents that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with.

When we share these and put them all together,

We are DELICIOUS!!

We should be grateful for what Heavenly Father has given us to be able to bless others.

We also need to let other people know we are grateful for who they are!

Then, I let them go to town on the Sunday toppings!!!

Craft:

While the girls were busy with their sundays,

I helped each girl hot glue a flower together out of fabric.

They then glued it to their mirror.

Some girls went all out!

While they were waiting for their rides home,

they enjoyed my bag of buttons and blingafied thier mirrors big time.

LOVE THAT!!

Let me know if you have any questions.

ENJOY!!

{Suite} little pumpkins

2011-11-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

I had a few places around the suite that needed to be pumpkin-a-fied!

I went out and pulled down my fall tote from the garage shelf and realized,

I have NO pumpkins.

WhAAATTTT?!!

In comes my most favortie thing EVER,

PINTEREST, BABY!

Always saving my booty!

I love that place:)

I found lots of pumpkins made out of fabric.

I had fabric left over from some fall pillows I crafted up.

I grabbed that junk and went to work.

Look at how fun and cute these turn out.

I just wanna pinch them wrinkled pumpkin cheeks.

GRrrrrRR!!

I'm here to hook ya up with a tut for these babies.

What you need:

Glue gun...ummhmmm!!!

Fabric

Filling (preferable chocolate, but, ya know...that wont work!)

Twiggies from your lawn

twine from Walmart

Start out with a rectangle shaped piece of fabric right side up.

Fold it over so the wrong side is showing now.

Run some hot glue along the edge to glue the two sides together.

Next, I gathered and glued the bottom edge together.

It should like somethin' like this after you turn it right side out.

Fill 'er up! It should now look somethin' like this...

Next, I did the same thing to the top as I did the bottom. I gathered and glued.

I wasn't out for perfection as you can see.

Now it's time to whip out the twine.

Repeat after me,

Wrap, tie,

wrap, tie,

Wrap, tie!

Got it?! You are going to wrap the twine around and tie a knot.

THEN,

you are going to wrap and tie AGAIN

and AGain

and again!!

Yes, I was distributing cough medicine while I hot glued. I'm cool like that.

Make sure each time you wrap and tie, PULL TIGHT and squish it down to a cute little pumpkin.

Don't forget your twiggie. Hot glue it into place.

I pulled and squished it until I loved it.

I have these ones in my kitchen on a shelf.

I just love how easy they were to make!!

Oh, man!!

Imagine how cute a HUGE one would be!!

I'd love to pinch me some BIG pumpkin cheeks.

Ughh...one day :)

EEeeeHeeeheeeeEEE!!!!

2011-10-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Scared ya, didn't I...

EEeeheeeeEEEhhhEEE!!!

That's my scary laugh.

Awesome,huh?!

I'm laughing at how SCARY easy these little projects were!

Check out these cute little blocks I made with some AWESOME friends.

This was seriously the easiest craft EVER!

It totally helps if your best bud has the wood cut and painted before you show up.

NICE, huh?!

I just cut the letters out of scrapbook paper on my Cricut.

The eyes are wood disks with a button center.

Super fun and super duper

SpOoKtAcULAr!!

Here's another easy one for ya!

I had this twiggy wreath already.

I added a strip of orange fabric,

some spider webbing and spiders of course!

I made a little number 31 sign to hang in the middle.

My 31 looks a little crazy, huh?!!

Come on people,

IT's HalloWeen!

Actually,

my possessed Cricut made my "1" backwards...

errrr...okay????

Kinda CREEPY!!

In comes the scary laugh...

EEhheeeheeeeee!!!

Just sayin'...SCARY easy peasy!!

Linkin' up with crafty pants herself.

Miss Jenn @

Activity Day {Suitness}!

2011-10-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

I'm SO stinkin' excited..

I'm the new 8-9 year old girl, Activity Day Leader at church!!!

BEST CALLING EVER!!

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ,
we all get the chance to serve in many different ways.
We are NOT paid for what we do.

Just BLESSED by the ton!

(Click here for more info about callings and my beliefs)

SOOO, you're probably wondering...

"Why the stink is she telling us all of this?"

WELL,
Twice a month I get to plan and meet with these sweet 8-9 year old girlies.

We will be doing lots of fun things together.

I wilI have lots of ideas share....

YOUR WELCOME MAGS!!!

I really just need a place to keep all my ideas. Who knows, I may be in THIS calling for the next 50 years. .

TOTALLY FINE WITH THAT!!

Also, a lot of these ideas can be used for Family Home Evening

(learn more about Family Home Evening HERE)

OR just fun little crafts to do with the chitlins.

Wanna see what we did today?!

All righty then!

Since it IS Halloween in like 10 days,

I did a little

"Holy Ghost"

theme.

Snack:

As the girls arrived, the girls decorated Rice Krispy Pops like these:

Activity:

We read and discussed scriptures on the Holy Ghost.

We highlighted them in PURDY colors.

SEEEEE...

Next, we played,
"Guess What's In The Bowl"
I told them the "name" of the contents and then they had to try and guess,
without looking,
what was really in the bowl and write it down.
I only had time for two bowls.

1. beans (rat eyes)

2. mini sausage (witches toes)

All of the girls guessed differently,

PERFECT!!

(talked about how we all feel the Holy Ghost differently, we need to learn to recognize it.)

Next up,

Craft TIME:

"BoO Blocks"

These were inspired by THIS super cute block.

I LOVE her version. I'm SO making one for me!!

I painted and sanded the wood before the girls got here.

I also cut out all the vinyl.

The girls added the BOO's and the ribbon.

I wish I got a picture of ALL of the girls' blocks together.

These girlies know how to Blingie up thier blocks.

Cute, huh?!

Well, that's it.
I will keep ya'll posted on anything else that crosses my crazy brain :)

Until then, SMOOCHES!!

Halloween {Suite} Style

2011-10-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

Enjoy our Halloween Mantel as I barf all the madness from my brain ...Thanks for being here :)

Ugghhh....

why do I do this to myself?!

I was being a total bahumbug about getting out any fall stuff.

Gasp, I know, Best Blogger award right here baby!!!!

Ya see,

I still have some of my darn Christmas stuff staring at me in the FABULOUS ~~junk yard~~ garage. It still needs to go up in the rafters and it's almost already Christmas....EEEEKKKKK!!!

PEOPLE....

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!!!

Wherever it is,

I can't see it and to top it all off, it's here with it's little invisible self, kickin' my booty!!

BAM,BAM, KACHOWW!!!

(That's me gettin' my booty kicked)

THEEENNN, the other morning on the way to school my little observant T-dawg says to me, "Hey Mom, those people in that house don't have out ANY Halloween decorations out yet. They better hurry up, Halloween is coming fast. Which reminds me, WE need to get OURS out too."

Ya know what I was thinkin'...

SHOOT!!

He caught me!!

But, at the same time, it melted my cold bahumbug heart away!!

My little 8 year old NOTICED these things?

Then I remembered why I do what I do.

It's all for my little peeps.

On to more tangent....umhmmm....deal with it.

Why the stink can't I just be happy with throwing out a Jack o Lantern and a Happy Halloween sign and call it good?

Why do I NEED to change out pillows, pictures, curtains and paint the house orange?

I know I'm not the only one who suffers from this :)

Halloween is in like 11 days!!!

Man, talk about ISSUES!!

The smile on T-dawgs face when he got home from school was another heart melter.

(YES, my heart is made of butter, comes in hand when making bread sticks)

Honestly, I am SO grateful to be a Mom to these kids. I get so caught up in the silliest things and forget the whole reason I'm here is. Thanks T-dawg for reminding me to ENJOY life.

Thanks for always melting my heart and for helping me to get out and live life NOW....

Love you T-dawg!!!

Get Your GAME On!

2011-10-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

I finished another side of the Little Man's room.

YAY!!

Just one small space left to tackle and we are done with this stinkin' room!

Cute, huh?!

I had a lot of fun with this little wall.

I knocked out a couple of little projects while I was gettin' this all done.

I'm gonna break 'em down for you real quick.

Project #1

The Nasty Dresser Turned Desk

(please excuse the horrible picture quality of most of these shots. His poor room has bad lighting.)

Here is one more shot of it all.

See the little stool that fits perfectly under there?!

Project #2

Nasty Table Turned Stool

Here it is up close and fabulous!

Project #3

Little Man's SMALL Locker Room

He really loves having all of his jerseys handy for practice and games. Along with his cleats and ball. There's even a little hook for his backpack.

A place for everything :)

Here it is all together, when you come through his door,

I'm redoing the clipboards,

Don't LOVE them!

I'll tell you all about them later.

Here's a view of it from the other side of the room.

Here's what I have left to do:

Clipboards, buys a chair, make 2 pillows, night stand and figure out closet

EASY PEASY!!!

I'll do a room tour when I'm finished with all of the above.

Have a happy day!!

{Suite} Pantry Visit

2011-10-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

I've been busy, busy trying to finish up Little Man's room.

Of course, you all know...

I'm such slacker!

I can never stay focused on just one project at a time.

DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

Nothing like having 65,7890 projects to finish :)

SEE,

I can't even stay on the same flippin' subject when I talk.

MY POOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY,

I'M SO SORRY!

Okay, I got a little burned out on Little Man's room

SO,

I decided I would post about my pantry.

WHAT THE?!

I KNOW, so random!

( Don't pantry and bedroom kinda rhyme or somethin'?!

NO?! SHOOT!!)

If you don't remember my pantry organization that I did a while back,

GO HERE.

Since then, I've added a few things to make it a little more fabulous!!

Of course, it still isn't cuteified and painted yet.

ONE DAY SOON, I HOPE!

Ignore the fact that we need to buy food AGAIN!!!

I swear we live with monsters that would eat the house if they could!!

First, we have our canned food with the little shelves on top of the cans to hold brownie mixes, cake mixes etc. Then we have our extra syrup and sauces on the other shelf.

Down below on the next shelf we have our baskets for chips and crackers.

Behind the baskets I have containers for extra flour, rice and beans.

Below the chip/cracker shelf I have some pull out drawers. The one on the left holds our extra paper lunch bags, napkins, plastic cups and such.

The basket on top hold our plastic spoons, forks and knives.

I'm super excited about our drawers on the right.

I saw an idea on BHG.com that had dinner baskets.

THESE are my dinner DRAWERS.

Each drawer holds the ingredients for our meals for the week.

I still need to go to the store for 2 more meals.

I love the idea of having all the stuff ready to go for the week.

The basket on top holds any dessert ingredients.

Next shelf over, We have our pasta basket and our extra cereal basket.

When our cereal dispenser gets low, the kids take turns picking out what cereal they want in there next.

Here's the back wall again. Extra wheat flour, rice, beans, pasta, potatoes.

Below that shelf we have more pull out drawers.

On the left we have our quick pasta drawer. Mac and cheese and Pasta Roni.

In the second drawer is all of our seasoning packets. Taco mix, onion soup mix, ranch, gravy mixes.

On top in the little green basket we have all of our quick seasoned boxed rice.

In the right side we have our breakfast mixes stuff. Muffin mixes and extra pancake mix and hot chocolate to refill our jars in the kitchen.

In the bottom drawer, I have Ramon noodles and other noodle type stuff for the kids to make on their own.

The top basket has our marshmallows for yummy rice krispie treats and smores!

Back to the top shelf again....I have all of our canned apples and jam and some other canned foods. Our extra special bread like hot dog and hamburger buns get thrown in the hanging basket so our bread box will actually close in the kitchen!!

One cool trick I have been loving.

Use a grocery bag holder for you potatoes.

My hall is super dark and dry so they do great in here and they are easy to find too:)

Here a few more pictures to enjoy!

I forgot to mention, behind my pull out drawers, I store all my large canned food storage like beans and rice and potatoes.

Easy to find when I need to open a new can.

I better go get us some grub before the little monsters get home.

They just might eat ME!!

Let me know if you have any tips for pantry organization.

I'd love to hear all about them!!!

SMOOCHES!!