Christmas Banner

  It's done! Yesterday I finished making the Christmas banner for my friend, Angela's store window. Here's the big reveal!

I'm so in love with it that I HAVE to make one of these banners for myself!

Supplies used:

• Patterned paper - 5 patterns
• Solid cardstock - cream, green, red
• Eyelets
• Stickles - brown
• Ribbon
• Cricut machine. Cartridges used: George & Basic Shapes (rectangle), Winter Wonderland (scalloped tag), & Alphalicious (letters)

A close up while just after I finished putting on the Stickles (glitter glue)

  Fun little tip: While I was oh-so-carefully applying the Stickles, my hand slipped & I got a little glob off the line I was working on. I asked my daughter to quickly run & grab me a Q-tip. She came back with some toothpicks! Haha! It ended up being a fantastic mistake because I tried them & they worked like a charm! The tiny little end made it perfect for tidying up the uneven parts or any stray sparkles. 

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What crafts are you currently working on? I realize that those of you who live in the U.S.A. will be celebrating Thanksgiving soon whereas we've already celebrated that holiday here in Canada. 

Do you decorate for Christmas before American Thanksgiving or after?

Whatever the case may be...Enjoy your day!

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Linkin' Up:

Tuesday Talent Show

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Craft-O-Maniac

Skip To My Lou

Ta-da Tuesday

Get Your Craft On

Everything Under the Moon

Let Birds Fly

The 36th Ave

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Uncommon

Just a Girl

Shine On Friday

The Creative Paige

Tatertots & Jello

Shabby Art Boutique

The Twelve Crafts Of Christmas

Update

This banner was featured on these blogs:

Christmas Crafts To Try

  It's feeling very Christmasy around here. We got our first real snowfall this weekend & the Christmas music has started in full force. I was working on whipping up a Christmas banner for a friend this weekend. I'm almost done & will post photos & details soon.

  As many of you, I've been pinning lots of wonderful craft ideas for Christmas on Pinterest. Here's some crafty projects I plan to do for this Christmas:

You may remember that I found some vintage spools on my last thrifty outing. 

This is what I plan to do with them.

Update: To see the ones I made, click here.

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I've started on these candy canes already. I'm doing mine in blues & greys. 

I quite like the twine & newsprint too. 

I think sheet music would look divine as well.

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I have a big bag of pinecones I love to use & have been looking for different ways to incorporate them into my Christmas decor. I have this exact vase & think this is a fun use of spray paint. 

My Christmas colours are blue, white & silver. I think I'll paint them in those colours.

Update: To see the ones I made, click here.

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I've been diligently saving toilet paper tubes to use as treat packages for my kid's little school friends. 

I have several different ideas like this pinned. We'll see which one I go with. :)

Update: To see the ones I made, click here.

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So, what were you up to this weekend? Anyone decorating for Christmas yet?

Enjoy your day!

Linkin" Up:

5 Minutes Just For Me

This Weekend's Project

  This weekend, I'm delving into another Christmas project. This one is for a friend of mine who owns a store & wants to hang a "Merry Christmas" banner in her front window. Here's the inspiration:

Source

She wants her banner to actually be two separate banners. One for "Merry" & one for "Christmas".

I'm excited to start working on it! I'll post about it once it's finished.

Enjoy your weekend!

Birthday Card Bliss

  Birthdays... they come every year without fail. They seem to be coming more often the older I get. Why is that? My birthday isn't for another month, but just posting these has me thinking about my upcoming birthday... I think I'll throw myself a party... But seriously, what lady wouldn't enjoy getting a hand made card for her birthday? I know guys aren't always appreciative of this kind of thing, but ladies usually are, right?

I stamped that flourish with brown ink, then used Stickles to "colour" it in.

  Have you got a birthday coming up? Are you doing anything exciting to celebrate?

I'm thinking of adopting my friend Sarah's birthday tradition. 

She invites all her girlfriends out for lunch (last time we all went for sushi). 

We just talk & get to have some fun, girl time. 

I think that would be pretty perfect.

Enjoy your day!

Pinterest Recipe Reviews

  A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Meal Planning via Pinterest. I haven't tried all the recipes I've planned to yet, but I thought I would do reviews of the ones that I have made. Don't worry, I'm a nice person. I won't be mean.

  I didn't include this dessert in my Meal Plan - mostly because I forgot. We had friends over for dessert on Friday evening & this is what I made:

Reese's Fudge Pie

  I'm all about chocolate & peanut butter. And really, I didn't think I would ever say this, but... this was almost too sweet. It has a fudge layer which is really dense & super rich. A ever-so-small piece is ample! I don't think anyone finished the big pieces I cut. I would make it again, but cut the pieces smaller. Definitely serve with coffee. Note: I made the crust with Oreo crumbs instead of graham crumbs.

  Red Lobster Biscuits

  These get a 10 out of 10. They were amazing. We each had one in hand & put it in our mouths at the same time. You should have heard the sounds coming from us! You must try these, if you haven't already. AND they are super easy to make. I would definitely make them again. Actually, I already have made them again. :)

Cajun Chicken Pasta

  This tasted very good, but I didn't get the cream sauce right - it was too soupy. It was delicious though. Make sure you have everything prepped before you start cooking. Things get cooked & added pretty fast. I would make it again.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

  This is a fabulous recipe! A couple of notes: read the recipe through before you start making it. The instructions are laid out in a different order than the ingredients. That confused me for a minute until I read everything through. Also, be warned that you need to freeze the cream cheese filling before you can use it in the muffin batter. That takes a couple of hours. If you know these tips in advance, you'll have a happy muffin-baking experience. :) I will most certainly be making these again!

Lentil Tacos

  I actually made these just last night. I've been trying to include meatless meals in my meal planning more lately both to save money & because it's healthy to not have meat all the time. These tacos were delicious! Our kids even loved them. I will be making them again soon.

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  So those are the recipes from my Time To Cook! & Sweet Treats boards on Pinterest that I've tried so far. If you haven't signed up for Pinterest yet & want an invite, leave me a comment with your email address & I can send you one! I promise I won't send you any spam. None.... Zero. Zilch. Nada. 

  What have you cooked up from Pinterest lately? I'd love to hear about it! Now that Christmas is less than 2 months away, I'm itching to try some of the crafty goodies I'm seeing. I'll be sure to post about them. Stay tuned!

Update: Click here to read part two

But for now, over & out.

Enjoy your day!

These are not my photos. All images owned by the bloggers who originally posted their recipes in blogland.