A New Little Family

  Fall is officially over in Saskatchewan. The temperatures have turned colder & we now have snow. Since winter is now here, I took down my fall decorations this week.

  My mom & I also went to a Christmas open house at Creekside Decor & Antiques. The store was decked out in gorgeous Christmas decorations. I picked up a couple of Christmas gifts & bought this little family of owls for myself.

I can't wait to add them to my Christmas / winter decorations!

My kids even helped me name them. :)

Heehee. They make me smile.

Enjoy your day!

Why Do We Create?

  I wanted to take a break from the projects & recipes today & focus back on why we create. Have you ever thought about that? Why do we desire to create beauty... whether it be crafts, furniture makeovers, or tasty recipes? I believe it comes down to us wanting to be like our Creator. God created each of us with unique talents & abilities. Think of it - Not one person on this earth is exactly like another person! The creative power of our Father God is incredible. I believe our wanting to create a little bit of beauty of our own comes from a desire to be like more like God.

  And there's nothing wrong with that. I love how Bailey from Let Birds Fly puts it,

"Exodus 35: 31-33, 35 says, "and the Lord has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills--to make artistic designs of work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts....He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers-- all of them skilled workers and designers."

To this day, what we do is for the glory of Christ. God gave us skilled hands; with everything we make, craft, create, draw, paint, cook, etc, it should be to the glory of God, because He is the one who commanded us to use our talents." 

   I couldn't agree more! God didn't give us talents for us to squish in the back of a closet & never use. We are to use them, enjoy them, & create with them - to His glory!

Via

So go create something wonderful & know that you're using the gifts that God placed in you to enjoy.

Have a fabulous day!

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. 

~~~

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!