Paper Pumpkin - September 2014

This was my first month getting Paper Pumpkin! I got one in my starter kit with Stampin' Up and blogged about that kit here if you want to take a look! I signed up for Paper Pumpkin as soon as I signed up as an Independent Demonostrator with Stampin' Up. How could I not? I love discovering new crafts and ideas and I love that someone else is telling me how to do it! There is no point in re-inventing the wheel people! Stampin' Up even sells Past Kits or refill kits if you want to make more!

For September we received "Boo-tifull Bags Kit" - which is a set of 6 burlap bags decorated with stamped tags and sequins. I took my daughter, Adeline, to the library this morning and took my Paper Pumpkin box. Only other craft supply I needed was a pair of scissors, wet wipes or stamp cleaner, and a stamp block. I brought along more dimensionals and the tape runner, but didn't need them!

Here are all the supplies. The tags came in sheets that you have to punch out, then I stacked them on the coordinating backer papers.

First I worked on the tags - stamped them, then placed stickers, then attached smaller tags to the larger tags using Stampin' Dimensionals provided in the kit to give the tags some dimension of course!

Close up of the dimension the dimensionals give!

Next I put the tags on the bags with the clothes pins and sequins. I didn't have any candy to put in the bags at the library so I just tied the black string around the bags loosely so I'll have room later.

I had plenty of supplies to make the bags, but then I had leftovers! I can't wait to use these on other crafts - cards, boxes, or just use as tags on other Halloween treats!

These craft supplies can be used in lots of different ways. Be sure to check out Paper Pumpkin's Pinterest page to see how others are creating with Paper Pumpkin, find out different ways to use the same products!

If you are interested in signing up with Paper Pumpkin it is only $19.95/month with shipping included. Get your friends to sign up too and have monthly crafting parties putting together your kits.

Birthday Freezer Food Prep

Oh so you spent your birthday at a Spa getting your nails did? Well I spent my birthday fixing a bunch of meals to put in my freezer, after which I needed to get my nails did!!!

Since I'm now a SAHM we need to save money however we can. One of those ways is to eat at home more often and making eating out a rarity. However, I hate cooking. It takes up too much of what little time I have and it's just not something I enjoy doing everyday. SO...I decided to try freezer meals. I looked and looked at blogs seeing what recipes they use, but could never find one that had recipes I'd actually eat (yes, I am a picky eater too!). Finally I stumbled upon Fun with Sharps! and her blog entry from a couple years ago about the way she prepares Freezer meals and I loved the recipes she uses!

The only day I had to work on this was my birthday, when Alan was off work. So as soon as Adeline went down for her nap we got to work. I should have prepped and wrote the recipes on the bags before hand, but oh well. It took a lot longer than it should have, but in the end we were happy. I had Alan on meat duty while I cut up all the veggies and other ingredients then had Alan finish up the bags with the spices. I ended up being short on meat so we had to put 4 bags aside to finish the next day once we got more. Here is the picture of all but the 4 bags in my freezer. Doesn't look exactly like the other bloggers finished products, but hey I'll take what I can get! I'm really NOT loving a side-by-side fridge right now. No freezer space compared to our last fridge.

We did go out later and got me a Birthday Cake! Alan picked it out because he thought Adeline would like it...HELLO! It is my birthday, not hers! However as long as it was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, I really did not care!

So it's now been a week and a half, can you guess how many of those meals we've eaten? ONE! Yikes! I have been gone the past couple days and if Alan is working nights I don't fix a big dinner, but I do hope to fix these more often so we can have leftovers too!

Do you fix freezer meals? What are some of your favorites recipes? Do you cook then freeze or freeze raw then cook?

Horsin' Around at Walnut Springs Farm

Adeline and I were able to head to my parents for a couple days. Adeline was excited to show off her new scooter and has some super cute moves to show off! 

Of course while we were there we had to visit the horses. Mom and dad picked some apples from the tree in their yard to give to the horses. Adeline  helped handing the apples to her Paw Paw.

Chow down guys! Adeline's favorite is in the middle, Thunder.

Rusty thought he should have had more apples and kept trying to find some on the tail gate or Adeline's boots! 

We couldn't forget about the other two! Jessie and Chavo got their apples and attention from Adeline too!

Adeline loves these horses so much, Its frustrating that we are now two hours away and she can't see them as often as she asks! She of course misses my parents quite a bit too and always asks to go see them. She doesn't yet understand that they live farther from us now and we can't just meet them for dinner anymore!

Cash loves getting scratched! He was even shaking his back leg because it felt so good! 

Yard Work - Bristol Style

When we bought our house in July we knew we would have to cut down a bunch of trees and brush. We have been doing a little each week so as to not upset the trash collectors too much. But I'm sure they are pretty annoyed anyway! We are so thankful to live somewhere they will pick it up!


One tree I loved it when I first saw it and knew we would keep it since it provided so much shade over the driveway and it was pretty. However once we moved in we realized something was wrong with the tree - it had a fungus and was slowly dying. So we had to go ahead and cut it down. It was so big it was cut down a little bit each time. Also we cut down a spruce tree on the back corner of the house as well that you can see in the below picture. It had grown into the bush in front of it so we cut it down as well as it was way overgrown. It revealed a nice landscape detail that I hope to fill with pretty flowers at some point.

This corner of the house was crazy overgrown with multiple plants all entwined together. I liked the tree, but it was hard to distinguish between tree and weed as the weed was as big or bigger than the tree! Also cut down a bush on the side of the house that you can see through the windows and one on the corner. Alan weed-eated the weed patch and I sprayed with weed killer for good measure.

Alan's dad, Mike, came and helped Alan the 2nd time we cut trees and brush. That was a huge help to Alan since before I was just moving the brush around.

In the back yard we had several trees and a few really big ones. The biggest will have to stay plus they are sturdy and provide a bunch of shade for the yard. But there was a big dead tree in the back that could have fallen so we had to take care of that one and then a spruce tree right beside the house and swing set. When the dead tree was cut down we discovered it was home to a billion ants, so glad to have it gone and will cut the stump later in year when the ants go away. We have a problem with Mosquito's so we are hoping that cutting back the trees from the house it will alleviate some of the problem.

We still have A LOT of yard work left to do but the big part is done! The trash guys probably hate us but hopefully we won't have as much trash anymore!

The house looks so much better now! I wish they had done it when the house was remodeled. Next up are those huge bushes - we are going to try to just cut them back first to see if they are manageable.

Would love some recommendations on what to plant in the flower beds. I definitely want to get some plants that are natural mosquito repellents for around the deck.

Burlap, it's all the RAGE

Awhile back I bought some burlap panels with big plans to make some  wall decor for my ETSY shop. But we've been in a constant upheaval for the past few months due to hubby getting a job out of town and having to move twice in 2 months (moved to temp housing after house sold before buying a new house). We are finally getting settled in the new house and can't wait to show off the house and the decor, but I need a break from "house" stuff so I'm getting into crafting again.

The other day I finally decided to get out the burlap panels and play!! I didn't have a set project in mind so I went through my various files and found the below image. I decided to make a gift for my long time friend and teacher. I plan on adding some ribbon for it to hang from as soon as I can get to Michaels. Michaels is 30 minutes away from our new house! I do not know how I will survive!

Recently I found out one of my cousins is expecting her first baby, a boy! Since we are just on one income right now, any gifts need to be handmade. I plan on making her a basket of some items from my Etsy shop - a couple burp clothes, custom wipes container (not on Etsy Shop yet!, message me if interested), legwarmers, and onesies! Then I noticed from her registry she is doing a Lion King theme. So i searched online for an image to put on a burlap panel. I found this cute graphic online and traced it in my Silhouette Program. I'm pretty pleased with it.

I would love to make a panel for you, let me know if you have a quote or picture you are interested in one. I have 9x12 and 12x16 burlap panels available.

My First Paper Pumpkin!

If you haven't heard I recently signed up as an Independent Demonstrator with Stampin' Up. As part of the starter kit you get a Paper Pumpkin kit to try from a previous month. I received February 2014 - In the Bag to try out. I'd already signed up to receive Paper Pumpkin monthly since they are running a special right now, but it was nice to get to play with a previous month kit before my first one arrives.

Now through September 10th if you sign up for Paper Pumpkin with the code HALFOFF2 you get your first two months half off! That's basically getting a month free! Go to the Paper Pumpkin website and sign up, and choose me as your Demonstrator if not already selected!

I wasn't planning to blog about this so sorry for the poor picture quality!

Here are the supplies I received in the Paper Pumpkin box:

It included enough materials to make 5 of the bags seen. I only made one as shown then did a second with my own spin on it. I'm saving the others for any special gifts.

Here is the one shown in the Instructions:

I have a baby shower later this month so I decided to decorate one bag for baby gifts and I made a card with a matching envelope. I used Whisper White Card Stock for the card and a matching envelope. The orange color is Pumpkin Pie and the blue twine is miscellaneous leftovers. The orange really made the Teal circles POP!

I am looking forward to getting these surprises each month! The kit comes with everything you need to make the craft in the instructions, which is great if you are just starting out! If you are like me you want to do more than just what the directions tell you and use the supplies in different ways! You can visit Paper Pumpkin on Pinterest to see other people's designs each month!

To sign up: Visit Paper Pumpkin and make sure I'm selected as your demonstrator. If you sign up by Sept 10th make sure you use the code HALFOFF2 for half off 2 your first two months for new subscribers!

Also make sure you visit my Stampin' Up website for any other crafting goodies you are in need of. If you'd like to have me and some friends over to craft together just let me know!