Red Writing's TWOC - #7 Accent Craft No. 2

This week on Red Writing's TWOC we are exploring accent crafts again. I have to admit that both times we've done accent crafts that I wasn't too thrilled about them...until I started searching for ideas. I just didn't know what I wanted to do or how to go about finding some ideas. Pretty much my lazy side was showing through. However, Better Homes and Gardens never lets me down. :-) This week I stumbled across TWO items that I am very interested in making. I'm not positive I'll get them both done, but I have high hopes.

This NOEL craft is made with papier-mache letters, which I KNOW I can purchase at Hobby Lobby. I also know that Hobby Lobby has some great scrapbook paper & paint that I can use to cover the letters. I feel like this craft will be pretty easy and will add some fun Christmas flair to my apartment.

I really fell in love with these floral packages when I saw them on the BHG website. They look elegant and don't seem that difficult to make. However I haven't attempted them yet so we shall see. The website says all you have to do is cover a block of florist's foam with button mums (I may branch out and try something different), stick a pearl-head pin through the center to secure the flowers to the foam (I may just hot glue, unless that will melt the foam?), and tie it with a ribbon. Simple enough, right? Let's just hope the materials don't break the bank.

I plan on sharing my finished products once they have been created. Stay tuned!

Red Writing's TWOC - #6 Shopping

This week on Red Writing's Twelve Weeks of Christmas the topic is SHOPPING! I guess I'm a pretty typical girl in that I LOVE shopping...for others, as well as myself. ;-) Although I keep an eye out half the year for Christmas gifts for people, and have been known to buy something in July as a Christmas present, I typically make myself a list of people to buy for and present options come late October or early November. I ask my family and friends what's on their lists and go from there. Obviously I try to factor in a reasonable budget, but I'm not the best at that. I get all wrapped up in the shopping of the season and forget about how much I've spent. I try to be done with my shopping around two weeks before Christmas. Later than that and I just get annoyed at the mall or any other places I run to for presents. There are way too many people out and about during this time of year. Haha. But of course there are always a few gifts that I run to get closer to Christmas day and tell myself I'll do better the next year. ;-) I've bought one or two gifts already this year but the real shopping starts this Sunday. Keelie & I have a shopping date already set up. This will include lunch, shopping, and a movie to wind down from our busy shopping day. Then, the day after Thanksgiving, better known as BLACK FRIDAY, Rashahn & I will be hitting the stores and sales in the wee hours of the morning before I have to go to work at 9 that day. Trust me, I will only be half awake at work and will bet on not being productive, but it's SO worth it! There are a few people that I have no idea what to buy them, which makes shopping less fun and productive because I am having to go in blindly. Hopefully I'll come up with something suitable!

Happy Shopping!

Red Writing's TWOC - #5 Homemade Gifts

I thought all week long about what homemade gift I could make for someone this season. I thought it over a lot and still hadn't come to a conclusion. Finally, after looking at the coming week's Hobby Lobby circular I realized what I was going to make...Christmas Ornaments. I made my Christmas shopping list yesterday and there are some people that I'm not exchanging gifts with, but still wanted to get them a little something and I decided I'd buy them ornaments. Now I've decided I'm going to MAKE the ornaments. Hobby Lobby has 'Ready-to-Decorate Glass Ornaments' for 40% off this week. Whooo! They have clear, frosted, and iridescent ornaments to pick from. I'm pretty excited. I have NO CLUE what designs I will make or what they will look like when I'm done but I'm pretty pumped. I'll definitely share the finished product with you all!

Bow Making‏

A few years ago, probably more like 5 or 6 years, Jenny, Kristin, & I got together at my apartment. Jenny & I decided we wanted to make Fall wreaths so off to the craft store we went. Kristin opted to watch and hang out. Her choice was probably smartest. Ha! We gathered our supplies, which included a grapevine wreath, Fall ribbon, a little scarecrow, some fake corn, etc. and headed back to my apartment to craft. We thought we did a pretty good job twisting the ribbon around the wreath and hot gluing the embellishments on. Then came the hard part. We needed bows for the wreaths. We didn't know how to make bows. What were we going to do? Well, I had the bright idea (at least I think it was me, if it was Jenny she can totally have the credit) to just make little loops, staple them, and hot glue them on and if we made enough it'd look like a bow. Sad, I know. So that is how my Fall wreath has been the past 5 or 6 years. Pretty rigged and a little ghetto. To the untrained eye it's not obvious. But to the professional bow maker, I'm pretty sure it is.

ghetto bow

after tearing the ghetto bow off the wreath

Through the years I ended up buying myself a bow maker, instructions included, and learned how to make bows. I can even do them now without the bow maker but I prefer it because it makes it easier. So I decided that I need to make a new bow for my Fall wreath. I still have the same ribbon we used all those years ago. I guess we thought we'd use more. If we'd done them the correct way we might have. I made a new bow a few weeks ago and think it turned out well. I tore off the fake bow loops and hot glued the new one down. Now my wreath is complete. I guarantee you no one but me will ever notice that the bow kinda changed. Oh well, I did it for me. I'm pretty sure I'll always laugh and think of that Saturday afternoon we made the wreaths when I see mine hanging on my door. Happy Fall!

making the new bow

Ta da!

Reba McEntire

I love Reba. Always have, always will. I wanted to be her when I was younger. No, I can't sing, but she has red hair like I do and therefore, I wanted to be her. lol. She's always been my favorite...always. I LOVED the big hair days. That's when I REALLY wanted to be her. I've seen her in concert multiple times. There were the Six Flags years. Growing up we had season tickets to Six Flags so we went a lot, and we also went to a lot of the concerts in the Music Mill Amphitheater. We saw Reba there TWICE. She was AMAZING. I think that is when my love of concerts began. She was a FANTASTIC performer. I loved how she would change clothes throughout the concert. She'd leave the stage for 1 min and come back in something more amazing than she had on a minute ago. I saw her back in 2004 at Nokia Theater. She was fantastic there as well. We had pretty awesome seats which made the experience that much better. Sugarland opened for her. They were nobodies back then, but I digress. We went to the first event at Cowboy Stadium back in June, which was a Reba McEntire/George Strait concert. As true to form, she was excellent. I also love her TV that aired from 2001-2007. I watch it in reruns all the time and I was thrilled when Vanessa gave me 4 seasons of it for my birthday! Whooo!

So of course back in September when Courtney called and told me she was coming to Allen I was in to going to the concert. Court, Heather, & I headed to the first event ever at the Allen Event Center last night to see my beloved Reba. The Allen Event Center is definitely the smallest venue I've ever seen her in. It was also a different crowd then your normal country concerts. I didn't seen any of the half-dressed girls getting drunk, which was pretty refreshing. It was a much older crowd. The seats at the center were incredibly uncomfortable though, just an fyi incase you visit this venue in the future. If you are not a size 0 you will not enjoy this seating experience, but despite that, Reba was GREAT. She sang a lot of the songs off her new album, which is awesome, as well as the old stuff. As usual I walked away thinking about how terrific she is. Other performers may come and go, but Reba...well, she'll always be my favorite.

Halloween 2009

I had a lot of fun this Halloween.

Leigh Ann, Leah, & I carved pumpkins.

We went to Azle for a Halloween party with the family. Court & Heather were 80's girls!

I was a witch and Jenna was a cat bride. lol.

I dressed up at work as well. Yes, I'm a cat with a litter box. The litter box consisted of oats, granola, chocolate icing, and tootsie rolls. It look like the real thing! Belinda came with pink hair.

After work on Friday I headed over to Robert & Rashahn's where Rashahn (Tinkerbell), Abby (Bumble Bee), & I took pics in our costumes. Robert got home and we watched 'The Secret Window'. Very creepy and Halloween appropriate. Then we carved pumpkins.

Jax & Sylvest got into the spirit too. Jax really enjoyed sniffing the pumpkins.

Sylvest didn't enjoy costume time very much.

Yesterday I headed to a Halloween party at Lacy's. Here Lindsay, Leah, & Lacy start the night off!

I came in my cat attire again and everyone thought the litter box was pretty gross. Leah was a witch. Check out her awesome spiderweb tights!

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

I've always enjoyed dressing up for Halloween...then and now.

1981 - I'm Cookie Monster & Keelie's a Clown

1986 - Trick-or-Treating with our neighbors and best friends

Superwoman - Courtney, Cheerleader - Keelie, Football Player - John, & Cheerleader - me

1987 - Mrs. Jordan's 2nd Grade Class - Decatur Elementary School

1991 - Heading to school - me as a hobo and Courtney a clown

1991 - Freakin' out the trick-or-treater's at Mom & Dad's with Patrick, Courtney, & Amanda

2007 - Dressing up & pumpkin carving at my apt - Leah, Marge, Leigh Ann, & me

2007 - Heading out to the Haunted Forest - Marge, Paul, Riley, Leah, Leigh Ann, & me

2007 - Countrywide - Me & Rashahn as Thing 1 & Thing 2

2008 - Countrywide - Superman (Robert) & The Wicked Witch (me)