So Excited!

I'm going to be teaching several classes with the Pearland Parks and Recreation this summer. My summer classes are several scrapbook related classes, one for mom's, one for senior citizens and one from "tweens". The moms and seniors will be creating an All About Me album and the kids will be making several altered items for their lockers and upcoming school year. I'm also teaching a fun baggie science class for kids 6-8. This is a class where all the experiements are done in a zip top baggie. We will even make ice cream in a baggie!

In the fall, I'll be taking over all of their pre-school classes and developing a few more. We are also looking at targeting the homeschool families in our area. The veteran teacher, who has been there for years and I are working on developing some classes that will work together.

I'm really excited, and so are the girls. They get to come with me this summer and be my "assistants!" We'll see how that goes

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake Balls

Did I get your attention?

Did you salivate?

I've been hearing that cake balls were all the rage. Have you tried them?

I made these YUMMY, DELICIOUS balls of goodness yesterday.

I decided that I would make these for Madeleine to give her teachers for Valentine's day. I found a cute SCAL file to make a box (I haven't made one yet, that will be another post!) and I thought these would be perfect to put in them.

The strawberry cake balls were a hit! I had to hide them in the freezer under the bags of veggies so no one would find them. That's why you can see some condensation on them. I should have left some out to photograph. Oh well, we live and learn. I'm going to make some more for Valentines day. I'm thinking some more strawberry, maybe some lemon and triple chocolate. The teacher will pass Madeleine on to the next grade with rave reviews!

Hugs,
J

Edited to add- Here is the recipe I used. I used chocolate coating chips from Hobby Lobby. I'm thinking of using some mint chocolate chips with a chocolate cake mix next time. I'm experimenting to find a good combination for Valentine's presents.

LOVE is in the air!

I love decorating for Valentine's Day because David's birthday is 5 days before the big V-day. I started decorating Jan 1. Here is a little "love" I made. I can't decide if I should leave it on the fireplace or put it on the table in my entry way. What do you think?


I found the chipboard letters at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents each! I had the paper, the boa, heart charms and ribbon. I made the "4 ever" and heart with my Storybook cartridge.

Christmas Wreath

Three years ago, David and I purchased this huge wreath at Garden Ridge. We originally intended to put it outside between some of the upstairs windows. That never happened. This year, I made him pull it down and decided that I was going to use it one way or another. I also found 2 boxes of antique mercury glass ball that I use to use on our tree (before children!). I LOVE these glass balls. The colors on them are absolutely beautiful. So, I hot glued all of the balls on the wreath and Voila' I have a wreath to put over our fireplace. I love it so much, I haven't let David take it down yet!

Valentine Decorations

There is no sign of Christmas left in my house. It's quite depressing. So what did I decide to do? Decorate for Valentine's Day of course! I didn't have alot of decorations already, so I'm making them.

I found this wonderful blog, Oh So Crafty and she came up the the best idea! She cut hearts from old magazines and sewed them together to make a garland. It looks so pretty. Here's a picture of her garland from her blog.



Isn't it so pretty. I'm going to pull some pages out of my old magazines and cut hearts using my Cricut.

I also am working on decoupaging some letters that spell out LOVE to put on my mantel. I'll post pictures when I get them done.

Well, I'm off to get something crafty done! Toodles!

Elves at work!

I am buisily trying to finish up my handmade gifts. I am so excited to get the wall hangings I'm making my sisters-in- law. I will get pictures up as soon as I'm finished. They are turning out better than I expected. I'm going to make myself one after Christmas!

So far this year I've made: 3 altered day planners, monogrammed 4 scarves, made 3 personalized wall plaques, made 26 holiday blocks (these are for me!)and want to try an make several sets of tile coasters before Thursday!

Ok, back to work!

Advent Calendar

Finally! After 3 years of embroidering, I've finished our Advent calendar. I embroidered all of the characters and animals for the Nativity. The numbers were painted on the squares, then sewn to the felt to make pockets. At dinner one night, we named things we could do as a family to celebrate Christmas. From this list, I printed them out and cut the them in strips. One for each pocket. Each morning, we move one of the characters to the Nativity Scene and read what we are going to do for the day.

The girls are loving it!